Clouds of Sils Maria

Clouds of Sils Maria is a wonderful movie which I happened to see because Andras Laszlo won some tickets from Radio Klara ( the classical and culture radio) for a special viewing in Antwerp. Juliet Binoche and actually all the other actors gave us their very best performance. I loved the movie because of ts layers of meaning and how to read them. The story is about an aging actress who is offered the role of an older woman Helena in the play she starred in as the younger actress Sigrid. She has to accept an award for the author of the play who on that very night commits suicide. A new production is planned and with her PA, Kristen Steward, the content and the way of performing the roles are discussed and different interpretations, aging, resiting the passing of time, reading in a totally different way what the play is about, kind of being stuck in the past interpretation of the younger actress she was.. Different options come to surface. For the older actress it is a harsh confrontation. So you have the 'real life' dialogs and the dialogs of the play she is studying. Both elements sharpening the relationship between  the actress and the PA. During a walk wanting to see the snake of clouds coming flowing through the pass the PA disappears... No clue whether she just turns back, commits suicide, falls, or is murdered... This is good, leaves open different readings of the interactions between the two women. The brilliant PA shows the actress how differently one can read the story. So reality, the play, different visions about acting and personal relations, it all becomes a heady mix. I loved the movie, I enjoyed the spectacular views of the swiss alps which also perform their role to perfection as all the actors did.

Train Dreams- Denis Johnson

Seldom I do read books in translation if the original is written in a language I know. Yet when a friends passes me a book he enjoyed, I'll make the effort and Denis Johnson's book was well worth the effort. It is barely a hundred pages but carries a wealth of metaphor, insight in the hard life in Idaho as exemplified by the main character Robert Grainier. He lives through disaster and the hardships of the American West at the beginning of the twentieths century. The novel exemplifies how personal loss works in a person, how mythical thinking and magic helps and destroys. The main character who starts out as a day laborer is also a prime example of doing what needs to be done. The book was nominated for a Pulitzer prize in 2012. The Dutch translation by Maarten Polman does read well, keeping the sober language of the original. The novel opens with Grainier participating in the killing of a Chinese man who had been accused of stealing... The harshness of those times is immediate and haunting.

Juli Zeh - Hilde Keteleer

I don't know why I deserved a present by Hilde, but there it was 'Nullzeit' by German author Juli Zeh. Hilde Keteleer translated this book into Dutch and knowing her quality I am sure she did a great job. Hilde will interview Juli Zeh on May 2nd at 1 pm in the Permeke Library in Antwerp. Nullzeit is zero-time in diving. This novel is an ingenious construction with a seemingly simple enough story. A dysfunctional couple travels to a faraway island to learn how to dive as a preparation for the leading role in a movie. The novel interweaves information about diving, descriptions of the volcanic island and the inner life of the main characters. One could say that 'Water' is the main character getting the best and the worst out of the human protagonists. The psychological crime novel is craftily constructed: changing narrative positions Most of it as told by Sven (the diving instructor) yet the interspersed by diary fragments by Jola, the rich actress hoping for a role. The reason for this construction becomes clear in the lasts pages of the book. The underwater descriptions are really pleasant to read and instructive just as the description of The Dorset, a famed painstakingly restored sailboat. The relationship between Jola and Theo are bordering on the sadistic and/or masochistic.

Sven is kind of forlorn in this and his girlfriend Antje is the no-nonsense element at the end regretting her choices. There is a nice fluidity to the book, in the writing and the elaborate construction which one sees only at the very end. I am always glad to learn something new. I didn't know this German author and thank Hilde for her present.

Nabucco - Giuseppe Verdi

José, a friend of mine offered me a ticket to the opera, one of the best seats in the house, since she fell ill. Not being well versed in classical music I decided to go and listen to the introduction the opera gives before the performances. I learned this opera is written in a new and revolutionary way: working in dialogs between voices, between instruments, between soloists and choir and the orchestra and the singers. Also that the dramatic action is driven by the characters who define the plot. The first tones of the orchestra pulled at my heartstrings, moved me, but still I didn't fathom the ride I would be on. The performance by the Symphonic Orchestra and Choir of the Flemish Opera, the instruments and voices enchanted me. The British director however deserves my greatest praise: Daniel Slater. He used the libretto and the opera with a totally contemporary eye: no costumes, but contemporary iconic clothing referring to the Arab spring, the Occupy movement, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the golden calf in Wall street, power and religion.
The opening scene the choir is seated among graffiti-sprayed walls listening to Zaccaria their backs turned to the audience, occupy masks on the back of their heads, tents like I have seen in several cities. Zaccaria is a rebel rouser and we see how the group responds, takes over his defiant attitude. Verdi in the 21st century. The choir eloquently, beautifully speaks out against persecution. I became part of the thoughts and feelings, had tears running along my cheeks. To me this contemporary direction by Slater is a voyage through war and conflict, power hunger, subjection and liberation and the possibility of forgiveness, peaceful futures for all. The 'bad Character' Abigaille sang with reckless abandon, grabbing the crown when Nabucco is overcome by madness, his singing in those moments faltering, inward turned, whereas his finale having chased Abigaille and the golden calf of Babylon having been destroyed, was powerful. To my untrained ear all did a great job, the choir however stole my heart. I absolutely loved the very last gesture: Nabucco with the flick of a hand not accepting the crown... A long applause and bravo!!! After all the old testament violence, we leave the opera with hope. Hope that Occupy and other peaceful movements will build a new sense of community.

Then enemy within - Mieke de Loof

--> In this book The enemy within by Mieke de Loof we meet again with the Jesuit/secret agent  Ignatz Ksaveri and Elisabeth in the period before World War one in Vienna. As in her other books, she has an elegant style, driving the story forward through the dialogs. The amount of research that goes into a historic crime novel is daunting. Vienna, its streets and quays, buildings and the flavor of the local lingo all comes to life within a realistically sketched historical frame. The hunger protests in 1911 against ‘predatory capitalism’ was violently squashed. Friends of the protagonists get killed. We get acquainted with the violent and non-violent scene of the anarchists. The killing of Franz Ferdinant and the beginning of WWI is announced. Emma Goldmann, alias E.G. Bradey, did read in Vienna during that period. The research into the traffic of weapons is impressive. Places she describes still exist. This historical crime novel became strangely contemporary with the Occupy movement and the Arab Spring... Serendipity. I enjoy how intelligently she weaves all the facts she researched into a fluid story one will want to finish in one sitting... Take your time and enjoy – Only available in Dutch for the time being.

Mieke de Loof is a philosopher, writer and sociologist. We're lucky: in total the Vienna Ignatz Ksaveri and Elisabeth series will consists of seven books

birds in the head - rose vandewalle

For those among you who read also Dutch I need to write about 'vogels in het hoofd' by Rose Vandewalle. This is a moving, insightful, forgiving and understanding set of 3 short pieces, published in the series 'Art is free and cannot be paid' by De Dodopers, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. This is the Indian summer issue October 2012. The well chosen painting 'Chinese statecircus" by Eline Rausenberger expresses well the multitudes of feelings and absurdities a demented person might feel or the family member who with a watchful eye analyses, processes and creates beauty out of a dire situation.

Her texts are the result of yearlong lived experiences and and thoughtful analyses of what is happening on a deeper level. Her humanity leads her to understanding the plight of the demented mothers and fathers in the home as well as the pressure on the underpaid and overworked staff. She has helped me understand situations on an emotional and intellectual level and thus helping me deal with my mothers dementia.

De Dodopers in an initiative of Bert Jans, one of the publishers of Fingerprint, Eindhoven and aims to make the best possible small books without having to make a profit. They call it doing 'useless' things because the goal is not profit but beauty and enjoyment.