Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Sunday, November 21, 2010

"Call me Z"

"I thought you are my Jesus"



"A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers" is a beautiful book. So beautiful that it becomes difficult to express it into words. It is the story of a simple girl from China who is sent to London by her parents to study English so that she could easily establish connections and develop their business. Nothing out of this world so far, except that she narrates her story/love affair with an older Englishman in a rather incorrect English, and this is what made it unique for me. Besides the sad love story. Not only is she struggling with tenses and plurals, but she also has difficulty in understanding the Western way of living and loving.

The honest way in which she compares attitudes and cultures is so touching. Her naivete and search for love and truth are endearing. We do smile when she pays a visit to a sex shop or when she states how irrelevant it must be to talk about the weather all the time. Still, there is sadness in her lines when she talks about being loved and needed.

"I hate myself being so needy. The way I want of love, is like a hard toothbrush try to brush bad teeth, then it ends up bleeding. The harder I try, more blood comes out.But I believe love can cure everything, and eventually the teeth will not bleeding anymore. I still think love is the hope, of everything."
Is it, indeed? There are many dreams in a long night...

To read the entire novel, click here.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Partir

There's nothing like a French movie, especially when Kristin Scott Thomas stars in it. After an astonishing part in "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime", she takes up a role in which she embodies a wife who longs for attention and love and whose husband doesn't seem to provide that. So, she finds herself a penniless lover and strives to get by with very little, provided she is offered love, sweet love. Is there a happy ending to their story? Maybe, maybe not...



I quite liked the movie, but I still prefer "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime", simply because I didn't find any plausible reason why I would sympathize with the Spanish lover... Nevertheless, the scene at the gas station is heartbreaking and the way Kristin portraits a 40 and something woman in love is quite impressive and reminiscent of this.
Peut etre partir, c'est aimer un peu...

More about the movie and the director's ideas here.

Friday, November 5, 2010