Reading "Woody Allen on Woody Allen"

I was planning to read Christopher Vogler's "The Writer's Journey", but it seemed a bit heavy, so I decided to hold it, and turn to a lighter reading material. So Im currently reading this book of conversations Stig Bjorkman had with Woody Allen. They discuss each film chronologically, but also go over general questions and ideas.

I watched "Interiors" for the first time after reading the chapter about it in the book. I loved it. In the book, Allen says he's very intrigued by female relationships, be it sisters or friends. He also mentions how much he admires and respects Diane Keaton, stating if she loves a new film he's made, he doesn't care what anybody else thinks.


This remindes me that a friend back in film school used to tell me I reminded him of Annie Hall. I'm just saying.

Christoph Waltz / Rob Brydon

I finally saw "Inglourious Basterds". I won't write a review here, but I will say that I loved it, and that it made my heart beat like no other film ever did. It actually went BOOM - BOOM - BOOM throughout the last act.

While watching the movie, the brilliant Christoph Waltz (Col. Hans Landa) kept reminding me of Rob Brydon, one of my favorite current British comedians. I'm not sure what Brydon is up to these days (the last time I saw him was as a guest on "Little Britain"), but I do know that watching his TV shows "Human Remains" and "Marion and Geoff" somewhere around 2001 was really an eye-opener.

Both shows were mockumentaries. "Human Remains", starring Brydon and Julia Davis, featured 6 episodes, 30 minutes long. Each episode focused on a different couple, usually an unhappy one. "Marion and Geoff" had 17 episodes, 9 minutes long, and always had Brydon as a loser, driving his car, talking about his ex wife Marion and her new husband Geoff, with whom his kids live.

These shows didn't invent the genre of course, but I think it was my first encounter with a mockumentary that wasn't only funny, but also very dark and cruel. Needless to say, this was a few years before Ricky Gervais came along.

So here are a few videos, to honor this talented and funny man (mind you, some of the accents are hard to follow):

Saved by the beet

Two and a half weeks into my new diet, I'm glad to say that I'm feeling a lot better. In the last 5-6 days I've been much more energetic, and didn’t feel the need to sleep during the day (which I did throughout most of the summer). I was so energetic I started cleaning the apartment, throwing away old stuff, and reorganizing the stuff I don't want to through away.

Not only that, but I also had a comeback dream to the nightmares I've had in my bad week. Back then, I dreamt every night that I'm in physical danger and I'm helpless – there's no way to escape, or even convince anyone that I'm in danger. It was usually conspiracy-movie-type situations. Well a few days ago I dreamt someone was trying to enter my house and hurt me, and I overcame him! I sprayed some stuff on him and he ran away! Always go for the spray when you're in danger.

About the diet itself - I find that the hardest thing about it isn't what I can or can't eat or drink, but the social meaning of it. If I can't drink coffee and can't drink alcohol, and can't really eat outside, this basically means going out with friends is quite difficult. Sure I can sit with them and drink water or carrot juice, but it's not the same.

When this month is over I'm supposed to receive an updated diet for the following month. I'm mostly curious to see how long this energetic phase will last. I hope it's here to stay, but I'm also used to experience the migraines and fatigue in cycles, so I'm trying to be realistic about it. In the meantime, I plan to dedicate this long weekend of Yom Kipur to my script.

Be good, eat healthy stuff.

Lara Stone vs. Liv Ullmann: The eyebrows effect

I was watching "Scenes from a marriage" (Ingmar Bergman, 1973) a while ago, and during its 167 minutes I kept thinking that Liv Ullmann reminds me of Lara Stone – or should I say vice versa. There's a prominent vulnerability in Liv Ullmann's eyes and eyebrows combination, that sometimes makes it seem like she's about to cry even when she's not. Lara Stone's bleached eyebrows create a similar effect. Anyway, Lara Stone has just gone brunette for Vogue Paris, so this Liv/Lara adventure is over, at least for now.

Here's Liv Ullmann:


Here's Lara Stone:


And here's Lara Stone as a bruntte:

Mama reincarnated

There's a post I had in mind long before I had this blog, and now that I've mentioned Clyde Barrow it seems like a decent opportunity to write it. What I want to discuss here is the reincarnation of a mother's character who first appeared in "Bonnie and Clyde" (Arthur Penn, 1967) and later in "No country for old men" (Ethan and Joel Coen, 2007). Both of them are mothers of young women who are involved with outlaws.

Bonnie fell in love with Clyde, a bank robber, and became his partner. They formed a gang who not only robbed money but also killed people - so that both Bonnie and Clyde were outlaws.

Llewelyn Moss, Carla Jean's husband, is a hunter who comes across a satchel with two million dollars left behind at the location of a drug deal that went bad. He takes the money, and since the money is not his, Llewelyn now has to run both from merciless hitman Anton Chigurh, a group of Mexicans, and sheriff Ed Tom Bell.

Both mothers make only one major appearance, at a late stage of the film. Both are referred to as "mama". And most importantly, both do not approve of their daughter's man, keep a frown face throughout the scene, and predict bad outcomes.

"You'd best keep runnin' and you know it, Clyde Barrow" (Bonnie and Clyde)

Bonnie's mother (played by Mabel Cavitt) enters the story after Bonnie misses her so much that she runs away from Clyde and the gang. They quickly find her, and Clyde promises her she will see her mother. They arrange for a secret meeting with their families, in a deserted place. It's a poetic dream-like scene. Everybody seems to be enjoying themselves, except for the mother, who stands distant from the group, bothered. Bonnie Notices her mother's worry, she's nervous about it and wishes to calm her. At the end of the scene, when the family is about to leave, Bonnie, her mother and Clyde share this dialogue:

BONNIE
(to Clyde)
Sugar, make mama stay a while yet.

MOTHER
...you know, Clyde, I read about
y'all in the papers and I'm jes'
scared.
CLYDE
Now Mrs. Parker, don't y'all
believe what you read in the papers!
That's the law talking there. They
want us to look big so's they'll
look big when they catch us.
--and they can't do that. Why, I'm
even better at runnin' than robbin'
banks--aw shoot, if we done half
the stuff they said we did, we'd be
millionaires, wouldn't we, old
sugar. And I wouldn't risk Bonnie here
just to make money, uncertain as
times are. Why one time I knowed
of a job where we could of make
$2000 easy, but I saw the law
outside and I said to myself, why
Bonnie could get hurt here. So I
just drove right on and let that
money lay.
MOTHER
...Maybe you know the way with her,
then. I'm just an old woman and I
don't know nothin...

CLYDE
We'll be quittin' this just as soon
as the hard times is over, Mother
Parker, I can tell you that. Why
me and Bonnie were just talkin' the
other day and we talked about when
we'd settle down and get us a home,
and Bonnie said, "I couldn't bear
to live morn'n three miles from my
precious mother." Now how'd you
like that, Mother Parker?
MOTHER
Don't believe I would. I surely don't.
(to Bonnie)
You try to live three miles from me
and you won't live long, honey.
(to Clyde)
You'd best keep runnin' and you
know it, Clyde Barrow.
(to Bonnie)
Bye, baby.

"Three years ago I said them very words. No and Good" (No country for old men)

Carla Jean's mother (played by Beth Grant) enters the story shortly before Llewelyn, Carla Jean's husband, is killed. Both of them drive to El Passo Texas to meet up with him. Carla Jean is quiet during most of the ride. Her mother does all the talking, mostly complaining about her son in law, and the situation he got them in. Carla Jean is too worried for her husband's life to care about what her mother says. This is a shorter and lighter scene than that in "Bonnie and Clyde". The mother, like most of the characters in "No country", is a real comedian - especially when she says harsh things. This is the conversation they have at the back seat of a taxi, on their way to El Passo.

Mother
And I always seen this is what it would
come to. Three years ago I pre-visioned it.

Carla Jean
It ain't even three years we been married.
Mother
Three years ago I said them very words.
No and Good.
Now here we are? Ninety degree heat. I
got the cancer. And look at this. Not
even a home to go to.
Mother

(to driver)

We're goin to El Paso Texas. You know
how many people I know in El Paso Texas?

Driver
No ma'am.

(She holds up thumb and forefinger curled to make an O.)
Mother
That's how many. Ninety degree heat.

The cab is stopped outside the depot. Carla Jean and her mother and the driver are at the trunk struggling over bags.

Carla Jean
I got it Mama.

Mother
I didn't see my Prednizone

Carla Jean
I put it in, Mama.

Mother
Well I didn't see it.

Carla Jean
Well I put it in. That one. You just
set there. I'll get tickets and a cart
for the bags.

As Carla Jean goes to the station a man emerges from a car pulled up be-
hind. He is a well-dressed Mexican of early middle age.

Mexican
Do you need help with the bags, madam?

Mother
Well thank god there's one gentleman
left in West Texas. Yes thank you. I
am old and I am not well.
Mexican
Which bus are you taking?

Mother
We're going to El Paso don't ask me
why. Discombobulated by a no-account
son-in-law. Thank you. You don't often
see a Mexican in a suit.

Mexican
You go to El Paso? I know it. Where
are you staying?

Every time I watch that scene from "No country", I immediately think of Bonnie's mother. I love how both films managed to show a character for such a short time, just talking – no real action - and still make it so memorable. By the way, Beth Grant was actually only 58 years old when they filmed that scene, so they did quite a job with her make up. I'll leave you with Faye Dunaway's pretty face:
Dialogues were taken from here and here.

I wrote this post

I caught "Contempt" (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) on TV the other night. When it comes to the Truffaut-Godard battle, I will forever be a Truffaut girl. I can appreciate what Godard does, but too often I can't truly enjoy it. At times, though, I can both appreciate and really feel exhilarated, like in the case of "Contempt"'s intro, in which Godard reads the credits, or in fact tells the credits - instead of showing them on screen. Of course the music (by Georges Delerue) plays a big part here too.



By the way, I'm starting to consider changing my blog's layout, so there will be room for bigger youtube players. I had to shrink this one so it won't run over my sidebar. Any thoughts about that, anyone?

"Is this a CD or a movie?"

This indie movie trailer spoof starring Alicia Silverstone and Alanis Morissette is pretty funny. It's also an easy post.



via funny or die

DIY Miuccia

More than a month after seeing Prada's 2010 resort collection, I'm still trying to figure out how I can adopt these beautiful ankle ribbons. Simply taking a piece of fabric and tying it around my ankle brought poor results. Instead of a fancy ribbon shape, the fabric gets deflated and shrivels and the whole thing loses its appeal.

Speaking of (stuffed) animals

I just stumbled upon this Moschino couture teddy-bears dress on ebay. $2,999 and it's yours!

You might remember this dress from a W magazine feature taken back in August 2007, titled "into the woods". This is how Doutzen Kroes wore it (Photographed by Marcus Piggott):
To see more pictures from that feature, visit run for the hills.

All this bears and woods atmosphere takes me back to Bjork's Human Behavior video, directed by Michel Gondry. I've actually become allergic to Bjork's music over the years, but I decided to post the video anyway.

An animal I totally identify with

I just read an interview with Claude Lanzmann about his autobiography, "Le lièvre de Patagonie". I don't think the book has been translated yet. The title means "The rabbit from Patagonia". Asked about the title, Lanzmann explained he once drove in Patagonia, when a giant rabbit appeared in front of his car and then disappeared between the bushes at the side of the road.

"That rabbit filled me with joy, seeing his courage to jump in front of the wheels with such strength, energy… it's an animal I totally identify with".


Here is Lanzmann on a visit to Egypt with Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir (whom he had an affair with when she was 44 and he was 27). Lanzmann is tall, but not as tall as that giant pyramid behind him. And Simone de Beauvoir looks very chic. She must be wearing something out of Moschino's resort collection. Or is it Bottega Veneta? Here are more pictures from that 1967 journey.

Rosie Perez and Mira Sorvino do the right thing

Last night saw the 20th anniversary of "Do the Right Thing" (1989) in New York. I saw the photos of the cast arriving over at jezebel, and was automatically thrown back to one of my favorite moments of this movie: Rosie Perez dancing to the sound of Public Enemy's "fight the power", alongside the opening credits. That’s such a powerful intro: making the connection between protest and dancing.



I love good dancing scenes in movies, and Spike Lee is consistently one of the best directors of dancing/clubbing scenes. Another favorite of mine is Mira Sorvino dancing with John Leguizamo in "Summer of Sam" (1999). Not only does Mira Sorvino look amazing, and dances beautifully - this scene really shows the conflict between them: a woman who wants to act sexy near her husband, and a husband who cheats on her, and doesn't think it's ok for a wife to be sexy. Here are Sorvino and Leguizamo going at it:



There's also a major clubbing scene in "25th Hour" (2002), where all the main characters get together at a club. I'm sad to say I couldn't find a video of Anna Paquin dancing with Rosario Dawson, but here is a picture. I love how Anna Paquin sweats there. Story of my life.