Little Mister Sunshine

I'm gathering that pretty much every person savvy enough to have read a blog is savvy enough to have already seen and developed an opinion on the film "Little Miss Sunshine."

That said, if you have not seen this movie, and have any innate desire to smile, please do yourself a favor and watch it.

"Little Miss Sunshine" tells the story of six people, all related by blood, and is as beautifully honest and revelatory a film as is imaginable. It is also a wholly uplifting artistic experience.

From the opening shot, and the brief character-developing vignettes that follow, we are immediately drawn into this world and completely on the side of these six misfits. As a result we want more than anything to see them each succeed.

But what's particularly amazing, is that over the course of the film we begin to realize that success has very little to do with winning in the literal sense. And that instead, success is actually defined by the people we are.

By character. By trying. Trying to win, to provide, to coach, to endure, to love, and if nothing else, to live.

We all very much need to believe that somehow we're not losers. That in spite of everything, even we have our own cheering section.

Five other people who will set their lives aside for us. Five other people who will stand up when the world finds us ugly and unworthy. Five other people who will tell us that they love us whether we win or lose.

And amazingly enough, we do. Sometimes it just takes a little push...