Category: Film

Culture Notes: Monet, Murder & Identity

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Sometimes one comes upon the most enjoyable books or movies by happenstance and other times it’s on the recommendation of a friend.

While I was in Philadelphia at the Barnes Foundation, I picked up a novel about Claude Monet called, Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell. Published in 2010, it’s a fascinating portrait of Monet’s early life with his wife Camille and the close friendships between him and Renoir, Pissarro, and particularly Frederic Bazille. These Impressionists (only dubbed so later on) worked against tradition and, hence, their works were unpopular and frequently did not sell.

Monet and Camille lived hand-to-mouth while he refused to take on any kind of normal job and she periodically worked to provide some limited funds. They regularly depended upon the kindness of friends, most often Bazille whose family had money. Add in Camille’s unstable temperament and Claude’s frequent absences and you have lives fraught with tension and distance. Success was slow in coming.

Cowell’s novel is historically based, but with a novelist’s license she has elaborated on the relationship between Camille and the other artists. Cowell also captures, some might say lovingly, the process of putting paint to canvas and creating color and light. One knows precisely which paintings they are without her ever giving the reader their titles.

A friend gave me a copy of a mystery she and a colleague co-authored. Set in Bethlehem, founded in 1741 and now a charming city in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, The Body in the Vat: Tales from the Tannery by Charlene Donchez Mowers and Carol A. Reifinger is light fare, short and fun. It will appeal to anyone who knows the city (lots of familiar venues from the Colonial Industrial Quarter to the Moravian Book Shop) and to others curious to learn more about Bethlehem’s Moravian heritage.  Proceeds are being shared with Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites and the 275th Anniversary Committee of Moravians in Bethlehem.

Another friend recommended that we see Phoenix and we were not disappointed. This is a seriously good, serious German film about identity and betrayal and the heart. Getting out of the concentration camp after the war, damaged physically and emotionally, Nelly needs reconstructive surgery on her face. Although pressured to have a new look, she asks to look like she did before. After surgery, she sets out to find her husband who does not recognize her. Practicing with him to become herself, she embarks on a journey that is both disturbing and poignant. Who are we really? What is it that marks our unique identity? And why do we continue to trust in the face of betrayal? Dark and haunting, this is a film that lingers long after the last credit has rolled.

Header photo:  Monet’s Springtime (1872) from Google art project.jpg

West Village Rambles: Food for Body & Mind

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Since our arrival in Manhattan a week ago, we have spent considerable time with our delightful granddaughter, but we’ve also been walking and exploring, making a bit of the West Village our own. And walk we do—one day we did two long walks for a grand total of 25,000 steps. A new record!

For us, much of life revolves around food and, consequently, we are sampling cheese and deli items from Murray’s Cheese and Gourmet Garage, braving the bustle that is Eataly, and dining at restaurants new to us.

Some recent standouts of cuisine are the following:

Via Carota. This casual Italian place draws from all regions of Italy, has a comfortable vibe and at night is very lively. We had lunch here our first day—a yummy lemon risotto and a  plate of gnocchi with a piquant gorgonzola sauce—and liked it so much we returned that night for dinner. This meal, we shared some grilled artichokes (slightly and appropriately charred) and also grilled chicken with a lemon vinaigrette. All with some good white wine by the glass. Just perfect!

www.thenewpotato.com
Via Carota (www.thenewpotato.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gloo. This is a new French bistro, only  open a month or so, on Carmine Street and hasn’t really been discovered. We were its first Open Table reservation. The owner is from France and has several restaurants there, but this is his first U.S. venture. The space is small with a quiet ambiance.  I loved the upside down tomato tart to start (very pretty, looking somewhat like stacked red grapefruit sections) followed by a very satisfying boneless chicken breast in a cream sauce with small mushrooms served alongside mashed potatoes. Hard not to savor this comfort food!

Casa. A Brazilian eatery on Bedford Street, Casa has a small bar, about a dozen tables, and a mullioned window wall. Our entrees were excellent—fish fillet with lemon caper sauce and a slightly spicy, herby tomato stew of chicken and shrimp —both served with rice. My only advice, if you’re over fifty, go early! There are only hard surfaces and the noise level after 7:30 made conversation hopeless.

Casa (www.pinterest.com)
Casa (www.pinterest.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Culture Notes

On Thursday, we were at one of the first performances of Therese Raquin, a play based on Emile Zola’s novel of the same name ,and starring Keira Knightley. (The preview the night before had been cancelled due to Knightley having suffered a minor injury.) The set was minimal and the staging stark, but very effective given the themes of passion and guilt. Knightley as Therese was excellent as the seemingly meek and docile wife who later exhibits extreme passion and emotion. The supporting cast was also very good, especially Matt Ryan as her lover, Laurent, and Judith Light as her mother-in-law.

I really enjoyed Lily Tomlin in “Grace and Frankie” and today seeing her in Grandma, I thought she was fabulous. Playing Elle, a grieving, unemployed academic who is angry at most everyone and everything and demonstrates it, Tomlin takes on the challenge of helping her pregnant granddaughter Sage (played by the radiant Julia Garner) when she unexpectedly shows up. The film is an odyssey of visits to Elle’s past lives—old friends and acquaintances and old loves—that culminates in some touchingly funny and poignant scenes between grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter. (I loved seeing the career-driven daughter on her treadmill desk.) Each of these women is strong in her own way. Not a perfect film, but one with sharpness, wit, and heart. Rated R, partly for the strong language.

 

Cover image: www.everettpotter.com

 

Tidy Tidbits: Bands & Birds

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We’re home.  I’ve spent the week sorting mail, stocking the larder, poring over all the cooking magazines and New Yorkers that accumulated, getting back on the treadmill (need to undue the effects of lobster and potato chips!) and soaking in the pool.  Florida is hot and humid, but I’m reveling in being in our own space!

Old-time Music

We just attended our first performance at the Florida Studio Theatre, a multi-venue outfit with a range of offerings from drama to improv to music.  This was The Swingaroos performing in their cabaret space.  A full menu was available, but not realizing this we dined at the Bijou Café around the corner, one of our current favorites.  I had never heard the term, “territory band,” before but they were small dance bands that toured in the U.S., primarily in the Midwest and west, playing in small towns and night clubs during the 1920’s and 30’s.  The Swingaroos are a group of six:  one female vocalist accompanied by musicians on piano, drums, clarinet, trombone, and string bass.  They gave an energetic performance, but we would have enjoyed it more had more of the music and songs been familiar ones.

Nature Note—Missed Photo Op

A robust thunder and lightning storm the other day lasted several hours.  It left puddles galore and, I noted that all the birds that are either in the trees, the sky, or elsewhere during the day had congregated near our pond and on the grass.  The white ibises always do this when the weather is threatening, but this time I observed many great white egrets, brown ducks. and also several of the smaller herons.  Quite striking to see the bright white birds all poking in the grass or stalking around the pond’s perimeter.  I always think there are more birds around when the people population here is down, but that may not be so.

White ibis in June
White ibis in June
Bird on the beach
Bird on the beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Star Romp

For some light diversion, we rented “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”  While not quite as good as its predecessor, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” it delivers megawatt star power in the form of Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and a distinguished gray, but still very handsome, Richard Gere.  Sunny (Dev Patel), proprietor of this unusual Indian hotel where roll is called each morning to see who survived the night, is as exuberant as ever.  He is soon to be married and wants to expand his business.  And he is sure he knows the identity of the unannounced hotel inspector.  Pure fun with a tinge of the poignancy of the last stage of life.

 

Maine Musings: Books & Binges

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Recent Reading

I just finished reading The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power by Kim Ghattas.  It is a fascinating and nuanced account of American diplomacy as seen through the lens of a BBC correspondent. Ghattas, a native of Lebanon, was part of the press corps traveling the world with Clinton.  With her other-than-American perspective, she provides a rich and detailed discussion of the subtleties of U.S. relations with various countries and, what one might call a primer, on the context and rules of engagement as put forth and practiced by the Clinton/Obama team.

Ghattas by Dina Debbas
Ghattas by Dina Debbas

Ghattas also shares the more mundane but, to a reader, intriguing details about the briefing books and the meticulous planning that goes into every international trip, what it’s like to travel on Hillary’s plane, and how Clinton interacts with the press corps. You see glimpses of Clinton that the general public doesn’t.  I came away with a renewed appreciation for Clinton’s intellect and savvy and her belief in striving for personal engagement with the leaders of every country and with their citizenry.  What she called “smart power.”

 

 

I wanted and expected to like Michelle Huneven’s newest novel, Off Course, but was somewhat disappointed. I thought Blame, an earlier work, was powerful, startling, and very well written. Off Course is the story of a young woman who goes to her parents’ cabin in the Sierra Nevadas ostensibly to write her economics dissertation.  Instead Cress spends most of her time and her mental energy on sexual affairs, the first one something of a toss-off with a much older man, the second one an affair that grows in intensity and takes over her life.

Huneven from www.kcrw.com
Huneven from www.kcrw.com

 

Huneven’s writing is both sharp and picturesque delineating the changes of the seasons as time passes and the affair limps along.  At about one-third of the way in (more than a hundred pages), I found myself more engaged with Cress and her friends in the community and my reading pace picked up.  Overall, I was not  enthralled unlike the reviewers in the book blurbs.

 

 

 

 

 

Binging When It Rains

We had several days of rainy weather not conducive to sitting in the yard gazing at the day lilies. Fortunately, we discovered Redbox. I’m guessing that we were among the small group of the uninformed, but thanks to Googling video rentals, we located two Redbox kiosks in our area. Quite an amazing advance. A big red metal box, like a  soda vending machine, up against the side of the Hannaford supermarket with an auxiliary skinnier red box next to it. It works like an ATM; you swipe your credit card, scroll through the screens to choose a movie, and soon a DVD pops out of a slot to your right, in a red case, of course. The rental cost—a mere $1.58 for return by 9 pm the next night!

So, what did we watch? At that price, you can be indiscriminate in your choices:

Woman in Gold. Unlike the critics, we liked this film a lot. Helen Mirren as Maria Altmann is great and, while you know or can guess the outcome, this true story of recovering art seized by the Nazis is absorbing, partly because Mrs. Altmann’s youth and marriage are depicted in flashbacks.

Still Alice. I read Lisa Genova’s novel of the same name when it came out and found it moving and painful. I resisted seeing the movie until now. Julianne Moore’s depiction of neuroscience professor Alice descending into Alzheimer’s is a marvelous feat of acting, but is still painful to watch. Not for an evening of popcorn and light entertainment.

My Old Lady. This is a somewhat strange film about an older American who has inherited his father’s apartment in Paris. Except that it is a “viager” and comes with an elderly lady who has the continued right to live there. Kevin Kline plays the hapless, aimless man and Maggie Smith is his tenant. Maggie Smith is Maggie Smith and thus, makes the film better than it might have been. I wouldn’t rush right out to rent it, but we did watch it all the way to the end.