yes, it’s about that thyme! applied for the volunteer jobs at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Jan/Feb 2007, yeehah! Now let’s hope they let me work there again.. In 10 days the chance to see and talk about a gazillion movies, sweet.. Have a look at my posts about the last two editions of the festival
General Description
Artist/Band: Gabriel Yared
Album Title: Betty Blue a.k.a. 37°2 Le Matin (Movie Soundtrack)
Year: 1988
Manic mood swings between joy and sadness
How I Got Into This Music
Hmm.. Lemme think for a minute.. Yep, ‘89: there was this TV ad for some brand (Stefanel, clothing). This ad was quite cheesy, girl at the edge of a rocky coast in deep contemplation, blahblahblah. But the tune they used..
I couldn’t get it out of my head, it drove me nuts, I loved it! Took me quite a while to find out who the artist was: Gabriel Yared. Who? Didn’t know.. People told me it was from this French movie called Betty Blue or 37°2 le matin. So what? Didn’t care about the movie then, but a room mate had the soundtrack and when I listened to it, it was instant nirvana.
Google Search: Reviews of Betty Blue a.k.a. 37°2 Le Matin (Movie Soundtrack)
Tracks that got my attention:
Betty et Zorg
This is the main theme in the movie score, this theme was used in different musical styles on the soundtrack. This is the lazy jazzy version, with an excellent saxophone-harmonica combo.
Des Orages Pour la Nuit
Stormy weather indeed.. Often told anecdote: I used to program my CD player with my favorite tracks of this album, put it on repeat and go to sleep. I messed up once and programmed this track too and woke up in the middle of the night, totally freaked out, still fresh out of the nightmare I care not to describe.
Cargo Voyage
Second theme in the movie also performed in different styles. This version is a beautiful harmonica thingy, love it!
La Poubelle Cuisine
Funny tune, an Italian flavored dish in a French movie
Humecter la Monture
Now THIS is what elevator music should sound like!
Le Petit Nicolas
Variation of Des Orages Pour La Nuit (wiping the sweat from my brow..)
Comme Les Deux Doights de la Main
This theme was the one they used in the TV ad that started my whole love affair with this album
Chile con Carne
Delicious Brazilian variant - love the sweet whistling!
Maudits Maneges
Carnival or circus theme, beautiful and haunting at the same time. Like I was a little kid again..
Conclusion
Didn’t do a track-by-track review coz like I wrote before, this score uses three or four themes and uses different versions of those themes. Tracks like La Poubelle Cuisine and Humecter La Monture stand on their own and offer a nice break from those theme variations. Enough with the clinical crap already!
This is one of my favorite albums because it was and still is to me one of those great little discoveries in music. I never heard music that way before (or at least, never payed any real attention) and I never thought an instrumental soundtrack would be strong enough to work on its own merits. Let alone make we want to go see the movie.
And the movie? Depressingly beautiful, but that’s another review..
General Info
Title: Ober (Waiter)
Year: 2006
In Short
Edgar, a grey and disgruntled guy working as a waiter in a crummy restaurant, is unhappy. Unhappy about his work, his bed-ridden wife, his love-ridden mistress, his criminal neighbors, everything. Things keep getting worse for him, so he decides to take it up with The Writer Of His Life’s Story..
The Movie
Visuals
Nice dark and grey settings - it’s gloom and doom, all the way. The styling of the sets is slightly disorientating: you keep thinking it’s somewhere in the 1950’s, kinda anachronistic..
Plot
Life sucks and then you get rewritten? Something like that. The plot has this nice twist but it doesn’t go anywhere useful. It’s a great idea to confront your character with its Creator, but at the end of the story it’s more about the creator than the character. Nice meta-thingy going on, but just not used in an interesting way..
Cast
Nice cast, no disturbing performances.
Conclusion
Hmm.. Not a fan of Dutch movies, coz they’re usually quite useless, except for Leve De Koningin (Long Live the Queen). I like writer/director Alex van Warmerdam’s off-beatness, but with this movie I kept wondering how it would’ve turned out if the Belgians (Delicatessen) of French (Amelie) had developed this movie.. It’s slightly weird but never entertaining.
Rating: 
General Info
Title:Volver
Year: 2006
In Short
Loudmouth and short-tempered Raimunda lives with her husband and teenage daughter in the city. Mother and child go visit an elderly aunt with Raimunda’s sister. Memories of the death of Raimunda’s parents are discussed and our main character’s worried about the aging, half-blind aunt living all alone in their childhood village. Back in the big city, things start going a bit pear-shaped when some characters in the plot die and one character returns from the dead. And that’s where the stories really begin to develop..
The Movie
Visuals
Village sceneries, the harsh wind, bland and ruthless. City scenes are loud and colorful, nice contrast. The greatest shot is the opening shot of all the village women cleaning up the graves at the cemetery.
Never seen a movie with Penélope Cruz, so I was quite surprised by the looks they gave her, make up-wise and cleavage-wise (yes, it’s bloody impossible to ignore that elephant in the living room, I know..)
Plot
Pedro Almodóvar, a director with quite a reputation. Part of his myth is his excellent talent of portraying women in strong character roles. And let’s face it, we don’t see that many movies with that qualification. But back to the plot..
Yes, I kinda figured the plot in the first quarter of the movie, but that really isn’t a problem. It’s almost like a classic farce or comedie des erreurs. And it’s delightful in its story and character development.
Cast
Fantastic cast. The parts played by the sister (Lola Dueñas), the daughter (Yohana Cobo) and of course, Carmen Maura as the ghostly mystery character were all interesting, moving, intelligent and strong of course.
Conclusion
A very beautiful and funny movie, my first real Almodóvar movie and it was an enjoyable way to spend my time.
Rating: (almost perfect, but that cleavage was too distracting)
In a movie-going mood these days: just saw Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver - excellent movie! I kinda get this guy’s reputation for filming women in strong roles in stead of the usual cheesecake.. Review follows..
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