Rain, Rain

[handful_ofdust]

A lousy day for sure, with air pressure making my head buzz like a hive. Still, Chapter Twenty-One is holding at 5,499, with 1,499 of that added today--I think it's imminently finishable, maybe even tonight. And since the So You Think You Can Dance Canada finale's not 'til Sunday, it doesn't really even have to interfere with tonight's iteration of what I've come to call The Battle of the Bed: Cal vs. us, complete with fake-laughter, jumping, diaper-ripping and floor-pissing. Last night I had to take every damn thing that wasn't tied down out of his room, for fear he'd rip it up or play it like a drum, and tonight it'll probably be no different. No wonder I'm so tired.

One good thing is that I got hold of a copy of Left Bank, the Flemish horror movie which tries to do for witchcraft films what Let The Right One In did for vampires. All the tricks of neo-realist/Dogme filmmaking are in wonderful evidence, and the slow-burning character work ropes you in until you're practically biting yourself to take your mind off what might happen. More on this later, hopefully.

For now, it's drugs, then Surrey Place, and Cal. And I'll try to keep going.

Comments

[sovay]

One good thing is that I got hold of a copy of Left Bank, the Flemish horror movie which tries to do for witchcraft films what Let The Right One In did for vampires.

Say more?

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Marie is a young runner who was ranked fifth in her class world-wide during her last big competition, and is just about to qualify to compete again in Portugal. Her life is bland and circumscribed, defined almost completely by training and the watchful eye of her mother, a New Age-y type who owns a vegetarian supermarket. One day, she "accidentally" meet Bobby, an archer who trains at the same facility. Soon after, Marie starts having odd dreams and gets inexplicably ill--might be anemia, might not--which means she has to rest for at least a month, bumping her out of the Portugal fast-track entirely. As a result, she plunges headlong into a relationship with Bobby, and ends up moving in with him.

Bobby lives in an odd apartment building on Antwerp's Left Bank (ta da!), which--we later learn--was once where all the people deemed not "good enough" to live inside the city ended up: "Witches, the gangs, people with the plague." In fact, his apartment used to be occupied by a woman who's disappeared, and was researching the link between the area the building was raised on and a pattern of cyclical "accidental" deaths going back to Celtic times, at a rate of roughly one every seven years. Also possibly involved is the local Archery Guild, which Bobby just happens to be dean of; at one point, his grandmother reminds him to call them about their "big feast", which is due to take place on Samhain, aka two weeks from now.

Add to all this the fact that Marie injures her knee while running (even though she's been told not to)--a wound which becomes increasingly grotesque-looking--as well as her growing obsession with a mysterious puddle of black mud located inside "Cellar 51", one of the building's basement storage spaces, and you know it'll end up nowhere good. But again, characterization is key here; Marie's an outwardly dour girl with a true Romantic's inner sensibilities, alternately lured and repelled by the ancient null-point lurking beneath Bobby's home. It's The Golden Bough with a slacker slant, and well worth your time.

[sovay]

It's The Golden Bough with a slacker slant, and well worth your time.

Cool. I'll look out for it.

[jackal-lies.livejournal.com]

I'll watch for the film, hopefully it'll get a release on a DVD at least here. The idea of putting everyone who seems unworthy or dangerous outside a town/city is odd. They might end up surrounding you on all sides...
(off topic and remembering you were talking about Ben Foster not playing normal characters, have you seen X Men 3?)

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Sure. It's a hot mess, but not entirely unsatisfying, and Warren Worthington III was definitely one of the highlights (for me).

[baggyeyes]

Wouldn't you know, as soon as I Go to post this -I can't remember the name of the damn store! There's a movie store in Quebec; it stocks classic movies, memorabilia... spaghetti westerns...and a nice assortment of horror movies. Anything you've been looking for?

For the love of dog, I wish I could remember the name.