À nos amours (or: I want to dress like a Parisian teenager circa 1983)

Last night we watched À nos amours, a French film by Maurice Pialat made in 1983. Sandrine Bonnaire (who I loved in Vagabond) stars as Suzanne, a 15-year-old Parisian who "embarks on a sexual rampage in order to separate herself from her overbearing, beloved father, ineffectual mother, and brutish brother." Or so says the DVD case. Honestly, I was able to understand little more than the barest skeleton of the story. I didn't even realize her brother was her brother until the film was almost over. Still, I was in love with the film from the first frames. It is absolutely gorgeous. It is one of those rare films that I wanted to watch again immediately as the credits came up (preferably with subtitles).

While the whole film was more than amazingly composed, the costuming was complete outfit porn. I was plunged into a state of aching lust. Coral red and teal and grey and blue and perfectly loose t-shirts with flared skirts and heels and geometric patterns and cuffed jeans and oh oh oh.

I knew I was a goner when Suzanne appeared in this perfect, simple summer day outfit:


Then came the one shouldered striped black and white top with a flared black skirt and white sandals. I couldn't get a very good shot of this one, but trust me:

Here is the outfit Suzanne wears most of the time. I love cardigans. I especially love this cardigan. And a grey-on-grey striped t-shirt with a drapey grey miniskirt? Um, YES:


This was one of my favourite moments in the film. And my favourite pair of shoes:

I may have said something like "oh mon dieu" when Suzanne appeared in this outfit. It was mostly because of the red boots. You can only see a tiny sliver of them in this shot:


The red boots are more visible here. I also love her friend's outfit. That tulip skirt. The deep scoop neck. And the french mannequins:


Okay. I adore this sweater. Teal and coral at THE SAME TIME. With black. Although I would probably wear it with pants. Or at least shorts. But that's just me:

And finally. Forget lust. I am completely and utterly and forever in love with this dress.  Love. I don't think a still shot can do this dress justice. You have to see her in it. The print. The simple belt. The perfect little squared pockets. The way the skirt drifts away from her body. The ease. Sigh.

L'amour.

The Order of Myths

The men's faces are covered by masks. The man on the left, the one speaking, wears a satiny costume. His mask is lacquer shiny, pale, with rosy cheeks and a wide mouth. He looks like an overgrown porcelain doll. "We have no trouble with the blacks," he says. "The blacks and the whites get along fine." The old man next to him, his eyes covered by a silver mask tucked under his baseball cap, stares mutely ahead.

This was the moment that I became completely captivated by Margaret Brown's 2007 documentary The Order of Myths.

In 1703, 15 years before New Orleans was even founded, Mobile, Alabama was home to the first Mardi Gras in America. Over 300 years later the celebration is still central to the city's cultural life and identity. Or, perhaps, identities. Mobile's Mardi Gras is racially segregated. Two organizations, one white and one black, mount dazzling, separate events.

Brown's film navigates the jewel laden, liquor soaked phenomenon that is Mardi Gras in Mobile, exploring both sets of traditions. The energy of Mardi Gras suffuses every frame, and a current of tension is never far from the surface. Every moment is significant. Every gesture, and every slip of the tongue, feels weighty. Brown shows us a vibrant, complicated part of American life. I sat rapt, pulled into the narrative, until the film's final moments. And when it ended, I wanted nothing more than for it to keep going. I also felt the intense need to try a moonpie. Apparently this is a completely normal reaction.

Taut, intricate, beautiful, fascinating. 

9/10.

Les petits

For some reason I was craving this scene the other day.

I'll always be a Truffaut girl, me. 

I know where I'm going!

 

It's "reading week" here at Dalhousie, and I have been reading. I've also been watching. Last night I made myself one of my favourite pastas (minus the cheese and butter & plus a couple of soft fried eggs on top) and sat down to watch one that I picked up at the library on a whim, I Know Where I'm Going! (1945). I loved it, but it served to remind me that I really really really want to have a screening room some day. A big screen and wonderful sound and me in the dark with everything that could possibly distract me taken away. For some reason I had a really hard time concentrating, and I hate the fact that I paused the movie twice to check things online. Ugh, me. Because this movie was so beautifully shot, in ultra-gorgeous black and white, and I wish I had been able to just shut the rest of my brain off and enjoy, to be completely immersed in it.

It was great. Joan Webster has known exactly where she is going since she was a tiny girl. Now, at 25, she is on her way to a small island in Hebricles, Scotland. There she will marry the very-very wealthy Sir Robert Bellinger. That is, if she can get there. The weather (or fate?) does not seem to want to cooperate, so she waits on the mainland with the requisite cast of colourful characters. I loved watching the headstrong Joan come up against forces greater than herself (you know, nature... love), trying as hard as she can to control everything. The accents were especially fabulous (and ridiculous). I love discovering new old movies. I've watched lots that I love (It Happened One Night, Imitation of Life, and on and on) but I know there are tons out there I haven't seen, especially ones that have gotten a little lost in the interim. Do you have a favourite (or ites) I may have missed? Please recommend.

The Anachronism

 

I worked on this! Barely, but I did.

お誕生日おめでとう to me

The grammar of that is probably completely off, but it apparently means Happy Birthday in Japanese. This year seems to have become the Japanese birthday, and it was delightful. A few of my friends and I went for sushi after work, which was delicious, and then we came home and watched Cherry Blossoms while eating Chai creme brulee (okay, maybe the multicultural birthday: I also had spicy thai noodles for lunch).

 Cherry Blossoms is a really beautiful movie. I loved it. It's about love and grief, and about how hard it is sometimes to connect, even with the people we love the most, but also how important it is to connect, to really try. It's about aging and family and romance and living and dying. Made by Buddhist director Doris Dorrie, who also made Enlightenment Guaranteed (which I loved), this film is... sometimes slow, sometimes sad, moving, funny, pure, natural, ephemeral... so many things. Recommended.

8/10.


And while I know it's not my birthday anymore, I decided to keep celebrating myself today, given that I had to spend most of yesterday in work, and didn't get a chance to buy myself the ever-important birthday gift to self. I kept on in the Japanese theme, and finally wandered into a little store that opened in Halifax recently, the Ikebana Shop. All kinds of adorable Japanese things were laid out beautifully, and the store was so peaceful and colourful. I was at a table looking at the various teas, when the man at the counter asked me if I was familiar with Japanese teas. I told him I knew a little bit, but not a lot, and he told me he was preparing some tea if I'd like to join him. Ferdy explained to me about pouring the hot water into a separate bowl to cool it (apparently 80 degrees is ideal for tea), and steeping the tea for about a minute so it doesn't get too bitter. He then poured it, switching back and forth between two cups, pouring a little bit into each at a time, and handed me a cup. It was delicious, subtle and slightly sweet. I had a really great time chatting with Ferdy, and found out that his wife teaches Ikebana classes in their upstairs studio. I really want to go try a class (or two or twelve), so I think that might be one of my birthday gifts to myself. I also picked up some Genmaicha Matcha-iri (Green Tea with Roasted Brown Rice and Matcha), a gorgeous cherry blossom notepad, and a couple of cute little buttons.

Yay for cherry blossoms. Yay for Japan. Yay for Japanese themed birthdays. 

My favourite 21st century movies (so far) (including the year 2000)

I read A.'s top ten films of the last decade and immediately had to run out and write my own list. Here goes:


10. Irreversible
9. The Wackness
8. After the Wedding
7. Gosford Park
6. Rachel Getting Married
5. Stranger than Fiction
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Amelie
2. Kissing Jessica Stein
1. Monsoon Wedding

This was really hard for me to narrow down, and there are so many movies I want to cram in there (Murderball, Wall-E, Let the Right One In, City of God, and on and on). And some of the movies I think might make it in there, I haven't seen yet (namely The Hurt Locker). Here's to even better movies in the next decade. Imaginary clink of glasses.

This is stunningly, awesomely beautiful.

Also: I'm done school (for the semester)! Any awesome things (that don't cost money) that I should be spending my time with (according to you)?

(Video found via BOOOOOOOM.)

Movies ten (plus) years later

I watched the Truman Show again last night. That is one movie that really holds up well. All the more relevant given the tsunami of reality television that has since smashed over us.

Also, for some reason I've been really wanting to watch Fight Club again recently. This post reminded me that it's been 10 years since it came out. Weird.

So I loved Whip It.

I could feel the joy behind Whip It all the way through. You can tell that those wonderful women had an amazing time doing what they love, which is the whole point. I'm really proud of Ms. Barrymore. It's the kind of thing I wish I could have been a part of. Jubilant, exciting, funny, womanly, awesome.

Jim Henson

Jim Henson is very high up in my list of people I don't know personally but admire and love. Even though he's not alive anymore, I think he has left a legacy of awesome that will continue for a very long time.

I'm in the midst of planning my Montreal trip (T-minus four days and counting), so I've been checking out online links to Montrealy things. The Design*Sponge Montreal Design Guide led me to the Galerie & Boutique Headquarters blog, where I learned that September 25th was JHs birthday and was pointed to the Wikipedia entry on him, most specifically the section about his death and funeral - and warned that I would probably cry. And I did - but in the way that I usually cry, which is when I am reminded by how extremely kind people can be to one another, and how good, and how we can connect even when things are sad.

So: Be kind. Be good. Connect.

xo.

Also: Watch the Muppets Tribute to Jim Henson.

Two movies I've enjoyed this month:

An Education.


Tentative, amusing, alert.

The Boss of it All.



Absurd, droll, cool.



...I am feeling nearly wordless right now.

A career

I decided I want a job that involves movies, design, writing, and interacting with great people.

Please and thank you.

Wasp

Kickpleat recommended this short film yesterday. It is amazing. I sat rapt from the opening frames. Available on youtube in three parts (8 minutes each), it is absolutely a masterpiece of mood and tension.

10/10.

Things I took out of the library today:

Born Standing Up / Steve Martin
The Gospel of Food / Barry Glassner
The Lovvers LP / AIDS Wolf
The Song Is You / Arthur Phillips
You Can Pick Me Up at Peggy's Cove / Brian Doyle (Tiffany's recommendation/ she went and got it off the shelf and handed it to me. We were at Peggy's Cove on Thursday.)

Labyrinth again:

Apparently there is an authorized English language manga sequel to Labyrinth...



Awesome.

Labyrinth

I watched Labyrinth tonight, and as I watched I was struck by two things.

One: Sarah's outfit is almost exactly what I see on 18 year old girls all over campus every day. The sleeves are maybe a little extreme, but aside from that, these girls might be carbon copies.

Two: Jareth the Goblin King was probably my first encounter with sex and danger so intertwined in a character. I'm not sure how old I was the first time I saw the film, but I must have been pretty young, and I'm pretty sure it must have had a major impact on my psyche, romantic and otherwise.

See both here:

Aaron Sorkin, how I've missed you

Now that I've run out of Aaron Sorkin era West Wing episodes (I still haven't decided whether I am going to continue on with the series, any thoughts?), I've been left with a void that was once filled with great characters and better than great dialogue.

A movie about Facebook: sounds ridiculous. And probably boring.

Add a screenplay by Mr. Sorkin and I am so in I'm almost out again.

I have no idea when The Social Network will actually get made, and subsequently released. But I am psyched.

Depressing Italian Movies

Pacific Cinematheque is currently celebrating the Leading Ladies of Italian Cinema. I went to a double feature on Friday night. It was fantastic (and heartbreaking).

La Strada was absolutely devastating (said staring you straight in the eye), while Two Women was absolutely devastating (said while holding my hands to my heart and swooning).

La Strada 1954

Gelsomina is sold by her mother to an abusive circus strongman, Zampanò. Fun times. They roam around Italy, and he gets drunk and picks up other women. Gelsomina (a naive country girl) gets to see some of the things the world has to offer, but is unable to untether herself from Zampanò's company. This is among the most unrelentingly depressing films I have ever seen, with very little offered in the way of redemption or hope, but it is worth watching just for Giulietta Masina's performance as Gelsomina. She says little, but her expression changes from delight to despair and back again with such quickness, and such purity, that I could watch her forever.

7/10.



Two Women (1960)

Two Women is beautiful - its black and white cinematography richly detailed and textured. Set in Italy during World War II, the story follows Cesira and Rosetta, a mother and her 13-year old daughter, as they take refuge from the bombing of Rome in the Italian countryside. I was completely brought into the time and place; in one scene the pair are walking down a country road when a fighter plane sends lines of bullets down towards them - I ducked.

The pace of the film is perfect, allowing relationships and characters to unfurl before tragic events in the last act level all of it. I felt cut in half when that point came, but still so connected to everything that was happening on screen. Sophia Loren plays Cesira, and this role won her the first ever Best Actress Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. Loren is sultry, but eons away from a sex-pot charicature; she is strong, intense, vulnerable, smart, and warm. Two women is about the catastrophe that is war, but at a deeper level it is about becoming a woman, with everything that means.

Glorious.

9/10.

Léon/The Professional

I watched The Professional for the first time about ten years ago, and I loved it. It's violent, but so stylized and gorgeously shot - watching it feels a little like watching a graphic novel. Léon (Jean Reno) is a hit man who lives alone in his New York apartment. Matilda (a stunning thirteen-year-old Natalie Portman) is a young girl whose family is gunned down in a drug dispute while she's at the grocery store. Léon takes Matilda in. Written and directed by Luc Besson (whose The Fifth Element is another of my 90s favourites), it is a sparing, brilliant film about what happens when something unexpected comes into our lives and changes our entire way of being in the world.

Watch it. Again.

Oh yeah, 10/10.