As readers of RinkWorks all must know, I love movies. I watch movies very frequently, all genres, old and new. Today was a very special movie day. I watched what I recommend as the quintessential double feature: "Amelie," followed by "Jason X."

Both films discuss important human themes of social significance, approaching the same basic issue from opposing perspectives and, together, completing the exploration of a single idea.

"Amelie," a fantastical French comedy by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is a colorful visual feast for the eyes. It's about a woman who discovers that her calling in life is to help people -- and not just to help them but to help them in delightful and deliriously convoluted ways, amusing herself and the audience in the process. But the central question is, can she help herself? It's much easier, sometimes, to patch someone else's life together than one's own.

"Jason X," like "Amelie," features a main character who proactively influences the lives of others. In an age where money seems to be all that talks, the stories of Amelie and Jason Voorhees, characters who expect no reward or recompense for their actions, are a breath of fresh air.

"Jason X," the tenth film in the acclaimed "Friday the 13th" series, is in its own way, a visual feast. But where "Amelie" features endives and artichokes, "Jason X" takes more of a raw meat approach. And whereas Amelie's services are of humanitarian aid, anonymously rendered, Jason's have more of a negative connotation, and he's not shy about taking the spotlight. Jason's specialty is to kill people -- and not just kill people but kill them in bizarre and deliriously convoluted ways, amusing himself and...well, himself, in the process. But again arises the paradox of the self: can he kill himself? It's much easier, sometimes, to kill another than to kill oneself. And if Jason cannot kill himself, who can?

It's not difficult to understand how "Amelie" and "Jason X" are two sides of the same coin. But just as it is difficult to identify the individual ingredients of a subtly refined meal, the ingredients of life are better studied in isolation. "Amelie" is sunny and timeless, representing good will and optimism, while "Jason X" completes the portrait of the human soul with its grim, futuristic vision. Life and the human condition, you see, is a little bit of both, blended together. Having studied these ingredients, in successive but separate viewings of "Amelie" and "Jason X," we may then merge them together in our minds and come to a complete understanding.

In plainer terms, try to imagine Amelie conspiring to lift Jason's spirits when he's down, while Jason tries to skewer Amelie with a meat cleaver.

Life is pretty much just like that.