AvantGrand Baptism

Saturday evening Deb and I hosted the monthly piano player get together.  Alde was out of town, but the other regular members showed up.  The piano was given a very good workout, beginning with Paula performing a short piece by C P E Bach, and a Prelude by Gershwin.  Next up, Jim gave a truly beautiful performance of a piece by Scott Joplin, and the piano sounded amazing under his professional sounding touch.  His brother had just passed away last week, but he had been able to record the piece and play it for him beforehand.  So he played it tonight as a memorial to him.  He followed up with the Grande Waltz Brillante Op 34 in A Minor by Chopin.  He returned at the end of the night to perform the Bach Toccata in E Minor, a major work that sounded totally incredible on the piano.  I could not have been more pleased with the sound.  Next up was Dr. Seski (our Rob Sr.), who played a Chopin Waltz and a piece by Schubert, followed by Dr. Ling, who brought the last two movements of the Appassionata  by Beethoven.  After a short break, we resumed with Rob Jr, Dr. Biswas, who played the final movement of the Waldstein sonata by Beethoven.  Again, the piano really shone here (as did Robert), as volumes of layered sound poured forth from the wide awake piano towards the small but appreciative audience.  I finished up with short pieces by Bach (on harpsichord) and Mendelssohn, and two by Alexina Louie.  And so the piano had a very good workout!  Best of all, I got to sit back and hear all different kinds of music performed on it.  Our next meeting in October will be at Jim's home, in the distant city of Chatham.

We are now deep into our final week of trail hiking preparations.  The mountains are calling, and we are nearly ready to heed those calls.  We have been fortunate in having a cool, mostly sunny month in which to prepare for the big times.  Our trip will have a prelude, as we head to Cincinnati (by invitation) to attend the film festival there next weekend.  Following that event, our vehicle will point west for several driving days.  Excitement is mounting here at the Homestead.

There are two films to report on today.  The first was Deb's main choice, a strange little film called The Eight Mountains.  It is about a lot of things, but mostly about a strong friendship between two men.  They met at age 12, one of them a mountain-raised lad, and the other visiting the Italian Alps for a month in the summer.  Filmed in 4:3 by choice (obviously), it seems to suit the film, which requires close framing some of the time.  The mountain scenery is splendid, and the film does well with the emotional bond between the two lead actors.  This could, in fact, have been a really great film.  However, the insertion of at least 6 folk guitar ballads (sung in English!) during the film is so in your face and poorly chosen, that I would have walked out of the theatre had I seen it there.  As it was, we had the mute on for at least 20 minutes of running time.  Luckily it is sub-titled, or we would have missed some of the dialogue.  Watch at your own risk to your ears.

Now showing on Criterion, with extras. 

 

My main film choice for the week was another strange little film, this one from Portugal.  Filmed in b & w, Tabu is from 2012.  It is actually two shorter films, split in the middle by a changing story arc.  The first part takes place in Lisbon.  A woman who lives next door is the only friend that a lonely and very elderly woman has.  The old woman has a live-in housekeeper.  The first story is about the woman who is the friend, but we follow the elderly woman until she finally passes away.  As she is dying she hands her friend a crumpled piece of paper with a man's name and address on it.  She wants to see this man before she dies.  Despite doing her best to find the person (he is in a nursing home), the older woman dies before they can meet up.  He does attend her funeral, and afterwards goes to a cafe with the friend, and her in-home caretaker.  There he begins to tell the story of the deceased woman, and the movie switches now to Africa, namely a plantation in Mozambique.  This is the better half of the movie, and takes place in the early sixties.  There is intrusive music here, but it is fit to purpose, as we watch a Portuguese rock and roll band perform and hang out, helping us date the time that events are happening in the flashback story.  We never return to the cafe, and the film ends when the African part of the story ends.  Of course the old man telling the story and the elderly woman who just died were lovers in Africa, even as she was married to someone else and pregnant with her daughter.  A tragedy finally separates the pair, and they are destined never to meet again.  Quite a good film, and recommended.  There is a crocodile.

 

Leaving Mubi in 3 days. 

 

That's all for now.  Iaido tonight, and back to hill walking tomorrow. 

Mapman Mike