Random thoughts on Tuesday...

Although Tuesday has just about come to an end in my time zone, I’d just like to share a few things that have been on my mind today.

Bullhead

Michael R. Roskam’s “Bullhead” didn’t win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards on Sunday.  It doesn’t matter, really. It’s still an amazing film. If you have a chance to go and see it, you really should.  It’s a beautiful, complex and slightly disturbing film and I was completely overwhelmed by it when I saw it a few months ago.
Matthias Schoenaerts’ performance is breathtaking, his transformation from slick, good- looking actor into this beast is unbelievably genuine and vivid that it left me trembling in my seat.

Matthias Schoenaerts, remember that name. If he plays his cards right, he’ll have a wonderful future in film, hopefully not only in Hollywood where he seems to be ‘hot’ at the moment, but also back in Europe. An American film critic described it like this: “Matthias Schoenaerts turns in one of the oddest, subtlest and confusing performances in memory. He is both the film's greatest piece and its big weakness. He plays a meathead -or in this case, a Bullhead - a slightly simple but far from stupid young man whose identity is lost in a swirling concoction of steroids and hormones. He’s someone who wants to do good but can't, his destiny predetermined by a childhood incident that is shocking and too disturbing to put into words here.”

One of the possible reasons why Bullhead did not win the Oscar is because the story is so completely Belgian. The darkness of the cities, the sadness of the countryside and the cattle farms. The different dialects used in the film that give it so many layers are unfortunately completely lost in translation. So I can understand why an American audience would not be able to identify with the film and its protagonist. It doesn’t matter, really. It’s still an amazing film.

Sonnet 138

When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:
 Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
 And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.

I watched an episode of season 3 of Spooks today in which Will quotes Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 to Zoë.
I never realised that there’s actually a lot of poetry in Spooks. Skully made a list on the Spooks fan blog:  http://spooksfanblog.com/2011/05/04/poetry-in-spooks-an-extensive-list/

In Stereo: Upstairs Downstairs

I’m watching the first and second series of Upstairs Downstairs at the same time. One is on Belgian TV on Tuesday evenings, the other on the BBC  on Sundays. My husband commented that that must be so confusing, but I don’t find it confusing at all. I’m always reading several books at the same time as well: one in the morning when I’m on the train to work, and another one in the evening before I go to sleep.

Dubstep violin

A friend of mine shared this video on Facebook and I simply had to share it here. The music is beautiful – enjoy!!

Lindsey Stirling – Crystallize