marți, 31 ianuarie 2023
duminică, 29 ianuarie 2023
Le Compte de Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas author of The Man in The Iron Mask http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-iron-mask-aka-le-masque-de-fer.html and many other popular books - 9 out 10
Le Compte
de Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas author of The Man in The Iron Mask http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-iron-mask-aka-le-masque-de-fer.html and many other popular books
9 out 10
You must
watch the remarkable L’Autre Dumas, with Gerard Depardieu in top form as
Alexandre Dumas and Benoit Poelvoorde -one of the greatest actors in the world,
though few would know his name, and even fewer would be able to pronounce it
(maybe this is just the wrong feeling, seeming as it looks so complicated to
me) the one who shocked the cinephiles in Man Bites Dog aka C’est Arrive Pres
De Chez Vous http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/cest-arrive-pres-de-chez-vous-aka-man.html what a phenomenon!
In L’Autre
Dumas we find that Auguste Maquet, played by mesmerizing Benoit Poelvoorde in
the adaptation for the big screen – may have been the ghost writer , and hence
the author of some of the most celebrated novels…I think I have read in The
Russian Girl http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-russian-girl-by-magister-ludi.html by Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis
about Dumas
It said
that he has had African ancestry, maybe the grandmother was black, I forgot
what exactly was the relative, maybe it was his grandfather, and it could well
be in another book that this mentioned, together with other personal
information on some of the other authors…more important would be Intellectuals
by brilliant Paul Johnson http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/intellectuals-by-paul-johnson.html
Intellectuals
lets us look behind the curtain, into the writing room, sometimes the bedroom
of luminaries like Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Jacques
Rousseau and others…Rousseau was so abominable as to leave his children at the
door of the orphanage, at a time when nine out of ten died in such
circumstances, but there are vile things the others have done, and many
celebrated men
Le Compte
de Monte Cristo is one of the best stories, and a very entertaining one, at
least for a teenager, as I was when I first read it, in the meantime, I have
seen some adaptations for the big or small screen and did not find them all
that exhilarating, due to a lack of sophistication perhaps, this is not Marcel
Proust after all
Marcel
Proust is in fact the standard http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/un-amour-de-swan-by-marcel-proust.html as in nec plus ultra, nobody will
take him off the pedestal, he is the best there is for yours truly, and though
Le Compte de Monte Cristo is a good adventure book, there is a feeling that I
would waste my time, if I were to take it up again now, or even if it were the
first time, it lacks the amplitude
As it is,
we are outraged when Edmond Dantes is unjustly taken to this awful prison, just
because his enemy Mondego wants to take all, including Mercedes - by the way,
have I read somewhere that the luxury brand also takes the name from a woman
called Mercedes, and what a joke it was a few years back, when they still used
their ad slogan ‘nothing but the best’, only they were losing serious ground
against their main rivals, Audi and BMW, so the blague was change the line to
‘nothing but third best’
Dantes
becomes somehow the epitome of the conquering hero, rising like the Phoenix
bird from the ashes, he tumbles to the lowest point, a nadir reached in that
terrible prison, and then finds this other prisoner, who gives him the secret
of the treasure, then opportunely dies, so that our protagonist can use this
tragic event to masquerade as a corpse and then climb back to the very top…we
all know about this, right?
Harvard
Professor Tal Ben Shahar had the most popular lectures in the history of that
venerable institution, and the videos are available online, if you are
interested, lessons on positive psychology, the art of happiness, mixing in
those precious courses scenes from classic movies, such as Dead Poets Society, Seinfeld,
comedians sagesse, Ellen De Generes is mentioned a few times, with insight into
the life of the academic http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/04/choose-life-you-want-by-tal-ben-shahar.html
one of the
mantras, the leit motifs is ‘learn to fail or fail to learn’ and we have the
example of someone who went to work at The White House, in the most powerful
administration in the world, near the center of tremendous power, after a
superb evolution and then…committed suicide, because in this phenomenal climb
to the top, he had never encountered a crisis, failure, and when a traumatic
experience came about, the adversity could not be coped with and the remarkable
fellow collapsed.
Thus, it
makes sense to include a rule that deals with this kind of challenge, one you
find in the majestic book by another happiness scholar, Sonja Lyubomirsky, from
the West Coast of America, The How of Happiness http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html has included ‘Happiness
Activity No 6: Developing Strategies for Coping-practicing ways to endure or
surmount hardship or trauma’
Indeed,
this is one element which is important in The Count of Monte Cristo, the way he
deals with the massive fall into that dungeon is admirable, and then his story
is one that can offer quite a few lessons in bravery, resilience – I mean,
think about it, you and me would probably just disintegrate on the floor of
that goddamn awful place and just wait in misery to have it all end and soon,
presto, today, not later…
On the
other hand, let us think of Fyodor Dostoyevsky http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/notes-from-underground-by-fyodor.html who had been condemned to death and
then pardoned in the last minute, as he was standing in front of the execution
squad, went on to write how the man on death row (they were almost all men
surely) would rather live on a bare rock in the middle of the ocean than die
You may
wish to ask me about this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world or perhaps learn about the 1989
Revolution http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html
sâmbătă, 28 ianuarie 2023
vineri, 27 ianuarie 2023
Ice Cold In Alex based on the book by Christopher Landon https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/10/about-classic-ice-cold-in-alex.html - 10 out of 10
Ice Cold In
Alex based on the book by Christopher Landon https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/10/about-classic-ice-cold-in-alex.html
10 out of
10
This is a
note about the mesmerizing motion picture, trying to connect it with the script
of the movie is impossible for this cinephile, on goodreads one needs to be a
librarian, in order to add a new book, or script, if you do not have the item
listed already, as is the case for instance with what I see as the best film of
2022 by a long shot, and one of the best ten, so far into this century, The
Banshees of Inisherin http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-banshees-of-inisherin.html blessed with a marvelous cast and
director
There are a
few motion pictures to watch, one of the most important is Close, which I understand
to be one of the wonders of last year, but as we stand, the story of two friends
(well, mates at least) who become estranged, because one of them starts
thinking like Seneca http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-tao-of-seneca-happiness-and.html and realizes that life is too short
if we waste it
Seneca in
fact said something like ‘we have enough time, only look at the way we squander
it, there are even humans who talk of killing time, when in fact we need to
treat as the most important asset we possess, we are very wasteful with it…’
words to that effect at least I hope, this is what Colm seems to conclude
In
Inisherin (or should we say on, seeing as this is an island) he had spent a lot
of time with his buddy, but as the end approaches, Colm wants to create,
compose music, refers to the immortality of Mozart – everyone has heard of
Mozart he tells Padraic, the latter protests, for he does not know the
composer, and thus ‘there goes your theory’…indeed, when you say ‘everyone’,
this is either a figure of speech, or meant literally, in which case, that is
wrong when you have just one ignorant fellow – and wants to stay away…
Ice Cold in
Alex could be described as a classic war movie (indeed, classic motion picture
in general) but it is much more complex than that, since we have the action
taking place in World War II, in North Africa (the Alex in the title is
actually short for Alexandria, where the hero wants to drink an Ice Cold Beer)
only we have many more themes than the death and destruction that armed
conflict brings to the world.
Seeing this
film, one cannot help but think of the present war in Europe…it seemed that
this calamity will be gone, becoming a relic of the past, as the luminary Yuval
Harari argues in his marvelous books – one of them is the fabulous Homo Sapiens
A Brief History of Tomorrow http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/homo-deus-brief-history-of-tomorrow-by.html humankind has reached a stage where
prosperity, harmony more or less appeared to dominate the prognosis, until
Putin has started his vicious ‘special operation’
Captain
Anson, played by magnificent John Mills in the motion picture, has so many of
the traits of the role model, without being Superman or Batman, he is
courageous, resilient, kind, determined, able to cope with adversity and
trauma, devoted, and the list can go on, there will probably be more admiring
words to associate with him, however much he can sink into despair and show his
vulnerability.
Given the
immense stress, the trauma of the war, the captain has taken to drinking, to
the point where he has become addicted, an alcoholic maybe we would say, but
since he is given the task of taking this army truck and people to Alexandria,
he has to find a way to cope with his weakness, and now there is another
thinker I need to quote, Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar, who kept saying in
his positive psychology lectures http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/positive-psychology-on-youtube-by.html ‘learn to fail, or fail to learn’,
as one of the load stars, the most important rules we need to remember
The Harvard
Professor mentions Edison and the ten thousand failed attempts to find the
solution for artificial lighting, it took 10,000 failures for Edison to give
the world the light bulb, albeit when asked, the inventor replied that ‘he did
not fail, but just proved ten thousand ways that do not work’ something along
these lines, but clearly this is not a quote…there is the example of a man who
has reached the zenith in his career and life, committing suicide when faced
with a serious crisis, because he had never had the chance to…fail
The small
group of British subjects encounter the Germans, and a Captain vand der Poel (brilliantly
brought to the screen by Anthony Quayle) the latter claiming to be a South
African who knows German, thus being able to mediate, to influence the Germans
and stop them from harming the travelling British.
However,
early on, one of the nurses is wounded and then dies of the injuries inflicted
when they had come under fire, the others pretend she is still alive, so that
they could appeal to the humanity of the Nazis and make them allow for their
progress towards a hospital, so that she can be saved, when this happens, we
think maybe it would be all right, if not smooth sailing, at least we do not
anticipate the obstacles to come
The South
African (spoiler alert) is not what he claims, and somehow, the captain, sister
Diana and Pugh realize that they have an enemy within their small group, they
expose the -should we call him traitor, I guess it is the right label for
someone who claims to share your values, and then you find he is actually in
the other camp…incidentally, Aristotle spoke of the two crucial elements of
tragedy, discovery and reversal, as in Oedipus http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/oedipus-rex-by-sophocles-and-adapted-by.html when the messenger comes and we
have discovery and the upturn that makes the king take out his eyes, for he had
killed his father and married his mother, in ignorance, and now he finds about
it
Ice Cold in
Alex is a splendid, magical film, something we should give young people in
school to watch, so that they can learn how to be brave, munificent, loyal,
resilient, see about Delayed Gratification, gratitude and so much more http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world and I took part in my own little
war, as it is described here http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html
joi, 26 ianuarie 2023
miercuri, 25 ianuarie 2023
Compartment No. 6 aka Hytti nro 6 based on the book by Rosa Liksom, Winner of The Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 - 10 out of 10
Compartment
No. 6 aka Hytti nro 6 based on the book by Rosa Liksom, Winner of The Grand
Prix of the Cannes Film Festival in 2022
10 out of
10
This note
is Not about the book, these are some thoughts on the film based on Hytti nro
6, this is stated clearly, from the very start, anticipating with vanity a few
objections - hopefully there will be many
complaints , for that would mean an important audience, which will then
increase…I have watched last night a part of a BBC program dedicated to Andrew
Tate and the phenomenon he represents, this is a badass individual who lives
near here (in jail right now) and has been around for many years (let us say
seven, though I am not really sure and do not care to check online) and came to
my attention during the screening of…Glass Onion, where he is the model for
that male chauvinist eejit, that dies
quite early.
My daughter
told me about the self-proclaimed misogynist, and then bang, a week or so
later, he is in the news, arrested for allegedly abusing women (rape
accusations have been made, apparently) and forcing a number into sex work,
online and maybe otherwise, and they were discussing on the BBC show about what
this means, how he has an army of idiot followers that spread his venom on the net,
even when this Tate is banned from some platforms and how if it is
Controversial, then it attracts the attention of the algorithms and then bingo,
these fellas have millions of followers and billions of views.
We have
heard this before, what with the Facebook now Meta whistle blower and others,
exposing the manner in which these social networks make billions, by getting
something which is goddamn awful, commented on and then shared to create more
participation and then monsters like Trump and this latest small Mephistopheles
cum Sade make fortunes, financial,
or/and accumulate political capital, form some sort of sects, cults and
are able to poison the atmosphere with their bile and dejections…
Perhaps
putting a note on film, attached to a book that is just the original material
is just using the formula of these diabolical ruffians, scoundrels and
criminals, on a very small scale, but still hoping that someone will object and
then Thunderstruck, there are seven reactions to this material, instead of the
usual one or zero, and that would represent a massive four hundred percent rise
in target reach…
Nonetheless,
the explanation for this small gimmick is that there is no entry for the motion
picture with the same name – and there should be, for this is an important
movie, not some obscure entry, like RRR (just joking here) this rather
irritating fare [for yours truly] has actually had a massive success, what with
Golden Globe nomination for Best Film in a Foreign Language, and one win for
Best Song – like we have for say The Banshees of Inisherin http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-banshees-of-inisherin.html which is in my book the Best Motion
Picture of 2022 by a long shot and one of the best of the century
Laura,
played by excellent Seidi Haarla, is the heroine of the narrative, an
archeologist determined to see the petroglyphs near Murmansk, in the far north
(actually, I have not checked on the map, but somehow, this is where I guess it
is) even when the situation is Kafkaesque, and they tell her once she arrives
at this god forgotten place that there is no way in winter, no road, impossible
in other words…
On the
train, she is assigned a place in second class (there is a third, and this is
where maybe 170 humans sleep all lined up in the same train carriage…I am using
hyperbole here) and this where she will spend, along with the audience, more
than half of the story, together with this outré Russian fellow, called Ljoha
and portrayed by talented Yuri Borisov, who will make the public think about
what is he up to, right to the end and after that
When we
meet this young man, he is dead drunk, mumbling words, asking offensive
questions like ‘are you selling your ‘pisku’ which would be cunt in Russian, if
they spell it like this, and then he tries to abuse, even rape the woman that
has to share a compartment with him for days on end (how many were there, by
the way, let me know) – Laura tries to change her place, only to be told by the
female conductor (quite impersonal, cold, a touch hostile in the beginning, but
changing to more affable, quite friendly posture in the story) that this is
impossible, a fact confirmed by the attempts to ask passengers if this or that
place is free, which are met with negative answers…in the end, she returns to
Number 6
It is
tempting for this cinephile to label Ljoha and pour some disdain on the
archetype, because I am biased, prejudiced, quite hateful, for two giant
reasons, first, I attribute a large (huge really) part of the blame for what is
going wrong in this realm, mentality, corruption, backwardness, financial
turmoil, vile dinosaurs that still rule, with some of the Stalinist rules and
aspirations in mind (not the most vicious, but still, quite ruthless) to the
heritage brought in by Soviets (they stole a lot from here too)
We are at
the end of the line in the European Union (just rejected in the application to
join the Schengen free travel zone) and economic, social, and other indicators
put us far behind, when in fact, about
one hundred years ago we were justified in hoping for progress, thank you…then
Stalin and the Russian people (there was one slogan telling the population that
‘Stalin and the Russian people have brought us…happiness’) came in with their
calamitous system and brought us to the early Middle Ages, what with Ceausescu
and our own apparatchiks we suffered from cold, hunger, lack of liberty, brain
washing…the other day, a doctor was telling me in the sauna of the Downtown
World Class (don’t be fooled, it is just a preposterous, flamboyant name for
what is a quite lousy service, they pour soap down the drain because they do
not bother to fix the damn thing, and at the same time they close the Jacuzzi
for saving, with one hand they throw money, pollute the environment, and with the
other they cut your pleasure down) that Zelensky and Putin are both idiots,
which is quod erat demonstrandum, that the repugnant, monstrous Russian Soviet
propaganda machine still works…I mean that fucked up doctor is just one failed
commissar, with commies still in power, he would be an efficient agent of the
regime, the wealth he brags about has been accumulated with corrupt money, with
his salary he would have never have had the properties which he shows off…the
Russians would better take those, so that Putin’s admirer and traitor to our
cause could take a dose of that foul medicine…the cure is this, here: http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world
I took part
in the 1989 Revolution that dispatched Ceausescu, as documented at http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html
marți, 24 ianuarie 2023
luni, 23 ianuarie 2023
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/12/one-of-most-important-movies-of-2022.html - 10 out of 10
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/12/one-of-most-important-movies-of-2022.html
10 out of
10
These lines
are Not about the book, they are about the film based on the work which has
been listed as a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Nonfiction in 2019 and
it has caused a furore, that we have all seen in the news, on television,
social media and it has resulted in a massive change in society…after writing a
little, I see that I am In The Mood For Love, not as in that fabulous movie,
but to scribble here and get far away from the subject, so this is not a
spoiler, but an alert anyway, it will not be interesting
The
transformations have been massive, but let me just mention one I have learned
from The Cultural program of the National Television – incidentally, it is good
it has returned after a hiatus of a few years…it had made no sense for them to
eliminate it, after all, what is the purpose of the channels funded by public
money, if not to promote arts and culture, there are more than one hundred offers
that are commercial, inviting audiences to see Turkish soap operas, travel
shows, medicine, architecture…
There are
in fact five or ten religious platforms, Pentecostal, orthodox and a few other
variations that I have not identified and I am not all that keen on -I am an
atheist, until there is an epiphany, a miracle, or maybe I get convinced by
Pascal’s wager, which invites us to believe in god, because if he is not up
there, we have lost nothing, but if he does have the advertised powers, realms
of heaven and hell, then we are in trouble if we do not follow the holy texts,
then there is that other argument, where ‘Anselm claims to derive the existence
of God from the concept of a being than which no greater can be conceived…St.
Anselm reasoned that, if such a being fails to exist, then a greater
being—namely, a being than which no greater can be conceived, and which
exists—can be conceived’
However,
there was this program the other day, centered on the latest list issued by The
British Film Institute https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time and the conclusion was that the
MeToo movement has changed the perspective and the list, where there are women directors
and indeed, the first place is taken by a film that I have never heard of, and
I realize that I need to see, even if it is long and in the style of Italian
Neorealism, where if someone ‘peels potatoes, boils water, then we see all those things, which are
avoided by the commercial movies’ as the excellent critic Andrei Gorzo was
explaining.
Indeed, Jeanne
Dielman, which is the best film ever, according to the BFI list, there is one
that comes every ten years, so this is the latest, will have audiences watch as
the protagonist is cleaning the house, taking a bath, and performing ordinary
tasks, which has had the public in cinemas express disapproval or worse.
If we do
not understand a motion picture, we should allow the others to enjoy it, this
is something the other guest in the cultural program was saying…I remember
seeing The Stalker when I was about seventeen and falling asleep in the Studio
cinema hall, looking again at this work of art, included on the BFI list, I was
not awed by the artistic accomplishment, and must confess I do not get the
hidden messages, or the other symbolism, hermetic or open as it may be, it is
too deep and clever for yours truly.
Trying to
say a few things about She Said, it is a rewarding, compelling and satisfying
motion picture, one of the most important in 2022, albeit it has not been
nominated for major Golden Globes, unless I am mistaken and they took into
account the performances…and yes, now I remember seeing Carey Mulligan listed
for some of the important trophies, she is Megan Twohey in the narrative and
she does a good job
Carey
Mulligan is not my favorite artist, in fact, there is something in her manner,
style, approach to her roles that disagrees with this cinephile, only I know it
is my fault, so mea culpa, it is a shortcoming, I do not get the ‘vibes’ and
though I can see she is talented and acclaimed, nominated for her work multiple
times, and winning quite a few trophies, there is an allergy, or as I said, a challenge,
a handicap I must have, and the blindness in that spot translates into being
unable to enjoy her performances.
In fact, I
have appreciated much more Zoe Kazan (would she be related to the famous
director, easy to find on the net, but what would be the point…there is a
recent backlash against nepotism in films, Hollywood and American cinema maybe,
criticism that the children of stars become employed in the industry, but then
tom Hanks responded to this and said something like ‘if there is a family
business, different generations take care of the store or the small business,
nobody complains…we have it in our genes and then the audiences judge the
result’ and this makes so much sense, if they risk and put in productions
people that are related, but then the public does not relate to their presence,
the movies will flop, tank…
Megan
Twohey and Jodi Kantor (the excellent Zoe Kazan) investigate and expose Harvey
Weinstein, the monster that is now looking at a life time in prison, one who
has raped, abused, harassed multiple women, who have had to see him naked,
masturbating and generally doing and asking for horrible things, blackmailing
and using his powerful position as one of the most powerful men in the industry
to extract favors, massages, sex and other, ruining the career of those who did
not submit to his will.
For a long
time, women have been unable to speak about this, there have been non-disclosure
agreements, punishing contracts, threats, phone calls, the pressure and fear of
knowing what a powerful, wealthy man can do to a woman, but eventually, the
victims have started to speak out and the role that Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
played was massive, crucial, they have been the successors of Bob Woodward and
Carl Bernstein http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/10/note-on-all-presidents-men-writer.htm in the new age, just as Woodward
and Bernstein have exposed Watergate and then president Richard Nixon has had
to resign, those two phenomenal women have eliminated another titanic monster
duminică, 22 ianuarie 2023
Under the Skin by Michel Faber, one of the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/19/1000-novels-comedy-part-one - 7 out of 10
Under the
Skin by Michel Faber, one of the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/19/1000-novels-comedy-part-one
7 out of 10
‘Somerset
Maugham shacking up with Ian McEwan’ is what you are to expect here, unless you
feel like me and reject that notion, the former is one of the top five writers
in my book http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-casual-affair-by-somerset-maugham.html and the former would be with the
best twenty, while Michel Faber comes nowhere near that, gifted and acclaimed
as he is
The problem
(or some of part of it anyhow) lies with the desperate search for more positive
material – Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar has had the most popular course in
the history of that perennial institution http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/positive-psychology-on-youtube-by.html and among the leit motifs he used
was “Words Create Worlds’, thus if the landscape in the book is apocalyptic
then the mood cannot be sunny
Sometimes
it does not work on those specific lines, we can feel liberated and so lucky to
have our life, with its plagues and tribulations, but better than in Under the
Skin, and furthermore, we cannot reject Leo Tolstoy http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/04/anna-karenina-by-leo-tolstoy.html just because the heroine dies at
the end, and this is a naturalistic image, we are shown the body on the tracks…
However, I
see Ian McEwan as superior in any of the maybe 6 novels I have read http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-comfort-of-strangers-by-ian-mcewan.html to Michel Faber, regardless of the
arbitrary judgment on that, based mostly on the repulsion felt for the
subject…never been an ardent fan of Science Fiction, never mind horror genre,
where aliens mutilate and fatten humans to turn them into meat
There are
expectations to the rules, and if the novelist has achieved divine status, as
is the case for His Holiness Kingsley Amis, in spite of the fact that both of
us (what a thrill to talk about ‘us’, placing the Godly figure in the same
space with his church member) reject God – Kingsley Amis has said it is not
that he does not believe, he hates Him http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-friends-of-plonk-by-kingsley-amis.html
In The
Friends of Plonk, we are following Simpson (if that was his name) into a
dystopian future where land the size of Europe will have been destroyed in an
atomic war, which has also annihilated vines, barley and other crops used for
alcohol and a society of people is trying to overcome this catastrophe, the
loss of tradition – they will have passed through another period of
prohibition- to make…plonk
In some
ways, it is astonishing how accurate Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis has been in
his predictions, that is that the American election will be won by a Rosicrucian,
which I take it to be the clear sign that this is a weird dude, when we have
seen this happening, and if Trump is as godless as can be, such a badass (this
being not cool, interesting or anything but a monster) became the most powerful
man in the world
To begin
with, Under The Skin was interesting enough – mind you, given the high opinion
others have of the opus, we should conclude that this is a very good read…let
me just mention a comedian that used the quintessential If by Magister Rudyard
Kipling (I have read that he was the equivalent of a rock star, someone as
famous as Mick Jagger, you know of him surely, in his time) http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/if-by-rudyard-kipling-one-of-most.html in a creative, sarcastic, efficient
way, saying ‘If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and
blaming it on you…’then there is something wrong with you and you should have
your head examined, which makes sense
If more
accomplished bozos say this is one of the Must Read Novels, who am I to deny
it, ‘if all are blaming it on me’, besides, I see that this is interesting,
nay, let us raise the stakes, the debut is more than enticing, with the reader
challenged to guess, decipher the mystery of the ‘girl’ Isserley, who is taking
hitchhikers.
There is a
sense that something is wrong – first using The Thin slicing explained in the
fundamental Blink The Power of Thinking Without Thinking http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html by Malcolm Gladwell, then thinking
of Chekhov’ Gun Law, which states that one should not introduce anything that
will not be important to the plot, ‘'If you say in the first chapter that there
is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely
must go off’
When we see
her with the German traveler, then she is burning his things, backpack and all,
then we must assume that the gun has gone off, even if this is a subtle way of
telling us it did…we have not seen or heard it, we just use logic, if the
things are destroyed, there must have been foul play, but wait, what if it is
more complicated?
Indeed,
this is very promising, for there is the chance that the man is still out there
– and he is, spoiler alert, needed somewhere above, where it is stated that we
are dealing with an alien that kidnaps humans to have them mutilated and then
turned into meat for…consumption, ugh – and then we sympathize with the
creature (still thought to be human until I decided to drop out) that has
suffered an operation and men want her for sex, but as in the case of one, he
is disgusted by her looks and thinks of felatio, so that he cannot see her
face - perhaps wrongfully, I decided to
read a little about the book and then found out what the story is proposing and
lost appetite to follow what I took for a human being and now knew to be a
creation that does harm to us, poor males (I think it was just males, but who
knows) and as a result I stopped and went back to doing my regular thing, which
is what you see here http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world
sâmbătă, 21 ianuarie 2023
Antoinette Dans Les Cevennes or My Donkey, My Lover and I, inspired by Travels With A Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/11/92-out-of-100-for-antoinette-dans-les.html - 9 out of 10
Antoinette
Dans Les Cevennes or My Donkey, My Lover and I, inspired by Travels With A
Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/11/92-out-of-100-for-antoinette-dans-les.html
9 out of 10
As it
should be clear, or at the very least deductible from the title of this note,
the lines to come here are Not about the original work of Robert Louis
Stevenson, but about the rather impressive My Donkey, My Lover and I, an
impressive motion picture (which might be available on HBO Max in your area, if
you are interested), nominated for Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best
Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, the latter won by
the effervescent, dazzling, superb Laure Calamy at the Cesars…
The Cesars
might be the French Oscars, only we have the Palme d’Or and the Cannes Film
Festival (Antoinette Dans Les Cevennes has been officially selected there) and
the Palme is to me the most important cinematic prize of all, indicated value,
a worthwhile motion picture if it was nominated, more than the Oscar would work
as a valid stamp of approval, unless we have the rare occurrence when a work of
art wins both, the Palme and the Academy Award for Best Movie, as it happened
in the case of Parasite http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html perhaps the only time
who knows,
we could have a repeat this year with Triangle of Sadness, which has won the
Palme d’Or last year, has been nominated for Best Motion Picture at The Golden
Globes, if I am not mistaken, and looks like having a shot for the list of ten
nominees for Best Film at the Oscars, though the chances are maybe one in two
hundred, with my personal favorite this year being The Banshees of Inisherin…
indeed, I
see The Banshees of Inisherin as by far the best production of 2022 (and I
would give the Oscars and all else to the whole cast, director, script,
everything) and one of the best 100 ever http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-banshees-of-inisherin.html a work of art that has in common
with Antoinette Dans Les Cevennes a…donkey, there is the miniature pet that the
hero has on the island, called Jenny, and in The Travels in The Cevennes, we
have another animal, more stubborn…
we learn
from the outstanding The Reivers by Nobel Prize laureate and one of the
greatest writers, William Faulkner, that donkeys are among the most intelligent
creatures, the fabulous author places them ahead of cats, dogs and horses…’ a
donkey is too smart, do not pet it, for he knows you do not love him and he
will feel insulted’, I have placed commas, not because it is an exact quote, I
hope it comes close to what Faulkner has written, but I could not pretend this
is my discovery, never had a donkey…
come to
think of it, the borzoi that have landed in my lap come close to the size of
Jenny, there have been…five(5) around here, because the spouse felt there must
be (I said no, for these are giant breed dogs, so you can consider their
immensity and count about 25 small dogs to make up about the same tonnage) and
now for instance, in the next hour or so, I need to take the remaining one out,
so that he can pee…
why do I
have to do this…it beats me, for I have protested vehemently, especially at the
arrival of this fellow that lies in the room next to this one – to show how
much of a disagreement over his presence there was and is, my spouse and
daughter call him Shine aka Shinny, and I insist on and use Cheyenne, as from
the American Native tribe, with the meaning that he must be one of the last
(the very last, Insha’Allah) of his species around here, and then it comes
close to Shine, so not to have the poor bugger confused, they look wonderful,
graceful and all, they have been the pets of the czars and the Russian nobles,
Tolstoy had them and mentions the breed in – what was it, Anna Karenina or is
it War and Peace – his magnum opera, but they are not especially noted for
their brightness or obedience…
we have two
macaws that are sitting around, in this office cum their working, screaming and
shitting place – ‘beautiful plumage’ to quote Michael Palin in the Norwegian
Blue Sketch, wherein John Cleese brings in a Norwegian Blue (the name they give
for what is in fact a blue and gold macaw) that had just been purchased and now
is dead, hence he wants to register a complaint, with Palin moving the stuffed bird
to claim it is ‘moving, and then just resting’, however he offers a slug, in
exchange for the dead pet in what is a hilarious work http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/and-now-for-something-completely.html
Antoinette
Lapouge aka Laure Calamy has an affair with the father of one of her pupils,
for she is a school teacher, upset to hear that the man she desires is going
away on holiday, and she will not see him for quite some time…unless, of
course, she does something about it, which is quite outré and audacious, for
she knows he is going in the wilderness of the mountains and then she takes the
same itinerary.
Robert
Louis Stevenson we find from a man that keeps a chalet in these remote parts,
together with his wife, has been in these parts – therefore the inspiration for
the motion picture, Travels With A Donkey In The Cevennes - to try to overcomes the sadness caused by
the departure of a married woman…Robert Louis Stevenson would eventually take
the long trip across the Atlantic (no airplanes in his time, just the long boat
trip) and then another exhausting journey across America, all the way to San
Francisco.
That is if
I remember the story well, with its happy ending, for the pursuit of that lady
is successful, albeit we have to find out if Antoinette is just as blessed,
what with her troubles along the route, where she is alone with her companion,
Patrick, who does not want to cooperate at times, making the public wonder if
we are going to have a dead protagonist on our hands, out there in the
wilderness…
Nonetheless,
spoiler alert, this does not happen, no bear or pack of wolves kills the
intrepid, determined, amorous, resilient, brave woman, who has a Face Off with
the wife, in a rather amusing episode (there are a few actually) when the
spouse sees that there is something going on, and she has a quite funny and harsh
soliloquy…about Realini, there is this http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/and-now-for-something-completely.html and another innuendo http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world
vineri, 20 ianuarie 2023
miercuri, 18 ianuarie 2023
marți, 17 ianuarie 2023
Rutan by Ruben Ostlund, director and writer of The Palme D’Or Winner The Square http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-square-written-and-directed-by.html and two more masterpieces and…another Palme winner – Triangle of Sadness https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2023/01/one-of-best-films-of-2022-triangle-of.html - 10 out of 10
Rutan by
Ruben Ostlund, director and writer of The Palme D’Or Winner The Square http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-square-written-and-directed-by.html and two more masterpieces and…another
Palme winner – Triangle of Sadness https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2023/01/one-of-best-films-of-2022-triangle-of.html
10 out of
10
To win the
Palme D’Or once is an extraordinary achievement, but to reach this zenith
twice, and in the timeframe of just five years is indeed a miracle, which is
what Ruben Ostlund is able to deliver, for there is another proof of his
massive talent, Force Majeure http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/note-on-force-majeure-written-and.html not as familiar as The Square, but
a formidable work of art.
In Force
Majeure there is a little avalanche that seems to be sweeping away and
engulfing the terrace where the main characters are sitting, along with other
customers, and when this danger appears imminent, pater familias takes off,
leaving spouse and two children behind to…well, save his skin and survive.
This is the
point he is trying to make in the aftermath of this debacle, that it was the
instinct, the survival mechanism that took over, after all, we have programmed
a ‘fight or flight’ attitude, explained in the quintessential Blink The Power
of Thinking Without Thinking by luminary Malcolm Gladwell http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html with the help of The Thin Slicing
Theory, we form opinions, take decisions (often the wrong ones, see the
shooting down of a commercial airplane by the aircraft carrier Vincennes, described
in the chef d’oeuvre) in seconds
Hollywood has
looked at this titanic Force Majeure and launched a remake, called Downhill http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2020/05/downhill-among-birds-of-paradise.html which is alas what the result is,
when compared with the original, the version with the skilled Julia Louis
Dreyfuss and extremely amusing (generally, not very much here) Will Ferrell is
all way down, a much less successful endeavor, where the deep, solid,
challenging analysis from the Ruben Ostlund original is replaced with attempts
to be funny.
Admittedly,
you could take the run of the pater familias in that register, there is all
this snow tumbling down, and what does he do, looks for an exit for himself – I
just watched a clip attached to IMDB and saw how they jokes about the filming,
and how the fellow with the Silent Bob (caricatured by Bill Maher, who said
that if you are an adult wearing shorts always, you cannot be taken seriously,
or something along those lines, Insha’Allah) was laughing about telling his
wife that he would run too, in the same circumstances
There is a
legitimate impulse to find cover, when there is danger, the ancestors that took
flight (or fought when necessary) where the ones that transmitted their genes,
and we have this survival instinct built in, clearly, it is sine qua non for
the species, which otherwise would not survive, but the motion picture is
sublime in that it offers, different points of view, because there is evidently
something to be said about trying to save your family, not just running for
cover and letting them perish…
Nonetheless,
the point of this note is not about Force Majeure – actually, it is so damn
good that a note especially dedicated to it should, or must be planned right
now…comment, like share, fund through PayPal or whatever, so that I can get to
put down by essential contribution in the next days 0 but more about Triangle
of Sadness…yes, I know, you are asking (if you are still here) what the hell does
this have to do with Triangle and the answer is Ruben Ostlund is the Magister
Ludi that won the Palme D’Or twice, once for The Square and in 2022 for The
Triangle, only there is no entry on goodreads for it.
Yes, I
tried to create it, but one has to be a librarian to be allowed to execute this
sacrament, hence, why not say a few words here, about a fantastic movie,
clearly one of the best of the year and of this century – we can have a
surprise and see it winning both the Palme and Oscar for Best Film, like the
glorious Parasite http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html did four years ago, only this is
would be a chance in a thousand – with major themes debated, modern, amusing,
solid, a landmark.
Take the
beginning and the satire (which is used all the way through) the comparison
between Balenciaga, where they look down on people, those who wear this and the
other hugely expensive, exclusive as in this is the point, it is no longer
deluxe, when you see it all over the place, brands have the arrogance of the
wealthy, while H&M is more accessible (at least for the rich world) and it
comes with a (perhaps) authentic, Duchene smile http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-tip-top-club-by-garrison-keillor.html
Incidentally,
a research looked at the importance of the Duchene smile (what am I saying,
there must be thousands of studies on the matter) and saw that those who smile
in the photos taken at the end of college have more successful private and
professional lives – they went to see how they are doing, after say two, five,
seven and more years – than the people who had not smiled in the albums made at
the end of school.
We can say
that we have a sort of ‘class struggle’ on the yacht and later down the road in
the narrative, with the well to do benefiting from all that money can buy, while
the working classes have to clean up after their shit (literally, and then
there is also a massive vomiting session, which could be listed here as one of
the few objections I have to what is a near perfect work of art…yes, one fat
cat pouring his, her, their guts out is maybe even funny, a few would enhance
the argument and maybe induce wellbeing among members of the public who could
say ‘look at these fucking rich folks, badass and repugnant’, but when it gets
to be a festival, it is pushing it too far for yours truly) and then we can
also see what happens when the tables are turned, we have the overwhelming
presence of one God of Cinema, Woody Harrelson, as the hilarious and always
drunk captain, parting with a number of jokes on Marxists and others…it is a
sublime chef d’oeuvre, a film that is not just memorable, but a classic already
luni, 16 ianuarie 2023
Red Lights based on the novel by Georges Simenon http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/red-lights-based-on-novel-by-georges.html - 10 out of 10
Red Lights
based on the novel by Georges Simenon http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/red-lights-based-on-novel-by-georges.html
10 out of
10
This is
such a fabulous movie that I have watched and enjoyed it twice, the note is
about the film and Not the novel and I need to emphasize this from the start,
so that I avoid an angry comment on that, for it has happened before, being
told off and having to hear ‘how dare you’ or words to that effect, when this
happens because I am modest and do not anticipate a large audience, if any, and
therefore do not see anybody bothered.
Just in
case, I will put down more words on the subject, so that nobody could say they
did not realize – in the previous notes I mentioned, which were on the motion
picture and not the material they were based on, I have mentioned that I am not
talking about the book, but somehow the complainants had missed that, so now we
have a whole quarter of the ‘review’ made up so that they must realize
something is amiss – and then this would also be ab indication that you have to
stop reading here…if you have not done it before.
According
to The Thin Slicing Theory explained in the quintessential Blink – The Power of
Thinking Without Thinking by luminary Malcolm Gladwell http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html we are alone here by now, for we
have an idea, form an opinion in the first few seconds of seeing someone,
assessing a situation, let us just mention the situation where participants in
the test have been shown some seconds with a professor (in one case, they even
had the video muted) and then asked to evaluate, and when they asked those who
have attended the course for a whole semester, they saw that the opinions were
the same, in other words, we are often (or is it almost always) able to make
the same analysis in seconds or in months, but this is not without flaws.
The same in
this situation, those who have abandoned the text, because of the ramblings,
will have missed on a very deep, clever, insightful look at a phenomenal film,
Feux Rouges aka Red Lights http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/note-on-red-lights-based-on-novel-by.html this is the third interpretation,
the link just listed is a video talk, made in the garden with the team, the two
macaws, Balzac and Puccini, my eternal companions, who are in this office right
now, only you could not see them, unless I will insert their picture in the
document…but then you could use the link just to watch them…
Antoine is
the main character of this story, however much this could be pushed back, a feminist
perspective would reject this affirmation, asking why is Helene not just as or
more important, but then we could look at the screen time (granted, that would
be flawed, Dame Judy Dench has won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-shakespeare-in-love-written-by.html where she was on the big screen for
very few minutes, only what a grand performance and what a stature that lady
has)
That is
indeed arbitrary, and I would also mention the case of Tar https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2023/01/one-of-best-in-2022-and-golden-globe.html for which Cate Blanchet has just
won a Golden Globe and she is probably favorite to win another Oscar in the
coming weeks, actually there will be about
a couple of months until the ceremony, but I would vote differently
No doubt,
the performance of the winner of two Academy Awards -both for motion pictures
that I did not particularly found exhilarating, and the acting of the leading
actress less than overwhelming, Carol and Blue Jasmine http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/blue-jasmine-written-and-directed-by.html - is impressive and even I can see
that there is much there to recommend some of the most prestigious awards.
Nonetheless,
I would give the Oscar and all other acting prizes to Kerry Condon aka Siobhan,
for her major contribution to what is by far the best film of 2022 and one of
the top five movies of this century, The Banshees of Inisherin http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-banshees-of-inisherin.html
returning
for a while to the subject, Antoine is driving with his wife, Helene, to take
their children from the holiday camp, at the end of summer, back home, the
trouble is that this is the busiest time of the year, the end of summer, and
the protagonist is annoyed, then angered by the long time it takes to move, he
is already inebriated and the tension is rising in the car, with every reckless
maneuver he takes.
Furthermore,
he stops to drink ever more, while his wife is waiting in the car, and she had
already protested and told the souse that he is getting to be too much, when
she warns him that if he enters this new bar, she would leave on her own and
take the train…indeed, when he comes out, Helene is gone and though the
alcoholic tries to use top speed, it will be a wild ride, that is clear, he
cannot find his wife at the station.
Antoine is
chasing now after the train, driving like mad and drunk on top of it, to arrive
at the next stop before his spouse, and this is when things get even more
complicated, for we have heard already on the news that a dangerous convict had
escaped and using the Chekhov Gun Law http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/06/vanya-on-42nd-street-based-on-uncle.html if we show a gun in the first act,
we must use it in the second or third act, so we have to meet the running
criminal, together with our ‘hero’
The main character
is kidnapped in a way, just as he had held his wife hostage, prisoner in a car
more or less out of control, and there is a confrontation between the inebriated
driver and his passenger, with a climax wherein we see that one of them is
likely to get out of the picture, with more chances for the stronger fellow,
younger, sober, experienced in inflicting pain and infuriated to the point
where Antoine may have become not just useless, but an obstacle, one who may
pay for his addiction, the pain he caused others
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world?
duminică, 15 ianuarie 2023
sâmbătă, 14 ianuarie 2023
vineri, 13 ianuarie 2023
The Forgiven – note on the film based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne – another note on the motion picture is here https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/10/one-of-my-favorites-in-past-years.html - 10 out of 10
The
Forgiven – note on the film based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne – another
note on the motion picture is here https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2022/10/one-of-my-favorites-in-past-years.html
10 out of
10
Spoiler alerts
first – this note is Not about the novel, it is about the wondrous motion
picture based on the work and normally there would not be a need to comment
much about it, if at all, it is just that in the past, there have been a few
scores of films that I loved, felt the need to express admiration and
gratitude, without thinking that some, or anybody, might read and find it
objectionable.
Only there
have been maybe five, or ten comments in all, rejecting the notion that I could
put my feelings down in connection with the novel, when all I know is about the
movie and have not read the book, which is a pertinent condemnation, except I
had mentioned the note is not about the opus, and when I find the script
listed, I relate to that http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-banshees-of-inisherin.html
Only the
other day, I had the chance to see what I rate as the best film of 2022, and by
a long shot, and one of the best made this century and ever, and could find on
goodreads the name and had the choice to rate and place a review either with
the director or the script writer, there were two entries…as it is, the site
limits the right to add a new book or film to librarians, or else I would have
tried to do so myself for The Forgiven.
For that
matter, maybe someone will introduce The Fabelmans, which has won the Golden Globes
for Best Film in the Drama category (the Best Comedy or Musical trophy went to
The Banshees of Inisherin), Best Director for Steven Spielberg, and I would
have felt like writing a few words about this motion picture, which is very
good, but pales when placed to The Banshees of Inisherin for this cinephile…
Then we
arrive at The Forgiven, which impressed me more than The Fabelmans and I would
put behind The Banshees, but on the same level with the other outstanding art
works made in 2022, such as Argentina, 1985 http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/one-of-best-films-of-2022-argentina-1985.html wherein Ricardo Darin and all the
cast shine and give audiences one of the best possible performances
In The
Forgiven we have the privilege of watching the marvelous Ralph Fiennes navigate
the stream of the plot, in a very complex, challenging role, that of David
Henniger, one who is repellant, perhaps for most of the time, but whose fate
somehow does not feel like needing to bring him in front of the executioner.
There is an
extravagant party organized in Morocco, at a remote, lavish palatial home,
which is now available for very wealthy visitors, where the guests indulge in
excessive consumption of various drugs, they horrify the conservative locals –
the latter are fortunately not within miles of the residence, but we can see
the contempt that the employees show for these degenerate, sinful foreigners…
On the way
to the party David Henniger is driving, though he should not, for he has drunk
quite enough to impair his abilities and senses, and suddenly, there is a young
man in front of the SUV and the impact is fatal…we have to say that the victim
was waiting with his friend and accomplice to rob them
In other
words, we have a rewarding narrative, in which we do not have to look at
characters that are painted in black or white, we have shades in between and
even the most abject of the personages, David, has to pay for his awful
behavior, the terrible man he has been, and maybe he will suffer some transformation.
Besides, he
may have to pay and we are waiting to see what happens, how will he die – this
time, this is not spoiler alert, for this is not about what happens, it is just
the certainty we (at least I had) have when we see the developments, how the
father of the dead boy arrives at the fiesta of the infidel and in what mood he
is in…
The father
will ask the man who killed his son to come along with him and the other two
men that accompany him, and though David rejects the very idea in the first
place, he may have to accept the notion that he needs to be present at the
funeral, to participate in the rituals so that he may be The Forgiven
Meanwhile,
his wife, Jo aka the always miraculous Jessica Chastain, will involve in her
own perhaps not so condemnable activity, she will have sex with another man
present at this extravanza, while her husband may or may not survive his trip
in the desert, to meet the family of the deceased and take their punishment, or
may be escape it…
As always,
I was mesmerized by the fantastic Ralph Fiennes and the minimalist, spectacular
manner in which he took on the role, without excess, avoiding any false note,
rendering a monster, but who happens to be a human being, perhaps taken out to
die, without being judged, and in the end, guilty of the death of the young
man, but not to the extent that he has to be executed, he had drunk, yes, and
while driving, he was guilty of aggravated manslaughter, which is not
premeditated murder and deserving of a trial…
Furthermore,
if he was initially unrepentant and worse, showing all the disgusting aspects
of his character, he seems to begin to understand, atone, he could go through a
change, if not due to an epiphany, at least some reckoning and understanding of
what he has done, he is not stupid, just psychopathic…
Two
interesting things to add, I took part in the 1989 Revolution, as written in
this Newsweek article
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html and I can do this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world
joi, 12 ianuarie 2023
miercuri, 11 ianuarie 2023
The Banshees of Inisherin http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world - 10 out of 10
The
Banshees of Inisherin http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world
10 out of 10
We have
seen The Banshees of Inisherin yesterday and what a joy, a treat this motion
picture is, it looks like it is the best by far, ahead of Tar, where Cate
Blanchet shines as usual, only the main character is not really the one we
would love to see around, a lesbian in a quite negative (well, complex is more
like it, but still, she has some dark sides that make you shiver, spoiler
alert) role, which is a premiere in some ways.
Were this
space to have a real audience, I would need to justify the above, or else face
public opprobrium, let us just say that roles for the LGBTQ+ community have
been modeled to show a difference, you could not make those minorities the ‘bad
guy, woman or other’, because of the history, only the equality seems to have
been achieved, and now you can watch Tar unleash the dark materials on people…
The Banshees
is a real feast, makes me think of Parasite as a recent revelation, a film made
in the last few years that manages to almost astonish in its daring,
complexity, surprises, solutions, themes and freshness, the cast of the
acclaimed In Bruges reunites, less Ralph Fiennes, but the two leading actors
giving marvelous performances, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson both deserve
the Oscars, for best actor in a leading and supporting role respectively, just
as Kerry Condon should get hat and all other cinematic awards for her presence
as Siobhan, the sister of poor Padraic, a very sad fellow who gets quite angry at
one stage.
This film
has it all, serious themes, humor you can seldom find, if often bloody and very
dark…there is discussion of religion, how God does not care about miniature
donkeys – and he should, let me refer to the fabulous The Reivers by William
Faulkner http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-reivers-reminiscence-by-william.html where the great Nobel Prize winner
explains some of the psychology of the donkey ‘he knows you do not love him,
and feels insulted when you pet him…the donkey would be the smartest animal, followed
by cats, dogs and lastly horses’ – but he is very much against self-mutilation
Colm is
confessing to the priest, but the latter is informed and knows about the
quarrel between the former and Padraic – in fact, Padraic is somehow the victim
to begin with, he is dull, but a good fellow and had done nothing to deserve
the complete and unexpected rejection from somebody who used to be his drinking
partner – and when asked how does he know, he retorts that this is a small
island.
One of the
most amazing things about this marvelous film is that it is apparently so
simple as to make one doubt if this could really be one of the best films of
2022 – and again, it is not just one of the, but the very best I have seen –
We have
these two men, Colm and Padraic, who had been drinking and spending time
together, up to the point where the former decides he does not like the latter
anymore, and wants to have nothing to do with him in the future (spoiler alerts
coming) because he is such a dull fellow, and he has little time left.
Now we
contemplate the theme of the meaning of life, the passing of time with
worthwhile endeavors, the need to have meaningful goals and then commit to
them, something explained in the wondrous The How of Happiness by Sonja
Lyubomirsky http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html-‘ Happiness Activity No 10:
Committing to Your Goals-picking one, two or three significant goals that are
meaningful to you and devoting time and effort to pursue them’
Colm wants
to compose music, mentions Mozart – everybody knows about him, Padraic denies
having heard of the composer, and thus ‘out goes your theory’ – as one composer
of the seventeenth century – he will be corrected by clever, well-read
Siobhan…who will have to leave this place, or else she will get entangled and
sucked into the emptiness, the solitude, banality of the island…they are all
dull, as she says
Padraic is
hilarious when he mentions Beoven (if he did say that) he uses a name that
suggests he is thinking of Beethoven, but the uneducated islander does not come
close to the real name of the Magister Ludi, or better said just close enough
for the audience to laugh at the hint and the ignorance…
Colm has
had enough of dullness and invites the public to meditate, use introspection,
think if we do the best we can to avid wasting our own time – Seneca has said
that life is not short, we have time, only we waste so much with useless endeavors
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-tao-of-seneca-by-seneca-one-of.html
the man
takes a drastic decision and will not talk with the dull Padraic anymore, he
only has a few years left as it is, and people do not remember the ‘good,
ordinary folks’, as aforementioned, it is Mozart and the great that will stand
the test of time, and Colm seems to be concentrated on that…he does have a
lapse though.
When
Padraic gets drunk and starts showing courage, standing up for himself and
confronting and putting some hard truths out, Colm says he now likes him
again…there is the problem of the policeman, who is abusing his son, Dominic,
and who ones kicks Padraic to the ground and is in turn knocked off by Colm…poor
Dominic is infatuated (I am not sure if love is the right word) with Siobhan,
but he has no chance, the difference between them is greater in what they know,
intelligence, than it is in years, and the woman may find a way out of this
quagmire, island where almost all are dull, or just very peculiar http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html