Unthinkable Wings

Saw really fantastic film last night - Winter's Bone, dir. Deborah Granik and starring Jennifer Lawrence as a seventeen year old girl in a small, desperately poor Ozark community, who is trying to discover what's happened to her father, before she, her sick mother, and her two younger siblings lose the house her dad posted as bail before vanishing. It's not, obviously, a cheerful film, but it's wonderfully acted - there wasn't a single character who didn't feel like a real human being - beautifully shot, and, in it's grim way, does leave you moved by the human capacity for bravery, love, and generally to kbo. There is the odd fairly monstrous act, but no monsters. See it if you can.

Slacktivist has a post on ten filmic and televisual moments that get you every time.

I'm not sure I actually have ten, but ( there's one way to find out... )

... I think that might be it. Have heart of stone, clearly. Though probably I will remember more as soon as I post (there are also, oddly enough, substantially more moments in literature, but that's a list for another day).

Anyway, dear readers, what are yours?

A friend of mine is doing a James Bond party for the launch of the new film; fancy dress is involved. Unfortunately I am rubbish at fancy dress; also, I have seen a grand total of four Bond films, and one of them was Moonraker, and I am given to understand barely counts. Help?

I am vaguely considering going in drag as Connery!Bond, because all I need to do is slur a bit, and I've got the right accent, but this doesn't exactly solve the problem of clothes. I have spent the evening, on and off, reviewing my acquaintance whom I could plausibly ask for the loan of a DJ and a boiled shirt, but the results went 'too broad shouldered; too broad shouldered; too broad shouldered; probably hasn't got one, since clerical collar counts as black tie; too broad shouldered.' Hum. On the other hand, I'd rather be Bond than a Bond girl; it adds a pleasantly subversive note (either that or silliness; probably the latter!) Damn. Am rubbish at fancy dress.

I also have to come up with a fancy dress for an African themed Cub sleepover which will not restrict my movement overly, and will also not lead to me freezing to death(!), and will preferably not have a really dodgy political subtext. Any thoughts?

Ages and ages ago, I did the iTunes meme (and also the imdb meme). Some songs, and indeed some films, remained stubbornly unguessed. Time to give the answers, I think (now that you've all lost interest....)

( Out dated answers under the cut! )

I have been, while ineffectually trying to mend the lining of a pair of trousers (the seat has more or less given up the ghost), watching Don Camillo and Peppone, a charming 1952 film of the short stories about the hot-tempered village priest and the equally temperamental Communist mayor, former comrades in the partisans and current ideological enemies, checked only by the comments of Christ - and the fact that they both, deep down, know that they only want the best for their village.

Anyway: there's a scene fairly early on where a house catches fire. It's actually the site of a Communist arms cache, as both Peppone and Don Camillo know - Peppone because he put it there, and Don Camillo because he stumbled on it and laid the fire. However, they both want to go and look as if they're investigating, so that the village won't think that the Church/ the Party is represented by cowards, and they advance cautiously side by side towards the fire. Then, there is an explosion, and they leap round, take hands and run away. And I found myself thinking, if there was a Don Camillo fandom, there'd so be slash about that.

Later there's a scene where Don Camillo is persuaded to bless the new village centre, and has to stand and give his approval to a very Communist speech by Peppone. He's forced to say a few unwilling words so as not to lose face - and then Peppone seizes his hand, shakes it, and doesn't let go of it for something like two minutes. Also, there's a very odd fight scene - odd, because for some reason we aren't shown any of the actual fighting - where Peppone ends up flat on his back with one foot tied up in the salley of a bell, whereupon he decides to have his baby christened Liberia Camillo rather than Liberia Lenin (poor infant!)

I blame Doctor Who fandom and the whole hand-porn thing.† (Actually, the scene where they're running away from the fire looked rather like a scene from early Doctor Who, specifically Two and Jamie). I'm not going to go and write Don Camillo slash, because (a) I can't see it as more than very, very UST and (b) it would make me feel dirty, and not in a good way (fond memories of childhood reading, and also I'm not into adultery stories and don't like the Thornbirds motif...) - but I rarely see slash, even where other people are adamant about it, so this was a new and confusing experience.

Eta: † A technical term in Who-fandom, at least on LJ, and not as filthy as it sounds. See explanation in comments....

Last night I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in German, which is a curious experience. The dubbing is fairly well done, but there are a few changes of emphasis - the most obvious being the scene where Indy and his dad have been captured in the Austrian castle, Ilsa kisses him, with the words 'That's how we say goodbye in Austria', and the SS bloke says 'And this is how we say goodbye in Germany', and hits him. In the German, he says something like 'This is how the SS says goodbye.'

It's such a splendid film, though - and the rather free way it handles mediaeval history and literature (not to mention geography!) is not inappropriate, given the myriad sources from which the various versions of the Grail legend coalesced. (Although I admit I am biased in favour of a film in which mediaevalism is represented by Sean Connery!) Theologically, it's a lot better than one might expect.

Am going to see the new film on Wednesday night; have very low expectations, but after two hours of an academic planning meeting, I'm sure it can't fail to be an improvement on that

I may well be the last person on LJ who lists Lewis as an interest to see the film, but I finally got round to it yesterday...

( Spoilerish review here )