M&M: A Hidden Life

A while ago I watched the movie “A Hidden Life” from the year 2019 for the first time. It was on my imdb.com list of movies that I wanted to see and tells the story of the farmer Franz Jägerstätter from the small town St. Radegund in Austria, who refused to fight for the Nazis during the second world war.

Franz Jägerstätter really lived. Which was one of the reasons, why I decided to watch this movie. Normally I'm not at a point where I'm skeptical about watching “Nazi movies” or movies set around that time and avoid them. It should be noted that this movie is almost 3 hours long. One of the reasons why I hesitated watching it.

Franz Jägerstätter is played, convincingly, I think, by August Diehl. Valerie Pachner took the role of his wife Fani and I thought of her as equally fitting. As for the other actors, I didn't know anyone other than the one playing the priest Fr. Fürthauer, namely Tobias Moretti. Jägerstätter is conscripted to fight for the Nazis once, but is send home to his wife and three daughters. When a second letter for conscription arrives, he talks to Fr. Fürthauer, but quickly notices that he won't get much support from him for the resistance to fight in the war. So he has to go to war. When he refuses to swear on Hitler, he gets arrested. Fani and Fr. Fürthauer as well as others try to talk him into swearing on Hitler. The Nazis won't care what he really feels and thinks and his death because conscious objection will basically be inconsequential and therefore unnecessary. It's suggested he can go do medical service instead of being a soldier and fight. He refuses all of that. That's how important it is for him to truthfully and openly defend his point of view. First his wife and children at home get support, but then they all feel the hate from the other town people and they become outsiders, who have to work hard to keep doing their farm work without a husband and father to keep the farm going. In August 1943 Franz Jägerstätter is finally executed.

The movie starts by showing the calm and peaceful family life. Although set in a war time and being an exceptionally long movie, the viewer doesn't see a single shot fired. On the internet I read reviews that Fani should have fought harder and should have convinced her husband more to do what's necessary to stay alive. Watching the movie I did get the feeling that she tried for him to keep on living. His point of view and showing it openly was more important to him than his own life.

During my school time our religion teacher was enthusiastic about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who also resisted the Nazis and paid with his life for that. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Protestant priest, so it's not surprising my religion teacher liked him. I personally was more impressed by the simple farmer Jägerstätter and how he stood his ground and wasn't even going to pretend something else, if he didn't want those things. I don't want to badmouth Bonhoeffer or belittle him. I do believe however that for a priest the belief in god and acting according to his will is in the end a logical decision. The decision of farmer Jägerstätter to abandon his wife and children to defend his own view is rather impressive to me.

It's easy for outsiders to look back on this terrible time period and say, “I would have refused, too.” or “I would have been one of the good ones.” It's easy for us to say as our life right here and right now is not threatened. I believe that whoever makes those statements or similar ones recklessly, doesn't really have an idea about the general atmosphere of the people and the pressure people were under at that time.

The movie is long and takes its time. This seems fitting for me though in the depiction of the country life in contrast to the hectic city life and later also during the time in prison where just not much was happening. Although I was aware of the unusually length of the movie from the beginning, I didn't feel bored and it didn't seem long winded to me. I'm sure one could have cut an almost three hour movie somewhere. I wouldn't know where I would have cut it though. I didn't know Jägerstätter before the movie. Then again, he was Austrian and we didn't talk about people, especially people in the reistance movement, in other countries in school. According to the trivia comment section on imdb.com to this movie Jägerstätter and his fate wasn't known outside St. Radegund for a long time anyway and he was discoved by accident. The American Gordon Zahn came to St. Radegund in the 1970's and uncovered Jägerstätter's history and made it known. Now there are several movies about him.

M&M: Bastille Day

Bastille Day is a movie from the year 2016. Bastille Day is referring to July, 14^th, the national holiday in France. On July, 14^th 1789 the Bastille was stormed. The movie is set in contemporary Paris a few days before this national holiday. Michael Mason (played by Richard Madden) picks pockets and is unwillingly involved in a bomb attack, when he steals a woman's bag, in which she hid a bomb. Mason checks the bag quickly and decides that there's nothing interesting in it for him and leaves it. As he walks away, the bomb explodes. The CIA hears of the incident and starts looking for Mason, who they believe to be a terrorist after identifying him through cameras around the buildings where the explosion took place. Sean Briar (played by Idris Elba) is ordered to look for Mason. Briar is from the CIA, but not necessarily a guy playing by the rules himself. Initially both men naturally don't trust each other, but then Briar is willing to work with Mason to find the woman, who had the bag first so they can find out more about the reason for the bomb attack.

Richard Madden is initially shown picking pockets. According to the trivia section on imdb.com for this movie, he actually trained to do this for real.

The movie was released in cinemas on July, 13^th 2016 and on July, 14^th the terrorist attacks in Paris and Nizza followed. StudioCanal removed all digital advertisements of this movie in Paris and let theatres decide for themselves, if they wanted to keep the movie in their program or not.

The story of the movie, as described above, may at first read like a simple movie at most described as “action movie“. Yes, it is a movie with lots of action, starting with the pursuit when Briar finds Mason, who runs up to the rooftop and on to other rooftops of Paris. To me however the movie is more than just an action movie. When I saw it the first time, it was on tv at around 10 at night and I was fairly tired already. I wanted to just have a quick look into it, to see what this movie was like, that had the French national holiday as a title. That night I didn't just have a quick look into it, I watched the whole movie to the end, because the story was captivating enough for me to make me curious what the reasons for the attack were and how the story would end for both Briar and Mason. I liked the characters. It's not just about the attack. With Mason we have someone innocent, picking pockets, who suddenly has to prove his innocence when everyone else is looking for him, thinking he wanted to execute the attack. The fact that I'm somewhat interested in magic may have helped making Mason more sympathetic for me.

As I watched the movie, I did however ask myself one question repeatedly: The CIA is not a French organisation, Briar is not a Frenchmen, neither is Mason, but the movie is set in Paris, the capital of France, around the French national holiday. Couldn't they have made the movie “fully” French, instead of just using the date of the French national holiday and making the story take place in Paris? That's not at all critisising the acting abilities of Richard Madden, Idris Elba or anyone else in this movie. I'm just thinking that as much as the frame work of the movie is French, why not use French actors for the main characters and some French organisation instead of the CIA? That's a bit sad all in all, nevertheless I liked the characters of Mason and Briar enough to be interested in a “Bastille Day 2” kind of sequel with the two. The movie does have a good and reasonable ending, but especially the future for Mason after all the events of the movie are questionable and I'd have liked to see how things went on for him specifically. I'm not aware that any sequel is even planned though and I doubt that a sequel with those characters will ever come.

M&M: Passengers

The 2008 movie Passengers tells the story of the psychotherapist Claire Summers (Anne Hathaway), who gets called to help the five sole survivors of a plane crash. Eric (Patrick Wilson) is one of the survivors and unusually happy to euphoric after the crash. He refuses to go to the group meetings and confirms to Claire several times that he's not a patient. He completely refuses a therapy. Claire and Eric get closer to each other through the “house calls” anyway. Meanwhile the other survivors start to vanish. Eric hinted already during the first meeting with Claire that she should get in contact with her sister. But she doesn't answer calls and when Claire visits her, she's not at home. She does however meet an airline official, who asserts that all the passengers have died and the pilot had caused the disaster. The man leaves a pilot's case standing there. In it Claire finds a passenger list. On that list is also her own name.

The movie is overall pretty calm without huge action scenes. I personally mostly liked the relationship between Claire and Eric and the interactions of the actors off each other. Claire strives to help Eric, on his terms, and doesn't push him to the meetings with the others. Eric on the other hand seems sympathic, at least to me, despite (or because of?) his positive, reckless, euphoric way.

The revelation of what the deal is with the passengers at the end is probably not very surprising and similar to other known movies. In the end the movie, for me, isn't so much a mystery-thriller or drama, although it could be seen as that. For me, the movie is maily about relationships to other people and about people concerned for other people. Claire is concerned for the passengers and her neighbour (played by Dianne Wiest) and others are for her. It's obvious only at the end just how much and why they truly are.

When I watched the movie for the first time, I inevitably thought of a certain well known tv series. The end of that series and with that the revelation of what's going on with the characters there disappointed a lot of people. I myself didn't make it past the end of the first season of that series. As well known as the revelation of Passengers may be in the end, I think the way Passengers is told and constructed is way better and fairer for the viewer than the series was.

With all the relationships and care for other people, will there be a chance for the relationship between Clare and her obviously estranged sister? You'll have to see it for yourself.

This movie isn't set around Christmas, not even in winter. Defining for me to pick it for a review on December was a remark made by Eric, “That crash. It's like being born again.” Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus (although not his re-birth) and is, more than other Christian holidays a holiday about relationships.

M&M: The Hour of the Lynx

A young man arrives in a snowy small town and seemingly without reason brutally kills an elderly couple in a house. The man, by the name of Drengen, is caught and brought to the high security area of a prison. There the young psychologist Lisbet does an experiment by giving the inmates pets. Among them Drengen, who gets a red furred cat. Another inmate gets jealous during yard exercise time and throws the cat over the fence. Surprisingly Drengen has bonded a lot with the cat and ends up killing the other inmate in anger. The cat is found again. But Lisbet has to abandon the experiment. Since it's the last time with the pets, Drengen gets the cat back to say good-bye. But he claims that it's not his cat. He's convinced that god is speaking to him through the cat and pushing him to commit suicide. Lisbet doesn't know what else to do but involving the priest Helen.

Drengen is totally withdrawn and there's nothing they can get out of him that makes much sense. Helen persuades a guard to lock her in with Drengen in his cell over night. In the night Drengen starts talking and things start to make sense when he begins to talk about his past. You've got to watch yourself to find out what he's telling. The original title of this Danish-Swedish movie by the way is I lossens time.

As you can see above, Drengen is a young man, who is not afraid to use brutal force. So this movie isn't a totally easy one. Apart from those two murders however, the movie impresses by being markedly calm and makes one wonder, even well after the closing credits are over, about topics like blame, forgiveness and belief.

By the way, the source material for this movie was a theatre play The Hour of the Lynx (original title: Lodjurets Timma) by the Swedish writer Per Olov Enquist and is a play for five people, which premiered in April 1988 in Stockholm. The premiere for the German version was in 1992 in Ingolstadt. In 1991 the Hessische Rundfunk (Hessian Broadcast) and Sachsen Radio (Saxony Radio) together produced a radio play version of the theatre play.

M&M: A Ghost Story

The title seems fairly straight forward in regards to what the story is about, a typical ghost story, but "A Ghost Story" from the year 2017 is far from that. David Lowery wrote the story and also directed the movie.

The story is about a young couple (Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck) living in a small house. The woman would like to move out, but the man doesn't. He likes the history of the house, he tells her. She tells him that when she was young and had to move a lot, she would write something on a small piece of paper and hide it in a crack in the wall of the house so that she'd have something waiting for her, in case she'd come back again. Shortly before they actually do move out, the man dies in a car accident. The woman sees the dead man one last time in the hospital and finally covers him completely with the sheet. After she's gone, the body under the sheet starts to move. He turned into a ghost. He walks around the hospital covered under the sheet and goes back to the house, which he seems unable to leave.

He watches his mourning partner. It's somewhat funny and yet sad, to see the ghost with his sheet, when he's standing in a room or sitting, barely moving or not moving at all. When the ghost is looking out of a window one day, he sees another ghost in the neighbour house also looking out of the window. They have a short talk.

After some time the woman finds a new partner and moves out. One of the few moments in the movie when something scary and typically poltergeist-like happens, when the ghost gets mad (or is it jealous?). Normally we'd be scared in movie moments like that. Here the scene is more bitter sweet. Just like she told her partner before, she leaves a small piece of paper with something written on it in a crack of the house.

A mother moves in with her two children. They celebrate Christmas. But they can't cope with the ghost and after another tamper tantrum of the ghost, during with plates fly and hit the wall, the family moves out again.

Eventually the house gets steamrolled over. The “neighbour ghost” is ready to go. Only "our" ghost stays and is still there when the small house is replaced by a skyscraper with office rooms. After the ghost desperately throws himself off the building, he finds himself in the 19th century. A family of settlers wants to build a house. The girl of the family writes on a small piece of paper and puts it on the ground, placing a stone on top of it. The family is killed by Native Americans. The ghost stays with the family and watches as the body of the girl turns to just bones.

You need to watch the movie yourself to find out whether the ghost finds his peace and how the movie ends. A movie with the title "A Ghost Story" is certainly one people who don't like horror movies would avoid at first. But I can most warmly recommend it to everyone. The movie is not at all a scary movie and the two poltergeist-like moments are already mentioned above. It doesn't get scarier than that. On the contrary the movie impressed me with how calm it is, not least with very little dialogue, long scenes without cuts or camera movement and a very beautiful score by Daniel Hart. Also the movie has a 1.33 : 1 ratio, not the typical 2.35 : 1. That means black mattes left and right of the screen. Also the edges are round, which gives the movie its very own atmosphere.

I came upon this movie only a while ago, when I read the title somewhere on the internet in a list of movies. Certainly I will check out other movies by David Lowery soon, since I really liked "A Ghost Story".

["Ain't Them Bodies Saints" is another movie by David Lowery, again starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck and yes, Daniel Hart provided the score to that one as well. Haven't seen that one yet though. I might (re)view it soon though.]

M&M: The Terminal

Dear reader,

considering the growing number of refugees coming over to Europe, it probably makes sense to watch the movie The Terminal from the year 2004 once or again.

In it Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, who comes from the fictive Krakozhia to America. But due to a revolution in his country, he's seen as stateless. With no proper passport, barely able to speak English, he's unable to travel further in America, nor allowed to fly back to his country. Viktor Navorski is stuck at the JFK airport. But he's not idle. He tries to make himself comfortable at the airport and find a job to get something to do. But because he has no passport, many don't want to employ him. So he needs to be creative and find things to do on his own, to get money to at least pay for food and something to drink. Only when builders are working on a wall and Navorski finishes the wall in the middle of the night, he gets employed. Other foreigners befriend with him (one Afroamerican, one Latino and one Indian). He also befriends with the stewardess Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He even invites her to, believe it or not, an actually quite romantic dinner at the terrace of the airport!

Then the revolution in Krakozhia ends and Navorski can finally leave the airport. Before he flies back to his home though, he's got a task to finish from his father. He had found a picture of 57 Jazz legends in a newspaper and set himself the goal to get an autograph from all of them. Only one, that of Benny Golson, is missing. Will Navorski be able to find Golson after his long stay at the airport and finally get the autograph? See for yourself!

Probably not always quite realistic, but still with lots of heart and humour, this movie is a nice pastime. Like I hinted at the beginning, because of the growing number of refugees and asylum seekers, it's still up to date even in these days.

Until next blog,
sarah

M&M: No Reservations

Dear reader,

after the dandelion recipes, even though it would probably have been more fitting last month, I think the movie “No Reservations” is a good addition. In the movie from the year 2007 with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart in the lead roles, there's loads of cooking!

Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is top chef in a restaurant and also totally a perfectionist. But even though she sets high standards for herself as well as her cooked food, she cannot handle critics on either her as a person or her food well. So her boss Paula (Patricia Clarkson) eventually sends her to a therapist.

Her perfectly organised world is put to a test, when her sister and her 9-years old daughter, Zoe (Abigail Breslin) have an accident. Only Zoe survives and Kate decides to adopt the girl. Kate tries hard to treat Zoe with exceptional food. In doing so she seems to forget that children don't necessarily want to eat extravagant things. To top it all, a new cook is recruited to help Kate in the kitchen: Nick (Aaron Eckhart). Nick has a completely different cooking style (with music!) and is full of enthusiasm and passion. Of course Kate doesn't like that at all. It takes some time for Nick to not only stir food for Kate, but also her blood. Certainly one crucial moment is when Zoe visits the restaurant and kitchen one time and Nick manages finally to make her eat spaghetti with relish.

Paula is so happy with Nick's work in the restaurant, that she offers him to replace Kate as top chef. Will Nick take that offer and what does Kate think about the possibility of maybe not being the no. 1 in the kitchen anymore?

“No Reservations” is a remake of the movie “Bella Martha” from the year 2001. The names have changed and so has the ending. Personally, I like the actual ending of “No Reservations” better. The ending of “Bella Martha” is a bit too fantastic for my taste, although not totally unrealistic. Catherine Zeta-Jones worked as a server in a restaurant for one evening as preparation for her role. Of course Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart had to learn how to cut veggies “professionally” and how to turn barbecued food. In the “Making-Of” Aaron Eckhart says that the scenes in which they had to cook as well as speak dialogue, where especially difficult. On the one hand they had to look professional, which is difficult enough for someone not professional, as well as speaking lines, wasn't always as easy as it may look for the viewer.

Sometimes a somewhat sad, but often very funny movie about a bit of cooking and kitchen, but especially (sadly) not cookbook example of life and family. I'm sure we all sometimes wish, as Kate does, to have a cookbook for life, so we don't have to make up our own recipes for life situations.

Of course the movie has some bits of songs that “Nick” is playing. Otherwise Philip Glass is responsible for the actual film music. Although one theme can be repeatedly heard, which is actually from Mark Isham from the movie “Life As A House”, which is the melody of the song “Building A Family”. I like the melody a lot. It's one of my two favourite tracks from the soundtrack album. In “No Reservations” however the melody is played so often, that for me it feels like it's only that melody and the music “Nick” plays. With all due respect for Philip Glass, and I'm sure it's not his fault, but ultimately the director's decision, but I hardly consciously hear any of his melodies at all, when watching that movie.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Nell

Dear reader,

in this movie from the year 1994, a young man provides a woman, living alone in the woods, with food, which he leaves for her in front of the cabin. But it isn't quite that easy. He hears wailing and as he carefully enters the cabin, he finds a woman, seemingly dead on the floor. Also there are flowers on the body and around. As if someone prepared the woman like this. Did the woman not live alone after all? The doctor of the town, Jerome “Jerry” Lovell (Liam Neeson) is called by the sheriff (Nick Searcy). They eventually find a young woman, by the name of Nell (Jodie Foster), who they find out is the unbeknownst daughter of the dead woman. Nell only speaks an unknown language of her own.

For Jerry Nell is fascinating. She grew up away from civilisation and yet she can seemingly live and organise her life completely inependantly. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson), a young psychologist student, sees more the scientific of it all. She would like Nell at the hospical for further investigation of her as well as her language. For the court however the most pressing question is whether Nell can live independantly or if she is depending on help and/or assistance.

Eventually it's decided that Nell can, for the time being, stay where she is and Jerry and Nell make themselves comfortable in the woods, too. At first they do it independently from each other, but by interacting and investigating Nell, they also get closer to each other.

It's getting obvious that Nell will not live undiscovered and isolated forever. So it's time to show Nell the civilisation, the town. An adventure for all people involved. Then the media notices Nell indeed and so a decision what to do next has to be made spontaneous and fast. Shortly after this radical experience for Nell, the second hearing at the court is set, which will decide how Nell is doing and how and where she'll live in the future.

“Nell” isn't one of the best movies. The end is, although certainly desirable, over all a “Hollywood ending” and as cheesy as it is simply illogical an ending. Seeing how Nell behaved up to the court hearing, but especially how she reacted at the town visit and then the shock experience when the media finds her, then I just can't describe her behaviour at the court hearing with anything else but “illogical”. The movie borrows cliches from the “wild, beautiful” life outside of town, to the rather “movie-type” of psychologist up to the Hollywood-happy-ending. Why then do I enjoy watching this movie anyway and write it up here now? For one thing because I still do find it enjoyable to spend some time with Nell in the woods and to appreciate the images of the beautiful landscape and surroundings. Also I like watching Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson and how they are so profoundly different at first and then get closer to one another. Some said that Jodie Foster's performance was too much acting and Nell seemed very forced. She seemed believable to me though, save the impossible court hearing at the end.

One reason why I didn't watch this movie over the last years, is the fact that Natasha Richardson, who by the way later in real life married Liam Neeson, had a skiing accident in March 2009. At first everything seemed ok, but in the end she died from inner head injuries on March, 18^th. This is the only film I've got with her and I think this is also the only with with her and her (although not yet at that time) husband.

The book to the movie is, like almost always with books, a bit deeper with the background information on the individual characters. It's a nice read, if you like the movie. For the great images however, I'd still recommend the movie rather than the book.

For those of you, who like generally calm film scores, this soundtrack by Mark Isham might be for you. I know I enjoy it at least. I don't listen to it much anymore, because I don't think of it often, but I appreciate it every time I do listen to it.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Big Fish

Dear reader,

imagine you've got an egoist and story teller as a father. He's so much an egoist and story teller that even in his speech at your own wedding, he tells stories of his own childhood, instead of something nice about you. Can you imagine how that would be? Well, if the answer is “yes”, you might have an idea of how Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) felt at his wedding in the movie “Big Fish” from the year 2003. The result is not surprising: Vater, Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) and son don't talk much with each other or if they do, it's through the mother, Sandra Bloom (Jessia Lange).

Until that day when the mother calls the son, to tell her that the father is going to die and he should come by for a reconciliation. The son then goes to his parents. He is accompanied by his wife, Josephine (Marion Cotillard). She didn't hear the stories of the father and she's curious. So he gets another chance to tell his adventures.

The younger Ed Bloom is played by Ewan McGregor, who has a striking resemblance to Albert Finney as the old Ed Bloom. Which was in fact the reason why Ewan McGregor got the part. Also part of the movie is Helena Bonham Carter in no less than three roles: the young and old Jenny as well as the witch. Danny DeVito can be seen as the circus director and Steve Buscemi might also be known to some film enthusiasts, to name only a couple of other stars of the film.

With all the fantastic and wonderful adventures, you might almost forget why the son actually went to the father. But the end is as sad as it is funny. Even after his death the story of the father's story is by far not completely told.

Behind every story is also some truth. Just how much truth in the case of Ed Bloom, you'll have to find out yourself by watching the film. Altogether I'd say that the film makes a skilful, successful balancing act: the life of Ed Bloom is not quite normal, but also not totally far-fetched. This film might bring back people, who themselves have listened to the parents telling stories to the children or parents, who have and still tell stories to their children. I believe that especially Ewan McGregor, who was able to play all the adventures of the young Ed Bloom, had certainly fun making the film. At least it seems like that for me watching the film, but also when I watch the extras and “behind the scenes” and Ewan McGregor as well as the others involved talk about it. Speaking of involved in the film: the film music was composed by Danny Elfman, like it was for (almost) all Tim Burton films. This Tim Burton film is not as scary as most of his other films. But it is a varied collection of many smaller, mostly funny stories in one single film.

Until next blog,
sarah 

M&M: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Dear Reader,

my mother didn't like the actor Jim Carrey much. He was grimassing too much for her liking. But one day our half american friends once borrowed us their only english dvd of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. Jim Carrey is hidden behind a hairy green mask in that one. My mother understood english well, but it wasn't quite good enough for the details of the film. She borrowed the german dvd from the library a couple of days later. The story was compelling enough for her and Jim Carrey hidden enough, that she found it well worth watching a second time.

But what's the story about anyway? The film from the year 2000 tells the christmassy story, based on a story by Dr. Seuss. In english speaking areas Dr. Seuss is well known for writing stories for children in rhymes. As already in Nightmare Before Christmas, this story too is about an unhappy outsider. Though with the Grinch we've got someone who hates christmas as much as one can hate a celebration. He lives up north from Whoville, a small town, in which all inhabitants just love christmas like no other celebration. Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsn) is the young daughter of the post officer Lou Lou Who (Bill Irwin). She is a bright, curious girl and when she finds out that the Grinch never sends, nor gets post, she goes to find out why. It's because of her insistence, too, that during the party before christmas, the Grinch should be the cheermeister of the party. Because the book says, “The cheermeister is the one who deserves a back slap or a toast. And it goes to the soul at Christmas who needs it most.” Not that the Grinch would agree, that he needed christmas the most... But Cindy Lou goes to him up on the mountain and invites him. The Grinch thinks hard back and forth and eventually goes. Gritting his teeth, he makes it through all the festivities.


And then... then comes the night. The Grinch is up on his mountain and sees how Santa Claus with his sleigh and reindeers is bringing the presents to everyone. So he sets out and makes himself a christmas costume and his loyal dog Max is converted to a reindeer for the sleigh. Then the Grinch sneaks down to the town and steals all the presents to destroy them in the dump. When he gets to Cindy Lou's house, she's just awake, too. He hides behind the christmas tree, which he was just about to steal. When she asks him what christmas is really about, he simply tells her, “Vengeance!” only to correct himself quickly with, “I mean... presents... I suppose.”

In the early hours the first couple of people realise that the presents are gone. But the inhabitants of Whoville are flexible and find that christmas isn't really about presents anyway, but being with your beloved family. So they sing and are happy after all. The Grinch hears that and realises for the first time, that he, too, can change. What that change looks like and what the Grinch does with that, you'll have to find out for yourself. I also won't tell you, why the Grinch is living so alone on the mountain in the first place. That's a story you'll have to find out together with Cindy Lou.

By the way Jim Carrey's mask was really good According to a trivia entry on imdb.com to that movie, the latex skin was so confining and uncomfortable for him, that he needed counselling from Navy SEAL who taught him torture-resistance techniques.

It's interesting how in certain kind of movies, the bad guys come across as very sympathetic somehow. The Grinch is one of those. With his deep seated hate, he is certainly entertaining and is different from the often only cheesy christmas stories.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Patch Adams

Dear reader,

August, 11 this year was a strange day for me and certainly also for a friend of mine (you know who you are). On the previous evening we chatted about comedies and actors. We found that we both like Adam Sandler and also Robin Williams. I thought to myself that I wasn't aware of what he had been up to the past couple of years, didn't hear of him for a while. But I was too tired to check just then. I went to bed and the next morning I read in shock and total surprise my daily mails from the Guardian newspaper with latest news. Robin Williams was dead. When I went online with my chat programs, I read that my friend had already read the sad news, too.

So with some delay now, this M&M today in memory of Robin Williams. Philip Seymour Hoffman is an actor, probably unknown or by not too many German speaking people. In “Patch Adams” he's a fellow student and room mate of Patch Adams. Philip Seymour Hoffman died this year (February, 2^nd) and I write this entry in his memory, too.

Patch Adams is a movie from the year 1998 and tells the true (as always with feature movies, for dramatic reasons not always the very true) story of Hunter “Patch” Adams. Okay, I know close to nothing about the real Patch Adams and many (online) reviews about this movie are rather negative. Since I know only very little about the “real” Patch Adams and this is a movie review anyway, I'll only stick to what's in the movie.


Hunter Adams is suicidal and admits himself to a hospital for treatment. His room mate is a man, who keeps him awake at night with a squeaking bed, because he needs to go to the toilet, but doesn't dare out of fear for the squirrels he sees. Adams starts a squirrel hunt then and shoots the squirrels (with his hand miming a pistol). After a wild squirrel shooting, the room mate is finally able to go to the toilet. Adams is impressed that he was able to help another person with humour and decides to study medicine to help even more.

During his studies, Adams notices that he doesn't have to learn much. We actually never see him sticking his nose in his books. (I don't know how much this was true. Although there are some lucky ones, who really don't need to do much to learn and remember things.) Adams notices something else, too: the doctors seem often very functional and stern and distant towards patients. Once they talk about a patient in the hospital as she's lying in bed, surrounded by the students and the doctor. They talk about her illness (diabetes with poor circulation and diabetic neuropathy), also treatment (shocked the patient hears the possibility of “amputation”). Then Adams asks, “What's her name?” All just look at him. “I was just wondering the patient's name”, he says. The doctor has to look at the chart. “Marjorie.” “Hi Marjorie”, Adams greets her smiling at her and addressing her personally.

In time he also makes friends with patients and is able to give them some treats and grant them wishes. Some find it “a little disturbing”, that he's sneaking into a room full of kids (the children's ward) and “acting like a clown”. Surely he was eccentric in that scene. Surely I personally couldn't get out of myself like that. Simply because I'm too shy and introverted for something like that. But “disturbing”? Because he's a man among children? He isn't a child molester! He wanted to make the children laugh and they were happy! What's so wrong about that?

Like many Hollywood movies, this one too can't come without a love story. Patch Adams befriends with female student. At first she only wants to study and not make friends, tells him that, too. Some say that Patch Adams is pushy and reckless, forcing his will and happiness on everybody else. I read that just now, as I was reading some comments at the imdb.com Patch Adams forum. All I can say is that I didn't see this movie and certain scenes in that way so far. Anyway, his girlfriend meets this mentally disturbed patient as the movie goes on, which leads Patch Adams to a faith and life crisis for a short time. (From what I read, this student/girlfriend never existed. One might wonder why all of that is in the movie then.) She meets this patient when she and others help Patch Adams starting a free hospital, even though they're still students. Because Adams is shocked when he sees that desperate relatives are first asked to fill out forms and give information when their sick partner is clearly in pain and in need of immediate help.

The fact that Patch Adams is always happy, seemingly never learning and still gets top grades and that he's practising medicine without a doctor's degree, leads him to almost not be able to finish his studies. So he goes to the court and that fight fills the last about 15 minutes of the movie.

Like I already wrote, I don't know much about the life and works of the real Patch Adams. It may also be questionable why Patch Adams gets this girlfriend, who has to go through what we see in the movie. I have no idea how eccentric the real Patch Adams is or isn't and whether Robin Williams' portrayal is realistic or not. Some critics ask in a provocative way if you really like to be treated by a doctor wearing a red clown nose. I'd like to tell those people one thing. A couple of years back there was a hot summer and I went to see a female doctor. It was so hot that most girls and women wore short t-shirts or sleeveless tops. When the doctor came into the room, she didn't have her coat on. She asked me, if I was okay with that. I don't remember, what I actually said to her. Certainly something affirmative. Today and in hindsight I might have asked her, whether her knowledge is in her coat or in her head and depending on it, I would have insisted on the coat or not.

Tastes differ. Nobody has to like the movie “Patch Adams” or watch it. I still think some thoughts expressed in that movie are important: being friendly to the patients, asking them every now and then, how they're doing or what they would like, instead of talking about then in their presence in a sort of “Mrs. Broken-Leg” and “Mr. Terminal Cancer” sort of way. Especially the American health care system is in need of a change. The idea of a free hospital therefore is commendable and worthy of support. For fans of Robin Williams, who didn't know Patch Adams and his works, at least he showed them that and I think that's a good thing.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Pan's Labyrinth

Dear reader,

children are often a symbol of innocence. But even though the children may fight to be good and do their best to help, that's by far not what their parents may be like at all. That's certainly and especially true for Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) in Guillermo del Toro's “Pan's Labyrinth” from the year 2006. Ofelia and her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) are on their way to Ofelia's stepfather, the fascist captain Vidal (Sergi López).

The captain strives against the partisans and also shows no heart for Ofelia either. She realises that in their first meeting right away. In the night she can't sleep. An insect, which she has met on her way to the captain, comes up again. It's not a normal insect. Not just because it's so big. When Ofelia shows her fairy tale book to the insect, it turns into a fairy, like one out of that book. The fairy guides Ofelia to the near by labyrinth. In the middle of the labyrinth is a statue of a girl with a baby and Pan sleeping there is waking up. He tells Ofelia that she's a princess turned human and now that she's human, she lost all her memory of being a princess. Her father, the king, is waiting for her. She has to succeed with three tasks, to break the curse.

Doug Jones, who's playing Pan, is in full costume and mask, as in other Guillermo del Toro movies, like Abe Sapien in Hellboy. His character is a rather strange one. On the one hand he helps Ofelia, on the other hand the tasks he sets for her, lead her to be in trouble a lot. The tasks and troubles of the fairy tale world are certainly correlating with the dangers and brutality of the adult world. That's especially true for the stepfather. When he finds out that the housemaid Mercedes and the doctor Ferreiro are actually helping the partisans, the stepfather doesn't hold back at all.

Is Pan on Ofelia's side after all? Or did he use her for his own purposes all along? Does captain Videl have a heart for his stepdaughter in the end? Or did the war turn his heart to stone? See for your self and make your own decision.

I'm mostly impressed how the movie combines true history in a very intriguing way with elements of fairy tales. You can trust Guillermo del Toro with horror and fantasy anyway. The total love and care put into the movie comes through to me. Especially how the creation of the characters and portrayal of creatures of the fairy tales world. Even though the movie clearly uses elements of fairy tales, it's far from being a children's movie. At best it's an adult version of a fairy tale movie. A very intriguing movie, but nothing for the sentimental, squeamish minded.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Stay

Dear reader,

in 2005 the movie “Stay” came out, one of my favourite movies. The story is somewhat dark and the ending is frustratingly open. What I like most though are the visual elements: the use of colours and transitions from one scene to another. Also I like Ewan McGregor and Ryan Gosling, who are both playing the lead roles in this movie.

Ryan Gosling is playing Henry Letham, a young man, who we see driving a car at the beginning. Then a tire blows and an accident happens. Cut. He's sitting on the street and as the camera moves away from him allowing us a wider view of the scene, we see the car burning behind him. He stands up and just walks along the street.

The psychiatrist Dr. Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) had a bad night and overslept. But this should only be the beginning of a couple of very strange days for him. On the university campus he meets his friend and teacher Lila (Naomi Watts), who asks him what's wrong. The neighbours baby kept him awake. Lila is confused. The neighbours are 80 years old. Sam takes over for a sick colleague, among her patients is also Henry. He doesn't like the fact that suddenly someone else is his therapist. Is his therapist unable to cope with him and let that other one take over? But eventually Henry opens up and tells about his plan: “Saturday. Midnight.” That's when he's going to kill himself. On his 21^st birthday.

Over the course of this movie, we see Henry and others driving in a car. Those scenes in the car are from a different time or indeed a different world(?) than the rest and in fact most part of the movie. I think I don't anticipate too much, when I write, that Henry in fact was badly injured during the car accident and is about to die. The psychiatrist “story” is all in his head and is his way of thinking whether he wants to live or die. He wants to live really. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone to Sam for help, who is in reality the driver of another car and now is giving first aid. Another woman, who Henry in his mind makes to be Sam's girlfriend, checks the car and tells him that the others are dead. Many things and people in the movie are twisted in Henry's head and used for the reality in his mind. Finding those things, what is used and how and finding what's reality, makes the movie fun and interesting for me. Henry's full name is Henry Letham. Letham being an anagram for Hamlet. A young woman, who served Henry a couple of times in a diner and could maybe help Henry is also actually rehearsing for a Hamlet play.

Some wonder about the ending and what Henry's choice was in the end. Because we never actually see whether he is dead or alive. Many are certain that his decision is obvious however. Watch the movie and make your own decision about that. For those of you who like rather calm soundtracks “Stay” might be one for you. It was written and played by Asche & Spencer.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Prestige

Dear reader,

today I want to introduce you to a movie with magicians and about magic. No, of course not Harry Potter! Probably everyone knows that magician already, even those among you, who didn't read the books or watched the movies know enough for me not to write about him in my blog.

The movie “Prestige” is from 2006 with Christian Bale as Alfred Borden and Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier. Borden and Angier work together at first. Although Borden is the younger magician and more a helper or stooge playing an audience member. One day an escapology act goes terribly wrong though and Angier's wife, who is bound underwater in a watertank dies. Since Borden as an audience member tied the important knot, Angier makes him responsible for the death of his wife. Needless to say that they go their separate ways after that. Although not quite, because both spend a lot of time to bust the other and being the better, if not the best magician.

Both develop a number: they go into one cabinet and seconds later, the step out from a second cabinet. That's the main principle of the big number they both have. Is Borden using a double? But Angier, in one of his bustings hurts Borden that he actually lost fingers on one hand and Borden stepping into the cabinet as well as the one stepping out are missing those fingers. Angier on the other hand (no pun intended) is travelling from great britain to america to meet the physicist Nikola Tesla (David Bowie). Tesla really existed and was famous for unusual inventions. To this day it's not known how some of his inventions he presented actually worked. In “Prestige” we see that he hands Angier a light-bulb which then lights up in his hand like that. But are feats and inventions like that enough to give Angier a second man?

Angier wants to destroy Borden desperately and definitely. That means that he has to set him up. During a performance Borden gets to enter the backstage area and sees Angier seemingly trapped in the watertank. The top lid can't be opened anymore. Angier drowns. This leads to a trial. Borden, meanwhile with a wife and a daughter, faces a possible death sentence. His life up to that point is the main part of the movie. In prison, waiting for his execution, Borden gets a visitor. Only when that man tells Borden that he'll take care of his daughter from now on and is about to leave, does Borden recognise that man. It's Angier! So Borden is no murderer!

At the end both magicians paid a high price for their big number and they know the secret of the other ones trick and what that trick has cost him.

For me “Prestige” is something special, because I'm interested in magic and do a bit of magic myself. I guarantee you that almost all tricks are real and possible, the way they are presented. The tricks are actually learnt and performed in front of the camera by the actors, quite unlike “The Illusionist”. “The Illusionist” is very disappointing in that regard, because many things would be real, but were quite visibly, at least for me, done with “film tricks”. “Prestige” is as real in the magic it shows as it can be with a movie like that.

My top favourite scene of all in the movie is when Borden is in prison and gives the warden a wipe. He does that with a combination of two main principles. He shows the warden a ball and throws him in the air. Once. That's supposed to be a magic trick? A second time. Okay, we get it now. On the third throw we look up and often the magician doesn't throw the ball really at that time. The human eye is used to the routine of the ball in the air, it looks like the ball vanishes in thin air. The second principle is to seemingly let the trick go wrong. The magician looks like an idiot. When Borden throws the ball a third time, he doesn't catch it and the ball drops off the table. The great magician is in prison for murder and can't even escape like Houdini, and then he can't even catch a ball properly.The warden likes that, of course, up until...

A couple of magic notes and anecdotes for those interested:
- Teslar isn't the only real person in "Prestige". In a performance Borden sees a chinese, Chung Ling Soo, who deceived the world (including Harry Houdini!) In reality he was an american by the name of William Ellsworth Robinson. But the first and only english words he ever spoke on stage would be shortly before his death, "My God, I've been shot."
- He was shot performing the so called "Bullet Catch", a classic magic trick, which Borden will perform in the movie, too. Robinson is one of the 11 magicians, who didn't take enough precautions, which cost them their lives.
- Other classic magic tricks performed in the movie are: the water tank (made famous by Harry Houdini especially), the "chinese linking rings", coin magic, the bullet catch. I don't know what the trick is called, but Angier tries to do one once where different objects are revealed from the long coat of the magician, usually ending with the revelation of a huge bowl filled with water and a gold fish in it.

I admit I haven't seen the movie in a long time. So I can't think of any more notes and anecdotes just now. Probably I missed some. If I should think of more, I'll add them here later. Anyway, the movie is a real pleasure for me to watch as someone interested in magic and sort of performer in magic myself, I love it for the relation to reality and because almost all of the tricks can be done that way, as you see them.

Also I like the soundtrack by David Julyan a lot.

The movie was made on the basis of the book by Christopher Priest with the same title. Like so often the case, the book is different from the movie. Angier and Boden never worked together. Angier's wife never died, but was pregnant and lost her baby because of Borden. The book is separated in different parts as diary entries which one reads and the rivalry goes on for several generations. The history of magic is more fleshed out. The background story of what life was like for the two magicians before they were on stage performing can be read. The book is different. Film and book are just two different media with their individual ways of story telling and creating suspense.

Until next blog,
sarah

M&M: The Fall

Dear reader,

today I want to tell you about a film that plays is situated in Los Angeles of the 1920's in a hospital. The film industry back then is still in its infancy. Hardly anybody knows, what a stuntman is or does. One of them however is just in that hospital for treatment after having an unfortunate fall during a shooting and is now unable to walk with an injured leg. Also in the hospital is a bright girl with a broken arm. The stuntman begins telling her a story of five heroes. (One of them is himself, another goes by the name of Charles Darwin.) At first it's all totally harmless, but behind all that is the idea that the stuntman might get the girl to steal morphine for him. She does eventually and for that she has to climb a cupboard. Unfortunately she falls very unluckily and has to get head surgery. The stuntman recognises how egoistic his behaviour has been. She wants to break the contact with the girl. That means he's got to bring the story to an end. And what an end it is! I read on the internet that some men, who usually barely shed a tear could hardly hold them back then. I won't tell you anything more about the ending of that story. Watch the film and make up your own mind.

The girl is played by Catinca Untaru, a rumanian, who at the time of filming, in 2006, was only 9 years old. I saw the film in english and was quite impressed how good that little girl was speaking english for her age. The stuntman is played by Lee Pace. In the film he writes down the name of the drug he wants: "Morphine". However he writes the "e" in such an angular shape, that Catinca Untaru actually read it as "3", which worked into the film. I especially thought that the visuals of the film were particularly inspired. Of course the girl has a vivid imagination. Cinematically this is underlined by the fact that quite soon we don't see the two of them in the hospital, but the story is also shown in images with especially sceneries, costumes and over all colours that just really impressed me a lot. The word surrealistic comes to my mind, although that probably isn't quite correct. Quite amusing for the viewer also is the fact how the girl works people she meets and sees in the hospital into the story. For example back in those days it was common for doctors taking x-rays in metal suits, complete with helmet in metal, which also covered the face. Once the girl sees some of those people covered all in metal walking down the halls. These people look like knights! No surprise then that when the stuntman tells her about evil knights, that those look like the x-ray knight doctors in her head. Who can blame her.. A wonderful movie!

Until next blog,
sarah

M&M: Gun Shy

Dear reader,

in 2000 the actor Liam Neeson had the leading role as the DEA agent Charlie in the film „Gun Shy“. Charlie comes back from an undercover mission, which has gone horribly wrong. It ended in a disastrous shooting, in which Charlie's colleague got killed and almost got him killed as well. Instead Charlie ended up head first in a water melon. Needless to say that he hates melons since then. From that moment on he has severe digestive problems as well as anxiety. There's nothing he wants more than retirement and the view of the ocean.

On his flight back, Charlie meets the therapist Dr. Jeff Bleckner (Michael Mantell). He notices how uncomfortable Charlie is and offers him help. Dr. Bleckner suggests Charlie goes to do some group therapy. During those sessions Charlie finds out that he's far from being the only one unhappy with his (professional) life. As he tells the others about his problems, he falls on sympathetic ears. Charlie has to take on one last job to stop the scary mafia boss Fulvio and his money laundering business. Charlie is so nervous meeting Fulvio the first time, that Dr. Bleckner prescribes him some pills. The therapist makes it very clear to Charlie only to take one pill. But Charlie is so nervous and the effect doesn't come fast enough for Charlie. So he takes a second. That leads to Charlie not only being calm during the meeting, but he very much not to fall asleep. In the end Charlie can't fight it any longer and just falls asleep in his chair as he is. Fulvio is enthusiastic and impressed how Chrlie can go to sleep and just sleep peacefully.

Charlie and Fulvio become friends for real. That's how Charlie realises that the mean mafia boss is just a show. Fulvio's wish for life is to grow tomatos. He only plays the mean mafia boss, because that's what everyone seems to expect him to be like. So Fulvio is just one more person, who is unsatisfied and with totally different dreams for how his own life should be. Charlie decides to help him.

Charlie consults the beautiful Judy Tipp (Sandra Bullock) about his digestive problems, who not only is able to help him with alternative medicine about his bodily problems. He's also infected by her optimism and the to of them come closer.

All in all this film can't be taken too serious and is far from what might happen in real life. But the film has much humour and it's much fun for me to watch all those great actors. The characters were written which much love and care, even the smaller parts and I enjoy it a great deal to see them all with their quirks and their problems they are fighting with and do their best to stick to their dreams and come closer to fulfilling them. At the end of this turbulent adventure especially Charlie and Fulvio clearly learned something for themselves and have been through quite some changes and achieved things for themselves.

Until next blog,
sarah

M&M: Nightmare Before Christmas

Dear reader,

did you ever thought about the holidays we celebrate? Easter, Valentines Day, Halloween, Christmas? The animated film “Nightmare Before Christmas” by Tim Burton is just about that!

Jack Skellington is a skinny skeleton in a black-and-white striped suit and the head of Halloween Town, who's people are responsible for Halloween. Jack is sad. For a while now he didn't have fun scaring others and he wants something else. Only he doesn't know what that might be. During a walk he comes to another town: Christmas Town. Everything there is snowy and has a wonderful scent and everybody has fun and is happy. Also there's supposedly somebody huge and red and he brings presents. Jack finds out that this somebody is called “Sandy Claws”. Wonderful!

Jack wants this Christmas, too. He'll be preparing for the next one himself. Three kids, usually out to collect sweets are send by Jack to kidnap Sandy Claws so that Jack can do his job. Although Jack specifically tells the kids not to bring Sandy Claws to Oogie Boogie, that's exactly what they do. Oogie Boogie is the only really mean and scary person in Halloween Town and ready to kill somebody just to be entertained, that's especially true for this oh so great Sandy Claws.

Jack doesn't see any of that coming and everybody is excited. Only Sally is very worried. She's a bit like the Frankenstein monster stitched together and is held captive by her creator, Doctor Finkelstein in his castle. She likes Jack. Jack doesn't quite see that. In a vision she sees Christmas go completely and utterly wrong, so she does everything she can, to stop Jack's plan. Jack doesn't listen to her at all. Christmas goes totally wrong and ends in Jack being shot down with his flying sleigh. Only then does he realise how wrong he was, although he had meant well. Sandy Claws has to come back! Will Jack rescue him and with that Christmas in time? You've got to find out for yourself!

Like many animated films by Tim Burton, “Nightmare Before Christmas" has many songs and it's a kind of musical. The music was written by his permanent partner, the composer Danny Elfman. The latter also was the singing voice for Jack Skellington. Although Danny Elfman does the singing for demos of his songs, his voice is not heard in the films. That's what makes “Nightmare Before Christmas” something special for fans. When I saw the film for the first time, I didn't know Tim Burton as such, I have to admit. I knew his films – in hindsight – but the name got familiar for me only after “Nightmare Before Christmas”. I was lucky to see that film when a professor at uni offered to show it to those willing to come one afternoon before Christmas holidays. Being handicapped myself, I was fascinated with Sally and her body parts stitched together. One scene especially is just brilliant, when she runs away from the castle of the doctor to see Jack. She jumps out of the window. For a moment you almost believe she died from the jump. She's lying there motionless on the ground. But then she moves and stitches one of her arms tight to the rest again in a very resolute way. It's gone loose from the jump.

Jack was a very special character for Danny Elfman at the time the movie was made in 1993. His music career started in about 1972 when he started in the music group formed by his brother Richard Elfman. When Richard wanted to quit, Danny took over the group and it was cut from 20 to just 8 people and went on to be a New Wave/Ska/Punk/Rock Band: Oingo Boingo. They recorded their first album “Only A Lad” in 1980. According to Danny Elfman he still doesn't get it why the young director Tim Burton wanted him of all people to write the music for his first big film “Pee Wee's Big Adventure” in 1985. That's how Danny Elfman got into the film business. He got more and more famous as a film music composer and then it became obvious to him that he couldn't go on with Oingo Boing and composing for film at the same time. Both together were just taking too much time and energy. But how to choose? How should he go on? A very uncertain future for Jack Skellington in the movie as well as Danny Elfman in real life. It was this connection with Jack, not only through writing the lyrics and music, but also on a personal level, which made Danny Elfman want to sing the part of Jack Skellington himself – which he did in the end.

Until next blog,

sarah

M&M: Skellig

Dear reader,

as today's M&M post, I want to introduce you to the movie “Skellig.” The film is based on the book by David Almond with the same title. Although it's a children's book, I enjoyed reading it as an adult a lot, too. It's one of the rare books, which are ageless. Like Harry Potter is read and loved by teenagers as well as adults.

The film (so far) is only available in English. It's got English subtitles, too. The book is available in English and German.

The story is about a boy, Michael (Bill Milner), who moves with his parents Dave (John Simm) and Louise (Kelly Macdonald) from a flat in the city to a rotten house further away and that house so needs renovation at least. Michael feels very alone without his friends. His dad is busy renovating and sees his life dream come true. Michael doesn't understand that at all. The baby is born then and has a heart problem. So the mother is away a lot to the hospital, dad sometimes as well. Michael feels even more alone than he felt already.

But he finds a new friend in the girl next door. Mina (Skye Bennett) is her name. She also knows a lot of things, especially considering she doesn't even go to school. Her mother teaches her at home.

Also there's this strange man (Tim Roth) in the garden shed. He seems to be ill and totally lost all his interest in life. All he wants is to be left alone. Michael and Mina however totally thwart those plans. Michael doesn't feel he gets any attention from his parents or that he's able to help them. But maybe he can help that man.

Michael doesn't only get help from Mina. There's also Grace (Edna Doré), an old lady he meets in the hospital. She's constantly walking up and down the hall to keep Arthur away, Arthur-itis. Michael tells her about his sad friend and Grace hands him some of her cod-liver oil pills. Maybe they can help him, too.

For a long time Michael and Mina don't know who this man in the shed is and it takes a while for him to tell them his name at least: Skellig. Once the two of them try to make it more comfortable for him, so they take the jacket off him. That's when they see he's got wings on his back. During their research for creatures with wings, they come across angels, too, of course. Maybe Skellig is an angel? Are human shoulder-blades the last bits or the starting points for wings of highly developed creatures?

One night the father is so desperate with the house and the situation with the baby in the hospital and everything in general, that he decides to just burn the shed. But Skellig is still in there and it takes all of Michael's effort and persuasion, to get him out at the very last second, without the father noticing. He hides Skellig in the forest near by. In doing all that however, Michael burns his hand. Thanks to Michael's and Mina's cockering, Skellig is soon on his way to get better. Then something strange happens: Skellig heals Michael's hand within only a few minutes completely! So when Michael's little baby sister is getting worse, he asks Skellig for help. Surely he can help with her heart problem, after healing Michael's hand. But Skellig is still grumpy.

Will Michael be able to persuade Skellig in time? That's for you to find out and read or watch or both.

And what kind of creature is Skellig? He tells the children that, “I'm something... like you. Something like a bird.” “Something like an angel?”, asks Michael. “Yeah”, says Skellig. “Something like that.” Tim Roth once said in an interview that for him Skellig is an “atheist angel”, an angel who's had enough of all of that, until he meets Michael.

Until next blog,

sarah