Booktunes Movies: Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris is a Woody Allen movie. Although I am no a big fan of Allen and his films, I really enjoyed this one! Might be because one of my favourite things is one of the movies subjects. Nope, the trailer is not going to spoil anything. Yep, you will have to watch the movie and enjoy the joie de vivre à 1930 Paris la nuit.

Besides Pablo Picasso and some other interesting people Gil (played by Owen Wilson) meets, he sees Josephine Baker dancing to her own tune. And what a tune! In fact the whole soundtrack to this movie is nice, but La conga blicoti made me want find more music by this fascinating figure who’s wiki page is an intriguing screen read.

Since this tune is in the public domain, feel free to download and do a little dance. As my Brighton weekend has just started I will surely enjoy the thirties revival in this vibrant city and drink an agricole while listening to a dj playing 78 rpm’s.

Eye Film Institute & Taxi Driver Sound

Today will be the grand opening of Eye Films Institute in Amsterdam. As they start off with a retrospective on one of my favorite directors Martin Scorsese, I really regret missing out. I try and make the best out of it here by finally checking how Taxi Driver would do as a soundtrack to every day life.

It was already amazing to see the Eye Film Museum being built as I drove past it almost every day when living in Amsterdam. When the train rode in to Central Station last weekend I was blown away by the view on this finalised futuristic addition to the recently emerged ‘Skyline of the North’. Visit.

Recently I saw the first part of Scorsese’s Hugo (in parts… is my movie watching getting just as patchy as my reading? Gosh). Great. The Scorsese movie I did manage to watch multiple times, unfragmented, is Taxi Driver. My favorite. The story, the shots, angles, quotes, atmosphere, acting, topics, themes, anything. Ask Wim.

For some time now I have been wondering what it would be like to only listen to the sound of this movie. The sun is out here in Brighton – none of the dreadful English weather I was walking in when this idea popped up, no rain to wash all this scum off the streets – but I do enjoy listening to this movie very much. It is like a slow-paced radio play with your favorite actor and none of that studio stuff. Listen:

If you listen to the score by Bernard Herrmann you go back and forth from one theme to the other. If you listen to the complete sound track ripped form the movie, you’ll find the perfect balance between Bickle’s thoughts, the dialogues, street sounds and music. Only now I realise that Director Scorsese probably knows this, closes his eyes and listens before sending a movie off.

Download here & drop me a comment. Any requests?

MOVIE INK – The Gallery

Booktunes contributor and long time friend Wim Jansen is opening a gallery. We already knew he is by far the biggest movie buff  in our family, we knew he once had thoughts about opening a cinema, we knew he owns thousands of movie posters, we knew this guy just does what he likes… but still we are surprised!

First exhibition: Fukushima Mon Amour

If you are in the Amsterdam area this saturday, please feel free to walk in, have some sushi and enjoy Wim’s Ink collection of beautiful posters depicting all those horrible monsters and whatnots that tried to crunch the Japanese.

See you there!

MOVIE INK opening
date: Saturday June 2nd, 2011
address: Palmdwarsstraat 40, Amsterdam, NL