HUNGER.

Here.

Here.

I finally saw Steve McQueen's Hunger (2008) last night - appropriate as I had spent the day in the library researching The Maze Prison.

It is a heartbreaking and supremely beautiful film detailing the final months of IRA member Bobby Sands, who died in May 1981 after 66 days on hunger strike. 

While I did not feel it to be entirely balanced, I'm uncertain whether such a film ever really could be - and doubt this was really within Steve McQueen's scope. Nonetheless, I appreciated how powerful the film was in depicting the appalling conditions for detainees. Michael Fassbender dropped his weight to a staggering 8 stone for the role of Sands - and throughout, I felt the focus remained on the body as the location of ultimate protest, and what a human can be willing to endure in order to be listened to. 

Each frame was beautifully shot without being too self-conscious; snowflakes falling on the bloody knuckles of an abusive prison guard, wreaths of blue cigarette smoke surrounding faces, a hand reaching through wire to touch a fly... 

I found this film to be particularly difficult viewing due to the current situations in Bahrain and in Palestine. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja has now been on hunger strike for freedom for an astounding 90 days (in effect, his whereabouts and condition are currently unclear). His daughter has been arrested for charges relating to her activism. Learn more and act to support Abdulhadi here. 
In Palestine, more than 1,500 prisoners are on hunger strike - with shockingly little media coverage. Richard Falk's recent piece on the situation is both insightful and very moving. 

In conclusion, McQueen's film is devastating and not without its complexities, but definitely recommended. 

Sunday Soundtrack - Horns & Fins.

Do you remember the shape I was in? I had horns and fins. from raloup on 8tracks.

I expanded my internet presence slightly and got 8tracks. 

I've discovered a load of new music just drifting through different mixes. 

Here, you have an eclectic mix of my own brought on by the tail-end of my term papers. 

The title horns & fins was originally only related to Lou Reed. 

However, yesterday a few friends and I finally got round to seeing Earthlings. 

Detailing the the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research, this film was quite honestly one of the hardest things I have ever watched. 

I could write a lot more, but essentially I would urge anyone to take the time to see this. It's deeply shocking and saddening, but all the more important for being so. 

100 years ago today...

Here.

Robert Doisneau was born.

Maybe this is a rather lame admission, but I first encountered the beautiful photo above in what is still one of my favourite movies.

The trailer does it no justice at all.

And as Steve Dunn suggests, love should always be like that photo.

I later saw an exhibition of Doisneau's work at the Side Gallery in Newcastle, and fell even more in love. The Kiss at the Hotel De Ville, cliché as it may nowadays be, is still on my wall.

Style Inspiration: Julia Stiles as Kat Stratford.

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Long hair, little braids, stonewashed sweaters, collared shirts, exposed midriff, coloured camo tanks, tube tops and chokers...

Maybe it's because I too enjoy feminist prose and angry girl music of the indie rock persuasion (and Thai food, for that matter). But I think Kat Stratford can always claim a place among my favourite movie characters. And as for Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona, his shoulders oh my god his leather trousers in the club scene are pretty much unforgivable, but I'd still make out with him covered in paint want him to want me oh whatever, his smile just makes me uncharacteristically simper.

How you turn my world, you precious thing; Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen.

These dizzying paintings by self-taught Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen have me on edge.

A recent write-up on Hi-Fructose (where these images are from) drew parallels with M. C. Escher. I would agree - they somehow brought to mind one of my favourite movie scenes of all time.

David Bowie - Labyrinth OST - Within You

Sunday Soundtrack.

Scène d'amour - Vertigo OST - Bernard Herman

Mina - Dracula OST - Wojciech Kilar

A couple of pieces for a very cold January evening.

It may well end up being a snowy Sunday night, and a white start to the week.

Midnight in Paris - Elegant Escapism.

Last night I went to see Woody Allen's latest release, Midnight in Paris - and I absolutely loved it.

The photography was just perfect - a love affair with the city - and the performances were charming. But what I loved the most was the way in which the film was unashamedly littered with literary and artistic references. Aspiring novelist Gil Penderton (Owen Wilson) is frustrated by his shopaholic and superficial fiancée (Rachel McAdams) by day; but surrounded by his cultural heros by night (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, T.S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein to name but a few).

Marion Cotillard (Adriana) and Owen Wilson (Gil) strolling through the streets.

Source.

Partying with Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll)...

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... and the Fitzgeralds (Alison Pill and Tom Hiddleston).

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Taxidermy & teasing glances.

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A clever comment on nostalgia and ideas of a "golden age", Midnight in Paris left me feeling enchanted and elated. Allen seamlessly slips from modern-day Paris, to the roaring 20s, to the belle époque and back again. Gil's nocturnal wanderings fulfilled so many of my own fantasies; while it's hard to pick (the cast of characters is so extensive) I would spend an evening with the Fitzgeralds (a little bit obsessed with Scott & Zelda - as everyone knows, they sure knew how to have a party). And can I just say, the casting was impeccable for each and every cultural icon cameo.

Source.

Midnight in Paris was pure elegant escapism - lovely and life-affirming.

I'll leave you with another Fitzgerald that I love.

How would Lisbeth (and Larsson) feel about her "look"...?

Earlier this week, the Guardian offered a preview of Trish Summerville's upcoming clothing range for Swedish store H&M. She's the costume designer for David Finch's upcoming remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and the clothes will come out on December 14th, a week before the new film is released.

I posted a while back about Noomi Rapace in the original Swedish film (2009, Niels Arden Oplev) - I admired her style, but never would have imagined a clothing line to go along with this remake (which I feel is unnecessary as the original films are so perfect, and Noomi absolutely nailed the complex character of Lisbeth).

I devoured the entire Millennium Trilogy in about a fortnight, and was completely engrossed by it - it was practically all I could talk about. If memory serves, in the second novel Lisbeth actually visits an H&M store and buys a load of clothes; but I can't help but wonder how she would feel about a clothing range inspired by her - and how her creator, had he lived to witness the incredible growth of her fanbase, would feel about this idea.

I suppose I won't rule out seeing Finch's film, or wearing any of Summerville's clothes; but I do think Lisbeth would probably be pretty cynical about the whole idea, and I feel Larsson might find it a bit opportunistic and embarrassing.

And that maybe H&M would suffer some shocks to their IT system.

Waiting For Somebody.

Cliff: Hey.
Janet: Hey. Going out?
Cliff: Yep. You?
Janet: Yeah.
Cliff: That’s a very nice hat, and I don’t mean that in an Eddie Haskell kind of way.
Janet: Thanks.
[beat]
[Janet sneezes]
Cliff: Bless you.
Janet: Thank you.
[beat]
Cliff: Does everybody go through this?
Janet: No, I think, just us.

I am well aware that Singles (Crowe, 1992) is an absolute grunge youth exploitation film; but that makes me love it all the more.

Style Inspiration: Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander

Recently saw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009, Oplev) - and was suddenly very aware that I have been slow on the uptake with this series. I have yet to read the novels, but in three weeks' time or so when I've handed in all my work, they will be devoured.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire way through, and absolutely fell in love with Noomi Rapace as the enigmatic Lisbeth Salander. Stunning, androgynous and darkly stylish.

Last week we studied Frankenstein in my Gothic novel class; I had read it many times before, but it is a work which never fails to profoundly disturb and move me. Still, I can't help but wonder how we came from the picture above, to this...

However much I love Boris Karloff, I can't quite imagine him, in his incoherence, getting to grips with Shelley's creature's torment: "I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other."

Shelley's misunderstood and miserable Creature (he deserves the dignity of that title - it's only Victor and society who term him a monster) - to Karloff's staggering, groaning Monster. I wonder what Mary Shelley would have made of him.