There are movies and there are films. Movies are sheer entertainment, films are arty or concentrated on serious themes. It is rare when a piece of cinema is both. Some fail at serious subject matter or come off as pretentious. Anyone who uses the term "film" risks appearing pretentious, ala George Costanza in the episode of Seinfeld where he runs into Susan at a video shop and is embarrassed to be renting Rochelle, Rochelle, “a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.” He says: “A film is what it is.” Of course, it’s nothing more than soft core porn. Last night I was privileged to watch a French Canadian production, Incendies (2010), courtesy of Netflix. In it, twins in their 20’s, male and female, fulfill the dying wishes of their mother. They trace her origins in the hell that often characterizes the Middle East in search of a brother they had not known existed. The mother’s harrowing experiences are seen in flashbacks that are at once gut-wrenching and infuriating. The French term "incendies" translates to "fires." Viewers can only fight back tears and wonder: “How can such things happen? What kind of a world is this?” The solution of the mystery is heart-breaking and sets the mind working. One of the themes is forgiveness. I was questioning just how much could be forgiven, having never faced such circumstances or anything remotely close to them. Concentration is required. It is not pleasant. How could it be, given the subject? The main language is French, with some Arabic and very little English. It was directed by Denis Villenueve. Impressed, I added one of his earlier efforts to my Netflix watch list. I haven’t see anything as powerful in a long time. On a scale of five, four-and-a-half. It is rated 8.1 of ten at IMDb.
It was a fun day at the floating book shop. Bad News Billy showed and bought three sports books, although he was recently bilked out of $70 by a woman he'd helped. He has such a good heart he just can't say no. He gave me a small box of apple juice. A young man purchased Sweet Dreams by my literary angel, January Valentine. As a token of appreciation, I offered him a couple of free books and he chose small paperbacks on Hinduism and Judaism, which seemed odd, given that SD is about a serial killer. Bay 37th Street alum Lorraine visited and said she had a bag of books for me. She returned a half hour later with half a shopping cart full, and most were best sellers by the most popular authors. Actor/singer extraordinaire Johnny Feets turned up and bought two of them. He just completed shooting what will be a 30 minute Twilight Zone-type short, a part for which he was actually paid, albeit a token sum. He brought me cookies.Thanks, folks.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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