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Allan Arkush recommended A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) (1960) in Movies (curated)

"It was 1966, my senior year of high school, and with one of my closest friends in tow I cut school and went into New York, to the Bleecker Street Cinema, to see a double bill of Breathless and 8 1/2. I had seen foreign films before, but nothing like these two. We loved Breathless. It was rebellious, anarchic, romantic, and the characters were so superkool we wanted them in our seventeen-year-old lives. But as much as Breathless moved and influenced me, 8 1/2 rocked my world. In the first five minutes, during Guido’s dream, I could feel my brain collapsing in on itself. The camera’s POV of Guido’s foot tethered to the ground as he floats high above the ocean, then suddenly falling only to awake with a hand grasping for consciousness, was deeply personal for me. I often wake from my nightmares in much the same way. Forty years later, in season one of Heroes, an episode called “6 Months Ago” afforded me the opportunity to re-create those very same shots. It was thrilling to use those same images in the service of a different story of my own creation. If forced to name my all-time favorite movie sequence, the childhood memory of “Asa Nisi Masa” would make the final four. It is cinema as magic. The way the mentalist grapples with the words Asa Nisi Masa, and we travel through Marcello Mastroianni’s mind and into a haunting memory of the past. His childhood is alive with mysticism, mischief, and a lost family’s love. Don’t get me started about the exquisite finale, with its parade of characters and clowns. Is Guido dead or not? I still haven’t decided. Leaving the Bleecker, my mind permanently blown, I thought that I would never understand this movie—and that is one of its strengths. After forty-two years and as many viewings, it reminds me of the best of Bob Dylan, the last line of “Frankie Lee & Judas Priest”: “Nothing is revealed.”"

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BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale #2) in Books

Sep 24, 2020 (Updated Jan 26, 2021)

There are three protagonists in this book and the story is told from their perspectives. Aunt Lydia is one of the founders of Gilead, she helped to create the rules and she is worshipped and feared among the residents. She was the star of this book! I loved her story, that she shared from her past, and how she became so influential. On the other hand, I have a million questions, because some of her actions don’t really make sense.

Another person telling the story is Agnes, a teenage girl, that was raised in Gilead since birth. She is sharing her life story, that I found quite intriguing. I was surprised, how brainwashed people can be, and how easy it is to mould young people. Agnes amused me, and I really enjoyed her journey. The third person was my least favourite one, that was baby Nicole. She lives in a present-day like Canada, and I think she was the least interesting and kind of lame. However, when all three stories are combined, it did make a pretty amusing read.

The narrative of this book was constantly changing, depending on the character. I really liked the way the author tangled these stories. I think it was quite eventful and action-filled. I liked the way M. Atwood combined the different worlds and different times in this book, it had me engrossed. I really enjoyed the writing style of this novel, I think it was creative. The chapters had a decent length, and the book didn’t leave me bored. I really liked the ending of this book, I think it concluded this story very well.

To conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I liked the character’s differences in values and understanding of what’s right and wrong. This book has an interesting, “mission” like narrative, and is quite layered, all these things kept me intrigued till the end. I hope you will give it a go and will enjoy it as much as I did.

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BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Key in Books

Sep 24, 2020

The Key

Kathryn Hughes | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Mystery, Thriller

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I really like reading books which has an interesting setting, and what could be more intriguing than a mental hospital in 60ies. That was what kindled my interest to read this book. There is always something sinister behind those closed doors…

This novel didn’t disappoint me with the originality of its characters. I loved this wide variety of amusing characters with different states of mind. The main characters in this novel were Ellen, Amy and Sarah. Amy was a patient in the hospital where Ellen was working. And Sarah was the person from the present, investigating, what happened in Ambergate all those years ago. I absolutely adored Ellen and Amy’s story in this novel. It was very indulging, absolutely absorbing and heartbreaking. I adored Ellen’s kindness and the constant fight for making patient’s lives better. I really enjoyed reading multiple perspectives in this novel, I think it opened up the characters wonderfully.

It is obvious from the blurb, that narrative was switching between past and present events, bringing different stories and different findings, and Hughes has done amazing transitions between these parts. I really liked that author was telling multiple stories in this novel, constantly bringing in turns and twists to keep the reader entertained and hooked. K. Hughes touched really sensitive topics in this novel, such as mental health, loss in a family, teenage homelessness, family relationships, disability and many more.

The writing style of this novel was absolutely beautiful and the whole book very well rounded up. It has pleasant short chapters and the pages just flew through my fingers. I really liked the way author ended this book. I think it was very deserved and heartwarming finish to the story, and I appreciate that author kept it realistic. So, to conclude, this is a very intriguing and full of surprises story, with plenty of original characters, which kept me hooked, and I savoured this book till the last page. I do strongly recommend it and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

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Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Fire Colour One in Books

Jun 24, 2019

This is one of those books that you see displayed in the library and just think, "What the heck? I'll give it a go."

This is YA book, as most of the books I read are. It's named after a painting, which ends up as quite a significant aspect in this novel.

Iris lives with her mother Hannah and step-father Lowell. She doesn't remember her real father. Hannah has always told her that he didn't want her, that he didn't care. She blamed him for their debts, their problems.

Thurston is Iris's best friend, her only friend. He means everything to her. He's always been there for her, until she has to move away to England without any means of telling him where she's gone.

Iris herself is a pretty troubled girl. Family life isn't great - Hannah and Lowell want her to be more like them, more conscious of her appearance and wealth. But all Iris really cares about is fire. There's nothing like the soothing flicker of a flame.

When she meets her father Ernest, Iris soon realises that everything she's been told by her mother has been a lie. He didn't leave her; Hannah took her, changed her name and hid. Ernest had been searching for her for years. But now it was too late.

The book actually begins with Ernest's funeral, and sort of goes backwards a few times. There's memories written throughout, clips from the past. We slowly learn more and more about Iris's personality, and we watch her re-develop her relationship with her father.

It's actually a pretty great book. It's so realistic, and unique. It isn't a fantasy, it isn't a cheesy romance, it isn't even really a book with a typical happy ending.

Although I wouldn't have searched this book out in particular, I am happy I read it. I'm not sure it quite gets 4 stars from me, so I'll give it 3.5.