Sunday, October 23, 2005

Viareggio the island of Giglio and my family

These are my parents, my babbo (tuscan for father) and my mamma (mom)



And this is an old picture of the port of Viareggio, beautiful boats, weren't they?





Another old picture from Viareggio (1931). It must have been a beautiful place to go on holiday!



Here you can see how close the mountains are as well. Beautiful hiking tracks and great skiing in the winter!



Another view of the old port. Viareggio has two ports now. The commercial one for medium and big fishermen's boats and a marina with beautiful yachts.

While my mother's side of the family is from Viareggio and the surrounding area (Lucca?), my father's side is from an island just off the southern coast of Tuscany.
Following are some pictures of the "Isola del giglio" (the name has nothing to do with the flower "giglio" and everything to do with the greek word for goats :) ).



This is one of the two little towns on the island, "Giglio Porto" and it's the first thing one sees upon arriving with the ferry from "Porto Santo Stefano" (45 min trip).



This is one of the many little beaches and coves that one can reach by boat or hiking along the rocky shoreline among beautifully smelling "ginestra" (ginster?).

This is an old picture that I dag out off the internet. I think it portrais the beach of "Giglio Campese".




And here is a map of this small island.


Wednesday, October 12, 2005

My Favourite Movies

This is starting off as a list of movies, but hopefully it will develop into more of a list of reviews. The movies are sorted strictly in alphabetical order :)

Angels In America

Interesting portrait of the pre-AIDS '80s in the gay community of NYC. Beautifully acted.

Babette's Feast (Babettes Gaestebud)

Broken Flowers

by Jim Jarmush with Bill Murray. Another masterpiece about isolation with Murray. This type of characters fit him like gloves. Great soundtrack.

Chocolat

Un Coeur En Hiver (A heart in winter)

Beautiful soundtrack with music by Ravel (a collection CD). The main character is THE anti-hero, a man who is afraid to live. Overly sensitive and analytical. Do we have to always displease someone to be happy?


The most beautiful music I ever heard.


Dersu Uzala

Four Weddings And A Funeral

Beautiful british comedy. Refreshing, lighthearted, wonderful.

An Ideal Husband

In my opinion this is Wilde at his best. Clever plot, funny characters, brilliant dialogues, what can one ask more?

Italian For Beginners ("Italiensk for begyndere" Danish version)

This movie is part of the collection of Dogme movies (#12). In these movies there is no use of artificial lighting, no soundtrack. Everything is as simple as it gets and yet... it's a beautiful little movie about people and their feelings.

Lost In Translation

Two lonely souls (as lonely as you get in an empty relationship) in a setting, Tokio, that inspires lonelyness with its other-wordly taste. They find each other and by the end of the movie they know they are nt alone anymore. Beautiful little touch in the end. A movie definitely worth seeing if you have a soul.

Looking For Richard

Hardly definible. A documentary? A feature movie? A play? Definitely it teaches you a lot about Shackespear and his time. All this from a guy from Brooklin? Well, why not?

Noises off...

Hilarious comedy. You'll fall off your chair!

Owning Mahowny

Scary insight in the mechanism of addiction to gambling. Seymour-Hoffman at his best.

Une Pure Formalite (A pure formality)

Beautiful movie with Depardieu and Polanski as main characters. Touching, it makes you think. I cnanot reveal anything more.

Rosencrantz And Guildestern Are Dead

Is life a stage? If so, what happens to the characters in between acts? Funny, but it'll make you think.

Secretary

Sexy.

Sense And Sensibility

Shall We Dansu (Dance) (Japanese original version)

Sweet and funny. I haven't seen the american remake, but this movie really didn't need any remaking. Not really what I would have expected from Japanese cinema. A delightful surprise (for me).

Stalingrad

The 2WW lived through the eyes of a small group of german soldiers sent from the mild costs of Italy, to fight in the battle of Stalingrad. Extremely powerful movie. This is war.

Tango

The music, the dancing, the marvellous light of academy world winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. A film in the film. Beautiful.

The Tango Lesson

This movie has single-handedly brought back Argentine tango on the world scene. The dancing is fantastic. Watch it and then start looking for a tango teacher...

Titus

Powerful, orrific. A great movie, but be prepared, it's not a light viewing.

Special section of Italian movies

L'Albero Degli Zoccoli
(The Tree Of Wooden Clogs, Ermanno Olmi, 1978)

The life of a poor family in the countryside of norther Italy. A little bit feature movie, a little bit documentary. Extremely interesting.

I Soliti Ignoti
(Big Deal On Madonna Street, Mario Monicelli, 1958)

Great italian classic. This comedy reunites some of the best known faces of our post-war cinema.

Credevo Fosse Amore E Invece Era Un Calesse
(I Thought It Was Love, But Instead It was A Horse Cart , Massimo Troisi, 1991)

Troisi (who passed away when still in his early forties) had a humour and light touch when tellign stories, that no other italian filmaker can claim. We lost a great artist and this is one of his best works.

Guardie E Ladri
(Guards and Thieves, Mario Monincelli & Steno, 1951)

Ladri Di Biciclette
(Bicycles Thieves, Vittorio De Sica 1948)

Miseria E Nobilta'
(Poverty and Nobleness, Mario Mattoli, 1954)

Non Ci Resta Che Piangere
(All We Are Left With Is Crying, Roberto Benigni & Massimo Troisi, 1985)

Secondo Ponzio Pilato
(According To Ponzio Pilatus, Luigi Magni, 1987)

Il Sorpasso
(The Overtake , Dino Risi, 1962)

La Terra Trema
(The Earth Is Shaken, Luchino Visconti 1948)

Tuttobenigni


Here are some special clips I've found...

Troisi: La smorfia, "San Gennaro"



Troisi and Benigni: from "Non ci resta che piangere", letter to Savonarola



Paolo Villaggio: Il secondo tragico Fantozzi (1976)



And now a great director/actor, Nanni Moretti.
Here in a little piece that quickly became part of our collective history: the sacher torte piece