Sometimes we complain that there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything laid before us. The mail is piling up, the laundry is getting crusty, the kids insist on having dinner every night and the DVR can only hold so much unwatched entertainment. We so often move through our days complaining that there is so much to do and so little time to do it in, although we usually know better.  

Because, from time to time, we are presented with days in which there are simply too many hours to have to sit and worry over all the things we don't even want to think about. Like a friend's surgery, or the manuscript sitting on the agent's desk or the pending strike at work. Or the test results from the hospital that won't come for a week, giving you just enough time to convince yourself of the worst possible outcome. When we're allowed to dwell on these things for too long, we feel the full weight of them. Individually they might be only slightly unbearable; when we're hit with two or three or ten of them at once, we're likely to lose sight of how we're expected to handle such situations.

Life, quite frankly, is overwhelming. When things are normal, we are eager to forget just how undone it can all become, but when we're in the throes of the turmoil, we're left to wonder if it will ever be normal again. We pray for the everyday chaos that we so often complain about, remembering that if it was only ever that hard, then we would have a lot to be thankful for.

This week's Friday five is full of heartache and hardship, and our cast of characters admirably takes on the challenges presented to them. It isn't always pretty and might even be unpleasant, but they will do what they have to do to prevent themselves from being overwhelmed by their lives.

Love Song For Bobby Long  Purslane Will (Scarlett Johansson) returns home to New Orleans after her mother's death and discovers that she has been left one-third ownership of her childhood home. The other two-thirds are claimed by former college professor Bobby Long (played by John Travolta) and his protégé Lawson Pines, strangers to Pursy but long-time friends of her mother's. Not only are the three of them put to the sometimes-overwhelming task of learning to live together in peace, they must each come to terms with the special relationship they have always shared but never known. Rated R

Black Snake Moan Lazarus, a Mississippi bluesman, (Samuel L. Jackson) is in need of some powerful redemption, so when he literally stumbles upon Rae (Christina Ricci), half-naked and badly beaten, he does his best to save her. Rae, however, is under the spell of an overwhelming physical need and will put Lazarus to the test, especially when her boyfriend (Justin Timberlake) comes back to town and misunderstands the strange hold Lazarus has on her. Rated R

Punch-Drunk Love Constantly at risk of being driven to a nervous breakdown by the overwhelming badgering of his seven sisters, Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) has no idea what he is supposed to be doing with is life. Peppered with violent little outbursts and through the surreal combination of a harmonium, a mysterious stranger and lots and lots of pudding, Barry just may find out what life (and love!) is all about. Rated R

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (or, "Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon") A brilliant film adaptation of the memoir of Jean-Do Bauby, as dictated by the language of his left eye. The one-time editor of French Elle magazine suffered a stroke that overwhelmed his body, leaving his left eye as his only means of communication with the world outside of his mind, which was left maddeningly intact. Subtitled, Rated PG-13

Martian Child David Gordon (John Cusack) is a man overwhelmed by the loss of his much-loved wife and well-planned future. Dennis is a six-year-old boy overwhelmed by the idea of never having had anyone or anything in the first place. David would rather conceptualize his next science fiction novel than work to reclaim his place in the world; Dennis, on the other hand, creates an entirely different world to call his own. Together they try to find peace and acceptance on the same planet. Based in part on the autobiography of David Gordon, Rated PG

***
Don’t forget that this is the fourth post for this month’s ‘feathermaye giveaway‘.  Since there are five Friday's this month, there will be one more weekly post and chance for entries next week. The winner will be drawn and announced on Saturday, January 31st.

This month’s prize is a 3-month, unlimited monthly rental gift subscription to Netflix!

For complete rules on how to enter, please click the contest button at the top of [Link Removed] .

***

Feather_films, Your links have been removed, please consider upgrading to premium membership.