The One With The Wrong Turn And Right Music

I went jogging pretty late. I had hoped that it would not be too hot (as it was for the last couple of months, sic!) to do more than my usual 5km. So I decided to run a bit further and make a 6,5km circle.
I missed the right turn, though... and ended up with the 10,5km route.
Which I am very happy about - I love running after dark, but lately I just haven't had enough time to practise jogging at all (cycling a lot instead), let alone after nightfall.

While jogging, I usually listen to movie soundtracks.
But Friday evenings make an exception to this rule. There is a music chart on the Programme 3 of the Polish Radio - and it is my soundtrack every time I go jogging late on Fridays.
Number one this week(and the previous week, and the one before... I honestly was not aware Dead Can Dance was so popular in Poland):
Stay tuned.

The One With The Most Marvellous (But Magicless, Regrettably) Red Curls You Could Possibly Imagine

Brave

Ratatouille was magical.
WALL-E was magical.
Brave is not.

Stay tuned.

The One Where The Hamster Survives

Carnage

This is not a comedy, this is a grotesque. You laugh, but you are aware the situation is rather sad and pitiful.
Two couples of parents meet to settle about their sons fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the evening into chaos. The matter of their sons' quarrel comes and goes. In the meantime, they argue about various things, they turn sides, form temporary alliances depending on the current subject, they get more and more absurd.
Wonderful acting performance of them all: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly. Plus Walter, voice in a cell phone. And the cell phone itself. And the hamster. And the tulip bouquet. And even the hair-dryer.

The Ides of March

Ryan Gosling as a true believer, an idealist, but getting more and more involved in dirty politics, while he is running the governor's presidential campaign. Marvellous!
George Clooney as aforementioned presidential candidate - looks fine, smiles fine, waves his hand and gives speeches... All fine, but nothing more.
Great supporting actors: Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei...

You can be certain there is a Brutus here. (Maybe even more than one.) The question is: what exactly is his betrayal? who/what is he actually betraying - his superiors? the power they represent? the ideas he sincerely believes in? himself...?
I had kept avoiding this movie and the reason was that it had to do with USA elections - I simply hate the subject. But, somehow, it did not matter here. In fact, now that I think of it, I cannot imagine a better setting for this duplicity drama.

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Both films scored by Alexandre Desplat, whom I adore. Oddly enough, I did not recognise, since neither soundtrack managed to grab my attention and I learned that only from the end titles.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Mismatch

Bon appétit

A tangled romance between a Spanish cook and a German somelier set in Zurich.
IN GERMAN.
Yes, I do feel that this little detail spoils the very idea of any romantic drama, let alone a mediocre one like Bon appétit.
The movie has its moments; altogether, though, it makes no sense: too many threads, some characters who seem important suddenly disappear... As a result, you do not really know whose perspective you should focus on, whom to empathise with. Confusing.

Stay tuned.

The One Instead

You instead

I went to see this movie about two feuding rock stars get handcuffed together for 24 hours at a music festival where they are both due to perform. Mysteriously enough, there happened to be no copy of the film in the cinema... I was asked if I would like to watch Romantics Anonymous instead (which was also supposed to be screened tonight, only later, but eventually got cancelled due to Olympics - the volleyball quarter-final match). I would.

So... Rewind.

Romantics Anonymous

The story of two pathologically timid and emotionally hypersensitive people, who need to overcome their fears in order to find their happy ending. Well, it is exactly how it seems to be: nothing but predictable. However! the way is has been presented!! A true comedy in French: French language, French wit, French sense of humour. Brilliant French actors (!), who make you overlook, or rather completely forget the simplicity of the story being told.
Caution! Make sure you have some chocolate ready at hand!

How many times have I already said that I love all these small cinemas in Cracow...? For all the commitment, dedication and surprises - even those resulting from a missing tape.

Stay tuned.

The One At The Right Place

When the temperature rises higher than your natural body warmth, there are two places I love to hide at: an air-conditioned movie theatre or an old, thick-walled library. Either would provide refuge from the heat - but since the library is closed due to Summer holidays...

This Must Be The Place

A funny, frantic, kaleidoscopic, entertaining, surprising, surreal, improbable, road movie comedy.
A sad, calm, harmonious, steady, consistent, touching, truthful, domestic story drama.

Sean Penn as a wealthy former rock star, now bored and jaded in his retirement, who suddenly finds himself on a quest to find an ex-Nazi war criminal, his father's persecutor - simply brilliant. (Though, others do not fall behind the least bit.)

Nice soundtrack.

Shame

A story of a middle-aged New Yorker - a handsome and successful man, yet unsettled, unable to commit, full of self-disgust and self-contempt, lost in his shame . Told from a cold, distant and indifferent perspective. Which makes it all the more disturbing.
Great acting performance. Absorbing narrative - unlike with other movies of the kind, you get to see both sides at the same time, interweaving: proud, bold, daring outside; and shameful, restless inside.
The film asks more questions than it gives answers to.

Stay tuned.