Floating Leaf

First of all, I haven't forgotten whose birthday it is today.:)



FIFTY-FIVE already. Time flies, doesn't it? *headshake* BUT. He is still utterly awesome, and I am very much looking forward to his future cinematic endeavors. Two Faces of January should be out soon, if memory serves right... (I am not getting younger either... LOL)

But speaking of cinematic endeavors... I have seen two more festival movies since my previous post. Papusza - the biopic about the Polish Gypsy poet - was epic. Filmed entirely in black-and-white, with majestic landscape panoramas, the story moved back and forth in time, spanning decades of the 20th century. What I realized while watching the film is that Papusza lived almost exactly the same years as my grandmother: she was born in 1910 and died in 1987 (my grandma was born in 1911 and died in 1989). So she went through a lot of the same hardships and tribulations (my grandma didn't belong to a marginalized ethnic community, but her life was pretty tough nonetheless). One significant similarity between them was that they both learned to read, despite being unable to go to school due to poverty and, you know, being girls (and, also, in Papusza's case, due to being a Gypsy - because the Roma community despised education in general). It was remarkable enough for my grandma (raised in an orphanage run by nuns, borrowing textbooks from other girls whose parents could afford to give them some education); for Papusza, it was incredible. Imagine a Gypsy girl who reads, in the 1920's. Then imagine a Gypsy girl who WRITES POETRY. She became a curious, strange phenomenon... then an outcast. Ironically, stigmatized communities tend to be particularly avid about stigmatizing their own members who don't follow the herd. She died in abject poverty, shunned and forgotten. This film is a belated tribute and an attempt to restore her legacy. It was very moving.

The next film - The German Doctor - tells the story of an unsuspecting Argentinian family's encounter with Josef Mengele - the famous Angel of Death (in the unlikely event you haven't heard of him, there's a Wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele). Who, following the end of WWII and his "career" in the death camps, spent decades hiding in South America under an assumed name, continuing his hideous medical experiments on people. I knew about him before seeing this film, of course, but I didn't actually know he was never brought to justice. So I found the story very chilling. Also, interestingly, the head of the Argentinian family in the film was a dollmaker. He made his dolls by hand, giving each one some unique characteristics. Then the German doctor - in order to ingratiate himself into the family, because he wanted to experiment on the children - offered to become his business partner and sponsor mass production... at which point all the dolls started to look identical, with neatly plaited blond hair and blue eyes. Very symbolic...

I have a ticket for one more film, for next Wednesday - but that will be all, as far as the festival goes this year. And it's probably as much as I can handle. I mean, watching movies on the big screen is great, but the 90-minute (one way) commute to the festival theater downtown becomes a bit of a drag after a while. Especially in cold weather. I COULD have seen another film today, but I just didn't want to go there anymore. I needed a break. I am feeling quite lethargic, by the way - I hope it's just tiredness, and not the beginnings of a cold or something...

Also, I need to stop now, because the writing of this post was interrupted by over an hour on the phone, discussing fanfic ideas and other vampire-related stuff. This is becoming a habit, I'm afraid.;) Not that I'm complaining, mind you. At least I get to use some of those prepaid minutes that I hardly ever use for anything else, because I am just not a phone person. Unless there are weighty matters to discuss, obviously, and someone urgently needs my opinion on their fannish works-in-progress. Which makes me feel special. And inspired. But yeah, the next thing on today's agenda is definitely getting into bed, because I work tomorrow...:/