My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: Thoughts on Catching Fire

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: Thoughts on Catching Fire: First a little disclaimer went to see Catching Fire a couple of days after having been to see 12 Years a Slave, you can't help but compa...

Thoughts on Catching Fire

First a little disclaimer went to see Catching Fire a couple of days after having been to see 12 Years a Slave, you can't help but compare even though the two are entirely different genres.  Nevertheless after the powerful moving film which is 12 Years it's difficult not to make comparisons, even unfair ones.

I went to see the first Hunger Games film without having read the books, knowing only the broad outlines gleaned here and there.  The film was dynamic, the story was well laid out, its simplicity was appealing and suited the unfolding events.In the second film  Jennifer Lawrence is still incendiary as the main character Katniss Everdeen the oh so reluctant "revolutionary".  The plot takes off from the film with Katniss back in her district living in better digs as befits her role of champion.  Ditto for her fake game boyfriend Peeta.  Throughout the film she will continue to oscillate, feelings wise, between him and her District boyfriend Gale. She tries reassuring Gale by telling him "it was all a game" she did what she had to do to survive.  Here's the irony by allowing Peeta and herself to survive she has become the powerful if unknowing leader of a potential rebellion a title which she fervently doesn't want and doesn't really understand.

The first part of the film is very slow with repeated televised appearances of the most famous couple the Games has ever produced. There are also visits to the various districts to honor the fallen tribunes.  This ostensibly to please the masses and make them forget about their miserable lives under an intrusive ever present totalitarian dictatorship headed by the oily and ubiquitous President Snow played with some relish (of the pay check variety ) by Donald Sutherland.

President Snow is perturbed at the idea that Katniss especially is inspiring the masses in ways he had not anticipated, he wants to be the ultimate manipulator of the games and its aftermath.  I had a problem with this basic premise.  The author Suzanne Collins probably does a much better job of delineating how suffocating the lives of most people under this dictatorship must be and what a breath of fresh air Katniss certainly must have been.  It's difficult to see that playing out in the film.  There are a few gestures of futile acts of rebellion such as the three finger salute to the mouth and the hand holding by tributes past winners who will now be pitted against each other in a novel twist on the old game.  Current leitmotif, the games never end, either in one's head or in reality. They are always there for the one percent's enjoyment.  The three finger salute is too reminiscent of the Nazi salute to be totally effective even though in this case the salute is an act of defiance rather than obedience.  Nevertheless the salute coupled with the heavily borrowed decor straight out of Nazi propaganda films was enough to turn me off thus not achieving its intended purpose at least not for me.

One hour into the film the action does get under way with the games although I never felt that Katniss was in mortal danger knowing another two film episode (a la Twilight) will soon be coming to a Cineplex near you. The idea that the masses are unwilling to rise up because they lack cohesive leadership is lightly  touched upon in the film with the mockingbird being the ultimate symbol of the rebellion were it to emerge under the leadership of an extremely reluctant Katniss.  In so far as spectacle is concerned the film delivers on a minor scale with special effects that don't overwhelm the story.  I loved the wedding dress segment, truly beautiful and the makeup and costumes are still fabulous.  Most of the same players are back with the addition of Philip Seymour Hoffman, always delightful, although frankly he could probably play this role in his sleep since it doesn't demand too much of him.  This is mostly Lawrence's film and there's no doubt she will set the box office on fire with this second installment.  For my part a lukewarm endorsement I would give it a 6.

Thoughts on film 12 Years A Slave

At this point I'm mostly writing these reviews for myself.  I have tried to enter the very busy milieu of blogger.com which is especially crowded with film reviews from people, I suppose like myself, who are trying to pass themselves off as film critics.  Unfortunately film criticism, not so long ago considered an art form, has fallen into disrepute due to overuse by zealous yet unqualified people.  The worst offenders are not the bloggers but actual  film websites which still appear to attract scores of curious readers and feature more or less prominently on IMDB the go to search engine for films. It's a bit puzzling since a lot of the writing is shoddy at best, at worst it's downright awful.  I suppose it's the cult of the dumb and dumber. Culturally we're all slowly succumbing to it whether we want to or not whether we partake in it or not, it's out there like a malevolent bacteria and it will only keep growing.

Since I'm mostly writing for myself I won't excuse my overindulgence in the previous paragraph, a little ranting goes a long way.

Some films one can immediately form an opinion about, good, bad, horrible yet enjoyable or downright awful and to be avoided at all cost.  Other films require a separate category of their own I believe 12 Years A Slave to be that kind of movie.  It's uncompromising yet not exploitative and beyond its obvious artistry it is trying to capture a terrifyingly malevolent period in American history a period which can never be condoned, rationalized or brushed aside for there can never be an excuse for slavery. That such an important part of American history has been the subject of so few deeply serious films is in a sense understandable for who wishes to confront what can only be viewed as the absolute worst in people, white people, supremacists mostly ignorant and abject creatures who because of their whiteness and because slavery was legitimately sanctioned by the state experienced absolutely no remorse at the enslavement of another.  Quite the opposite in fact they were almost gleeful in the intoxicating power they derived from it. The film is very clear on this, as a spectator I felt shame and revulsion not because the film was raw in its violence but because it was true.
From the opening frames when we first see Solomon Northup we know that something horrible has happened to him and to the others with him.  The flashbacks to his former life only confirm that, making his present situation all the more horrendous and brutal.  Previously Solomon was a young violinist player living a peaceful semi-bourgeois life in upstate New York with his young wife and two children, a son and a daughter.  We see him going about the town enjoying the respect of the townsfolk, he's at ease in his surroundings, well accepted one might even say well liked.  He has all the prerogatives of a free man even though he is black. All this comes to an abrupt end when he is tricked into accepting to play music for a traveling circus. Lulled into a sense of ease and familiarity Northup has no reason to suspect that the two men have something else in mind. Drugged he wakes up to find himself in chains in a holding pen where slave traders beat him into submission before shipping him off along with other slaves to be sold like chattel to the highest bidder.
 Chiwetel Ejiofor gives the performance of a lifetime in the role of Northup. It's unbearable to watch him trying to hold on to his former educated self in the midst of unceasing pain, brutality and generally dehumanizing treatment. Traded, beaten, hung and forced to an unspeakable act himself he still manages to maintain an innate dignity never losing sight of the fact that he was once free and will be free again.

The director Steve McQueen well known for uncompromising works such as Hunger and Shame resists all attempts at sentimentality.  Still using his "muse" Michael Fassbender in the role of  Epp the most brutal of Northup's masters McQueen is able to draw a powerful fearless performance from Fassbender.  He was so terrifying that I literally held my breath every time he came on screen.  The other actors also acquit themselves well although Benedict Cumberbatch only has a minor role as a master who recognizes and approves of Northup's intelligence although, in the end, he does nothing to stop Northup's inevitable decline into ever more increasing brutality by selling him to Epp.  Brad Pitt who also produced has a brief but pivotal cameo towards the end of the film  He's too well known by now to play anything other than himself, that's the price an actor pays when one becomes such a global commodity and phenomenon.

The end couldn't come soon enough for me.  Not the end of the film but the end to Northop's calvary.  I was moved to tears at Northop's reunion with an aged wife, son and daughter as well as a brand new grandson, 12 years of hell it's been a long time coming.  See it, highly recommended.

Review of Le Démentèlement by Québec filmmaker Sébastien Pilote

Le Démentèlement which literally means the breaking apart does not leave any room for doubt as to what the final outcome will be.  Gabriel Arcand, Québec's national acting treasure and winner of countless awards, plays Gaby Gagnon a man of few words with very limited social interaction who is seemingly content with a bucolic existence which consists of tending for his flock of sheep from dawn to dusk.  The film wants to be a slow meditation on one man's relationship with his land and family which consists mostly of the episodic visit from two  wayward fundamentally selfish daughters now living in Montreal.  The film is set in Lac St. Jean and it does look beautiful indeed but the filmmaker's refusal to romanticize any aspect of the ties which bind Gaby to the land,his sheep or and his daughters make it a difficult somber viewing.  We learn very little of Gaby or why he's so attached to his daughters in a long suffering quasi "Père Goriot" sort of way.  He explains it once by stating that it's always been the roles of fathers to protect and care for their daughters at the expense of their own well being.  This deterministic fatalistic approach to life ushers in what should have been gut wrenching, the breaking up of his farm to secure a $200.000 "loan" for Marie his eldest daughter,but ends up instead a mere whisper a slight ripple on the pond of his life.
The film starts out slow and basically stays that way for its entire running length. It's not exactly boring, Arcand is a wonderful performer who can express a great deal with his beautifully mobile lined face nevertheless one longs for a little more human interaction.  The monotony of Gaby's life is intermittently broken by visits from his friend/accountant who urges him to live a little bringing him a refurbished computer which Gaby nonetheless proceeds to swiftly unplug.  He has no interest in the outside world.  When his oldest Marie comes for a quick visit announcing that she is separating from her husband and needs $200.000 to keep the house Gaby barely blinks even though after having worked forty years and netting only a meager $10.000 a year it's obvious he doesn't have any money to spare.  Why he agrees regardless of the consequences to his own well being is maddening I wanted to shake him out of his torpor out of his ready acquiescence to something so fundamental it was certain to damage his soul and the very root of his being.
In one near unbearable scene Gaby ,having found that the little one room apartment he's rented does not accept dogs, takes his dog to the pound and pays $25.00 to have his perfectly healthy dog euthanized.  It's heartbreaking and the poignancy of the scene is not any less affecting when Gaby abruptly returns to fetch the dog.  He ends up tying him up near a neighbor's farm even though she's already stated she can't take care of it.
The youngest daughter Frédérique comes to visit after a phone call from Gaby's friend, the accountant, she stays a week and helps with the démentèlement.  She doesn't make much effort to dissuade him, on the other hand she can see that his mind is made up.  Brothers who never wanted the farm in the first place arrive to stake their claim but Gaby kicks them out. The farm is his to do as he pleases.
When Frédérique comes to tell him that the flock has been sold Gaby allows himself a brief hiccup of sorrow, it's gut wrenching to watch because one is aware of the life which now awaits him.
The last shot is of him sitting in a chair in his tiny cell of an apartment looking out the window.  The film will prove to be too melancholy for most people.  It reminded me of early 70's experimental films by Antonioni and Visconti with echoes of Ingmar Bergman. Films by these respected auteurs would have trouble finding an audience amongst today's film goers only dedicated cinéphiles might be moved by the rigor of these films' composition and by the rigorous formalism of this one.
On a broader theme beyond the scope of this specific film I started wondering about the end of small time agriculture in general.  Young people no longer want to farm.  All the people featured in the film during the breaking apart of Gaby's farm were old farmers themselves, not a young face in the bunch.  It's sad really.  Who is going to grow the food of the future, will it consist mostly of food grown in big agro-chemical complexes trucked and shipped over thousands of kilometers it's not an idle question.  Nobody cared about Gaby's farm furthermore it's harder and harder to make a decent living on smaller parcels of land ultimately  that scenario does not bode well for the future.

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Revolution

My review of The Counselor

First of all a little disclaimer, this isn't the worst film of the year or the worst film ever which according to Salon film critic Andrew O'Hehir it is.  I usually respect this critic and in fairness he makes a lot of valid points in his critique but the tone of the review is so acidic and vitriolic that I'm wondering if he was having a really really bad day when he set foot inside the theater. It could have been a great film but it certainly falls short of necessary expectations.
The Counselor has high pedigree written all over it.  It was written by famed author Cormac McCarthy who also wrote The Road and No Country for Old Men, both were turned into successful movie adaptations, the key word here being adaptations.  This is McCarthy's first foray writing a screenplay solo and it's quite a different endeavor than writing a book.  Before we get to the meat of the story and why it's not all that tasty,the film features an A-list cast headlined by Michael Fassbender in the titular role, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz,Penelope Cruz and Brad Pitt, pretty heavy hitters all.  Fassbender who I usually love in everything and on whose shoulders this film mostly rests appears bemused and perplexed throughout most of the film except for a bit of a heartfelt crying jag at the end.  I understood and shared his confusion, he was probably thinking what the heck am I doing in this picture and thank God I have Twelve Years as a Slave to redeem myself, ditto for Brad Pitt, greasy haired pony tailed and cryptic, he's also in Twelve Years and can at least look forward to some favorable publicity on that one.
The film opens with a view of tangled white sheets and a voice over from the Counselor.  The bodies are hidden under the sheets but are soon revealed to be those of Fassbender and Cruz.  The talk is supposedly dirty but McCarthy being in his early eighties might no longer have a very clear idea of what dirty talk should sound like.  When Cruz is asked what she would like the Counselor to do to her, her tentative reply is: "I want you to touch me down there."  Ok down there where, my toes my knees etc... plenty of options plus it just sounds ludicrous and silly.  There's another attempt at sex talk over the phone and it falls equally flat. Even though Fassbender can usually make reading the phone book sound sexy, it doesn't work this time because he's such a cipher, a character in search of development, a character so unworthy of being noticed that, in fact, he doesn't even deserve a first or a last name.  The whole affectation of being called Counselor
 throughout the whole movie gives the character less not more weight.  We basically have no idea who this guy is, we only see him in lawyer mode once while the rest of the time he's listening to people telling him what a bad idea this drug deal is (they're right) in pseudo-philosophical verbiage which is meant to be meaningful but merely ends up sounding pretentious and uninteresting.  I love intellectual discourse in a film as much as the next gal (the French are very good at this) but this is just verbal diarrhea.  For instance do I need a dissertation on the merits of such and such a diamond when all the Counselor wants to do is buy a friggin stone but had to jet set all the way to Amsterdam to get it....really and he still needs the drug deal.  The drug deal itself is a mess of such gigantic proportions I won't even try to make sense of it because it doesn't.  The players are all bad stereotypes of stereotypes.
Javier Bardem in a very very bad hairstyle with very very bad glasses and very very bad taste in women, namely one man eater named Malkina (I kid you not) played by Cameron Diaz, is one of those players. Besides his fondness for Malkina and two cheetahs which he lets run loose in the desert like some bad ad for a perfume or maybe a car he too has a fondness for expounding at will.  He does utter the best line in the movie though while Malkina is busy fucking his car with her Brazilian waxed vagina pressed against the windchill he declares it "too gynelogical" to be enjoyable.  Thankfully we can only see her gyrating from the back a scene bound to be imitated countless times on You Tube.
The deal goes bad, the hammer falls as we knew it would, the unintended victim being the Penelope Cruz character the only moderately true character in the film but one we hardly get to see. Malkina is somewhat interesting, she is played ferociously by Cameron Diaz but in the end we know too little about her to feel anything but revulsion for her viciousness and lack of compassion. Apparently she's the pin on which everything turns and it really doesn't matter since the whole story is so incomprehensible.
The Counselor ends extremely abruptly and leaves the viewer with a sense of is this it, apparently it is. The central problem probably lies with the screenplay. McCarthy is known as a difficult writer but the ample room to expound in a book form is not available in screenplay format with the end result being a screenplay which feels slight,pedantic and unfocused.  Good acting and a competent director are not enough to rescue a deeply flawed script in precious need of a rewrite.

Review of film Gravity

I was expecting a great deal from the film Gravity by director Alfonso Cuaron whose other films namely Y Tu Mama Tambien and Children of Men I have loved.  Furthermore I have a special place in my heart for Mexican directors, they're risk takers and more often than not the risks pay off.  Gravity is an ambitious film and a departure for this director.  It's successful on many levels especially from a technical point of view and the jaw dropping cinematography which must have taken countless hours of refining to achieve.  The problem is space itself, it's not a very interesting place in which to spend a couple of hours or maybe it's just me.  I have never been particularly attracted by the idea of space travel, it leaves me cold and shivering and this movie does nothing to alleviate my fear.  Space is not a fun place to be and if that was the intent of the movie then it's certainly successful on that count.  We follow the journey of medical engineer Ryan Stone played by Sandra Bullock and astronaut Matt Kowalski played by George Clooney as they attempt to survive after having more or less been cast adrift in space tethered to each other by the flimsiest of thread.

Basically that's the story in a nutshell.  The experience with the help of the 3D technology is meant to immerse you in that environment.  As a viewer you're often behind the mask of Ryan Stone as she struggles to breathe with oxygen depletion in her suit quickly threatening to overcome her.  We hyperventilate with her as she tries to negotiate free falling in space with little to anchor her to anything solid.  It is a frightening experience and one which I would not particularly like to duplicate.

I have a couple of problems with the film.  I've decided that 3D is just not for me.  Yes objects float in space and appear to come towards you, yes there is more definition, yes there is the possibility of immersing oneself in an alien environment but it doesn't grab me the way it should.  Maybe I'm just weird but to me it overemphasizes the totally artificial nature of the medium thus instead of bringing me closer it moves me further away.    Furthermore once you've gotten over the awe of space, the environment itself is pretty boring, except for fleeting glances of earth curved and beautiful with all of its colors reflected in the masks of the astronauts, there's really not that much to look at.  It's dark and foreboding.  At the same time the movie brought forth in my mind all the now useless junk which is orbiting somewhere above us and which we keep sending up there, it's a giant repository of now defunct technology forever doomed to circle and circle or do whatever objects that can never land do in space.  Space is not clean, it's dirty and it's full of man made debris, in fact it's those very same debris which cause the fatal accident in the film.

Sandra Bullock does a good job of appearing scared but we know so very little about her that it's hard to fully empathize with her character.  It's not an Oscar worthy performance, there just isn't enough subtlety in it.  I also had a problem with the casting of George Clooney as Matt Kowalski, not sure what it is about the name but it just didn't fit the persona.  Clooney at this point in his career has become bigger than life, he's just too Clooneyesque to ever be really taken seriously in this role.  He comes off as Ocean's Eleven Clooney with the self-referential I'm so handsome kind of guy.  

Somebody else pointed out that the scene where Bullock takes off her suit and is down to her skivvies, meant to emphasize vulnerability or maybe a shout out to Ripley's Alien, is not realistic.  In a suit you're tied to all sorts of wiring in order to facilitate bodily functions which totally makes sense, where do you pee or defecate if you're stuck orbiting in space.  It's a moot point I know and it's more effective to show her in her undies and have women in their forties despair at how great Bullock looks and how much work at the gym there's still left for them to do to ever achieve that look.  I myself am over 40 and have given up.

In conclusion I liked it, it lagged a little in parts, I didn't love it.  I give it a cautious recommendation.  

Review of La Vie D'Adèle. or Blue is the Warmest Color

Blue won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year not only for its director Adbellahtif Kechiche but also for its young actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux the Emma with blue hair of the English title.  The French title which draws less attention to the color blue and more to the life of Adèle itself is perhaps the more appropriate title.  Adèle is a story of self-discovery,love found,ecstasy,love lost, pain and grief.  Throughout the unfolding of the story the camera is an intrusive almost abusive presence in the life of Adèle as it follows her though her various transformations.  I understand the need for the director to do that, he wants us to get under Adèle's skin and to know her as intimately as an artificial medium such as cinema will allow.  I didn't necessarily get under her skin but got as close to it as was possible, felt her joy,her growing power in her nascent sexuality and most importantly her loss.  Much as been written about the overtly sexual scenes in this film and some might go see it out of a prurient sense of discovering the forbidden, they might end up being disappointed.  Although clearly explicit the scenes, there are two almost identical scenes, are not overly sexy although they are not devoid of sensuality.  These are two beautiful young women who are obviously taking extreme delight in each other's bodies.  My problem, and it's a small one, was that the scenes went on for too long, so long as to become more voyeuristic than they should have been.  Furthermore Adèle is young and inexperienced in lovemaking, clearly being seduced by an older more adept and experienced partner yet we don't see anything tentative in the lovemaking where there should have been some hesitation or even "pudeur" we see none.  Of course that could also be explained by the voracious nature of Adèle herself.  The filmmaker does spend a lot of time particularly on Adèle's mouth to convey that message.  The closeups of her extremely mobile face are very intense.  It's especially shocking to see her eating almost gluttonously and with obvious pleasure not just in one sequence but in a few sequences interspersed throughout the film.  There is sauce on her lips, she sticks out her tongue to lick it, she talks with her mouth full, these are things rarely seen on film.
In fact the whole focus on a character eating is something rarely seen on film.  Characters are seen ordering, sipping wine, having a bite here and there but it's all very gentile and sober.  Eating is messy and not especially sexy to film with bits stuck in one's teeth, the chewing and the mouth opening and closing, it doesn't lend itself to being filmed that easily.  There is something so naked about Adèle eating which could be in an of itself more shocking than the sex scenes themselves.
This is a very moist film.  Characters cry, especially Adèle, with the kind of reckless abandon rarely captured on film.  There is mucus aplenty and no attempt to wipe it off.  Grief too just like eating isn't especially pretty, it's visceral and organic.  This film might have the best, most moving breakup scene I have ever witnessed, it's executed so flawlessly and with so much passion like a punch in the gut, the pain is real for her and it becomes real for us.  Kudos to the two young actresses for putting so much of themselves out there, these are brave performances especially by the young Adèle although Leah Seydoux also shines in her role of temptress and seductress.  Highly recommended.

Review of Don Jon

I hadn't intended to write a review of Don Jon and truthfully it's been a couple of weeks or more since I've seen it my recollections therefore might not be all that fresh.  Ideally I should do the reviews closer to the actual viewing but was lazy on this one and not all that highly motivated, still I do have a few thoughts bubbling in my head which I will attempt to write down.
Don Jon was written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt he's also the titular character thus wearing many hats.  For a first effort the direction is all right, it's not a film which would require a great deal of expertise, there are no big action sequences, not too many actors to direct, the sets are few and the camera is often stationary just panning on people's faces.  The problem lies with the script.  Don Jon is a guy of few words and few interests.  If anyone has seen the previews for this film his interests are easy to list:  His family,his boys,his body,his church and especially HIS PORN.  Emphasis is mine but it's also his as he narrates his interests.  I suppose the film is meant to be somewhat satirical of a certain type of guy who lives in Jersey,is of Italian descent,a practicing Catholic (Sundays only) and loves hanging out with his boys at familiar clubs where he always gets to go home with the choicest piece of ass in the joint while his buddies can only stare and salivate.  The buddies never seem to have any luck in that department and what's even more puzzling is the fact that they don't even resent the DON, they admire him,not even the slightest tinge of envy, his buddies are GOLD.  Back to the satirical idea, satire requires a light touch and razor sharp humor in order to be effective.  Here the satire is too broad to be considered anything but a failure.
Don Jon is not an interesting guy and only uninteresting girls would want to go out with him, I use going out in the most general way since he mostly just beds them although we never actually see them doing it. While the gal is asleep and apparently sated Don Jon stares painfully at the ceiling wishing for a little porn excitement which this latest bout of sexual bliss failed to conjure.  This is the central theme of the movie.  It's the story of a guy who can only connect sexually with his computer, a porn addict who can't really feel unless he's face to face with the manufactured sex provided via the internet.  This is a worthwhile topic, much better explored in another movie called Shame, here it simply feels inert and unreal.  First of all Don Jon tells us that he loses himself in the porn, something which he is unable to do when he's with a live partner even with one as bodacious and sexy as Scarlett Johansson.  We are asked to take him at his word on this but whenever he's at the computer watching porn the camera lingers on his face with no noticeable action taking place below.  There is no movement, no excitement, no tremors, no sweat, his face is just placidly bored, is that what losing yourself should look like, where's the ecstasy of the moment, obviously nowhere to be found.  Furthermore here's a guy sitting on a hard back chair in front of a tiny computer screen spanking his monkey day in day out, countless numbers of times and he's losing himself.....there's just no way. Can one even masturbate that often without incurring severe carpal tunnel injury a question for the ages I suppose.
Don Jon's family is equally boring. A highly plastified Tony Danza serves as the dad, the mom always speaks as though she's on the verge of an hysterical breakdown, the sister is constantly messaging on her phone and during the Sunday dinners they watch football plays on t.v. with the two men wearing "wife beater" white shirts and eating spaghetti, can it get any more stereotypical than that, I think not.
When Don Jon finally learns to connect during sex thanks to a helpful older woman played by Julianne Moore the conversion is sudden and improbable.  He goes from A to Z in a nano second and by then, in any case,  we've lost interest.  Scarlett Johansson is absolutely adorable as the ditsy New Jersey girl chewing gum, wearing tight clothes and expecting certain things from her man none of which include porn watching but do include an instant makeover.  Never having met a New Jersey Italian girl I can only assume that everything about her performance is spot on, it was the highlight of the film for me.
I do like J. Gordon-Levitt generally loved him in 500 Days of Summer, I feel he should stick to romantic losers or winners role, he's also been great in action flicks, simply didn't like him or the subject matter in this one.  One additional thought for a film about a guy addicted to porn the film is incredibly chaste.  The actual sex scenes are not sexy, the only tits and asses to be seen periodically on screen are those from the porn videos, the clips do get extremely tiresome and the objectification of women body parts is complete.

My thoughts on the film PRISONERS

I haven't read any critiques of this film, these are my thoughts unfiltered.  I knew the director was Québec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve which was of interest to me, also read a brief synopsis and knew it premiered at TIFF to overwhelmingly positive reviews.  That was the sum total of my knowledge going into this movie.
The film starts ominously enough, the Lord's Prayer is being intoned in the background while a rifle scope is being centered on a young doe soon to be a carcass sloppily thrown in the back of a pickup truck.  It's been a good kill, a clean kill, a father is happy the son took the kill and didn't make a mess of it.  Innocence and sinning, who is innocent and who are or will be the sinners are heavily prefigured in this opening shot.
The plot is a seemingly straightforward one.  Two little girls have been kidnapped on Thanksgiving Day, the who and the how are the major drivers of the action which will unfold.
The two main actors, Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal the first as the grieving dad and the second as the dogged detective investigating the case both do a masterful job. The actors in the secondary roles are all effective as well.
The film is not boring, although the pacing flags a little in the middle part, the suspense remains unrelenting and the ending is a shocker I didn't really anticipate.  When a film is beautifully directed one doesn't notice the little holes, which upon later reflection, suddenly seem to surface.  The writing is not as solid and airtight as I originally thought but pointing these holes out would give up too much of the plot, I'll leave it up to future film goers to figure these out on their own.
A few things stayed with me which had more to do with atmosphere. The bleakness, the despair, the ugliness not merely because of the subject matter, kidnapping of a child, bleak enough, but also the ambiance of the place.  This is not the happy U.S. of A.  It feels depressed. The one family is white blue collar, small entrepreneur, their house is modest.  The dad is religious, it was his voice intoning the Lord's Prayer at the beginning.  He's also a fervent survivalist, their basement is filled with stocked goods in preparedness for whatever is sure to come.  This family is friends with a black family who appears a little more upscale than them.  They have a nicer house, the dad whose job is never mentioned comports himself in a manner which appears to suggest a more intellectual sort of occupation.  I found this friendship odd simply because I know enough about the America of today to know that it is still very much fractured along racial lines, the racial divide has never really been erased. What are the odds of a deeply Christian, blue collar, survivalist family hanging out with Afro-American best friends?  I was wondering if the script mentioned that or if it was just added on as an attempt to soften our perception of the aggrieved dad played by Hugh Jackman.  Obviously the dads are both aggrieved but they go about initially dealing with the kidnapping in very different ways.
Getting back to the atmosphere which is beautifully captured in long and tight shots.  There is the brightly lit diner where one lowly patron, the detective, is eating his Thanksgiving meal. The call to action almost freeing him from this ordeal.  There is the Spirit and Wine store, lonely outpost waiting for customers who are sure to show up. The mega shopping store no doubt stocked with Chinese imports, not a Wal-Mart, but very similar, welcoming you to the desolate suburbs. The whole place simply reeks of desperation and leaves no doubt in one's mind about the decade. This is definitely 2013 and things have not gone well, there is reason to fear.
I found a few scenes very difficult to watch. I don't like scenes of torture and although the camera tries not to linger the scenes  have enough of an impact to stick with you visually once the film is over.  It's not an easy film to love but it's an easy film to admire for the craftsmanship.

My review of the film Jappeloup

Went to see Jappeloup last night. Jappeloup is the name of the horse who became a semi-national treasure in France. The story is loosely based on the life of rider Pierre Durand, his family and the other people around him. Pierre Durand is not portrayed as a very likable character, he doesn't respond well to humiliation and defeat which is a bit of a drag in a sport as competitive as show jumping. The more likable hero is the dad played by the always reliable Daniel Auteuil as a man full of optimism with an unfortunate nasty addiction to nicotine. The real hero is the horse Jappeloup, tiny for a show jumper, not a thorough bred but who could fly over obstacles easily because of his small size. It's great family entertainment with a positive message although it went on a little too long for my taste. I would have taken the editors' scissors to some sections and been a little more ruthless in my cuts. Didn't like the choice of banal American songs which were chosen to highlight the more emotional parts of the story except for one sung by Cat Stevens. The photography was beautiful, Guillaume Canet did a good job of portraying a rather petulant, mostly pissed off Pierre Durant while some secondary characters like Raphaele and her dad are simply luminous. The French country side around Bordeaux also looks and feels vibrantly beautiful. I would score it a 3 out of 5.

Mini review of Elysium

As the title states this is just a mini review not intended to reveal too much, just to give you a little taste and get you interested.

Went to see Elysium all by my lonesome, not a problem. I really loved this movie. After the flotsam and general nothingness of summer films it's great to encounter a movie with breadth and vision one which isn't scared to embrace its politics. The ugly disturbing dystopian future painted in the film with empathy and accuracy doesn't seem all that far off although the film is set in the year 2100 towards the middle portion of it. The earth has been thoroughly depleted, there are too many billions of us and those who can (mostly white and the ultra rich) have fled to a paradise of their own making where life is easy, so easy in fact that we spend very little time there. It's strange that what powers the film Elysium is not Elysium itself that's just something which must be overcome no...the gritty human stuff is still happening on earth that's where the real drama is where loss of hope exists. for what can one say about an environment where everybody is beautiful, you can change your appearance if you don't like it,lawns are green and manicured,lots of pools, diseases have been cured, in short the only thing bothersome is those pesky earthlings still needed to make the robots which will be used to police them, yes the supreme irony of it all. OK. don't want to reveal too much more just this: it's powered by a wonderful Everyman turned reluctant hero Matt Damon, well worth a look if you like movies with substance.

Man of Steel or why this Sup let me down

Finally went to see Man of Steel yesterday.  Wasn't expecting something grandiose although initially found the early previews inspiring sadly there was no lift off to be had for this little earthling.  The first half was tolerable, the set design was a bit overpowering with some of the effects downright bizarre for instance the weird dragon like creature on which Jor El makes his initial escape.  Chalk that one up to an overactive imagination weaned on one too many fairy tales.  Russell Crowe brought just the right amount of gravitas to the role of doomed scientist/father/husband Jor El.  His performance along with that of Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent were the highlights of the film for me.  Clark Kent is first seen as a handyman for all seasons with a dash of heroism thrown in when circumstances require it but he never seems happy about it. After all saving people should be fun and gratifying some of the time.  Clark's fortress is nothing like the soaring ice palace of old instead it's a rather somber place but in the space of a few minutes there Lois Lane discovers his secret, Clark encounters Jor El for a nano second chat and presto it's all about the suit and embracing his destiny.  They throw the word destiny around a lot.  This Clark can fly in fact that's mostly what he does as Superman,once in a while he also shoots fire from his eyes and gets beat up a lot by Zod and Faeora.
Henry Cavill doesn't have that much to do as Superman or as Clark Kent.  He has a minimal amount of dialogue, his face is rather inexpressive and his acting is wooden though he fills up that suit rather nicely.  Unfortunately there is no lightness to this Superman even a mild attempt at levity when he tells Lois to move further back before he flies off into the great beyond falls totally flat.  This Sup. just isn't funny, there's no twinkle in his eyes. Found the chemistry between him and Lois to be nonexistent, their kiss at the end did not register as anything momentous.  Laurence Fishburne was totally wasted as Perry White and there was no Jimmy Olson!

Absolutely hated Michael Shannon as General Zod.  Shannon can be a subtle, emotive actor (love his work on Boardwalk Empire) but the hair, the costume, the overacting it just added up to a little too much.  (Lex on Smallville was much scarier as Zod)  The second part of the film was just CG effects to the power of 10.  So many buildings falling down, so many cars, so much machinery in general, the eyes glaze over and the pounding headache starts throbbing.  It's relentless although the fights between Zod and Superman were filmed rather choppily, even appearing blurry at times.  This is one Superman who doesn't worry about collateral damage, human or material which does a disservice to the Superman ethos of preserve life at all cost.  In conclusion, bloated, big on special effects, light on character development,choppy editing it all ads up to one serious disappointment.  Destiny can be such a friggin drag.

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: A little boat trip to the Archipelago of les Glena...

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: A little boat trip to the Archipelago of les Glena...: We left for Benodet shortly after noon.  The boat was scheduled to leave at 1:30.  Got there a little before embarkation time on a good size...

A little boat trip to the Archipelago of les Glenan

We left for Benodet shortly after noon.  The boat was scheduled to leave at 1:30.  Got there a little before embarkation time on a good size ferry type boat with an upper deck, a lower open deck and a closed deck.
We took the comprehensive tour which involved a drop off of a few hours on a modestly sized island with a lovely beach and then a pick up with a tour of the rest of the islands which dot the archipelago.

Les Glenan is one of the high spots for tourism in Brittany.  It is known for its natural resources, its pristine crystalline waters (this is where blue lobsters can be caught as well as crabs and shrimps).  The spot was neglected for quite some time until the opening of a nautical center in 1940 followed by an international diving center where many people from all over the world come to learn how to become experienced divers.

The biggest surprise was how many tourists were lined up to board the boat.  It's not yet the height of the tourist season here but the exceptionally warm sunny weather brought out everybody. It's been a rather cool spring here with unpredictable mostly crappy weather.  It seems to have been the case all over France and many part of Europe,not sure what's going on with the weather, possibly mother nature signaling enough is enough,more harm done and I'm just going to BLOW.

The trip to the island of St. Nicolas took about 1 hour.  The island is tiny you can walk around it on a special walkway built out of wooden slats just for that occasion.  There are a couple of restaurant/terraces where the boat docks and a few summer houses.  We stopped to take a break on a beautiful beach where the water was so turquoise pure I felt like jumping in it except for two facts preventing me:  one, didn't have a bathing suit on and 2 the water temperature hovered around 14 degrees Celsius not exactly Caribbean temperatures.
The purity and clarity of the water as well as the whiteness of the sand can be explained by a special type of marine algae called "bancs de maeri"  which while decomposing assumes the shape of coral but becomes white in the process. We found little bits of it not quite fully decomposed on the beach.  Some people were brave enough to go mid thigh in the water, I only went mid-calf.

The boat picked us up after a couple of hours of lingering on the beach and walking around the island.  We then went for an exploration of other islands some of which are just little rock outcroppings while others feature that blindingly white sand and turquoise water.  See picture below for proof of that.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRS1SxCerto526gda_S5i_IMKAUz5pl84lfIns__lWzHpP_mwJYTA



If you click on the link it will take you to more fabulous pictures.  These will give you a better idea than any writing could.  All in all a lovely day, hopefully it will inspire some to want to visit one day.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRx2yt46M3xIIybu1q3nCTl-wMjpvx0JznGJxVc8PStBLQ4rWdH

Sorry these links don't seem to work, just google les Glenan and a lot of pics. will pop up.

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: France and the welfare state

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: France and the welfare state: Tomorrow we're off to a beautiful spot called Les Glenans, you have to go there by boat. I'll be blogging my impressions of the plac...

France and the welfare state

Tomorrow we're off to a beautiful spot called Les Glenans, you have to go there by boat. I'll be blogging my impressions of the place shortly thereafter but in the meantime I thought I would write a little bit about what the French government offers its citizens in return for the taxes that they pay.  I'm not really sure what percentage of their income French people pay in return for the services that they get, easy enough to look it up but this blog is not a treatise, I would just like to go on first impressions and what I've found out from people who live here, not dry statistical analysis.

First of all with respect to child care, it would be hard to fault the government and the systems they have put in place.  Not all of it is "free", you pay with your taxes and often there's an additional, usually modest sum attached.  If you're pregnant here you only get a maximum of 5 months leave unless you have another child then it can be longer.  You have a choice of "creche" (nursery) where there can be 25+ babies with one person, more or less, per every 5 baby.  Nobody's ever complained about there being not enough bodies on the ground to take care of the babies.  If that's not what you want, you can have a "nourrice"  (the old wet nurse term although they no longer breastfeed your child) come to your house, pick up the baby and keep him/her for the day at their own house.  A nourrice can only have 2 babies at any one time, 3 if the children are older than 2.  The nourrice gets paid 500 euros by the parents who are then reimbursed by the government according to how much income they make.  In general the average paid by parents is around 200 euros (a pittance compared to child caring costs) in North America.  Even Quebec doesn't favorably compare since a lot of the day cares subsidized by the government are few and far between.  A couple we know is paying $900.00 a month in Montreal right now.

Around the age of 2 and a half a child can go to a proper school with trained child care professionals, it's public and free.  The parents are responsible for purchasing meal time tickets (around 2.80 euro per meal).  The meals would be considered gourmet by North American standards and consist of 3 courses,not one day in the month is the same.  I've seen the menus and they are impressive.

When it comes to health care everybody is covered for what is considered basic health and dental care.  Most people buy an additional insurance called la Mutuelle which covers all those extras and costs for a family of 4 around 200 euros a month.  This seems like a lot but it's for 4 people.  I was paying $150.00 a month for both my husband and I in B.C. and am probably paying the same amount, maybe a bit more, in Quebec.  It's taken out of your taxes at the end of the year in Quebec so I'm not sure what the exact amount is.  That amount is simply for basic coverage.  There is no reimbursement for glasses or anything considered out of the "healthcare ordinary".  Furthermore we have lived in Quebec for one year now and still can't find a doctor in the community where we live.  That's not unusual with a lot of people having the same difficulty.  In comparison one has access to a doctor the same day here.  You could phone your obstetrician on a Saturday with concerns about your child and have the appointment that same day!  Unheard of in Canada, one must secure appointments with so-called specialists a long time in advance.  It's not unusual for a French doctor to visit a patient at home if the person is too ill, with something as mundane as a bad cold or a migraine, to make it to the office.

In general French people seem happy with the extent of the government's involvement in their lives except for the bureaucracy which can be daunting and a pain in the derriere royal or otherwise.

Just a little something to chew on while you contemplate the level of involvement of your own government whether that might be a positive or a negative thing.  In France I feel it's mostly a positive but I might be way off base.

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: Benodet and The Great Gatsby

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: Benodet and The Great Gatsby: It's very difficult to find movies in their original version in this part of Bretagne many of the films are dubbed in French which repre...

Benodet and The Great Gatsby

It's very difficult to find movies in their original version in this part of Bretagne many of the films are dubbed in French which represents a serious handicap for a bona fide cinephile.  We were lucky enough to find The Great Gatsby playing in English at the resort town of Benodet.  It's a lovely little resort town right on the water and the theater itself is situated in the Casino which is one of the major attractions here.  Benodet is also known for its spa retreats.  I intend to avail myself of one of these sometime soon, a little massage would do me the world of good.  The theatre only has 2 screens but the space is fairly big and up to the minute in terms of comfort,plush red seats with strangely enough one lone washroom at the left of the screen, a little weird, could be a problem when there are more than 10 people in the audience.

The showing in English was not well attended, hardly a surprise, we had our choice of seats.  The main reason I wanted to go see this film was for the art direction which seemed sumptuous when I first saw the previews and, on that count, it certainly did not disappoint.  However one of the main problems is the 3D format.  I simply don't understand why 3D was used for this particular film.  In fact I'm tired of 3D being used to not so great effect on far too many movies.  Don't like wearing the 3D glasses they pinch my nose and usually give me a roaring headache accompanied by weeping eyes.  Maybe I'm just allergic to this entire process.

First the good  points:  art direction was top notch each detail, and there were many, lovingly rendered.  The soft billowing of the white curtains, a languorous arm draped over a stunning couch as Daisy Buchanan is slowly revealed to the awe filled gaze of her cousin Nick Carraway who hasn't seen her in 5 years.  Props to the costume department as well, Daisy's dress, in that first scene, is a couture work of art.  In fact all the costumes from the women to the men and I'm including the jewelry here are worthy of the highest praise. Both houses, Buchanan's and Gatsby's are simply spectacular.  If it's eye candy you want and this is satisfaction enough then you're sure to get it in this film.

Now on to the bad points which are numerous.  The use of 3D does nothing to enhance the "special effects" during the crazy,over the top party scenes.  Instead of popping out the many details just get submerged with just too much going on, the eyes go crazy trying to focus on so many details.  Of course the scale for the party is huge and that's one of the problems, it's just too huge, two firework displays might have been great but three, or maybe four, (I stopped counting) is one too many.  There's craziness here but it's all too staged and managed to elicit anything else in this viewer but discomfort at the excesses of the ultra rich.  It wasn't envy I felt it was more akin to revulsion and I'm not sure that's what the director was aiming for.  Another central problem, too much Tobey Maguire, as Nick Carraway the narrator he's more of a central character than Gatsby himself.  The constant narration frames  tableaux or set pieces and robs the film of any forward movement, it's not dynamic.  It just lies there static on the screen with extremely mannered performances from Di Caprio and Maguire especially who spends the entire film with a more or less bemused expression on his face as though he can't quite believe he's been cast in this picture.  Gatsby took too long to make an entrance and although Di Caprio looks fittingly gorgeous as a character he remains a caricature, a pastiche, the constant use of the expression "old sport" translated very poorly in French as "vieux frere" is enough to have you running for the exit. .We understand that Gatsby has had a colorful past but his life narrated through Nick never seems real , Gatsby remains opaque. The love story between Gatsby and Daisy which should have been the beating heart of the film ignites no sparks, hard to believe there was ever any semblance of passion between them.  I fault the casting here.  Carey Mulligan can be a fine actress but she left me totally indifferent in this role.  For the roaring twenties filled with every imaginable excesses the picture was fundamentally chaste, it wasn't sexy or warm at all.  Visually stunning but viscerally empty.

Baz Lurhmann is well known for mixing up musical pieces and incorporating modern music in period films.  He does the same thing here with rap punctuating some scenes, with little echoes of U2 and other modern songs which I didn't recognize.  The effect is jarring.  It takes one out of the period instead of immersing you more deeply into it.  Action punctuated here and there by the mournful sound of a jazz trumpet is not enough to bring you back.  It's a shame considering that there would have been a great wealth of wonderful music from the era to choose from.  It's a deliberate choice which might work for some viewers but mainly served as an additional irritant for me.  Obviously a lovingly crafted film which needed less craft and a whole lot more passion.

Clam digging in Ile Tudy

Today was an exceptionally beautiful day,lots of sun and just a tiny little breeze.  It's the first great day we've had here although there hasn't been much rain,still lots of grey weather and wind.  The wind is more or less a constant fixture here since we're so close to the ocean.  The part of Bretagne (Brittany) where we are is called le Pays Bigoudin, it encompasses a tiny area of Finistere Sud.  The houses are typical of the area. Slate peaked roofs, white on the ouside, palm trees grow here but they're not too abundant.  It's quite lush and green because of the heavy rainfall and generally mild year round.  A long time ago women wore a very traditional costume with the high lace hat.  Click on the pictures below to enlarge and it will show you how elaborate the costumes were.  There are pictures of row of Bigoudennes working in the fish factories all dressed in identical costumes, startling images and a testament to how devoted to their traditions they were.  There are only 10 Bigoudennes left,the old traditions are dying just like everywhere else.


We are staying in a town called Guilvinec which is the biggest fishing port for what is known as peche artisanale, fishing which doesn't involve huge boats but much smaller vessels which go out for crab, blue lobster, shrimps and all types of other fish.  Regardless of the scale on which it is done there is still a concern due to global warming of the oceans and the air temperature.  Some species of fish are harder to catch, blue lobsters are not as plentiful as they once were furthermore there is competition from the British Isles for cheaper lobster.  It's the same problem plaguing countries everywhere, either try to buy local and pay more money or buy cheaper and buy from elsewhere.  Welcome to our globalized world which was theoretically supposed to make things better.

This is a typical house of the Finistere Sud

Driving to Ile Tudy is very picturesque.  There were many people who had had the same idea.  It's a full moon and the tide is very low allowing for great clam digging.  The three and a half of us (HAHA_)  got to work, boots absolutely necessary or barefoot is another option  Either way you're going to get wet.  We got a fair bit of clams, not the huge ones that you can bake on the half shell but good size ones nevertheless along with other clams called "coques" which sounds like a pretty juicy word in English.  Back home soak them thoroughly to get rid of all the sand and tomorrow huge clam chowder for our efforts.  Bon appetit.

On the road to Bretagne (Brittany)

We left la Grande Motte on a rather dreary day for southern France where weather has been unusually cold for this time of the year.  It was sputtering but we were off to a good start, didn't miss any turns and found the highway for direction Barcelona.  We hadn't done a road trip in France in quite a few years, naturally things have changed.  The highway system is very impressive but also very expensive. It is privately owned by a consortium with the lofty name of Vinci.  I tried to find out who was behind the consortium without any success, it appears to be quite secretive.  In any case it is impressive in that the roads are well maintained, directions are clearly indicated and there is a radio service which broadcasts hourly or even continuously on major hangups which might occur along the way.

There are plenty of rest areas, so many in fact that it's almost mind boggling.  Some are more rudimentary with just a gas station and a store while others offer a broader range of services such as showers, finer dining and even hotels.  We've traveled by car a great deal, in the U.S. Mexico and Canada.  Canada is by far the worse in terms of rest areas.  We crossed all of Canada from coast to coast and probably located 5 which is beyond pathetic in terms of the service provided.  The U.S. is generally pretty good, highways are well maintained too and free of charge.  Mexico has a fairly comprehensive highway system but it's not cheap either although not as expensive as France.  The trip from St. Paul de Vence to La Grande Motte probably cost around 65 Euros (about $80.00 Canadian depending on the exchange rate) while the trip from La Grande Motte to Nantes cost 67 Euros, about the same.  In Bretagne (Brittany) highways are free, as soon as you get to Nantes.

The things one likes about France, lack of big advertisement on the highway, discrete panels, hidden away hotels etc...might also be the things one dislikes about France when one is tired of driving and seeking a motel type accommodation.  First of all there are none right beside the highway except for the odd rest areas which might have one usually fairly small hotel.  It's not like Canada or the U.S where you can just spot hotels from the highway, here it requires a bit more work.  We were getting tired and decided to get off the highway at a place called Chantonnay, it was on the map, I figured it would be a decent size.  Unfortunately there was a pilgrimage of sort going on and all the hotels in the town and the surrounding area were booked. We were directed to another town supposedly only 10 clicks away, turned out to be more like 25 or 30 clicks.
Got to the place in question, the two hotels in town were closed and we never found the other one.  Lost about a frustrating hour, decided to push on to Nantes.  Nantes was very chaotic with lots of "peripheriques" which circle the city, of course no hotels in sight.  We got lost on a peripherique and on our way to Paris. Had to turn around and I managed to spot Vannes (a smaller town) which held the possibility of some hotels being available.  Got to Vannes, it was cold and miserable.  There were 2 hotels not too far from the highway, i.e. you could actually see them, miracle of miracle.  The person at the reception desk was not very receptive to our request for a "chambre".  Apparently none were available in all of Vannes because of the golf tournament and that damn 4 day weekend was plaguing us again.  My only consolation was that the weather was crappy and golfing was not going to be a very pleasant experience.

At this point we were feeling quite dejected and sick of being on the road nevertheless we pushed on towards Lorient.  I spotted a hotel (again from the highway, double wow!) and there were a few rooms left, yes our quest was over.  This hotel was part of a chain and sort of a do it yourself booking although there was a receptionist there at the time we arrived.  Generally you can just plunk your Visa card down and book yourself a room via the handy machine outside.  These rooms are tiny,two suitcases, two adults and that's it. You can almost pee and shower at the same time but hey, they serve a purpose and they're pretty cheap by European standards.  Including breakfast for 2, 56 Euros that's a pretty good deal.

Refreshed and happy the next day we drove to Quimper and then to Guilvinec which was our final destination.  Just another note on French highways, not as many trucks and the trucks which are present are not as big as the ones in North America.  I liked that.  The speed limit is a fast 130 kms on a good day, on a rainy day 110 kms. Most people go faster, I do think the French are pretty good drivers. It's quite difficult to obtain a driver's license here. Many people fail on their first attempt and it's not unusual to have to try twice or even 3 times in order to get one.

This is it for my blog so far.  I will be updating when we visit some new spot but for now we're staying put with family.  Hope you enjoyed it.

May 8th, Montpelier and beyond

May 8th is an important holiday in France, it's a national holiday since it's the day that Nazi Germany capitulated.  There are important celebrations held everywhere in various towns in France. We attended one in la Grande Motte, heard the Mayor and various other officials speak and got to sing La Marseillaise twice.
La Marseillaise is one of the bloodiest national anthems around but the French make no apology for it since it was written during the French Revolution.  A few words on La Grande Motte, can't remember if I mentioned that the architect who conceived this project, name of Balladur, was inspired by the Mayan pyramids he saw in Mexico.  All the buildings have to more or less conform to that shape and be no higher than 8 stories with slopping sides so that balconies have no overhang, it gives the town a very special flair found nowhere else in France. The population swells in the summer, the port is very attractive and the beach is 10 kms. long plus there are lots of apartments to rent.  It's a great place for a family holiday. La Grande Motte is recognized as a World Heritage Site of significant importance.

May 8th fell on a Thursday this year, very handy since Friday was the day of L'Ascension when Jesus ascended to heaven after the crucifixion. This is also the day when this most secular of nations reacquaints itself with religion in order to secure another holiday followed by the Saturday/Sunday link (they call it le pont or the bridge) and suddenly hello 4 day weekend.  This will create some problems for us when driving to Bretagne but more on that later.

We went for a visit of the city of Montpelier a few kms. away from the Grande Motte. It's a university town filled with lots of young people and there are also bureaucrats galore judging by the numerous buildings primarily devoted to public functions.  The old part is medieval with many beautifully restored buildings, it's always amazing to walk in those streets where centuries ago people lived, worked and died.  Montpelier has also made an effort to reinvent itself as a thoroughly modern city and there is a modern part which is quite monumental in scope with parks, big avenues and a pedestrian walkway filled with cafes and restaurants, on either side, which leads directly to the river.  There was an extreme sport water event taking place while we were there with competitors from around the world, very very busy.   We preferred the old section with its narrow streets and shaded little parks.  Montpelier has possibly the oldest medical faculty in Europe (Bologne might have the claim of being the first) it was founded by Jewish medical scholars.

On the way back we took the coastal road along the 10 km. beach. We dipped our toes in the Mediterranean but it was too cold for a swim.  Tomorrow we leave for Bretagne. We've assessed Friday as the best day to be on the road to avoid the dreaded "plugs" on the road.  We will be saying au revoir to Southern France, never did get to Cannes to take some pictures but there's always future years, can't do everything at once, must save some for rainy and sunny days equally.

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: On the road to Nimes - France Blog. no. 4

My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: On the road to Nimes - France Blog. no. 4: Nimes is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon and an important tourist destination.  I had never traveled there but knew that it was the ...

On the road to Nimes - France Blog. no. 4

Nimes is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon and an important tourist destination.  I had never traveled there but knew that it was the repository of very important Roman ruins.  The first monument we visited was the Roman amphitheater built around 1st. or 2nd. century A.D. It's been renovated by the French government at considerable expense but it's a splendid example of Roman architecture with its classical elliptical design and is well known as the best preserved amphitheater in France, possibly even the best outside of the Coliseum in Rome which is, of course, much bigger.  This building is still used for corridas where, unfortunately, they do end up killing the bulls.  In Portugal and Mexico they stage corridas too but the bulls are spared the ignominious death which is a much better outcome for both bull and spectators.  The interesting thing about Nimes is that it was built at the crossroads of the Via Domitia built by the Romans to connect Italy to Spain.  The second most historical building is the Maison Carree which literally means Squared House, it is also known as one of the best example of this type of architecture found anywhere in the territory of what constituted the Roman Empire.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/MaisonCarr%C3%A9e.jpeg/220px-MaisonCarr%C3%A9e.jpeg

Hopefully this link will work and give you an idea of how beautiful this building is. Of course it too underwent extensive renovations but one has to admire the French government's dedication to the preservation of its most historical buildings.  Sure it costs a lot of money but it's definitely worth it.  It attracts a lot of tourist dollars and supports building trades, artists and artisans whose special skills might otherwise be lost.

We meandered through the streets of Nimes, the downtown core is quite compact, free of cars and only open to pedestrian traffic which is wonderful.  All this walking gave us a good appetite. We stopped in a little restaurant which had the obligatory sidewalk terrace where we had a very leisurely lunch.  I had an appetizer of thinly sliced raw beef topped with slices of mozzarella and tomatoes (it's called carpaccio in Italian).  This was followed by tagliatella noodles with crispy fingers of duck and a little salad, no desert, some wine+coffee. It was most delectable.  We continued on to the gardens and the fountains in the center of the city.

Leaving Nimes we made our way to Aigues Mortes which is a walled medieval city built by King St. Louis who was very big into crusades, not a good thing in my book but apparently he is revered in France as one of the just kings (there were quite a few who weren't that great if you know a little about French history). Aigues Mortes in addition to being walled also had a tower where protestant women were sent to atone for the fact that they had chosen the wrong religion.  These women were of noble birth, of course, other protestant women were summarily executed and not quite as "lucky".  Along the way we also discovered that the source of Perrier water is in a little town called Vergeze. Originally the water was naturally carbonated but now the carbonation is added to the water to get that perfect Perrier mix of water and bubbles.  It's also dispiriting to learn that what was once owned by the French and is so distinctively thought of as French is now owned by Nestle.  Regardless it's pretty amazing to think of all those millions of bottles of Perrier circling the globe coming from this one source.

This post was not meant to be an exhaustive blow by blow of all the spots we visited in great accurate detail, if you want that there are plenty of guide books around and the ever ubiquitous Wikipedia always willing to inform you.   Hopefully it might have given you a little taste and maybe even a desire to visit that part of France.

Direction La Grande Motte - Post no. 3 from France

The sun was shining bright and early, actually not too early since we were still a little confused sleep wise, maybe about 9:00 a.m. It takes a little time for the body to adjust+we're not as young as we used to be the end result being everything takes longer.  A brisk shower to wake up and then off for breakfast.  I enjoy French breakfasts a lot, they remind me of my childhood.  There was a lovely little dining room, outside patio was also a possibility but I wanted it a tiny bit warmer.  Fresh croissants and baguettes sliced down the middle were on offer which is pretty much standard.  Nevertheless in concession to more Continental tastes most hotels now offer cereals, milk, yogurt  ham and cheese.  There were also bowls of fresh fruits and fruit salad cups.  I love that when you ask for cafe au lait, they bring each of you a pot of steaming coffee and a separate steaming pot of milk.  Also love those delightful little jam jars, so pretty, have never seen those anywhere else but perhaps they're common in other European hotels.

We really enjoyed Hotel Les Bastides, I highly recommend it if you ever end up around this part of France.
We packed the car with the two heavy suitcases and off we went.  I had asked for directions previously but we only had a very rudimentary map and no GPS nevertheless we didn't get lost once.  The directions are very well indicated, unlike those in Mexico. The only thing which confused us a bit were the "postes de peage" on the autoroute.  Some booths are prepaid but it's hard to know which ones.  The first one we encountered in Nice we had to pay directly with coins into a machine.  We didn't have enough coins and had to stop the traffic behind us.  I had to get out of the car and go look for someone who was working there, it was a bit stressful with all the honking of irritated and impatient drivers.  They do so love to lean on that horn.
These "postes de peage" along the highway were much more impressive in terms of size. They're about 12 feet deep and you literally don't know where to go, they have huge T's meaning tickets written on top.  Somehow the first few we had to pay directly into the machine, I had made some change in anticipation so that was cool.  For the next ones you had to grab a ticket and off you went.  Some kilometers later is where you pay depending on the distance you covered and where you took your ticket.  The machine would not accept my Visa card and this time it was too much money and I didn't have enough coins. One guy showed up so was able to pay cash with bills.  That was handy.  We had figured out the system.  Tickets first, slot it in at next stop and pay.  It's a hassle when they only want Carte bleue.  What's also freaky is the merging of 12 lanes of traffic into 3 or 4 lanes after you've passed the "postes".  It all seems quite random but with a purpose. With no lines on the ground to guide you you just aim in one general direction and hope for the best.  French drivers are generally good drivers.  It takes a long time to get your driver's license here and many people fail and have to go for numerous trials again and again.  I would have probably failed.

Got to La Grande Motte literally The big Lump.  It's a little town that grew near Montpellier and is now quite big.  It's mostly a tourist destination filled with lovely villas, there's a huge golf course, a yacht club, a very long beach and a cool downtown with distinctive pyramid shaped buildings.  It's a pretty uppity place but we have relatives here and that's where we were headed.  It's nice when you haven't seen relatives in a long long time you can expect a little TLC.  We couldn't find the place though so had to stop at a bar to make a phone call and the relative came to get us.  We're pretty much settled in. It's a very big house, there's an outdoor pool been in quite a few times.  We also do a little back and forth between this house and another, which is even bigger, where relatives have gone and dogs have to be taken care of, a shar pei dog with no folds and the biggest Newfoundland dog I have ever seen, about 87 kilos.  Cool thing about this house there's an indoor swimming pool and the temperature is at a balmy 31 degrees. We've been swimming there every evening before dinner which is stylishly French late, around 8:00 p.m.

Look for my next blog on our excursion to Nimes.  I had read somewhere that there are more Roman ruins to be found in France than in Italy, it might be true because the South of France is filled with well preserved temples, statues, aqueducts,amphitheaters and Roman arenas, till then.

Saint Paul de Vence - France no. 2

We visited the beautiful Medieval town of St. Paul de Vence, one of the jewels of France, so exquisitely well preserved.  It's situated up high on a hill which dominates the valley with breathtaking views of the mountains and the villages below.  Again we we were surprised at how green and lush everything was.  Parking is a bit of a problem as it is in all these types of locale which are strictly pedestrian.  The parking was situated below ground, quite a few levels, with hairpin turns since there's really not much room to build and space is at a premium.  The parking was almost full, again very surprising, this being early May I didn't think there would already be so many travelers in France.  Many of the tourists were French and Italian.  At the exit of the parking you wind your way through the predictable boutiques selling herbs of Provence and various soaps from the region+ lavender.  Ever since I've been made aware that these so-called herbs of Provence are often grown and shipped from Romania I've been reluctant to plunk down some euros never sure of the actual provenance.  It's sad but everything is made elsewhere now even France isn't immune to that virus.  I think I would rather go into the hills and pick the herbs myself, they're quite plentiful there.
The village itself is made up of narrow streets with huge cobblestones, some streets are not only narrow but steep, only one person can get through with another following behind.  There are a lot of beautiful art galleries  some well known artists who spent time here were Paul Cezanne and Marc Chagall who actually died in Saint Paul, we visited his rather modest tomb in the local cemetery.  Various visitors have started placing rocks on the tomb, one rock per visitor, a little sign of acknowledgement and respect for the great artistic visionary Chagall was.  We meandered among the many side streets, lovely little plazas await in unexpected places, went up on the palisades and took what I hope will be decent pictures.  I'm not a great photographer by any stretch of the imagination.  The air was redolent with lovely flower smells like you find in the South of France.  It's easy to see why many would want to retire here, I certainly wouldn't mind if money were not a consideration. We shared an Italian ice cream, returned to the car and wound our way back to our hotel, Les Bastides de Provence but first made a little pit stop to grab something to eat.  We weren't very hungry and starting to feel quite tired and jet lagged at this point.  We needed some rest.  We were driving to La Grande Motte (near Montpellier) the next day.  Driving can sometimes be a stressful and difficult experience in another country.  As it turns out it wasn't too bad except for the "Postes de peage"  where you have to pay but that's a whole other blog.  Enjoy this one.

Bonjour de Nice, France no. 1 - First post from France


The plane ride was uneventful, flying has become so boring and pedestrian,know I sound like a snob when I say that but years ago, you could smoke, you could drink and you could even meet someone in the bathroom for a little nukkie, yes these things did happen.  It was the thrill of the unexpected, the romance of flying has just flown out the window.  I was seated beside a very nice woman. They were traveling to Italy for 2 weeks, the Amalfi Coast which always brings to mind that wonderful film The Talented Mr. Ripley, the version with Jude Lawe and Matt Damon.  The setting was glorious and the topic suitably enigmatic to engage my film lover's interest.  There was an earlier French version called Plein Soleil with a beautiful, resplendent Alain Delon.  Not quite as polished as the American version (more bucks in that one) but still worth a look for its locale.  This version was filmed in the South of France which is a nice segue to talk about where we are right now.

Note:  If you don't enjoy these mini digressions of mine just skip them.  

We arrived at the airport ready to pick up our car.  The airport is much bigger than it originally appears. There are two terminals and terminal two is where all car pickups are done.  Had to hop on a bus to get to it.  We directed ourselves to the Avis counter where a problem immediately surfaced.  The person who paid with Visa is the person who's name should appear as the primary conductor and that wasn't the case.  It seemed a fairly simple problem to remedy, change the name but the person we were dealing with was being a b&*^% and totally uncooperative, hate it when that happens.  Of course it was middle of the night in Canada so good luck trying to get anybody on the phone to make a change, it just wasn't going to happen.  I made a half hearted attempt did get somebody at Air Transat but that's as far as it got.  My partner was not being supportive of my efforts, ie: should have done a better job of organizing that leg of the trip but that's a whole other blog.  Moving on, I started to get a little angry, went to what appeared to be an empty counter and loudly demanded that somebody help me. After all we had already paid for the lease in full. I explained the problem to a young man (the manager apparently) who took it upon himself to do what I had suggested in the first place....great minds and all that.  We just had to pay extra for the secondary driver, no biggie. 

Finding the car a totally brand new Clio/Renault super cute was fine, getting it started was another question altogether.  There was no key, just one of those push button things to get your car opened from a distance.  We had no idea and didn't want to just stick it in anywhere.  Luckily I found a most helpful guy who came over and showed us where to put it and how to get it started. The thing just purrs, total charm.  Why don't they sell Renault in Canada I would buy one.

Had a bit of a time finding the hotel Les Bastides which I did see out of the corner of my eye but wasn't sure because it didn't say Saint Paul de Vence anywhere.  We went all the way up to Vence, bigger town, lovely views, so green and lush with the mountains in the distance and those distinctive deep green elongated cedars against the clear blue of the sky, those always remind me of the South of France.  Thanks to all the roundabouts, France has to be the King Kong of roundabouts you can get turned around and turned around which is sometimes a very good thing.
Found the hotel, a 3 stars, totally adorable setting.  We have a nice big room, with our own private veranda overlooking the garden, there's a pool, too cold to swim yesterday.  The toilet is separate from the washroom, first time this has happened in an hotel although it's common in most French houses. It's a great idea because if your having a lovely leisurely bath and partner wants to excrete some noxious fecal matter, well you get the picture. Next blog tomorrow.

Pilote's travel blog. no. 9 - Final thoughts on Cuba

I’m really not being fair to Cuba in my partial assessment after all we’ve only explored a tiny fraction of what Cuba has to offer since most of our time was spent in an extremely touristy area.  Regardless I would like to offer a few parting thoughts on the country.  We ended up not liking it as much as we would have wanted to.  I feel that the all inclusive format doesn’t work well for us, it’s limiting in terms of food options, people one associates with, activities etc… I felt marooned there and if I were to consider the all inclusive again it would be for one week and a place where there’s still some freedom of movement.  Varadero doesn’t offer a lot of options in terms of dining or shopping. Never even noticed a grocery store there, still not sure how people get their drinking water, never saw any delivery of water.  To buy it in bottle format was quite expensive even for us, I can’t see Cubans doing that on a regular basis would be too costly unless they drink the regular tap water which I’m assuming a lot of them do.  We started off brushing our teeth with bottled water but gave that up pretty quickly, just too much of a bother, never did it before not even in South America.

Getting back to my rudimentary assessment in point form.

-Nobody’s starving in Cuba, even if food options are limited, also one doesn’t see the extremes of wealth and poverty prevalent in so many other countries.

-There’s very little begging, only witnessed it in Havana which predictably being a big city of 3 millions it would have its share of.

-People will forgo a career in a chosen field to work in tourism simply because it gives you access to those valuable Cuban convertible pesos.

-If you work with tourists you live better than the average Cuban who must deal with a paltry monthly wage.

-The infrastructure needs a lot of work - Many of Havana’s heritage buildings are in need of repair and according to our guide it’s not getting done.  She’s seen repair structures go up but 5 years later it’s still the same.

-The Cubans we met we’re not unhappy although they would like more freedom in terms of purchasing power especially.  There really isn’t that much to buy even when you have the money.  The U.S. embargo which has been going on for so long really limit’s the flow of goods and technology.

-The fact that there is so little internet available is a deal breaker for me in terms of going there again.  Even 5 star hotels have limited capabilities. 

-They don’t seem to grow any avocados or mangos even though they have the perfect climate to grow them, that’s just weird.

-They don’t spice their food at all, pepper is very hard to find, one pepper shaker for the entire dining room, you had to seek it out and “steal” it from other tables.

-Che Guevara is as popular as ever and so is Fidel Castro. Their images are everywhere. The song Commandante Che Guevara is well known and sung everywhere,must really learn the lyrics by hard, file that under things to do when I get back home.

-Crime is mostly of a petty nature, you don’t feel threatened at all and the no guns law has of course a lot to do with that.

-Cubans have learned to be inventive in finding ways to skirt the system, they’re particularly ingenious when it comes to repairs of those old cars which seem to all work very well for the most part.

-Only saw a few gas stations, not sure where most Cubans get their gas, then again very few actually own vehicles, they travel in groups, get picked up and dropped off at work mostly by buses or camions.

-With a little tweaking and the allowance of more free enterprise Cuba would not be such a bad place to live - Something more balanced like what they have in the Scandinavian countries might work really well here, a sensible mix of government involvement with some free enterprise.

-It’s nice to not have an endless barrage of advertisement either on t.v. in the newspaper or on the side of the roads.  That’s truly refreshing, we forget how bombarded we are with ads from everywhere back home where free enterprise reigns supreme.

Hope you enjoyed reading my travel posts, know I can get a little professorial at times, legacy of many years of teaching.

Adios Cuba.

Pilote's Blog. no. 8 - A little digression about beach reading

Beach and reading seem to go hand in hand.  Nobody can stay on a beach waiting to be fried to a crisp without a book, preferably a good one.  This trip was not successful in that department.  I should have really downloaded some good books on my Kobo but have been weirdly resistant to that technology, not usually so squeamish.  I guess I’m more of an old fashioned paper and ink girl, must get over that and fast.

Back to reading, finished Carol O’Connell’s The Chalk Girl, never read this author and would not recommend her.  I had to force myself to finish the book.  The heroine she created, Kate Mallory, has been favourably compared to Lisbeth Salinger, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It’s a totally unjustified comparison.  Mallory is dead on the page, the author never succeeds in bringing her to life and takes great pains insisting on how weird and fierce she is but it never ignites,telling is not feeling. 

When we were in Havana I was able to score a book by Jeffry Deaver, The Twelfth Card, only picked that one because it was the biggest one on the shelf.  Read it, was not impressed. Totally preposterous beginning and it didn’t get much better the further along one got in the book. One thing which bugged me about the Deaver book.  In it he describes one of the characters as being Woody Allen like, therefore no great beauty.  Nevertheless, the author takes great pains to tell us, looks can be deceiving since this nebish looking man has been going out with a curvaceous, leggy bombshell blond.  I've read statements like that in far too many books. For men intelligence trumps everything else even bad breath and crappy looks (remember Jean-Paul Sartre, he was an ugly bastard if ever there was one).  I don't really care about that what I do care about is reading a sentence where a perfectly ordinary, plain but intellectually gifted woman, snags the male babe, I don't remember reading about that ever happening, silly I know but rubs me the wrong way.

 Lastly was stuck with Patricia Cornwell’s Southern Cross.  I can deal with this author when her stories feature Scarpetta, unfortunately this one did not.  Every single character screams STUPID on a big scale, including the chief of police.  Richmond, Virginia looks like a city inhabited by morons where nobody, it seems, has a credible name.  Most of the names were in this vein:  Bubba, Smoke, Weed, Muskrat,  Jeb, Roop, Twister (thankfully dead character), Smudge, Miss Sink and on and on it goes.  It’s meant to be satirical but satire is a hard genre to master, it requires subtlety and intelligence.  This author’s attempt just strikes me as dumb and boring, not a great addition to the literature “cannon”.   

Do remember a few great books from travel past in particular one called Mountains of the Moon about the great British explorer Sir Richard Burton, not to be confused with actor of the same name.  Bought the book in Panajachel, Guatemala, it was tattered and torn but turned out to be a phenomenal read so good in fact I wouldn’t mind reading it again.

This little digression was meant to impress upon future travelers the importance of good reading material.  I’m not going to get caught again, next time I’ll be more prepared.