Categories: cinema
Date: 16 March 2008 02:26:02
You will be pleased to know I did end up doing some research: after pottering around the internet and then heading to Market City for lunch [Prawn and Vegetables Cripsy Noodles and Watermelon Juice]. Procrastination: thy name is Ian.
After the research it was back to the French Film Festival for Molière. In my ignorance, I had never heard of Molière before: while this is a fictional dramatisation, I was rather taken with it and will look into his life and works if I can find more information. The movie itself was superb: good doses, great doses, of humour, throughout. Molière, who quite a poor actor and cannot play a tragic role to save his life [people laugh when he attempts to be serious], gets thrown into prison due to debts. His is released by an unknown man [Monsieur Jourdain], whom he meets and who wants Molière to help him act a play he has written to secure the love of a beautiful woman, despite him already having a wife. Brought to Jourdain's home, he soon finds himself immersed in a place of secrecy, romance and seduction. I believe the main scenes and text follow from characters in Molière's works, showing these characters and events as if they did occur in his life. A very enjoyable romp through 17th Century France.
Gotta Dance is a wonderfully silly and crazy comedy about a wonderfully silly and crazy family: father Salamon who is full of life in his 80s; mother Genevieve who is sadly in an early stage of dementia and looked after by a younger man; and the daughter Sarah who lives with her fiancé and is caught between the antics of her separated parents. The characters in the film are so lively, and so wonderfully portrayed, and the manners of mischief they get into have you, literally, rolling in the aisles. There are some hard scenes, tough scenes, as there are in life, but this family seems to have enough joy and life in them to continue on. A great, fun movie.
In between the movies, I headed down to Berkelouw Books for a look [I love book stores] and a quick snack [chicken and vegetable pie]. Berkelouw Books is particularly wondrous as they have an antique, special editions and rare book centre: their main collection is down in the Southern Highlands, but they have a few on display in Paddington. I was particularly taken with a older version of John Donne's Holy Sonnets -- encased in glass it looked wonderful. They also have a store in Leichhardt, where I will be heading today to see my final two French films as part of the festival: I'll be wandering around there too. Books are wondrous things.