Le fabuleux destin de'kohakou...: October 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

Thursday, October 30, 2014

On the Big Screen...

One of my most beloved painters. I've always adored his paintings. And the trailer looks superb... One more week 'til it'll be in the cinemas here...

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Monday, October 20, 2014

Catch a vista of maples in that long light and you see Autumn glowing through the leaves.... The promise of gold and crimson is there among the branches, though as yet it is achieved on only a stray branch, an impatient limb or an occasional small tree which has not yet learned to time its changes.

-Hal Borland

On the Big Screen...

I finally managed to watch PARADE'S END, an HBO/BBC drama mini series starring Benedict Cumberbatch (among others in an amazing cast) based on the same-called novel by Ford Madox Ford from 1924-28. Loved it. Constantly on the verge of tears, I have to confess. It's such a sad story most of the time (don't worry, there is a Happy Ending), also because it's mostly dealing with the effects of WW I on British society in general and certain characters in particular. It's beautifully written, the set décor is very apt, the music was great and then of course acting - brilliant! (Still no fan of blonde BC but it was suitable for the role!). There's drama and love and tragedy and costumes... What more do I need?! I know there's a lot of movies, documentaries, books etc. dealing with WW I this year since it's the 100 Year Anniversary (sadly enough).This has been a turning point in history, Austria included. That's basically what the series is about - how people struggled with the situation and how it changed them. Absolutely worth watching, I'd say!

I stole a few quotes on the book (but they work with the movie adaption as well) here that perfectly sum it up:

"...by no means a simple warning as to what modern warfare is like...[but] something complex and baffling [to many contemporary readers]. There was a love story with no passionate scenes; there were trenches but no battles; there was a tragedy without a denouement."

-Robie Macauley

"This is what the late war was like: this is how modern fighting of the organized, scientific type affects the mind.^"

^{-Ford Madox Ford, introduction of "Man Could Stand Up"}

Thursday, October 16, 2014

On Stage: Frankenstein

[ via TNL ]

Just back hom from the amazing National Theatre Live's encore screening of Danny Boyle's Frankenstein. I loved every bit of it, and not just because of Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller (it did help, though). Tonight we had Benedict as The Creature - I didn't know which version it would be when I got the tickets and it would have been great either way.

I'm usually not a fan of modern productions/settings but here everything was convincing. The cast, the stage set, the music, the lighting... I have to confess I think it was much more of an experience to watch on screen because the camera (angles) were amazing and added to the fantastic overall feeling.

The cinema was packed. 98% of the audience were (teenage) Cumberbitches (the fandom among my readers will understand) and the remaing 2% were passionate theatre loving retirees, slightly distracted by the sheer mass of excited females all round them... I even spotted 3 or 4 guys in the audience who were being dragged along by the girlfriends, from the looks of it... I've never seen so many people in the small English Cinema Haydn (my favourite English cinema by the way) here in Vienna, not even at the Coriolanus screening with Tom Hiddleston earlier this year. Back then, the majority of the audience (giggling schoolgirls mostly) came unprepared for the play and looked rather confused and disappointed (they probably should have read the play before).

Tonight, people certainly knew what they were about to see. Still, everyone was amazed at the end. It was even better than imagined. I was captivated. And I wasn't the only one. Up to this point, the best play I've seen so far (from the overall impression and the quality of the cast) has been The Master and Magarita (based on M. Bulgakov's novel, production with Simon McBurney's Complicite theatre group) at the Wiener Festwochen (read review here) - and that's not any easy one (especially since it was more than 3 hours). Tonight I added another one to that list. (And next's year's HAMLET in London with BC will definitely get there, too. Yeah, I got tickets!)