15 hours of Weimar degeneracy. Who's buying the popcorn?
Some punk recalled my library copy of Berlin Alexanderplatz before I even had a chance to make it to the end of the fourth episode last month, but hopefully March will provide another opportunity for me to get through the remaining 10 hours of Fassbinder's opus and file a report on it for all you foreign film festival connoisseurs. In the meantime, any/all links to movie posts for either this event or Caroline's World Cinema Series (both being held throughout the year) can be left here. Note: Sorry, but I'm still running behind on rounding up links.
March Foreign Film Reviews
- Father and Son [Otets i syn] (dir. Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia, 2003; reviewer: TBM)
- Heima (dir. Dean DeBlois, Iceland, 2007; reviewer: Dwight)
- Life Is Beautiful [La vita è bella] (dir. Roberto Benigni, Italy, 1998; reviewer: Fiona)
- Love Is My Profession [En cas de malheur] (dir. Claude Autant-Lara, France, 1958; reviewer: Guy Savage)
- Mooladé (dir. Sembène Ousmane, Senegal, 2004; reviewer; Caroline)
- The Grandfather [El abuelo] (dir. José Luis Garci, Spain, 1988; reviewer: Dwight)
- The Road Home [Wo de fu quin mu quin] (dir. Yimou Zhang, China 2001; reviewer: Fiona)
Come on, you know you want to...
March Reading
I don't like talking about my longterm reading plans much anymore since I'm usually so lousy at following through on them,* but I'd like to put in a plug for the Fernando Pessoa Book of Disquiet readalong that Amateur Reader (Tom) will be hosting at Wuthering Expectations at the end of month. I've been looking forward to reading this Portuguese classic for a long time now, and I expect that the group read experience will be a particularly fun one given that many of the same great readers who took a crack at Bolaño's The Savage Detectives with Rise and me during our January group read will be back in force for this one. I'll also be reading Juan Carlos Onetti's La vida breve in the first part of the month and leisurely alternating Musil's The Man without Qualities and Proust's The Guermantes Way over the next three months--at 1,770 pages for the posthumous director's cut of Musil and 595 pages for the Proust, which I foolishly set aside last year despite enjoying it and will now plan to start again from scratch at the beginning, I see no need to rush through the 2,365 pages of modernist bliss that's anticipated. *Note to Nicole: I'll try and get back to War and Peace right after Musil, I promise! You still give one-year extensions, right?
Entradas
Now that is some big reading. Best wishes. Meine Frau suggests that one should never finish the Musil novel - just to keep in the spirit of the book itself. But you have to get to the all-too-relevant "racehorse of genius."
ResponderBorrarI just started Pessoa, 10 pages or so, so I will just say yes yes yes yes etc.
Tom, I love the built-in excuse your wife has provided me in the event that I don't finish the Musil for some reason: it's all about the "open architecture," man! I actually have gotten to the "racehorse of genius" passage already, one of many awesome, super funny moments early on which are tempting me to post as I go rather than waiting to the end. Also, good to hear about the Pessoa so far, of course--thanks for proposing such a disquieting readalong.
BorrarI had forgotten about the Pessoa... Might not be feasible anymore but it won't cease to exist after the end of this month.
ResponderBorrarI have a hard time adding all the titles as well and only reviewed one movie that I could include in February. I'm still enjoying it.
I'm enjoying the two movie fests as well, Caroline, but I'll try and be a more with it host as the year progresses. Anyway, hope you get a chance to enjoy the Pessoa soon--have heard a lot of good things about it over the years but have also heard that it can be slow-moving in places. Time shall tell!
BorrarI am going to join your Film Challenge, by the way, likely many months from now. Still pondering the film for us to watch. I can promise you this, Richard: it will by very old and very short.
ResponderBorrarGlad to hear, Tom, especially as only one other person so far has been in contact with me w/r/t the "movie challenge" part. "Very old" and "very short"? Works for me!
Borrar"Some punk..." - that's exactly how I feel every time someone recalls one of the 30 or so books I always seem to have out of the library (somebody like me, no doubt). I'm looking forward and backward to the Pessoa read as well (since it's now been two months since I read it - I'll have to brush up). And inadvertently, with what I think will be my next post, I'll be joining your film challenge too, if I ever manage to dig out from what's on my desk after two weeks away from work...
ResponderBorrarSorry to hear about the punks messing with your reading life on the other side of this fine country, Scott, but try not to let them ruin your bookish highs with their thuggish copycat antics! Anyway, glad to hear about your plans to join the film event and look forward both to your choice(s) there and to what you have to say about the Pessoa. Can you possibly top Obooki's appraisal, though? I'm not quite sure what to make of that, I must admit!
BorrarI have started The Book of Disquiet too, though it seems to me like the kind of book that's best read over a couple of years, perhaps whilst sitting on the toilet.
ResponderBorrarNot having had a sufficient amount of coffee yet today, Obooki, I'm not sure whether that's really a negative, a neutral, or maybe even a totally positive comment about Pessoa--although it's clearly not a blurb for/from my Penguin copy of The Book of Disquiet! Ah, well, I suppose more info will be forthcoming at some point. Cheers!
BorrarI am actually planning, before writing about Pessoa's book, to spend some time on exactly this topic, although I might frame it a bit differently. "How are you supposed to read this thing?" That will be the general idea.
BorrarI imagine that will be a very useful intro--at least for me. Not that I'm worried about it or anything, but I can't think of a recent work I've been looking forward to with such an all over the place reader reception history except for maybe anything written by Osvaldo Lamborghini (who is, of course, not nearly as well-known, oft-translated, revered, or I'm guessing reader-friendly as Mr. Pessoa). Very much look forward to the readalong.
BorrarI was going to get to Musil this year, but a couple of other multi-volume works are ahead in (the burgeoning) line.
ResponderBorrarSpeaking of movies, I'll need to finish the write-up of Galdós' The Grandfather--a beautiful movie.
I've been putting Musil off for coming up on three years according to the sticker on the back of my book, but I'm almost glad I put him off until now since I'm enjoying him so much at the moment. Super funny! I've added your movie link and will be back to actually read it sometime soon--thanks!
Borrari'm joining you for the proust and passoa this year.
Borrar2012 is the year of the long novel for me.
Selena, I'll be happy to have your company--esp. with those long novels, which can be so "lonesome," don't you agree?!? Cheers!
Borrar