Foreign Movies That I Saw in 2018 That I Can Recommend

I have been finding some excellent foreign films on Netflix, often enjoying them more than those made in this country.


1.  Dunkirk.  2017. US, UK, France, Netherlands.  Gritty.  Another historical drama.  Little dialogue.  It's more as if you are part of the scene, present at the time as German troops force the allies onto the beaches at Dunkirk where they are being strafed as the big ships there to take them home are being sunk.  No Americans are present since the U.S. hasn't yet entered the war.

2.  From the Land of the Moon.  2016.  France.  A passionate French woman (Marion Cotillard) must decide between her husband who fought in Spain and a young man wounded in France's Indochina war. Beautiful settings.  An interesting, complex story line.

3.  Goodbye, Christopher Robin.  2017.  UK.  Bio drama about A. A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh.  It concentrates on the family's troubles following WWI all the way up to WWII.

4.  Lemon Tree.  2008.  Israel.  Based on a true story of an Israeli Defense Minister whose department orders the lemon grove next door to be cut down so that it might not harbor terrorists.   Since the orchard is her livelihood and harbors no terrorists, the owner, a Palestinian widow, takes the case to the Israeli supreme court.  Poignant.

5.  The Fencer.  2015.  Estonia and Finland.  Set in the late '40s and early '50s, this is the story of a man who takes a teaching position in a small Estonian village school to hide from the KGB.  He is a fencing champion and starts a sporting club of students who become good enough to go on to a tournament, but by taking them there, he then exposes his identity.  A true story.

6.  The Syrian Bride.  2004.  Israel, France, Germany.  The story is set in a Druze village in the Golan Heights right on the Israeli-Syrian border.  Living there creates untold troubles for the residents ... such as making it seemingly impossible (due to political strictures) for the bride on one side of the border and the groom on the other to physically reach each other.

7.  The Treasure.  2015.  Romania.  A lovely little film.  Two men attempt to find a great grandfather's buried treasure in the family garden.  It's very slow-paced, amusing in its little bits of business, with a very adequate ending (not to be a spoiler and tell all).  In Romanian.

8.  The Wedding Plan.  2016.  Israel.  A moving film.  After a decade of looking for someone to marry (even the matchmakers aren't successful), a young woman decides to trust that God will provide and goes ahead with wedding plans though a groom hasn't yet shown up.  In Hebrew.

9.  The Women's Balcony.  2016.  Israel.  A group of neighborhood women work at patching up a rift in their community with the help of a new charismatic rabbi.  In Hebrew.

10.  Things to Come.  (L'Avenir).  2016.  France and Germany.  Set in Paris and the Grenoble area.  Less plot, more reporting about the daily life of the main character, a fifty-ish philosophy professor who follows a good life--job, husband, children, Parisian apartment--but then finds that everything shifts as she acquires a new freedom that she doesn't realize comes with choices that are up to her to make.  Isabella Huppert.

U.S. Movies That I Saw in 2018 That I Can Recommend

The popcorn aisle

1.  Allied.  2016.  Brad Pitt is a Canadian in World War II who meets and marries a French woman (Marion Cotillard) who is later accused of being a German spy.  Is she?  Isn't she?

2.  Brooklyn.  2015.  From the book by Colm Toibin.  A romance about a young Irish immigrant who lives in 1950's Brooklyn but then has to decide between two different men--one back in Ireland and one in the U.S.  Beautifully done.  Many subtleties plus intelligent acting.

3.  Chef.  2014.  This is the kind of movie I love--fun, nice music (Cuban), good food, no one's hitting anyone, good story line, good actors including Robert Downey Jr. in a playful role.  A chef leaves the restaurant where he works and goes back to basics opening a food truck which proves to be the perfect work for him to get back on his feet and spend time with his 10-year-old son.

4.  Darkest Hour.  2017.  US and UK.  Historical war drama.  How words can inspire--the "we will fight them on the beaches" speech when Churchill, as someone said, "mobilized the English language and sent it into battle."  Through words, spirit, courage, at their darkest hour, the English were able to prevail and Churchill was able to speak for the people and carry out the country's destiny through those words which astonished everyone and brought them to a new place--a place they hadn't really tapped but that he tapped for them.  Gary Oldman is Churchill.  Excellent.  Joe Wright is the director.  Look him up; he's done some beautiful work.

5.  A Dog's Purpose.  2017.  I loved this movie--a comedy-drama directed by Lasse Hallstrom.  Wonderful.  In realizing that he's being re-incarnated, a dog begins to wonder what the purpose of his life is.  "Here we go again," he says to himself at the beginning of each new puppy-hood, " ... but just what is this life stuff all about?"  He decides it all boils down to "Be here now."  A charming film.

6.  Gifted.  2017.  Whether to let a 7-year old girl who is a mathematical genius be a child or send her off into an adult's world to solve some of the Millennium Problems, as they are called.  Her uncle has taken her in on the death of her mother and hopes he is doing the right thing by letting her enjoy her childhood and learning to socialize with others her age.  Her grandmother has a different vision for her.  Mostly set in Florida.

7.  Inside Job.  2010.  Documentary narrated by Matt Damon about the 2008 financial meltdown.  Wonderfully executed.

8.  Mark Felt.  2017.  A biopic that mostly seems to hit the high spots of the Watergate affair.  Liam Neeson plays Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat.  The film is okay but very superficial.  It's also very dark, very hard to see as if the whole thing was taken at night with no extra lights.

9.  The Post.  2017.  Same era.  A well-done rendering of That Time.  But, again, this movie seems to have been filmed at night, everything is dark and hard to see.  Okay for an effect and metaphor but not easy to watch.  Tom Hanks is always good.

A Gallery of Photos: To France to Paint (Again): Some of Vaison's Neighboring Towns

View toward Séguret in Provence

This is the last posting from my recent painting trip to France, accompanied by a group of local artists under the organization of Travel Fever Tours out of Putney, Vermont.  Below is their website if anyone is interested in their upcoming tours which include Spain, France, and Sedona (Arizona)--watercolor and oil painting, Camino walking, and birding.  They are a couple--Bob Lawson and Cicely Carroll--who do all the planning, scout out excellent restaurants, and find cozy accommodations along with gorgeous scenery.  They're also fun to be with.  Highly recommended!

This past trip, after a few days in nearby Avignon to see the sights and get over jet lag before we started to paint, we then went on to "our" town of Vaison-la-Romaine where we were based for the week.  Some days we stayed in town taking in the Roman ruins and the medieval city.   Other days Bob and Cicely drove us to nearby spots where we sat and painted, looking out on wide Provençal landscapes filled with vineyards, olive trees, cypresses, and totally picturesque villages.

This fourth and final posting, then, centers around some of those spots neighboring Vaison.

See www.travelfevertours.com

Same view as above, though expanded somewhat

Village of Séguret

Roast duck luncheon at Côté Terrasse in Séguret

View from Séguret toward the Dentelles de Mortmirail

Old olive tree and vineyards from Piégon

View from Piégon

Lunch at the Centre Artistique de Piégon where we spent the day painting

Church in Villedieu

Residential street in Villedieu

The perfect season for beautiful grapes

The Shift to Winter

(Note:  The fourth posting about painting in France will appear next time.)

With Hallowe'en and that fine month of October over for the year, with November now appearing on the calendar, I find myself rather automatically shifting into That Other Life here in Vermont, here in the Northeast when it becomes apparent, once again, that the year is divided in two:  the green part and the white part.   With one about as long as the other.  With each its very own experience, so very unlike the other, as if half the year we're living in Iceland and the other half Mexico.  That's an exaggeration, but you get my point.

So, with November, this is what occurs, for me, at least.  The garden is now put to bed.  Each year I hire someone to come and tend it for me.  He carries the garden furniture into the cellar along with the flower pots that line my back deck.  He takes in the hoses and shuts off the water lines that feed their outside faucets.  He cuts back the dead ferns, does a final weeding, cuts back the peonies, blows dead leaves into my woods.  I, in turn, take my car to the dealer where they winterize it, rotate and balance the tires, change the oil, tend to any lubricants and filters, and make sure I don't intend to do much driving on icy/snowy roads or else, they say, I should buy snow tires.

Then there are the indoor things.  I put a flannel cover on my duvet. (Heavenly to sleep under.)  I make sure all the storm windows are in place. (I've long since ordered and paid for a winter's supply of fuel oil for my furnace.)  I buy a large non-scented candle to burn in the late afternoon hours to keep me company.  I buy yarn to knit a scarf or sweater since early darkness seems to lead me in that direction.  I buy ingredients to turn into favorite crockpot soups that fill the house with lovely aromas.  I put summer clothes in the cedar closet and retrieve winter ones.  I request even more inter-library loan books so that I'll be sure to have plenty to read on these long evenings since I rarely go out after dark.  I write up an early draft of a Christmas letter and go to our local copy shop with a new photo (usually of the grandchildren) to make up a batch of cards to send out. Doing so gives me a chance to reflect on the past year and to think about what the coming year might bring.  Then, too, these next weeks include birthdays for two in the immediate family.  (Including me.)   Finally, I get out my show shovel and set it on the front porch until April 15th when I always take it in again regardless of the April forecast which can, of course, include snow.

And with that, I'm ready for winter.

Birthday hors d'oeuvres

At first, I find the initial darkness that comes with restoring standard time to be pleasant.  I think of myself as being someplace like Norway.  It's fun at first.  The candlelight.  The hot soups.  The feeling of hygge (as the Danes call "coziness").  It also fits in with that lovely holiday, Thanksgiving.  And the head-spinning one that is Christmas.  But by the end of December, the whole darkness thing, the whole cold and icy thing begins to pall especially with a good three more months to get through.  Of course, the light returns with the solstice, with the first day of winter, but it takes those next three months to realize that lightness is, in fact, on its way.

Christmas Cookie Time

To complete the list, I feel a good fireplace would be in order.  Think I should send a note to Santa?

A Gallery of Photos: To France to Paint (Again): Vaison-la-Romaine

This is the third in a series of four, inspired by my recent trip back to France. Our local watercolor tour group had such a fine time there last year that half of us (five of us) put our names on this year's list of participants and returned to our base town, Vaison-la-Romaine, in Provence.  As lovely as ever.

Each day we were driven out to different neighboring villages where we set out folding chairs (or sat on stone walls), balancing paints and drawing boards on our laps, always opting for the shady spots since the temperatures reached the low 90's.

When traveling, watercolor materials are quite easy to transport--much better than oils.  You don't need an easel.  You don't need to figure how to carry home not-yet-dry paintings.  You don't need to take paints in tubes.  All watercolor requires is a brush or two, a small travel kit with small pans (as they are called) of paint, a small container for water, and watercolor paper--whether in loose sheets, tablet, or a spiral book.  As well, a light-weight drawing board of a size to fit into one's luggage comes in very handy.  (Mine is not quite 14" x 17.5"  See below.)  Plus some acid-free artist's tape (to tape down the paper) if you so desire along with some loose paper towels to sop up drips.  Of course, a pencil and eraser for quick, light sketches.  To my mind, that's all you need.  The less, the lighter.  And then it's all carry-on-able; none of it needs to go into checked luggage.

All that's really necessary to take

Light-weight drawing clip board

My rendering of the following photo

The Vaison-la-Romaine cathedral's cloisters

My travel journal's quick sketch--a view of Vaison's Roman ruins

Scenes taken during Vaison's weekly market.

Plus other Vaison scenes:

A wider view of the cloisters

I took the above photo during dinner at a local restaurant where, because of our numbers, the tables were set up directly outside the restaurant on the sidewalk.  As I looked up from my dinner, I was struck by the color of the sky, the last vestiges of light before absolute night fell.  I decided this beautiful deep blue was best described as lapis.  It was magical.

A Gallery of Photos: To France to Paint (Again): Abbey Gardens at Fort St-André

This is the second posting of four featuring the photos I took (plus some art work) of both the Avignon area of France as well as the vineyard country around Vaison-la-Romaine.  In other words:  Provence.  This was a 10-day watercolor painting trip in September with a group from our local art school.

The scenes here are all from an excursion to the nearby village of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and the splendid 14th century Fort St-André there where one finds the gardens of a former Benedictine abbey.  The fort and gardens are across the Rhône River from Avignon but close enough to offer good views of each other.  Here, one finds terraces, pergolas, vistas, sarcophagi, steps leading off up to what appears to be an old chapel, water lilies, and various flower beds.  A wonderful place to explore or sit and reflect.  The bus ride from Avignon (on a #5 bus) only takes about fifteen minutes.   (This was my fourth visit.)

View of Fort St-André from Avignon

The old chapel

View back to the Palace of the Popes in Avignon

My friends and I stopped for lunch at a little cafe on the grounds.  I ordered what was billed as a grilled zucchini sandwich on charcoal bread.  And that's just what I got!  It was delicious.

Of course, I took my travel sketch book with me since I take it everywhere.  Here is a quick sketch of the pergola, made just before the shade I was sitting in turned to full sun in what was nearly a 90-degree day.

And these three paintings are from earlier visits--one plein aire and two painted later from photos I took.

View of the fort from the neighboring Carthusian monastery dating from the middle ages

Cypress and olive trees, plein aire

These photos and paintings are my property and may not be reproduced by anyone else.

A Gallery of Photos: To France to Paint (Again): Avignon

Looking across the Rhône to Avignon

As described in this blog, just a year ago, mid-October, I joined a group of local watercolor painters to take part in a week's painting trip to Provence. Can heaven provide any better activity in any better locale, I asked myself. Then, when the week was over and we Vermonters were home again, I promised myself that I would go again this year since the organizers were planning a repeat trip.  (In fact, half of last year's group decided to return.)

And that is just what I have now done, having arrived home just a few days ago.  This second trip was on a par with the glories of the first.  By that I mean:  great weather, gorgeous scenery, great co-painters, fabulous food and Côtes du Rhône wines.  And this time, going a month earlier, we hit upon the vendange, the grape harvesting.

Our organizers also added a few pre-trip days in Avignon so that we could get over jet lag before embarking on our week of painting in Provence's nearby Vaison-la-Romaine, a small town that boasts Roman ruins along with an entire medieval quarter.

So, I begin this series of four postings with a view of Avignon, a place that became a well-loved town back in the days when my husband was alive and our young daughter was getting a good view of the world as she traveled with us.  We three danced on the medieval Saint-Bénézet bridge as we sang "Sur le pont d'Avignon," attended the Avignon theater, film, and music festival, witnessed the Bastille Day fireworks.  So, one can well imagine that I was especially anxious to re-new old memories when I learned that Avignon had been added to this year's itinerary.

This trip, we stayed close in, in the sweet little Hotel Regina on the Place de l'Horloge, just near the Palais des Papes, the great medieval gothic Palace of the Popes, there since the 14th century when the papacy split between Rome and France.

To place it properly, Avignon is an hour's drive north of the Mediterranean city of Marseille.  Vaison-la-Romaine is another hour northeast of that, still in the Rhône River region.

Palace of the Popes

Looking up at the Palace of the Popes

Looking toward the Palace from the town across the river

Handsome plane trees and building

Note the trompe l'oeil painted in the upper window

Typical residence

Our hotel

Cups, cups, cups in a coffee and tea shop

Delightfully tempting pastries

Pork tenderloin and friends

This happened to be the very spot where our van's GPS said Avignon's TGV train station was located.  The GPS was subsequently given a scolding and turned off.  This is, of course, the middle of the Rhône River just a few miles down from the heart of Avignon.

Future postings:
Number 2:  Benedictine Abbey Gardens in Fort Saint-André, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
Number 3:  Vaison-la-Romaine
Number 4:  Neighboring towns