Reel Rewind: “Une Exécution Ordinaire”

French title – “Une Exécution Ordinaire” / English title – “An Ordinary Execution”
Since I like direct translations of French film titles into English, the English title of the film is perfect.

“Une Exécution Ordinaire” is the first French film I’ve seen that takes place in Moscow. The use of the music in the opening of the film effectively establishes that the setting is not France. Unfortunately I had no idea what the image was that was been shown while the opening music played, and I still don’t. However, throughout the film I had to keep reminding myself that the story was taking place in Moscow, as there were no Russian sounds, visuals, or language cues to keep me from thinking France. That’s a definite defect in the film experience. The story is of a doctor, her husband, their dictator and the impact of tyranny on individual lives. Anna suffers tyranny at work from her supervisor who is sexually harassing her and threatens to report her unless she submits to him. Anna successfully avoids becoming the supervisor’s victim, but when Stalin learns of her healing gift there is no escape from his demands. Although Stalin tears her husband from her and has him, her mother, and her uncle put in prison to keep her under control, Anna comes through the ordeal and regains her family and a renewed life.



Film Facts: Director/Writer/Novelist: Marc Dugan, Cinematographer: Yves Angelo, Editor: Fabrice Rouaud, Producer: Jean-Louis Livi, Production Companies: F Comme Film, France 3 Cinéma, StudioCanal
Film Type: Drama/Historical, Cast: André Dussollier (Joseph Stalin), Marina Hands (Anna), Edouard Baer (Vassilli), Denis Podalydés (The Concierge), Tom Novembre (The Hospital Chief), Grégory Gadebois (Department Director), Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus (Beria), Anne Benoit (Alexandra, Anna’s mother), Gilles Ségal (Uncle Anton), Length: 105’, Language: French, Country: France, Year: 2010
Film Trailer
No United States release date set as of this post.



Images:
Left: Edouard Baer as Vassilli and Marina Hands as Anna from the website uneexecutionordinaire-lefilm.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Une Exécution Ordinaire” created by Adrean Darce Brent

Right: André Dussolier as Joseph Stalin and Marina Hands as Anna from the website uneexecutionordinaire-lefilm.com

City Of Lights, City Of Angels

The City of Lights, City of Angels: A Week Of French Film Premiers In Hollywood is in its fourteenth year this April 2010. I have been attending this festival since its seventh year in 2003 when I saw just two films – “Se Souvenir des Belles Choses” and “Aime Ton Père” – at the Directors Guild of America. Yes it can be admitted, I am a Francophile and any chance to see French films is one I try to take; which is why, beginning today, I am seeing seven French films this week. The films are:

"Une Exécution Ordinaire" ("An Ordinary Execution")

"Ma Vie En L’air" ("Love Is In The Air")

"Deux De La Vague" ("Two In The Wave")

"La Petite Voleuse" ("The Little Thief")

"Mères Et Filles" ("Hidden Diary")

"Perrot Le Fou"

"Gardiens De L’ordre" ("Sphinx")

In addition to feature films, ColCoa offers Happy Hour Talks, wine and cheese receptions, Morning Reruns, French shorts and trailers. And if you are fortunate, you might meet a native French speaker with whom you can practice La Belle Langue. It’s a little slice of French culture to tide you over until that next trip to France.



Images:
Left: Front cover of the ColCoa 2010 program guide
Center: Directors Guild Of America from the website colcoa.org

Right: Back cover of the ColCoa 2010 program guide

Surprise! It's Spree Day!

Greetings Clark University Alumni, we thought you would like to know today is...SPREE DAY

We hope you take a moment to reflect on your Spree Day memories and all the good times you had at Clark.


The above was in an e-mail I received today from my undergraduate university. To be frank, the nature of Spree Day is such that actually remembering all that happens over the course of about sixteen hours is not a realistic expectation. However, I did write down my first Spree Day experience in my journal. The following are entry excerpts – from morning to morning, from person to person, from event to event.

“Went to Statistical Methods at 8:20 a.m. A few minutes after the class began, Shelly Parrish, Bob Deakin + 2 other people came in + yelled that it was Spree Day. So we all got up and left.”

“Then I went to breakfast + sat with David R. + Larry S.”

“Then I went over to Little Commons to see what was going on. After awhile I decided I should take some pictures, so I went back + got my camera. I finished…taking a picture of Jeff as Batman with 1 foot on Stewart.” (See photo above left)

“Sometime during the morning I met Pam + Rene. Later on Pam + Rene were in an egg tossing contest + Pam got egg in her hair + on her sweater.” (See photo above center)

“Around noon we went over to Jefferson to get the box lunches. Then we ate lunch in Bonnie + Kathy’s room. Afterwards we went to play tennis. I was really bad.”

“We went back to Little for a while. Marianne came over + then we went to look for her roommate. Later she went off with Andy + I went back to Hughes.”

“Afterwards I went to dinner with Pam + Rene + sat with Marianne. Later Jim N. came over + talked to us. After dinner, he later came to Hughes. Jim + Marianne went out + brought back the wine I asked for. Then we sat around + talked. Later we went to Jim’s room + listened to music + some of his friends came in. Then we went to the Commander Cody concert.”

“Left the concert around 12:15 a.m. + went to Hughes. I decided to see in what shape Wright was in + I took my camera. There wasn’t anything going on, so I left. As I was going back to Hughes, Joel F., Leon + John W. were walking behind me + I was asked to take their picture.” (See photo above right). “Afterwards I went to Hughes.”

- personal journal
24 April 19__

Images:
Left: “Batman” Jeff, “Scoundrel” Stewart, and “Damsel” Bonnie. Photo is © An Adrean Darce Brent Image
Center: Pam and the Egg Tossing Result. Photo is © An Adrean Darce Brent Image

Right: Spree Day’s End – Still Standing! Photo is © An Adrean Darce Brent Image

Around The Center Of Getty

After taking a roundabout route (stuck traffic on the 405 and a surface street detour), Robert (Event Coordinator for the outing), his good friend Tamara, and I eventually arrived at the Getty Center. The afternoon began with the tram ride up the hillside to the art complex. The last time I was here was on Sunday 23 November 2003, which was for a then LAPC event led by Ingrid. Today, when we exited the tram at the Arrival Plaza, I took a photo of the sculpture titled “That Profile” by Martin Puryear. We took the stairway from the Arrival Plaza to the Plaza Level and the three of us began the Getty afternoon with the exploration of the Garden Terrace and the Central Garden.

Tamara, who had recently assisted in a Biology class that was studying Botany, was especially excited to see all the plant life and flowers in the garden. We slowly wandered our way down the terrace and I snapped shots of the small waterfall that outlined our path to the garden. We went around and down into the Central Garden, admiring the different flowers and the unobtainable plant maze at its core. Shot a number of the plants and flowers as we walked inside the garden. Such a variety of colors and forms to please the eye and to inspire an artist’s palette. However, the needs of a different type of palate required attention, so after making our way back to where we began, nourishment was next on the day’s agenda.

First we checked out the menu and prices at the Restaurant on the Plaza Level, but as tempting as the lunch menu was (the prices weren’t), we opted for the Café on the Lower Level. Our gastronomic fuel choices were a sandwich for Tamara and salads for Robert and me. I had an antipasto salad and orange juice which were good and a welcomed change from my usual fare. Guess the walking up and down stairs (some of the time) put me in a healthier frame of mind.

After the prelude of flowers and food, it was time to discover what framed and free-standing art the Getty Center had to offer us. We made the obligatory stop at the Information desk to pick up materials to help us during our visit. At the conclusion of a short discussion on our possibilities of where to begin, we headed towards the East, as in the East Pavilion.

We entered the East Pavilion on the Plaza Level and on this level of the pavilion Sculpture and Decorative Arts are displayed. Two of the pieces here I really liked were – “Basin with Scenes from the Life of Cleopatra”, designed by Bernardo Strozzi and sculpted by Francesco Fanelli and “Side Table”, designed by Johann Paul Shor. Both pieces are from the Seventeenth century, but appeal to different aspects of what moves me artistically. While slowly walking through the exhibits, Tamara had moved faster and had headed to the Upper Level of this pavilion which displays Seventeenth century European paintings. When Robert and I met up with her, Tamara expressed a desire to see Impressionist paintings. And surprise, that’s when I found out we both like Claude Monet! Tamara asked a guide and he said that the Impressionists were in the West Pavilion. We headed out West.

Monet and other Impressionist painters are on the Upper Level of the West Pavilion. Of the four works of Monet’s that the Getty has, I like “Still Life with Flowers and Fruit” and “Sunrise (Marine)” - the former because it is not a type of painting usually associated with Monet and the later because it reminds me of “Impression, soleil levant” which is in the Marmottan Museum in Paris. It is also on this floor that Vincent van Gogh’s “Irises” is located. Tamara was happy that she had seen the Impressionists, so we proceeded to the South Pavilion by going outside and walking on the connecting terrace between pavilions. Great views of Los Angeles from the Getty’s hillside position; however, there was a distant haze that prevented complete clarity of the sights.

Arrived at the Upper Level of the South Pavilion which displays Eighteenth century paintings. After walking around the floor, Robert mentioned a painting he had seen on a previous visit that had been displayed in a small dark room with just three spotlights illuminating the portrait. Of course he wanted to see it again and after he described it to one of the museum guides, Robert was told the painting was in the East Pavilion. So we went back East, traveling once again on the outside terrace and I took some shots of one of the statues there. The work that Robert wanted to see was the “Portrait of Agostino Pallavicino” by Anthony van Dyck. The portrait is now in a large exhibition room with general lighting. Glad we were able to find Robert’s painting.

The final stop of the day was the Museum Store. Of course I bought postcards – of the museum and of Monet’s and van Gogh’s paintings mentioned above. As we waited on the platform for the tram to arrive, I took one final shot of the sculpture “That Profile” across the tracks. Robert was kind enough to drop me off near my home, saving me a bus trip. I enjoyed the visit to the Getty and I hope it won’t be long until I return.


Images:
Left: Central Garden from the website getty.edu
Central: Side Table from the website getty.edu
Right: Still Life with Flowers and Fruit from the website getty.edu

Remembering Nora On Opening Night

It is Opening Night and the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees are playing the first game of the 2010 Major League Baseball season. For the past several years, I have watched the Red Sox opener at Sonny McLean’s and tonight is no different. However, the bar has a new ownership and it has gone through some physical and aesthetic changes. What hasn’t changed is the passion for New England sports exhibited by the people who frequent Sonny’s. One such person was Nora O’Brien.

On Wednesday 29 April 2009, Nora unexpectedly succumbed to a brain aneurysm. It was a shock to learn of her death a few days later. How can life be so fleeting? Although today is not the anniversary of her passing, Hammy (one of her close friends) wanted to have a remembrance of Nora on this baseball night and in this sports place. So, in Nora’s memory, a number of us are gathered around a table in the bar she would still have recognized as “home”.

I am not exactly sure when I first met Nora. I know it was through her great friend Lisa and sometime during the 2004 baseball season. Perhaps on a Sunday morning at Sonny’s watching a Red Sox game or on a bus trip to see them play the Angels. No matter, we met over the love of the Boston Red Sox and that’s all that counts. And that love of team came to fruition on Wednesday 27 October 2004 when the Boston Red Sox became World Series Champions and we were among the numerous people at Sonny McLean’s going absolutely wild with joy.

Nora’s enthusiasm for the Red Sox was evident in an e-mail I received from her a few years later.

“Watching the MLB.COM home opener right now -- when Johnny Pesky said "Play Ball", I got the chills! So great to see them playing again!!” – Tuesday 10 April 2007

Of course Boston went on to win another World Championship six months later. And we were at Sonny’s celebrating that victory as well. It is indeed fitting to remember Nora at this time and place. Thank you Hammy for your idea.

On Sunday 3 May 2009, I wrote in my Red Sox Box blog the following - “I found out early this morning that a woman, who had also patronized this New England bar and with whom I had watched a number of Red Sox games over the past five years, had unexpectedly died on Wednesday. The sorrow of this tragic end to Nora’s life is felt by all who knew her in this place. May Nora’s soul find rest and peace.”

Here’s a toast to Nora O’Brien! And by the way, on this Opening Night, the Red Sox beat the Yankees by a score of 9 to 7. Wherever she is, Nora is surely smiling.


Photo is of Nora and the 2004 World Series Championship trophy taken at Sonny McLean’s