paris, je t'aime

"Paris, Je T'aime" is an uneven, but charming collection of cinematic vignettes that are fun to watch but never really amount to a whole that is greater than its parts. However, I don't think that's the point. It's an enticing homage to a city where in its sprawling urbanscape, love is omnipotent. The Olivier Assayas (starring a hazy but stunning Maggie Gyllenhaal), Alexander Payne, and Gus Van Sant segments stand out most, but I can't get the Tom Tykwer piece out of my head. The issue of time that has become a Tykwer preoccupation adds a dash of surprise and romance to the brief seven or so minutes we get to watch a couple meet, fall in love, and everything else. Enjoy.


"Faubourg Saint-Denis"
dir, Tom Tykwer
2007

my voyage to italy: pt. 2

One of the most exquisitely styled movies is also one of the most underrated movies of the past decade. Anthony Minghella's take on the seductive and illusory world of Tom Ripley in "The Talented Ripley" made a great impression on me upon its initial release. I remember being really excited about the generation of actors in the film, who at that point hadn't quite cemented their style and cinematic iconography quite yet. The film sumptuously shot on locations in Rome, Venice, and the sultry coasts of Italy presented a certain exoticism about the country. It's almost Italy as you want it to be--inviting, oozing with sensuality, and deliciously full of vitality and vigor. Watching a tawny Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law lounge on a posh beach on the Amalfi coast makes you want to jump through the screen and join them. Nights spent at smoky cafes and days spent on boats drinking Campari and swimming contributed to my burgeoning interest in Italy. It's an idealized and romanticized look at a country long ago but an attractive and convincing one nonetheless. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is definitely part of my memories and reasons for venturing to a land where everyone looks dipped in gold and revels in a life of leisure and comfort.

The Talented Mr. Ripley
directed by Anthony Minghella, 1999

Does style like this exist anymore?

a tribute: bear grylls

photo courtesy of beargrylls.com

Bear Grylls, the star of Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild", is a true man in the sense that he is a passionate participant of the world and fascinated by basic things such as survival, instincts, and exploration. His fascination doesn't make him a Neanderthal bonehead, but rather a man filled with a sense of adventure and a lack of pretension. His intelligence is useful and relevant in a world that could soon endure serious problems with vast migration and environmental breakdown. How are we to cope? Eat a zebra carcass. Grylls's show informs us of how to survive in extreme environments and endure the harshest terrains but also appreciate the wide ranging pragmaticism that exists in nature. He remains composed and calm throughout his global treks but human when he shows his desperation to be with his wife and children in moments of imminent peril.

There isn't much on cable television that is worth a gander, but his show is not to be missed. The new season just started on Friday and new episodes will air every Friday at 9:00 pm.

A classic Grylls moment:

Learn more about Grylls here.

i think she knows

Ok, Justin. I have to confess that I hold you in a high sartorial regard. Icon is a strong word, but it does rear its head when I think of your impressive and envious style. I steal from you left and right. Your stylist Joe Zee is quite arguably the greatest things that ever happened to you. Remember those denim suits and other ridiculous getups you used to wear? Yeah, I do too. Zee now outfits you in the most sharply tailored suits and natty vests. However, I will not forgive the girls-basketball-coachesque shiny jackets you have been sporting during your European "Shrek" promotional tour. No, no, and more no.

Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
photos courtesy of popsugar and justjared

You get it right all the time, so I will let it pass because you show up in Madrid and you restore my faith in your youthful, sporty, lean style. You also get kudos for looking like you and Cammy are mature adults who can make a public appearance after your breakup and eventual hookups with Jessica Biel and that creepy guy who does magic.


Oh, and you could give Antonio Joe's phone number? Thanks.

And while we're at, I like the new video for "Lovestoned/I Think She Knows", which in my humble opinion is one of the most underrated tracks on "Futuresex/Lovesounds", and it's a shame that it's the official UK single and us Americans have to take "Summer Love" without a video. I don't love it, but it's something different from the indulgent mistakes the last three videos have been. I understand "Cry Me a River" was the last truly great music video of our generation, but that doesn't mean you can slow up on the creative genius. Look at Madonna. You would think she's yesterday's news but then she shows up in a video with a body like a 20-year-old and dry humps a stereo. Genius.

"Lovestoned/I Think She Knows"
Justin Timberlake
dir., Robert Hales
2007

my voyage to italy

"La Dolce Vita"
dir., Federico Fellini
1960

It has been a full year since my first abroad experience. It's almost impossible not to label it life-changing like many young and impressionable minds so often describe it in their romanticized travel journals and tales they will eventually tell their families and friends upon arrival home. The sights and sounds of Italy will never leave me. The pace of Florence in the evening; the still allies of Venice; and the hot ball of bustling power that is Rome have become part of me. My eyes were wide and open to every moment I had the distinct pleasure to consume for the five weeks I spent in that gorgeous country.

Perhaps film fascinates me because of its ability to transport and show you a world outside of your window. I had never been on a commercial aircraft or across the United States border prior to June of last year. Shocking, I know. My destination was clear and had been set since my eyes first laid on the beautiful and damned world of Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita." Anita Ekberg splashing about in the Trevi Fountain while a seemingly stolid and enchanted Marcello Mastroianni handsomely gazed from afar spoke to me. Something about that moment between a vacuous movie star and her mesmerized tabloid journalist was unreal but visceral and tangible. I had to see this place in the flesh so that it wasn't the fleeting fantasy so many forgettable films had been before. I did see it and as I wiped the sweat off my damp brow from the pulsating heat of Rome, I turned the corner it hit me like a pile of cinder blocks. The air cleared and the heat seemed less sultry. There it was, I thought. There it was. The feeling of a life goal accomplished is indescribable. For a brief and dreamy moment I could hear the echo of Ekberg's voice calling me closer but desperately hoping that in fact it wasn't all a dream, and luckily it wasn't.

Trevi Fountain, July 2006

writer's block: before sunset

"Before Sunset"
dir., Richard Linklater
wri., Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, and Richard Linklater
2004

*This is the first part in a series of films I'll tackle that demonstrate the weight and magic of words.

Somewhere in Paris a man and a woman share a cab. They're a little bit more gaunt and weathered since we last saw them almost ten years ago conversing and canoodling in another picturesque European metropolis. Age has not only added a wrinkle here and there to their pre-Real World faces, but it has also let them down, enlightened them, and made them just as confused and in awe of each other since their initial serendipitous meeting. This scene from Richard Linklater's "Before Sunset" is written with such naturalism and intelligence that not only do you feel and understand the heartbreak of lives never fully realized but also the vocalization of adults wanting to embrace themselves and each other. You would think Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy were lovers in real life with the scene's organically conversational tone, but it's their deft chemistry and ease with each other that instills the scene with a tenderness and plausibility. They're a convincing pair that fits just so as we watch them feed off their emotional ebb and flow. Delpy is especially mesmerizing in the scene with her mature and nuanced portrait of a woman grappling for her purpose and place in the world that is further complicated by her fractured relationships with the opposite sex. Her ability to articulate her feelings in a fragmented, honest, and true way makes her a full bodied woman and accessible human being.

I'm eager to see these characters in another nine years with the hope that they are as compelling, engaging, and most importantly, articulate adults with something to say.

littlest things

"Littlest Things"
Lily Allen
dir., Nima Nourizadeh

Remember Lady Sovereign? Yeah, me neither. Amy Winehouse? The beehive is too distracting. Joss Stone? The pink tights ruined it for me.

There is an abundance of young female artists with varying influences coming out England right now and to me the one that stands apart from her peers is the lovely Lily Allen. She talks shit about pop stars, got kicked out of school for being a blow job queen, and Karl Lagerfeld is a fan, and not in that I'm-only-friends-with-Lohan-because-she-stalks-me-on-my-Blackberry sort of way. Her album, "Alright Still", is breezy, light pop music with a great voice and sunny sensibility that doesn't try to be something it's not. "Littlest Things" is one of my favorite songs from the album and the video doesn't disappoint. Allen usually ascribes to the Dunks and vintage look, but in this video she's a 50's New Wave goddess.

Oh yeah, and she has a song about her grandmother that borrows from 50 Cent's "Window Shopper." You gotta love her, right?

the choice is hers

I was going to go more in to depth about what I found most interesting about Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up", but The New York Times beat me to it.

It's something to think about.

summer breeze

Two recent purchases that fill me (and my closet) with pure contentment:
1. Gap Silver Stripe Shirt

2. Trovata Water T-Shirt in Riptide Blue
(click for detail)


Both shirts are lightweight cotton, comfortable beyond belief, cut to fit me just right, and were purchased on sale. How can you resist the essential fabric of the summer when it's affordable and feels like it was made just for you?

the voice speaks

I could dedicate a whole blog to the allure and genius of Catherine Deneuve, but I will limit my gushing affection to the first of many entries. I can't really articulate what it is about Deneuve that makes her so unique and so special other than her obvious looks, but I always find myself so enraptured by her screen presence. You can watch her face for hours and not feel short changed or guilty. She's isn't a sex bomb in a grotesque way nor is she is a waif. She isn't a cold Hitchcockian blonde nor is she a girl-woman blow up doll of a blonde. She is her own woman and own star that manages to imbue her characters with empathy and a classic appeal. Her visage is especially important in her early work in Roman Polanski's "Repulsion", Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", and Luis Bunuel's "Belle De Jour". Those films she is trapped and punished by her beauty, but somehow she is never the simpering victim. What does this have to do with anything? An NPR interview that allowed her to purr into my earphones.

I urge you to listen to this incredible interview on NPR with Deneuve in which she talks about her career, her family, and wearing perfume in the countryside. Listening to her voice so closely makes you want her to take a drag from her cigarette and say something really French and naughty in your ear.

And this is one of my favorite Deneuve moments from "Repulsion." It's a deeply internal psychological film that doesn't treat Deneuve with heaps of dialogue, but rather a chance to show her range as an actress and watch a woman on the verge of a breakdown. Her genteel beauty is as stunning as her ascent in madness.


She is the definition of French cool.