The latest films I have watched ...

I have watched three Art oriented films lately, one of which - Loving Vincent,  I was mesmerised by. I must admit I was not particularly impressed with the other two - Tulip Fever and Rodin, despite the fact that the cast wrongly led me to believe they were (could be) films I would later remember. The critcs' views I have copied down correspond to my personal opinion.

 

"Great look, great cast ... but everything  just sits there like a tableful of delicious ingredients waiting for a master chef who never shows up. " - Jim Lane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"A didactic film, which paradoxically lacks strength and passion." - Oscar Uriel 

"The result is breathtakingly original, a reminder of both Van Gogh's unique vision and the tactile pleasure of hand-drawn animation." - Jim Lane

 

 

 

 

 

 

"O Sopro" at Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II, Lisbon - The 2nd of November 2017

"The prompt" or the Theatre  prompter ... is what this theatrical play was about, though it went well  beyond the role such almost extinct characters play (or better said ... have played) in theatrical performance. It was  also Cristina's Vidal's stories, she who has been a prompt for forty years and who in Tiago Rodrigues's play was made visible and actually "played" the role of prompt, the prompt of others and of herself on stage.

" The prompt is an accomplicit partner of actors as they make their way through perfect and  less perfect performing moments. The prompt knows them, adjusts herself to them and learns how to breath in their own rhythm."





As with many performances in life some intervening characters are "invisible", will always remain invisible and when given the possibility not to, will rather continue playing their "secondary" role in the overall stage scenario.




One small note on one of the actors on stage, João Pedro Vaz, whose performance I personally considered second to none.







 

Berardo Museum collection at CCB, Lisbon - Lu Nan's triology - temporary exhibition - The 28th of October 2017

Lu Nan's triology symbolically named "Divine Comedy" after Dante Alighiery's is really worth the visit. Upon having read what the temporary exhibition was about, I must confess I had no idea I would be so touched by this extraordinary photographer's perspective on life inside mental hospitals, life in isolated rural areas in China and daily life in Tibete. The fact that all photographs are black and white adds to the grim reality which is portrayed, particularly the one in the confinement of mental hospices or homes.

1 - The forgotten people: Living conditions of China's psychiatric patients (photos taken from 1989 to 1990).

2 - On the road: Catholic Faith in China (Photos taken from 1992 to1996).

Attending mass - Shaanxi - 1992 (left). Teenager carrying the Holy image - Shaanxi- 1992 (right).

 

 

 

Priest and nun baptysing an old woman, Yunnan- 1993

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 - Four seasons: Everyday life of Tibetan peasants (Photos taken from 1996 to 2004).

Girl with maternal grandmother - Tibet - 2002 (left). Old woman ploughing a field - Tibet - 2004 (right)

Peasants thanking God for having bestowed them with a good harvest - Tibet - 2003 (left). Family resting - Tibet - 1999 (right). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before leaving I still managed to sit through a film on every image being displayed at the exhibition. Despite having seen them twice (so to say) I didn't feel it had too much ... there was a kind of human beauty even in the harshest images ...

 

 

 

Street Art - Strolling around the streets of Lisbon - Downtown and Campo de Ourique graffitis ...

Street Art is an ever surprising act on the move ... blank walls I used to pass by have now been turned into experimenting canvas ... for all sorts of artistic approaches. It is true I prefer some to others but  can't help being amazed at people's creativity.

 

 

Avenida 24 de Julho