My holidays in Poland are almost, almost over. After two weeks and something I am going to pack my suitcase again. I am going to pack some good memories too. I did not plan to do much during those holidays and things were just following the general flow. Yet, there some unexpected things that took place but it is a mystery :-) On a cultural side though there are no mysteries. Here goes a list of some movies I watched and the two books I read. [I took plenty of pictures as well - here goes just this one - of the flowers].
Norwegian wood by Haruki Murakami
(Polish cover on the left; English one on the right. Surely this books has had various covers - not only those too. I must say I like the one on the right more but I am adding the other one to this post just for some kind of balance.)
On the book itself ... I enjoyed reading it until the very last page. The ending was rather a surprise and I was disappointed by it to be honest. I could not know that when I started reading of course :-) but it was all calculated risk: you never know where a given book is gonna take you.
Lala by Jacek Dehnel
At the beginning I found it hard to get into rhythm with this book but then I could not be separated from it until the very last page. Great read. Some kind of compensation for "Norwegian Wood".Buena Vista Social Club by Wim Wenders
Great music. Nothing more to add.North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock
A fair bit of entertainment in Hitchcock style. Nice and easy for holidays time.Elizabeth by Shekhar Kapur
It was a must - to see "Elizabeth". I was thinking about it for a long time but somehow I never got a chance until a few days ago. She was a strong woman and a feminist. She knew what she wanted and would go for it in spite of all men around. Very often the steps she took were against their advice and she brought England to prosperity. Smart woman.21 grams by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu
A must-see. Captivating watch for me from the beginning until the very end. I watched it second time last week.One Last Dance
No poster here. I found the movie dreadfully boring and lacking in any real emotion. Dance can be so full of emotions and passion but passion was missing from this film big time.
Les Amants by Louis Malle
French lovers escape from settled environment. Nice fairytale but I found it too naive. The female protagonist may have appealed to the viewers back then when the movie was screened in the late 1950's but not so much to me. It was interesting to watch anyway just to have some fun. Yes, I may be too skeptic about love these days but such things just do not happen in real life.
So people will keep going to cinemas, theatres to experience the impossible, the improbable.
For the same reasons the Greeks went to their theatres and the English crowded to see Shakespeare's plays. I realize it is a pretty simplified picture I paint but there is some truth in it, isn't there?
3 comments:
we watched "elizabeth" a few months ago, and now we are watching the HBO version with helen mirren as a slighly older and less-hot elizabeth than cate blanchett.
i have mixed feelings about Murakami. his books are very strange. they're engaging, but for me they are nearly unfathomable. and yet i like him. i've not read "norwegian wood," but several others.
safe travels back to ireland!
i hope the trip was as restful as it could be.
ps we saw Ibrahim Ferrer and the buena vista social club live in montreal a few years ago at their winter highlights festival. there was a blizzard raging outside, bringing more than a foot of snow, but the music made us all feel like we were in cuba....
Thanks Laurie. the stay was as restful as it could be. i hope the journey will be safe. Time to get back to reality.
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