My summer loves - music, films, books, food!

On replay everyday... We love this track, with the windows down & the wind in our hair. What an excellent album!

French cinema really does have some great gems, especially in the form of actor Gerard Lanvin. One of my favorite French actors, he shines again in Amitiés Sincères. I love this film, it's right up there with Les Petits Mouchoirs and Le Prénom, both my favorite french films.

I realise that French films in general may lack a 'climax' or action or even romance often found in Hollywood movies but the acting is serious and so natural... They sound just like people I know! The actors here really carried the film through. On top of that, a good part of the film was filmed in L'Île du Ré, a beautiful island off the western coast of France. I have been dreaming to go there ever since I watched this film.

We also caught the avant-première of Jeune et Jolie last month which takes us through teenage prostitution with the beautiful Marine Vacth.. A must-see when it opens later this month.. Marine Vacth is so sensual inside.

And for reading... the latest issue of Kinfolk as well as old favorites and new discoveries.

And the perfect food to accompany it all: Fresh strawberries & cream from the market.

And the scorching weather has made it almost compulsory to eat cold food everyday. When I can't be bothered to cook, I boil soba noodles and add easy condiments.

paradiso

Last scene from an old favorite movie :: Cinema Paradiso ::
It is proof that a great film did not have to be in English, made by Hollywood or be about romance.

Staying in to lose myself in that old Italian town once again xx

Diva - Jean-Jacques Beineix

A really great film i saw last night - Diva from Jean-Jacques Beineix (1981)



The plot is funnily complicated, much like Hong Kong films from the 80s - a postman is in love with an opera singer, secretly records her performance & is pursued by Taiwanese gangsters who want to sell the tape. To complicate things, he is also in possession by accident of another cassette tape which is proof of a high-level policeman involved in several mob activities. He tries to escape from both with the help of a teenage girl who is a thief & her extremely cool philosopher boyfriend.

I must admit it didn't quite attract me at first... but once the film started, it was WOW, what a feast for the eyes! Below are some stills from the film which i managed to find:











Considered as part of the Cinema du look movement (films 'said to favor style over substance, spectacle over narrative'), Diva became a cult classic for its visuals. The plot had some laugh-out-loud cheesiness but I have to say the cinematography & music were excellent.

The film had a lacklustre opening in France in 1981 but re-opened to great success in cinemas again 1 year after thanks to word-of-mouth. Probably the only french film i know to have done that! I highly recommend it if you are in the mood for something retro & different. xx