Friday, October 23, 2020

A Second Wave of Postcards

New photographs of movies -- postcards from our hours of pandemic movie watching. Bill and I are OK. Awaiting the Second Wave. Getting through the days. Movies help.

"Believe it or not you mean a lot to me." -- Nora Gregor in La règle du jeu (Rules of the Game), Jean Renoir, 1939.

"I don't like compliments." -- Jean Marais as the beast in Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) directed by Jean Cocteau in 1946.

"You're harsh for a happy man." -- Maurice Ronet and Hubert Deschamps in Louis Malle's Le feu follet (The Fire Within), 1963.

"It's like you don't care about anything in life." -- Isabelle Corey in Bob le flambeur (Bob the Gambler), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville in 1956.

"Living is hard" -- Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan in Marcel Carné's Le Quai des Brumes (Port of Shadows), 1938.

"The pain and loneliness of death frighten me." -- Yûzô Kayama and Toshirô Mifune in Akira Kurosawa's  赤ひげ (Red Beard), 1956.

"...but I've got lots of imagination." -- Alain Delon in René Clément's Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), 1960.

"The hard part is to set out." -- Charles Le Clainche in Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) directed by Robert Bresson in 1956.

"You saw no one disappear yesterday?" -- Didier Després in Bruno Dumont's very strange Ma route (Slack Bay), 2016.

"Let your elders lead the way." -- Banlop Lomnoi in Apichatpong Weerasethakul's wonderful Satpralat (Tropical Malady), 2004.

"And now go in peace." -- Jean-Paul Belmonodo in Léon Morin, prêtre (Leon Morin, Priest), directed by Jean-Paul Melville, 1961.

Simone Weil: The soul's love of beauty is the trap God uses. -- in Roberto Rossellini's Viaggio in Italia (A Journey in Italy), 1954.

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Thursday, October 8, 2020

Rogue Wave on Ward's Island

This week our friend Shelley Savor suggested we join her for a visit to "Rogue Wave" -- an outdoor art show on Toronto's Ward's Island. 
Bill and I liked the idea of an adventure on the island. It would make a nice break from the COVID-induced tedium.
About a dozen people rode the ferry to Ward's Island. When we arrived we had the island more or less to ourselves.
Visitors are greeted by Mitchel Fenton's Bring on the Next Wave. Great title! Ward's Island and the other Toronto Islands have seen flooding in recent years and of course we are all hunkering down for the next wave of the pandemic. 
We sat for a moment by Gera Dillon's Caught in the Net of Time and enjoyed our view of the city.
Shelley had a map with the locations of all the art. She led us through the charming streets.
Ward's Island is like the loveliest of enchanted villages. 
We loved Barbara Klunder's collage made of buttons. A skull is always appreciated in October.
It was a perfect autumn day and we had all the time in the world.
Erratic Revisited by Gaye Jackson -- mounted in the window of her cottage?
No trip to Ward's Island would be complete without a visit to the Great Ark of First Street. It is coming along nicely.
The walk to the Ward's Island Beach took us by this lovely stand of birch trees.
So many summers we have walked in bare feet over hot sand to this beach!
Was a windy day and Lake Ontario was in a wild mood.
OMG -- some fool was parasailing. Godspeed!
This turtle was guarding the entrance to the boardwalk that runs along the south coast of the island. A Ward's Island native warned me, "It's a snapper. Watch your toes."
The wall of vegetation along the boardwalk was thrillingly rich and colourful.
We noticed a papier mache devil hanging from a tree.
So we parked our bikes and wandered into this field of reeds.
The devil and this head are the work of Shadowland Theatre.
We were charmed by this decorative masonry -- With the Flow -- by Kathleen Doody.
Shelley particularly wanted to see this painting by Irina Schestakowich. It is called A Place We Cannot Seem to Get To -- lovely. Puts me in mind of Matisse.
Don't miss The Anatomy of Fear by Bruce Smith. It is set in a lovely garden.
We had some extra time before the ferry left for the mainland. A friendly mallard couple kept us company as we bid adieu to our mid-week adventure.
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Rogue Wave continues until October 25th.