Somewhere

Sofia Coppola's movies always have a special atmosphere, unlike any other films. It's obvious even from her trailers. As for me, I can't wait for this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOJHhwHPw7g

All Hail Camera Obscura!

I'm in love with this band -- Camera Obscura. Listen to

"French Navy"
"You Told A Lie"
"If Looks Could Kill"
"Hey Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken"
"James"
"Tears for Affairs"


On another note, I'm back from Sundance and it was a real thrill. Wish I had more time to do and see everything.

She booked the Marmont like she booked Versailles.

I'm really excited for Sofia Coppola's new movie, "Somewhere", supposed to be released in 2010 (thanks for being precise, guys)...

... but why does Michelle Monaghan have to be in it?!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1421051/

I don't know. Maybe she'll succeed in making me liking Monaghan the way she made me like (against my will!) Kirsten Dunst. Maybe she's that good.

"The September Issue"

I just watched "The September Issue" (2009), documentary directed bu R.J. Cutler, that went to Sundance last year. It's about the making of the September issue of Vogue and its editor in chief Anna Wintour. If need be, it proves that fashion isn't just a game when you actually make it. On the contrary, it is a very difficult, stressful environment where people look at you weird if you eat a piece of pie and can call a piece of hot pink lingerie "heaven". That didn't even need to be proven, but the film does a good job at showing the "behind the scene" part of a huge fashion magazine.


"The September Issue" also convinces you that fashion may not always be fun, but it has to remain a game for it to be truly impactful. All Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington (who seems much nicer than her best friend & boss Wintour) and the likes do is create an environment made of clothes, shoes, scarves, fur and purses that is designed to create stories. Annie Leibovitz' magnificent pictures emphasize that -- case in point with her creative and beautiful reconstitutions of The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and many others. Top notch fashion editors are merely little girls playing with very expensive toys. But they do it well, and as far as budget goes, sky seems to be the limit.




Fashion is more than clothes, it represents the possibility of going back to our childhood dreams, the dreams where all little girls dreamed of being princesses and wearing beautiful gowns. Too bad the princesses can only wear size 0. But that's another debate. Many people mock fashion, but in Anna Wintour's opinion it's only because they feel threatened by it. It is hard for me to take fashion as seriously as other fine arts, but you have to admit it is a lot of work, and it takes an experienced eye to understand a trend and going ahead of it.



I knew about Leibovitz but never really looked at her photographs in detail. Well, if there's one thing "The September Issue" did for me, it has made me admire the work of Annie Leibovitz and recognize her as one of the most gifted photographers of our time. I highly recommend the documentary ""Imagine" Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens" (2008)made by her sister Barbara Leibovitz.

Bright Star

I'm not the biggest fan of Jane Campion. Although "The Piano Lesson" was very well done, and the acting was great, it didn't move me enough to propel me to watch it again. "In the Cut" wasn't the finest film of all, it was long and sometimes boring, and Meg Ryan annoyed me.

But I can't even begin to describe how much I loved "Bright Star". Movies such as "Pride and Prejudice" and even the very good "Atonement" pale in comparison. "Bright Star" is amazing because it is romantic without being mushy, overall sad but with happy moments making the love story all worth it. Jane Campion mixes drama, comedy and poetry admirably, and attains to perfection when filming the rare instants of grace that John Keats and Fanny Brawne experience. She makes them beautiful, because in your mind, they last forever. Nevermind the sadness and the unfortunate ending -- those delicate, fragile and of course short-lived moments make this movie alive and real. They make it beautiful, cinematically and humanly. The cinematography is breathtaking (kudos to Australien DP Greig Fraser) . I also can't think of a couple that had as good a chemistry as Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish do, since Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor in "Moulin Rouge!". And of course the magnificent verses of Keats only add to the cinematic experience.

"Bright Star" just came out here in France, and I read that it didn't get the best reception in the United States. To say it is a shame would be a terrible understatement. It reminded me how much I love movies, and made me cry more than any Keira Knightley's forced mimics ever will.
Honestly, there are so many bad movies out there, you need to hang on to the ones that make your love of movies come alive again (not that it ever died...). This is one of them.

Midnight Ramblings

“You’re my heart. How am I going to live without my heart?” she said, as she placed the ashes into the ground. The air was cold that day, and she wondered if the tears running down her cheeks were suddenly going to turn into ice; and then just stay there on her face like strange little icicles. She buried Desiree on that day, and from then on she always felt as if a piece of herself was missing. On the ground, the crisscross of snow and dirt brought her feet home. She put her body to bed but her mind stayed there, frozen on that sad little hill, amongst the willow trees and the pale tall oaks.

And as her sister started to make one with the Earth, Ellen caught herself longing to rise up to the sky. She prayed for her ideas to finally mingle with the stars as the poet says. That idea had always stayed with her, because she was a romantic. She always would rather read than play with the other kids. It didn’t happen. Her ideas didn’t mingle with the stars, she just grew up. But from that day on, she didn’t have a heart anymore, or at least she persuaded herself that she didn’t. She believed that with an impressive strength; the same kind of conviction some people have that God exists. The same way you believe a fact. She knew her heart and all of the good that was in her, had been buried with the sixteen year old on Rosemont Hill, on that cold day of November.

Ellen thought about all the songs that needed to be sung, and that would die in silence because Desiree had gone. They used to sit at the piano together and just play, play for hours. Sometimes she grew angry with her sister for leaving her alone, but most of the time her sadness overtook everything, and that’s when she left home and didn’t come back for days. It happened often, almost every month. Her parents had come to accept it. They didn’t bother calling the police anymore; they knew she would come back with a new kind of peacefulness.

When it happened her mother always stared far into the backyard, straight at the morning sun, hoping to see a silk dress running her way, over the fence and into her arms. When Ellen came back her mother always cried, couldn’t believe and forgave everything. And her daughter cried, and cried, and said “I’m sorry mom”, and it was all okay because now she was home.

Truffaut

Je pourrais faire un livre de toutes mes citations préférées de Truffaut... Un des cinéastes les plus magiques, touchants, sensibles de l'histoire du cinéma.

"Je dis parfois à Isabelle Adjani: "Notre vie est un mur, chaque film est une pierre". Elle me fait toujours la même réponse: "Ce n'est pas vrai, chaque film est le mur""

"Jean-Pierre (...) sécrète lui aussi de la plausibilité et de la vraisemblance mais son réalisme est celui des rêves."

"Chaque fois que je l'imagine à distance je ne la vois pas lisant un journal mais un livre car Jeanne Moreau ne fait pas penser au flirt mais à l'amour."

"Les films sont plus harmonieux que la vie. Il n'y a pas d'embouteillages dans les films, il n'y a pas de temps mort."

"Le film de demain sera un acte d'amour."