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Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
1985 | International, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"A great film by Paul Schrader, best known for having penned a bunch of legendary screenplays for Martin Scorsese. The film revolves around Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, and jumps between the story of his life and dreamlike depictions of scenes from his books. It’s got a particularly good score by Philip Glass, who I usually find to be tedious, but this one is nice. Schrader’s use of color and set design during the book segments of the film are quite theatrical and feel closely related to Robert Wilson’s on Einstein on the Beach—although I don’t have any evidence to back that connection up. Great flick, though."

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Nora Ephron recommended The Golden Notebook in Books (curated)

 
The Golden Notebook
The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"At an early point in this novel, Lessing’s heroine, Anna, says that she wishes she could write ‘a book powered with an intellectual or moral passion strong enough to create order, to create a new way of looking at life.’ That’s as good a way as any to describe this book and its effect on me—but it’s also a genuinely involving and surprisingly enjoyable read, especially given that it is by a writer with almost no sense of humor. There was a time when I believed that any modern woman had to read The Golden Notebook, but I’m no longer given to pronouncements that are quite so doctrinaire."

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Cries and Whispers (1972)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
1972 | Drama, Romance
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I could have easily filled this list with ten Bergman movies. (Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander, The Magician, Persona, Sawdust and Tinsel, The Seventh Seal, Smiles of a Summer Night, Through a Glass Darkly, The Virgin Spring, Wild Strawberries—there, I did it anyway.) His filmic artistry, his seriousness of purpose, his love of actors, and, above all, his literate examinations of the human condition never fail to inspire me. I think I’ve stolen more from Bergman than any other writer. Cries and Whispers is a masterpiece. Visual storytelling, a lean narrative, exacting characterization, formal experimentation—all in the service of painful, honest humanity."

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Shonda Rhimes recommended Little Women in Books (curated)

 
Little Women
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott | 2012 | Children
7.9 (75 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"I read Little Women every time I break up with a guy. I’ve been turning to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy for heartbreak solace since I was 13 and found out the guy I liked was interested in someone else. I’d go home and cry to my sisters, and then I’d read Louisa May Alcott. There’s some profound comfort in that book for me – Jo becomes a writer and finds her heart in a most unexpected place. Above all, we learn what Jo has always known: No matter who the guy is or how great he is, no one loves you like your sisters."

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Leonard Cohen recommended Collected Poems in Books (curated)

 
Collected Poems
Collected Poems
Federico Garcia Lorca | 2002 | Fiction & Poetry
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"I was fifteen when I began to read Federico Garcia Lorca. His poems perhaps have had the greatest influence on my texts. He summoned up a world where I felt at home. His images were sensual and mysterious: ‘throw a fist full of ants to the sun.’ I wanted to be able to write something like that as well. A few years ago I wrote a musical adaptation of Lorca’s ‘Little Viennese Waltz.’ Then I noticed what a complex writer he was: it took me more than a hundred hours just to translate the poem. Lorca is one of those rare poets with whom you can stay in love for life."

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