Plot synopsis: Successful, happy, high-flying DJ (Kevin Parent) with fabulous life and equally fabulous wife laments having left his (now) ex-wife for his current one. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, a single mother (Vanessa Paradis) struggles to take care of her child (Marin Gerrier) who has Down's Syndrome in a parallel story from 40 years before.

Top 10 reasons to sit through Vallée’s seeming absence of  logic as he jumps from one era to the other without any apparent link: 

10.  You are a woman praying for non-linear deconstruction because your own life has become too linear (morning: car/transit, work /groceries, cook/clean, fall asleep exhausted/sex, who has time?).  This film's curvy path will carry you away by the sheer power of its emotions. 
Or, you are this woman's partner - see warning below.

Warning: This film may provoke the urge to indulge in crazy, passionate sex (if you have children, you may want to make arrangements with sitter/in-laws) . . .  

           If you need further coaxing to see this film, please click here.

Last night, I inhaled Woody Allen's love letter to the City of Lights FOR A SECOND TIME in as many days.  I strolled around Paris on a warm spring evening, pausing on the bridges, felt the cobblestones under my feet and the rain in my hair...Okay, granted - I'm in love with Paris - But, why should YOU see the movie?

Here are my top 10 reasons:

10.  "It's the present, it's dull" is a line from the movie. 

Have you ever been annoyed by the banality of our current culture?
Have you ever  wished for a portal to take you to another time, say 20s Bohemian Paris specifically? 

If so, this could be the film for you!

9.  You may have a billion reasons to criticize Woody Allen, but he celebrates  everyone  on his team equally.  He shows this by listing the actors in alphabetical order.  I noticed that in the late seventies & he still does it.  Good on him!

8.  To hear Adrien Brody playing Dalí, when he tries to pronouce  'rhinoceruses' while probing the perplexing, surrealist and Freudian depths of Gil's psyche.  Estupendo!

7. To hear Cole Porter crooning his hommages to Paris like “I Love Paris” and “C’est Magnifique.”  Ahhhhhh . . .

1.  Paris, of course!!!!

From the opening postcard montage of the City of Lights it's clear that  Khondji's sensual cinematography will easily whisk us away, not just to Paris, but to the nostalgic Paris that every writer & artist I know has fantasized about at one time or another - the Paris of cafes & jazz, of wine & absinthe, and especially of a place where artists could thrive!

Owen Wilson's character talks about how great living cities such as Paris eclipse manmade art today and how inspiring an environment CAN be when it is viewed as a work of art and not just a series of boxes that people inhabit.

I believe I may not be alone in that upon walking  out of the theatre, I wished that I'd turn the corner to find the feel of cobblestone underfoot, a light mist on my cheek lit up by Parisian lampposts and backed by a twinkling Eiffel Tower or romantic bridge. 

Ahh Paris - Je te reviens!
TartanFrog

Look at the photo on the left.  If the wrought-iron railing is what appeals to you most, then go for Jonathan Franzen's epic 'Freedom'.  If, on the other hand, you are attracted to the beauty of an unmade bed and it makes you want to lounge there, then start by reading 'The Sentimentalists'.

In my case, I love both.  And read both.  The verdict:  Amongst the lauding of Skibsrud's debut novels are the remarks about it being a 'stumbling colt', true; that it could have benefited from more rigorous editing, also true; and that it felt unpolished, somewhat true.  HOWEVER, despite its flaws, I was lured by its raw lack of pretension.  One might say that it felt Canadian in contrast to Franzen's 'Freedom' which is rife with power and structure. 

Mind you, Franzen is a brilliant architect of tragic realism.  He shamelessly exposes the flaws of his characters whose comprehensively realized psychologies are compelling, but whose dialogue lapses (too often for my liking) into social commentary.  I felt that both novels lacked narrative drive and whereas Jonathan blew me away with his first 160 pages, I was disappointed with the section that went back to 2004.  Skibsrud, on the other hand, almost lost me in her first 40 pages or so, but as soon as I read page 47, like the theme of her book, I felt I'd come home.  Her prose is absolutely beautiful whereas Franzen comes of lazy in comparison.  Still, when Franzen is on, he's ON! 

No matter the accolades & awards, these  are two truly inspired writers. 
Enjoy them.

TartanFrog

Did you hear?

Yesterday the New York Times announced their 10 Best Books of 2010.  And . . . drumroll . . .
The first  on their list was:
FREEDOM
By Jonathan Franzen.
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28.


The truth:  I'm feeling lazy (like lion) today, seeking time to enjoy my morning coffee, write holiday cards and finish reading:  Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen.  As my writerlies and close friends all know, I've recently completed a novel called Liberty Leading the People, featuring the theme of freedom.  So, it will come as no surprise that this book makes me a little nervous.  So far though (about 250 pages in), Franzen seems to be approaching it from a slightly different tangent, tiny sigh.

The New York Times hopes to inspire you to buy a great book for a loved one for the holidays.  If so,  don't forget to support local writers too, especially the ones from my writers' group, the Wired Monk Writers:

Drive-by Saviours (Roseway Publishing) by Chris Benjamin is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world. [I can personally recommend as a great read]  You can purchase it at the bookstore or click on the link above to buy directly from the publisher.

Or, if you lean more toward the  science fiction/fantasy, you could purchase a copy of Simon Vigneault's novelette Stealing Fire, released in the Shelter of Daylight Anthology
(a few seconds after clicking, it lines you up with Shelter of Daylight. Below the list of authors and stories there are three links for US, Canadian, and International orders).

Wishing one & all a FABULOUS Saturday!
Now back to Freedom:)
TartanFrog