Lies

In a very considerable time a movie and its soundtrack didn't let me so immersed and in love with it. Probably the last time it happened was with Pride & Prejudice and Prime. But this little indie movie called Once grabbed my by the balls and the following words are stuck to my head; for nothing in particular, just because they and their melody are simply beautiful.

"You're moving too fast for me
And I can't keep up with you
Maybe if you slowed down for me
I could see you're only telling
Lies, lies, lies
Breaking us down with your
Lies, lies, lies
When will you learn"

[Song: Lies - Glen Hansard]

Depression Movies #1: A Rouge Holiday With Saudade

When on Friday I saw on IMDb that it was Audrey Hepburn's birthday I instantly decided to homage her by doing a Hepburn marathon as soon as I got home from college; but I was so tired when I arrived that it'd be hard to watch three movies in a row, so I had to pick one. Many would choose Breakfast At Tiffany's on the first hand, but even though I love it to death, differently from the other titles I have, I've seen it like a million times. So I chose Roman Holiday: Audrey's first hit in Hollywood, Audrey's first and only Oscar [I don't count the honorary ones].
On this second screening of this Paramount classic I wondered how would be like if Audrey had the chance to work with Woody Allen. I did it because this woman's sense of naturalness in her acting is so vibrant that even if you see her in some flamboyant and hardly-to-happen situations like in Roman Holiday, you still feel like they're the most common thing to happen.
Well, in it Audrey plays the young Princess Ann who for political duties is touring around Europe. In her stop in Rome she's clearly tired and bored, like any young person would be, and decides to flee so she can see the vivid Roman nightlife. So, things happen and she ends up spending the whole following day with a sly and mischievous American journalist [a marvelous and absolutely charming Gregory Peck] who, realizing he's in the company of such royalty intends to do a bombastic sensationalist report on her. Like many other classics this movie has become pop culture icon and was imitated by many other movies and medias [even Sabrina, the teenage witch]; so for me it's an amusement to watch and try to remember where else I've seen those scenes.
Despite tiny flaws, [we hardly feel Princess Ann and Joe Bradley's affair grow, you simply know it's going to happen and it simply does] superficially this is a movie at cinema's basic premise: entertaining; but of course there's more to it than this. As you follow their adventures on Rome's beautiful and historic landmarks you experience a young woman maturing in front of your eyes. Ann goes from an innocent girl crashed by her larger-than-life duties to a woman finally aware of her importance to her country; and she gets to it by living - even for only one day - her life as she pleases and doing the expected things from a normal adolescent [even if Ann's age is never specified]. That becomes clear when she enters a beauty salon and cuts her hair, as an act of desire for independence, and it makes us wonder if the young should really mature as early as nowadays, missing that way things that will mold them for the rest of their lives.
Audrey Hepburn seems at each moment to be in perfect knowledge of it and owns Ann with sublime and subtle acting [what's that scene when she finds out Joe and Irving are journalists!]. During the shootings Gregory Peck raved on Hepburn's acting abilities and said she should and would win an Oscar for her portrayal of Ann. And well she did, beating established and genius stars like Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr [as the mysterious and mesmerizing Karen Holmes from From Here To Eternity].

All the colors, music and vibrant life in Moulin Rouge! disguises a deep and sorrowful love story. We all know the ending is beyond sad, but few people realize that it's the culmination of elements that have been explicited since the begining. The fact that Satine's death is revealed on the first ten minutes of the picture is a warning that this is no sappy musical we're watching. For me, this is one of the most heartbreaking and dark movies ever made; I decided to watch it last night due to life synchrony and I was aware it'd be a tearjerking experience.
The contrast between the pop culture carnival and the dark melodrama from the screenplay is delivered by Baz Luhrmann in a glitzy and so glamourous way that you can't help having your jaw dropped, your eyes watered, your body chilled; the kitsch and all over-the-place sets and costumes get wonderfully joyous when you hear all those wonderful songs glued perfectly like the soundtrack of our lives. I mean, if your life were a musical it'd be filled with the songs you listen to everyday; so it's pure amazement to watch Moulin Rouge and sing-along those songs as if you were listening to a mixtape.
Then there's that Kidman woman razzle-dazzling us all with her milky skin and violent red hair combined with that gorgeous blue cinematography. For me Kidman is on the top of her game here; this is my favorite performance of her so far, because she does absolutely everyhting here: she sings, dances, comes down from a trapeze, does comedy, romance and drama all in her first ten onscreen minutes. After that her Satine brings a rollercoaster of emotions and a charisma so hard to find [and still those old sons of bitches gave the Bald Man to that hateful bitch Berry]. Later, when that naughty Christian boy [the always hot and perfect Ewan McGregor] sings her that song, that song we all claim as ours, it's impossible for us not to root for their love.
Oh, and there's Kylie Minogue! It took me millenia to find out that the Green Fairy is her, but now everytime I see it I longer for the moment she pops out of the absinth bottle and turns The Sound Of Music into a sexy and horny thing. She being in such project makes me love Baz even more, meaning he's tuned up to every aspect of the cult, including the underrated G-ds like Minogue. Kylie's cameo in it is one of those pleaseant surprises I love in movies and one of the various others in Moulin Rouge. I abso-fucking-lutely love when Christian and Satine fly to the top of the roof on Your Song and the Singin' In The Rain reference; or the heart-shapped fireworks on I Will Always Love You [not to mention the whole Elephant Love Medley]; and oh man, talk about Material Girl in Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friends.
So in the end, Baz's pop culture collage feels like a musical should make you feel but better, simply because it turns the world in a more happy and beauitful place despite its darkness. And since I'm a sucker for cathartic experiences, this movie is for me the one I need to watch whenever I'm melancholic or romantically crushed; and here stays the tip.

Ages ago I was talking with the ho about how Almodóvar makes his actresses look so hot and desireable even when they're not beautiful; a great example is Rossy De Palma. Last year he turned Penélope Cruz into a real woman again, dropping behind the American startlet image Hollywood imposed to her. So, last night as I watched Hable Con Ella for the second time I got this idea to my mind again. The way Rosario Flores looks masculine and manly is just the cover of a huge feminility she exhales whenever she's onscreen.
But for me, in this 2002 masterpiece Pedro goes mostly about a Portuguese word that is hard to be translated to other languages: saudade. Basically it is like when you miss someone in a way your mind stays caught up into nostalgia. And in this movie it's portrayed in a heartbreaking yet quirky fashion that only Almodóvar can do. Marco missed so much his troubled wife that he cried whenever he lived something sublime and emotional. Why? Because he didn't have her next to him to share it. That's saudade my friends.Another thing that hooked me on this second screening was all the cute flirts he does with Brasil. You all know Caetano sings Cucurrucucú Paloma in it; before that, on the first bullfighting scene the song played is Por Toda A Minha Vida by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim; later Marco cites a Jobim song to Lydia [How Insensitive]; and among the guides written by Marco, there's one from Brasil.

Hable Con Ella by the end turns out to be a beautiful essay about solitude pinched with saudade, where Almodóvar shines his adorable style homaging the art of Cinema [this time the silent era] and using polemic plotlines; but for me this is a movie that has such a hopeful and lightful end that it reassured on me the power of good-bye; but also incited my current desire for love, and I'm not talking about sex.

[Song: Lamb - Gorecki]

The Soundtrack Of My Biopic: Cigarettes And Dance Floors

OH of course, silly little me forgot to link-back, the lovely bitch JMC, from where I took this.

QUESTION: If your life is a movie, what songs are on the soundtrack?

Here's how it works:
1. Open iTunes (or whatever ya got)
2. Put it on shuffle and press play
3. For every question, type the song that's playing
4. Make up a Title and choose your Cast

Cigarettes And Dance Floors

It will be a musical, of course.

Cast:

Jamie Bell as Me [he's cute, awesome actor and I bet he can sing - aka perfect]

Lou Taylor Pucci as Mr. Hottie [love him ever since I saw Thumbsucker]

James McAvoy as The Ho [it'll be a beeeeautiful movie to watch!]

Lindsay Lohan as Alais [did you really think I'd let Lohan out of this movie?]

Keira Knightley as Nina [and Keira?]

featuring: Nicole Kidman as Mum and Hugh Jackman as Dad [lol... suddenly this becomes Happy Feet]

directed by Julie Taymor [remember Frida? I want those colors]

Opening Credits (and DVD Menu): "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" by Saint Etienne

Well, perfect! It's a great song to start the film: genius beats with uplifting synths and lovely lyrics; cheerful enough to make people hook up to the movie and sing along. Besides it's a lot like me, "only love can break your heart" indeed and all the implications that come along with it. AND: an opening act by Kidman and Jackman! *cums*

Waking Up: "Thief Of Hearts" by Madonna

LOL! Maybe it'll be a revenge movie about me slashing some back-stabbing bastard disguised as friend who stole my boyfriend. Nah... it'll be Lucas singing in front of the mirror with his usual daily dose self-depreciation.

First Day At School: "Physical Attraction" by Madonna

Aww... I can already see the scene: boy [Me] meets boy [Mr. Hottie] at the campus and they flirt wildy while singing the song. "You say you wanna stay the night/But you'll leave me tomorrow, I don't care." And sure sure, since it's me this movie's talking about we'll just hide behind some bushes or whatever and shag before the song ends.

Falling In Love: "Garden In The Rain" by Diana Krall

Then we'd realize there's more to us than physical attraction and we'll have a nice cute chat in our way back home [yeah, he lives nearby]. Very New York, very romantic. "Surely here was charm beyond/Compare to view/Maybe it was just that/I was there with you" Lover-ly!

Fight Song: "Temptation" by New Order

Awesome! Genius tune combine with gloomy lyrics. "Each way I turn, I know I'll always try/To break this circle that's been placed around me." Surely it'll be a classy fight but like everything else in my life, ready to just go down on the dance floor.

Breaking Up: "The Rubber Room" by Porter Wagoner

First really melancholic song of the movie. I'm surely hurt and just want a moment by myself; Mr. Hottie is hurt too... we loved each other okay!! But of course he cheated. [Hey, it's my movie I'm the good guy!]

Prom: "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" by Madonna

LOL! Oookay... party's up but I'm heartbroken.

Note to self: don't hire Windows Media Player to select the songs from your movie.

Life: "Alarm Call" by Björk

And back to the dance floor! Life goes on and I move on again from my obsession. A very uplifting song with optimistic lyrics and a cool selfless tone. Great for the small-guy/big-dreams moment.

Mental Breakdown: "William, It Was Really Nothing" by The Smiths

Ooookay... let's say William is the imaginary friend The Ho keeps saying I have. However this is a very cute song and could fit in such scene considering it's a mental breakdown, maybe it doesn't have to make much sense anyway.

Instrumental Intermission (two): "Murder On A Dance Floor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor; "Cherish" by Madonna

Ha! Dance floor film, dance floor song! Perfect!

Lola and Rocco and Dave will be even more rich due to royalties the studio will have to pay so this movie can be out. However, this song is cute... prolly things will get better for the hero at second half of the movie.

Driving: "The Loco-Motion" by Kylie Minogue

Ohh yeees! After a time in rehab I decide to get life on track. More joyous than this? "It even makes you happy when you're feeling blue." Nah...

Flashback: "They Can't Take That Away From Me" by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

As I walk down the charming streets of New York after another unsuccessful audition I bump into Mr. Hottie! And G-d he's still hot... and single!! We sit for a coffee [he pays, I'm broke of course] and then comes the flashback.

Wedding: "Alfie" by Lily Allen

This song is awesome for The Ho's wedding! Funny and cheerful.

Birth of Child: "Miedo" by Belanova

Birth of Child!! Yes yes fear indeed!! Whose child I don't know, me and Mr. Hottie just got back together, no time to think of adoption... maybe it's Alais's or The Hosie's.

Final Battle: "The Night We Called It A Day" by Diana Krall

Uhh... really dude! Don't hire WMP!! Whatever this scene will mean in the movie I don't think this song will fit in it. Lol.

Death Scene: "Impressive Instant" by Madonna

Whoever dies, it was someone no one liked so we party!! "I'm in a traaaance..." Maybe the baby... joking!

Funeral Song: "[Somewhere] Over The Rainbow" by Kylie Minogue

Since no one cared about the other person who died, here we sing for someone we cared about who died on the dance floor. Fuck, it could be me... it'd be the gayest funeral in the world, but okay.

End Credits: "Put Yourself In My Place" by Kylie Minogue

Awww... luved it luved it! It'd be a very dramatic end, so a very dramatic song.

End Credits (Secondary): "Burned" by Hilary Duff

Uhh... let's say that when this movie was being produced she was rotten and forgetten and crazy to have a comeback so she begged [aka fucked] someone from the studio and they had to shove it somewhere. It's a good song, though.

I tag my co-stars that would never be out of my crazy musical: The Ho, Alais and Nina.

Taurus Top 5

We're on the month of Aries. I don't have to say it's my favorite month because I happen to be an Aries, so I won't discourse much on it.

In Kabbalah it's said that the first twelve days of Aries are like preambles for all the other months of the year; it's like they're the first fields where we'll settle our battles, like the recognition of territory. Kabbalist Isaac Luria created a guide to the first twelve days of Aries, each day corresponding to a sign from the zodiac. Yesterday, the 22nd, was Taurus day and we were supposed to “avoid being comfortable” by “listening to others, embracing discomfort, actively sharing with others, avoiding complacency.” My soundtrack for such a day [that started with a stressing walk to the bank and was adorned by a sleepy class and internet troubles] might not have much to do with the essence of Taurus day, but these songs helped get through the day by sometimes reconnecting me to the good part of things, in other words, the Light.

5. “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland

I closed the day with a screening of one of my favorite musicals, Meet Me In St. Louis. This lullaby-esque holiday song has a so obvious sorrowful tone that it often hides the sweet optimism contained in the lines. The marvelous and magically beautiful Judy Garland, as Miss Esther Smith, sing about living the moment and enjoying the happiness of Christmas, forgetting the troubles of life that will surely melt away in the future.

4. “Peach Trees” by Rufus Wainwright

It’s amazing how this song sounds fresh to me even when I’ve listened to it a million times. Wainwright performs it with an ailment and emotion that the sad lyrics become somewhat soothing after a while. It’s a song that not only grows on you but also grows itself, feeling like a giant wave that is to crash on a shore of resignation. The lines “’cause I’m so tired of waiting in restaurants/reading the critics and comics alone” [that happen to be some of my favorite lines ever written] ends in a delusional and magic meeting with James Dean. For a stressed and heartbroken person they bring nothing but hope.

3. “Like A Virgin” by Madonna

What’s to say about a song that goes: “I was beat, incomplete/I’d been had/I was sad and blue/but you made me feel/yeah you made me feel shiny and new/like a virgin/touched for the very first time”? I guess it’s enough said.

2. “Vibrate” by Rufus Wainwright

“My phone’s on vibrate for you”. Waiting, anticipation, suspense. These things alone are enough to make an Aries stressed, not because of others but because we still wait. If you read my latest posts you’ll notice my mind and heart have been waiting for the next best thing to happen. I know I should not expect the Universe to always give me what I wish - I’m working on that – but this song translates a lot of this kind of depressing feeling that has been hanging on me for a while. The Britney Spears mention in the lyrics is very witty and I’m sure the melody is inspired, if not totally sampled, by Bach.

1. “On The Radio” by Regina Spektor

This song goes about human behavior, of how we live our days trying to make it right, connecting one fact or thrill to the other - sometimes losing ourselves in the process – but always companied by memory. On Aries day [the 21st] we were supposed to “remember the past to avoid repeating mistakes” and though in the rapid pace and careless life of ours we do repeat craps we are always aware of them. Spektor’s song juxtaposes actions getting a kind of stream of consciousness/life rhythm: “no, this is how it works/you pear inside yourself/you take the things you like/and try to love the things you took/and then you take that love you made/and stick it into some/someone else’s heart/pumping someone else’s blood/and walking arm in arm/you hope it don’t get harmed/but even if it does/you’d just do it all again”.

Lover-ly

"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated."

- Eliza Doolittle

After Professor Henry Higgins throws away the ring and Eliza thinks he will beat her, she dramatically bends over the fireplace and soils her hands with ashes. And there she is, the outstanding lady who had just drawn the attention and admiration from everyone at the Embassy Ball breaking down the faux, revealing her origins: Eliza Doolittle was not a lady, she was a flower girl.

In British/European societies the differences between classes are very well defined and rarely changed; no matter if you worked your whole life to become a well succeeded nouveau riche you will always be inferior to the aristocratic minds of the high society [even the Escaladers tend to adhere to that mentality].

My point in all this cinematical/sociological blabbering is our roles as inhabitant of this global web. Here we have Audrey Hepburn giving life to one of the most charismatic and deep characters ever created. [I don't care if she was dubbed on the musical numbers or if she never performed it on the stage; it's Audrey Hepburn everyone thinks about whenever they hear the words My Fair Lady/Eliza Doolitttle.] When she was the flower-gal she simply survived, living through the days just to keep herself alive; after being educated by Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering she is a woman aware of her role on society. Is she?

When Eliza soils her hands, still dressed on her "princess costume" she realizes she doesn't know who she is, so she flees to find out who is the real persona inside her, she goes out to find herself; when she returns to her original place no one can recognize her, after all what such a lady as herself could be doing among a group of beggars? We let the outside-world define who we are and what we ought to do; all Eliza knew was that she was a "good gal" who sold flowers on the streets; that was her duty, that was her role on the play. But when she's offered a new position and she learns how to behave in that place she can't decide if she's worthy of all that, because everyone always told her she wasn't.

My Fair Lady's plot happens in the 1920's and back then human relations were still stiff and rigid like that. In another movie that portrays that same era, Robert Altman's Gosford Park, in a particular scene all the servents declare they have come from a long lineage of servants, their parents were, their grandparents were as well and so will be their kids; just today my father was telling that back in the 60's the prostitutes weren't allowed to frequent downtown because they would be tarnishing the town's morality. But nowadays, things are different, right? Society has evolved and permitted people to define themselves for themselves.

I wouldn't say so. We are still told what to do, what to be, how to behave, who to worship and follow, what to say, what to believe and the beat goes on. In Kabbalah we are taugh that we are the responsibles for every little thing [good or bad] that happens in our lives; so why do we still let ourselves be governed?

When Eliza Doolittle said that the difference between a lady and a flower girl was the way she is treated, she wasn't placing the blame on everyone else for her grace or disgrace. At that moment she was realizing that people would always judge her and always draw itineraries for her life; but it's only when you look inside yourself and assume who you are and take control of your own life is when you will be treated like a lady. At the moment she knew she was a lady because she wanted and chose to be so.

So once again I go about this: it's all about choices...

[Song: Wouldn't It Be Lover-ly? - Audrey Hepburn]

If You're Feeling Sinister...

...Just run to the nearest video place and rent this movie!!! It's magical and I assure you it's fifteen hundred times better than prozac or any other drug you may ever find. It's like good booze, it gets you drunk but never sick.

It has everything: Jazz, Tango, mouth-dropping dance routines, clever humor, bitter sarchasm, showbiz self-depreciation, dumb shallow press, political critics - all them mixed with the best politically incorrect lines -, the corrupt lawyer and prision guard, the brunnette femme fatale and the witty falsely ambitious blonde!!! All of them in one film!! Isn't it a blast? Ohh... the name of it? C'mon, don't tell me you still don't know it!! Duuh... it's CHICAGO!!!!

Today ho and I were quoting Queen Latifah's genius musical number, When You're Good To Moma, and we realized how long we haven't seen Chicago. So I took the advice from the beginning of the post and got it. After I watched this cute film with brilliant Claire Danes and hot Billy Cudrop (Stage Beauty) I instantly put it on my DVD. This was the whatever-th time I watched it but everything felt fresh and exciting as if it was the very first time!!

My body hair bristled all over the Block Cell Tango (my favorite part) and the press conference scene; I came every time Latifah, Gere, Zeta-Jones and Zellweger were on screen (in other words: all the time); I laughed my ass off with all the puns and jokes. This time Roxie's numbers just blew me away more than before, especially the one they homage Monroe's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and I even loved the Mr. Cellophane number. And to top it all, right after it finished my dad wanted to watch... so I didn't resist and watched it all over again with him!! And had all the same sensations!! Uhg... it's perfect!!!

So motherfuckers, if you ever feel like trash like killing your insignificant drama-queened self, just watch Chicago and you'll feel as if life and Light had just knocked you over giving you happiness again, even if you never actually really felt that bad!!

[Song: Nowadays - Renée Zellweger]

Movie Life

As nothing else interesting goes on in my life I sink myself in movies and French music.

Yay to the Ho I'm all into this French chick called Alizée: Moi... Lolita is my new favorite song. Along with her, the whole 8 Femmes soundtrack's been more than enough on my playlist. To listen to Isabelle Huppert singing Françoise Hardy's Message Personnel is like having a "duet" of g-ds, even though they don't sing together.

This weekend I also watched it again. Uhg, what is that movie? It's like having 8 orgasms in two hours. Everything about it is perfect, since the colors till of course the music!! And rewatching it made me see how flawless it is, every part of the plot fits perfectly and I haven't seen any holes so far. Every time it ends I feel like watching it again and again!!! Ludivine Sagnier makes me wanna dance cutly. Isabelle Huppert and Firminie Richard make me cry. Fanny Ardant is a goddess!! Virginie Ledoyen is beyond lovely!! Emmanuele Béart thrills me with her Madonna-esque performance. Catherine Deneuve makes me cum. And Danielle Darrieux final act makes me want more.

I finally watched La Marche de L'Empereur: the cutest movie about human beings without human beings. It's so tender how they humanized the little birds, but I think that my urge for romance didn't let me feel the romance of the movie. I just watched it as I would watch an everyday Discovery Channel show and probably lost its magic. I came with the cinematography though...

Errrm... what else? Well, I feel really bored and uninterested about everything lately. I'm horny as a dog but too chicken-shit to go out and get men. The only thing I REALLY wanna do is getting drunk. I think I'll just be at home organize my mp3 folders, have several glasses of wine and dream I'm Bree Van De Kamp.

[Song: Moi... Lolita - Alizee]