As soon as I saw the trailer for Vallanzasca: Gli angeli del male ("Angels of Evil"), I realised it was clearly trying to be an Italian version of Mesrine. This isn't a bad thing; I really enjoyed both parts of the film about the life and death of France's John Dillinger, Jacques Mesrine. They were stylish, had a great soundtrack and great acting from Vincent Cassel (among others), and the fact that the total running time was over four hours was ameliorated by the fact that it was well paced and split into two parts.
I liked Gli Angeli del Male, which looks at the life of Italian mobster Renato Vallanzasca, but I suspect I would have liked it a lot more if I hadn't already seen Mesrine. The antiheroes -- and thus the plots -- are pretty damn similar: they both grow up in lower middle-class backgrounds and are pushed, in part by events in their formative years, into a life of robbery, violence and murder. But they are highly charismatic and attractive to women (during one of his incarcerations, Vallanzasca is seen wading through giant sacks of fan mail letters describing, as his friend puts it, "the perverse fantasies of housewives across Italy") and to the audience.
Gl Angeli del Male opens in the early 1980s; Vallanzasca is seen in solitary confinement, inciting the guards and ultimately being beaten up. He then flashes back to crimes -- and incarcerations -- past. His first gang of cronies included two childhood friends with whom he let out tigers and other wild animals from the circus, earning him a bout in reform school, which provided excellent reprobate training. But after a father-figure for Vallanzasca kills his (own) wife and himself, his crimes soon accelerate. By the early 1970s, Vallanzasca is in his early 20s and, with a bunch of mates is romping around Milan holding up banks, killing cops and screwing prostitutes. His big rival is Francis Turatello, a club owner who seems to have taken Ross Geller (circa his high school prom) as a style icon. He has a son with Consuelo, a woman he meets in a club and who ultimately leaves him for a more respectable guy. He gets imprisoned, he escapes, he gets caught again, he gets transferred between prisons, he escapes again. And so on...
All of this action is set to a cool soundtrack but although the two-hour film moves along fairly quickly, it gets quite repetitive and there isn't the same sense of progression you got in Mesrine. The central character keeps on making the same mistakes over and over again, he doesn't show any remorse for what he's done (when asked why he kills, he replies, "to defend myself") and he doesn't really show any signs of changing his ways. He just carries on escaping, re-offending and making blasé statements along the lines of, "well, I've got to rob banks and do all this because it's what I do and what I'm good at." This may well be accurate and actor Kim Rossi Stuart may well have the charm and presence to carry off the role but by the end of the film, I was wishing I had a watch to check. A few of the almost-subplots could easily have been removed and 20 minutes shaved off the runtime, which would have resulted in a much tighter and more exciting film.
30 May 2011
22 May 2011
Stress Shopping
I can add yet another item to the list of things that are dangerous for me to be doing/feeling while shopping: checking the BBC Sport website on my phone every five minutes to find out whether or not my consistently inconsistent football team have been relegated. Although dear ol' Wolves have been hovering in or near relegation for much of the season, they've actually been doing reasonably well. The trouble was that this has been a rather high-scoring season for the bottom of the table and depending on the results of today's matches, any two clubs from Blackburn, Wolves, Birmingham, Wigan and Blackpool could have joined West Ham in being relegated.
The nerve-wracking relegation saga really began last Sunday. We'd already won our match against Sunderland and so on Sunday afternoon, Maman and I were listening to the weekend's other matches on the radio on our terrasse. We wanted West Ham to beat Wigan, Birmingham to lose to Fulham and Blackburn to lose to Man U. Having gone 3-0 up on Wigan, West Ham proceeded to lose 4-3. Man United, having just been declared the most successful team of all time, in the known Universe (well, in England, anyway), couldn't manage to beat Blackburn. At least Fulham did what we wanted.
Today, though, was Premier League D-Day, according to the BBC website (surely R-Day?). By the time I checked the scores today, mid-shopping, Wolves were 3-0 down to Blackburn, Blackpool were beating Man U (sounds like a variation on the Sports Illustrated jinx to me), and Wigan and Birmingham were drawing their matches. If everything had stayed like that, we would likely have been relegated on goal difference. And then came the desperate goals. The Wolves managed to pull two goals back -- not enough for a draw but it at least looked a little less embarrassing. Luckily for us, Birmingham and Blackpool ended up losing too and so even though Wigan won, thanks to their late goal, we were safe, while Birmingham and Blackpool went down with West Ham. If Spurs hadn't scored a winning goal against Birmingham in extra time, though, we would have ended up on the same points as Birmingham. We would also have had the same goal difference -- hopefully, the next criterion used to determine who stays up wouldn't be alphabetical order. (Incidentally, the names of the bottom seven clubs in the Premiership this season all begin with b or w -- my initials -- coincidence? I think not).
This was all rather stressful at the time and having been fairly good on the shopping front for the past few weeks -- this weekend I had already resisted the temptation to buy Anthro's lovely Lido Light skirt based on the fact that I own enough blue skirts already (almost all of my skirts are blue) and TopShop's nautical stripe sundress (which didn't quite fit perfectly), among other things. But it was getting close to full time when I was in the TopShop changing rooms with the floral print flippy skirt and a couple of cheap vest tops, I caved and just went and bought the lot. OK, so it was only £38 for the three items and I have wanted this skirt for almost two months. In fact, I've tried it on several times before in various combinations of size eight and size ten, regular and petite, but the eights were too short and the tens too loose. Finally, I came across a size eight tall version and tried it on and despite me not being even average height, let alone tall, it fit well.
Although this wasn't exactly an impulse purchase, I do blame my football-related nerves for going ahead. I must remember not to go shopping this time next year when my consistently inconsistent team will no doubt be in the very same position.
The nerve-wracking relegation saga really began last Sunday. We'd already won our match against Sunderland and so on Sunday afternoon, Maman and I were listening to the weekend's other matches on the radio on our terrasse. We wanted West Ham to beat Wigan, Birmingham to lose to Fulham and Blackburn to lose to Man U. Having gone 3-0 up on Wigan, West Ham proceeded to lose 4-3. Man United, having just been declared the most successful team of all time, in the known Universe (well, in England, anyway), couldn't manage to beat Blackburn. At least Fulham did what we wanted.
Today, though, was Premier League D-Day, according to the BBC website (surely R-Day?). By the time I checked the scores today, mid-shopping, Wolves were 3-0 down to Blackburn, Blackpool were beating Man U (sounds like a variation on the Sports Illustrated jinx to me), and Wigan and Birmingham were drawing their matches. If everything had stayed like that, we would likely have been relegated on goal difference. And then came the desperate goals. The Wolves managed to pull two goals back -- not enough for a draw but it at least looked a little less embarrassing. Luckily for us, Birmingham and Blackpool ended up losing too and so even though Wigan won, thanks to their late goal, we were safe, while Birmingham and Blackpool went down with West Ham. If Spurs hadn't scored a winning goal against Birmingham in extra time, though, we would have ended up on the same points as Birmingham. We would also have had the same goal difference -- hopefully, the next criterion used to determine who stays up wouldn't be alphabetical order. (Incidentally, the names of the bottom seven clubs in the Premiership this season all begin with b or w -- my initials -- coincidence? I think not).
This was all rather stressful at the time and having been fairly good on the shopping front for the past few weeks -- this weekend I had already resisted the temptation to buy Anthro's lovely Lido Light skirt based on the fact that I own enough blue skirts already (almost all of my skirts are blue) and TopShop's nautical stripe sundress (which didn't quite fit perfectly), among other things. But it was getting close to full time when I was in the TopShop changing rooms with the floral print flippy skirt and a couple of cheap vest tops, I caved and just went and bought the lot. OK, so it was only £38 for the three items and I have wanted this skirt for almost two months. In fact, I've tried it on several times before in various combinations of size eight and size ten, regular and petite, but the eights were too short and the tens too loose. Finally, I came across a size eight tall version and tried it on and despite me not being even average height, let alone tall, it fit well.
Although this wasn't exactly an impulse purchase, I do blame my football-related nerves for going ahead. I must remember not to go shopping this time next year when my consistently inconsistent team will no doubt be in the very same position.
20 May 2011
Catch Me If You Cannes
We left Cannes on Wednesday evening, having missed Lars von Trier's inappropriately headline-grabbing press conference. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we just hung out, sunbathed and did a little shopping without getting too tangled up in the folle foule de la Festival.
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| The crowd outside the Jean-Paul Belmondo tribute |
16 May 2011
Brangelina and Bogie
Well, I managed to get some photos of Brad Pitt this evening at the première for The Tree of Life this evening — I didn't get any of his co-star Sean Penn, who was also there, but ever the romantic, having mounted the steps outside the Palais des Festivals, Brad went back to get Angelina and the two of them posed for photos together, smiling and holding hands.
Although we arrived about an hour before the start of the film (and 50 minutes before the arrival of Brad et al), the crowds were much bigger than last night. We eventually managed to get to a reasonable spot, albeit with a fence blocking some of my view, and saw Jude Law, Faye Dunaway, Gwen Stefani, Rob Lowe and Isabelle Huppert, among others, on the red carpet. Partly because I was still getting to grips with the zoom and angles and partly because these guys didn't pause for photos on the steps, I failed to take any decent photos. Next time, I'll wear higher heels and maybe bring a phonebook on which to stand.
With aching arms and legs, we went for dinner at a little Italian nearby where the food was nice and the service was great until it was time to get the bill, which took 30 minutes. We had a date with Humphrey Bogart, you see: The Caine Mutiny was the film du jour at the Cinéma de la Plage. Even with the fleece blanket, it was pretty chilly on the beach but I enjoyed the film. Then, we hurried back home along the Croisette alongside numerous black-tie-clad peeps, for whom the night was clearly just beginning...
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| Brad & Angelina |
Although we arrived about an hour before the start of the film (and 50 minutes before the arrival of Brad et al), the crowds were much bigger than last night. We eventually managed to get to a reasonable spot, albeit with a fence blocking some of my view, and saw Jude Law, Faye Dunaway, Gwen Stefani, Rob Lowe and Isabelle Huppert, among others, on the red carpet. Partly because I was still getting to grips with the zoom and angles and partly because these guys didn't pause for photos on the steps, I failed to take any decent photos. Next time, I'll wear higher heels and maybe bring a phonebook on which to stand.
With aching arms and legs, we went for dinner at a little Italian nearby where the food was nice and the service was great until it was time to get the bill, which took 30 minutes. We had a date with Humphrey Bogart, you see: The Caine Mutiny was the film du jour at the Cinéma de la Plage. Even with the fleece blanket, it was pretty chilly on the beach but I enjoyed the film. Then, we hurried back home along the Croisette alongside numerous black-tie-clad peeps, for whom the night was clearly just beginning...
15 May 2011
Getting with the Programme
14 May 2011
Rearranging Deckchairs on Das Boot
The Cinéma de la Plage, however, was very successful. Hundreds of deck chairs were arranged on the beach and Stella Artois-branded fleece blankets were handed out to the film-goers. It was pretty surreal watching Das Boot in German with French subtitles on a beach in Cannes with various loud parties taking place in the background. We only stayed an hour or so but it was good fun.
Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is debuting today so we'll be on the lookout for Penelope and Johnny. I just wish I could go to see one of the films in the festival.
Edit: It transpires that the elusive Guy Browning is also in town to promote his new movie.
13 May 2011
Stars on the Croisette
Since my parents bought their flat in Cannes, almost exactly five years ago, I've never made there during the Cannes Film Festival. This year, though, I arrived the day after the festival kicked off. I was expecting the town to be absolutely thronging but it is quieter than a normal day in the middle of summer -- in the daytime, anyway.
04 May 2011
A Good Wife Doesn't Make a Good Husband
The Good Wife, in case I haven't mentioned it often enough lately, is one of my favourite TV shows (OK, one of my favourites out of the four or so that I watch), some weeks I even prefer it to Mad Men and like Mad Men, TGW is a real slow-burner. In fact, it feels even slower because its seasons are twice as long and still the main, overarching plots taken forever to develop (or, just as often, not develop).
Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies, whose performance in the latest episode may well put her on track for another Emmy) has spent 1 9/10 seasons being the eponymous good wife, standing by her husband Peter, the former State's Attorney for Cook's County, when he admitted to sleeping with a prostitute on 18 occasions and served half a season of jail time for alleged abuses of his position. After more than a decade as a stay-at-home mom, Alicia got a job as a junior associate at the firm of her old friend/could-have-been romantic interest Will, and does all that she can to protect her children from the ensuing chaos, and to keep calm and carry on lawyering. She supported Peter in his campaign for re-election after he was released from prison and cleared of the charges against him -- grudgingly, sometimes, but still. She pushed aside the torch she may carry for Will. And on the night before Peter's election, she finally agreed to do a TV interview and told the world (well, Chicago, at least, because, let's face it, presidential election this ain't) that she forgave Peter.
And then it all goes horribly wrong. It turns out that as well as the prostitute, Peter slept with an employee of his at the state's attorney's office in exchange for helping her change her name and her identity. The woman now works as the investigator for Alicia's law firm -- the awesome but evasive Kalinda -- and has become Alicia's best friend. The ever-tactless investigator for the incumbent State's Attorney's office lets this cat out of the bag just seconds after Alicia finds out that Peter has won the election, and this is where the previous episode ended.
This week's episode opens in the same place and then we see Alicia in her apartment, pacing around with structure and purpose. She packs all of Peter's things into boxes and, having made an appointment with a realtor and signed the lease on a new apartment (even though it's late at night), she arranges to have his stuff taken to the new pad. Then she tells him to meet her there. He thinks the place is for the family at first but no, he soon finds out that this is his place, she's leaving him and he's no longer welcome at home. She found out about him and Kalinda, she says perfectly calmly, and although she doesn't want to talk about it, she won't change her mind. Then she goes home and finally she breaks down. But not for long. She plays some loud music from her son's iPod, puts on some make-up and starts to prepare for a court case she has to argue the following day (or, a few hours later, given that it's pretty much morning). She doesn't tell Will or Kalinda about her news (although both of them must have guessed something was up from her professional but brusque tone). She just goes and kicks ass on behalf of her client.
Peter's mother Jackie tries to persuade her to change her mind (Alicia is "just being selfish") and his campaign manager Eli just wants to understand what's going on and whether it is permanent. When she tells the children their father has moved out, she breaks down again and the kids are shocked to see their calm, cool mother in such a way. Also, if anyone asks them what's going on with their parents, they have to lie, she tells them, because although the family shouldn't lie to one another, it's sometimes OK not to tell the whole truth to people who want to hurt them. Through her tears, she tries to reassure them that everything is going to be OK.
Peter tries again to reason with Alicia. He'll see a marriage counsellor, he'll resign from his newly won state's attorney position, he'll do anything she asks. But she doesn't even want to talk about it. It's amazing how quickly Peter changes from a heart-broken, begging tone to someone much crueller. "You're sleeping with Will," he says, "that's what this is about." Alicia doesn't justify this with a response but she takes her gloves off too; when Peter tells her Kalinda is blameless, she asks, "Why, did you rape her?" Exit Peter. As he leaves, Alicia makes a final, heartfelt plea: "Say something to make me fall in love with you again." But all he says is goodbye. Then we see him in his campaign office, very Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate, telling callers he's not the same Peter Florrick any more. And when Cary, Alicia's former rival at her law firm (who was fired and went to work for the incumbent State's Attorney), comes in to find out whether his job is safe, Peter is highly ambivalent until he discovers, with devilish glee, that Cary is a nemesis of The Good Wife. You can practically hear him say, "mwahahaha," and it isn't pretty.
For The Good Wife, this is quite a lot of action for one episode (there was also Alicia's case involving a former rock chick being denied a vital organ transplant going on, of course) but so little resolution. Will Alicia ever discuss what has happened with Peter? Will she let him see how much he has hurt her? I'm hoping that in her conversations with Will and Kalinda about this will be more informative (come on, Alicia, it's OK to let people see your feelings sometimes!). Knowing this show, though, the implications of Alicia's separations for her relationship with Will might be dealt with somewhere around season five -- which is fine, although not good for people who like resolution.
Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies, whose performance in the latest episode may well put her on track for another Emmy) has spent 1 9/10 seasons being the eponymous good wife, standing by her husband Peter, the former State's Attorney for Cook's County, when he admitted to sleeping with a prostitute on 18 occasions and served half a season of jail time for alleged abuses of his position. After more than a decade as a stay-at-home mom, Alicia got a job as a junior associate at the firm of her old friend/could-have-been romantic interest Will, and does all that she can to protect her children from the ensuing chaos, and to keep calm and carry on lawyering. She supported Peter in his campaign for re-election after he was released from prison and cleared of the charges against him -- grudgingly, sometimes, but still. She pushed aside the torch she may carry for Will. And on the night before Peter's election, she finally agreed to do a TV interview and told the world (well, Chicago, at least, because, let's face it, presidential election this ain't) that she forgave Peter.
And then it all goes horribly wrong. It turns out that as well as the prostitute, Peter slept with an employee of his at the state's attorney's office in exchange for helping her change her name and her identity. The woman now works as the investigator for Alicia's law firm -- the awesome but evasive Kalinda -- and has become Alicia's best friend. The ever-tactless investigator for the incumbent State's Attorney's office lets this cat out of the bag just seconds after Alicia finds out that Peter has won the election, and this is where the previous episode ended.
This week's episode opens in the same place and then we see Alicia in her apartment, pacing around with structure and purpose. She packs all of Peter's things into boxes and, having made an appointment with a realtor and signed the lease on a new apartment (even though it's late at night), she arranges to have his stuff taken to the new pad. Then she tells him to meet her there. He thinks the place is for the family at first but no, he soon finds out that this is his place, she's leaving him and he's no longer welcome at home. She found out about him and Kalinda, she says perfectly calmly, and although she doesn't want to talk about it, she won't change her mind. Then she goes home and finally she breaks down. But not for long. She plays some loud music from her son's iPod, puts on some make-up and starts to prepare for a court case she has to argue the following day (or, a few hours later, given that it's pretty much morning). She doesn't tell Will or Kalinda about her news (although both of them must have guessed something was up from her professional but brusque tone). She just goes and kicks ass on behalf of her client.
Peter's mother Jackie tries to persuade her to change her mind (Alicia is "just being selfish") and his campaign manager Eli just wants to understand what's going on and whether it is permanent. When she tells the children their father has moved out, she breaks down again and the kids are shocked to see their calm, cool mother in such a way. Also, if anyone asks them what's going on with their parents, they have to lie, she tells them, because although the family shouldn't lie to one another, it's sometimes OK not to tell the whole truth to people who want to hurt them. Through her tears, she tries to reassure them that everything is going to be OK.
Peter tries again to reason with Alicia. He'll see a marriage counsellor, he'll resign from his newly won state's attorney position, he'll do anything she asks. But she doesn't even want to talk about it. It's amazing how quickly Peter changes from a heart-broken, begging tone to someone much crueller. "You're sleeping with Will," he says, "that's what this is about." Alicia doesn't justify this with a response but she takes her gloves off too; when Peter tells her Kalinda is blameless, she asks, "Why, did you rape her?" Exit Peter. As he leaves, Alicia makes a final, heartfelt plea: "Say something to make me fall in love with you again." But all he says is goodbye. Then we see him in his campaign office, very Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate, telling callers he's not the same Peter Florrick any more. And when Cary, Alicia's former rival at her law firm (who was fired and went to work for the incumbent State's Attorney), comes in to find out whether his job is safe, Peter is highly ambivalent until he discovers, with devilish glee, that Cary is a nemesis of The Good Wife. You can practically hear him say, "mwahahaha," and it isn't pretty.
For The Good Wife, this is quite a lot of action for one episode (there was also Alicia's case involving a former rock chick being denied a vital organ transplant going on, of course) but so little resolution. Will Alicia ever discuss what has happened with Peter? Will she let him see how much he has hurt her? I'm hoping that in her conversations with Will and Kalinda about this will be more informative (come on, Alicia, it's OK to let people see your feelings sometimes!). Knowing this show, though, the implications of Alicia's separations for her relationship with Will might be dealt with somewhere around season five -- which is fine, although not good for people who like resolution.