The Well and the Mine

This novel was written by Gin Philipps.

Alabama, 1931. In a little coal mining town, families struggle not to starve. Tess, a young girl, once daydreams, sitting on the porch at dawn. Suddenly she sees a woman throwing a baby into the family well. At first, no one wants to believe Tess's story, till the baby's body is discovered. Tess and her elder sister Virgie will then try to find out who was the woman who killed her baby. But things are not always so simple in those Depression-era days. Through the words of each member of the family, Leta, the hard-working mum, Albert, the father and coal mining employee, Virgie and Tess, their daughters, and little Jack, the youngest of the family, we have here an accurate insight of what was life in working classes during the 1930s.

A Mighty Heart

I've always claimed I didn't like Angelina Jolie but this is another movie which definitely made me change my mind, along with Changeling and Gia. Because this is yet another movie she carries to the top, playing it so rightly. Based on the novel written by Marianne Pearl, this movie is about the above quoted wife of beheaded journalist Daniel Pearl, killed in Pakistan in 2003.

Jolie plays Marianne Pearl, between the days following her husband's kidnapping at the end of January 2003 and the discovery of his body (early February) and of the gruesome video of his beheading. Knowing it really happened makes this movie even more moving and intense, especially since most of us remember having heard (or seen?) the news on TV.

The entire cast plays brilliant parts, which was a must while treating a contemporary event, otherwise this would have resulted in a tearsome and cheesy drama, whereas here it is absolutely true to the point.

Dead Man's Shoes

This movie is a thriller directed by Shane Meadows (This is England). There is a guy who's pursuing a band of drug dealers and threatens to kill them all, because once those gangsters molested his younger brother. Mixing gory scenes with humour, and showing the audience drug's effects on people addicted to it, this movie is very sensible, yet utterly violent despite its laughable scenes.. Located in rural England, it shows all the latent violence linked to drug market, as well as the damages it does on people. The music is very well chosen and its beauty strangely matches the ugliness of it all.

She's So Lovely

And yet another movie which makes me consider Robin Wright and Sean Penn as great actors; the chemistry between them is obivous on screen, but apart from that, their playing is awesome in every way: Robin Wright as a lost junkie saved by the unfortunate John Travolta, not able to forget her first husband (Penn) who's been interned in a psychiatriuc institute for the last ten years. Penn is so into his character that one wonders how much of his true inner personnality mixed with the played part! he's awesome as a totally disconnected loose screwed man, whose only reason to keep some sense is his wife...

This is a kind of a junkie's love story, but the great part of it is that, while not cautioning any violence or drug taking, or boozing that happens all along, it is not meant to be judgemental, but just gives to the film a kind of fairytale atmosphere in the weirdest environment possible for it!

Precious

Alright, this is a movie about an utterly fat young girl. Don't tell me that it wasn't what you thought if you happened to watch its trailer.

That's what I basically thought before getting into the dark projection room.

But Precious, a 16 years old overweight girl, is not only that. She lives in a very poor area of NYC, and she's expelled from school. She can barely read, and she's pregnant with her second child; why would she let herself into such a scheme? Because this girl was daily raped by her father, and beaten by her own mother, jealous of the "relationship" between her husband and her daughter.

But when her son is born, Precious decides that she had had enough of this life as a victim. She decides to follow some courses in order to be able to apply for a job and to offer a better life to her two children.

Unfortunately, she has to fight old demons - including her mother, but she is helped by social workers (Mariah Carey in a supporting role), a nurse (Lenny Kravitz!) and a teacher who all believe a better life is possible for the young woman.

Another woman's fight, very moving, revolting in many parts but really well told.

Desert Flower

At first when I saw its trailer, I thought that movie would be either too sopay or just unbearable to watch because of its subjects; Waris Dirie is one of the most famous supermodel of the 80's era. But no, it's not a movie about fashion. Desert flower is based on Dirie's novel about excision, a mutilation that no less than 6000 girls endure every single day in the world.

When Waris was 13, she fled her nomadic family in order to avoid a wedding with a much older man. Once in Mogadicio, she is sent by some relatives to London, to work as a cleaning lady at the Somalian's embassy. She lost her job once the civil war calls back to the country all the ambassadors. Working in a local McD. (no, i won't give any names) she's spotted by one of the most famous fashion photographer who suggests her to pose for him.

That transforms her life, but not as much as the day she was "circumcised". Years later, as she's worldwide famous, she decides to speak about it in an interview and for the first time, the UN becomes aware of one of the most tragical tradition that is still perpetrated.

Despite the subject, the movie tells the story of a woman's fight, and even though the subject is tragic, the way of telling this modern -and much less fairy - Cinderella's tale is not sad, but accurate.

I would lie if i didnt say I skipped the two minutes or so when she describes the excision in itself, but this movie is in every way a good way to know more about how the issue became known worldwide, and through whom.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Pippa Lee (Robin Wright) seems to have a pretty boring housewife's life beside her old husband. They just moved to a suburban area in Connecticut, where Pippa Lee doesn't find anything interesting to do, surrounded by elderly people (except for the neighbour's son, played by Keanu Reeves)...She remembers her childhood, her mum and her mental disorders, her teenagehood during which she ran away from home (she's played by Blake Lively), her brief housesharing with a couple of lesbians (including a sparkling Julianne Moore), her meeting with Herb, her husband...But now, with two grown up children and a despising husband who cheat on her with her best friend (Winona Rider, slightly neurotic), Pippa must also find out how to be happy again...and surprisingly her agitated nights will lead her to that...
this movie is a jewel, Robin Wright is stunning, and her character is very moving. She drags us along into her mind for a very accurate story of her life and couple.

New-York I love you

This is a movie which contains several stories, and as many ways to see NY...from a traditionnal jewish wedding to casual meetings leading to sex after a glass in a bar, from the first kiss at the prom night to an elderly couple arguing about everything and nothing while walking along the seashore...
There are so many different stories and characters that it's difficult not to fall into at least one story og that beautiful modern tale built on the example of Paris je t'aime...

Il n'y a pas beaucoup d'étoiles ce soir

This is a hilarious book written by the French actress Sylvie Testud; she depicts the actress's world from the beginning of her career. She highlights the funniest moments and makes the reader share her everyday life as a comedian. The first interviews she gives, she first autographs she signs, her first naked scene, her fear of playing dangerously with wild animals or jumping from a roof, the award she won,...everything here is far from the glamorous Hollywood style that comes to mind when one think about actors and actresses...it's good to taste some simplicity coming from that sophisticated and often superficial world!

The Visitor

Walter is in his sixties; his wife, a great pianist, passed few years ago. He never got over it, and his life contains nothing exciting anymore; he keeps on teaching his economy classes but doesn't make any effort to put some energy in it.
One day, he has to attend a conference in NY, where he owns a flat in which he hasnt returned for 25 years.
Entering his flat, he finds out that it has been occupied for the last two months by a couple, a young Syrian drums player and his Senegalese girlfriend. Understanding that the couple has nowhere to go for the night, Walter offers them to use the spare room until they find something else.
Little by little, he becomes interested into the strange djembe music played by the Syrian young man. They develope a friendship evolving around music, and Walter learns to enjoy life again. Unfortunately, the immigration services arrest the Syrian musician and a new fight begins for Walter: helping his friend to recover his liberty.
I don't want to spoil the fun so I won't say how it ends, but this movie is very accurate on the refugee's situation in America, and it is a tale about music, about immigration, and about a sad old man whose life might not be totally over thanks to the unexpected meetings he made in NY.

Bright star

It is a shame that French students don't get a chance to know more about John Keats's poetry while at school. On a freezing winter afternoon, perfect weather to go to the movies, I went to see Bright Star, directed by the Asutralian (or is it NZ?) Jane Campion. Starring Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne and Ben Wishaw (the amazing Jean Baptiste Grenouille in Perfume) as John Keats, the movie relates Keats's love affair before his tragic death in Rome, in december 1820. Maybe the movie tends to be too romantic...but not to my taste, as the dramatic dimension of Keats's life is totally represented here; there is no such thing as a "they happily lived together ever after" end, which is unfortunate because it would have meant that Keats didnt die aged 25 and would have written more sensual poems.. but the beautiful images and the strength of the characters played by Cornish and Whishaw makes you want to run straight to a bookshop and dive into his poetry...

Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art—

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite,

The moving waters at their priestlike task

Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,

Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask

Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—

No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,

Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,

Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

L'Illusion comique, Corneille

Corneille is one of the most famous French theatre authors of the 17th century. He is mostly known for his tragedy Le Cid, and only a few people know him as the prolific author of comedies as well as tragedies. The play I mention here, L'Illusion comique, is a strange one for several reasons: classical theatre is commonly known to follow some defined rules, concerning mainly the duration and place of the plot.

Here, Corneille enchants the reader by not respecting those rules and making us traveling with Clindor, the main character, whose actions are followed by his father, who rejected him ten years ago, and who asked to a magician to show him what happened to his son.

There is a hero, a funny domestic, a beautiful lover, a mean father, and the aforesaid magician, everything mixed in something which is not totally a comedy, but yet can't be called a tragedy either.

For those unfamiliar with Corneille's works that is a very interesting approach of his talent, as it was his last comedy before the writing of Le Cid.

Et aussi sur le groupe PriceMinister : Littérature, Appartement Nantes

Le dernier vol

This is a french movie about a pilot named Lancaster who disappeared in Sahara during the 30's. His fiancée looked for him, risking her own life, but was unsuccessful to find him. Staring the beautiful couple Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet, I had very high expectations as they're both known to be really good actors. So much for my expectations, because sadly the movie is utterly boring, and the hour and half seems to last much longer, as the only action is seeing them walking along their camels in Sahara, with Marion's character weeping most of the time.
Even the oriental music is not as good as it could have been...