"The Quiet Girl" by Colm Bairéad (2022)

 

Just a previous week I was celebrating a directorial debut by British actress Rebecca Hall and now i am blown away by directorial debut of young Irish director Colm Bairéad who was born in 1981, so yes, kids are OK and the world is in a good hands. As much as we get hopeless and stressed about the state of the world, there will always be kids who have their own perspective and its wonderful to understand that the future belongs to them. Perhaps this is just as it should be, some new souls uncluttered by our prejudices and ballast.

This lovely, delicate movie is about the young unloved and neglected Cáit (luminous Catherine Clinch) whose huge family practically don't even notice her and when her heavily pregnant mother gets close to giving a birth (again), they pack her unceremoniously to spend the summer with distant relatives she have never met before. Nobody tells her anything about it, nobody asks her about her opinion, in fact during the whole car ride her father hardly even speaks to her. (And he even forgets the suitcase with her clothes) In the new surroundings, at some lovely clean farm, surrounded for the first time with love and affection, Cáit blossoms like a flower and even opens up a bit - its a healing process both for her and for childless couple who now take care of her, even if its just one summer. At the end, she has to go back to her school and her family but we know she will never forget this summer. 

Just like Cáit herself, this is a completely soft and gentle movie from a perspective of a shy, observing child. Because it speaks with understanding of child's soul, we can all instantly connect with her heart, since we were all kids once and know what it is to be surrounded with grown-ups and their coded world. Some of them are threatening (father), some are comical (nosy neighbour), basically Cáit is a child left to a mercy of the world - luckily the relatives are here to love and protect her, even if just for a short period. I grew up in a cold and hostile household where they would also pack me off to a countryside during summer vacation, so this movie spoke to me - it had open some old wounds and reminded me on people long gone. I could watch this again, its quite a unforgettable little jewel.

"Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth" by Naguib Mahfouz (1985)

Yes! I read another book! 

What was just a natural lifelong habit before, became a task now, because my attention has been stolen by too many online distractions - it does not mean I am reading less, but actually my brain is all over the place and I am busy studying Wikipedia, etc. But I promised to myself that I will never stop reading books and must read at least 12 books per year, comparative to months in a year. Years ago I have read "Cairo Trilogy" by Egyptian Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, and although I don't remember anything about it, I know that I had enjoyed it very much so this was almost like a re-introduction to and old friend. I knew that I would like it. I just didn't know that it would take me so long to plough trough what is basically a slim volume. But I did it, chapter by chapter before sleep. 

I have been in Egyptian Museum of Berlin where famed bust of Nefertiti still amazes and impresses visitors with its timeless beauty. She is truly breathtaking. But just next door, there is a bust of her husband Akhenaten and appropriately, he is all smashed and destroyed as was good old Egyptian tradition of "Damnatio memoriae" and his successors saw him as a heretic and antagonist. Akhenaten himself is one of the most fascinating characters in Egyptian history and deserves much more than to be eclipsed by his wife, who after all, was coasting on his status - luckily not all Amarna art was destroyed and we still have some priceless pieces depicting Akhenaten and his family praying to sun God Aten. It was just one glorious chapter in a long history of Egypt but still remembered to this day, kind of like Egyptian Camelot. And just to prove that human nature never changes, there are literary hundreds of different ways people look at his reign, some see it as a beautiful religious experiment, others as a abomination and break with tradition.

The novel is very much Rashomon-like: a young scribe Meriamun is searching for the truth about supposedly heretic, recently deceased pharaoh and thanks to letters of introduction from his well respected father, he interviews many members of Akhenaten's court - each of them has a completely opposite impression of pharaoh and the contradictory picture that emerges tells more about them than about Akhenaten himself. We never know really what pharaoh is like, since each character has different motivations and ambitions - while some admired him, other despised him, many of them only tolerated his fixation with new religion as long as it suited them, etc. Mahfouz is a masterful storyteller with highly sophisticated style - not unlike "The Gospel According to the Son" by Norman Mailer, we have a specific historical moment depicted in a very delicate, almost poetic way, where atmosphere means more than story itself. Perhaps the only misstep is the last chapter - everything leads to a big finale and when it comes, it felt strangely underwhelming, the novel could just as well be without it. 

"Passing" by Rebecca Hall (2021)

 

Wow, what an excellent movie! 

My head is still reeling from last night when we watched this - after a sweet and slightly theatrical argument over my preferences towards old b&w classic movies - the subsequent compromise resulted in fairly recent 2021. movie directed by British actress Rebecca Hall in her directorial debut. She is one of those actresses with familiar faces but impossible to actually place - I have exactly the same problem with Keira Knightley, Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway, I understand its not all the same person but to me they are totally undistinguishable, pretty young faces successful in their domains but even under the torture I could not tell you one from another. However, from now on I will remember Rebecca as the only director amongst them and believe me, she is a fine auteur. In fact, this was so brilliant that I don't see how is it possible to follow it. 

"Passing" is based on 1920s novel set in a so called Harlem Renaissance when a new generation of Afro-Americans flourished in the big cities and were looking forward to upward mobility, class and success. To my knowledge this is the first generation that - despite obvious racist society - brought successful writers, musicians, artists, philosophers, etc. Even so, "passing" was a widely spread social phenomenon where light skinned people would silently slip into Caucasian society for the sake of social climbing. It was controversial back than and its still controversial today, because as much as we love to claim that race is not an issue, unfortunately it still is - we still have a long way to go, just look at the treatment of all non-Europeans as they come to the West. Who is still doing manual, dirty work but ethnic minorities from all over the world. 

The movie has a claustrophobic, small cast with only several characters: two friends Irene and Clare, their husbands, servants, children. The ladies meet after a long time and are thrilled how each of them lives completely different lives - while Irene has a relatively comfortable, middle class life with charities and parties, Clare had married a wealthy white husband who is openly racist and had no idea she is black. From this start, the story unravels and I can't go into more details but it turns really hypnotic and mesmerising, with beautiful black & white photography, tinkling piano and dreamy atmosphere that occasionally turns ominous and scary. It's not only that Clare passed for white, almost everyone in this movie passes for something else - Irene passes for a happy wife, her white journalist friend (based on a real-life Carl Van Vechten whom I know because he patronisingly praised Bessie Smith and many other artists of the time) passes for a straight man, etc. Almost everybody here has a secret and their polite demeanour is just a mask. Its just mazing how director Rebecca Hall created something so brilliant without big budget, in fact it might be said that the brilliance is exactly because she had a limited budget so she was forced to be creative - for example, because she could not show a whole street full of people in 1920s costumes, the opening scene gives us a bits of dialogues and feet of people passing by, we immediately know and understand everything even though its just being hinted at. Somehow this all turned out beautiful to watch and very memorable, despite a limited budget. I have just read that even black & white cinematography was more choice out of necessity and it works wonderfully here. I think its one of the best movies I have seen recently. 

"Tár" by Todd Field (2022)

"Schopenhauer measured a person's intelligence against their sensitivity to noise"

"Didn't he also famously throw a woman down a flight of stairs who later sued him?"

"Yes, though it's unclear that this private and personal failing is at all relevant to his work"

The very first sentence seemed so important during the movie and I did my best to memorise it. But today, with a cup of coffee and a relatively fresh mind, I noticed that the whole conversation absolutely makes sense. Not only that Schopenhauer noticed a link between person's intelligence and their sensitivity to noise but he also might have been a conflicting individual - which should not really affect his work and what he left behind. In this short but oh so meaningful dialogue, we have a story of "Tár" in a nutshell. Here she is, a music genius of her times, celebrated many times over - and than tarred (what an interesting pun) and feathered because social media generation don't forgive any human failings. Perhaps even more importantly, same character (elderly musician and her former mentor Andris) warns her that when he became really big and successful, he made sure his public life was spotless. "“I made sure all the hangers in my closet were facing the same direction.”

I knew and expected that I would love "Tár" on the strength of my admiration for Cate Blanchett. Purposely, I have been avoiding reading anything about the movie because I wanted to approach it like tabula rasa and to enjoy it without any preconceptions. It was also exciting visit to a newly renovated and recently re-opened cult cinema "The Movies" that goes all the way to 1912. and it might be Amsterdam's oldest cinema. I even thought its my first cinema this year, until this very blog reminded me that in January I have seen "Triangle of Sadness" which was also brilliant, this makes two masterpieces so far. Perhaps the only weak link was my company who has never even heard of Blanchett and most of the movie went above her head, but I just had to accept that this time there will be no interesting after-movie discussion.

Cate Blanchett was sensational. I would even say, almost intimidating. As a celebrated classical music conductor Lydia Tár she is a very intense, confident and demanding individual who leads Berlin Philharmonic and is basically a balls crusher. She is bossing everybody around her and perhaps only with her elderly mentor and her adopted daughter, there is a fleeting moment of tenderness - it takes a specific kind of artistic integrity and I would even say courage to play such unsympathetic character, Blanchett does not even tries to soften her up, she is cold, manipulative and angry most of the time. She treats her personal assistant with disdain, her wife with barely concealed annoyance, people around her are here to serve. And just when it looks that she is at the top of her professional success, it takes one wrong step to show all the previously hidden animosity people felt towards her - there were hints trough the movie, like someone's cell phone with hateful messages (but we were never told who wrote them) - when proverbial  shit hits the fan, this dominatrix finds out there is nobody to help or support her. Not even her own brother. 

Some observations:

- The dialogue is out of this world. Since we are dealing with a rarified world of classical musicians, the way they talk is beautifully tailored and everything sounds so sophisticated that I even wondered is this perhaps too off-putting for a regular cinema audience fed with action heroes, but I must say that cinema was full and everybody very quiet & appreciative (confused?) so I should not doubt them after all. 

- Lydia Tár is very clever and manipulative. She ruthlessly steers her orchestra towards her goal and works on replacing elderly conductor assistant with someone else - but when it turns out her choice is not her own long-suffering assistant Francesca, there is a shade of "All about Eve" because Francesca uses her knowledge of Lydia 's previous personal affairs to create a public scandal that engulfs and sinks her whole career.

- There is a very interesting scene where Lydia gives a masterclass at the Juilliard - some young and cocky student dares to dismiss Bach (because as non-binary-whatever-person he can't listen music made by someone who fathered 15 children) and she is dazzlingly menacing in the way she treats him. Unfortunately this backfires at her. 

- Schopenhauer's idea that intelligent people react to a noise is ever present - not only in the way Lydia is haunted by all sorts of strange noises in her apartment, but also later as strange noises and even construction work gets more and more disruptive towards the end of the movie. 

- At almost 3 hours, the movie was really a test for my bladder. And the only reason why I couldn't get up was because my seat was in the middle of the row and I could disturb everyone - I still have that old fashioned concern about people around me - perhaps the ending where everything unravels was not even necessary and the movie could have been shorter. However, it has been a long time (probably not since 2008. "Doubt") that movie excited me so much, so for me this was definitely a 100% masterpiece. Even though its overlong. I will watch it again. 

Vermeer collected works in Rijksmuseum

 

Probably THE exhibition of the year, "Vermeer" in glorious Rijksmuseum had attracted huge international interest and the tickets were booked months in advance - there is something just so right about all this artwork coming back home where it started, after it has been scattered all over the world (many of these pieces have found their home in such various places as museums in Brunswick, London, New York, Vienna, Abu Dhabi and Dublin) - even more so, when considering that during his lifetime Johannes Vermeer very probably never went further than his provincial little town of Delft and now posthumously enjoys cult status of unprecedented proportions. Mind you, this is not the first ever exhibition of his collected works - there has been a similar 1996 exhibition in Mauritshuis (The Hague), a place that is home of his celebrated "Girl with a Pearl Earring" but this one actually managed to collect even more of his work than ever before. Still not complete - there are 28 pieces on display, several are still around the world (Vienna refused to send one particular painting) this exhibition is so far the biggest ever display of Vermeer's work under one roof and what is the better place than Rijksmuseum?

I would have probably never got the tickets if it hasn't been for a good friend who managed to book them back in January - appropriately it was me who gave her the annual museum card as a birthday present so it came back to me just nicely. We had a reserved time slot at 18:30 and believe me I have never experienced more enthusiastic and passionate audience EVER in my life before. This was not a tourist crowd, these were art lovers who have actually reserved their tickets in advance and the crowd was just ecstatic to be there, standing in line patiently in front of each painting, admiring all the little details and whispering to each other. The whole exhibition was displayed quite brilliantly, because naturally these 28 paintings could have been squeezed in one single room but were instead spread over 10 large rooms, often only one piece per wall and giving them a proper, regal space to be admired. 

Naturally I was thrilled. And yes, many of the pieces were priceless and lovely. But afterwards I thought how big part of the thrill came also from the crowd - if I was alone in the building, I would probably stroll along and just glance at the paintings that mostly have (dare I say?) repetitive subjects and very much same persons all over again standing in the same corner of the same room, with even same floor and same background. Having all these excited people around me and being forced to wait in line before I could approach the paintings made everything somehow much bigger and more important. I even thought that having all these paintings together somehow works against them - one alone stands out in any museum, because Vermeer's touch is so delicate and lovely - when they are lumped together, suddenly one becomes aware how similar they are. Is there such thing as too much of a good thing? Or would I feel the same if facing ANY collected work by any other artist, after all I felt certain fatigue in Van Gogh museum. it made me even pondering about the nature of the art versus hype - how we react to certain art just naturally and spontaneously, while in other occasions (like this one) it becomes more as a validation of how cultured and informed we are. Or maybe I just feel a bit annoyed with a sheer number of little, white-haired ladies tottering around and breathing my air. 

God's children: Muhammad and Samir

Every now and than a photo found online stop me in the tracks. This was one of them. Surely, we can't always take everything we read online for granted and most of the time its not true anyway - what we know for sure is that this photo was taken by Italian photographer Tancrède Dumas who had worked in the Middle East and had his own photo studio in Beirut, ca 1860. While living and working there, he took some very unusual photo portraits of now completely forgotten and lost world - one of them is this heartbreaking and highly memorable photograph of two unfortunate souls who depended on each other for survival. Various web sites have mentioned their names as Muhammad and Samir - the story goes that one was blind Muslim and another paralyzed Christian and they were beggars who lived as one, sharing whatever lodging and meals they could find, until death eventually separated them and the survivor quickly perished from grief as one could not live without the other. While the story itself is certainly moving and inspirational, we don't need to take it as a literary truth - neither their names or history can not be confirmed but what is certain is that these were two beggars dependant on each other and very probably completely alone in the world. 

The writer in me wants to know everything - who were their parents? Were they both rejected after birth? How did they found each other? Were they raised on some kind of orphanage and than kicked out as they grew up? How did they scramble for the food, survive harsh conditions of being homeless on the streets of Damascus, where did they found a place to sleep, did they comfort each other and wipe each other's tears? It is only a photo from a long gone world but my heart aches for them. If only I could go back in time, I would do everything to make sure they have roof over their heads and decent food, I find this so heartbreaking. Somebody should write a whole novel about them.

More of Josipa

 

Because it is 50th anniversary of our legendary rock masterpiece "Dnevnik jedne ljubavi" (The Diary of One Love), Croatian rock legend Josipa Lisac is all over the news again - while haters will hate, fans are celebrating this fantastic piece of music released back in 1973. and to my biggest surprise no less than Croatian State Archives have published several less known photographs celebrating this outstanding artist - amongst others, there was a photo that even I as a hard-core fan have never seen before, so I was thrilled to bits to discover it and admiring it ever since.

The photo was taken in 1973. just when "Dnevnik jedne ljubavi" was released and my guess would be that it was the same photo shoot that produced picture later used for her 1973. single aimed for that year Eurovision. Up to that point her music was quite downbeat (which I loved but it did not register in sales) and starting from now her lover, composer and Svengali Karlo Metikoš will steer her into more upbeat direction, resulting with this single and subsequent rock releases. There is a clear, audible change in sound, starting from now she will be our only female rock singer for quite a while. Above mentioned single was one of three attempts to break Josipa into Eurovision - she went on national TV selection in 1969, 1973 and 1987 - curiously, seems that her visual extravagance always worked against her and the mainstream audience just couldn't accept her so she never went further than local competition but 1973. and 1987. songs were major hits nevertheless. Because her later visual metamorphoses were so striking and memorable, public tends to forget how relatively demure she was at the start (and even more entertaining is the idea that this was supposed to be outrageous and rebellious back than). 

"Dnevnik jedne ljubavi" 50th Anniversary

 

Not long ago I wrote here about the intense negative reaction to our Croatian rock legend Josipa Lisac performing national anthem on the inauguration of the new president - online discussions and hatred were fanned by constant media surveys and it was just so bizarre that suddenly the most subversive person in the country turned out to be a 70 year old lady. Mind you - there was absolutely nothing disrespectful or wrong with her interpretation, its simply that we always heard that melody as a  bombastic chorus so perhaps people were taken aback that someone had jazzed it up. Lots of people took it personally and some even claimed Lisac mocked our national anthem - it was a huge scandal and for a while the main subject of discussions online, until Covid pandemic swept everything away.

Since Lisac was always my all-time favourite singer, I was alarmed with all of this and even wondered how will she continue after this but continued she did - in fact, being one of the biggest stars in the country, she just kept on going. She was amongst the rare musicians creating online virtual concert for the paying audience and later continued with touring for her ever-faithful audiences. She declined competing anymore for the annual national Porin award, saying that she won enough awards in her lifetime and it they might be more necessary for younger, not yet established musicians. As the concert activity and live performances eventually continued, it became clear that those who loved and supported her trough all these years continued to do so, while those who never liked and understand her, continued to mock and criticise her. Its just that internet gave them soapbox to spew their hatred and frustration. 

This year marks exactly 50th anniversary of her debut album "Dnevnik jedne ljubavi" (The Diary of one love) released in 1973. Accidentally it was also the year when our biggest concert hall Vatroslav Lisinski was open so it was only naturally that the concert celebrating this anniversary will happen there - while online hatred continued, tickets were sold out immediately and because of the huge interest, extra concert date was added. By all accounts, the concert nr.1 was a huge success and people loved it but there was some concern when lady came on the stage with a walking stick - a very stylish walking stick, but still apparently unexpected. It turned out, our ageless rock lady who always refuses to accept years and claims to be forever young inside actually developed sciatica which is a extremely painful condition usually connected with ageing process - now I remember that she was already seen with a walking stick onstage during performance on Porin awards in 2010. but back than nobody paid any attention to it. So it might be that she quietly worked with sciatica for years, until now it became unbearable. The latest news is that the concert nr.2 has been cancelled and postponed for now, since lady can't perform - to be honest, she is 73 now and perhaps this is a sign that she should just slow down.

Resistance Museum Amsterdam

 

I have already written about this interesting place - one of those less known museums that actually has a genuinely interesting story - and was curious to visit it again after refurbishment. The building itself is not big so it takes a lot of ingenuity to create more exhibit space and previously it was done by arranging a certain path trough labyrinth that chronologically followed WW2 years. This time, the idea was more or less similar, except that everything was re-arranged and labyrinth itself is replaced by cleaner directions, now everything is neatly divided into various sections. We still have story about pre-war years and explanation what was a socio-political situation in a country, how various groups lived in a harmony and how German invasion unmasked profiteers who did not hesitate to make a quick buck out of spying on their neighbours and work colleagues. 

What is new - and invited a lot of criticism and hostility - was the idea to show not only well known resistance heroes but also their antagonists, often on the same wall as a part of the same story. It was done with intention to highlight how dangerous it was to be in resistance and who were spies, collaborators and traitors who worked for the other side. Its kind of new perspective and by no means equalisation of both sides - but this is exactly what some people have seen and there was a quite bit of stir in the media and in discussion that museum went to far and insulted the memory of people who actually perished in those dangerous times. For example, the well known story of red haired resistance fighter Hannie Schaft was juxtaposed with the photo of her torturer. I have found those criticisms very short-sighted and ignorant - missing the whole point - there was not one single point where Nazis were celebrated or equalised with resistance fighters. They were visible and often mentioned as illustration of the dangerous times and how situation was never black & white - often same people would even switch the sides and join other group. So, no controversy for me and I will go there again. Even bought two books in the museum's shop.

What I found very interesting - it was not the main focus but somehow just felt between the lines - was the impression that history was not exactly heroic as nowadays people would love to think. There are numerous testimonies from ordinary people (students, factory workers, etc) who did not immediately perceive any danger - in fact, people were constantly expecting war to be short-termed conflict that will end soon - there were people writing in their diary how much they enjoyed sunny day on the beach, agonising about should they get obligatory identity cards and declaration of loyalty to Nazi regime. It would be great if we could present the official story how brave citizens resisted Nazi occupation and fought back but in fact, there were a lot of self-centred ordinary people who were minding their own business and would not risk their lives for any goal. Many had decidedly closed their eyes to suffering of arrested and deported Jews. There were others, who were collaborators too - and their names and pictures are now displayed at the museum as a part of the story. There is even an interesting photo of women who were publicly shorn and humiliated after the war by the street mob - probably very same people who minded their business during the war and were not exactly active in resistance fight. 

I only regret that during the refurbishment, they removed the photo of sweetest little Jewish boy Remi van Duinwijck who was murdered as one of the children in a Jewish orphanage (he was the cutest boy and too well known, he could not be hidden because even Germans knew about him). I do remember him and here is his photo again. It breaks my heart that anybody would want to hurt him, an innocent orphan boy. 

"Nemesis" by Isaac Asimov (1989)

 

Another paperback that I have found discarded on the shelves of neighbourhood street libraries (a concept that I never knew even existed before I moved here) - unfortunately it seems that the thrill of finding such paperbacks for free is approximately opposite of actual reading. Dear reader, I have to admit that for some time now I find it very hard to focus on reading books and it bothers me a lot because I used to be a passionate, lifelong reader who has now metamorphosed somehow into internet obsessive Zombie and I simply get too distracted with virtual world to actually focus on reading, which now feels like a task. I am too embarrassed to even admit how long it took me to finish this particular book, I suffered and forced myself trough this harmless little paperback like its the biggest enemy and its a pity, because I used to love reading. I seriously don't know how to deal with this, should I continue forcing myself and feeling guilty or gradually just giving up on reading books completely?

Sadly, this was my very first introduction to celebrated Isaac Asimov who is supposed to be one of science fiction giants. I have ploughed heroically trough it but frankly, it was just occasional sparks of inspiration sprinkled trough a long-winded saga that probably could have been a very effective short story. Far from gripping books that keep you reading trough the night, I have found myself postponing this one, keeping it at a bedside, carrying it around and finally finishing it with a ridiculously victorious feeling of achievement. I am aware that sometimes the book simply needs a right moment but this one felt as something I would never pick up again, so it was a task, not a pleasure. Not sure that I am ready for another Asimov in a near future. Life is too short.

The story follows two different groups - Earth people, who are focused on creating intergalactic (""hyper-assistance")  spaceship so they can follow space station colony Rotor where residents are planning to create a completely new start and populate new galaxy. Both Earth people and new colonisers are aware that the star Nemesis might bring death to Earth so this is one of the main side stories here, however Asimov than gets a bit distracted with description of deserted moon Erythro and its creepy atmosphere & certain bacterial intelligence that affects scientists in the artificially created research dome. For some reason, characters are just not very appealing and the best cerated ones are actual antagonists, like Asimov had more fun writing about them than about the heroes. 

Inspired by an old photo

Lady came from Baltimore,

All she wore was lace.

She didn't know that I was poor,

She never saw my place.

I was there to steal her money,

Take her rings and run.

Then I fell in love with the lady,

Got away with none.

The lady's name was Susan Moore,

Her daddy read the law.

She didn't know that I was poor,

And lived outside the law.

Her daddy said, I was a thief

And didn't marry her for love.

I was Susan's true belief

Married her for love.

I was there to steal her money,

To take her rings and run.

Then I fell in love with the lady

Got away with none.

The house she lived in had a wall

To keep the robbers out.

She'd never stop to think at all

If that's what I'm about.

I was there to steal her money

Take her rings and run.

Then I fell in love with the lady

Got away with none.

(Tim Hardin) 

 

Adventures in TV Land

As you probably noticed, I don't have a habit of watching TV - it was something I would do when on vacation between two ship assignments - however, this January I caught a bad Flu or whatever it is and was forced to sit home quietly for a while, together with my equally infected flatmate. So what to do, we started watching TV and to his biggest despair, I discovered that I prefer to move on between different programs instead of being faithfully glued to one thing in particular. Binge-watching something that goes on for several seasons feels like a big undertaking and if left to my own decisions, it would just be short youtube clips about the life in frozen Yakutsk (which delights me) however this time it was watching together, so I am at the moment balancing several things simultaneously.

"The Last of Us" is the latest HBO sensation and it was so heavily promoted & advertised that I just could not resist having a look. Not one, but two actors from "Game of Thrones" are involved here and so far they are both main characters - the series are based on a famous video game and apparently it was created with a huge budget, that makes it something like producing a full scale Hollywood movie - not being familiar with the video game, I approached it without any previous knowledge about the plot and so far it was quite gripping, though after only two episodes I started to feel unusual fatigue. Not only that the story covers fairly routine plot (survivors of something apocalyptic roam trough the ruins of civilisation and are fighting mutants & zombies) but two main characters are so far not very simpatico and its difficult to follow something where I don't care about main actors. I like Pedro Pascal but so far he is just very traumatised and scarred person, while teenage Bella Ramsey is perpetually angry and foul-mouthed to such degree that I almost wish she gets eliminated. While visually impressive, series have a distinct feeling of déjà vu because I have seen this kind of setting before - from 1962. "The Day of the Triffids" to 1964. "The Last Man on Earth", ultra creepy 1971. "The Omega Man"  to 2002. "28 Days Later" and its sequel "28 Weeks Later", not to mention "The Walking Dead" - the main positive thing here is that HBO shows only one episode per week, which actually creates motivation to continue watching it.

While I am on HBO, I got somehow convinced to check out old, classic 2001 TV series "Six Feet Under" that earlier escaped my attention, probably because it coincided with my sailing years - it was impossible to follow anything while I worked on a ships without internet - now, when I say "old" its only old from current perspective, because I am actually serious fan of 1930s and 1940s movies so something from 2001 does not really count as "old" but its been two decades since than. Its about bereaved family of undertakers, or perhaps not really undertakers but owners of funeral home - they are selling funeral arrangements, cremations, coffins, preparing mutilated bodies for viewing, etc - to my biggest surprise, it turned out surprisingly watchable and it has enough off-the-wall unexpected dark humour AND likeable characters to keep me watching, I gulped the whole first season with greatest pleasure. So far my favourite character is mother (Frances Conroy) whom I remember playing The Angel of Death in "American Horror Story" - here she is a sweet, slightly eccentric widow who has a delightful innocence about her and I love watching her. 

Her daughter in a series is a very young Lauren Ambrose who is currently starring in M. Night Shyamalan produced TV series "Servant" and before you know it, I started watching that one as well. Its a very unusual story but I expect that from Shyamalan, about young couple dealing with the loss of the baby and as a therapy they accepted to treat a lifelike doll as the real child - to such degree that they even engage nanny (hence, servant) to live with them. But the doll is creepy and the nanny is creepy and both parents appear slightly unhinged so this actually turned out quite gripping and compulsive - each episode is only 30 minutes long, which makes for a very effective watching and so far I did not get bored yet. The only complain I have is a character of Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in Harry Potter movies) who is constantly either opening the wine bottles or pouring himself drink in every single scene, to the point that it became tedious - you already know when he comes on a scene that he will gobble some wine and that puts me off. Otherwise a very good series. 

What I enjoy the most is something I stumbled upon completely accidentally, as it should be: an Australian detective series "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" set in 1920s Melbourne. It feels like a homage to all the classic Agatha Christie characters and the main focus here is glamorous private detective Miss Fisher (played with confidence by excellent Essie Davis) who in each episode solves another latest problem, while prying around and basically annoying police detective (Nathan Page) who is reluctantly forced to accept her assistance. None of the series above have such a feel-good atmosphere as this one, which is maybe surprising considering its about crime and murders but its done in a such lovely manner that there is nothing specially upsetting or gruesome about it - stories are fairly standard and almost generic, costumes and locations are joy to watch, characters are likeable and each episode ends with bad guys being arrested or punished. Strange to say, but its almost a comfort watching, comparable to "Midsomer Murders", "Miss Marple" or "Murder, She Wrote" - so far, I am genuinely enjoying this one the most. 

Evening of Istanbul Cabaret music

 

Lo and behold, looks like Covid and lockdowns are finally completely behind us and now we are all able to participate in crowded social gatherings, without forced vaccinations, etc. I had recently moved to another neighbourhood and must mention how excited and thrilled I am here - after living in the heart of Red Light District and than in the generic suburbs, now this is the very first time I am in a genuine residential area with regular people, regular shops and a nice, vibrant atmosphere. It also happened that there is a local theatre/cafe here just around the corner called Podium Mozaiek where a good friend performed as a part of Tombaz Ensemble - the stars have aligned and I thought why not, its near my new home and a perfect Saturday night evening.

I cannot describe how happy I am that after years of sailing and nomadic lifestyle I have finally found my home here in this wonderful, cosmopolitan and  colourful city with so many varieties - the best example was last night, where evening was all about 1930s music from Istanbul but the audience was mixed between ex patriots and curious locals, who just like me, wanted to experience something different. The ensemble itself is a five-member multicultural group of Turkish, Romanian, Greek and Dutch musicians who play both traditional and classical instruments. The singer Meral Ari introduced almost every song with a little story (which, surprisingly, I almost completely understood even thought it was in Dutch) and the evening was all about glorious music from Istanbul - reflecting various influences like operetta, tango and cabaret - also in different languages, including Greek, Turkish, Armenian, etc. 

The ideal getaway

 

Yes, it is photo shopped but I don't mind.

Just a fabulous idea.

"Triangle of Sadness" by Ruben Östlund (2022)

This was recommended to me and I thought it might be a good idea to see it as my first visit to cinema in 2022. Recently I have been busy with work & moving to another address but now everything seems to have been settled and I can go back to my regular hobbies like movies and books. For this movie I purposely avoided any online information and just wanted to approach it as tabula rasa with no preconception of what critics think (it turned out the movie won Palme d'Or in Cannes). 

"Triangle of Sadness" ended up being delightful black comedy and social satire. It actually consist of three different parts, like three chapters linked by the same protagonists: in the first part we meet two young privileged people (Carl and Yaya) who live in their own bubble, where modelling, fashion and online followers is all that matters. Clearly, it is completely unreal and unrelated to most of us who don't make our living from photo shoots and being influencers but for this couple this is reality and we see it as they constantly pose for the phone cameras, which takes a large part of their time. Whatever they do, when they are sunbathing or having a dinner, mobile phone camera is clicking all the time. It is not even clear do they love each other or do they simply think they look good together for Instagram. The second chapter finds them on a luxury yacht designed to cater for elderly, wealthy guests where staff and the crew is bowing to all their wishes and ridiculous whims. There is a clean-cut, caucasian crew that serves and works around the yacht and Asian staff that works downstairs - the way wealthy guests treat everybody is just appalling but perhaps even more unsettling is how servers allow themselves to be bossed around for the prospect of good tip. The third part of the movie finds them stranded on a desert island, where the roles are suddenly reversed and moneyed guests don't have any privilege anymore because its only one person who knows how to catch the fish and make fire - a housekeeper Abigail (excellent Filipina actress Dolly de Leon) who now imposes her own rules. 

It was very original and unusual movie, so much that I left the cinema wondering out loud "why was this recommended to me?" but of course next day, when the impressions settled, I spoke excitedly about it and explained how interesting it was. Yes, it won Palme d'Or but this is never guaranteed commercial success and it might signal it will appeal to selected audience - be that as it may, obviously I am fan of arthouse movies and to me this was far more interesting social satire than 2019. Korean Oscar winner "Parasite" which irritated me - this one was closer to my sensibilities, I found it funny and fascinating (yes, some people are like this, posing and pouting for the phone cameras non stop), not to mention my experience of working on a cruise ships where guests are mostly entitled and unreasonable indeed. At the start of the movie the head of staff (Paula) drills her staff how to obey any of their guests wishes and they can never say "no" - this reminded me so much of my work experience with cruise guests who would often get out of their way just to bother and irritate staff with irrational demands. It was very funny and amusing, casting also helped because only Woody Harrelson is very well-known, everybody else was relatively unknown - this really helps in making the movie convincing. Unfortunately, the actress who played Yaya (Charlbi Dean) died soon afterwards from some freak bacterial infection so she never experienced its international success.