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Eilidh G Clark (177 KP) rated The Diving-bell and the Butterfly in Books

Jul 2, 2019

Well written and easy to read (0 more)

Bit slow sometimes (0 more)

Emotional

Contains spoilers, click to show

This is a short memoir with snip-bits of chapters. The late Bauby had locked in syndrome, this is one of the reasons that makes this book remarkable. Being unable to speak or move, his story is captured by a friend through the authors blinking with his left eye. He finds a way to rearrange the alphabet in order of letter usage in French. This is not a heart rendering account of a man trapped in (as he calls it) a cocoon, but rather a snap shot of the way he copes, the way his memory allows him to heighten his imagination, the way he separates his existence from the outside world and the way his mind saves him from boredom.
Beautifully written with a conversational tone, this is a wonderful glimpse into the mind of a person whose body no longer works.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Cat People (1942) in Movies

Jan 6, 2020 (Updated Jan 6, 2020)

Cat People (1942)

1942 | Horror

7.2

(10 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Moody and suggestive noir-ish horror melodrama perhaps shows that you can leave too much to the imagination. Serbian immigrant falls for preppy boat designer and marries him; the trouble is that she believes she will turn into a panther and rip him apart if he even kisses her. (No marriage will prosper in these circumstances.)

Very much of its period, especially in its gender politics - both of the main male characters are eminently punchable, to say the least - with a slightly awkward subtext about feminine emotions and desire. The plot is perhaps a bit too linear as well. However, it is very well directed, with a couple of sequences that invariably turn up in 'history of horror' documentaries as establishing genre tropes. It's still a slightly eggy melodrama where you don't really see the monster, so unlikely to be satisfying for many modern fans of the genre. It has still worn better than many other horror films from the 30s and 40s.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976) in Movies

Mar 28, 2020

Almost wholly nuts Taiwanese kung fu movie. A blind assassin wielding the dreaded flying guillotine (basically a sort of buzz saw on the end of a length of chain) sets out for revenge against legendary heroic martial arts teacher the One-Armed Boxer. Whose kung fu will prove stronger?

Very little about this film isn't completely ridiculous (the main character visibly has his 'missing' arm stuffed down the front of his shirt, while it almost entirely eschews a second act in favour of about eight random kung fu fights in a row) but it still manages to be almost completely awesome, full of energy and imagination (the fight between our unidextrous hero and a Yoga expert with telescopic arms is a particular highlight). The plot is fairly routine honour-and-revenge-based stuff, but the action sequences are inventively choreographed and lots of fun. Hugely entertaining and very funny, sometimes even on purpose.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated A Man Apart (2003) in Movies

Apr 14, 2020

A Man Apart (2003)

2003 | Action, Drama

6.3

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The world is in lockdown, so I could be learning another language, or reading Ulysses, or writing a book, or practising the ukulele. Yet somehow I find myself spending my time watching obscure Vin Diesel movies. So it goes. This is one he made before he was properly famous, and which only got a proper release off the back of The Fast and the Furious and xXx. Vin's DEA agent gets very cross indeed when drug dealers shoot his wife after he arrests El Big Chief, and threatens to go off the rails entirely while seeking revenge.

Diesel has something of his usual presence and charisma, which means the film scrapes another point (just) - this is a very ordinary, very violent revenge thriller, with no interesting ideas, wit, or imagination about it. It's neither good, nor bad enough to be unintentionally funny - I nearly gave up halfway through, which hardly ever happens. Tedious macho nonsense; steer clear.