La Belle Epoque - Film Festival 2019

I almost didn't make it to this one as a stormy southerly was blowing in this morning, and it would have been nice to stay home on the couch.  I am glad that I made it into town to the crowded cinema at 10.30am.

Viktor is struggling with life, and his relationship with his wife is strained, with her having an affair and just being sick and tired of him being around.  One of his sons friends has a company that allows you to spend time in a time period of your choosing, so you can be Marie Antoinette or live during the war.  Viktor chooses to go back to 1974 to the cafe where he met his wife Marianne. 

I think that the whole audience were charmed by this one, it was smart, funny and thoughtful and as we watched Viktor fall in love with Marianne and his life again, we all fell a bit in love with this movie.  5/5

The Hidden - Mary Chamberlain

Three seniors Dora, Joe and Geoffrey find their retirement shaken after the approach from a middle age German woman who is searching for answers about what happened on Jersey in the German Occupation.  Flicking between the present of 1985 and the war years, we learn how the three are connected, Dora a young midwife, Joe a Catholic priest and Geoffrey an island farmer.

An interesting fictional account of what happened on the island during the war, it was off to a bit of a slow start but half way through the characters became more fully formed and I could understand their story.   4/5

Animals - Film Festival 2019

This is a movie about two best friends at the point of their lives when they begin what I think of as adulting.  Laura and Tyler live in Dublin in a messy flat, where they spend their evenings drinking too much, taking drugs, dancing in clubs and generally misbehaving.  When Laura meets a beau, their friendship is tested.  It was a fun energetic twist on the familiar story and I maybe felt 20 years too old to be really moved by the story, as I found both characters to be annoying and   self indulgent and their drunken behavior wasn't charming or funny, but cringe worthy and sad.   3/5

The Third Wife - Film Festival 2019

I don't believe I have seen a Vietnamese movie before, and that is what is beautiful about the film festival, an opportunity to see glimpses of  cultures and see and hear stories that you would never normally chose to see.   The Third Wife is a story of May - the 14 year old wife of a wealthy farmer who realizes that her worth will be determined by her ability to provide her husband with a son.  She also is forced to grow up, to witness sex and relationships and to learn her place in her new household.

The muted palette and lovely countryside and mountain/river scenery was seductive and the movie from the young Mays perspective was interesting.  It is hard to imagine being married off at 14, yet in many countries for a long time that must have been the age when girls were married off, and sent from the only families they know to live at the mercy of an unknown family. A solid 3.5/5.

2040 - Film Festival 2019

Today was possibly the longest one on the schedule with a 3 movie day.  So after a big sleep and a hearty breakfast, I stuck on the raincoat and headed off.   First of the three was 2040 - where director/presenter Damon Gameau (of That Sugar Film fame) predicts how we can get to a future where we can have a healthier sustainable world and a future for his young daughter. 

Look it was all very earnest and noble and I get it - the world is screwed up and its all our fault.  I get slightly annoyed that many of these types of show seem to treat us middle aged folk and oldies like we are idiots and 20/30 year olds have discovered saving the planet all on their lonesome.  It would be interesting to see if any of the ideas presented actually come to fruition in 21 years.  3/5

Les Miserables - Film Festival 2019

After a comedy in the afternoon, there was nothing to laugh about in this movie.  Set in Paris, in the heat of a summer this is the Paris of council flats and immigrant communities.  A new cop joins two partners of a street crime unit, and they spend the day cruising the streets.  When a confrontation begins to turn ugly, things quickly escalate with brutal consequences.

  This drama is pretty  with confrontational  with a lot of violence and a pretty grim backdrop of run down flats and rubbish filled courtyards.  I overheard one elderly man say "we live a pretty sheltered life here" as I left the cinema, and I have to agree, it is a side of Paris we don't see very often and it looked a scary place to live.  3/5

Brittany Runs A Marathon - Film Festival 2019

Well here it is - Film Festival 2019.  I got the book several weeks ago but didn't open it until midnight last night.  That way I don't obsess over what movies are on, but instead choose the selection pretty quickly.

The first one I went to today was Brittany Runs a Marathon.  Brittany is a 20ish year old girl living in New York in a crappy apartment with a not so good job.  After a visit to the doctor and being told she is fat she decides to run a marathon.  At first nervous, she finds her stride so to speak and a new group of friends.  Not your usual cookie cutter comedy, this one is less about marathon running, but more about relationships and confidence.  At times the character of Brittany is not very likable but I did like that she felt real.  It also discusses a little bit about how it is to be fat, to be invisible and how she is only allowed to be loved once she has lost weight. 

Anyways the millennial to one side, and the older lady to the other both laughed at the same scenes I did and I am sure I did hear a few sniffles at the end.  4/5

Music Monday - Simply Falling - Iyeoka

Glorious - another new artist to me found on youtube.  This song is pretty close to perfection, it feels like a warm summer evening.

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - The Children Act

This is one of those dramas that the British excel at.  Intelligent and smart with a touch of humanity that can touch you in less than two hours of watching.  Emma Thompson has superior hair and a beautiful wardrobe as a judge overseeing the case of a young Jehovah s Witness patient Adam, whose doctors want to treat him with a blood transfusion.  Meeting the young man helps her to make her decision.

Behind the scenes at her lovely apartment she is having troubles in her marriage to the always suave Stanley Tucci.  It is a movie that is all drama - not peppered with any comedic scenes and felt like it could well have been adapted to be performed on the stage in front of an audience.

Seeing as our television screens no longer play dramatic programmes on a Sunday evening as they once did, this one was a worthy replacement.  4/5.

Those Who Are Loved - Victoria Hislop

This is the first Victoria Hislop novel that I have read.  It is the story of Themis  who as an elderly woman recounts her life in Greece from the 1930s, through the German occupation and how as a communist fighter she is held in intolerable conditions by her own countrymen.  It was fascinating to read about a period of history that I was unaware of, and gives a different perspective to the WWII stories that abound at the moment. 4/5

Music Monday - Do You Remember - Ane Brun

Another new to me artist found on youtube.  I love the look of this video - very dreamy vintage .

Dead At First Sight - Peter james

I love Peter James and his character Roy Grace - they are a pretty solid team that have built a series that I still enjoy on the whole.  This one tackles people who get ripped off internet dating losing thousands of pounds/dollars thinking they are sending the money to the love of their lives.  I don't understand how people can still be fooled by these scams.  How they could send money to someone they haven't met and how they could lose their lives savings doing that.

Anyway there is of course a couple of horrible deaths, a bit of fast driving, a few guns are drawn we are left wondering how things are going to play out in the Grace household.  Excellent.  I'm waiting for #16. 4/5

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna - Juliet Grames

This books takes off with a bit of a bang.  It is the story of the long live of Stella Fortuna - born in a small rural village in Italy.  I could picture the small village home where she was raised by her mother and grandmother after her father goes to America and is rarely at home.  It is here that Stella has a few misfortunes and is lucky to survive. 

When finally the family are reunited in the US, the streets are not paved with gold and the family work hard to provide a life and future for them and their new families and children.  A different pace to the first half of the book, I did enjoy the story of the sisters and what eventually drove them apart.   A wonderful debut novel from a great storyteller.   4/5

Once More We Saw Stars - Jayson Greene

What an amazing, tragic,  scary but beautiful book.   Greta is only two, and has gone to stay with her grandmother.  While sitting on the street she is tragically killed, and her death changes her grandmother and parents.  Written by her father, this book is a loving tribute to the love that they all have shared with Greta and how her loss impacts them. 

It is amazing that her parents didn't just collapse and disappear into their grief and you have to admire her father for being able to sit down and write such a wonderful book.  I don't know though if I were a parent if I would be able to read it.  I was left though with an overwhelming feeling of even though I am sad that I have lost family members, that my life was made better by having time together with them.  From the first to the last chapter this will be one of my favorites of the year. 5/5

Camino Skies

Camino Skies is a New Zealand made film about a small group of mainly New Zealanders walking the Camino de Santiago across France and Spain.  Walking for a variety of reasons, this documentary shows the hardships of walking the 800kms  pilgrims path, and the beauty of the scenery surrounding it.  The main part of the movie though is about the relationships of the people walking and their reasons for being there.

I have seen a few movies and tv series about this walk, so there were no great surprises for me in this movie.  I think that I feel I don't need to walk to so far to find myself, that I am there for figuring out wherever I am and I don't need a passport to do that.  4/5

I Will Keep You Alive - Bob & Adele Levin

I picked this one of the shelves at our local library and consumed it in one day.  It is the true story of Lawyer Bob Levin, and his journey as a cardiovascular patient.   Suffering two cardiac arrests, 7 cardiac  stents inserted and valve replacement surgery we join him and his wife on his journey and recovery.  All I could think of as I read this was how lucky he was to have survived as we was close to dying on several occasions. 

It is also an interesting look at the inside of the American health system, and it seems that Bob got great care and attention - one wonders at the cost of that.  Luckily here that sort of acute care would be all free on the public system.  4/5

The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers - Kerri Turner

Set in the last years of the Romanov dynasty in Russia, this is a love story set around two dancers at the Imperial Ballet. Set at a dangerous period in time, I was expecting great things with this novel, but for me it all felt a little flat and I didn't real believe in the great love story it was trying to portray. Still I am thinking of buying tickets to see Swan Lake with the touring Russian Ballet after reading this book. 3/5

Coming Soon

Be still my  middle aged lady movie lovers heart.  It is nice to see some more senior viewing coming out.  They make me far more excited than any superhero show.

Music Monday - Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits

I walked into a small  shop on Saturday and this song was playing loud.  I had looked at everything I wanted to look at, but stayed  and pretended to still be browsing while the song played, singing along quietly.  The past couple of days I have found myself singing it  over and over. 

I looked it up on youtube tonight and found it had this horrendous video from 1980.  It is such a shame, as it is truly a beautiful song that still sounds ok almost forty years later.  I was never a fan of Dire Straits, and have never owned CDs from this band,  but have a soft spot for a couple of their songs.