A CLASSIC YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO WATCH... "SLEEPERS"

I was in two minds about sharing this film on my blog. Not because I had any doubts of its quality – quite on the contrary, it’s a classic. The director Barry Levinson won an Oscar® for his other great classic “Rain Man” – that alone speaks for itself. Then there is the cast: Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffmann, Kevin Bacon, Minnie Driver and Justin Patrick. But the subject matter is slightly tough (to put it mildly) and then there is the small problem that anyone who is ANYONE has watched this… But then again I myself only got round to it later on in life and my mother got round to it later still so, well, maybe you haven’t seen it yet either. If you haven’t you most definitely should…
Ok, this is by all accounts a true story. It’s a story that starts in the 60’s in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Lorenzo, Michael, John and Tommy are four friends who live in the area. While priests and gangsters duel it out to draw the inhabitants to their side, the boys have a happy, normal childhood, doing what boys to best – getting up to mischief. One fateful summer’s day, however, their prank goes a step too far, landing them in juvenile detention – Wilkenson Center for a year. It is an experience that will change their lives forever, for inside head guard Sean Nokes lies in wait, waiting to give them… Let’s just say a lot more punishment then anything anyone could deserve… The boys eventually get out of detention and swear never to talk about this again but then Mr Nokes crosses their paths again, this time quite by accident. Naturally, there is no way the boys can let him just “walk on by”…
Now, this film is undoubtedly very VERY tough viewing. My mother for instance, is particularly sensitive about violence towards children – she just can’t stand to watch that kind of thing… I was cautious as I told her she should watch it and she was duly shaken but didn’t regret it… But I mean, with some of the best acting talent of our time crammed into one film, how can you possibly regret it? The story, as I said, is claimed to be true. It is based on the memoirs of Lorenzo Caracatera – memoirs that have been strongly disputed by all the institutions cited in it who swear blind that the events are fictitious. I will not comment on this because I believe it has been the subject of lawsuits so I will leave “that jazz” to the courts.
However, I will say that it is a story that will shake you, disturb you but at the same time keep you glued to your seat. I will also say that cinematically, it is by far one of the greatest films of our generation. Levinson’s directing, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro the two masters, a young Brad Pitt at the height of his talents, Kevin Bacon – who makes a SUPERB bad guy as Sean Nokes. Even Jason Patrick who seems to have faded off our radars these days. Just steel your stomach and watch the film - it will change you too…

A VERY DARK COMEDY INDEED : "LIFE DURING WARTIME"

This is another one I had serious misgivings about. Well, I had misgivings about it from the beginning actually. People who saw it before told me repeatedly and with utter conviction that the film was the most boring thing they had ever seen. “Nothing happens” they told me with a certain amount of glee “good luck with that one”. I may have enjoyed the film purely out of spite but no in all honesty, it’s a good film. It’s subtle. It’s a little too close to real life for comfort. It isn’t entirely pleasant in the topics it chooses. All in all, I can see why my colleagues called it “pointless”. For me, it is full of delicate touches and dark humor – some of it truly priceless stuff.

Families. You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. And relationships – who gets those? Life During Wartime is the story of a family. Trish is now separated from her husband Bill – a pedophile who is now in prison. She is getting ready to marry her new lover who she hopes will both make her happy and be a role model for the boys. Bill, her eldest, is off at university although he is the most traumatized by the whole event. Then there is Timmy, (who thinks his father is dead, as do the rest of the neighbors) who is preparing for his Bar Mitzvah in the middle of all this madness. Chloe, the youngest, is almost completely pickled in medication so she seems OK. Then there is Trish’s sister, Joy, bringing herself and her troubles to visit. Her husband Allen has… Problems… Then there is Helen, their other sister, who is “a writer” and who has cut all communication with the family – however Joy will search her out too… Between Timmy trying to understand whether his father is dead or alive, not to mention the exact meaning of the word “pedophile” and Joy trying to put the ghosts of her past to rest, many questions concerning forgiving, forgetting, life, sex and relationships will emerge. With mixed results.

Now , on reading the synopsis, I can quite understand if you have your doubts. I’ll address those possible doubts first. No, we are in no way made to sympathize with Bill the pedophile. He does figure in the film but the film leaves us in no doubt that what he has done is disgusting and horrible, the consequences this has is in fact kind of the point. And no, there are no “details” (the lack of details in general is in fact one of the main themes of the film).

Now for the film itself. Well, I liked the idea of dark comedy about sex. I mean, when you combine the words “sex” and “comedy” it shouldn’t necessarily equal “American Pie” (I hate the American Pie series by the way and I have been unlucky enough to be forced to watch quite a few for professional reasons so I DO know what I’m talking about). There can be a dark side to sex and dark comedy is thus born. As for including something as shocking as pedophilia (and some other stuff but I don’t want to give the plot twists away) well, one of the best ways of defeating something like that is to laugh. Maybe not “forgive and forget” as the film claims but accept and move on. But forgiveness and forgetting are discussed at length in the movie. My “comic” highlights are Trish (the multiple Emmy and Golden Globe award and nomination bedecked Allison Janney I personally remember her from JUNO but she seems to have obtained fame in a US series called The West Wing) and her interaction with her son Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder – who should go very far indeed if this performance is anything to go by) and her new boyfriend Harvey (Michael Lerner – Oscar ® nominee for his part in Barton Fink). Joy (Shirly Henderson who I saw in “Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself” and absolutely LOVED) is the more serious half of the film but she also had her moments. Oh and there is a “remix” of “Hava nageela” (if I misspelt that please correct me) towards the end that I personally found priceless…

Yes the film is about forgiving and forgetting, yes as the director Todd Solondz says it is a “dark comedy about sex”. But the theme of the film is I think, above and beyond anything, is that if you look closely enough, you can find something truly touching and funny in the darkest corners… That’s what it made me think of anyway…

AN UNUSUAL BUT REWARDING LITTLE GEM : "NATURAL NOVEL"

Ok, it is time, yet again, to update the “literary” side of my blog. Now, I read this interesting little number a while back. Now, I love reading but since I have a 9 to 5 job to hold down it has become a bit of drag for me. Not because I enjoy it any less but because I am tired when I get back from the office and cannot for the life of me concentrate on reading anything. Natural Novel proved an exception to this rule however. Once I got into it, no matter what I did I could NOT put it down. Which was slightly bizarre, because I started it almost by accident and had no great illusions as to whether I would like it or not… Now, Natural Novel is a very VERY “modern”. It has a storyline sure, it has a beginning a middle and an ending too. Well… After a fashion.

Natural Novel is the story of a man whose life has just fallen apart. Our narrator tells of his failed marriage and his wife, who, he has just found out, is pregnant by another man. He then goes off on a tangent. Several tangents. The book is presented in chapters, the longest of them two or three pages long and they can be best described (in fact I saw the description in another review on the internet) as a series of vignettes. Each one may or may not be related to the initial topic or indeed the “vignette” that came before it. The story emerges, disappears, changes direction. Oh it develops and ends all right but in the true “modern” style the line is as far from linear as you can possibly imagine.

Now, you might think this would make a book almost impossible to read. I only started reading it because it was part of some volunteer work I was doing a while back – and had the exact same prediction. What I hadn’t factored in however, was Gospodinov’s talent. Each snippet, each vignette is a masterpiece in its own right, and besides, the style of the book dictates that one is perpetually left with the nagging curiosity as to “what comes next”. Plus, like I said the “main” story itself does actually advance you’re just never quite sure when it will start doing it. Plus, I have to say, it gives a VERY accurate picture of post communist life in Bulgaria. (I seem to have forgotten to mention this but the author of the book is Bulgarian) In fact, one of the main aims of the book seems to be the description of life. Personally, I liked the fact that we are almost in the mind of the distraught narrator – we rollercoaster along with him as his mind rambles and he jumps from one topic to another. I personally finished it in a matter of days and found it both fascinating and humorous. I also feel lucky in my discovery of Gospodinov. I strongly recommend you step into his world…

A STORY WE ALL REALLY SHOULD KNOW - THE STORY OF THE SOCIAL NETWORK!

For whatever reason, I very rarely seem to review films that are actually on in the cinemas. That is because my job dictates that I watch a large number of films a couple of months after they are in cinemas. I don’t like seeing films twice (except for the classics naturellement) and thus my blog ends up being slightly “willy nilly” and all over the place – and also largely dependant on my mood at the time. However, I will break with tradition this week and discuss something that is actually on / or was on very recently – David Fincher’s film “The Social Network”. It’s a fascinating idea of course I mean Facebook is pretty much the phenomenon that defines our generation. Even not being on it is considered a sort of statement… Naturally, Mark Zuckerberg – the youngest billionaire of all times – is a valid point of interest. And his story is interesting to say the very least…

It’s a story a lot of us know somehow but let’s run through the basics again. Mark Zuckerberg was a highly successful student at Harvard University. He is a genius computer programmer even if not the most popular student on campus. He then comes up with the idea of a social networking website or allegedly he steals the original idea from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss we don’t know and I don’t want to comment as it was part of a very VERY large lawsuit and the film doesn’t particularly comment on it either. Suffice to say that Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg – of whom I had heard of but funnily enough never seen in anything) with the financial aid and support of his best (and only) friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield – remember I told you about him in the Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus). As we all know, the whole thing was a HUGE hit and began to grow, attracting the attention of many people, among them Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake – now I don’t know which camp you’re on and I’m not a fan but credit where it’s due the guy CAN act). Sean Parker is a bit of a loose canon with great ideas, charm and charisma. Mark and he seem to be almost made for each other and Sean is very soon part of the company. There is one person he doesn’t charm however – the company’s C.F.O and main founder Eduardo. That is where things start getting… A little awkward…

Now, the film is, I think, brilliant. Then again, I’m biased – I think the director David Fincher is brilliant (Fight Club, Zodiac and Seven are among my favorite films of all times). I am also a healthy addict of Facebook so who am I to complain? The film is honest; our hero Mark Zuckerberg is by no means a “huggable” character. Jesse Eisenberg does a brilliant job of portraying the socially awkward but amazingly intelligent Zuckerberg. Plus Andrew Garfield is growing on me – kinda like a rash. This film is a very good example of why I love true stories – films about real life. The characters are not “perfect” they act emotionally; sometimes they make bad decisions… I know that these guys have achieved fame and fortune and now live lives far beyond most of our means; HOWEVER, the film is completely approachable for this reason. And this is also why it’s different from the 10 a penny “American Dream” movies out there. The film is REAL. Not just in the sense that it is a real story but emotionally real and grounded and easy to relate to. But then again there is nothing I loathe more in a film than “perfect” characters which is why a) I’m slightly biased b) 15 minutes into the film I had a broad grin all over my face and was thinking “Ok, this is gonna be interesting.

What else? Well, you would be wrong to think this film is going to be very “geeky” and “computery” and incomprehensible. Yes, Facebook is an online phenomenon but it is also a social phenomenon that has taken over the world in case you hadn’t noticed. It is about people. In this case, specifically about the people that created a website that is a concrete part of our lives… Which is why on one level, it can be said that one may consider knowing this story part of basic general culture.

A WOMAN WHO CALLS THE SHOTS - JACKIE BROWN

As I start my review, I just want to share a weird fact with you guys. Whenever I think about this film the song “Ma Baker” starts going around in my head. No idea why – no connection to the movie. The human brain is weird… Anyway, this, my dearest readers, is another Tarantino movie. One I hadn’t watched until recently. Now, I love Tarantino but this movie isn’t my favorite. It proves one point though: Even the worst Tarantino movie (I’m not saying it is the worst; it’s just that it’s the one I liked the least) is better than a lot of people’s best movies out there… Sorry guys but that’s a FACT…

OK, so who is Jackie Brown? She (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant for a tiny airlines flying between L.A. and Cabo – Mexico. She doesn’t make much money; therefore, she needs to take on a couple of extra jobs. Like acting as mule for arms dealer Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson * swoooon * ). This is all working just fine until the cops bust her. They are not after her, however – but Ordell. The problem is that Ordell has been so successful in evading them and covering his tracks (you’re dead if he so much as suspects you MIGHT talk to the cops) the police (Michael Bowen and Michael Keaton) don’t even know his name. Hence Jackie finds herself in a VERY tight spot. She must either go to jail and risk losing her already modest job for good or collaborate with the police and risk losing her life. But then Max Cherry the bail bondsman enters the picture. He is a sweet guy who falls madly in love with Jackie and with him she hatches a plan to play the police and the gangsters off against each other and walk off with A LOT of money. It’s risky. She will have to get passed Ordell’s henchman Louis (Robert De Niro) and girlfriend (well sort of) Melanie (Bridget Fonda) and of course thwart Ordell himself…

So it’s basically a heist movie. But WHAT a blast from the past. First up it’s the 90’s. People buy cassettes (are you old enough to remember cassettes? I am and realized how long it had been since I had seen one as I watched this). Then of course, no cell phones. The hair and clothes. Then, the actors. I mean, naturally, barr Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro but ask yourself WHEN did you last see Pam Grier? Michael Keaton – I mean he was BEETLEJUICE for Heaven’s sake!! He appears to have tried his hand at directing and voiced over in Toy Story but when did you actually see him in something? In my case, I’m thinking years… Robert Forster was nominated for an Oscar® for this performance – but I honestly don’t remember seeing him in anything else… The film isn’t just a “brainless American flic” either – even the Berlin Film Festival nominated Mr. Tarantino for a Golden Bear. Samuel L. Jackson actually made off with a Silver Bear. And that’s only a tiny snippet of awards and nominations it received…

If you find Tarantino movies overly violent this one is good news. It isn’t as violent as his other stuff – not by a long shot. I mean sure there is violence (this IS a gangster movie you guys beef up a bit!) and sudden deaths but not in anyway that would upset… Let’s say your average cop drama viewer. And it contains all those other things that make me swoon over Mr. Tarantino’s work – a smart plotline, A LOT of excitement and witty repartee (and that last one you HAVE to admit is a rare gem in films today!)

A TRIP TO END ALL TRIPS OF ALL KINDS! "FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS"

Time for something a little more “hard hitting”. We centered around the emotional traumas of war, the 60’s and even the 20’s last week, but this week , I’m going for the “tough stuff”. Quentin Tarantino will feature heavily in the proceedings but before we get to him, I want to discuss another of my favorite directors. Terry Gilliam. Now, to say I love Monty Python would rank among the great understatements of the century… Terry Gilliam is the one in the band who did the animations. A graphic artist by trade he did those beautiful surreal animations that sort of wound out of one absurd shape into another without so much as a “by your leave” leaving the viewer completely befuddled as to where he began in the first place… In a strange way, I feel his work as a director has a lot of the same surreal quality… Not the photography but the storytelling… Did you watch Tideland? Or The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus? Did you like either? If you said yes, you will LOVE Fear and Loathing…
Meet Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp). He was a newspaper reporter somewhere down the line. He still is, thanks to his large Samoan “attorney” Dr Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro). Dr. Gonzo and Duke do a lot of traveling together. They also get into A LOT of serious trouble together. They are usually loaded on every kind of drink and drug imaginable, and they surrender to the drugs, let it course through their bodies and take them wherever the f.ck it feels like. Most of these adventures are fuelled by Duke’s sporadic work as a journalist. And this work sends our weird duo to Las Vegas one fine morning. Mayhem being both Las Vegas’s and Duke and Gonzo’s middle names, the combination is… Highly combustible…
Ok, think of the Big Lebowski. It’s the same kind of film. It is most definitely not suitable for kids. And I hear some of you tut – tutting at the idea of a comedy about drugs saying “maybe we’ll give this one a miss”. No. Do NOT give this one a miss. As far as comedy is concerned, Mr. Gilliam’s talent as a director and Mr. Depp’s acting skills alone make for an unforgettable experience. Raoul Duke, his mannerisms, his way of speech… No wonder the character became a classic… Plus, guest appearances are abundant – Cameron Diaz, Toby Maguire, Christina Ricci… The quality of acting is breath-taking… You may have slight trouble distinguishing a beginning and an end – you would not be wrong. The film however, has content. You will be surprised to find out it even has a political message. Duke harks back to the 60’s when flower power ruled, when the world WAS going to become filled with peace and harmony… He criticizes America of the 80’s and what it became (Gilliam is the only American python so it’s appropriate really. Let’s not forget however that this was actually adapted from a short story by Hunter Tompson but I am yet to read that one…) Duke and Gonzo are degenerates – they are also caricatures… Maybe what Gilliam (and Tompson) are looking for is present with its absence so to speak… You really should watch and give it a good thought… I mean even the dudes at Cannes thought Mr. Gilliam could be worth a Golden Palm (he was nominated didn’t win it thought)Even if you don’t come up with any philosophical or political conclusions, I guarantee you one heck of a ride…

FOUR MEMORABLE STORIES FROM "FOUR ROOMS" -

Now this is an interesting project. It’s one of those things you wish you had thought of yourself, you know? I’ll give you the tagline for the film: “Twelve outrageous guests. Four scandalous requests. And one lone bellhop, on his first day on the job, who's in for the wildest New Year's Eve of his life.” Set in a hotel, an old rambling hotel – so down on its luck that the entire staff is down to just the manager and the bellhop – four rooms tells the story of, well you got it… Four rooms. Now, each “room” is directed by a different director and is about 20 – odd minutes long. The writer /directors are Allison Anderson, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.
Ted the bellhop (Tim Roth) is stuck at work on New Year’s Eve. The hotel isn’t exactly what you might call full, but there are quite a few guests (twelve in total) knocking around… They are possibly the last handful of guests the hotel may have, so he runs hither and thither to assist and serve… However, not everything will quite go his way… There is a group of very strange ladies (among whom we can spy Madonna) gathering in the honeymoon suite. A rather rowdy couple in 409 who will prove more trouble than they first seem to be. A gangster (Antonio Banderas) and his wife who desperately need a babysitter for their two rather spoilt children will squarely land on Ted in 309 and just as he is ready to pack the whole thing in and leave, the famous film star in the penthouse (ironically played by Tarantino himself) rings with a rather bizarre list of requests.
Now, I love the idea of this film – and it’s really funny in bits, especially the Rodriguez and Tarantino segments (the gangster and the star in the penthouse. By the way, don’t you love the way Tarantino casts himself in his earlier films? Does anyone know why he stopped doing that?) . But, without presuming to be an expert, I may well have done a few things differently. For instance, the four stories DO NOT interact at all if you don’t count Ted. Except once – and even that was, I felt, a slight push. I kind of like the Balzac approach, you know, he will be talking about a character in a novel and just then another character from another novel will come walking by… Not necessarily for any reason in the plot, just as a cameo as it were. They could at least have done that in my opinion – this result is just too cut off… Tim Roth is VERY good to give him his due. However, there were times where I could swear that he was just trying to be Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers and only just failing (you’ve heard of Basil Fawlty right? John Cleese’s character from the British sitcom? Oh never mind, just click here) Thirdly, well, not all the stories were, in my view, that interesting. I mean, the first one is well and good; but I wouldn’t have persisted with the rest if I didn’t know that a Tarantino performance was coming up in the end… However, persist I did, and ended up positively howling with laughter in bits and remembering why it was that I adored Mr. Tarantino. I have also developed a healthy interest in Mr. Rodriguez and will proceed to dig a film of his out of my “to watch” pile for next week… You’re going to have to be patient for that one though ;)

"ADAPTATION" OF A LIFETIME!

Those of you who have made my humble blog a place of regular visit may have noticed I enjoy writing. I only wish I could find more time to do it in! However, as someone who LOVES movies and loves writing, when I saw Adaptation – a film about writing – I had to see it. Technically, it was the second time I saw it, but the first time was years ago and it doesn’t seem to have made much of an impression on me (I couldn’t remember a thing about it) although God knows why… It’s a truly magnificent film on almost all counts…

Now, this film is based on true events. But please put an emphasis on “based”. Although there no doubt are real events it is based on, the film is by and large fictionalized by its scriptwriter Charlie Kauffman. The film is about – Charlie Kaufman. After gaining critical acclaim with Being John Malkovich, Charlie Kaufman (played here by Nicolas Cage. Funny, didn’t we see more of him in the past? Where is he now?) receives another commission. He is to adapt a book – The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (the acting legend Meryl Streep) – to screen. Doesn’t sound like a challenge for a professional scriptwriter, no? Well, yes in this case. Try as he might, Charlie can’t adapt the book; meanwhile, his infuriatingly outgoing and smooth twin brother Donald (also Nicolas Cage) decides to take up screenwriting as well and plunges ahead. Between his personal life that is crumbling at the edges due to Charlie’s timidity and pressure from the producers Charlie, begins to become slightly obsessed with Susan Orlean and the real life character of her book John LaRoche (Chris Cooper who won an Oscar ® for his performance in the film). As he struggles with the script and follows his obsession – with help from his twin brother Donald – he will make many discoveries… A lot of self-discovery but a couple of scandals as well…

Now, between Chris Cooper, Meryl Streep and Nicolas Cage, one isn’t surprised to come across some of the best acting of our times… Spike Jonze is well known as a director anyway, I’m not going to go on and on about him… And with a scriptwriter like Kaufman (Yes you DO know him actually. He wrote stuff like Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich) it is one HELL of a yarn… But it is interesting on another level as well – I mean this is a master talking about his trade. He even brings in one of the great academics in the field of screenwriting – John McKee in for a short spurt. But it’s not bookish in case you’re wondering; it’s HILARIOUS to start with. And then it takes a surprise turn and becomes INCREDIBLY exciting… It provides plenty of laughs, plenty of food for thought… All in all very similar to a good meal executed by the best of the profession for every course… And what about the reality of it? Well, just to start with Charlie Kaufman DOES NOT have a twin brother called Donald. And although the book The Orchid Thief does exist and Kaufman was supposed to adapt it, he couldn’t exactly – the book was too void of structure so he wrote his own frustrations in, and lo and behold “Adaptation” was born – bringing a trail of BAFTAs, Golden Globes, a Silver Bear and a Golden Bear nomination at the Berlin Film Festival for Spkie Jonze and much, much more… You will not be disappointed…

KEEP THE TISSUES HANDY... IT'S TIME FOR "THE KITE RUNNER"

I have been bitterly BITTERLY neglecting the “literature” side of this little fellow… This is why my update this week will be based mainly around books – there will even be an actual book in it! But before that, let’s cast our eyes over this little gem. Now I had read Khalid Husseini’s absolutely marvelous work “The Kite Runner” a while back – though why I never put it on the blog escapes me – and loved it. It made perfect sense that such a touching and emotionally rich work should be adapted to the big screen. The only surprise is that I had never actually heard of it until I was sheltering from the rain in a foreign country in a large bookstore. I didn’t speak the language; however, that DVD cover could have only meant one thing… A quick scan of the credit block behind (always has to contain the original name you see) confirmed my suspicion. And that is how me, my mother and my grandmother ended up watching said film a couple of weeks later… I am happy to let you know THIS is an adaptation that worked out at any rate…
I suppose I should give you a quick scan of the story. Luckily, the film adaptation is very faithful to the actual book, so if you have read the book, you can watch it in peace… Now, we are transported back to Afghanistan in the late 70’s. Before all the troubles began, before the Taliban, even before the Soviets… Amir is a little boy of around 10. His mother died when she was giving birth to him and he is being brought up by his father, a rich and powerful man who believes in “tough love” and all other things “manly”. Amir is a sensitive soul –even a bit of an artist, he tries to write, does not like playing rough with the other kids. He even gets pushed around a bit but his best friend Hassan, who is the son of his father’s servant Ali, always comes to his rescue, much to his father’s disgust… Their peaceful existence will be disrupted by two events… One that bitterly fractures the two children’s friendship (which I will leave you to discover in detail) and a second that threatens their very existence: The Soviet invasion. Amir’s father is known – renowned – for hating communists so he takes his son and everything he can realistically carry and leaves for a new beginning in the new world – America. The two will get there and even have their fresh start but then one day, the past contacts the now fully grown Amir on the phone… “There is a way to be good again” says the voice… “You need to come back”…
Approach this film with PLENTY of tissues. No matter where you look in this film, you will find a deep and real emotion that touches your soul. Add to that it's Oscar nominated soundtrack and you have nowhere to hide basically... The day to day life in Afghanistan before the troubles began. The relationship between Amir and his father – who often fluctuates between being proud of his son and wanting to give him a firm shake to “man him up”. I won’t even begin on Hassan and Amir. The film gets its name from a tradition of the area that I honestly didn’t know about before – kite tournaments. It’s a big thing apparently, every year the children of the area get together with carefully and lovingly prepared kites… The strings are reinforced with broken glass and glue paste. The aim is to use various tricks to cut the strings of the other kites and be the last kite standing. Kite running is the act of catching the kite that has been cut – finders, keepers. In our case, Amir being the master of the house, Hassan is the kite “runner” and the best in town too… Another fair warning I should give you is that you will find this film tough viewing on some counts – and there are many possible “counts”… A modern classic all the same though – not to be missed…

THE PLACE TO GO WHEN YOU GET THE MEAN REDS! "BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S" – THE MOVIE!

If you recall, I have actually reviewed the book this is adapted from on the blog (click here!). I was dubious as to whether I should or shouldn’t put it here a second time but then I watched the film and realized something: They are literally two different works of art! I didn’t know what to make of this discovery (not that it’s anything too extremely new for anyone further immersed in the cinema than myself of course). Honestly, if Audrey Hepburn wasn’t such a DELIGHTFUL, no scratch that, PHENOMENAL Holly Golightly I would write the film down as a “disappointing Hollywood makeover”. As it is, well, the whole thing is based on a novella – not even a book – and OK artistic license is an acceptable thing but still… There is such a thing as too much of a good thing: S
The story is basically the same as the book. A young writer called Paul Varjak, his neighbor the inimitable Holly Golightly and her crazy life and her nameless cat (poor nameless slob). (The cat is second only to Audrey Hepburn in the film as far as artistic achievement is concerned in my humble opinion). ..
There are, however “little” additions and “subtractions” from the film. Here, Paul Varjak is the “kept man” of a rich and married decorator lady (in the novel, he’s just a starving writer). Naturally, the fact that he is torn between his true love, Holly and his “patron” make a nice Hollywoody twist but I found it slightly pointless and stale. A lot of the action is thus based around the patron – Ok, I get that it has to be “tied in” and it makes it very convenient; HOWEVER, there is nothing at all forcing them to squeeze the film into a shorter timeline, they might have let it flow a tiny bit longer… What else? Mag Wildwood is almost completely axed from the film (she has one short appearance and that’s it). Joe Bell’s bar is axed. Oh and just incidentally, the end of the story is completely and utterly turned on its head. I need to check and see whether Mr. Capote was alive at the time this was filmed (my common sense tells me probably not) but I would be fascinated to find out what he made of this…
“Then why on earth” I hear you exclaim”are you reviewing this in the first place? I thought we had agreed you only wrote about things you liked…” The thing is, I did like it. It’s great. It’s sweet. It’s worth watching for Audrey Hepburn and the cat alone(The film was nominated for 3 Oscars one of which was Best Actress so I'm not alone in thinking this. The other two nominations were Art Direction and Writing. It won a further 2 Oscars - Best Song and Best Music). If you haven’t read the book, you will LOVE it and think I’m mad. It’s a lovely, quintessentially 60’s Hollywood film. (Infact the director, Blake Edwards is also someone you probably actually know. If the name doesn't seem familiar he directed most of the Pink Panther films!) However, if you read the book and enjoyed it, just… Think of it as a different work of art all together… Then you should be all right…

THE GREAT GATSBY

In my neighborhood, conveniently close to my house there is a bookstore. In that bookstore there is a section where they sell vey reasonably priced modern classics that I often haven’t read before. It’s a pretty small section, the bookstore is dedicated to the “newest thing” more often than not but I tend to check it regularly for bargains. On one such occasion I came back beaming armed with two such modern classics. One of them is the above mentioned Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I wolfed the book down in a matter of two days (to give it it’s due my edition is only a 172 pages long). By the time I had got through it I felt as if I had been hit by a bus…
Nick Carraway is a rather reserved young man living in Long Island. He is a realist with feet firmly planted on the ground, leading a very “normal” life and going down to work in the city every day. Next to his modest home is a stately mansion, filled with all the riches a man could desire. It is the setting of lavish parties everyone who is everyone goes to – regardless of whether they were invited or not. The owner of this house is Gatsby. Jay Gatsby. He is something of a man of legend, no one quite knows his origins or his business, all they know is that he is ridiculously rich, mysterious and never drinks at his own parties… He does however, have a secret. A secret Nick Carraway will become privy to, entangled in and changed by…
I was absolutely bowled over by this book… A lot of people, I have been surprised to find out, have a slight prejudice towards Fitzgerald. My grandfather who is a literature professor benignly said “Well, light fiction is also necessary of course”. My grandmother refused to read it point blank – deemed it a waste of time. However I think this is a grave misjudgment of the novel. You will have to get to the end to truly understand the deep and tragic message underlying the whole novel; basically it is dreams, it is real life, it is pursuing a dream at all costs and truly fighting for it… Nick Carraway seemed rather constipated to me all through the novel if you will. I got so aggravated with him I wanted to give him a good shake. I know see that he had to be that way – there is a Carraway and a Gatsby in all of us, the question is of course which one gets the upper hand…
I read a little (a very little mind you) about Fitzgerald’s own life after that… He died tragically young at 46 – and I am sure he had a lot more to offer us. And his beloved wife Zelda was prone to mental breakdowns that shook their marriage and them both individually… I can’t help thinking Fitzgerald’s battle between dreams and real life is in fact heavily influenced by this… I know I am being rather tiresomely underhand about the whole thing but I really want you to unravel Gatsby’s secrets for yourself. Let it suffice to say that even those of us with the teeniest hint of a dreamer hidden in our souls will find a little piece of ourselves in this novel… And be truly moved by it…