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Monday, January 10, 2011

Sorry


I'm very sorry about all this political stuff. Other people do a lot more of it, and - I may say - they do a better job of it. I should stick to other things, like reading Le Figaro and telling you about the guy who "was in the grip" of alcohol and shot up a laundromat.
It is just that  certain things are way too over the top and must be spoken about, and if condemnation is needed, those things must be condemned in no uncertain terms. That's why I started this blog: to make sure that my chidlren know what I thought, to make a stand... to let them know there is another view point other than that of the mass media. (At the time, I thought the War in Iraq vastly immoral... still do. I think the karma will spill upon us like the contents of Pandora's box one day soon.)

I think I shall keep the Z over on the right. I always thought that the film had more meaning to me than was apparent way back when I saw it. How much could a film about other people in other places be so deeply insightful into my life? Well, if you wait long enough, I guess everything becomes clear. Everything resounds through time, back and forth.



Yves Montand was the star. My wife and I always liked Yves Montand. If you were to ask us our favorite film, we probably would answer Cesar et Rosalie in which M. Montand starred along with Romy Schneider; absolute favorite and we would say it is the best love story we ever saw. I think it was out during the era of Love Story. There was quite a difference between the two films, beyond the fact that Cesar et Rosalie was a comic love story. I think the director was Claude Sautet. I just checked on Amazon and they have it for sale.
I should get a copy, for surprisingly enough, it is very rare to see it. Most films re-surface through the years on TCM or AMC or on tape or disc or the local artsy theater,  but not Cesar et Rosalie. If the chance presents itself, see it.

Speaking of directors, as mentioned, Costa Gavras directed Z. My sister-in-law used to be a nanny in Paris for people who were friends of Costa Gavras; I guess she was a reverse au pair. She took care of a young boy who had one lamb chop for lunch every day, and my sister-in-law went to the butcher's every day to buy one chop. She also went to the baker's and possibly the green grocer's.

I also like The Battle of Algiers very much.


We saw True Grit on Saturday and the John Wayne version was on cable on Sunday. They are pretty much alike, except for the fact that Matt Damon's role is played by Glenn Campbell in the earlier version, and Mr. Campbell is way off the mark in comparison. It was a good film, but I have to see a film at least twice before I can analyze it to death... and I'm not going to see True Grit twice, thank you ( I have to count John Wayne's as a separate film.). If I must choose between drunkards, I preferred Jeff Bridges' drunk in Crazy Heart to his drunk in True Grit.


It was well worth the cost of admission, reduced as it was from the Holiday Season inflated ticket prices.
I know only one thing, however: after True Grit, people will be speaking with fewer contractions like aren't and won't for a spell of time and will most likely assiduously seek other ways of improving their diction.

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