Blue is the warmest color.

I do watch a lot of films. By "a lot" I mean about 3-4 films a week. Watching films relaxes me, inspires me, teaches me new things ...  I could probably dedicate my blog just to films but I like to switch it up a little. This time I will write about a film I saw just last night: Blue is the warmest color.
"Blue" is about one of the most beautiful love stories on the big screen that I have ever seen - if not THE most beautiful. There has been a lot of negative press before the arrival of the film in U.S. theaters. The two lead actresses - Léa Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos- criticized the director openly for his apparently harsh methods to film, e.g. shooting the sex scenes over and over again. Even though I read a couple of articles beforehand I tried not to be to influenced by the publicity so I could simply enjoy the film. And I was able to simply enjoy the film. The story: Adele (Exarchopoulos) is a junior in High school and meets the older art student Emma (Seydoux). The two start becoming involved, and what might start off as a harmless flirt becomes a relationship which takes place over the course of about 8 years. The relationship between the two evolves - Adele graduates from High school and starts attending university and later teaches at an Elementary school and Emma graduates from the Fine Arts University and is having her first solo exhibitions. We - the audience - observe the highs and the lows of this relationship.
The fact that no make-up or hair assistance was used on set makes the actresses appear even more "raw" and beautiful. The director often uses close up shots of the actors faces, and we see over and over again a sleeping Adele - she is gorgeous, her mouth slightly open, which creates such an intimate atmosphere, the viewer almost feels like he/she is observing her through a lens.
The sex scenes between the two have although been criticized as pornographic by some media - they earned "Blue" a NC-rating and the film is completely banned in the state of Idaho. I personally found nothing about the scenes pornographic or over the top, they simply portray two young women in love who have a deep desire for each other.
The performances by the whole cast, but especially by Seydoux and Exarchopoulos (it is considered her breakthrough performance) were outstanding. I left the theater almost sad, knowing  that those two women are not a couple in real life. You want them to be in love so bad. And one can't help but  develop a slight crush on the lead actress, Adele Exarchopoulos, who seems so vulnerable, so tender, so naive at times - I found myself wanting to protect her at times against the "bad" world of the adults..
Even though I got run over by my emotions at the end and cried for the last twenty minutes of the film (it is three hours long but never feels just one second too long), leaving the theater baffled  - I can only recommend to watch this small film. It is a simple, beautifully shot love story in the life of Adele and I honestly don't know if there will ever be such a film with such rare, new talent.  A small bonus factor - The scenes involve a lot of food, especially spaghetti.
Go watch and bon appetite!

Trying raw food.

There is a whole lifestyle dedicated to raw foodism, and I have been curious for a while to test it out and see what it's all about.  It started with the arrival of our friend Beth-Ann, who lives in Virginia. She started living "raw" a couple of months ago and suggested we'd make a raw lasagne. It is simple: You can not cook anything above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Depending on the type of lifestyle raw foodies often use raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish and non-pasteurized dairy products, such as raw milk. There are suppose to be a lot of health benefits to a strict raw diet, such as better digestion, a stronger immune system and a higher nutrient value.

Back to the lasagne: the preparation itself was quite time consuming, we spent about 4 hours in the kitchen. The "pasta" was made of thinly sliced zucchini, the "cheese" is made of almonds, which had to be soaked and then peeled one by one.(An almost meditative task which I was responsible for!) The almonds, together with yeast flakes were simply thrown into a blender to create a cheese-like paste. Instead of a a layer of meat, we used walnuts. Walnuts and tomato paste create a beautiful paste, which looks a little bit like meat and tastes surprisingly good. We had a raw beet salad with it, which was mixed with raw carrots and dried cranberries. Heavenly! The other side salad and the dessert were "cheat meals" - A Caprice salad with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella and vegan cupcakes with strawberries, not so much raw but nonetheless delicious. 

The dinner was absolutely divine - and even though going completely raw might not be for me, it was nice to get a taste of it and I can not wait to try more raw dishes. 

                                          Preparing the almonds for the "cheese"..

               

                                         The "cheese" paste

                                       
                                          The end result

                                                        Hibiscus ice tea with cloves and oranges

Sunset, sunrise and midnight.

Everyone who knows my taste in film is aware that I am drawn to the gloom and doom films rather than romances or comedies. There are a few exceptions though - one of them is the trilogy surrounding Jesse and Celine. The first film, "Before Sunrise" was released in 1995. Jesse (played by the very charming Ethan Hawke) is an American tourist who meets Celine (at least equally charming: Julie Delphy), a French girl, in Vienna and decides to spend 12 hours with her. The ending of the film is left open and the viewer has to wait for a whole 9 years to find out if Celine and Jesse will have a reunion. The second film - which is my personal favorite - "Before sunrise" lets Jesse, now a successful author, and Celine meet again in Paris. The interesting part about this film is that it is set in real time. The couple has 1.5 hours together before Jesse has to catch his flight back to the U.S. And again, it ends with the unknown.. One can only assume that Jesse will miss his flight and stay in Paris with Celine instead. Where the first two parts are romantic, without ever coming across as cheesy or kitschy, the third part "Before Midnight", portrays a different side. The romance is still there, but it is dominated by the perks of being parents, by the daily struggles of work and marriage. Like in the other two films, the conversations between the two of them make the film so miraculous. But they still do talk. Which does seem almost miraculous to me, as many married couples don't have those ongoing conversations after nine plus years of marriage. There is hardly a second of silence between the two of them, even when they fight. Like "Before sunrise", Hawke and Delphy co-wrote the script to the film and I can only wonder how many parallels between their real life's have flown into the script..

The chemistry between those two actors is flawless in all three films and I found myself almost being disappointed when I read that they are not - and never have been  - a real couple.

These films are not just enjoyable to watch, they also teach you a lesson or two about relationships, about life in general.. 

I would certainly wish for a fourth film in another nine years but it looks like this might be the last one - even more a reason to watch it.

American Apparel stirs controversy - again.

Well, we all know that the US clothing company American Apparel has posted some very provocative and controversial ad campaigns in the last few years. In fact, I myself have a mixed relationship with American Apparel - on one hand I do really like and appreciate their basics, and probably have half a closet full of leggings, bodysuits, skirts and even underwear from the company. They operate sweatshop free, and are always speaking out in behalf of gay rights activist groups and immigration reforms.  On the other hand I am not fond of the fact that women - no wait, they look barely 18 - young girls, are constantly shown in  very provocative, half nude poses. Sex sells. The thing that I find strange is the fact that the men American Apparel shows in their ads are dressed completely. Where is the equality? I mean, it sure is no secret that the CEO of the company Dov Charney is a pervert, who likes to cast his "models" and preferably stand behind the lens to give directions. But c'mon? Have a look for yourself below...

And now look at the ads for the Gentlemen, almost conservative looking right?.. 

Any thoughts on this?....

The Place Beyond The Pines II

Oh my, I meant to post about this film a lot sooner. Right after I went to see it last Sunday actually - but sometimes things come up unexpected and you have to set priorities.
SO, "The place beyond the pines", this wonderful small film made by Derek Cianfrance (who made the beautifully sad "Blue Valentines two years ago), co-starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn and introducing the fabulous newcomer Dane DeHaan as Ryan Goslings son. I have been exited about seeing this since I saw the trailer for the first time - and no, Mr. Gosling is not the only reason that I really wanted to see it.

The film is divided into three parts, the story is simple: Luke (Gosling) is a stunt driver in the late 80's/early 90's, who meets a beautiful woman, Romina (real-life girlfriend Mendes), who soon becomes pregnant by him. Once Luke finds out he has a son, he wants to be able to provide for him and try to have a family with Romina. Luke meets another washed-up guy (a very realistic Mendelsohn) and they start robbing banks. One day something goes wrong and Luke gets caught. He gets shot by a cop, Avery (surprisingly well played by Cooper), and from there on the second story takes place. The second part is pretty much entirely dedicated to Avery. A cop who falls under the spell of a couple of corrupt police men, tying to make quick money. This will soon lead to the third and final chapter of the film, which takes place almost 17 years later. Avery's and Luke's sons are seventeen by now and, even though they are quite different, start a bond when they meet in High-School. They are no aware at this point that their fathers once met under fatal circumstances.
I do not want to give away too much but in my opinion the third part of the film is the strongest of the entire movie. "The place beyond the pines" is  pretty much carried by its actors and the beautiful cinematography. It's dark, almost gritty at times - Cianfrance took over eight years to make this film and the result is well worth the wait.

On the road.

On the road - the wonderful novel by Jack Kerouac, published in 1957, written in the late forties. I have to admit that I have never actually read the whole book - I did start it when I was younger but maybe I was a little too young (a teenager I suppose) therefore a lot didn't make sense to me or I couldn't relate to it. I would definitely want to give it a another shot today - and not only because it is considered a timeless, cult classic novel. 

So when I heard that Walter Salles (director of "The Motorcycle Diaries") had taken on the project of turning the famous novel into a motion picture, staring Sam Riley and Kristen Stewart, I was divided: I am really not a fan of Kristen Stewart but I do like Sam Riley (mainly as Ian Curtis in "Control"). I decided to give it a shot on Friday night and ... surprisingly I was not disappointed! 
The plot is simple - after the death of his father Sal (played by Sam Riley, who also narrates the whole story), who is a young writer, meets Dean in New York City in 1947. Dean wants to be a writer too, but he also likes to party, which involves a lot of drugs and booze,  fooling around with too many girls and in general not take life too seriously. 
Dean and Sal soon find themselves on a road trip, accompanied by MaryLou (played by a pretty blank Kristen Stewart), who is Dean's 16 year-old child-wife. From there on we see Sal going on a variety of  road trips, meeting different characters (among them Viggo Mortensen as William S. Burroughs, Amy Adams as his wife Jane, and Kirsten Dunst as Dean's second wife) chronicled through the late 1940's. 

I thought the film was incredibly beautifully shot, well acted (especially by Riley and Hedlund), it was very stylish and the obvious eye candy (Dean portrayed by Garrett Hedlund) can't hurt either. The soundtrack and the fashion really stood out for me - it was a time of beatniks,  a time before the word "hipster" existed (even though the cast resembles today's hipsters), a time of writing literature and poetry, a time where rules - and life  were not taken too seriously. After leaving the theatre I felt almost melancholic - longing for a time long before I was even born, a place that I only visited once but which felt so magical to me: New York City. 

"The only people for me are the mad ones," Sal says in one of the book's (and the film's) most celebrated passages. "The ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like Roman candles across the night."

Exploring Los Angeles on foot

Yes, it is possible: You can walk in L.A. Up to this day I would not believe this to be true - well, to a certain point maybe: Like parking your car and then walking a couple of blocks to your preferred destination. Well, my friend Jason proved me different today.

Him and I explored downtown Los Angeles by foot today, and we probably walked a good five miles or more! If I would have only left my vanity home and worn comfortable tennis shoes instead of my Prada Chelsea Boots!..

We took the metro to Union Station and then headed from there via Olvera Street to our first destination: The Last Bookstore. (The LA Times had currently an article about this gem: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-0303-last-bookstore-pictures,0,1153539.photogallery?index=lat-cindy-last-bookstore-la0008382652-20130131)

This place is unbelievable - only a few years old, this old warehouse in the former banking district hosts over 100.000  books on 10.000 sq. ft. Downstairs you find anythings from fiction, history to art and photography books, new as well as gently used - and even a pretty decent collection of vinyls. On the upper level we were greeted with an overwhelming amount of used books, for only a dollar each! The Last Bookstore also offers open mic nights and other events, as I found out from the friendly sales assistant. After Jason and me left with one book each, after probably one hour and a half of browsing, we headed to the Grand Central Market to get a coffee and take the trolley up the Angels Flight to Bunker Hill, where we ate our brought-from-home-sandwiches. Jason informed me that the park underneath the Angel Flights was used in "500 days of summer", the particular scene were Zoey Deschanel and Jason Gordon-Lewitt sit on a bench and he shows her his drawings. ( I can't believe I even remember that scene as I really did not care for the film at all)

After finishing our lunch we walked the good 2 miles to Chinatown, which is so vibrant in all its colors and different smells. After browsing through gift shops and taking tons of pictures it was time to head back to Union Station to catch the metro home. Jason was an excellent tour guide and I can't wait to explore more parts of the city - by foot of course!

Red Zora