Lolita, light of my life,fire of my loins. my sin, my soul...

Plot: Humbert Humbert, a divorced British professor of French literature, travels to small-town America for a teaching position. He allows himself to be swept into a relationship with Charlotte Haze, his widowed and sexually famished landlady, whom he marries in order that he might pursue the woman's 14-year-old flirtatious daughter, Lolita, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love, but whose affections shall be thwarted by a devious trickster named Clare Quilty.

I have always been obsessed with the film Lolita by Adrian Lynes which is based on the book under the same title by the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov. As in most cases, the book is better than the movie... but that is not to say that the movie is any less than AMAZING!

Although I have seen it many times, I got the pleasure of viewing it at my close friend's place after spending a lazy Sunday in Notting Hill together.

The film begins with a narration which is the first paragraph from the book :

I could go on talking about the details of the Authors life, the book and the film but that could easily become 10 pages so I will concentrate on what the combination of all three actually provoked in  us (as both the viewers and readers of the story).

As soon as we finished the film, our heads were filled with a million questions :

1) How did they film it ? did they use someone who was the actual age of Lolita (age 12) or someone older?
2) Was it legal to use someone so young in such a sexual context ?
3) Would you allow your young daughter to play in a movie like this ?
4) How did people perceive Jeromey Irons after this film -as he has to kiss and touch a young girl for the role?
5)What happened to the actress who plays Lolita ? what affect did the film have on her when she watched it later on ?
6) Would she be able to play this role so well without feeling and understanding Lolita ?
7)Is it possible for someone to write a novel about a paedophile with so much detail and feeling without having all these feelings himself ?

There was a lot of googling the next morning and we found some very interesting answers to our questions, but the most important one which cannot really be answered directly is the last one. It makes you think that if someone has such a natural love and passion towards something that is considered so wrong, is it actually wrong ?can loving something ever be bad ? why do we enjoy reading/watching it ? it blurs so many lines in my head and that is why I love this story so much.

                                         The Stanley Kubrick version which I have not seen yet..

This must be the time or place...

I seem to go to sleep in October and come back to life in March/April depending on when the temperature rises. I have spent most of this London rainy day looking at the written pieces which I have not finished, the books lying around with  just a few chapters left  and this Blog in which  I have not posted anything since October 2011. I must find Winter incredibly uninspiring!

This April bought me a month of endless Birthday parties(some of which were my very own)  and now I think I have finally made it home and will be moving onto other things that I have been meaning to do for a while now...

Although the film This Must be the Place by Paolo Sorrentino has an unusual plot, which you can  read about  here :  http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/may/20/cannes-film-festival-2011-sean-penn-review ,
the core of it  reminds me of Somewhere by Sofia Coppola which also features a famous male character who is going through depression. The two directors have found very different methods of  translating the Protagonists  inner feelings onto screen and I think it's interesting to compare them.

So what happens to a man who has everything ?

I shall leave it up to you to discover...

                                                             " Home is where i want to be
                                                              Pick me up and turn me round
                                                              I feel numb - burn with a weak heart
                                                              (so i) guess i must be having fun"

Super sweet short

 butterfly by Revaz Gabridze

High Definition VS Film ?

I personally would choose Film any day...I find the HD aesthetic just does not suit a lot of directors...The Skin I Live in (2011) by Pedro Almadovar would have been so much better on some crackly film. HD makes things look a bit too glossy for my liking.
I don't know why but I have always preferred vintage cars to new ones, antique furniture to modern and film photography to digital photography.


The music video below and an the old film Slogan (1969)  reminded me of how great the colours looked on film in the 60's/70's.

I really enjoyed watching Slogan (1969)...it's no masterpiece but it catches the era in which it was made very well and has also turned into a cult film.
It stars Jane Birkin and the famous singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg...I would recommend reading this interesting article first if your not familiar with the two :    http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/11/gainsbourg200711

Where are all the strong and interesting women ?

After doing some basic research I found this link from MUBI which lists films that supposedly have strong and interesting female characters.I think the term is misinterpreted these days as most "strong" women in cinema are shown to be as: Femme Fatale's, evil bosses, cold, ruthless or just plain crazy... It would be nice to see more female characters like Jenny Mellor in An Education that make mistakes and face obstacles, but overcome them through inner strength because that's what strong people do.

Here is the List :

http://mubi.com/lists/films-with-strong-interesting-female-lead

Paradise in the City... A little music video I made

LCD Soundsystem amazing video