James Dean

Vivre Vite, Philippe Besson

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The Book

This novel is a choral novel (romanticized biography) written by Philippe Besson and released in 2015. It traces James Dean’s story through various testimonies of those who have known him.

What about James Dean ?
James Byron Dean – nicknamed Jimmy Dean – better knownby his stage name James Dean, born on the 8th, February 1931 in Marion (Indiana) and dead on the 30th September 1955 in Cholame (California) is an american actor.

He begins his career with a walk-on on Pepsi-Cola advertising in 1950.

He also appears in various TV series such as Studio One, General Electric Theatre, Danger etc…

Since he is a child, he dabbles in theatre. That leads him to act in a play of Andre Gide, called L’immoraliste. Thanks to it, he knows a big success in Broadway, New York, and he is rewarded with the price of the most promising young actor of the year which propels him in the cinema world.

He was not mentionned in the credits for his four first films. It is from East Of Eden directed by Elia Kazan (1955) that he knows his first true movie success :

And it will continue with Rebel Without a Cause, Nicholas Ray (1955)

…and with his last film : Giant by George Stevens (1956)

His untimely demise reinforces the myth around him and his career. That’s why I decided to explain precisely his tragic death :

James Dean always been fascinated by motor racing : he wants to participate in a race in North California. He leaves on the morning, driving a Porsche 550 Spyder with his mechanic Rolf Wutherich. During the trip, a police control fines him for exceeding the speed limit.

James Dean is driving for four hours and suddenly, at a crossroad, near Cholame, a student called Donald Tumupseed pull out in front of him. The two cars collide violently. James Dean dies instantly, Rolf Wutherich is projected out of the vehicle whereas the student gets away only with bruises.

The « irony » of his death is that he has just finished the shooting of Giant, during which a term of his contract forbids him to participate in any motor racing and to drive dangerously. Just before his accident, he was requested for a short film about road safety, encouraging people to drive carefully.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXDYY8p5O-Y[/youtube]

James Dean is a figurehead of the 50’s and that is why I decided to read this book. I wanted to learn more about him and to understand the infatuation around him.

There are so much interesting things in this book :
First, there are many striking sentences. Metaphors, expressions, short sentences, coarse language or great turns of phrase. I like the way of writing of the author : he takes testimonies that he has sublimated with many sentences. These ones are interesting because it exposes different point of view about James Dean. There is also fictitious « testimonies » of James Dean : pure invention of the author, which refer to various periods of his life : some trace his child’s gaze on significant events such as his mother’s death. This passage was really moving… others were touching for their symbolism, by the words used. The testimonies make us feel so close to his life : we are a kind of stalker. Sometimes, we can identify us to certain moments of his life.

I got the impression to learn so much thing in one book, but I couldn’t remember all. Once the book finished, I should have liked it to continue. That’s the only negative point according to me : it is too short. Such as James Dean’s life.

« Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse » Willard Motley, Knock on Any Door

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie

  For a few decades, the whole world has been the stage of brutal, outlandish and bizarre political ideologies, whose Orwellian emblems –Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Mao and many others- were so ruthless and maybe even bloodier than some Ancient World’s megalomaniac tyrants such as Caligula, this insane and self-absorbed Roman emperor.
But although mankind is supposed to improve and learn of its errors, some recent systems were so Orwellian that even Orwell would have had troubles envisioning them. One of them could be Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which unfold from 1966 to the dictator’s death, about 10 years later. Its purpose was to eradicate the educated upper class in the name of the communist ideology, which implies the equality of people on every level. It aimed at erasing the « Four Olds », so old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits, which means everything this era’s Chinese society was based on…The so-called « young intellectuals »- youths who attended secondary school- and bourgeois were deemed to be as many ennemies of the people. According to the government, they needed to be « re-educated‘, and to do so, were sent off to the underdevelopped peasants of the countryside, alleged more virtuous. Between 1968 and 1975, around 12 million youths were thus  »rusticated. »

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Dai Sijie, a Chinese filmmaker and writer, who is also the author of the novel I am going to tell you about, was one of these young men. He lived and worked in the Sichuan Province’s mountains between 1971 and 1974 and has then turned his experience into a poetic and touching story « Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress », published in France a few years ago, to huge acclaim. He shows that way China’s ambivalent attitude to both its past and present.

The novel’s narrator, Ma, is a serious, silent, and talented violonist and son of two hard-working doctors, whose crimes were to be « stinking scientific authorities. » His friend Luo, who shares his adventures on the countryside is his whole contrary; not only bold but without scruples in helping himself to what he wants. He is also the son of someone altogether more dangerous: Mao’s personal dentist, who couldn’t prevent himself from telling his relatives about his exalted patient.

 »Here was an eminent dentist stating publicly that the Great Helmsman of the Revolution had been fitted with new teeth, just like that. It was beyond belief, an unpardonable, insane crime, worse than revealing a secret of national security. »

Packed off to the damp, remote mountains that you can easily imagine if you have already seen stylized paintings of pre-Revolutionary chinese landscapes, our first nameless narrator and his friend Luo realize that their « re-education » is entrusted to a group of illiterate and former opium traffickers, whose wisdom is justified by being part of the respectable peasantry. Solicitous to get rid of anything « western » or « reactionary« , the head of the village, called Chief, goes through their belongings and finds a cookbook and a violin. The cookbook is quickly thrown in the fire after the reading of it spreads expressions of longing into villager’s faces. The violin was about to follow the same path, since Chief decreed that it was a toy. No, says Luo, it is for making music and Ma plays it very well. The first bars of one of Mozart’s sonatas sound like an odd birdsong in the mountains as the villagers are completely unaccustomed to classical western melodies and harmonies. They are eventually allowed to keep this strange instrument as they present this piece as « Mozart is thinking of Chairman Mao« . Later on, Chief will hear Swan Lake, but only agrees to like it once the young men insure him that it was « written for Lenin ». The gap is felt between the town and the mountain. The peasants have never seen an alarm clock for instance; they wake up everyday with the sunrise to go to bed at the sunset. This incredible invention leaves the chief flabbergasted, but he finds it very efficient to make the villagers and laborers work in time…until Luo and Ma change the hands so many times, they quickly lost all notion of time.

Indeed, books and ideas that don’t emanate from the ruling regime are forbidden in the village, as well as western music. Life in the village is hard: Luo and Ma are in charge of some arduous tasks, such as backbreaking work in a coal mine or carrying huge containers of human waste down to the fields, where it is then used to fertilize crops. Their daily life is quite dull, until they meet the bold, full of life, beautiful daughter of the local tailor, known as Little Seamstress, who brings a ray of sunshine in their existence. Although she is unschooled, both of the young men grow fondly attached to her, in different ways.

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One of the only true entertainment comes in the form of projection of politically correct North Korean and Albanian movies in another village nearby. Because of their intellectual backgrounds, they are sent by the head of the village to narrate them next to the whole village. The first time they go, they swap the initial plot for an engaging tale, even adding some home-made « snow » crafted from rice skin to enhance their effect. But they soon discover something even more important. One of their bespectacled fellow nicknamed « Four-Eyes« – glasses being of course, the most obvious sign of decadent intellectuals- the coward son of a well-known poet, hides a wooden suitcase full of western books in his hut. After stealing this collection, Luo and Ma begin a new kind of « re-education« ; they read books by Flaubert, Balzac, Kipling, Dostoievski or Gogol out loud for the Little Seamstress. In order not to be caught, the three companions hide their treasure in a far-away cave, where they read the works one at a time, teaching their avid pupil how to read.

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The young Chinese Peasant has already became aware of the existence of an unknown world and is eager for discovering it all. As soon as they read the first book of the case, which is Balzac’s « Ursule Mirouët« , the effect is devastating, absolutely revolutionary for the three of them, since even in the hometown of the two young men, the only western books allowed are the complete works of the Albanian Communist leader, as Albania is « a great friend of China ». The subjects mentioned blow their minds away, as they slowly discover a sensual and romantic world, until then missing from their lives, as the Communist ideology studiously forgets them. Moreover, these are as many deep emotions justified and implified by Balzac and the other authors found in the suitcase. The narrator’s own favourite book is no other but Romain Rolland’s « Jean-Christophe », without which, he says: ‘‘I would never have understood the splendor of taking free and independent action as an individual. »

“It was a totally new experience for me. Before, I had no idea that you could take on the role of a completely different person, actually become that person––a rich lady, for example––and still be your own self.” -The little Seamstress

Luo becomes the Little Seamstress’s paramour, and although his attachement is for sure genuine, he can’t help but trying to « civilize » her and to do so, forces many things upon her. For instance, he wants her to use her arms as she swims, rather than dog-paddling like the other villagers do. He also would like her to speak and act more like a city girl, that she isn’t. However, we can easily wonder about who educates-or re-educates- who in this story… Luo, a quite arrogant character, talks about his « fellow Balzac« , with whom he feels equal and certainly superior to the uncivilized peasants, and even his Seamstress, as he seems to think that he is the only one who can provide something to her, and certainly not the contrary. But here comes the irony; it is not Luo and Ma who understand these stories the most, but the Little Seamstress who read into them the sense of what she was missing in such a petty and backward world, that she decides to leave behind. Dressed in her new western clothes, she runs away without listening to her friends, who later understand the frightening power of literature, and why it is feared by the government. Balzac’s words, that Luo calls a « wizard », transformed the little peasant and rose her consciousness as she left the Sichuan province for the city.

 »Had we ourselves, » the narrator asks,  »failed to grasp the essence of the novels we had read to her? »

Then comes an ellipsis and we are propelled 30 years later. Ma became a successful violonist living in Paris and Luo a father, husband and a professor in dentistry. Although their lives are happy enough, the western culture they embraced looks now common. They both decide to go back to this village they grew up in and it’s merely as if they travelled in time, to the Middle Ages. Nothing changed much, only the crystal-clear laughters of the Little Seamstress are gone with her and Chief’s face looks a lot more wrinkled. They learn that this place lost in the mountains is about to be wiped out by flooding, to build a new electrification dam. The valley will disappear into thin air, just like their memories of this time, that slowly flow by. Both men yearn to see this woman they both loved, but whom they repelled with their books and music. They look after her during a long amount of time, but no avail. Inspired by Balzac, she took control of her life and went exploring this brand new world and herself. But no one knows where she is.

As Luo and Ma are reminiscent of their youth together, their memories are shaped into an underwater vision of this village in 1971, which feels like a tale. The water closes in on them; however it is obvious that something meaningful remains.

The Prestige – Christopher Nolan

« – Do you have anything to say ?

 – Abracadabra. »

You know that I really loooooooove stories with suspense and the psychological thriller, that’s why today I decided to speak about the movie « The Prestige«  directed by Christopher Nolan (and his brother, too). It was released in 2006 and inspired by Christopher Priest’s novel written in 1995. If you like magic, this movie is for you… But just a thing : in magic, the illusion is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

« The sacrifice, Robert, here is the price of a good magic trick… But it is an unknown notion for you. »

London, at the beginning of the last century… Robert Angier and Alfred Borden are two magicians who are destined for a glorious future. However, a rivalry appears between both friends because of the fatal accident of Angier’s woman. Both enemies aim at destroying themselves by using the darkest secret of their art… This obsession will have dramatic consequences on their circle of acquaintances.

Every great magic trick have three parts or acts. The first part is called « The Pledge » : the magician shows you something ordinary : a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Maybe he asks you to inspect it to see if it is real or normal, but of course…it probably isn’t. The second act is called « The Turn » : the magician turns the ordinary thing into extraordinary. And now you want the secret, but you don’t really try to find it. The final stage of the illusion, « The Prestige », is the part of the magic trick where the unforeseen occurs.

I’m not going to repeat I like this kind of movie but… The Prestige is… a real masterpiece ! The actors are just incredible and the illusion is… waouh, perfect ! I have nothing to say aside from that this is necessary to see it ! 😉

Ex_Machina

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Hi guys!

So today I’ll talk about a movie that I’ve watched recently and who’s stucked in my mind ever since that day: EX_MACHINA.

EX_MACHINA is a psychological, science fiction thriller written and directed by Alex Garland in 2015. This movie won the 88th Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and  has been recognized as one of the ten best independent movies of the year. EX_MACHINA won many awards, overall 20 awards.

This science fiction movie deals with AI, technology progress and their human sides. There’s tree main characters: Ava the AI, Nathan Bateman who is Ava’s creator and the CEO of a successful software compagny (Blue Book) and Caleb Smith, a very skilled Programmer who works for this compagny.

EX_MACHINA is composed of 6 sessions with Ava, which is a very original concept, and every sessions shows us more of Ava’s capacity as a AI and reveals more of her human side too, Ava is really impressive and really looks like a real woman with her facial expressions. The main thing who remind us that she’s a humanoid robot is their robotic parts.

The plot start with Caleb, who won a one-week visit to the isolated but very luxurious home of Nathan. The CEO of Blue Book seems to be very discreet and secretive since he has been working on a futuristic project for few years. At first Caleb thinks he won this contest only for a little break from work, but in fact Nathan tells him that he has been working on a project (Ava) for a long time and needs someone to judge if Ava is genuinely capable of thought and consciousness and if he can relate to it despite the fact that he knows that it’s an artificial robot. More the sessions goes and more Caleb is truly fascinated and attracted to Ava (maybe a bit too much), just like us he’s fooled by Ava’s intelligence.

Nathan’s home is really huge, modern and is based on futuristc houses, every doors are controled by robotic assistances. Nathan gave a card to Caleb which is only able to open his room, nothing else. This element add to Nathan’s mysterious side who can be really nice with his guest when he want to but also very distant…

Ok so I won’t talk more about it because I truly think it’s a great movie and that you guys really should watch it and judge it all by yourself. The thrill is really present and the visual effects are incredibly well made I was amazed by all the work put in it. Normally science fiction movies aren’t my thing, but I think this  movie is an exception. I REALLY advise you to watch it, I think you won’t be desappointed! 😉

Here’s the trailer in case you want to know more about it, but I honestly don’t advise you to watch it entirely if you want to see this movie because I think it spoil the entire story which is really too bad.

The Last Guardian

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Hello guys, so today I won’t talk about a book, movie or song but about an incredible video game: The Last Guardian. Yes you heard me well, The Last Guardian is FINALLY out after all the looooooong wait!! 😀

The Last Guardian is a PS4 action-adventure video-game created by Fumito Ueda and developed by the Team Ico, a Japanese video game development team who has also developed the famous video game Shadow of the Colossus. I won’t talk about the whole story because I didn’t had the chance to play it myself, but I’ve watched the beginning on Jacksepticeye‘s channel (who is my favorite youtuber ever by the way ? ) but I still can talk about the plot that I know so far.

The game is based on a fashback narrative told by an old man recounting his experience as a young boy meeting a giant feathered creature named Trico who looks a lot like a griffin. This mystical creature is a mix between a cat/dog (the gesture), a bird (the wings, the feathers and the legs). The name of the creature probably came from the japanese words «  »tori no ko » which means « baby bird » in english or from the words « tori » and « neko » which means « bird » and « cat« . Trico is kind of magical since he can shoot electric lasers from his tail and he also have kind of small turquoise horns which appear to be very special and his eyes change color.

Here are some a sketchs of Trico: ( Thanks to ©2010-2016 SammyTorre)

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The game start with a mysterious cinematic in which we can see an artifact half-buried in the ground, we can also hear children’s laughter and then a shadow who seems to be the little boy’s shadow appears on the artifact and it seems that the shadow has noticed the mysterious objet.

Then, the player can control the little boy who don’t speak english and whose name is unknown. The boy has been kidnapped « under mysterious circumstances » and taken to a huge ancient castle (yes there’s many mysterious things in this game, that’s probably why I already love it).   

« I awoke to find myself in a strange cave. »

The little boy wakes up next to Trico:                                                                              

« I noticed with a start I was not alone. Beside me lay a great man-eating beast « Trico. »

He also wakes up to find tatoos on his body that he didn’t have before being kidnapped:

« I did not know how, why or when it had happened, but my skin was covered with peculiar markings.« 

There’s a lot of questions left for the player, questions that need to be answered. The gameplay focuses on the relationship between the boy and the mystical creature. At first, Trico is very distrustful and aggressive towards us, but since we feed and help him (Trico is injured because of the spears stuck into his thighs), we end up to tame the creature. The player can also call Trico, it’s a way for the two main protagonists to understand eachother. This is how we gain Trico’s trust through the story.

So far, I really love this video-game, the graphics are gorgeous, the music fits very well with the environment, Trico’s design and gesture are incredibly well made and I also love the connection between the little boy and Trico which are, according to me, a great and unique way of communication.

Here’s the trailer enjoy! 😉

« Replay – Ken Grimwood – 1986 »

To begin with this novel, we can notice that Ken Grimwood was an american author who was born in 1947 and who died in 2003. Some of his books were really influenced by comics (with science fiction) and the fantasy world. So he aimed to write with this worderful inspiration.

During his short life, we can observe that he was « famous » thanks to one of his books : Replay. It is the most popular novel to Ken, and « Replay » won the World Fantasy Award in 1988. That is why I would like to speak about this novel !

So, this fantasy novel tells about Jeff Winston, a radio journalist. He has 43 years old, and he isn’t really filled by his poor life. One day, he dies suddently because of a heart attack. But he was rather startled to discover that he was alive again ! But there is a problem, he wakes up in his student room and he has 18 years old ! Now, the « Replay » can begin. He knows his previous life again, and can « replay » without mistakes his new life… A kind of circle begins to Jeff and each time, when he arrives to 43 years old, he dies and replay another life, with differents choises.

This book is really interesting because we can observe and learn every time a new, a differente life, where Jeff Winston choises to make some differents actions to never live the same life ! He is able to change things for him and for the other people around him: and now, he wants to live with this aim !

I keep the end of this book for me and you have to read this novel to break the suspens…  Thanks to this novel we can discover the last twenty years of America, and it’s very pleasant ! I love the fantasy world, so this dream world makes me very amazed !

Bye !

« Uglies – Scott Westerfeld – 2005 »

This science fiction novel was written by Scott Westerfeld in 2005. It’s a set of books serie : Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras and Secrets. All these books make us a dystopian world.

So, this futuristic novel tells about Tally. She is 16 years old, and like a lot of teenagers, she is a member of « Uglies », a group of people. In this world, when teenagers reach their sixteenth birthday, they must have an operation to become « Pretties ». The « Pretties » people have a happy life with parties, fun evertime and everywhere, and they are free in this paradise, but they loose totaly their personnality… Contrary as « Uglies », who dream and aim to become Pretties.But Tally doesn’t believe in this Pretty’s paradise, she doesn’t want to become a pretty girl and she aims to become a rebel. « The Rebels » aim to go away and accept to stay Uglies to keep their personnality.

So, when Tally’s operation arrives, Tally must make a choice: become a pretties and loose her friends, her familly, her personnality but be accepted in the society, or stay uglies with her personnality and mentality, but be outcast of the society…

I don’t really like this book, because I found it very boring, So I don’t read the other books serie. But the plot makes me very interested, and that why I read this novel. It’s a shame …

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail – Cheryl Strayed

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail is a memoir by Cheryl Strayed ( an american author ) published in 2012.

This memoir describes Cheryl’s 1 000 miles hike of the Pacific Crest Trail ( it begins in the Mojave Desert, goes through California and Oregon and ends in the state of Washington ). When she was 22 years old her mother passed away after battling a lung cancer, after this her siblings remained distant and, later, she divorced her husband. When she was 27 she thought that she had nothing else to lose so she decided to go on a 1000 miles hike with no previous experience, alone and untrained. She captured, in her book, her thoughts during the whole journey, her physical and mental pains, her challenges and realizations.

After a friend mentionned it to me and said it was a great book, I wanted to see if it was as good as it seemed. And it is really an amazing book that you should read.

Whiplash

Whiplash

Biography:

Damien Chazelle was born on 19 January 1985 in Providence (Rhode island). It’s a realisator and scriptwiter american. He realised his first film in 2009   » Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench » , his subject is, he main talk about jazz music. But this just with writting, that he will find a place in the world of cinema. He is the scenarist of the horror movie « exorcisme, Part II » .

Then in 2014, he realised the film Whiplash. The theme is jazz music and this is a succes for him.

Story:

Andrew is a young drummer of 19 years old. He would like going in the better conservatory of New York and later he is remarked by a teacher, conductor Flether of this school.

But Andrew work hard everyday for to be the best. Flether isn’t staisfied by Andrew, and he wanted push itout of his limits with injure, violence… For Andrew now, he doesn’t anymore a private life he has just a drum for him.

There is a differnet level in the yime of Andrew when he will be in this conservatory. Because he will put his life in danger. After a accident his father want taht Andrew witness for Fletcher, for harassment. Andrew sotp the drum and he find a normal job. One day, with hazard Andrew meet Fletcher in room who there is a music. After Fletcher geut andrew at the very important concert and we can see a true complicity.

I advise you this film because, it show that to get whatyou wnat you have to work hard !

Warm bodies

I would like to present an american film produced in 2013 and directed by Jonathan Levine called Warm bodies. This  film is post apocalytpic, summoning all the features of that type of film such as zombies, monsters and army forces, fighting against a dark virus spreading across the world and poisoning humanity.

The film starts with a peculiar point of view : a zombie named « R » explains his life on earth with his congeners in an airport, how they communicate and « feel » (which doesn’t happen apart from when they are hungry)  I love this part because we have a comic side of their slow and clumsy behaviour. There are another kind of zombie in their surroundings : the bonies. They have no skin or flesh, and above all no emtions, only empty husks. The bonies patrol in case of a heart pounding creature appeared…

He is going to meet a human girl called Julie, and together will bond a new relationship. R has saved her life during a zombie hunt, and she is trapped with R for days in the airport. Zombies are well-known for their cruelty and their blood-thirsty reputation. they don’t have emotions, but in this film we are going to assist at a discovery that will give hope to the new best friends : R felt his heart beat again, and amazingly falls in love. Humans have built a wall of protection while preparing to exterminate the zombies on the other side, which Julie and R are will lead a fight in order to bring the wall down.

This film is quite original, in the middle of dramatic events and the serious atmposphere, the comic side gives a touch of lightness. I recommend you to watch tthis film because it has a message to give, despite the ever-lasting zombies!

Mathilda (novel)

I am going to present a famous novel of the english literature : Mathilda written by Roald Dahl. This author worths a bit of description because I grew up in his books containing a humorous touch and offering a lot of adventures with original characters. He was born in Wales in 1916, and for a living he was a scenarist and an author, who wrote novels for cildren as well as adults. He became famous by writing novels such as Charlie and the chocolate factory, the BFG, etc…and won prizes : The world Fantasy prize.

Mathilda is a little girl, quiet but very intelligent, endowed with peculiar skills for her age : at the age of 5 she had already read the english classics! Adopted when she was a baby by a couple, she is ignored and mistreated. At school, her precocity doesn’t stay unnoticed  by her teacher named Mrs Honey, and who will bond a mothering relationship with Mathilda and is fascinated. Mathilda would be too lucky to be entirely happy in her school, a tyrannical  headteacher named Agatha Trunchbull, who punishes pupils whenever she is keen on doing it. The girl will develop a new kind of power : to be able to move objects with her thoughts. And she will use it to trick whoever means to harm her, one of the elements which will permit the story to unfold.

Mrs Honey had a cloudy past, she was raised by her Aunt after the death of her father, she even confides to Mathilda that it was quite suspicious. Through this story, there is a lot of love contrasted by violence and injustice, and the touch of magic is typical for the writing style of Road Dahl. I would add that if you wish to read it, you can also watch the film!!

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is an autobiographical novel written by Maya Angelou a writer who played a major role in the African-American civil rights movement, a politic movement of which the aim was to defend the rights of blacks during the apartheid. This movement was symbolized by Martin Luther King.

In this book Maya Angelou, from her real name Marguerite Johnson tells us her childhood where younger she was placed at her grandmother with her brothers because like the majority of the Afro-American family her parents didn’t have enough money to provide their needs. Her grandmother was living in the Arkansas a state in which racism was omnipresent. At the age of seven she goes back to her mother but a tragic event happened to Maya and she returned to her grandmother.

One day Mrs. Bertha Flower an aristocrat introduces the literature to Maya an art which gives her confidence in herself. Good student, Maya is send in a private school in California, she is the only black…

This book only tells us just a part of her life. Despite it I found this book really touching because we learn the story of one of the most emblematic woman during the apartheid. Maya Angelou was such a charismatic woman and when you read her poetry or hear her speeches you don’t think that she may have suffered all of these hardships. This book is a great life lesson, I advise you to read it !

Sarah’s key

Sarah’s key is a novel written by Tatiana de Rosnay published in 2006. It tells the story of Julia Jarmond an American journalist who decided to move in France. She’s married to Bertrand Tezac a French man. In the tribute of the 60th anniversary of the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup the American journal of which she is the correspondent ask her to write an article about this tragic event.
Julia discovered that the apartment of Bertrand’s grandmother was earning to a Jewish family, Sarah’s family.
Sarah was a ten years old Jewish girl who was send with her family to the Velodrome d’Hiver this night she locked her little brother in a secret closet in their apartment thinking that their parents will come back in a few time.
But after Sarah and her family were send to Drancy, a refugee camp and Sarah starts to feeling guilty because of her brother. In Drancy Sarah has been separated from her family and she is found at Auschwitz. She met Rachel and tries to escape with her but someone decided to denounce them and an officer catch them. The officer is someone who Sarah knows and he decided to let them go. The two girls find refuge with a couple but the neighbors decided to call the Nazi police to denounce the young couple but they only found Rachel not Sarah. So Sarah get back to her house.
Fascinated by the story of Sarah, Julia started to forget her husband.

I appreciated this book because contrary to the others book talking about this event, this book isn’t a diary it’s looks like an investigation

The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe

Birmingham in 1973, Doug Anderton, Benjamin Trotter and Philip Chase have them small well organized lives between them King William high school, with their family life, girls’ trouble and concerns of their parents. Doug is the son of a striking leader of the automobile factory, is in love with Claire Newmann, the sister of Miriam who is the secret mistress of his father. Benjamin has sister, Loïs, who begins to build her future life, he has a younger brother too, he is in love with Cicely and writes novels and musics. Philip is serious, is secretly too a lover of Claire and he sees her mother having a relation with his plastic arts teacher and his father, furious to know it, participates, juste like Doug, Ben and Claire in the newspaper of his high school and tries to etablish with Ben his rock band.

Their father work on the automobile factory, speak about social unrest, about strikes and about the terrorism of the IRA while they speak about rock, about punk, about their life to the high shcool, about equality between the sexes… But in these years  when the State gives way to the thatcherism, the problem of England catch up them : Loïs sees his fiancé dying under his eyes during an attempt of the IRA, the newspaper publishes more and mores articles on the strikes, the IRA and the politics.

It is a rather long but very pleasant book to be read : funny even satiric, in the not too much looked for style, in the fascinating intrigue, in the multiple themes, in the growing interest, in the touching heroes.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This novel was published in 2012 by John Green, an american writer and it was published in France in 2013 by Nathan Jeunesse. It’s a book which had e lot of success, he was adapted into a movie with Shailene Woodley and Ansel Legort in the respective roles of Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters. The story takes place in Indianapolice and Hazel is old of siwteen years old. She is affected by a disease : cancer.

Her parents obliged him to assist at a group of support for cancer patient. During sessions, she meets Augustus and he is affected by a cancer too. The two adolescents are passionned by a novel wrote by Peter Van Houten and they decided to do a travel for meet the writer and they go there low together but the story ended tragically beacuse Augustus succumb to his disease.

This story is very touching because she deal with the cancer which is a actual disease and the scientits searched Remedies to cured them despite that Cancer are mainly cured nowaday. However, other disease are not cured like Alzheimer. This story deal with to Love too and show that it is necessary to take advantage of people who we love as long as we can.

Walking Dead

Today, I’m going to talk about the comic book series Walking Dead created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore in 2003.

Before reading the first volume, I was watching the serie The Walking Dead (which debuted in 2010). But one day, my friends offered it to me so I started to read it…even if I didn’t agree to read the comic after having seen the serie but finally I really liked it and we learn more about the characters through the comic!

(so that’s why I really love it and I suggest you to read it if you know the series!)

The story of Walking Dead focuses on Rick Grimes, a man who was shot and who was in a hospital, in the coma, during a long time. When he woke up, nobody was around him, not even a nurse or his family, he was alone so he asked help, when he started to walk, he found some strange people in the hospital, who were disfigured, with a face and a body full of blood, who was walking in a very slow way… and we call them :

« the walkers« 

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After leaving the hospital, Rick returns at his home to meet his son and his wife, but they are nowhere. Will he meet them again ?

What is interesting is the fact that we follow a group of people, we learn what the true values are, and it is an atmosphere based on reality, I’m addicted to the characters, to the story…

Who will help him to survive and…

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And don’t forget, it’s better to hunt than to be hunted…

La piel que habito

La piel que habito is a spanish psycholoical thriller film written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, released in 2011, this film is based on Mygale, a novel by the french author Thierry Jonquet.

La piel que habito means « The skin I live in » = when I heard for the first time the title, I was curious and intrigued by what it could be, so I decided to watch it and discover what was hidden behind this title.

I made a very good choice, I adored and really appreciated to watch this movie to the very end. The end is an enormous fall, I didn’t expect it !
If you like movie with suspense, with twisted stories, it is made for you, really, make the good choice too !Résultat d’images pour la piel que habitoI am going to talk about the plot !  Robert Ledgard, an esthetic surgeon, tries for twelve years to create a synthetic skin which would have been able to save his wife, dead burned. Robert Ledgard keeps a woman as prisoner in a room of his house to do tests on her. The film is based on flash back which show us the pst of this woman. I can’t tell you more, but, really : WATCH IT ! If you don’t, you miss a really beautiful, amazing and moving story.

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« I’ll slit my throast, and then you will have no toy »

Remember me

Hello everybody,

Today, i’m going to talk about an american film wich is entitled « Remember me ».

I found the script very affecting, indeed the story  presents a young man who is named Tyler plays by Robert Pattinson,  he is 22 years old he rebels against his family and the society after his mother dying. During a party he fought against a policeman and he goes in custody so his father who is lawyer payed for his release.. By strategy he starts to hit on the policeman’s daughter : Ally a young woman who is very sensible. Tyler falls madly in love with her.

In this film there are lot of reference to Voltaire and a reflection around the human in society, we can see that Tyler is a morose boy and he always lives in sadness. Despite at the heart of the film with find the relationship inside a family. Tyler has conflicting relationship with his father and we can see that he suffers of that and he’d give anything for his little sister who trys to help him everyday to move forward. There are also good and funny moments that I adored particulary when Tyler is with his roommate !

I tought the character of Tyler and the story very charming.. I could had others importants details but I prefer you go see the film to know the dramatic end 😉

I recommand you so much.. Really !

See you soon !

Thérèse Raquin

Hello everybody ,

Today I choose to talk about my favorite novel ! It is entitled Thérèse Raquin, it was written by one of the most famous writer of the 19th century, Emile Zola. This novel was published in 1867. Normally, I do not like love story but this novel make a deep impession on me…

The story starts with three characters : the main character : Thérèse ; Camille and Camille’s mother. Thérèse was raised by Camille’s mother, Camille is sick since he is a little boy, adult, Camille and Thérèse get married. They live in Paris, in their shop where Thérèse sells jewelrys and clothes with Camille’s mother. One day Camille returned to the house with an old friends of him, Vincent. He is a painter and at the first look Thérèse fell in love with him… Zola uses the description and insist on the love at first sight…

So, Thérèse and Vincent start an hidden love relation, they have sexual intercourse in the marital bed. But Thérèse and Vincent want to live thier relation freely so they decided to kill Camille. On one summer night they go eat in a restaurant and they decided to take a walk on a lake in a small boat and Vincent drown Camille.. Nobody saw them.. This extract is very intensive we attend at the drowning !

But after the murder the lovers do not feel free, on the contrary, they become to be crazy and the murder haunt them.. so they kill themselves because they do not manage to be happy.

I recommand you so much this novel !

Edward Scissorhands, by Tim Burton

We all know Tim Burton for his fabulous movie, such as Alice in Wonderland, Beetlejuice or Nightmare Before Christmas. But today, I going to talk about this movie : Edward Scissorhands. Edward Scissorhands is an american romantic dark fantasy movie that came out in 1990. The story was written by Tim Burton and Caroline Thompson. This movie received numerous awards at the Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards and Saturn Awards.

Here’s the beautiful story

Edward is a young men created by an inventor, but unfortunately unfinished. That’s why the poor has scissor for hands. The inventor died of a heart attack just before he was about to give real hands to Edward. He’s gather by the Boggs family and fall in love with their daughter Kim, a beautiful blond girl. All the citizens of the town welcome him warmly before a lot of problems arrives in Edward’s life, and became a nightmare for him.

This movie is particularly affecting, first, because of Edward’s situation. We feel pity and compassion for him. He’s all alone and at the beginning, Kim doesn’t like him so much. We are glad to see him accepted from the citizens but he’s rashly surrounded by problems and accused guilty from a crime who is not in question. Also, the face of Edward : His white face and dark eyes, his tousled dark hair and finally his clothes. On the face of it, we could be afraid but in fact, we are sad of his situation. According to me, Edwards as the perfect physic to make feel  someone touching. We want the best for him in his life, and all he has is problems. More, there’s nothing more kind and attaching than him. He’s in love with a girl that we think is impossible for him to get her, he wants to help people around him and nobody help him.

Iin my opinion, there’s a real message in this film. A handicap must no destroy the life of anybody. We have to accepts him and understand him, and absolutely help him. Iif someone wants the best for you, you have to think the same.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M94yyfWy-KI[/youtube]

Hairspray

Hairspray is an American musical played on Broadway and created by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan thanks to the 1988 John Waiters’s movie : Hairspray. This musical was a big sucess and was nearly played everywhere in US and also in UK. The original Broadway musical opened in August 2002.

Here’s the story. We are in Baltimore in the 1960’s. We follow the main character, Tracy Turnblad, a plump teenager, who dreams to dance on her favorite TV Show : The Corny Collins Show. There are student of her school that participate to the show, but only thin people and good-looking, and especially his crush : Link Larkin. And because of the time of segregation, one per month, The Corny Collins Show got a Negro Day where black people dance, but racist want to get out them of the TV.  After an audition, she gets into the show and begin to change people’s mind, like she said   » People who are different, our time is coming ! « .

This musical is the best for me for a lots of reasons. First, the music are 1960’s style and « downtown » rythm and blues. All the music are beautiful and catchy. The characters are really charming and we can’t detest the bad characters because, it’s maybe a musical, but it’s also a comedy very funny. And finally, there’s a message that everyone should understand and think everyday. No matter what you weigh, what’s your color skin, if your poop or rich, we should always loves peoples around us, be open-minded and solidary. It’s not what’s you are physically that can decide what you can do, it’s what you are in a first time and if you have the best desire. The struggle against the segregation is also very emotional. Tracy and his friends try to help their black friends to defend their values and their equalities. And all that, by singing !

I really advise this Musical to everyone, you can’t spend a bad moment, if you watch it carefully, you can just get really good advice. And I also advice the movie of 2007 directed by Adam Shankman where there are famous actor like John Travolta, Zac Efron, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer and Queen Latifah.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ53mRO80c0[/youtube]

Captain Fantastic

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Last sunday night, I went to the cinema with my best friend. We decided to watch the movie Captain Fantastic, a dramatic comedy by Matt Ross.

This movie is at a time funny and sorrowful. It’s the story of a family composed of a father with his six childs. They decided to live out of the society, in the forest at the North-West of the USA, because they are anarchists. The father wants to make his childs perfect adults. They don’t go to school but their father gives them a lot of books to read, they make sport, they run into the forest, they rock climbing, and they do some exercises to channel their energy like a kind of yoga. They also know how to gun a deer.

One day, their mother who was sick: she had psychological disorders, suicide her. Ubset, the family decide to continue to live as they already done, but they decided to go to the burial of the mother with Steve, their own bus to be the most discreet possible. It’s complicated because the mother’s family doesn’t like the life she decided to lead. The movie is so based on the adventures of this family to travel the country to finally go to the funeral who are not as they had to do because the mother is buddhist and her funerals are christians. The little family finally decide to make the perfect burial to her, with songs, dance, colors, and fire.

I loved the universe of this movie: it was so colorful by the outfits, but also magestic with the big forests, the waterfalls, and the animals. The characters are all endearing: the childs had all a peculiarity : Bo, the older wants to go to the university, Zaja, the younger knows a lot of thing for her young age, Rellian doesn’t like to don’t live like the others, Vespir and Kielyr are always together and they are really good at archary and climbing, Nei likes to celebrate Noam Chomsky Day, their own Christmas. I wanted to share my reviews about this movie for maybe make you watch it.

« Power to the people.
Stick it to the man. »

 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kH4OMIOMc[/youtube]

Donnie Darko

Today, I’m going to talk about Donnie Darko. I’ve seen this film with my friends a few weeks ago, and I’ve loved it.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZyBaFYFySk[/youtube]

It’s a particular story which is a little bit hard to understand because we are trapped between two worlds which are themselves trapped between two time spaces.
We can follow the life of Donnie Darko, a teenager, who has mental disorders. This movie deal with different subjects like love, sacrifice, time travel and existentialism. October the 2nd, a reactor of a plane crashed on Donnie’s house. Thankfully for him, he followed a voice in his head who obliged him to leave his house, so he slept in a square. The next day, he learns what happened by seeing cops in front of his house.
After this event, a lot of things will happen to him. The voice he heard is Frank’s voice, a big scary rabbit who his a Donnie’s imaginary friend, and he told him that the World’s end is for 28days, 6hours, 42minutes and 12seconds.
Donnie will obey to Frank during those days, and he will make bad things like flood his high school, burn a motivational coach’s house while his girlfriend was sleeping at the cinema where they went together. 27 days after the World’s end prediction, after an other hallucination, Donnie, his friends and his girlfriend go to Grande-Synthe house but things turn wrong : his girlfriend dies. The killer is Frank, his sisters’s boyfriend, he wears the rabbit costume, so Donnie shoot him at the right eye. The World’s end day has come, and Donnie sees a storm from which his mother and sister’s airplane appears. This plane is the same we can see at the beginning of the movie, so he lose his reactor as the first plane, but this time, Donnie is in his bed and die.

It’s really hard to explain the story because there is a lot of details which can make us understand that we are between two time spaces, I really recommend this movie which is one of my favorites.

 

– Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?
– Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk (1996)

Fight Club is a well-know novel written by Chuck Palahniuk a famous American novelist (1962-present), Palahniuk describes his books as « Transgressional fiction », Fight Club was in 1999 adapted in a movie by the famous film director: David Fincher with actors like Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter (ex-wife of Tim Burton).. This story is particularly known by the movie, but personally I think the book is excellent, almost better than the movie…

The plot takes place in the nineties, the story tells the life of « the narrator » we never know the real name of the principal character but most of the fans name him as « Jack » (reference to an element of the movie: the narrator often explains his feelings and sensations by a third person speech which stage humans organs like: « If I did have a tumor, I’d name it Marla. ») this character have a very moody life with a commonplace and boring job, he lives alone, had no friends.. He’s such a modern slave, but one day on a nudist beach, he meets one man who is totally opposed to him, his name is: Tyler Durden.. Since this day the two characters become friends and start living together in a run-down big house in an industrial district.. With Tyler, the narrator start to discover the real freedom by making illegal activities like robbery, vandalism and especially by creating: « The Fight Club » a secret club in which peoples (only men) fight each other to become « free » and « stronger ».. This utopic state of mind become dangerous and the narrator start to being afraid of Tyler.. He must make a choice, but the situation is not simply as we can guess..

I really like this novel because I have seen the movie some years ago and I had loved it so when I had known that before this story was a book.. I decided to buy it and read it and I was not disappointed. The story is very cool and interessant and the writings are not difficult, so everybody can read this..

Oh, and if you are interested in Fight Club or if you already know the novel and the movie.. Chuck Palahniuk had written Fight Club 2 in the form of a comic, the plot takes place ten years after the ending of the book.. I didn’t read it, but I think I could be very interressant to know what happens to the characters and also to discovering the story by another form…

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107

  I’m going to talk about the novel 107 ans (one hundred seven years old in English). It was published in 2006. It was written by Diasteme. This is a French novel.

  Diasteme is a novelist, author et dramaturge. He has written « Les papas et les mamans ». 107 years old isn’t a famous novel, isn’t knows by everybody but it’s although a great novel.

  The scene takes place in France. Simon the main character, is aged sixteen years old. He is interned in psychiatric institution because he loved Lucie to much. Simon cheated Lucie so she left him. So to get her back he decided to run away of his house and joins her but she doesn’t know that.

  To joins Lucie Simon did some mad acts like a run away, auto destruction, agressions and he stops eating…We discover a young and complex man.With this novel we enter into Simon’s mind and head. There is question of suicide and suffering of an instable teenager.

  To concluded I loved this novel because this is an introspection of Simon. And an introspection of mad mind. At the end of the story we understand that Simon is whatever mad and even if the others people think that he is healthy they are wrong. He can’t stops to think of Lucie.

Macbeth

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It was written in 1587. It deals with contradictions, perils and ambitions. This drama is one of the most famous dramas written by William Shakespeare who is also one of the most famous playwrights in the world. He wrote Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet etc.

The scene takes place in the medieval Scotland. The main characters are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth his wife. Macbeth is a general. One day three witches say to Macbeth that he will become the king. Macbeth has got ambition. His wife encouraged him to kill the king to make the prophecy come true. So Macbeth kills King Duncan and take the throne. But the problem is that he becomes paranoiac. His fear make him completely crazy. To save his power he commites a lot of murders like in a vicious circle. At the same times Lady Macbeth became also mad, she sees ghosts and she feels so guilty and trapped by their lies. The obcession of power and the ambition brought Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to the lie and to the despair. The play shows this slowly evolution of Macbeth into the evil.

I loved this tragedy because it’s very opprisive and we see the guilt grow up inside the characters. When we read or see the play we are, like characters, despaired and stressed.