Smashbomb

"The last film I would say — and I could pick many of his films, but I will choose Woman Under the Influence, by Cassavetes. I could also have said Faces, or I could have said The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, or Husbands, or Minnie and Moskowitz, or I could have said Love Streams, but — today it will be Woman Under the Influence. I love the structure of it; its two-part structure — it really feels like a film in two movements. Arguably the two greatest performances of all time, between Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands. You know, it’s a home movie, and everything I’ve been trying to make are home movies — movies that take place inside the house and the family. I love the spirit of Cassavetes’ films, in that he’s casting his wife and his best friend in the roles, and his mother and her mother are in it, and the kids. To me it’s a movie that changes, too, throughtout the course of my life. I know the movie isn’t changing, I’m changing; but when I watch it the movie seems to shape-shift. I remember the first time I ever saw it I thought she was crazy; I remember on the 50th time I watched it I thought she was the only sane person in the movie and everyone else was crazy. I love that about movies that are made with a certain openness — that the audience can kind of participate in the imagination of the characters, you know; of their lives and of the story."

Source

Kudos

ClareR (6037 KP) rated The Long Long Afternoon in Books

Mar 2, 2021

The Long Long Afternoon

Inga Vesper | 2021 | Crime, Mystery

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

The Long, Long Afternoon really gives a sense of time and place - and I loved that about this book. We’re steeped in the 1950’s suburban world of perfect housewives, dosed up on their happy pills, trapped in their blissful domestic lives, keeping a perfect home and looking their best at all times for their hardworking husbands. Meanwhile, they employ black maids for a pitiful wage, taking advantage of them and treating them appallingly.
Ruby Wright arrives to start her afternoons work at Joyce Hanley’s house, and instead finds her young daughter outside and a screaming toddler upstairs in her bedroom. When Ruby goes in to the kitchen, she is confronted with a room awash with blood and signs of a struggle.
When the police arrive, they arrest Ruby for murder. After all, she was the first person there - and she’s black.
Detective Mick Blanke takes on the case. It’s an interesting book, because not only is Mick solving the crime (with some considerable help from Ruby), he’s also showing the social divides in the USA at this time - rich and poor, black and white. He’s clearly not comfortable about the way that white people treat black people in Santa Monica, but he’s still not quite brave enough to call people out on their racism.
This is an engaging, quick read - or perhaps I read it quickly because I didn’t want to put it down. It’s a clever, unpredictable story. In all, it’s a book I’d recommend without hesitation!

Kudos

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated #Rev (GearShark, #2) in Books

Jan 6, 2021

I got this from the Kindle Unlimited Library after having it on my Amazon wish list for several years after finishing book 1. I'll admit now that I've forgotten a lot of what happened with it being so long ago (2016.)

It starts with Drew trying to get himself under control after being dumped by Trent in an effort to stop any abuse they may face in the future for being gay, especially since Trent is nursing some bruises and cracked ribs after being jumped by four members of his own fraternity. They argue for a while before it becomes obvious that they're stronger and better together and figure out how to tell everyone that they're a couple.

I think the fact that it's been 4 years since i finished the first book ruined this one for me. I didn't remember a lot of what went on but my 4.5 star rating tells me I fell in love with these two. They are pretty great separately but together? They're super cute.

As for their parents, what is up with them? They are your children! You're supposed to love them regardless of their sexuality. Why does who they fall in love with have to change how you feel about them? I really don't get it. They're still the same person you raised for the last however many years.

This is most likely to be my last book of 2020 and I'm glad it's been a good one - I still wish I'd come back to this sooner.

#TrewLove