posted by [identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com at 04:35pm on 01/09/2013
I remember being amazingly irritated by Sheltering Sky tho not quite why.
How was Rivers of London? Is on my list given all i seem to read is London novels currently..
 
posted by [identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com at 04:37pm on 01/09/2013
Also ome to that, how was Frances Ha?
 
posted by [identity profile] bugshaw.livejournal.com at 04:52pm on 01/09/2013
I thought I'd be irritated by Frances Ha, but it got lots of good reviews so I gave it a go, and found it pretty irritating. The key to enjoyment seems to be to find the quirky heroine "endearing". The black and white film gives it a nice deep feel, less sitcommy than it might be in colour, and her bff's performace is jolly delicate and I've not seen much like it in films, or characters like hers. If you have room for another film about 27-something New Yorkers struggling to make a living and grow up you might find you like this one.
 
posted by [identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com at 05:16pm on 01/09/2013
That was pretty much impression I had! Sounds like one t see for free on a plane,
 
posted by [identity profile] bugshaw.livejournal.com at 04:46pm on 01/09/2013
We read Rivers of London for Book Club and I enjoyed it - it's a cop novel, a (not quite coming of age but a bit after that where you get your first job, is there a phrase for that?) novel, a humorous novel, with magic (which I'm less keen on) and chock full of London references and history and odd supernatural creatures that inhabit it in a way that makes me think OMG, how much more is there to London I didn't know? Fast and fun read with lots of good bits.

You could read The Sheltering Sky as being a tiresome film of irritating people who are wandering aimlessly around not quite divorcing, never getting anywhere. But I saw it on the big screen from a 70mm print and will use words like "stunning", "hypnotic", "hallucinatory", and "you can almost smell the camels". I do not want to be any of the people, know them, or share their journey in real life, but I got quite immersed in them living out their story.
 
posted by [identity profile] unwholesome-fen.livejournal.com at 08:03pm on 01/09/2013
Yes, basically you have to abandon any notion of working out what the characters' motivations are, and just sit back and enjoy the ride. Also I never did work out why John Malkovich's character has the same name as the capital of Papua New Guinea - perhaps the book explains it.
 
posted by [identity profile] bugshaw.livejournal.com at 08:10pm on 01/09/2013
They're rich, they don't need motivations :-) His name is Porter, shortened to Port, though Porter is still a pretty unusual forename.

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