Fat ladies

Such a nice weekend.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Now this was a movie. I watched it at home on dvd of course, it's not a new movie. I sat, almost motionless, and watched the whole thing. Usually at home I am flitting around, cooking, emailing, making cups of tea, not giving my full attention to the movie. This one demanded and deserved full attention, and giving that was effortless. A story of time, acceptance, love and courage - what a thing to have to face - one's eventual death from youthfulness. Brad Pitt plays Benjamin, a character born as an elderly man who gets younger over the course of his lifetime and inevitably dies as a baby. He is left by his father on the steps of an old folks home, where he is accepted and cared for as a creature of God, interacting with some fleeting but engaging characters. The elder care home is beautifully portrayed, with the comings and goings of the residents highlighting the reverse passage of time experienced by Benjamin. This is the story of a life lived backwards. Benjamin gets healthier, taller, younger, has adventures and falls in love. He has to deal with the losses that come with the territory of getting younger as everyone else gets older.

Cate Blanchett plays the love interest. She is one of those lucky or skilled actors who becomes the character, she is not Blanchett playing the part. Her relationship with Benjamin makes the ending tolerable, although I had a tear or two, as did BH who has seen the movie before. Pitt handles his character well, in a low key and sometimes Forrest Gump manner. Both movies (Forrest Gump and Benjamin Button) have acceptance as a background theme, Benjamin is not viewed or presented as a freak. The whole movie has a soft, non-dramatic ambiance, as if shot in sepia tones rather than full colour. The passage of time is represented in fashions and trends and music. One of the most memorable scenes for me was a sudden cut to a half naked Pitt sailing an elegant little yacht on Lake Pontchartrain. He is a good looking man, and he can act.

The basic story of this movie is set in a hospital room as Hurricane Katrina is about to hit New Orleans. A dying woman asks her daughter to read to her from Benjamin's diary, and the voice switches to Benjamin's, relating his own life story. There is a similarity to the elderly Rose in Cameron's Titanic, I'm sure they used the same makeup artist, but this movie is beautifully written and full of engaging characters. Inevitably sad, but interesting and somehow emotionally satisfying. I'm glad I saw it.

A note on Katrina, the natural disaster that brought misery to so many and the response, or lack of response, which brought shame on the administration of the most powerful nation in the world. One can only hope that lessons have been learned and emergency management standards have been raised.



The Baroque World of Fernando Botero

An exhibition of this Colombian artist's paintings and sculptures at a certain museum of art. I felt at home with Botero's work. He portrays fat people. Fat ballerinas, fat naked people, fat massacred people, fat Jesus at the crucifixion, fat cats, fat dogs, fat bulls, birds and horses. His subject matter is sometimes horrible - I mean it about the massacre - sometimes domestic, sometimes intimate (fat naked lady in her bathroom), but all of it in the most delightful luscious icecream colours. The whole exhibition had a voluptuous feel to it. Favourite pieces - the small bronze sturdy looking horse, the fat bird sculpture and a small sculpture in grey marble of a table with still life. Now marble is a rock. It's hard. So how did he get this piece to look so fluid and plastic, as though made of wax? Very pleasing. The best thing of all, which I want for my post-lottery win house, is one that does not require an entry fee (although I went on free second Saturday so didn't have to pay). In the foyer,on the ground floor, is a sculpture that was apparently too big to manoeuvre into the exhibition hall. It's a hollow bronze "Smoking Woman". She is the size of a small car and is absolutely delightful. Lying face down, propped on her elbows, she displays her ample charms and voluptuous curves. Very hard to heed the "do not touch" signs. She begs to be stroked and fondled, for hands to be run over her womanly contours. I don't know how the men felt about her but the female patrons I observed adored her, as did I. I felt as if I knew her, as if she was a friend, perhaps as if she were me, apart from the smoking that is. Thank you Mr Botero for giving us this lovely woman. Seeing her enriched my life. I think she will stay with me.

Enjoy your day.