A Third Wave of Postcards

A year into the pandemic we seem on the brink of a third wave of global isolation. So lets confront the darkness head-on and try and have some fun. Movies help. By the way - the working title for this post was Postcards from the Pit.

"What's wrong?" -- Dominique Sanda in Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (The Garden of the Finzi Continis), Vittorio De Sica, 1970.

"I don't believe in pals." -- Juliette Mayniel and Gérard Blain in Les Cousins (The Cousins), Claude Chabrol, 1959.

"I don't believe in friendship." -- Joanna Shimkus in Montparnasse-Levallois, Godard, (from Paris vu par... (Six in Paris), 1965.

"I hate great passions." -- Élodie Bouchez and Gaël Morel in Les roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds), André Téchiné, 1994.

"Nothing means anything in the long run..." -- Birger Malmsten in Sommarlek (Summer Interlude), Bergman, 1951).

"No-one ever comes back again. " -- Stefania Sandrelli in Io la conoscevo bene (I Knew Her Well), Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965.

"I didn't expect it to hurt so much." -- Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in 花樣年華 (In the Mood for Love), Wong Kar-wai,  2000.

"I'm a little bit afraid." -- Solveig Dommartin in Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire), Wim Wenders, 1987.

"I can't play at being in love just to please you." -- Guillaume Canet and Adèle Haenel in L'Homme qu'on aimait trop (In the Name of My Daughter), Andre Techine, 2014.

"All the women around Maurice attempted suicide." -- Judith Chemla in L'Homme qu'on aimait trop (In the Name of My Daughter), Andre Techine, 2014.

"Go ahead and have a good cry." -- Franco Citti in Mama Roma, Pier Paulo Pasolini, 1962.

"You're a little terror!" -- Amanda Langlet and Melvil Poupaud in Conte d'été (A Summer's Tale), Éric Rohmer, 1996.

"Bravo. Giulia, did you ever see your husband laugh?" -- Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli in Il conformista (The Conformist), Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970.

"Human sacrifice has gone out of style." -- Takashi Shimura in 醉いどれ天使 (Drunken Angel), Akira Kurosawa, 1948.

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More posts like this:

Thirteen Postcards in a Pandemic, May 2020. 

A Second Wave of Postcards, October 2020.

A Fourth Wave of Postcards, January 2022.

Winter Light

The first anniversary of the global pandemic finds Bill and I taking pictures of our beloved Toronto.

For the past few months we have been noticing winter light.

Here is a strong winter light at Queen and Spadina.

The strong winter light has been bouncing around in interesting ways

in Toronto's many unopen shops.

I was picking-up some take-out lunch at Mars Diner. The light seemed to hum.

Midday brings lovely diagonals. Queen Street West.

Kensington Market.

Queen West.

Sometimes winter light is colourless.

It is shadowless.

Flat light on Queen's Quay ice.

After a snowfall the air is heavy with moisture

creating a different winter light.

still without shadows but the colours have poured back in.

This is the rich winter light.

Some winter light is playful.

The more closely I look at these shadows, on a wall in the Music Garden, the less I understand them.

We'll leave you with a memory of Greg Couillard's homemade marmalade in the last of the winter light.