Casablanca

As time goes by, some movies never lose their magic. 'Casablanca' is one of them. Though not that much happens and the film is only set on a few locations, 'Casablanca' has this thing: it integrates you from beginning until end. Maybe because it not one of those old films that has a perfect ending and it's not extremely happy and cheerful, like many old films are.



















'Casablanca' was produced in 1942 by Michael Curtiz. It is set during World War II and stars huge actors Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The film is about Rick, a cynicle and cold man who owns a succesful bar in Casablanca. The people who go there come from different parts of the world: America, Italy, France and Germany. A lot of Nazi officers come there as well.



















Rick isn't impressed by them at all. He isn't interested in politics, he is just the proprietor of a bar. Then one day a man, Victor Laszlo, and a lady, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) step in his bar. These two people definitely impress him. Laszlo is a Czech fugitive leader and is sought by the Nazis. They don't want him to leave Casablanca cause he's expect to begin a big revolt against the Nazis in America.
















The lady asks Rick's friend and the house pianist Sam to play 'As time goes by'. Rick runs to Sam and is furious. He had ask him never to play that song again. Then he sees Ilsa and he's blown away. There's an evident tension between them. As it turns out, they have been lovers some time ago. Rick was rebelling against the Nazis back then as well. One day the Nazis took over Paris and so Rick and Ilsa had to fly to Casablanca to be safe. On the last moment, Ilsa didn't show up. She left a letter saying that she couldn't go, but she blessed Rick and wished him the best. It turned out her man, who was in a concentration camp, wasn't dead at all. Of course, she didn't tell Rick this when she found out just a bit before they were supposed to go.



















Rick, who opened his heart, became bitter and synical in Casablanca. Until Ilsa showed up again. It was obvious they couldn't stop thinking about each other and they met several times to talk things over. I'm not going to tell the entire plot, but what it comes down to, is that Rick had to choose between love and war. Would he stay in Casablanca with Ilsa or would he help Ilsa's husband by giving them the letters Laszlo needed, so that he could continue his work conquering the Nazis?

































'Casablanca' is a pure love story, with war on the background. Though I was never a big fan of Humphrey Bogart, he turned out to be pretty fabulous in this film. The reason I didn't like him, was because he was an extreme jerk on the set of 'Sabrina'. He didn't want to work with Audrey Hepburn, because she wasn't good enough for him. But in this movie he's amazing as a cynical though humorous man. He has this thing that integrates you, just like the movie itself. Bitter as he comes off, it turns out he has a heart after all. Ingrid Bergman is very believable as well. Her accent is adorable and I never knew she was that beautiful. Grace Kelly had competition.



















Unfortunately, we don't see a lot of Casablanca (how I would love to go there one day!) besides one market, since the film mostly sets in Rick's bar. But this bar has a very cosy ambiance, so it's no big deal. 'Casablanca' has a wonderful title song, which makes you want to go back seventy years in time and sit in Rick's bar, smoking a cigarette and having a drink. The way they talked was pretty amazing as well. Most characters had an accent, since they were supposed to be Scandinavian, French or Czech. Rick, who came from New York, hadn't, but the way he called Isla, 'Kid', makes you wish someone called you that as well ;)



















'Casablanca' is magic, full of thrill because of the War and because it tells the story of a great but impossible love. The way love is supposed to be if you ask me. Not impossible, but passionate and tense. Until that happens, let's watch Casablanca. Over and over again.

Quote from my hero

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
                                                                                                                                           - Jack Kerouac

'When you're strange': a documentary about The Doors

Johnny Depp narrating the story of The Doors and Jim Morrison in particular. That is perfection.
Enfant terrible Jim Morrison lived an outrageous life. He used all sorts of drugs, misbehaved enormously on stage and had sex with many of his groupies. But Jim Morrison was also a legendary singer and poet, with a whole new sound - an inspiration of many artist to come.
 











'When you're strange', a 2009 documentary written by Tom DiCillo, tells the story of The Doors - from the early beginning, four unexperienced guys playing music in the garage, to their peak in the late sixties. This is accompanied by many interesting fragments of concerts, studio recordings and fragments of a bearded Jim Morrison on the road. I never lost interest while watching this documentary and that means a lot for a documentary.













As mentioned before, the members of The Doors (Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby krieger) formed the group in 1965 though having little experience. They met in cinema school and, especially Jim Morrison, lived a bohemian life. Sitting on roof tops in California, using lsd, reading a lot of beatnik books and writing poetry.



















The first album of The Doors was mostly influenced by blues. It included songs as ´Love her madly´, ´Light My Fire´, ´People are Strange´ and ´Touch me´. Their best songs, if you ask me. The group  became the supporting program of Van Morrison among others. It soon became clear that Jim Morrison - who comes off rather easy-going at first sight in my opinion - did things exactly the way he wanted to do them. When The Doors were invited at the Ed Sullivan show, they agreed on singing an adapted version of ´Light My Fire´, but when they were performing, Jim Morrison sang their original version anyway.































´´I´m interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that appears to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom´´, Jim Morrison once said. And this was exactly how he behaved during a lot of their concerts. He went totally crazy, even showed his dick to the audience one time. This led to an arrest and a breakdown for Jim Morrison and the band - since a lot of cities declined to welcome their during their tour.
















Jim Morrison´s personal life was disorderous as well. He had a long relationship with Pam Courson, but cheated on her on regular basis (though they had some sort of open relationship, complicated story yes), with Nico and Janis Joplin among others. He hardly had any contact with his family, for his father disapproved of his career, telling him in a letter, to: ´´give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I consider to be a complete lack of talent in this direction´´.



















 After a few depressions Jim Morrison said he was going to leave the band and move to Paris with Pam. He did. The band was nothing without Jim Morrison anymore. He made them one of the most inspiring groups for the protest generation. But Jim Morrison chose to go to Paris. At first,  life was good for him here, but on a particular day in 1971, Jim was found dead in a bathtub. It´s still not sure how he died exactly - most probably it was a heroin overdose.



















Jim Morrison joined the 27 club, which already had members as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. It always fascinates me, how such talented and mad (right?) persons aren´t given a long existence. Of course, it´s their own fault, but it´s such a shame for the world that there´s so little work made. Jim Morrison could have - and would have - made so much more amazing songs (credits to the other members of the Doors too of course) and poems. But let´s cherish what there is - and that´s emphasized in the documentary very good. So I´d say: have a look.

INSPIRATION

Barcelona is always a good idea

Yesterday decided, today booked: a trip to Barcelona.

A few days filled with shopping, strolling around Las Ramblas, eating tapas, drinking sangria and going wherever we want to go. Spontaneous trips are the best trips, right? :)

''Elegance is the only beauty that never fades''

One of the most eccentric actresses Hollywood has known. One of the most iconic women fashion world has ever known. And one of my biggest inspirations. Audrey Hepburn. Today it's been 20 years since she died.

Unlike many of my heroes, Audrey Hepburn hasn't died at a very young age. Though she wasn't very old either: 63 years. And unlike many of my heroes, she was pretty close to perfect as well. What I mean, is that she was always very positive, caring and wanted the best for everyone: her co-workers, her lovers and the world. We all know the photos of Audrey carrying children, while she's working for Unicef. Many of my other inspirations (Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Kate Moss) are quite the opposite. Definitely not horrible people, but rather pessimistic and making the most of life - in a different way than Audrey, who did the same I think - by drinking, using drugs and living the fast life.

Anyway, before my story totally loses it way, Audrey Hepburn was an inspiring woman. The way she handeled everything, the fact that she had her own and unique way of acting. No one could be as charming and quirky at the same time as her. She made Holly Golightly a legend. She made Tiffany's world famous. And she made Givenchy one of the most elegant fashion houses ever.

The thing I like about all of this, is that she had no intention to do so. She was just living and taking her passions seriously, without setting her goals on fame and money. Despite the fact that her youth wasn't easy. She was young in the war, lived in several countries, including The Netherlands, Belgium, Britain and eventually America and she suffered from malnutrition and oedema. Her parents were Dutch aristocrats from origin, Audrey was born in Belgium, but she had British citizenship through her father. Because of her multinational background, she spoke fluent Dutch, English, Spanish, Italian and French at a young age.

After the ending of the war, the family moved to Amsterdam, where Audrey took ballet lessons and eventually got a part in an educational travel film as a Dutch stewardess. This was the beginning of a big career. Movies as 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', 'Roman Holiday', 'Sabrina' and 'Funny Face' would follow.
'Roman Holiday' would provide her a Academy Award for Best Actress and 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' would provide her world fame. Holly Golightly was the 'most jazziest character' she ever played and a real challenge, taking into consideration that Audrey was introvert and Holly Golightly definitely extrovert.

She kept acting until her death, combined with humanitarian work for Unicef. On January 20th, Audrey died of appendiceal cance. After her death, Gregory Peck (with whom she played in 'Roman Holiday') went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, "Unending Love''. Her grave is in Switzerland, at the Tolochenaz Cemetery. Definitely on my 'to go list', since Audrey Hepburn was such a powerful woman. She made amazing films, she was pure and she wasn't too heavy-hearted. ''Nothing is impossible. Even the world itself says I'm possible''. Might sound a bit cheesy, but it's true. Something we should keep in mind every day, while living our lives lightly and the way we want to live it ;)

Congratulations Janis Joplin, most genius singer the world has ever known

Pop Art in Europe

I'm a big fan of art from the Fifties and Sixties, especially pop art. It is colourful and, most of the time, a feast for the eye, a relieve when you think about all those dark, serious paintings from the Middle Ages and later on. Though pop art can seem superficial, since it is mostly about the consumer society (think about the many food packages that have been painted, soup, coke bottles, etc.), this form of art was actually very critical. It dealt with politics, women emancipation, human rights, etc.

Many of you (including me) will think about Andy Warhol when hearing the word 'pop art'. But pop art wasn't only existing in America, it played an important part in Europe as well. Last week I visited the exhibition 'Pop Art in Europe' in Museum Valkhof in Nijmegen (a city in the east of the Netherlands) with my father.


It was a very elaborate exhibition, with clear themes that divided the many works. There was 'pleasure, welfare and leisure time', 'space travel', 'politics', 'icons', 'assemblies', 'the mirror of life' and 'anonymous reality'. Surprisingly, the theme 'icons' appealed to me most. It weren't just photos of Marilyn Monroe (though she was on many paintings) but the artists had made paintings based on a poem for example, and assemblies of Elvis Presley, Brigitte Bardot, etc. hidden between other forms. A remarkable theme was 'anonymous reality'. It included a lot of used stuff, garbage and this was typical for European pop art.
 
We also saw a short documentary that included interviews with many of the famous Pop Art artists from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, etc. To name a few: David Hockney, Allen Jones, Woody van Amen and Gerhard Richter.
 

All in all, it was an interesting and elaborate exhibition, that showed many weird, but also many intriguing works. It's a shame pop art is known nowadays to be so typical American, when Europe has delivered some wonderful pieces as well. Unfortunately, the exhibition has already ended, so I can't advice you to go there, but you definitely should remember the names I mentioned: their paintings are worth to have a look at. 

AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It