Heaven Can Wait - 1943 - DVD

Saturday, April 1, 2006

In its essence, Heaven Can Wait is one big wisecrack, sneaking in its dialogue, and cathartically funny, so I guess it was a good choice to watch on April Fool's Day. Take the unexpected premise by itself: Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche), a recently deceased playboy pleads his case to the devil so he may join ranks in hell. Through a series of flashbacks that tour through his devious life of cheats and lies he calmly explains to the dark overlord that he deserves nothing more than a reserved spot in the underworld.

Damn him for his infant impropriety when as a beasty child he manages to seduce the family's French maid. And a wrong he has done in his later years when he steals away his own cousin's fiance (Gene Tierney). Though, Henry is a society man, spoiled on riches and therefore, as the story goes, has nothing better to do than instigate trouble. There is an obvious theme in this film that patterns throughout other Ernst Lubitsch pictures (see: Trouble in Paradise), that the upper-class is too rigid in their routine to be interesting. Because Henry craftily makes this crowd entertaining he is good, and thus by the devil's measure itself, a far cry from eternal damnation.

Henry goes to heaven because his past is mocking and funny, and full of nuance; risk and audaciousness makes Henry interesting and what colors his stories. Hell isn't for him. No, it's for the ones who are too bland to notice that in their complacency they're already there.

15 by Corrine Day featuring Kate Moss

When I found out that the original prints of Fifteen were going to be exhibited, I got very excited at the prospect of visiting a quiet art gallery (which is not exactly my scene,) and decided to drag Barneys Girl to see them with me. (BG happily came along since the gallery Gimpel Fils, was located near Bonds Street.)

Yes, I'm talking about those prints -the ones taken by photographer Corrine Day and published in cult British magazine The Face in 1990, the iconic prints that established Kate Moss, 15 as the awkward, but soon-to-be imperfect supermodel. If you are a Kate Moss fan, then you'll understand why I'm gushing about this set of prints. This was the beginning of Kate Moss......

(This cover was not in the exhibition.)

Taken during a day trip to Camber Sands, Day’s photographs were seized upon as the antidote to the overindulgent 'supermodel in exotic location' fashion spreads which were all too apparent in the glossy magazines of the power-suited 1980s. Day preferred to challenge preconceived notions of beauty and redefined the concerns and range of the fashion photograph.

Moss recalled, “I was just having a laugh. Corinne just wanted to bring out everything that I hated when I was 15. My bow legs, the mole on my breast, the way I laughed”.
Gimpel Fils press release

Eventually, one of the pictures caught the eye of the influential art director Fabien Baron, who set up a meeting between Moss and Calvin Klein. Klein loved her, she became the new face of his brand, and many of the stylists and photographers involved in what was by then a grunge movement followed her into the mainstream.
The Telegraph Magazine

The best part of the exhibition were the contact sheets, (for those who don't know, a contact sheet is basically a print of the original negatives.) These contact sheets showed images Day considered and ones she chose. Day actually discarded the images where Kate put on the typical 'model' look and chose the ones where she looked natural and like a gawky, happy teenager. This was no ordinary fashion shoot. The clothes were not the focus, rather it was Day's aim was to capture the model's personality into film.

I LOVED these prints. It's hard to decide which image I liked the most. The one of Kate's face (picture on top) was HUGE, but still amazingly focused. Sigh, the exhibition was sooo beautiful and the gallery had such a calm vibe I didn't want to leave!

Book Reviews Update

As a little break from the surprisingly hard decision of which seasonal pair of shoes to buy -a decision which I have decided to procrastinate (but I did manage to snag a cute and practical Marc by Marc Jacobs skirt,) -I decided to study Stats and read some books.

I just realised that since I wrote my last book reviews, I forgot to actually update a proper opinion about The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. All I can say is that it was THE best book I have read last year -it was sweet, touching, romantic in a non-mushy way. I loved the weird concept of an illness that made the main male character time travel and how the characters handled themselves. I actually felt moved at the end of the book! (I usually never feel moved by anything.) I have already recommended it to all my friends who like reading, and have even given a copy out as a birthday present. So far my friends all really liked the book. The story maybe a bit confusing at first, but just read through it and it will make sense once you grasp the concept. So go buy and read!

OK back to books I read this year. I waited for The Undomestic Goddess by the oh-so-famous Sophie Kinsella, (her Shopaholic series is so famous that even guys who don't read chick lit have heard of it!) This chick-lit is basically about a super smart lawyer who makes a mistake at her high-power law firm, runs away to the countryside to be a maid and oh surprise surprise, ends up meeting a guy there.

I have to say I was quite disappointed in this book. I usually love chick lits, but this story was so... well, dumb that even I couldn't get into it. I mean, I understand that when people panic they run away, but the misunderstanding that landed the lawyer the job as a maid was just completely unbelievable. It totally contradicted the fact that she is supposed to be intelligent, logical, and thus should be somewhat coherent in letting the interviewing lady know that she was not applying to be a maid. Anyways, there's more but I'm not going to rant here.

So has anyone else read these two books? What did you think of them?