eBooblog

While during my short stay in Paris, the posters advertising columns made me drool I tried to calmly reason myself, promising to run and see The Illusionist as soon as it would be shown in the United Kingdom. If I had known! I will have to wait much longer. Great disappointment as the animated film not be released until the 25th of December in the United Kingdom! And this only could make me do a quick trip back to France if I could!

But why such an impatience? Well, for two main reasons: Jacques Tati and Sylvain Chomet. While it is no longer necessary to introduce Mr. Tati, I was amazed by Belleville Rendez-Vous (original title: Les Triplettes de Belleville) and this cartoon remains one of my top five movies by its originality, beauty, ambiance and sensibility!

Well, apparently he is doing it again but this time with an original script by Jacques Tati who wrote it in a letter to his daughter but who had never done anything with it. The tribute is so strong. In addition, Sylvain Chomet sketched J. Tati (Tatischeff real name) for the central character of the movie: the illusionist.

But then what is it all about? This is the story of a confirmed magician who is helplessly witnessing the decline of which his profession is the target. As rock bands are gradually replacing more traditional music hall performances, the hero decides to travel and moves to the United Kingdom and more specifically to Edinburgh. There he meets a young girl full of mischief that will change his life … Everything is silent, with the harmonies of French, Scottish or English gibberish at the most … Warm colors. Strokes of a reassuring pen. In short, the style of Chomet.

I do not even know why I start to imagine these kinds of things while I still have many months to wait. “It’s really not fair!”.

But there is no reason why we should not have a look at the trailer though, is it?

Talk to Her (original title: Habla con Ella) is without any doubt the film by Pedro Almodovar which has touched me the most. Perhaps it is just because that’s the only one I had the chance to see in a cinema. Beyond the great genius of Almodóvar, a scene particularly moved me: the first one.

The curtain opens on a stage randomly strewn with black bistro tables and chairs. Amid this gloomy scene, two women in gowns quietly wander, eyes closed, a strange expression on their faces. Why strange? It is a kind of mixture between sadness, loneliness and pain. Their movements are slow, soft, and then rapid and violent. They crash against a wall, bounce and dash towards the other end of the stage, always with that hint of inhumanity, like rubber zombies. And what about this man in the middle, who undergoes these unpredictable whims. He is sad, panicked, his hair tousled. He watches every move and violently pushes tables and chairs out of the way. The whole environment seems to confront the power and vagaries of emotions to our inability to control them.

I could not explain what I felt or what I still feel when watching this scene but it deeply moves me, it is inexplicable but it makes well-known emotions echo under my skin. It’s the magic of art in its greatness I suppose …

The scene in question is actually taken from the show Café Müller of the German choreographer Pina Bausch (1940-2009). This is one of her masterpieces where she restranscribed the loneliness which accompanied her childhood in the hotel bar of her parents.

While the artist did not usually wish to have her performances recorded, there have been a few exceptions and it is, by chance, the case for Café Müller. Here are excerpts from the choreography (different from those in Talk to Her), punctuated by a few words of Pina.

It is finally happening! The problem with brilliant artists like Royksopp is that we never get enough of them. Just after you’ve first listenned to their latest album you are already impatiently waiting for the next one (and replaying the first CD of course…).

So since March 23, 2009, release date of Junior, thousands of fans have been desperately counting the days that separated them from Senior, the logical continuation from the two Norwegian virtuosi. And yet, Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge have kept us waiting! Originally planned for late 2009, Junior’s older brother encountered a few problems before its release (publishing and marketing issues apparently), but it is now official, it is coming soon!

The band has today confirmed that the the release date of their new born will be the 23^rd of September 2010!

While Junior has made us vibrate with its lively sonorities, combining cheerful melodies and haunting vocals, Senior promises to be calmer, a series of relaxing, intriguing or troubling tracks, just like the gaze rested of a wise old man looking back at his life, the calm after the storm. In numerous interviews, the two acolytes have noted that this is an album which should be seen as a single piece and then which must be listened to at one go so that it keeps its consistency.

Definitely something to look forward to. Just a few months to wait…

And now, what would be better than a short video reflecting the strange world of these pioneers of electronic music?…