Ok, did a two days in a row of foreign cinema. Name a tragedy and I saw it in film. Actually, I posed that query to my co-worker about A Man Called Ove (directed by Hannes Holm) and he guessed the tragedy shipwreck. Ok, he had me there, there is no shipwreck in A Man Called Ove. I suspect my experience is similar to the book Unbroken. The book was so phenomenal, making a film of the same impossible. At least that’s what I assume now about Frederick Bachman”s A Man Called Ove.
The movie did have charm, but there was something too maudlin for me to give it a fantastic score. But again, I didn’t read the book, and wouldn’t now, knowing what ashes (as in sadness) I’d have to sift through. Don’t let me dissuade you, however, and to be honest, the movie had comic aspects, especially if you’re a Saab or Volvo fan, just not enough for this Sagitarian clown.
Last night’s movie was Aquarius (Kleber Filho), a Brazilian film set in two time periods 1980 and the present, but broken up into three parts: Hair, Love and Cancer. While the movie was way too long, it piqued my interest. One of the motifs was LP vinyl records (my son would probably tell me that’s redundant). To hear a couple of Queen songs cranked over a movie speaker (Fat Bottomed Girl and Another One Bites the Dust) is reason enough to perk up. Certainly the theme of modern development bulldozing over the past and sentimentality is a hot topic in Sarasota. Sonia Bragga, who I had not heard of since Kiss of the Spider Woman, was fantastic (not to mention drop dead gorgeous at age 64, and tell me she doesn’t remind you of Alicia Keyes?). Yet the movie begs for editing. Worth seeing, but be sure to go in dehydrated so you have no desire for the restroom for 2 and half hours.
