Moonrise Kingdom

The Filmfestival of Ghent was brilliant enough to organize an advance screening of Wes Anderson's new flick Moonrise Kingdom yesterday and I could not not go. My friend Chloé and her boyfriend Nathan were the awesome people who agreed to come along. When I drag someone to a movie or a concert I'm always really anxious to know whether said person is having the time of his life. And I think they did.  

Well I definitely did. Moonrise Kingdom is glorious. Honestly, it's that good. I have to admit, I'm not quite a seasoned member of the Wes Anderson fandom yet. People often complain that he overuses his shtick or that he only caters to hipsters. I think that's nonsense. He obviously has a fondness for quirky characters and his own distinct niche. Couldn't the same be said about, let's say, Judd Apatow or Michael Bay? I know whose movies I'd rather watch. Next up is the hipster label. Oh the horror. I'm pretty sure that the term hipster has become so mainstream in itself that even that argument is hardly valid. Seriously, who cares.

I could get lost in the little universes he creates. I want to be Suzy. I want her Sunday school shoes. I want  a record player with the soundtrack on repeat all day. Most of all it's a love story. Edward Norton is in it. How could you not love it? I believe it opens in theatres just about everywhere next week. Go check it out!  - x

I'd Wait for the Lion

On Monday I watched Beginners by film maker and graphic designer Mike Mills. I didn't know who he was before but after a quick search I learned that not only is he married to Miranda July but that he also designed some of Air's best covers. Enough said.

 I missed out the chance to see it in the cinema but I'm so glad I was finally able to watch this because Beginners is definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time.

(screencaps via le projet d'amour)

Beginners is such an unbelievably beautiful story/film and I hope you find a way to watch it. It deals with some of the hardest things in life in a very real yet understated way. Yes, it's a quirky 'indie film'  but in the best sense of the word and even better. Even the soundtrack, a lot of lovely piano music, is the kind that you immediately Google within mere minutes of finishing the movie. 

I admit that a lot of the scenes and quotes (especially this one!) are very Tumblr-appropriate but I don't consider this film to be an indie cliché or Mélanie Laurent a manic pixie dream girl. Screw that, every film that makes me sad/happy/full circle-range of emotions and leaves me speechless for a while afterwards deserves a gold star in my book! Hila, from le projet d'amour, wrote some lovely things about Beginners with the kind of profoundness I could never even try! Have a look! - x

P.S. The blog turns two years old today! 

A single (wo)man

I watched A Single Man on Christmas Eve. 

Today is a good day. It's Christmas and I received some lovely books. I bought tickets to the Angus & Julia Stone show in May. If we're referring to the title, I myself am no longer a single woman. Karma, please continue to be good to me. I wish you all a lovely Christmas.

L'amour fou

Tomorrow, I'm going to see Yves Saint Laurent - L'Amour Fou, the documentary about the legendary designer, narrated by his lifelong partner, Pierre Bergé. To me, this is a rare insight in the life of of someone who has left us such a legacy. If it hadn't been for him, pantsuits and safari jackets wouldn't have such iconic pieces. One might even say we as women wouldn't have been the same. I'm obviously not an expert, but I'm indescribably excited to get a glimpse of his life, from his time at Dior to his retirement, up until the sale of his estate. Watching this trailer already sends shudders down my spine, the actual movie will obviously be off the hook.

And so I leave you for tonight. I'm terribly out of the loop. I'm way behind on other blogs and even my own one, that's starting to die a slow death. I don't particularly mind. Lots of love, Lies.

The Graduate

I watched The Graduate last night. Can you believe I had never ever seen this movie in my entire life? Boy, did I miss out on something all these years. Dustin Hoffman is hilarious, so are his parents. I got so much secondhand emabarassment from those two. To be honest, Mrs. Robinson really scared me. On the contrary, I was completely charmed by the delightful Elaine Robinson.

She is quite a style icon in her own right. I was enamoured with her wardrobe choices all through the movie. Her style is very laidback and fresh, very age appropriate. Typing this practically sends shudders down my spine but it's true, and meant entirely postively. While her mother dresses with an ulterior move, all made up, Elaine her style oozes youth and freshness. I wish I could pull off those awesome camel coats and turtlenecks she sports throughtout the movie. Let's have a look, shall we...

(image source)

P.S. I got a haircut and I love the way it turned out. Very Alexa Chung 2008 but it actually suits me, surprise, surprise! Pictures tomorrow

P.P.S. Senior year is not yet living up to my expectations :(

I feel old. But not very wise.

Yesterday night I suddenly got the stomach flu. I'm feeling a lot better now but I spent all of yesterday lying on the couch with a - literally - empty stomach in severe pain. To take my mind off things, I watched 'An Education' with my mom.



What a stunning piece of cinema. The movie in itself is almost hauntingly beautiful. Those clothes, the interiors, the setting. If you ever wanted to live in the early sixties, watching this movie will only make that desire worse. The oh so lovely Carey Mulligan portrays the saucy little Jenny perfectly. The story was beautiful, even though I wasn't very crazy about David from the beginning, and it has a nice little moral in it after all. Not that we care much about such things, do we, but like The Duchess from Alice in Wonderland said, everything's got a moral, if only you can find it. To be honest, and this is sort of spoilerish so stop reading if you still need to watch it, it seems highly unlikely that she gets into Oxford after everything. But I'm not complaining, I love a good happy ending. I'm going to take a long bath and shoo off the last remnants of my stomach flu.xo