Books: English patient
Since the beginning of the year, in the unyielding, bitter cold weather of San Francisco, I have found myself deep in the charms of Agatha Christie, reading Poirot one afternoon after another with warm blankets and abundant supply of hot chocolate.
One, two, buckle my shoe
Agatha likes to center the development of a story around a poem or a nursery rhythm. For this one, I feel it's quite unnecessary and a bit forced. It'd be an excellent story without it. Great twist on identity, the best out of three.
Five Little Pigs
Most impressed by the beautiful writing on the yearning, resentment and eternal suffering unique to lovers of a life time, perceived on canvases, rekindled in letters after 16 years. The story in terms of staging the crime is subpar by her own standards. However in terms of organization it's quite ahead of its time, for later, Kurosawa would make Seven Samurai, and much later, Zhang Yimou would make Hero, both paying homage on the multi-perspectives of one event. (Don't quote me on this... Agatha might not have been the first person ever)
The movie version (A&E) was exceptionally good, surprisingly. The opening scene was most striking, cross cutting between the sunny, rich hued scenes laced with children's laughter and Caroline's final moment confronting death accompanied by her own breathless panting in the dark execution room. The director understood the tenderness and the delicate nuances between the two lovers in his use of lighting, composition, and particularly the color. All the present scenes seemed to have a blue-ish, cold, almost metal-like undertone, characters' faces appearing more rigid, more angular, with stark contrast between the whiteness of the face and the screaming red lips. The scenes in retrospect were soaked in golden hues commonly seen in fairy tales, so much so that an over exposure was unavoidable.
The Hollow
Definitely not impressed. The setting is one of my favorites, Poirot in a country house enjoying the quiet retirement days with unyielding turnip and stubborn pumpkins in his garden. Very slow and it kind of just hangs during the first part of investigation where all parties present at the crime scene were meticulously interviewed.
Elephants can remember
Kudos to myself! I figured it out before the end of the book!
Murder on the Orient Express
Read it for the Nth time, and still I have to admit, this is the cream of the crop, best of the best, hands down.
I watched Love Actually and Bridget Jones's Diary oh i don't know how many times... I tried watch them muted even. There is something comforting in a British accent to me. OK, I started seeing things. During the shots when Hugh Grant first arrived at Downing Street and met with the household staff, particularly in meeting Natalie, his tie kept changing in the shot.
First, in the one single shot where Hugh Grant greeted all the other staff then walked in front of Natalie, he has a navy white dots kind of tie:
Cut to Natalie and back, now he has on the blue grid-patterned tie:
Back to David with white dots:
Back to grid patterns:
Wow, the first person who discovered this and posted online seriously needs help, or maybe get out more, and I am a close second for going all out and get screenshots. Due to the technicality of the shot, I decided that this has to be a joke intentionally. Who would actually in a 50-second scene keep changing his tie...
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
by Ang Lee
One, two, buckle my shoe
Agatha likes to center the development of a story around a poem or a nursery rhythm. For this one, I feel it's quite unnecessary and a bit forced. It'd be an excellent story without it. Great twist on identity, the best out of three.
Five Little Pigs
Most impressed by the beautiful writing on the yearning, resentment and eternal suffering unique to lovers of a life time, perceived on canvases, rekindled in letters after 16 years. The story in terms of staging the crime is subpar by her own standards. However in terms of organization it's quite ahead of its time, for later, Kurosawa would make Seven Samurai, and much later, Zhang Yimou would make Hero, both paying homage on the multi-perspectives of one event. (Don't quote me on this... Agatha might not have been the first person ever)
The movie version (A&E) was exceptionally good, surprisingly. The opening scene was most striking, cross cutting between the sunny, rich hued scenes laced with children's laughter and Caroline's final moment confronting death accompanied by her own breathless panting in the dark execution room. The director understood the tenderness and the delicate nuances between the two lovers in his use of lighting, composition, and particularly the color. All the present scenes seemed to have a blue-ish, cold, almost metal-like undertone, characters' faces appearing more rigid, more angular, with stark contrast between the whiteness of the face and the screaming red lips. The scenes in retrospect were soaked in golden hues commonly seen in fairy tales, so much so that an over exposure was unavoidable.
The Hollow
Definitely not impressed. The setting is one of my favorites, Poirot in a country house enjoying the quiet retirement days with unyielding turnip and stubborn pumpkins in his garden. Very slow and it kind of just hangs during the first part of investigation where all parties present at the crime scene were meticulously interviewed.
Elephants can remember
Kudos to myself! I figured it out before the end of the book!
Murder on the Orient Express
Read it for the Nth time, and still I have to admit, this is the cream of the crop, best of the best, hands down.
I watched Love Actually and Bridget Jones's Diary oh i don't know how many times... I tried watch them muted even. There is something comforting in a British accent to me. OK, I started seeing things. During the shots when Hugh Grant first arrived at Downing Street and met with the household staff, particularly in meeting Natalie, his tie kept changing in the shot.
First, in the one single shot where Hugh Grant greeted all the other staff then walked in front of Natalie, he has a navy white dots kind of tie:
Cut to Natalie and back, now he has on the blue grid-patterned tie:
Back to David with white dots:
Back to grid patterns:
Wow, the first person who discovered this and posted online seriously needs help, or maybe get out more, and I am a close second for going all out and get screenshots. Due to the technicality of the shot, I decided that this has to be a joke intentionally. Who would actually in a 50-second scene keep changing his tie...
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
by Ang Lee
Labels: books
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