My Weekly Books and Films Update
Linking up with:
Stacking the Shelves (details)
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)
HAPPY THINGS:
1. Watching the Oscar nominated short films
2. Receiving unexpected Valentine's Day treats
3. Spotting a bus with eyeballs all over it
Review:
by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina
-Mystery, YA, Australia | Goodreads
Release date: May 14, 2019
In for some magical realism.
Bought:
by Oyinkan Braithwaite
-Mystery, Thriller, Africa | Goodreads
IN preparation for the Tournament of Books 2019 (here).
Author event:
Green Apple Books on the Park, hosted a conversation between Esmé Weijun Wang and R.O. Kwon.
by Esmé Weijun Wang
-Essays, Mental Illness | Goodreads
An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the "collected schizophrenias" but to those who wish to understand it as well. Opening with the journey toward her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Wang discusses the medical community's own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then follows an arc that examines the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life. In essays that range from using fashion to present as high-functioning to the depths of a rare form of psychosis, and from the failures of the higher education system and the dangers of institutionalization to the complexity of compounding factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease, Wang's analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.
Green Apple Books on the Park, hosted an event with Johannes Lichtman for the release of his debut novel.
by Johannes Lichtman
-Literary | Goodreads
Jonas Anderson wants a fresh start.
He’s made plenty of bad decisions in his life, and at age twenty-eight he’s been fired from yet another teaching position after assigning homework like, Visit a stranger’s funeral and write about it. But, he’s sure a move to Sweden, the country of his mother’s birth, will be just the thing to kick-start a new and improved—and newly sober—Jonas.
When he arrives in Malmo in 2015, the city is struggling with the influx of tens of thousands of Middle Eastern refugees. Driven by an existential need to “do good,” Jonas begins volunteering with an organization that teaches Swedish to young migrants. The connections he makes there, and one student in particular, might send him down the right path toward fulfillment—if he could just get out of his own way.
AND watched: in theatre - part of Noir Film Festival
Director/Writer: Samuel Fuller
Stars: Victoria Shaw, Glenn Corbett, James Shigeta
-Crime, Drama, Mystery | imdb | my rating: 5
Two detectives seek a stripper's killer in the Japanese quarter of Los Angeles, but a love triangle threatens their friendship.
AND the Asian guy gets the girl! Kinda cool to see an Asian actor in a lead part from a 50's film.
Director: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Abraham Polonsky, Nelson Gidding
Based on book by: William P. McGivern
Stars: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame
-Crime, Drama, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 5
Dave Burke hires two very different debt-burdened men for a bank robbery. Suspicion and prejudice threaten to end their partnership.
INTERESTING to see how racism plays out in this noir film of the past.
AND watched: in theatre - nominated for the Oscar's 2019
Director/Screen story: Rob Marshall
Screen story: David Magee, John DeLuca
Based on book by: P.L. Travers
Stars: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw
-Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical | imdb | my rating: 4
Decades after her original visit, the magical nanny returns to help the Banks siblings and Michael's children through a difficult time in their lives.
THE colors, costumes and set made this a fun whimsical (but serious) tale.
Director/Screenplay: Barry Jenkins
Based on book by: James Baldwin
Stars: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King
-Crime, Drama, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
A woman in Harlem embraces her pregnancy while she and her family struggle to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime.
CAPTURES the beauty and innocence of love with its filming close-ups and overall tinge. Loved the soundtrack.
Director/Screenplay: Bradley Cooper
Screenplay: Eric Roth, Will Fetters
Based on screenplay 1954 by: Moss Hart
Based on screenplay 1954 by: John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion, Frank Pierson
Based on story by: William A. Wellman, Robert Carson
Stars: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott
-Drama, Music, Romance | imdb | my rating: 5
A musician helps a young singer find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
WOW. I have not seen the previous iterations or spoilers of this film and went into cold. Loved it. And loved Lady Gaga's Shallow.
Zimna wojna (original title)
Director/writer/screenplay: Pawel Pawlikowski
Screenplay: Janusz Glowacki, Piotr Borkowski
Stars: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot
-Drama, Music, Romance, Poland | imdb | my rating: 5
A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, the film depicts an impossible love story in impossible times.
ANOTHER WOW. History, love and music are woven into a beautiful and sad tapestry of life for this polish couple. The haunting melody carries throughout the film and still lingers in my mind.
-Live Action
Detainment (Ireland), based on the true story of two ten-year-old boys who are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler
Fauve (Canada), set in a surface mine, where two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer
Madre (Mother) (Spain), about a single mother who receives a disturbing call from her seven-year-old son who is on vacation with his father in the French Basque Country
Marguerite (Canada), about an aging woman and her nurse who develop a friendship that inspires her to unearth unacknowledged longing and thus help her make peace with her past
Skin (USA), in which an innocuous moment sends two gangs into a ruthless war that ends with a shocking backlash.
-Animation
Animal Behaviour (Canada), in which five animals meet regularly to discuss their inner angst in a group therapy session led by a canine psychotherapist
Disney-Pixar’s Bao (USA), the story of an aging Chinese mom suffering from empty nest syndrome who gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life as a lively, giggly dumpling boy
Late Afternoon (Ireland), about an elderly woman who journeys into an inner world, reliving moments from her life
One Small Step (USA/China), about a vibrant young Chinese American girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut
Weekends (USA), the story of a young boy shuffling between the homes of his recently divorced parents.
With bonus animated shorts Wishing Box (USA) and Tweet Tweet (Russia).
* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently
Thanks for stopping by :-)
