reaction.

It hurts me...

This is the image that started it all.
Before I became fascinated and completely captured by the artistry and anguish of La Nouvelle Vague, I stumbled upon this picture of the lovely Jean Seberg. Such a sad life for such a beautiful and arresting visage... though it seems that is often the way of it.
And then came a long overdue viewing of "A Bout de Souffle," or "Breathless," whereupon Seberg -- safely stored and temporarily forgotten within the far reaches of my mind -- charmed me once again (American accented French aside).





There is a gritty charm indeed, buried beneath an exterior sweetness of color and smiles and structured innocence... An anomaly still jaunting around the world today.







Images via
style.com
trailerfan.com
garancedore.fr
thesatorialist.blogspot.com

Film of Summer, of Love, of Death...

"In life, in order to understand, to really understand the world, you must die at least once. So it's better to die young, when there's still time left to recover and live again."

From "The Garden of the Finzi-Contini's," actor Romolo Valli as said to his son, speaking of Love, lost. The best summation of the most tragic state of being that I've come across in a long while.

Beautifully tragic film...

The filmy visual quality is mesmerizing, as is the "dream world" in which the Finzi-Contini's delicately dwell. It makes me want to move to a small Italian village, play tennis and ride (now) vintage bicycles through shaded lanes...





But the undertone of sorrow never ducks into hibernation. Death is worn on the edge of everyone's sleeve; the lover's death and the untimely death bred by human hatred.

I don't doubt that the book would disappoint...

Images thanks to:
wikipedia.org
70scinema.blogspot.com
polsci167.blogspot.com/

The Other Jones

A famous line if there ever was one, taken from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

“Not that Jones, the other Jones!”

Exactly. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is “not those films but this film” (thanks to a certain theatre attendant for pointing it out so simply).

After hearing so much negative word of mouth, it was becoming hard to keep my mind above the din of heavy critique. I hoped the new film wouldn’t be like the old ones; what a sad attempt of a sequel that would be. Instead, the film portrayed age, youth, death and the appropriate era (the 50’s in all of its paranoid and kitschy exuberance), without losing the ruddy quality that pervades the Indiana Jones image. It was thankfully appropriate. And just when I felt the “oh no, here they go” welling up, ready to explode in a silent theatre-appropriate sigh; as Indy’s hat came dangerously close to functioning as the proverbial passing-of-the-torch to his son, the opposite happened...



No, there will never be another Indiana Jones, just as there will never be another Harrison Ford.

Images from http://www.theraider.net/