Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle reading the works of Franz Kafka whilst eating an eggplant sandwich on rye. And I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to a wonderful motion picture score, a real old-fashioned motion picture score from motion picture I watched last evening entitled A Promise, from a novella by Austrian writer, Stefan Zweig, whose had several movies made from his stories, most famously Max Ophuls’ wonderful movie, Letter From an Unknown Woman. A Promise was directed by someone whose films I’m very fond of, namely Patrice Leconte – he of Monsieur Hire, The Hairdresser’s Husband, Half a Chance, Ridicule, The Girl on the Bridge and many other quirky and wonderful movies. I’d never even heard of A Promise, which, as it turns out, is his one and only film in English. It stars Alan Rickman, Rebecca Hall (daughter of English director Peter Hall), and Richard Madden. Thankfully, Amazon Prime had it to stream and very cheaply, so that’s what I did. So, what did I think? I found it a lovely movie, with excellent performances, even-keeled, with no overblown moments at any point, which, for me, worked really well. It’s beautifully directed for the most part. I say “for the most part” because for reasons I can’t fathom, frankly, Leconte does that shaky cam stuff within scenes, but only sporadically and it’s such a weird thing to do in a period piece when 90% of the movie he frames things beautifully and evocatively. The sets and costumers are gorgeous – the film takes place just before World War 1 – and the score is just terrific – Gabriel Yared being the composer. Thankfully, the whole thing is on the Tube of You and easy to grab, which I did. After I finished it, I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes, where this 2013 film got roasted pretty much, and rather viciously so. They all wanted big, goopy scenes and high drama – but that’s not the film Leconte made. It came out the same year as The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is “inspired” by the works of Stefan Zweig, so I guess maybe they thought THAT’S what Leconte should have done. Those reviews already haven’t aged well. There are a couple of positive ones, and I think now that we’re twelve years on, people will discover this and enjoy it for the film Leconte actually made. I may even watch it again. And I always enjoy Mr. Rickman, so it’s worth it just for him, although the other two roles are really the focus of the film.
Otherwise, yesterday was fine. I was up at eight and out the door promptly at eight-thirty. I went directly to the mail place and picked up two important envelopes, and a Blu-ray that someone asked me to sign. Odd, since I’m only in this particular movie for about ten seconds, which I did as a favor to the producer, who I appear with. Go know. Then I went to Hugo’s and had pasta papa, which was excellent. After that, I went to bank one to cash a check and even though some yokel saw me heading to the door and suddenly sprinted so he could get in before me and get the teller who is MY teller, he was only there for about three minutes. I was in and out of there in about seven minutes. Then I walked over to my bank and deposited the dough there – no line and I was the only customer. Whew!
Then I went to Gelson’s and got a Caesar salad for later, and a muffin top, also for later. I came home, went to the piano and just played through the four songs over and over again, getting my fingers used to them, as well as my voice. I really had trouble with the vamp for the fourth song – the rhythm of it – because I kind of made up the rhythm as I was recording it. I listened to it over and over and over and still couldn’t quite get it – I finally did – at least, I think I did. I made a couple of tiny lyric adjustments and I’m pretty happy with the songs now. I did some work on the computer, had a telephonic call, had the salad and muffin top, had another telephonic call, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the movie. After the movie and went to the Tube of You and grabbed the soundtrack. And here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ve pre-ordered food that should be here by noon, I’ll go to the mail place to pick up something that’s arriving today, then I’ll come home and start catching up on a few things I’ve let slide and I’m going to try using the Cedars app for the referral thing. Once I’ve done that, then I can make the eye doctor appointment and get this business on its way so I can schedule the surgery and the sooner that happens, the better. Then I’ll put the four songs into script format with stage directions and all that jazz. After all that, I can watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same – I think there may be an opening night to attend – I’ll find out for sure, and I really have to find a set designer for Drat! The Cat!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, eat, go to the mail place, catch up on a few things, try to figure out the Cedars app so I can do a virtual visit thing and get the eye doctor referral so I can make that appointment, put the four songs into script format, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite movies featuring Alan Rickman? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a fine October first.