This afternoon I went to see “Sarah’s Key” at the local theatre. There are three theatres in my town and I actually had to drive to the one farthest from me to see the movie – but I really want to support independent films in this town. I have been disappointed more than once because a film I was really looking forward to never made it here. And “here” isn’t a slouch of a city, either. So when independent films come, I try to support.
I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing this movie, because I knew the story and that it would be sad. I looked away a few times (I’m so wimpy) and got teary-eyed a few times. It was a good portrayal of the book and wonderfully acted and beautifully filmed. Little girl Sarah was an incredible actress. It makes me wonder if I will ever be able to learn about all of the atrocities of war. You think you know some history and you learn that you know the tip of the iceberg. (I really probably only know the tip of the tip of the iceberg about history.)
I’m glad I went and “voted with my dollars,” and hope that independent films will continue to come here!
I ended up going to a midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2, with no regrets. Marissa and I watched Pt. 1 on PPV at home (without popcorn) and then went to the theatre! We arrived around 10:45 and the there were a lot of people there in costumes and I don’t know how many theatres were actually sold out. The one we were in was already 2/3 full by the time we got there. It was exciting to be there with all of the other “giddy” people, to hear the applause throughout the movie – even before the movie started – and to watch the final book come to life. There were differences, of course, but there was also word-for-word sameness in a lot of dialogue. Good stuff.
The books are more amazing, of course, but the movies add to the experience. One of my favorite podcasts, Filmspotting, reviewed the movie after reading ZERO of the books (or even seeing all of the movies), so they had tons of questions, although they gave the movie pretty good reviews. Marissa hadn’t read any books beyond the first and enjoyed the movies on their own.
So now what? Other book-related movies are coming out soon.
“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” is in theatres now (7/15) but I don’t see it showing up in Rochester for a while… I will keep my eyes peeled for that one. I had that one on audio but lost it somewhere (probably on my dead iPod) so I downloaded a digital version from the library (MobiPocket Reader anyone??? Yikes… another program downloaded to read books) but also requested a paperback – and today I got an email that it was ready and waiting! Yay! I’ll dig in tonight!
“The Help” comes out on August 10 – and it looks so good! What a fun book to read and discuss. It will be a book club event to see that together!
“One Day” comes out August 19. (July 15 was the ONE DAY featured in the book! Should have acknowledged it!) I look forward to seeing that book on the screen. I enjoyed reading it – mostly – although the ending didn’t sit right with me. 😦
“Jane Eyre” hasn’t made it to Rochester yet – meaning it won’t? It was released in April, so that’s probably a good bet. I have it in my Netflix queue but there’s no release date there yet. Sigh. I read that book in anticipation of the movie. I’m glad I caught up with a classic and I know there are multiple versions of the movie that I can pick fromI
“Sarah’s Key” was made into a movie! The book about the Vel’d’Hiv Roundup in 1942 in France was another sad Holocaust story, telling about another unknown-to-me piece of history. Kristin Scott Thomas stars and it might be French, as the title is listed as “Sarah’s Key (Elle s’appelait Sarah)”. Releases 7/22!
I heard that “Austenland” is being made into a movie starring Keri Russel. I liked that book, so that’s pretty fun. Gotta love all things Austen!
There’s the “movie news” portion of the blog – ha! Just so much good stuff coming up, I guess. Lots of good material to choose from!
Speaking of book club events, we had book club this afternoon. I got there late – around 2pm – and we discussed our book (“Olive Kitteredge”) very little! No one loved the book, although a few of us thought it was good enough. It’s really short stories about small town life with the character of Olive showing up, being featured, or simply being mentioned somehow in each one. So the plot and story-line was not easy to follow and the characters were many and difficult to remember.
But oh, did we laugh about other stuff! Suddenly it was 5:10 and we wondered if we were staying for supper! Good stories and catch-up time. Who knows what we’ll do next, but it may be just a movie date along with dinnertime discussion of “Heaven is For Real,” since many had read it already and really wanted to discuss it when done.
Well, I can’t wait to dig in to “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.” What are you excited to read? What movies are you excited to see?
Tonight Sarah and I (the Rochester branch of the Walkie Talkies) did some mall walking and discussed not one, but TWO books! We met a little later than initially planned so that Sarah could finish “The Virgin of Small Plains” by Nancy Pickard. That was the book that I had to start over because in my reading / falling asleep habit caused me to lose my spot a few times and about half way through I wondered why the author was so cryptic in her releasing of details! When I started over I realized that I skipped about 8 chapters! The book had short chapters, but still! But when I got into it I couldn’t put it down and stayed up later than I should have one night to finish. We had a good discussion about the big secrets in a little community, the victims of the secrets, and whether or not there were real miracles performed.
Then we discussed “Sarah’s Key” by Tatiana (I think). We finished the book a little while ago, and the overwhelming feeling was how unbelievable it is that we can continue to learn about new horrors that occurred during WWII. You think that it couldn’t possibly get any worse – and you learn about something new. We also discussed a country owning up to its injustices and the shame felt by not doing enough. And those people who risk their lives to help strangers. Wow.
So lots of walkie and lots of talkie! Next on our agenda is “The Magicians” by Lev Grossman and “One Day” by David Nicholls. Yeah!
Something I’d like to figure out how to do is to import images into the blog without downloading them to my computer and then uploading them to this site. Maybe that’s not a big deal, but it seems like there should be an easier way. So, another time.
Walkie Talkie Book Club 