The Rose is in full bloom

Lack of self-confidence, what an issue. Stars do not have any of those. Roses don't have such issues either. Or, do they?

Bette Midler got nominated for an Oscar for her performance in The Rose (1979), and she was so good, that I was surprised she didn't win it. But then again...when the contestant plays a role that sets an example, instead of portraying a doomed star with drug addiction and psychological issues, who's gonna win, do you think? Fair enough.

Electrifying performance that touches the soul, even more, the soul of a woman with a certain level of dynamic balance in her life. It was, it will -will it be? Whatta woman. Poise, attitude, charm and the next moment she's losing the floor under her feet. To go back to shine with a bottle in her hand. And what a wonderful soundtrack. A well-deserved break in the mysterious world of Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll. I avoid mentioning the similarity to the life of Janis Joplin, as little do I know about Janis The only similarity I saw was that Rose was not wearing a bra and was not shaving her armpits.

And how come I haven't written anything in so long? Is cinema not the love of my life anymore? Well, no, it's not. Isn't it clear by now?

West Side Story (1961)

I practically never comment on musicals (this doesn't mean I don't watch them), but today I felt like revisiting the emblematic West Side Story, as seen by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. They had a great soundtrack to work with, as well as a great cast, including Natalie Wood on the principal role of Maria, and then of course Rita Moreno and George Chakiris (son of Greek immigrants), who both won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

The sole reason I go crazy over watching clips on YouTube and sobbing all afternoon is my recent viewing of West Side Story at the Grand Theatre in Luxembourg. All in all not a bad production; I like the costumes, the dancing and choreographies. The cast was oh-so-vigorous and Maria and Tony were good in singing. But, singing, acting and dancing all at the same time is not an easy thing, this is taken for granted; no one to blame, it's just the way it is. No matter how moving the show was, for its charm and tearful storyline, the orchestra could not keep the burden of the excellent Sondheim lyrics and Bernstein score on its shoulder. It would need better chorale and individual singing to uplift our ears, but that will be for next time.

Thirsty for the real thing, I start to appreciate the singing in the film version of the West Side Story, where, in fact, the singing voices do not belong to the actors on screen. Jimmy Bryant is the singing voice for Tony, Marni Nixon is Maria, Betty Wand is Anita and so on so forth (I have to thank them for making the film experience complete). A mix of frank and sensitive music and lyrics -my favourites songs are definitely Maria and Tonight-, but also playful and ironic songs like America and Officer Krupke make this film truly enjoyable (even if I heard that some people find it a tad too long and occasionally boring). The set, the colours, everything is pleasant, just to leave us with a bitter feeling for the lost romance.

Django Unchained (2012)

Everybody probably knows by now who Django is and  how his name is pronounced -the D silent. Three whole days after watching a copy with French and Dutch subtitles (annoying), on a very big screen in the only local multiplex and with an audience whose reactions made me think that I was definitely the only one who found the whole thing so infinitely hilarious, I can confess in front of my international readers that Tarantino's new film is indeed his best one till now. Inglourious Basterds slipped and fell down. In the second place.

Even if I chose for my post not the official version of the poster, but a fan version, on which the creative team worked to produce the final one -it belongs to the creative genius (sic) of an Italian named Federico Mancosu-, I have to aknowledge another one flying around the World Wide Web that I found inspiring. It's this one. 

It takes a Dogtooth to heal the wound

These are raving days, it makes you cry and makes you laugh with what Greece is through. Distressed, penniless, miserable and lover of the official chaos, my country has little to offer speaking of material resources, but, then, why do you think my motto is "art will save us" ? Obviously, because nothing else could.

With ultimate pleasure and enthusiasm it is -- tears falling down my eyes and my heart beat imitating an ecstatic African drum -- that I am able to state that Dogtooth (Canine for french distribution and Kynodontas / Κυνόδοντας for us), being already short-listed as one of the 9 most prominent films in the Best Foreign Language Film category, it actually made it through. It is, weirdly enough, one of the 5 films to contest in the Academy Awards --a greek film, it has been a while we didn't see that, since Kakogiannis. Some call the film doomed and they are maybe right in principle: how come that what we know as a conservative and abiding by the American values film race ever had the guts to nominate such an avant-garde film that triumphed in Un Certain Regard category in Cannes on 2009 and being able to shock or least to bring uneasy feelings in many of its misplaced mainstream viewers?

I pray and I pray that Christos Stergioglou, Aggeliki Papoulia and Hristos Passalis and first and foremost Yorgos Lanthimos will have the bliss to grab uncle Oscar and walk down a red carpet starting from Syntagma Square till Propylaia (γιατί είναι και κατηφόρα) but I'm already proud enough to know that I will see them on the red carpet in 33 days.

Congratulations and best of luck to all five candidates:

Biutiful, Mexico
Dogtooth, Greece
In a Better World, Denmark
Incendies, Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi), Algeria

Surprises

I cannot believe my eyes and I cannot change the keyboard language, but I'm too impatient to give it another try, so I'm starting up rightaway: who would ever believe that Bigelow, not only a beautiful female, but also a talented one, would be accepted in the company of Oscar-winning brats, namely in the category of best picture and best director, the latter for the first time ever to cuddle the female version of the species?

And who could ever believe that the brunette and cute but average Miss Congeniality would actually win over her fellow nominees Mirren, Mulligan, Sidibe and Streep in a role that she dyed her hair blonde for?

Then, again, who would actually expect that 8 times nominee Jeff Bridges or else beloved Big Lebowski would finally get it, leaving Firth, Clooney, Freeman and Renner behind?

That was a night to remember (even if we only managed to get halfway), a night with the unusual suspects taking the lead. Life can be surprising, still.