Alike in our Passion

Born to Be Blue

"I want to play. All I want is to play." 

There is no such thing as too much Ethan Hawke on this blog :) 

I am still incredibly grateful that he can be so prolific and release movie after movie, after book :) 

"Born to Be Blue" (2015) is a fantastic one, a mixture of beautiful  jazz music, a story of never giving up on your dreams and Ethan Hawke getting more and more talented (who would have thought this was possible? :)) 

"You should find one thing and be better at it than anybody else in the world." 

The drama film tells the story of Chet Baker, the American jazz trumpeter with a divine voice who falls in love in his adulthood and after getting his teeth knocked out in a fight, tries to musically come back and impress his audience with his original style and music. All this happens in the late 1960s and this is one more reason why you will most definitely enjoy the movie: the music is perfect, the atmosphere of those times is rendered vividly and 'the movie within a movie' idea (Chet was in fact asked to star in a movie about his life) mingles just fine. 

What else to add? Ethan wanted to play this part for more than 15 years but at that time, his age did not match.  After years of effort, he successfully managed to do that with his charisma, energy and fearlessness. Am I just praising him because I am a huge fan? Not really. The Guardian and Rolling Stone have written wonderful reviews. 

Last but not least, Ethan performs two of the 14 songs from the soundtrack, "My Funny Valentine" and "I've Never been in Love Before". Enjoy it! 

Cold Fish

I decided to watch another Sion Sono movie and this time, I got more than I would have wished for. I was aware that the Japanese director was in for shocking the hell out of us, but he went much further and exploited the true story of two serial killers in order to transform it into something horrifying and totally outrageous. 

The title of "Cold Fish", directed in 2010, has a double meaning: the main characters are owners of exotic fish shops, but the idiom "cold fish" also refers to someone who shows no emotion and looks uninterested, until... 

The first 45 minutes seem "reasonable" to watch and you may think the story could go anywhere just to end up into something ordinary, but do not be fooled, at the Venice International Film Festival in 2010 the movie received the best screenplay award, so if you are not sickened by the literal blood and guts spread everywhere, you may ask yourself why a perfect stranger would want to help you when you face a problem... Add to this an unsatisfied wife, a house in the woods and a calm husband who can take so much... "Life is pain", utters the main character as his final line and if you are brave enough, you will be able to discover his madness at the end of this vicious and dark horror movie. 

You can find the trailer here. 

Guilty of Romance

Once or twice a year I indulge myself in watching a Japanese movie that has been regarded by critics as a controversial artistic creation. I do not do this more often because, just as with Japanese literature, Japanese movies are something from a different planet, the type of movie that ends up haunting you and you find yourself every other day asking about the different meanings behind certain dramatic or kinky scenes.

My first viewing this year was "Guilty of Romance" (2011) directed by Sion Sono. It is a mixture of sex and death and pseudo-relationships between mother and daughter or husband and wife. The dark human psyche of a bored wife leads her from non-existent physical love to sexual deprivation and something even more repulsive than that. Izumi yearns for passion and attention and she gets it at first from a hot blooded prostitute by night and a professor by day, then from men who pay for her sexual services, and finally from her husband, to close the circle. The mixture of madness, danger and sexual gratification is almost palpable and the ending leaves you nauseated.

"Guilty of Romance" is the final part of the "Hate" trilogy, with "Love Exposure" (2008) and "Cold Fish" (2010) being the other two and I am sure I will gather the strength to watch them sometime later this year. The films are not connected with each other but the themes are similar: sex, religion and family. A self confessed "hater", Sono declared in an interview that the hate inside him was so strong that "Guilty of Romance" was his "concession speech towards love, because I was exhausted from hating." 

One Very Special Rendez Vous

Elle: "Mon seul tabou, c'est l'homme marie."(My only taboo is the married man.)
Lui: "C'est fou ce que tu me plais, c'est dingue." (It's crazy how much I like you, it's mad.)

Even if "Paris in July" is over, I could not stay away from a supposedly great movie, with the talented Francois Cluzet, whose movies are a must and the beautiful Sophie Marceau. I was right. This is a piece of cinematic artistry one cannot soon forget. "Une rencontre" or "Quantum of Love" (2014)  tells the story of two people - a not so single woman and a very married man - who meet, fall in love but, for their "story not to end, in must never begin." Still, we can all create a reality that is quite what we wished for... or can we?

Ne le Dis a Personne

If you are an avid movie buff like myself, especially when it comes to French movies, you surely have seen at least one starring Francois Cluzet. If you haven't, then it's time to do your homework and you may even start with "Tell No One", and then move to the spectacular "Les Intouchables" which you will surely adore. "Ne le dis a personne" is not the only collaboration between Cluzet and the young director, former actor, Guillaume Canet. In 2010 he also starred in Canet's movie "Les petits mouchoirs", which is also an interesting movie about friends, family and love that ties all that.

"Ne le Dis a Personne" tells the story of a pediatrician who marries his childhood sweetheart, and then, his wife is killed... or so it seems. Then, years later, he is accused of having killed his wife and he finds himself struggling to prove that is not true... Of course, you cannot trust anyone's words in this thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until you realize the final credits are on the screen. Definitely worth seeing, especially because my favorite actress, the versatile Kristin Scott Thomas, stars as well and I cannot but love it every time she speaks French with that fancy accent of hers :)
Here's the trailer!

"Le Week-end" in Paris

 If there is only one movie you should see this month, then it has to be "Le week-end", a British bittersweet comedy/drama written by Hanif Kureishi, whose book "Intimacy" I also enjoyed watching on the screen years ago.
The movie is about a married couple who decide to celebrate their 30th anniversary by going to Paris, where they spent their honeymoon. Nothing spectacular so far, except that they seem to feel differently about the stage they are in, and their relationship.
Although Nick feels that she is the only one he could love, Meg may be on the brink of asking for a divorce since she feels there is more than "THE one" in one's life. To quote her, "love dies only if you kill it", while Nick honestly states that "love is the only interesting thing, far more difficult to do than sex".
However, they do meet somewhere in the middle (on a Parisian bridge, maybe) to realize that the love between them is stronger than any whim or even resentment they may have. As The Telegraph put it, it is simply "sophisticated, sharp and funny". Is there anything else to ask for in a movie? Maybe that it be set in Paris? Checked :)

Fairy Tales Do Exist!

 I am not a huge Colin Farrell fan, but I had to watch this movie, maybe because the book, written by Mark Helprin, was so incredible I had to check they could not turn it into a great movie. Of course, it was not the case, the book is far more enchanting than the movie but it is still worth watching. "Winter's Tale" is a story about love that goes beyond any notion of time and place. It is about falling in love and staying in love forever. It sounds quite challenging, but then, "we love to save", says the main character, and maybe that is the true purpose of love, to surpass any trace of evil and, just like a white horse, to impress and create miracles. The trailer is here.
UPDATE: Since I was kindly asked to give a little more information on the story, here it is: Peter Lake, an orphan, is trying to rob a mansion in New York but accidentally - or not - falls in love with Beverly Penn, a beautiful young girl who is dying. Or is she? Their love is so strong that Peter is driven to stop time or wishes he could steal her from the almighty death. Read the book/ watch the movie to see if he succeeds. 

An Unforgettable Character

The Good Wife

Here's me doing my homework, and that is writing another creative task for "The Future of Storytelling" course, and this time I have to write about a character from a TV series that I find interesting, to say the least :)
So, I could not help but choose Alicia Florrick, played by the beautiful Julianna Margulies, the supposedly good wife of the series with the same name. She is such a powerful woman, driven by the desire to succeed on her own, after many years devoted to taking care of her two kids, Zack and Grace,  supporting her unfaithful husband by playing the part of the "political wife" and playing hide and seek in the bedroom with Will Gardner, one of the partners at the law firm where she is working, "Lockhart and Gardner" (update: where she used to work).
Alicia loves a good challenge, and I can still remember the episodes in which she stood against the cunning Louis Canning, played by Michael J. Fox or the infatuated Mike Kresteva played by Matthew Perry.

What I like most about Alicia is that fact that she continues to surprise me with every episode. She is daring, she can forgive but not forget, she can go beyond gossip and people's opinion and what her marriage should be and she wants to prove herself without making too many compromises. I admire the way she knew how to make friends with Cary Agos, who seemed to be against her and her husband at first, how she was one step ahead her opponent lawyers and managed to win difficult trials, and how she can still have fun and act as a "merry go round" wife with her husband, now the state governor. Last but not least, I find her friendship with Kalinda during the two seasons quite intriguing.

She may be seen as mysterious and cold, but she can be very attached to her cases, or her gay brother. She enjoys a glass of wine and a good trick played on those who stand against her.
Now that the 5th season has started, I can say that getting back with Peter after the huge scandal was the most important event of her life, and I am quite sure, seeing how supportive he can be in return for her forgiveness, she was most influenced by his life and straying in her decisions. The famous saying "What does not kill you makes you stronger" is the perfect quote to define Alicia Florrick.

The Story of All Stories

 “A love story is not about those who lost their heart but about those who find that sullen inhabitant who, when it is stumbled upon, means the body can fool no one, can fool nothing—not the wisdom of sleep or the habit of social graces. It is a consuming of oneself and the past.”

I have been taking a creative course on "The Future of Storytelling", which seems quite interesting after its first week, and my first assignment is to write about the story that has impressed me the most. My first thought, and the one which stayed with me the past few days was to talk about "The English Patient", since this is the story that impressed me the most, it is one of those stories that gets engrained in your heart forever.

I still remember having seen the movie for the first time at the cinema close to my place, back in 1997, and the emotions that kept on gathering during its showing. I remember how beautiful and tragic everything seemed, how every glimpse that the two characters shared felt like everlasting love. I liked Hana more that Katharine at first, maybe because she felt more down to earth, but after seeing the film for more than 6 times, I can say that I do understand Katharine better now.

I am sure that everyone will really like to experience such a life altering love story, that goes beyond being alive and present, but of course, without its tragic end.

I also remember looking for the soundtrack, that perfect music that rendered the movie even more enchanting. At that time CDs were not very popular in my country but I luckily found an American volunteer who I was working with in the summer of 2001 and she kindly recorded a tape for me. Needless to say I still have it.

But my journey towards the most beautiful story ever told did not stop there. A Romanian publishing house decided to print the book in Romanian and I can still recall the excitement with which I started reading the book, absorbing its every word. Then, in 2007, while in Northern Germany, I found "The English Patient" in its original English version in a small bookshop. What a happy encounter that was! And in 2010 I wanted to own a different, "improved" English edition, which I now do. While my passion grew bigger each day, I started following Ralph Fiennes's and Kristin Scott Thomas' careers and I can truly say they are incredible actors, never disappointing me with the parts they played. Oh, I also managed two years ago to get Michael Ondaatje's autograph on his newest release, "The Cat's Table". Lucky me, I guess.



As for the story developing in "The English Patient", if you have seen the movie or read the book, there is no point in telling you about its beauty and if you haven't read or seen the book, then you have to see for yourself as I do not plan on spoiling everything for you...

“Her life with others no longer interests him. He wants only her stalking beauty, her theatre of expressions. He wants the minute secret reflection between them, the depth of field minimal, their foreignness intimate like two pages of a closed book.”

Sous le Ciel de Paris...

July is over and what a Paris - related month it was, with lots of books and French music and movies! Oh, how I love holidays with worries aside...
Here are some of the movies I have seen this month, hoping you will be curious enough to give them a try:

"Ma Mere" (My Mother), starring Isabelle Huppert, whom we talked about months ago, is a movie based on Georges Bataille's book with the same title and it presents quite a disturbing story between a promiscuous mother and her troubled son. Having watched an interview with the director, I was made aware that the sex shown was meant to make us cross moral boundaries... It is a movie I would recommend to those who want to check where the new French cinema is heading.

"Dieu Est Grand, Je Suis Toute Petite" (God is great, I am Really Small) is a light movie about Michele, played by now the famous Audrey Tautou ("Amelie") , who struggles with becoming Jewish and still keeping her Jewish boyfriend.

"Amour" is probably one of the most beautiful movies I have seen so far and I am so thrilled that such cinematic jewels are still made by talented directors such as Haneke, whose two other movies I will surely watch. "Amour", which premiered in Cannes in 2012 and won Palme d'Or, the highest distinction tells the story of a love beyond common understanding between an old couple. It is definitely a must see for anyone who still believes in the powers of simple yet touching love stories.

"Dans la Maison" (In the House) was such an amazing discovery. The story is so intricate and captivating, the actors (Kristin Scott Thomas included) are so talented that you find yourself on the edge of your seat impatiently waiting to see what will happen next between the bored teacher and the student whose inspiration goes beyond the limit. Excellent movie!

All four movies seen for my pleasure but also for Paris in July Challenge :)

Isabelle Huppert - Woman of Many Faces

My passion for French movies is still growing and I have recently discovered a wonderful actress, Isabelle Huppert, who turned 60 but looks a lot younger than that, whose career began in the '70s and who has been nominated (and also won a few prizes for Best Actress) at international film festivals.You can find more info here. 

 Here are my impressions on the three movies she plays in:
"Gabrielle" is the story of a married woman who realizes she does not love her husband anymore and she actually dares to tell him that face to face. The whole movie is centered around the discussion between Gabrielle and her husband who cannot understand her reasons and lack of love. Huppert manages to embody the cold woman perfectly well but what I did not enjoy was the unrealistic ending, or maybe realistic for the 1920s.
"The Piano Teacher" is a masterpiece, just like Elfriede Jelinek's book. Huppert plays the part of the masochistic piano teacher Erika Kohut who feels attracted to one of her students, played by talented Benoit Magimel. The relation between them becomes quite complex and ends tragically. The movie is extremely tense and it shows, one more time, that Isabelle Huppert is an incredible actress.
"My Worst Nightmare" presents the story of a broke guy who is about to lose his child and the relationship/ affair he develops with a married, cold woman, Agathe, played by Huppert. It is one of those cases in which the two characters should never have met, but they did and we realize in the end the reason. Despite Huppert's performance, the ending did not seem plausible at all because the characters seem too different to be together for a long period of time... but then, I am not a director :)

My next stop: Isabelle Huppert in "Madame Bovary", directed by Claude Chabrol, one of Huppert's favorite directors. 

The French Do It Better

At least when it comes to good movies. In the past few months I have been watching a lot of French movies and they all lead me to this conclusion: they are all more emotional, more interesting and less tacky than most/all Hollywood films. You only have to watch "Cafe de Flore" to realize this simple truth. If time allows it, you can also watch "Seraphine" (the story of a housekeeper turned painter) or "Tomboy" (a girl who truly wishes she were a boy). They are both so beautifully filmed, and the stories are so touching you will have a problem watching any other movie that isn't French, because they are so addictive :)

My next stop: Romain Duris' filmography.

The Mighty Gatsby

 "The Great Gatsby" is one of my all time favorite books and F.S. Fitzgerald is among my favorite writers, so to see that Buz Luhrmann, whose "Moulin Rouge" I adore has directed a new adaptation for the screen, with Leonardo DiCaprio (as Jay Gatsby), whose acting skills are more and more amazing with every new movie.... it really feels like this movie is going to be EPIC, even though it is quite hard to beat Redford's Gatsby. I can't wait till December!