Inspiration: The Great Gatsby and Jack White.

The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite books. It left me with such a feeling of haunting emptiness for the newly rich Jay Gatsby, the title character, who had given his entire life over for the love of someone ultimately unworthy. Baz Luhrmann has just remade the movie of the novel with Leo Dicaprio as The Great Gatsby and if the trailer is anything to go by I have hopes this will be more Romeo + Juliet and less Moulin Rouge ( a sad disappointment of a film, not to mention a colossal waste of sequins). 

Most inspiring of all though is Jack White's cover of U2's Love Is Blindness which Luhrmann has included in the soundtrack and you can catch in part on the trailer. This song seems like the ideal choice for the empty hedonism and hollowed out alienation Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy symbolises. I have to admit I've become a little obsessed with this song. It's one of those which has the power to rip through any number of thick muscled layers of defence, uncovering in the process the heart of pure, raw emotion. 

I've posted in from You Tube the whole song below so you can hear it without any visual cues. See what you think!

                                       

Ghost World - Top Five Favourite Movie.

One of my most favourite movies of all time ever is Ghost World - the movie adaptation of Daniel Clowes cult comic about  misfit teenager Enid and her best friend Rebecca. There are so many reasons why this movie is a treasured DVD in my collection but take for starters the casting - it is pitch perfect. Thora Birch as Enid and Scarlett Johansson as Rebecca are inspired choices for the two alienated yet too-cool-for-school just-graduated best friends but really it's Steve Buscemi as the reclusive Seymour whom Enid befriends which makes the movie. His character is so fully concieved and painfully rendered that at times it's hard to watch. The addition of Illeanna Douglas (totally underated actress), as the hysterical and embarressingly hippie art teacher, is the icing on the cake.

But for anyone who appreciates a movie's style as much as it's substance (or even more than!) this movie is heaven from the very first frame. The credits open with the fabulous "Jaan Pehechan Ho" number from a 1965 Bollywood musical "Gumnaam" as Enid gets ready for her graduation ceremony. If this scene - an intersperse of the "Jaan Pehechan Ho" number with views into the windows and lives of anonymous inhabitants of the apartment block Enid lives in, as she dances to the video in her tiny room - doesn't get you in I don't know what will. Watch it below and see if you just don't want to hire it immediately. Otherwise I might have to bring my copy around to your house, pop it in your player and sit there watching you expectantly through all my favourite bits. Which I'm told is really off putting.

You Tube clip of Ghost World intro. (sorry, can't seem to embed it here. Can anyone offer tips besides cut and paste?)