Moonstruck

I don't own this movie, but I watch it every time I know it's on tv. The characters are delightful. The family dynamics never tire me. I love the dialogue.

Ronny Cammareri: Chrissy, over on the wall, bring me the big knife. I want to cut my throat.

Cosmo Castorini: You'll have your eyes opened for you, my friend.
Johnny: I have my eyes open.
Cosmo Castorini: Oh yeah? Well, stick around. Don't go on any long trips.
Johnny: I don't know what you mean.
Cosmo Castorini: I know you don't. That's the point. I'll say no more.
Johnny: You haven't said anything!
Cosmo Castorini: And that's all I'm saying.

Rose: Do you love him, Loretta?
Loretta Castorini: Aw, ma, I love him awful.
Rose: Oh, God, that's too bad.

Ronny Cammareri: Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn't know this either, but love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die. The storybooks are bullshit. Now I want you to come upstairs with me and get in my bed!

Grandfather: La bella luna! The moon brings the woman to the man. Capice?

Cosmo Castorini: A man understands one day that his life is built on nothing, and that's a bad, crazy day.
Rose: Your life is not built on nothing! Te amo.

Moonstruck, 1987 directed by Norman Jewison, staring Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis and Danny Aiello.

Random work sketch that reminds me of how Johnny Cammareri must have felt sitting in the kitchen clueless as to how life had passed him by while he was worrying about how others would feel about his decision to marry Loretta.

Movie Roll

Recently Willow from Life at Willow Manor listed a movie alphabet on her blog. I was over at Poetikat's Invisible Keepsakes last night and she took the challenge and posted an alphabet of foreign films. I tried to leave a few of my favorites in the comments, but Blogger was being difficult and I finally gave up. I just checked again and apparently my comment did take, but in the meantime, I've given the list a go myself. I couldn't cover the whole alphabet, but I've come up with a fairly comprehensive list of foreign films I've seen.


Amelie (French)
Antonia's Line (Dutch)
Billy Elliot (British)
Bon Voyage (French)
Buddy (Norwegian)
Children of Heaven (Iranian)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Chinese)
Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese)
Dear Frankie (British)
Farewell My Concubine (Chinese)
Girl From Paris (French)
Golden Door (Italian)
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (French)
Joyeux Noel (French/German/British)
Man on the Train (French)
Monsoon Wedding (Indian)
Muriel's Wedding (Australian)
Nowhere In Africa (German?)
Once (Irish/British)
Paris Je T'aime (French)
Rabbit Proof Fence (Australian)
Ridicule (French)
Rosenstrasse (German)
Salaam Bombay (Indian)
Seven Samurai (Japanese)
Shall We Dance (Japanese version)
Tea With Mussolini (British)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (French)
The Triplets of Belleville (French)
Tsotsi (South Africa)
The Tunnel (German)
Under Solen (Swedish)
Volver (Spanish)
Whale Rider ( New Zealand)

Joyeux Noel 2005

If you are looking for a different kind of Christmas movie, check out Joyeux Noel. The setting is Christmas Eve during WWI on the battlefield in France. A short lived truce is called by both sides so that they can bury their dead and forget the war for one night. The events that take place are based on true accounts of that 1914 Christmas Eve.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I watched a thought provoking movie tonight. It is the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby a former editor of the French magazine Elle. He was left with locked-in syndrome after waking from a 3 week coma that was a result of a stroke. Completely paralyzed except for one eye, he dictated his book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking his left eye to choose each letter as the alphabet was read to him. As is usual after watching a movie that has been based on a book, I now am compelled to read the book in order to apprehend the complete picture...to know his thoughts....to try to understand his intrepid spirit in the face of such a debilitating life event.

The human spirit can be so resilient. People can be subjected to the most crippling circumstances and not only survive, but thrive. I am intensely interested in these people.

How about you? Are you interesting in these types of stories or do they depress you? I find that I am inspired, but not so sure that I would be able to endure with their resolve and determination and even vitality.

Click here to see the movie trailer.

What Da Ya Think?

Before there were Pampers I guess there were these:


Has anyone ever seen this movie?

I found this ad and article while exploring the bound yearly volumes of my granddad's paper. You'll notice the article was from 1941 and the movie came out the same year according to this Turner Classic Movie review.

BTW, has everyone read or at least seen Gone With The Wind? What was your favorite movie scene? I think mine is when Bonnie Blue dies and Melanie comes over to plead with Rhett to not grieve himself to death. Clark Gable with tears in his eyes...gets to me every time! I read the book as a young adult (and that was a long time ago) so I have forgotten many of the particulars but I remember that I thought Margaret Mitchell"s development of the characters was exceptional.

Just a random interjection here: There is a restaurant in downtown Atlanta called Aunt Pittypat's Porch. Remember Scarlett lives in Atlanta with Aunt Pittypat after her 1st husband Charles Hamilton dies. If you're interested and are in Atlanta you can tour Margaret Mitchell's home and the GWTW museum.

Here are some favorite quotes:

(Gerald O'Hara): Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts.

(Mammy): Oh no you ain't! If you don't care what folks says about this family, I does. And I done told you and told you, you can always tell a lady by the way she eats in front of people like a bird. And I ain't aimin' to have you go over to Mista John Wilkes' house and eat like a field hand and gobble like a hog.

(Rhett Butler): With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

Rhett): Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?
(Scarlett): Marriage, fun? Fiddle-dee-dee! Fun for men you mean.

(Rhett): No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you! You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.

(Scarlett): Rhett... If you go ... where shall I go? What shall I do?
(Rhett): Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.


(Scarlett): I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tommorrow.
(Scarlett): After all ... tomorrow is another day.

Have You Seen Becoming Jane?

"Her needlework both plain and ornamental was excellent, and she might have put a sewing machine to shame." ~James Edward Austen-Leigh, about Jane Austen

Bon Voyage

Warning!! I am about to go all around the world to recommend a movie I think you might enjoy.

I finally found a few minutes to browse through my April issue of Traditional Home today. Near the end I found this beautiful home. The magazine calls this style "tradfusion: Trad marries Mod in One Fab Collaboration."

Simply elegant, don't you think?

Tres Chic, non?

But these special design front doors are what made me realize that a movie I love had been floating in the back of my mind almost the whole time I read this article.

("Ahhhhh, this is what I will blog about today" I thought as I got up to walk to the computer.)

As I walked down the hall I realized that I was listening to this CD. With it's mixture of songs and artists it is great French mood music.

Ah now, to the subject of this post....Bon Voyage, directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau in 2003 and starring Gerard Depardieu, Isabelle Adjani and Peter Coyote. It is the story of Paris in the 1940s just prior to German occupation. Even though the subject matter sounds serious, the movie is actually quite a funny farce, making fun of movie stars, government officials and the rich socialites of Paris who are perturbed that the Germans are interrupting their carefree lifestyles.

Since it is a foreign film you do need to be prepared to read the subtitles unless you speak French. Here is a link to the movie trailer. If you do see it please let me know what you think. I've seen it a couple of times and it never fails to delight me.

ps I forgot to mention why this magazine article brought the movie to mind. The movie star's French apartment is decorated in the art deco style. I was reminded of the glass doors at the entrance of her building by the front doors of this home. Yes, I do know that my mind works in a convoluted manner...what can I say?