my latest obsession...

have to say the last few days have been dreadful... cannot wait for this year to be over... not that the new year will change my mood drastically but...
meanwhile i've been obsessively watching my new idol jeremy brett playing sherlock holmes from that famous granada tv series from mid '80s through the mid '90s until he dies of heart failure... it wasn't until last week or so a friend of mine showed me an episode of it and i've been totally hooked... first of all, i grew up regarding sherlock holmes as my idea man... i think i must have been 7 or 8 when my mom bought me the entire collection, in korean of course, and i remember reading them over and over and over... i was so smitten by the character like many other young kids all over the world, and constantly coming up with my own version of him... i would be drawing his portraits along with that famous outfit and pipe... envisioning him as tall and lean man who wasn't afraid of anything... and have to say the version jeremy brett created really hits the mark... he is so damn charismatic i can watch even just the corner of his mouth forever... and all the little nuances he added to the character along with a great sense of pride, ego and yet kid like enthusiasm... and he's devilish handsome man... and his voice and diction... wow... i cannot wait to watch all the episodes... and i really do wish i was able to watch him in a theater... it seems like he was just as fantastic as he was on tv...
also it's really interesting that he was so underrated... even after starring next to audrey hepburn and rex harrison in my fair lady, the fame escaped him... not that would've made the man happier but sometimes i wonder if he had gotten famous after all, what kind of life would he have had as an actor...? and how many more movies that we might be able to rent easily... he was twice considered to take over the bond after sean connery... the same goes for patrick mcgoohan, my last obsession who had a similar path, except that mcgoohan had his fame early on then decided to run away from it all..
well, well, well...
at least jeremy brett will be remembered as The Sherlock Holmes by many and there's no doubt that this tv series will endure the test of time... it's done just brilliantly...
meanwhile... what's up with my obsession over dead people really...

bleak movies...

oh, boy... december already... yikes...
watched two movies by visconti not too long ago... "rocco and his brothers" and "the damned"... oh, my god, they were so bleak...
"rocco and his brothers" examines 5 brothers who move to milano from a country side with their over bearing mother... and how they struggle to fit in and grow up through heart breaks... especially the simone and rocco who fall for the same woman who happens to be a prostitute... simone represents intense and destructive side of love while rocco represents pure and naïve side of love... but somehow both fails to keep the love... still after all the tragedy the family goes through the movie ends with hint of hope through the youngest one, luca... also it shows how industrialization forced people in the country and have them relocate to a city that they were strangers and unwanted and looked down upon... and their longing to go back to their root and simpler life but yet how it becomes impossible once you get sucked into the city...
then "the damned"... oh, my, god, that movie was so dark i had a nightmare about hell that night... woke up in horror and had to turn the light on in order to go back to sleep... it's about a german rich industrial family right around the time when hitler comes to power... it's about their struggle for power and willingness to do everything and anything for it... filled with murder and back stabbing traps... also martin, played by helmut berger, who's the heir of all the stock but mostly manipulated by his mother who's the most vile one of them, turns out to be even more amoral and satanic than any of the family members... and it leads to the worst circumstance you can even imagine...
however above it all, that infamous scene, night of the long knives was just unbelievable... no wonder it was never shown here until 2004... i cannot even describe what it is... just think it's amazing it's in german while the rest of the movie is in english...
then for some reason i ended up watching closer twice back to back this past weekend... and i was so drawn to the dialog... i'd watched that movie when it came out a couple of years ago and liked it enough to buy a dvd... i thought it was a intriguing look at love and honesty... but somehow this movie was even better the second time knowing how it ends... think it's really well written... by a british playwright patrick marber... made me think how shallow and changeable and selfish love can be... especially between man and woman... sometimes it seems like more like a negotiation between people... i'll give you thin in name of love that is if you also give me what i want in name of love... as long as we are satisfied i'll tell you i love you... i'll even declare it eternal as long as it fits what i define as love... eh...
maybe we should all accept that as a fact and don't be so pretentious about it...