Waking Sleeping Beauty

Seeing as I'm not a big fan of non-fiction, it may not come as a surprise to you that I'm also not big on documentaries, except biographical and natures ones where no animals die at least. Waking Sleeping Beauty meets all these criteria.

This documentary gives us a behind the scenes look at the Disney animation studios from 1984 until 1994, in other words my childhood when I was completely in to Disney (and I still am). The main reason I want to see this, is pure youth sentiment but it also gives us an interesting look at how the studio recovered from a rather bleak post-war period and went on to make classics such as Beauty and the Beast, Alladin and of course The Lion King.

This "bleak period" produced films such as The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective, movies I vividly remember watching in the cinema when I was an itty bitty girl and fell madly in love with as they were my first cinema and Disney experiences. Looking back, they are indeed darker than your average contemporary animated film but they still rocked my world and might be partially to blame for my bright and cheery persona.

During this period most of their movies bombed at the box office and the production company was even going to be evicted, forcing them to put their head together and make something wonderful: The Little Mermaid aka Disney's rebirth.

The documentary uses archival footage cut from over 250 hours of footage, photos and narration from newly recorded audio interviews featuring some incredibly young versions of renowned animators, directors and producers as Don Bluth, Tim Burton, John Musker, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Don Hahn, John Lasseter and even Roy Disney.

Now you can enjoy the unlikely story of how the magic was recreated.

Brooklyn

In my previous post I mentioned that I wasn't that impressed by Brooklyn, a novel by Irish writer Colm Toibin. Although the story gets off to a very slow start, it does pick up its pace in the second half but still not much really happens.

I had never read anything by Toibin before, in fact I had never even heard of the man but apparently he has quite a reputation. He is mainly a journalist but Brooklyn is his sixth and most successful novel to date. Toibin is openly gay and focuses a lot on homosexual identities and the Irish society. Enniscorthy County where he was born and its population frequently feature in his novels as well. He is particularly interested in people who emigrate and leave their old life behind so he can clash old and new world stories, just like in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is about Eilis Lacey, a young woman who is unable to find work in 1950s Ireland so she emigrates to New York with a little help from Father Flood and takes up a job in a department store. At night she takes classes to become a bookkeeper. It takes a while before she settles in but thanks to some new friends and a handsome Italian called Tony, she feels right at home. Then tragedy strikes (like it always does when things go great) and she must return to Ireland where things get even more complicated. Will she return to her new and beloved life in Brooklyn or will she live the life she was destined to lead?

Although many news papers proclaimed it The novel of 2009 and it won several awards, I'm still not convinced that Brooklyn is actually worthy of all the praise. It is a charming old fashioned post-war yarn that quietly muddles along no more no less. As I said the first part, actually until she gets settled in really, is incredibly slow and almost made me give up altogether but then she starts going out, meeting people and we finally get to know Eilis. Strangely enough, when she goes back to Ireland she turns into a completely different person, not in a good way, making the character development quite odd indeed. Brooklyn has many flaws but all in all it is a simple unpretentious story about a girl's journey into adulthood.

The Secret Life of Bees

Last week I finally started on a little project that I've been dying to do for years now but for some reason keep putting off aka writing a novel or trying to at least. It's been a lot of fun and has kept me pretty busy. So busy in fact, that I've hardly done any reading. I started in Brooklyn by Colm Toibin this weekend and although its only 250 pages, I'm only half way. It's not bad but I wouldn't exactly call it The novel of the year like many critics did in 2009 but we'll see.

I did finish The Secret Life of Bees for my book club, mind you this was last week but who's keeping track? It was actually the first stereotypical 'Book Club Book' that we read meaning it involved a girl who escapes from her dad's clutching claws together with their black maid in the 60s. They try to find out the truth behind her mother's death / disappearance and end up staying with three unusual black sisters who make honey, go figure. Female bonding, tragedy, love and a whiff of politics, it's all in there covered in a nauseating layer of honey.

The Secret Life of Bees was a pleasant and quick read but not really groundbreaking material, the perfect fodder for a sweet and cozy afternoon. It was a nice change from my usual reading list but nothing I'd go back to any time soon. It did however mange to shock and perplex me for a completely different reason, namely there were 50 pages missing from my novel smack in the middle. All of a sudden someone was dead and someone else was in jail for non-related reasons. What the hell's all that about? Am I forced to check every page before buying a book now?

Alice in Wonderland

And no, I'm not talking Tim Burton's highly anticipated technicolor fantasy which looks quite good and has Johnny Depp in it so you just know it'll be great. I've loved the quirkiness of this story ever since I was a little girl and now that I'm (slightly) older I keep on discovering new riddles and allusions in Lewis Carroll's magical world.

Alice in Wonderland, both Disney and Burton's version are actaully a combination of the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass which introduces character such as Tweedledee and Tweedledum creating a slightly misconceived interpretation of the actual story.

In 1907, 37 years after the book was published and when motion pictures were just learning to crawl, the first film adaptation was made and it is one of the few adaptations that stay true to the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It has a running time of just 12 minutes (9 of which survive) and was the longest films produced (literally, 800 foot) in England at that time. The movie also contains some of the first special effects.

The Savages

Difficult families, we all can relate, right? In 2007 Tamara Jenkins wrote and directed a simple, fresh and beautiful movie called The Savages, a comedy / drama starring the ever so lovely Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney who also does a phenomenal job here. It is a very moving picture that despite its brilliant cast got lost somewhere under the radar. Walking the fine line between real life comedy and its inevitable tragedy, The Savages is about a brother and a sister who are each coming to terms with their estranged father who is suffering from old age dementia.

Physical and emotional breakdowns, dementia, nursing homes and broken dreams, not exactly a barrel of laughs but Jenkins has written a warm and soothing screenplay that makes these every day occurrences realistic and bearable. The Savages is a bitter sweet movie filled with touching moments, simple and elegant dialogue and poetic / dreamlike images that beautifully contrast the dreary reality.

It is brave enough to address issues we desperately want to ignore and does so in a humane and humorous way that shows both the perspective of the kids and of the father, making it a powerful accomplishment. The subject may not be a laughing matter but there is a lot of humor intertwined in this heartfelt tale that arises from the absurdity of the situations which feel so genuinely familiar.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, although portraying ordinary and complex individuals, make their performance so natural and effortless that you can’t help but be in awe of these two phenomenal talents. Tamara Jenkins on the other hand has an uncanny understanding for family relations, making her film raw, poignant and compassionate. Her subtle and engaging story is aided by her natural flowing camera movement, powerful details and a multitude of melancholic colors. The Savages is a stunning movie illustrating what happens when children have to become parents.

Let the Right One in

Last night I finished one of the most gruesome books I've read in a long time: Let the right one in by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. It's a contemporary vampire story about a boy named Oskar who is being bullied at school and secretly wishes he could kill his tormenters. Enter Eli, a little girl that just moved in next door. She is sweet, understanding and only comes out at night. Then there's Hakan, Eli's supposed father who likes kids a bit too much and literally worships his "daughter". Add a little murder, prostitution, theft, drugs and pedophilia to the mix and voila, a truly gutwrenchingly great story.

Despite being a vampire, Eli is actually the most humane character of the bunch. Let the right one in is part social novel, part vampire story that bases its horror on the dark side of humanity instead of the supernatural, which adds more horror than some fangs ever could. This fascinating and original vampire yarn is extremely gory and shocking at times but at its core it is a beautiful and touching tale about friendship, loneliness and salvation. Despite its killer reviews, I doubt I'll be able to stomach the movie.

Dawn of the Dreadfuls

Quirk Classics have become a true literary phenomenon due to their remarkable injections of pop culture into classic novels. Pride & Prejudice and Zombies became an unexpected hit and a New York Times bestseller and thus staying true to its contemporary roots, Quirk Classics decided to make a prequel: Dawn of the Dreadfuls concocted by acclaimed novelist Steve Hockensmith. Not only will the origin of the zombie plague be unveiled but also Elizabeth Bennet's evolution from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead with a little gut-wrenching romance to spice things up. I can hardly wait!