THE GREEN RAY BEFORE SUNSET

Memories of the Future left a very interesting list of songs in my blog here:
http://celinejulie.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/something-to-accompany-eric-rohmer-or-vivaldi/#comments

>>What an intriguing idea to make a list… as I commented in my blog, I’m glad that my posting have sparked an interested in the remarkable Ms. Simone. I’m not familiar with Spring is Here (her music catalogue is kind of like stumbling down a rabbit hole–it seems limitless), but I’m downloading it as I type.

A few favorite of mine:
-two very different versions of Summertime, one by Janis Joplin, the other by Sarah Vaughan (Billie’s is good too though)
-A Summer Song by Chad and Jeremy (it always makes me smile)
-Regina Spektor’s Summer in the City
-Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring stands as the best example of an American composer somehow capturing something essentially American (and in a good way)
-Billie Holiday’s Some Other Spring
-Autumn Leaves by Eva Cassidy, which is just haunting
-A Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon and Garfunkel

And for seasons in general… Nico’s Fairest of the Seasons.

More than I thought, actually<<


Below is my comment about BEFORE SUNSET in Memories of the Future’s blog:
http://memoriesofthefuture.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/presenting-ms-nina-simone/#comments

Yes, I have seen both BEFORE SUNSET and BEFORE SUNRISE. I saw BEFORE SUNRISE in a theatre more than ten years ago. I saw BEFORE SUNSET on a cable TV about a year ago. I like both of them very much. And after I read your two articles about BEFORE SUNSET in rottentomatoes, you make me want to see this film again. And, more importantly, your writing makes me wish I could find a film that would affect me that much.

I like BEFORE SUNSET a lot, but I have to admit that the film doesn’t affect me as strongly as it affects you or most of my Thai cinephile friends. This film is in the Top 10 of the year’s lists of most of my friends. One of my Thai friends, Filmsick, wrote something like “Richard Linklater is killing me softly with this film. This film keeps on penetrating my lonely soul again and again and again.”

I don’t know why this film doesn’t affect me as much as my friends. Maybe I’m not a romantic person. Maybe the film portrays a truth about life and love that is too bitter and painful for me to accept. Maybe inside myself, I am still a child singing George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love”, and still prefer to see a film which is not as realistic as this. I don’t know. Anyway, I still like BEFORE SUNSET very much, and maybe, some time in the future, life experiences might make me appreciate this film more.

Reading your articles on BEFORE SUNSET inspires me to compile a list of films that affect me strongly in the heart. Here they are:

1.THE GREEN RAY (1986, Erih Rohmer)

2.DEJA VU (1997, Henry Jaglom)

3.MISS FIRECRACKER (1989, Thomas Schlamme)

4.SHIRLEY VALENTINE (1989, Lewis Gilbert)

5.BUNNY (2000, Mia Trachinger)