DRAMA IS LIFE WITH THE DULL BITS CUT OUT

I left the UK a fortnight ago, oops, no three weeks already!
I was happy to come back home the first week, but am now starting to be cranky and lazy. Have spent most of my time at home. Watching TV and films, cooking, reading, internetting,
only going out for salsa dancing, more films, swimming and seeing friends. Not much seems to happen and it is hard to motivate myself, but also know it will pass.
Believe it or not, next week I will be flying to Israel. There I will study, visit friends and travel..
I will be back 8th of July.

Books I read:
Snow- Orhan Pamuk:
I never mind picking up big books. I started to mind, once I was reading. I was struggling to get through this one. Even though the descriptions of atmosphere and environment are at times poetic, the story in itself is slow and theatrical. It all evolves around one Turkish character, an immigrant poet from Germany, who never bothered to learn the language, who finds himself in Kars, a small town in Turkey where religious girls commit suicide. He feels constantly sorry for himself, never takes responsibility, is generally weak. This in contrast with the military coupe that takes place. All different kinds of parties find themselves opposed to each other and the whole discussion seems to evolve around the headscarf. Sure, it is all about Turkey finding itself in the middle of east and west, modern vs Islam society, but even though at times humoristic, I more or less missed the point/message of the book, let alone identified with the protagonist. Pamuk won the Nobel Price for Literature, but based on just this book, I'd say he got it merely for political reasons.

Talking it over- Julian Barnes
A man falls in love with the wife of his best friend. That is basically the plot of this book. The book has its own style and the story is told by each person in alternating monologues, directed towards the reader. It gives us (me) the opportunity to judge the characters ourselves. They stay a bit at distance and at one point the story drags on a little, but generally it was an entertaining read

Who killed Palomino Molero? - Mario Vargas Llosa
A young airman is found murdered. Lieutenant Silva and Officer Lituma investigate.
Sounds like an exciting story, but this detective novel did not hold my interest for long. The characters are described in detail and full of cliches. Not much space for the reader to form her/his own opinion. The story just goes on and the mystery is more or less solved at the end, but I stopped caring, before I even started. Sure, it gives an idea of corrupt Peru of the fifties, but that wasn't very surprising either. I am now reading Captain Pantoja and the Special Service by the same author. The story about an officer establishing a brothel for soldiers in the jungle is more entertaining, but does not suck me in either.

Films:

Transamerica- Duncan Tucker
I have never followed Desperate housewives, but it is surprising to find one of the actresses in this film. Felicity Huffman plays a man who is almost a woman and does this very convincingly. She lacks one operation, but before she will have one, she needs to get to know her son and does this by travelling with him by car from one state to the other. The son has his cliche moments and her family is a bit over the top, but otherwise a very good and well played film. The film is nowhere moralistic, it just shows a situation, in which a man is not happy with his life and his/her relationships with others.

Rebecca- Alfred Hitchcock
A naive young woman marries a rich widower. They settle in his gigantic mansion, where she finds the memory of the first wife maintaining a grip on her husband and the servants. A Hitchcock film, so you know you get good quality. Did feel however it was too long and lacked suspense.

Mysterious skin- Gregg Araki
I had never heard of this film, but it has been one of the best I have seen lately. Both the actors and the story are excellent and very realistic. Two boys have a traumatic experience. One has suppressed it, the other confronts the harsh reality every day. The film is rough, but has soft edges, the characters are not always likeable, but you feel for them. In a way it is not always a pleasure to look at it, but that is exactly what the story is about and it doesn't leave the mind after it has finished.

In her shoes- Curtis Hanson
Apparently it is possible to enjoy a film with Cameron Diaz in it. Oh well, Toni Collette was in it as well. This time we have two sisters; one is pretty but dumb, the other smart, but a workaholic. They clash and have to make up again. Characters are worked out well, humor and an happy ending prevail, without losing credibility.

Brothers (Brodre)- Susanne Bier
One brother has a beautiful wife, a good job and two kids. He is sent to Afghanistan. The other brother is just out of jail and a good for nothing type. Even though the brothers are the main characters and it is about the changing family dynamics , it is not the main plot. It is a film about questions about guilt, treason, love, responsibility. Big words and some of the situations are extreme, but the film never loses its subtlety. Impressive and human.

Close to home (Karov la Bayit)- Vardit Bilu and Dalia Hagar
Not just the men, also girls have to go to the army in Israel. It is the story of two women soldiers, who first need to check women for illegal goods at a checkpoint and later need to ask Arabs for their ID in town. One just does what she is asked, hoping time will pass, the other tries to avoid doing work and is rebellious in small ways. The young women don't get along, but are stuck together. Not that much happens, storywise, but I have heard many stories about the army and it was interesting to see how it is to actually be in the army from up close. At the end of the day, these are just young girls, who are still trying to find their way and to get through the boredom.

Nuovomondo- Emanuele Crialese
Beautiful images of rural Sicily, before a family leaves on a boat to the new world, where rivers are made of milk and carrots bigger than humans. Ellis Island already teaches them it might not be all so amazing. Not a masterpiece,but I enjoyed the genuineness of the film.

Fracture- Gregory Hoblit
Man murders wife, admits it, district attorney doesn't mind doing this last case, before moving to a big commercial firm and then finds out he walked into a trap and can't convict murderer. Wow, old story hey! Told in a different way, though and thanks to the high quality of acting not a bad film. Just two things: why does Anthony Hopkins always almost whisper and why are these stories always set in a house of a very rich person? Am very pleasantly surprised by the conceded role of Ryan Gosling, who I remember playing in a stupid tvseries as a kid, where acting was hardly the word with such a silly script.

Como agua para chocolate- Alfonso Arau
This is one of my favourite books, as it talks of the two most important passions in life: Love and Food and how it goes together (after tears of sadness fall into the dough, everybody ends up throwing up in the river). The film is exactly like the book, but we all know, films never entirely live up to the book

Good night, and good luck- George Clooney
Clooney is more than a pretty face. He tries to direct films with a political message. In this case a TV journalists' battle against McCarthy. It takes place in 1954 and is shot in black and white, it all has really occured and real footage is used. The authenticity is interesting and so is the topic, but it is too political and specific to actually hold the attention.