“With all the misery in the world, how can we not get drunk?” she laments.

{Inland Sea. View One.}

Sunday found me in the darkened bowels of the cinema once again for the final day of the international film fest. Four movies all in a row, three at the Regent and one at the Forum, commencing with the first at eleven and concluding at a little before 7.30pm that evening. What a day. What a splendid day. A most fitting end to a festival I have enjoyed so very much. Four films viewed in two beautiful old cinemas… just me, and a whole heap of others. Fellow like souls, most of them.

You, the Living (Du levande), Roy Andersson’s film “about the grandeur of existing”, started the day, and it would be an understatement to tell you I loved this movie. Having not seen Songs from the Second Floor, nor any of his earlier films, I knew little of what to expect save for a small typed blurb: “A series of precisely framed long-takes rife with awkward encounters, beguiling non sequiturs and very dry Nordic humour. Marginally lighter, even sweeter in tone than Songs, its playful use of music turns You, the Living into a sort of bittersweet ode to the foibles of daily human existence, walking a fine line between derision and sympathy, pessimism and very dim hope.” (MIFF)

Tears-rolling-down-the-face funny, I adored this film, its music, its humour, its everything. I felt as though this film had been made just for me. It suited me perfectly, and it fitted like a glove, like a second skin. The kind of film one would like to have conjured up, albeit with a team and cast of many. Ever had that feeling before... as though a film has been made just for you? Perhaps it helped knowing little of Andersson’s popularity. I could only find this rather poor version on YouTube to share with you, of a dream scene, as recounted by a man stuck in traffic, sentenced to the electric chair. Seen out of context, and blurry, it perhaps fails to capture the humorous qualities of the scene. Viewed without other vignettes of daily life by its side, I’m not too sure what you’ll be able to make of it. I had hoped to come across the scene in which a woman laments that no one, not her lover nor dog either, understands her. She breaks into song, something along the lines of wishing she had a motorcycle so she could ride away from all this pain and loneliness, as she sits on a park bench... (the character, Mia, quoted in the title of this post from a later scene.)

{Inland Sea. View Two.}

Where You, the Living induced tears from laughter, The Mourning Forest, a Japanese film by Naomi Kawase, of longing and mourning, had me attempting to visualise windows behind me and open spaces before me. As the two characters Shigeki and Machiko head deeper into the forest, I felt so terribly claustrophobic. One large theatre felt like a small, darkened cave. A beautiful film with a nod to the Japanese masters, I spent most of this film, sadly, willing it to end so that I could go outside into the fresh air, to walk in open spaces.

Little time for a saunter though for after this film it was a quick walk around the corner, past the otherworldliness of the Westin Hotel, with its uniformed concierges and bellboys, and head first into the monochromatic landscape of filmmaker Alexander Sokurov’s Alexandra. Chechnya as viewed though the eyes of a woman visiting her grandson at a Russian military base... everyday life once more, and so removed from my own.

From present day Chechnya we were hurled back to 1987, to Bucharest before the fall of communism, for the second festival screening of 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days. For most of this screening I sat in somewhat of a physically constricted pose, legs tightly crossed and arms wrapped around myself, as I watched two girls organise an illegal abortion in a hotel room. A sold out screening, we sat in seats on the far right hand side of the cinema, in front of a woman who quietly sobbed throughout the entire screening. I can’t describe the film adequately, so I’ll just recommend it to you, should you get the chance to see it.

So much to take it… and I can’t wait to do it all again next year. The perfect foil to all these beautiful though heavy films has been the arrival of snail mail by the seeming bucket load. Thank you, Lottie. Thank you, Alyssa. Thank you, Brydie. Each piece of post so timely in its arrival, and super too, to say the least.

From Lottie:
+ A copy of Gloria Home, Finnish Interiors and Design never looked so good.
+ A host of brilliant colour stickers of wildlife and dinosaurs courtesy of The Guardian (and sure to make an appearance in a collage soon).
+ And a paperback copy of Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson... to treasure.

xo

From Alyssa:
+ A copy of two novellas by Natalia Ginzburg, Family. Translated from Italian by Beryl Stockman, the first line of Family reads: “A man and a woman went to see a film one summer Sunday afternoon.”
And from Borghesia: “A woman who had never kept an animals was given a cat.” Intrigued? I thought you might be.
+ And She Cow Six, an original drawing by Alyssa, from her She Cow series... to treasure in equal measure. (More photos to come just as soon as I've found the ideal frame.)

xo

From Brydie:
+ Two postcards; Chinese taking chow-chow (unsent, Hong Kong), and Paardeplaats Monument (sent, Cape Town).
+ Two cigarette cards; one of a Polar bear (“In its native state the Polar bear is something of a mixed feeder for while in Winter it lives largely on the flesh of seals and walruses in Summer it lives on vegetation and berries.”), the other of Book printing in Edinburgh (“Printing and publishing is its staple industry, but brewing and distilling are largely carried on.”)
+ Two delicate and beautiful handmade contour line necklaces, one for each of us.

xo

And, I feel I should also mention Russian post from LJ’s parents. Postcards depicting the Kremlin, the Hermitage, and the Red Square ... they keep popping up in the green post box, and they, too, make me smile. Emailed photographs from Prague, and souvenirs from London... all wonderful and can be found in watercoloured detail, over here, shortly.

Happy weekend to you all.

Comments

[louise]

I know just what you mean about 'You, the Living'. I howled with laughter when the motorbike song started up. Must find the sountrack! What razor sharp observations about all things dark and light.

[alyssa]

I'm so happy that you got it: ) A treat of appreciation for both you and Louise.
I can't wait to see "Lights in the Dusk," lucky girl!

[cruststation]

I love how movies and books take you to a different world...one that was made for you and another that left you feeling claustrophobic, must have been amazing to watch. Love your collages and wonderful goodies from lovely blogging friends.x Have a wonderful weekend!

[elaine haby]

Three in a row was more than enough for me.... I doubt I'd have been able to sit through the last one.... such a festival of suicide and gloom.... e xo

[jac]

Such gorgeous mail!

[Brydie]

I was worried the hand-shaped envelope would not last, glad it all got to you in one piece.
Do you think these films ever become available on DVD and the like? It's such a shame to have passed me by.

[shari]

i love how you describe not only the films but your thoughts, positioning, etc. while in the theater. so vivid...i could picture it. our little historic theater which has been closed all summer opens again today. hooray! wonderful packages, treats, and those new collages! fab. xox

[lisa s]

oh i love a good cry at the movies....

your gifts are so lovely and amazing and so YOU!!!!!!

and the collages.... so good. [they remind me of camilla's collection photos is a most lovely way]
xoxo

[amisha]

i love reading your thoughts on film... you have such a way of describing them that i am with you in the dark theater, transported. beautiful.
xox

[kate]

I very much envy you having seen all these films. What a treat it would be to go from one film to another - how different they were too.

You have had a lucky time with the post too ... beautiful parcels for you.

[julie]

Sounds like a magical time you had in the cinema - loved reading your honest thoughts.

And such wonderful post for you - so fitting and generous!!

Love the new collages and the idea behind them. xxxxx

[A Fanciful Twist]

Oh, how dreamy. First every photo you shared was a world in itself!!! Love the movies... Once, I went skiing in Lake Tahoe. I had never been skiing. I went with a huge group of college people. I was a terrible terrible skiier. So, I saw a light down in the distance, and through a storm, tredged to this lighted building. Why, it was an old old old theater. Old fashioned seates. Gilded lions... Just wonderful... And I watched movies alone... The only person in there...It was magic.... xxo

[gracia]

Ah, Louise… that motorcycle song was penned, if ever a song was, just for you. We really must track down the soundtrack, I agree.

Thank you so very much, Alyssa. I so loved your parcel received by post. I’m hoping to carve out a little more free time and start reading it this afternoon. I’ve sampled a page or two, but my time has been a little interrupted. I want to give it, the book, the full attention it seems to deserve. Thanks, again. So very generous.

Hi there Crust Station,
Yes, yes, yes. At present I am in the full vice-like grip of film festival withdrawals. I think I’ll have to make a concerted effort to go and indulge in more films more often. To be transported to another world, what could prove a better way to spend a morning or afternoon?

Yes, quite. Loved ones passing, loneliness, suicide, war and abortion… it was quite a beautifully gloomy string of fourteen, e.

Isn’t it just, Jac? And Louise & I have loved each and every piece of it.

It arrived safe and sound, Brydie, and elicited an excited squeal X2 upon opening the letterbox. We love it all… contour line necklaces to postcards, you always manage to send such wonderful snail mail our way, and, pleasingly, we have quite a fine collection of it from you. Thanks, again… and congratulations on your recent exhibition. Wonderful stuff! Really wonderful.

Here’s hoping you get the chance to soak in a little film love, Shari. Just the thing at the end of a long, though late to arrive, summer. I fancy you’d very much enjoy many of the fourteen films we savoured at this years fest. Such a pity you don’t live just that little bit closer, eh?

Ah, thanks, Lisa S.
I know just what you mean about the link to Camilla’s collection photographs... and I have posted a further two in the next post… another one featuring an inland sea and some golden antiquities from long ago. Such a compliment to know you like them.

Hi Amisha, Kate and Julie,
I’ve been so very lucky to be able to scamper off in the middle of the day to see film after film. Such a decadent thing to do… to swan into the theatre at 11 to soak in a little Nordic humour and to follow it up with another screening at 1pm in another splendid theatre, elbow to elbow with film buffs and the like. I am at a loss this week without it, and treated it as a holiday. Now I have the post holiday blues and I am wishing I could rewind and go backwards, watching them all again. Here’s hoping you three all get the chance to see a few great flicks too, hey?

I love this idea of finding an old cinema by chance, A Fanciful Twist… it sounds so very, very you, and so much more pleasurable than a spot of skiing. I have my fingers crossed that should I ever be on a skiing adventure that I am as fortunate as you. So lucky!

Thanks, all… as always your comments are very much appreciated.

See you, g xo

[jenny scott]

Such wonderful mail. You are lucky!

[simple me]

I love the title of this post :)
don't you find it difficult to come back to reality after a long session living on other realities? I tend to keep on dreaming.
if I'm not wrong Alexandra by Sokurov won a prize this year in Cannes. somehow I'm curious about the film.
I quite like the ethnic feeling on your work and how lucky you with so many goodies landing on your doorstep. I love the contour line necklaces.

[bugheart]

have you read
all the moomins?
my mother
read them
all to us
when we were
little.
you remind me
of little my
but
nicer
of
course.