The United States S.M.N.T. won their second consecutive F.I.B.A. World Cup, behind Kyrie Irving’s adroit ballhandling, tremendous outside shooting, intense ball pressure and countless dunks by Anthony Davis and Kenneth Faried. Pundits may have expected the U.S.A. to struggle against Spain in the final but like 2010, Spain was upset earlier and a young American squad captured the title. The team struggled at the beginning of the final defensively but DeMarcus Cousins helped recapture the paint and Irving began penetrating the Serbian zone and getting to the rim or finding open shooters. What may have been an upset actually showed how …
T.I.F.F. 2011, Part IV: Carré Blanc
A dystopian vision of office life in the future, Carré blanc is combination of George Orwell’s 1984 and Delicatessen. Jean-Baptiste Léonetti spent nearly five years putting together his stark film that combines ubiquitous corporations, sycophant co-workers and greed. The planet resources have been consumed and world is controlled by a single-minded company which seems to be a combination of Apple and Starbucks. Humanity faces a paradox: the population is plummeting but people are most valued as food. Philippe is a mid-level manager who is charged with performance evaluation, delivering tests which vary from sadistic to absurd to his colleagues. Earlier …
T.I.F.F. 2011, Part II: J’aime regarder les filles
Set in 1981 against the backdrop of the election of François Mitterand to the presidency, J’aime regarder les filles profiles the life Primo, a student trying to achieve his Baccalauréat diploma and become accepted by a group of rich friends. The film proves charming, albeit incomplete. Pierre Niney, who plays Primo, the unfortunate protagonist, engenders the audience’s sympathy despite behaviour which ranges from naïve to deplorable. Primo wishes to fit in but seems unable to take any responsibility for his actions which hurt himself, his friends and his family. Primo lives in Paris, working at a variety of poor jobs …
T.I.F.F. 2011, Part I: The First Man
Based on Albert Camus’ unfinished last work, The First Man is an semi-autobiography, balancing tales of the author’s upbringing in a fatherless home with scenes from 1957 Algeria. The film’s twin timelines succeed in profiling author Jacques Coméry and his time in Algeria during two separate times, the 1920s and the 1950s. Scenes from his childhood and the path that led him to become a writer and make a career for himself are juxtaposed with a recent trip to the country to visit his family and speak on the subject of the independence movement. As Coméry speaks to integral figures …
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Computer animation and 3-D technology have bestowed upon the public a bevy of blockbusters and dozers of disasters. Some soared atop the box office charts while others faded quickly out of sight. 3-D is capable of more than merely blowing up every landmark in the world; it can also transport the views to locations they would have otherwise been unable to visit. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is one of those films which endeavours to transport the audience where no man has gone before. Filmed in Chauvet Cave, in southern France, a series of Lascaux-like caverns which had been concealed for …
Mindnight in Paris
It seems odd that the poster of Midnight in Paris, a seemingly postmodernist film which glorifies cubist and surrealist art movements, features a photograph of Owen Wilson walking along the Seine River which dissolves into an impressionist painting. Perhaps it is meant as a nod towards the inner conflict experienced by protagonist Gil Pender, a victim of a contradiction in that he is engaged to a woman that he increasingly cannot tolerate. Initially Pender alleviates his anxiety by falling in love with the City of Lights and allowing his mind to escape to a time period which suits him better …
Two Roads Diverged in a Wood
Zola once said to Cézanne, “Is painting only a whim for you? Is it only a pastime, a subject of conversation? If this is the case, then I understand your conduct: you are right not to make trouble with your family. But if painting is your vocation, then you are an enigma to me, a sphinx, someone impossible, and obscure.” So Cézanne left Aix-en-Provence and joined his friend in Paris. So how do you identify yourself and what provides you with the most self-actualization? What are you willing to do to follow your goals? Do you merely wish to pay …
Le Corbeau
Black and white film seems to suit the Film Noir genre, from the moral ambiguity to the focus on acting and tension created by a well-written screenplay instead of meaningless explosions. Le Corbeau is no exception. Popular in Vichy France but banned after the liberation, it covers the disintegration of a small town when an anonymous letter writer begins accusing public figures. Henri-Georges Clouzot uses a great deal of light and shadow to show the difference between right and wrong. Like Plato’s parable of The Cave, the viewer is left wondering about the true nature of each character: the real …
The Class
For teachers, Laurent Cantet’s Palme d’Or winning film, Entre les murs, is a mirror on their daily lives. For others, it’s a window into a public school system that has changed a great deal during the past twenty years. François Marin teaches the French language to junior high students in the 20th Arrondissement in Paris. Over the course of the year, both teachers and students face many trials and tribulations. At the end, almost everyone admits that they have learned something and they all get along during a staff-student soccer match. However, the year is not a success for all, …
French Food
Back in Toronto, it is nice to return to typical Canadian food. The cafeteria in the Hameau-St. Michel residence frequently deep-fried meals and served potatoes to the point of boredom. The first night in Tours, I ate at Au Lapin Qui Fume, a small bistro that served traditional French food, pairing meat and game from the area with regional produce. The smoked salmon appetizer was fine, though in retrospect salmon with dill is not unique to France. The rabbit stew was flavourful, although I know now that this country cuisine is not my favourite. The apricot tart served for dessert …
Chambord: François I’s Hunting Lodge and Home
In 1513, a wild boar entered the chateau in Ambois and raced through its halls. Lords and ladies were terrified as the beast charged towards them. The only person in the Royal Court who could stop the four-legged marauder was the Dauphin, François. The future king slew the animal with his sword, exhibiting his hunting prowess and gallantry. When he became King of France in 1515, François I remained an avid hunter. Following his campaigns in Italy, he ordered the construction of a new chateau in Chambord to serve as a royal hunting lodge. Not only did François I seek …
Seconds
Circulation Restreinte Carlos Sastre won the 2008 Tour de France. Cadel Evans was second, for the second consecutive year. Evans had a chance to claim the yellow jersey during Saturday’s time trial but he did not capitalize on his superior potential against the clock. Either he hurt himself more than he let on when he fell in the Pyranées or he can improve upon his mental training. Last year, the Australian had a chance to pass eventual winner Alberto Contador in a similar situation – one stage left, short time to make up – and could not. This year, Evans …
Deux films
Deux cinémas Two films that I watched over the weekend had similar themes. La Nouvelle vie de Monsieur Horten, Norwegian with French subtitles (a past Cannes selection and a future TIFF selection), and Nos 18 ans were good films, developed smoothly (and promptly), and talked about how to set priorities and enjoy life. La Nouvelle vie de M. Horten, was an intelligent version of The Bucket List. It is a quiet film with moments of absurd humour. Odd Horten is a train conducteur who is forced to retire and doesn’t know what to do with himself. Single and living near …
Pierre de Ronsard’s “The Nightingale”
My Second Essay for FCS369Y: Irony and Pierre de Ronsard’s “Nightingale” All night the nightingale hears Ronsard’s pleas.Singing, sighing, the bird learns of love scorned.It knows life without love is a heart torn,But it may not see the poem’s irony. Pierre de Ronsard constructs the poem by comparing himself to a nightingale, fluttering from tree to tree and warbling its song during the night, hoping to find true love. The foundation of the metaphor is the role the nightingale as a symbol for tragic love in literature. In his cathedral for Marie d’Anjou, Ronsard used some conventional architecture, such as …
Thoughts from the T.G.V.
Notre-Dame et la Foule Finished Paris Weekend: Cinématheque Française (who knew Dr. Fu-Manchu would go on to become Count Dooku?), Museé national d’art moderne (a cogent history of modern art – sans surrealists for the most part for some reason – that is physically and mentally tiring), and walking around during Bastille Day (apparently it takes a while for the serious parades to get started). How do real Parisians manage? Tourists attack the town like locusts, there’s excessive inflation (not Phil Graham-like “mental inflation”), and traffic is poor. It gets worse in a couple of weeks when bicyclists flood the …
Fish in a Flock and Sheep in a School
Natural Light Visit to Paris so far this weekend has included: Musée du Louvre, Tour d’Eiffel, Musée d’Orsay, Espace Dali, and Musée Picasso. At the Louvre, everyone packed certain exhibition halls to see the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo, and a few other prominent pieces. At Orsay, everyone crowded the Vincent Van Gogh rooms. Why? Works such as Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix because of its cultural commentary about the French Revolution or Hommage to Cézanne by Denis because of its ironical retelling of impressionism. Or countless other individual pieces. Art is for …
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