Bits and Pieces

As the days are getting longer and spring makes some occasional, whimsical guest appearances one is increasingly inclined to go out and enjoy the magic of the night with friends and loved ones. Whether it's walking around the streets of Paris barefoot or having loving boys climb scaffoldings to enter through a bedroom window this latent spring has been  unpredictable and exciting. Enjoy a some random videos and words and photos I took of things that caught my eye.

This month's soundtrack on constant repeat as Moonrise Kingdom is the beautifulest movie this year and Francoise Hardy reminds me of my mother....it is indeed the time of love, the time of friends and the time of adventure...

I won’t kiss you. It might get to be a habit and I can’t get rid of habits.

— F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flappers and Philosophers  

And a little something to look forward to on November 15 2012 a special Maison Martin Margiela collection will be available at an H&M near you!

 

it’s amazing how many errors your fingers will

 find that your eyes never noticed.

 Paul Auster

runaway

singing boyz

a sign

Luck

The Marolles

rain

love your weapon of choice on the streets of Paris

Brussels when it's gay and proud

I always wanted to make my own clouds

Penis Envy

Cloud

Head in a box

Playtime

Attraction

The streets of Molenbeek

shoes

Mad Max

The first time

Rainbow Warriors

Juice van

 

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.

— J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Ok so two summers ago in the South of Italy my dearest friend Daniel, due to whom I acknowledge I got to read marvellous- even life changing books -such as probably the best epic heroic tale of all times "Watership Down" or the delightfully mischievous Russian masterpiece "The Master and Margarita" and not to mention the brutally controversial study on human nature that is "Lord of the Flies", so when I saw him manically reading Stieg Larssons' Millennium trilogy and giggling to himself until the morning light I knew I had to take notice of the books I had originally dismissed as popular paperback literature in the vain of the "DaVinci Code" or the countless Tom Clancy adventures. So I caved in and read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and was surprised to find a really dark, extremely well written page turner that kept me on my toes, sent shivers down my spine and provided a really interested and not often made public commentary on contemporary Swedish society. I am officially a fan! I was super excited to hear that one of my favourite directors, the magnificent Mr David Fincher, who gave us masterpieces such as "Fight Club", "Seven" and "Zodiac" will be the one making the American movie adaptation of the novel! This could easily be one of the few times where a movie manages to match the book! Can't wait for the "feel bad" movie of the Christmas Holidays. Enjoy a sneak preview!

Today is also the day that the collection that  Trish Summerville, the movies' costume designer, designed for H&M will be made available near me! The collection is all about rock&roll and includes a lot of skinny jeans, leather jackets and combat boots enjoy another little sneak preview!

Since I mentioned "The Master and Margarita" one of my favourite books of all time I couldn't help but also divulge one fun piece of trivial information, Mick Jagger was inspired by the book to write "Sympathy for the Devil" Enjoy!

The best movies for 2011 - Glitter and the Gutter's choice

I read the Guardian's list of the best movies for 2011 today and though the majority of my favourite movies somehow feature in there I decided to make up my own little list and to hopefully bring some hidden gems, or movies you overlooked and didn't manage to catch in the movies to your attention. Enjoy!  

1. "Drive" - I simply loved it, extremely beautiful cinematography, aesthetically perfect in every possible way, which is in fact the main criticism of the movie since it is often deemed as over stylized, a great soundtrack and a stunningly cool performance by Ryan Gosling! Perfection all the way!

2. "The Skin I live In" - kitsch and colourful Spanish sexual confusion meets the haunting nightmarish world of Cronenberg and David Lynch, this is Almodovar at his best, a beautifully shocking movie and might I add that Banderas, whom I am not particularly fond of to be honest, is divine!

3. "The Artist" - A French love letter to 1920's Hollywood: making such a beautiful silent movie in our time of special effect extravaganza is probably one of the most daring acts in cinema today! Plus it is probably the feel good movie of the year, will leave you with a big smile on your face and a desire to watch silent movies and raid some vintage stores in search of some 50's vintage glamour.

4.  "Another Earth" - Am incredibly humane drama set against a sci-fi background. A fatal car accident brings an intelligent teenager and a brilliant music composer together on the eve of the discovery of a second Earth. An incredible American independent gem.

5."The Tree of Life" - Incredible images of the natural and stellar world! Brad Pitt is beyond ferociously brilliant and as always I love nature loving Terrence Malick. A story about a man coming to terms with his negligible place in the universe which despite winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes has been adored and hated equally.

6. "Melancholia" - Lars Von Trier's end of the world drama may not be as strong as " Antichrist" yet it's beauty will not leave any one unmoved.

7. "We Need to Talk About Kevin" - A girl meets boy falls in love, gets married and has a family story where everything goes tragically wrong! Tilda Swinton is spectacular, as always, in the role of the ice queen mother and the erratic camera movements along with a unique use of the colour red create an amazing haunting atmosphere. Though it's story is very dark and tragic it's sarcastic sense of humour makes you giggle under your breath at times!

8. "Submarine" - A coming of age movie with a dark twist and a quirky sense of humour that comes with an incredible soundtrack by the brilliant Alex Turner. Instant British classic!

9. "Pina" - Wim Wenders on the legendary Pina Bausch, I think says it all. I had the privilege to see one of her shows in the ancient Greek theatre of Epidaurus, breathtaking!

10. "Senna" - A perfect documentary on an extraordinary man!

I also really enjoyed "A Separation" and "Attenberg" and can't wait to watch "Moneyball", "Carnage" (the new Polanski movie, I saw a theatre production of "The God of Carnage" with Raplh Feinnes a few years ago and really enjoyed the dysfunctional family story) and "Shame".

I am leaving you with the perfect song for two weeks of lovemaking and a few stunning stills!

Melancholia



The Skin I Live In



Another Earth

Never repress anything - A Dangerous Method

A "Dangerous Method" is finally coming to a cinema near me and I can't wait! David Cronenberg on Freud, Jung, psychoanalysis and the kinky relationship between Jung and his psychotic, beautiful Russian patient-turned-psychoanalyst Sabrina Spielrein, sounds irresistible! A movie on our darkest desires, passions and most basic human instincts. It offers a snapshot of a moment in history when a select group of men set the framework through which the Western world came to think about darker human impulses, such as the role of sexuality in personality development and which lead the development of a seductive relationship between doctor and patient known as transference, a key aspect of psychoanalysis.







This is the third time that the incredible Viggo Mortensen, starring in the role of Sigmund Freud, collaborates with Cronenberg after "Eastern Promises" and "A History of Violence" (I loved both!) and the hottest man of the moment Michael Fassbender is starring as Jung. You probably know him from "Inglorious Basterds" or "X-Men: First Class" but he took my breath away with his haunting, intense performance as an IRA inmate on a hunger strike in Steve McQueens' spectacular "Hunger" (I must admit I have a weakness for skinny hairy men so I actually found him gorgeous in at least the first half of the movie) and he also caught my eye as the seducer of a 15 year old girl in "Fish Tank", a little British gem! I am also really looking forward to his second collaboration with Steve McQueen in the upcoming "Shame"!

 A still from "Hunger"

And a sneak preview of "Shame"

As an extra little something the beautiful Keira Knightley and the always surprising Vincent Cassel also star in "A Dangerous Method".

When I watched the trailer I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite books from when I was a teenager "When Nietzsche Wept" by Irvin D. Yalom. (Though while researching to write this post I also found out that "When Nietzsche Wept" was indeed made into a movie in 2007). "When Nietzsche Wept" takes place in 19th century Vienna on the eve of the birth of psychoanalysis. Josef Breuer, one of the founding fathers of psychoanalysis accepts the plea of a mysterious and unattainable woman, Lou Solome and agrees to treat Friedrich Nietzsche, Europe's greatest philosopher, for his suicidal despair using his experimental "talking cure. Sigmund Freud also features in the story as a young medical intern.

Enjoy some of the quotes that made an impression on me 10 years ago and still do...

"One must have chaos and frenzy within oneself to give birth to a dancing star."

"You will find that no one has ever done anything wholly for others. All actions are self-directed, all service is self-serving, all love self-loving"

"Time is infinite, and force (the basic stuff if the universe) is finite. Given a finite number of potential states of the world and an infinite amount of time that has passed, it follows, Nietzsche claimed, that all possible states must have already occurred; and that the present state must be a repetition...eternal recurrence means that every time you choose an action you must be willing to choose it for all eternity. And it is the same for every action not made, every stillborn thought, every choice avoided. And all unlived life will remain bulging inside you, unlived through all eternity. And the unheeded voice of your conscience will cry out to you forever...I teach that life should never be modified, or squelched, because of the promise of some other kind of life in the future. What is immortal is this life, this moment. There is no afterlife, no goal toward which this life points, no apocalyptic tribunal or judgement. This moment exists forever, and you, alone, are your only audience."

Shall I, throughout all eternity, live a life I regret?

"It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong to seek immortality be spewing one's germ into the future-as though a germ contains your consciousness."

"Your goodness, your duty, your faithfulness-these are the bars of your prison. You will perish from such small virtues. You must learn to know your wickedness. You cannot be partially free: your instincts, too, thirst for freedom; your wild dogs in the cellar-they bark for freedom. Listen harder, can;t you hear them?"
 "But I cannot be free",Breuer implored. "I have made sacred marriage vows. I have a duty to my children, my students, my patients."
"To build children you must first be built yourself. Otherwise you'll seek children out of animal needs, or loneliness, or to patch the holes in yourself. Your task as a parent is to produce not another self, another Josef, but something higher. It's to produce a creator."

Some heroes are real - SENNA

Last weekend was a weekend of cocooning, book reading and endless movie watching. The movie that made the strongest impression on me was Senna, the 2010 documentary on the life of Ayrton Senna, possibly the world's best Formula One driver (or at least the most fascinating one). When I was a child I remember that every weekend I spent with my father our Sunday ritual would without fail include watching Formula One and I admit that though I initially complained I always ended up getting really excited and drawn into every race. I would in no way not call myself a Formula One fan and all I knew about Senna before watching the documentary was that he was from Brazil and died tragically on the tracks. I nonetheless really loved this documentary which is unique in exclusively using archived footage (a large part of which was made public for the first time), that included a mix of interviews, footage from races and from behind the scenes, and family videos. 'Senna' won the 2011 World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Festival and in my opinion duly deserved this award as it is a perfect documentary and avoids all the cliches of biographical documentaries by neither trying to deconstruct the image and myth around Senna nor trying to nostalgically and sentimentally glorify him. This documentary is a portrait of a man, a humble and caring man of faith, that made a mark in history, a man that incited intense love and controversy and cast a spell over the masses. This is less a movie on Formula One and more a movie about the ingredients that make certain men leave a mark on our public consciousness.

So a little bit about the man himself, he came from Brazil and was proud of it, always seeking a Brazilian flag to wave whenever he victoriously crossed the finish line. Through his glorious career (he won three World Championships, held the record for most pole positions from 1989-2006 and holds the record for most victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, six)  he gave his people some hope and something to be proud of and after his death it was discovered that he donated millions to children's charities in Brazil. Six months after his death his sister established the Instituto Ayrton Senna a Brazilian NGO focused on providing education to children and teenagers from low-income backgrounds. He started his career with kart racing and it is moving to hear him say that his favorite race was from that period, as it was pure driving, pure racing without the money and politics involved in F1. As a driver he shinned under the riskiest and hardest conditions, during rainfall, when the tracks were slippery he danced his best dance with the car.

 

His infamous rivalry with "The Professor", French F1 driver Alain Prost, was the subject of intense controversy but also raised the prestige and interest in F1. It is shocking to note that  both the 1989 World Championship won by Prost and the 1990 World Championship won by Senna were decided by collisions between them at those years' Japanese Grands Prix. 

It is also shocking to note that though Senna tried to change certain regulations and practices in F1 racing to increase the safety of drivers he was the last driver to ever die at the wheel of a Formula One car, he died tragically at the age of 34 in a crash while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. 

Beneath the helmet Senna was a fascinating, beautiful and contradictory man, humble, shy and deeply regilious yet a daring and risk-taking global celebrity whose boyish innocence and charm could break any heart.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

"And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high."

"These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are; at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do. The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile."

To live and drive in LA

"Drive",  by Nicolas Winding Refn starring Rayan Gosling is easily the best movie I have seen this year. Never has brutal violence been so beautifully portrayed. This is the story of a driver, whose name is never revealed, a  Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman, falls for the wrong girl and ends up taking a wrong turn leading to ultra-violence and chaos. What could have been just another Hollywood blockbuster in the vain of "The Fast and the Furious" is transformed into a masterful homage to 80's action/film noire movies in which the dark side of the streets of LA play a leading role and the soundtrack (mainly french electronic music) is exquisite. Look out for an epic kissing scene, a masterful play with shadows and a modern twist to Aesop's fable about the scorpion and the frog. ENJOY!

A piece of fun trivia: Nicolas Winding Refn can not actually drive and during the shooting of the film Rayan Gosling served as his driver.