Autumn Reads...

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres - 4 stars ****

This is one of those books that I have wanted to read for ages, more out of curiosity than anything else. I have never watched the film, and had no idea what the plot was about, and the title certainly didn't enlighten me any more! 

It tells a story set in Cephallonia  over a period of nearly 80 years, mainly focusing on a woman called Pelagia (though the tale begins through the eyes of her father Iannis, the village doctor). Her mother died when she was young, and the two have a very special bond. The book takes place during the Italian/ German occupation in the Second World War, and initially Pelagia is in love and betrothed to a local man called Mandras, but he is changed after he is sent to war, and the pair never actually marry. Instead, Pelagia falls in love with one of the Italian Captains stationed on the island (and resident at their house), Antonio Corelli. This is not a quick occurence, and therefore acts as the main anchor for the plot. 

It is difficult to explain the story, as it revolves around daily life, and social politics etc, so if I were to say in detail what happens, it probably wouldn't urge you to read it. But it is very cleverly written, so that it makes you learn about history, philosophise about life and its meanings, engage with the characters, laugh out loud and mourn for fictional deaths. At times it is shocking, and other times it is romantic. As a reader, it takes you on a complete life journey with Pelagia, from her being a young girl fresh out of school, to an elderly grandmother filled with regret. This is seen when towards the end, she says:

'I sit here and I remember former times. I remember music in the night, and I know that all my joys have been pulled out of my mouth like teeth. I shall be hungry and thirsty and longing forever. If only I had a child, a child to suckle at the breast, if I had Antonio. I have been eaten up like bread. I lie down in thorns and my well is filled with stones. All my happiness was smoke.'

It really is a wonderful book, and I am glad I didn't judge it by the cover, as the copy I have makes it looks like a typical romance novel. It approaches love in a more realistic and attainable sense I feel, as opposed to an idealistic way such as in other novels. I particularly like the way Iannis describes the love between himself and his deceased wife to Pelagia, when he is urging her to think carefully about whether Corelli is The One.

'Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body... That is just being "in love", which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two. But sometimes the petals fall away and the roots have not entwined.' 

Summer Reads...

Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters - 5 stars *****

This has been on my to-read list for ages, as I love Sarah Waters' work, and this is supposed to be one of her finest. Set in the late 19th century, it tells the story of Nancy Astley, who leaves her oyster girl past behind in Whitstable after she meets the eccentric and exciting Kitty Butler, a showgirl with a difference - her act requires her to dress as a man and sing songs accordingly. Nancy becomes besotted and strikes up a great friendship with Miss Butler, and together they travel to London to earn their fortune.

After a period of unrelenting longing for each other, the pair eventually confess their feelings and begin living as 'sweethearts'. However, despite an increasingly popular act that now includes Nancy herself (stage name Nan King) her world doesn't stay perfect for long when she discovers Kitty in bed with their male manager.

Horrified, Nancy runs away and is left vacant and with nothing, forcing her to dress as a man and become a 'renter', until she is picked up by the mysterious Diana. She turns out to be an extremely wealthy widow with lesbian tendencies, who installs Nancy as her personal sex slave, in exchange for a life of luxury. However, Nancy soon becomes bored with the lifestyle of a kept woman, and ends up right back on the street where she started, again with nothing. She eventually re-finds love and happiness, with someone she perhaps shouldn't have been so quick to stand up...

This was a fabulous story of rags to riches, twice over. The language and writing style is second-to-none, as would be expected from such a brilliant author. Her depiction of character relationships is so vivid and lifelike, I shed more than a few tears whilst reading this, as it is impossible not to become invested in such a well developed character as Nan King. I am lucky enough never to have had a broken heart, but from reading this novel I can safely say I am happy to wait a lifetime if it feels as bad as is described in Tipping The Velvet. 

One passage that particularly sticks with me is right at the end, when Nancy meets Kitty again at a rally after many years,

'We gazed at one another then. Her lips were damp and slightly parted; and she had paled, so that her freckles showed. Involuntarily I thought back to that night at the Canterbury Palace, when I had met her first and learned I loved her, and she had kissed my hand, and called me 'Mermaid', and thought of me as she should not have... She turned away; and as I stood and watched her, I found that I was aching slightly, as from a thousand fading bruises...'

I think the rawness and honesty of her admittance, that despite over five years, she still feels such heartache, really summarises the beauty in this book, and I highly recommend you read it. 

Spring Views...

Bel Ami - 1 star *

I'll be honest, this film was completely dire. We went as it was so hyped up being Robert Pattinson's first major role since Twilight, but I don't know what all the hype was about. It had the potential to be good - with supporting actresses including Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci, amazing costumes and a gorgeous set in Paris, but it fell completely flat.

It follows the life of young Georges Duval, who after doing military service, returns to Paris and becomes a clerk at a newspaper. He befriends his old friend Forestier's wife, Madeleine (Thurman), and she begins to ghost write articles for him, meaning he becomes a well known journalist, with strong political allies. 

He begins an affair with Madeleine's friend (Ricci), and upon Forestier's death, Duval embarks on a relationship with his wife too. The couple marry, but after she meets his peasant parents, the relationship deteriorates and Georges becomes insanely jealous of Madeleine's position in society and her wealth. He begins another affair with the wife of the owner of the newspaper (Kristin Scott Thomas), but they are discovered and so he must divorce Madeleine. Eventually the film ends with Duval remarrying another young woman (Holliday Grainger) who is obsessed with him, and it hints that Duval will continue with his cheating ways in the future.

Pattinson was so wooden I'm surprised he got through the audition. The character he is portraying, is supposed to be amoral and heartless, but he came across as plain boring and detached. His on-screen romances with Ricci, Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas were not only extremely uncomfortable to watch, as there was no chemistry whatsoever, but they seemed unbelievable as there was no sense that he wooed them into bed, and they were powerful women that seemed like they would have needed to be!

The storyline is quite an interesting one, that has potential to make a good film. It is just a shame that this adaptation wasn't.

Winter Views...

New Year's Eve- 3 stars ***

I went to see this yesterday with my friends to get us in the Christmassy spirit. I didn't really know what it was going to be like, having not seen an advert, but within a few scenes I could tell it was going to be a New Year's Eve version of Love Actually, in that it involves lots of different characters, each with their own storylines, that are somehow all linked.

You couldn't complain at the cast; it had everyone from Halle Berry to Ashton Kutcher and Robert De Niro to Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as teen favourites Zac Efron (who I must admit, looked pretty hot!) and Lea Michele, and they all did their jobs well. Rather than write 4 paragraphs about the different stories, I'll condense it into bulletpoints:

• There are two couples competing to have the first midnight baby to win $25,000 played by Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers, Sarah Paulson and Til Schweiger.


• Ingrid (Michelle Pfeifer) is a quiet secretary who finally bites the bullet and quits her belittling job, and sets off with a courier (Zac Efron) to fulfil a list of resolutions before midnight.


• Efron's sister SJP is having issues wth her teenage daughter Abigail Breslin, as she seeks her first NYE kiss. SJP herself meets up with a mysterious man she met the year before (Josh Duchamel) at midnight, after thy made a pact to do so if they still thought of each other.


• Robert De Niro is a cancer patient who is bed bound and waiting to die. His daughter played by Hilary Swank (who is in charge of the New York ball drop) comes to visit him last minute so that they can see the New Year in on the roof, as is their tradition.


• His nurse Halle Berry is an army wife, who has a very emotional Skype conversation towards the end of the film with her husband.


• Caterer Laura (Katherine Heigl) is in charge of a massive party, but is being pestered by her ex Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi) to get back together after he left her a year previously.


• Jensen's backup singer (Lea Michele) gets trapped in a lift with waster Ashton Kutcher (Efron's flatmate), and the pair realise they have a lot in common. She has to try to race to get to the gig on time, and after Kutcher follows her with her bracelet that she left behind, they get together.

There were some plotlines that were more interesting than others, as in any film, and a few cheesy singing moments from Bon Jovi and Lea Michele made it a bit cringeworthy, but overall a decent watch, and definitely got all my friends and I a bit tearful and feeling festive ready for Christmas
.

Autumn Views...

One Day- 3 stars ***

I went to see this film randomly with a friend and didn't really know what to expect. I had seen that the book was number one in the Times Bestseller list, so hoped the film would live up to the book's apparent reputation.

It starts with Emma (Anna Hathaway) riding through the streets of London on her bicycle on July 15th 2008. After a minute or two, the action is taken back to the same date in 1988, on her graduation day. This theme of zooming backwards and forwards through the years (though always on July 15th) is used throughout the film, so it gives a complete life story of Emma, and her co-starring main character Dexter (Jim Sturgess).

A general overview of the plot is that Emma is a nobody, a geeky student who grows up to be the average woman, and Dexter is charming, rich, and the girls love him. Despite their seemingly different lives, the pair become good friends after a drunken fumble on graduation night, and as viewers we watch as they embark on the journey that is the rest of their lives.

Fuelled by his ego and parent's money, Dexter goes into showbiz after university, where a world of drugs and debauchery await him. Emma struggles to make it as a writer, and makes ends meet by taking a job in a Mexican restaurant. She ends up spending far too much of her life in there, and meets Ian, a dorky but lovable chap who she falls into a half-hearted long term relationship with.

Emma and Dexter's friendship is the only thing that they have in common, and after a while this begins to take its toll on Emma, when Dexter becomes arrogant and completely ignorant to anyone but himself. After a few years of distance, he gets married, has a little girl and settles down, while Emma moves to Paris after her first novel is published, and leaves Ian behind.

Eventually Dexter's wife cheats on him, and he turns up in Paris. Finally both in the same place in life, the pair end up getting married and moving back to England, but this film shows just how cruel life can be when everything appears to be resolved.

It was a lovely film, though hugely sad at times (girls wear waterproof mascara!). Definitely worth a watch for something thought provoking, even though it does make you feel slightly depressed and pessimistic at its finale. The acting is great, especially Ian (Rafe Spall) who is adorable, although Hathaway's accent is extremely dubious at times. It also has a small role played by Romola Garai, who is my total girl crush at the moment!

Spring Views...

Water For Elephants- 4 stars ****

After reading the book of this last summer (it has a post on here somewhere!), I was really excited when I learnt Water For Elephants was being made into a film. Not being a huge fan of Twilight, I was a little disappointed to learn that Robert Pattinson would be playing the lead role, as I had a soft spot for Jacob Jankowski in the book. However, his performance was miles apart from slushy Edward Cullen, showing he is a talented actor that has managed to break away from his stereotype role of teenage heartthrob.

The film is set in 1930s America, and tells the tale of Jacob, a veterinary science student at Cornell University. In the middle of his final exams he learns that his parents have been killed in a car crash, leaving him with no home or business due to his father's philanthropist ways of charging for animals' treatments. Alone and homeless, he leaves town and jumps a train, which turns out to belong to The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show On Earth. Due to his vet training, he is employed to look after the animals, and so begins his life in a travelling circus.

He meets a number of new friends, in particular Camel, a fellow Polish immigrant, and Walter, a dwarf who performs with a Jack Russell called Queenie. Due to his wealthy background, Jacob is also thought highly of by August, the circus ringleader. He has a beautiful wife called Marlena, who is the star act of the show. She rides a troupe of horses, and performs with an elephant called Rosie when she is acquired from another circus that goes bust. But August has an awful temper, and abuses the animals and his wife if things go wrong. When Jacob falls for Marlena, disaster ensues.

The book has a strong plot which translates to the screen very well, and Christoph Waltz as August is brilliant, portraying the perfect combination of aggression and desperation that makes the audience both pity and loathe him. The circus scenes are beautiful to watch, capturing the nostalgia of the era gorgeously, and you get a true sense of community amongst all the workers and performers.

The only negatives I have of the film are subtle. The film begins with a supposedly 93 year old Jacob telling the story. However the actor, Hal Holbrook, despite being 86, looks quite young, and still seems very nimble for such an age. The chemistry between Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon (who plays Marlena) is lacking at times, which I think could be due to the significant age difference between the actors (he is 25, she is 35) but it is not so cringe-making that it seems fake. Also a number of the acrobatic scenes have quite clunky transitions, so it is difficult to ignore the fact that there are separate people doing the stunts and acting. However, in such an action-filled film, I suppose this is to be expected.

All of these negatives do not mean that my overall view of the film is a bad one, though. I think it is admirably loyal to the book, something that is rare these days, and the emotional scenes really include and affect the viewer. It gives out some good messages about overcoming domestic abuse, and discourages animal cruelty, which is so often associated with circuses nowadays. Well worth a watch (and a read!).