see more good movies, read more good books

I did see more good movies, read more good books. A lot more. It’s just that I didn’t see any point in listing them all here. And right now this goal is utterly obsolete. I will read more good books, and see more good movies, as I come by them, but this has nothing to do with it.
So, game over.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie is one of those books that you hate yourself for finishing, but you love that you can start it all over again.
Factotum by Charles Bukowski is, well, pure Bukowski.
And I haven’t watched any movies at all, not a single one, in two whole weeks. I feel really weird.

I mean, I stopped writing them down here, and two months is a very long time, especially for me and my tons of movies. So I’ll write below only the ones I liked most, and just for the record, without any comments or anything.
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (2007)
Everything Is Illuminated (2005)
Before Night Falls (2000)
Control (2007)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
This Is England (2006)
Kontroll (2003)
Mozart and the Whale (2005)
Pikunikku (1996)
Les Chansons d’Amour (2007)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
M (1931)
Regen (1929)

And a couple of books:
The Divine Child by Pascal Bruckner
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger
Sleep! by Annelies Verbeke
The Little Girl and the Cigarette by Benoit Duteurtre
All the Names by Jose Saramago
After Dark by Haruki Murakami

I’ll keep in touch.

Into the wild (2007) by Sean Penn. My whole life I’ve wanted to experience something of this sort. Not on my own, but with a friend or more who are willing to free themselves of all hypocrisy and rules. Maybe one day I’ll just do that.

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) by Craig Gillespie. It’s one of those experiences that leave you staring in void. In a good way.
A Scanner Darkly (2006) by Richard Linklater. I have yet to read Dick’s novel. Anyways, the animation technique Linklater experienced in Waking Life, which was a really good one as well, really suits the atmosphere he usually creates.
The Notebook (2004) by Nick Cassavetes.
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (2003) by François Dupeyron.
It’s really weird when you get to watch only really good movies, and all you can say is I adored it, truly brilliant, loved it, etc.

Candy (2006) by Neil Armfield. I would have never imagined that heaven and hell could go together so well.
Hard Candy (2005) by David Slade. I don’t think there’s a single bad thing I could say about this movie.
Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d’enfants – And They Lived Happily Ever After (2004) by Yvan Attal.
La Sconosciuta – The Unknown (2006) by Giuseppe Tornatore.
Life Is Sweet (1990) by Mike Leigh.
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I wonder why is it that I read so much less these days and it takes me weeks to finish a book, even one that I absolutely love.

High Fidelity (2000) by Stephen Frears. Good enough, and it pretty much kept to the spirit of the book.
Riri shushu no subete – All about Lily Chou Chou (2001) by Shunji Iwai. Just beautiful. Absurdly innocent in its cruelty.
I’m Not There (2007) – by Todd Haynes. Completely changed my idea of a biopic. It was alive. It was there.

La Môme (2007) by Olivier Dahan. I’ve liked Marion Cotillard for a long time but she was just amazing as Edith Piaf. Beautifully done.
Juno (2007) by Jason Reitman. Brilliant script, Ellen Page almost just as brilliant, and yet I’m the only one among my friends who liked it. Whatever.
Nuovomondo (2007) by Emanuele Crialese. It was very well done, some good performances, but still it didn’t stir too much in me.
I haven’t read much this year so far. I’ve just finished Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and I have to admit I was utterly disappointed. I was expecting a lot more. I don’t know why, but I hated every page of it and couldn’t wait to finish it. Probably it’s not exactly my style.

Samaria (2004) by Kim Ki-Duk. He’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite directors.
Mon meilleur ami – My Best Friend (2006) by Patrice Leconte.
Persepolis (2007) by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi. Amazing.

Tennen kokekkô – A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007) by Nobuhiro Yamashita. It was really sweet and dreamy, but not in a corny way. They don’t make enough movies like this.
Le battement d’ailes du papillon – Happenstance (2000) by Laurent Firode. This is a really good one and I’d recommend it to anyone. Trust me, it’s not just some other 20-completely-different-characters-that-are-just-bound-to-meet-and change-each-others-lives-completely-and-for-good movie.
Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios – Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) by Pedro Almodóvar. I’m getting more into Almodóvar’s style, and I’m beginning to like it. It’s funny, in a quite sadistic way, and his women characters are just gorgeously portrayed.