It´s time for a new remake at Christmas!

                                              

There is clearly a cyclic sense related to this time of the year: the end of the year with the Christmas festivities and the beginning of a new year full of New Year´s resolutions. In the same way as we look back and we think of the year that has gone by, film-directors also look back and find inspiration for new stories which are sometimes remakes of well-known stories; that´s the case with West Side Story, the new version of the1961classic film by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Steven Spielberg is the director of this remake. Apparently Spielberg had been meaning to direct this film for a very long time and here is the outcome of such an ambition. I could tell you many things that are interesting about this new version – such as some changes in the plot – so  I´d like to share this link of an article that I´ve read which is really encouraging.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/02/west-side-story-review-steven-spielberg

I´m very fond of West Side Story – the 1961 film – and I have seen the musical performed on stage. (By the way the original film was based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name). I could be told that the remake is even better than the original version in some respects but Leonard Bernstein´s music will always be the same: America, Somewhere, María, Tonight, I Feel Pretty …  those songs were perfect at the time and they will remain so regardless of who sings them now or then.

So I encourage you to watch West Side Story, the new version or the old one or both of them so that you can compare the two films. There are good reasons to watch both films: the old one is a classic which won 10 Oscar awards and Steven Spielberg – one of best film-directors in the history of cinema – is bound to have made a wonderful film.

I hope you are having a Merry Christmas and I wish you a happy and healthy New Year!

( If you wish to learn a bit about Steven Spielberg´s themes in his cinema, have a look at the post that I wrote on 24^th December 2015 “Spielberg´s recommendation for Christmas”).

Bookshop Day

 

Breakfast at Tiffany´s: the 60th anniversary of its release

One of the most iconic scenes in the history of cinema belongs to the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany´s. It doesn´t matter whether you´ve watched the film or not, I´m sure you´re acquainted with this scene. The film, which was released in 1961, was based on the novel by Truman Capote but apparently the writer wasn´t happy with it as the film wasn´t faithful to the original. A few things differ from the story of the novel and Truman Capote thought that the role of Holly Golightly should have been played by Marilyn Monroe instead of Audrey Hepburn. The truth is that now – and since the film was released – it is impossible to think of Audrey Hepburn without thinking of Breakfast at Tiffany´s and vice versa. Her style, her elegance, her performance and her singing of Moon River are part of the essence of this classic film, which was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry of the United States in 2012.

The actor who played the role of the writer Paul Varjak – the new neighbour in Holly´s building – was George Peppard. This was probably his most famous role even if some people only knew him thanks to his role of Hannibal Smith in the 80s TV series The A- Team.

 Marking the 60^th anniversary of the release of Breakfast at Tiffany´s can be a good opportunity to discover a classic or just to enjoy the film once more because that´s part of  the essence of classics – classic books or classic films – you never get tired of them!!

It seems that it´s time for festivals again!!

This has also been an atypical summer: we´re trying to go back to normal but we know – or most of us know – that the current situation is still far from being normal. In this context, holding events such as film festivals seems a step further towards achieving the sought-after normality. The 74^th Cannes Film Festival which is usually held in May took place last July but the 78^th Venice International Film Festival and the San Sebastian International Film Festival have taken place this September according to schedule.

In relation to these festivals, I would like to draw our attention to some relevant facts which have happened these days. For instance, the fact that the film “Madres paralelas” (Parallel Mothers) by Pedro Almodóvar got a ten-minute standing ovation from the audience who watched the premiere of the film or that the actress Penélope Cruz won the “Coppa Volpi” for best actress for her performance in that film. However, the anecdote that really gripped my attention the most was related to the director Paolo Sorrentino whose film The Hand of God is based on his own life. When he was a teenager, his parents were killed by a gas leak. Sorrentino should have been with them but he preferred to watch Diego Maradona play for his local team, Napoli, and that fact – attending the local stadium – saved his life. The Hand of God is Sorrentino´s most personal film and the director´s response to one of his friends who once told him that he never dealt with personal issues in his films.

In San Sebastian Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp have been awarded the Donostia life-time achievement accolade and this year the festival has decided that there will be only one award for the best leading performance regardless of whether that performance belongs to an actor or an actress. This decision has been a bit controversial and obviously, arguments for and against this view can be found so deciding which view to support is up to you!

One of the films that has been premiered at the 67^th edition of San Sebastian International Film Festival is Maixabel, directed by Icíar Bollaín. Maixabel tells us a story based on real events which is part of our recent history, the one that has to do with terrorism. As the director of the film points out, during the shooting of the film the cast of actors felt a very special emotion as they were aware that this was not an ordinary film.

Finally, I ´d like to pay attention to the fact that the Spanish director Mario Camus died yesterday at the age of 86. At the 33^rd Berlin Film festival, in1983, he won the Golden Bear for his film “La Colmena” (The Beehive), based on the novel by Camilo José Cela. He also directed “Los santos inocentes “(Holy Innocents), the drama based on the famous novel by Miguel Delibes or the TV series Fortunata and Jacinta, a TV adaptation of Benito Pérez Galdós´s classic as well as Lorca´s  La casa de Bernarda Alba. In 2011 Mario Camus won an honoray Goya award and it was then that he claimed that a film does not belong to a single author but to an entire team of 50 people who really make the film. The film-maker donated his personal archive to the Centre of Education for adults in Santander, the city where he was born.

 This September is full of news as it used to be. We can´t deny that we missed the red carpets, not the carpets themselves – of course – but what they bring about so let´s hope the future is full of red carpets again!!

World Book and Copyright Day 2021

 

I must tell you that I´m really happy: I was looking forward to this day!! My remembrance of last year is totally different: World Book Day couldn´t be celebrated under normal circumstances because we had been placed on lockdown due to the pandemic. Obviously, celebrating this red-letter day wasn´t a priority at the time and doing without celebrations has just become normal and merely a collateral effect in the framework of a medical emergency that has affected us worldwide.

We are still immersed in the pandemic but this year we are free to visit our favourite bookshops. Some of us are still reluctant to hold books in our hands and to smell the scent of brand new paper. A physical barrier has emerged between our eagerness to read and our face masks but we have also learnt that cautiousness has become our ally over the last months.

Even if bookshops and libraries were closed, it seems that the number of readers grew noticeably last year thanks to the pandemic so you see, every cloud has a silver lining.

As usual, I must recall that the industry of cinema is indebted to literature and that´s why I feel the need to write about this red-letter day every year. When I look back and I think of lockdown, I have very few nice memories but one is linked to viewing the film Brooklyn (2015). That evening I stopped thinking about my worries and I just focused on the life of Eilis Lacey, wonderfully played by Saoirse Ronan. That night, through that character, I travelled to Ireland and to New York in the societies of the 1950s and I went through the dilemmas of a young Irish girl while I was – on lockdown – at home. We can´t underestimate the transforming power of the cinema to change our lives regardless of how ephemeral that change can be. By the way, Brooklyn is based on the novel of the same name written by the Irish author Colm Tóibín. The novel was published in 2009 and, in 2012, it was described as one of the 10 best historical novels by the British newspaper The Observer.

Today, just celebrate World Book Day as you wish. Feel free to ramble near the book stalls – there are fewer this year – or go to your local bookshop o just stay at home and read for a while or watch a film based on one of your favourite books. This pandemic has deprived us of many things, don´t let it deprive you of the pleasure of living other lives.