Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

Elizabeth Taylor died today. She was a great actress. She was so beautiful too; she could make your heart stop beating. Anyone who has watched her in films like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" can attest to that rare combination of talent and beauty. Finally, she was a philanthropist and a world class human being. May God be with you, Liz.

In the fifties, sixties and seventies, Elizabeth Taylor ruled the Hollywood world with her talent and feminine power, and despite the inordinate amounts of pressure the studios would place on her shoulders by insisting she work when she didn't want to and placing her in crappy films in order to sell them:

While she wanted to play the lead roles in The Barefoot Contessa and I'll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954). She had wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part was given to Joan Fontaine. Taylor was given the role of Rebecca. When Taylor became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she became too heavily pregnant. (Wikipedia)

-- despite this studio system which literally owned actors and told them which films they would be in, Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award five times and won twice, one for A Place in the Sun (1960) and one for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woof? (1966).  Both of these films are must-sees for any film-lover.  Suddenly Last Summer (1959) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) are two more of my favourite films with Elizabeth Taylor.  The original Father of the Bride (1950), The Sandpiper (1965), and Giant (1956) are worthwhile films as well.  In these films and many others, she play alongside and against some of the most impressive leading men who have ever acted, and she held her own.

I also deeply admired her dedication to the HIV/AIDS cause and her ability to persevere through many physical aliments with grace and poise.

She was survived by four children and many grandchildren, a family she fought her whole life to keep out of the Hollywood media and rumor mills, no mean feat.

Film: "Certified Copy"

Finding good new movies to watch is always a challenge.  I found this French-Italian film by digging through the "fresh" lists at Rotten Tomatoes which is a compendium of film reviews from North America.  I do not remember how well "Certified Copy" did on the tomato-meter but it was pretty fresh, something in the neighborhood of 90% which is the website's way of saying the 90 percent of the reviewers that reviewed "Certified Copy" gave it a positive review.  It's an imperfect system but it's the best one I've come across so far.  The ratings at IMDB are all over the map.

"Certified Copy" stars Juliette Binoche with whom I've harbored a flickering crush since I saw her in "Trois Couleur: Bleu" (1993) which is a beautiful film I wish I could see again for the first time.  Anyway the film is about a British writer who wrote a book about art and gives a small lecture about art and originality at a local bookstore.  A middle-aged woman with a teen-aged son in tow comes in to the lecture late and leaves early, but she's obviously fascinated by the writer.  Later, we discover she had bought several of the books, had them signed by the writer and, at the same time, had asked him to meet her.  They meet and spend the day together driving through the Tuscan countryside, talking about art and life.  The conversation turns into kind of role playing game where they pretend to be a couple, but they do such a good impression of a couple that one wonders if they are or were a couple and they have known each other the whole time.

It was a very interesting film.  I love these conversation-filled films.  The writing is subtle and intelligent with just the right touch for each character to allow the actor to express the essence of the persona.  The direction is simple, invisible, complementing the script and acting.  And the acting was superb.

Similar films:

The American (George Clooney, 2010)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Scarlett Johanson, 2008)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Juliette Binoche, 1988)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Elizabeth Taylor, 1966)

Paintings: "Salesman" and "Untitled"

I bought myself an extravagant gift the other day, well, last year really, but it took until now to possess them both since the one - an image I like to call "The Furies" - was stuck in the gallery's exhibition until the end.  The artist is Clive Barker, and they are both oil paintings.  The first one is called "Salesman" and  I think it is a representation of Avarice.

He looks great on my wall. 

I studied literature of the middle ages, and the Catholic church in the middle ages was both the church and state; they had absolute power; and it corrupted them; and thank God we now have a separation between them, a thing called the Reformation and for which we owe many brave lives.  Anyway, there was a religious figure at the time called The Pardoner.  He wasn't with the Church officially, but they knew about him unofficially.  He would sell pardons for sins.  In the epic comedy, Geoffrey Chaucer has a tale told by a Pardoner.  They wee the scum of the earth.  This picture reminds me of him; that or an encyclopedia salesman.  :)

 

Salesman by Clive Barker

Blue Valentine

Staring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, this film is about a young coupe falling in love and falling out of love in a marriage that began with an unplanned pregnancy. The film is a drama about relationships, so I didn't expect a lot of action or suspense. But it does deliver a smart script and excellent acting; it doesn't try to manipulate its audience with 'mood' music; it stays away from cliched characterization and soap-opera type dialogue where they fill in a the blanks as though the audience is a congress of idiots. I really enjoyed this little drama.

Ryan Gosling is an impressive actor. He's Canadian, which is cool. You probably remember him from "The Notebook" which, yes, was full of cliches and manipulative plotting, music, and direction, but it was nevertheless effective and (I hate to say this) one of the classic modern romances. But Gosling is much better than that movie. He has a kind of every man look that reminds me of Tom Hanks. He also has an impeccable eye for choosing great scripts and playing subtle, interesting characters... people that could be living next door. Here's a list of Gosling film I've seen and recommend:

The United States of Leland.

The Notebook.

Stay. An strange and beautiful film with Ewen McGregor, Naomi Waits, and Gosling, about suicide, death, and redemption.

Half-Nelson. An amazing film about a highschool teacher addicted to drugs.

Fracture. A smart ans suspenseful thriller with Anthony Hopkins.

Lars and the Real Girl. A strange and touching tale about a young man whose loneliness and unrequited love for his brother's wife leads him to find love in a life-sized sex doll.

Blue Valentine. See above.

Book Club

I finished the book "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova for my book club, and today we are meeting at Starbucks to discuss it. It's kind of weird to call it a 'book club', because it sounds so old, you know? Like we are a flock of old ladies sitting around a living room, reading and discussing books that Oprah recommends, trying our best to sound intelligent, bringing extra material we have researched and photocopied so that everyone knows how "on" you are. Those are the connotations and images that come to mind when I write the words book club down. But it's not that bad. There are only three of us. My best friend Lisa and Anita, an acquaintance I've known for a number of years now. They like to read, but I think we all like slightly different books which is good as it will force me out of my comfort zone, just like this last book.

"Still Alice" is about a Harvard professor that becomes beset by early onset Alzheimer's disease at fifty years old. The book is narrated by the prof herself which heightens the drama and brings the reader into the experience of Alzheimer's. The book is well-written. But it's not a very pretty book to read; the style is more functional than poetic. Yet the book compels one to identify with and empathize with the protagonist. I'm not a big fan of books that have a central subject or agenda at their core, like Alzheimer's or the Holocaust or slavery. But I applaud Genova for imbuing her characters with plausibility and verisimilitude.

The back of the novel contains several discussion and reading guide questions. I've noticed the authors or publishers (I don't know which) have begun putting extra material about the novel at the back of these books. It's a great trend. Smart marketing and good for readers. Some further reading guide questions can be found here.