Unveiled

Well, we're still doing stuff (just so you know!) Tonight we went to the cinema again (Orange Wednesdays are great!) to see the slightly more cultural and less mainstream film, Unveiled.

By less mainstream we are not talking SLIGHTLY! Unveiled, for those of you who have not heard of it (which, lets be fair - all of you!) is a subtitled film dealing with "issues" and is part of a minority film festival! Before we go any further I would just like to say that the film was the choice of TA and therefore she can write the review...

It is the story of a Iranian woman,Fariba, who has been forced to flee Iran due to being a lesbian. She travels to Germany where she takes on the identity of an Iranian man who commits suicide in the detention centre (FYI - She hides his body in her suitcase, an idea she gleemed from an unsuspecting German security guard!) It follows her time living as a man in a half-way-house style thing sharing a tiny room with a European, self obsessed, tracksuit bottom wearing bloke. They got jobs working in sauerkraut factory (mmm - yummy!) where our lesbian lead meets & falls in love with a German woman called Anne. Initial problem (besides the fact Anne thinks she is in fact a HE!) is that Anne has an obsessive admirer in a random German calle Uwe (pronounced like Duvet without the D!!) So, a merry if somewhat distant relationship builds between Fariba & Anne. Anne soon clicks that all is not as it seems (Fariba's hands are a dead give away apparently) But love is strong - Anne doesn't mind & things move on but Duvet, sorry Uwe messes everything up when he realises whats going on, fight ensues, Fariba gets arrested & deported back to Iran. God, just realised how long we spent in the cinema that was unneccesary given that I've just summed it up in like three sentences!

I did like how the film started and finished with almost identical scenes. In the beginning Fariba is on the aeroplane leaving Iranian air space and becoming a free woman, removing her headscarf and shedding the cultural restraints but upset at having to leave behind her Iranian lover. At the end she is back on the plane having been deported from Germany. She is re-entering Iranian air space and is seen transforming once more but this time back into the image of the Iranian male whose identity she had already stolen but once again leaving behind a lover, this time Anne.

To be honest I quite liked the film & I'm glad we went to see it regardless of it being part of the 2006 London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (that wasn't mentioned on the Picture House website!) We were surrounded in the screening, yes surrounded by Lesbane-ians!

TA

I didn't not like the film, I merely wouldn't have picked it out to watch in the first place. However, having now seen it (and it was quite funny, not least because of Duvet,) I feel that on the whole it was quite good. Like TA said, the "circle" of events was a good technique to use, but I did find myself at points just wishing Fariba to confess to Anne (she already knew anyway, but still!) - Maybe I was just hoping for a happy ending.

JK

The Black Dahlia

We've done something!

On Wednesday night we went to see The Black Dahlia at the Picture House in Exeter. Now first, let us tell you about the Picture House - it is the most comfortable cinematic experience going! The seats are like armchairs, there's leg room, there is even a bar upstairs (they'll give you your drinks in plastic glasses if you want to take them down to the film) Oh, and you don't stick to the floor! It only has two show screens but that often works well as it means that it spreads the new films out over a period of time rather than all being on for a couple weeks at the same time & you never having enough chance to see them.

So - the film. Yea...really quite confusing! Really good but definately confusing! There was lots of jumping from one thing to another but while TA mostly kept up, John was totally lost! He appreciated it all more when it had been fully explained to him on the way back to the car. It has to be said a lot of the randomness is all tidied up in the last 15 minutes at which point it all makes much more sense. We're both quite keen to read the book now to see if that flows better.

The acting was of a really high standard as you would expect from such a great cast:-
Josh Hartnet - Bucky Bleichert
Aaron Eckhart - Lee Blanchard
Scarlet Johansson - Kay Lake
Hilary Swank - Madeleine Linscott
Fiona Shaw - Ramona Linscott. Shaw gets a special mention for being absolutely hilarious as the drunken mother. O and for those of you who don't recognise the name, she also plays Aunt Petunia in the HP films (we are ashamed to admit that neither of us actually recognised her!)

The sexual tension between Johansson & Hartnet was evident from the word go. They both really pulled off the 1940's look, Johansson with her trademark blonde hair & bright red lipstick (not to mention a figure to die for - TA) and Hartnet was seen sporting a sexy leather jacket & a hat. In fact, John had great admiration for his hat wearing ability although TA was disturbed when, during one scene in which Bucky had just had sex with Madeleine he lit a cigeratte then put his hat back on whilst they were still lying in bed - is that not comparible to leaving your socks on?!

Some of the scenes were rather graphic, with one particular scene requiring John to look away due to the blood splatter! The shots of the body were really detailed, with the camers having been 'right in there' but you needed that to really get across just how savage the murder had been.

All in all we would recommend the film to others but with a caution - go prepared to pay attention and if you've read the book you'll be at an advatage!

John & TA xxx

The new blog...

Hello and welcome to our new blog!

We've set it up to document our adventures and attempts to make our lives more exciting and interesting. Our aim is to visit new places, see new films and generally DO STUFF!

John and TA