The book: “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” by Patrick Suskind Suggested for: Anyone who is looking for a psychologically enveloping novel that makes you sympathize with the murderer (for once). Clog rating: Upon viewing the title of this week’s novel, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” some assumptions can Read More…
What’s so seductive about the “Before” movies, which consist of “Before Sunrise” (1995), “Before Sunset” (2004) and the upcoming “Before Midnight,” is the unique concept of following two very flawed but likable and engaging people and watching how their unorthodox relationship changes every nine years. By now, it would perhaps Read More…
Beneath Paris’ city lights, an eerie and dark underworld preserves itself in silence from excessive tourist inspection. An entire network of passages, streets and squares lie invisible to the common crowds of chic cafes and busy restaurants. I took a detour from my usual Parisian night walks during the Christmas Read More…
Upon his return to filmmaking almost five years ago, Francis Ford Coppola offered his take on the difference between a young artist looking for success and an aging artist attempting to regain prominence: “I’ve been thinking about what seems to be a repeating pattern, artists who distinguish themselves when they Read More…
Aki Kaurismaki’s latest film “Le Havre” is set apart by the vast majority of films in the annals of French cinema by one simple fact — there’s not a single shot of the compensationally phallic Eiffel Tower (I double checked to make sure). Nobody falls in love, a pistol-wielding Godard Read More…
It was nearly 7 a.m. Paris time, a full nine hours ahead of my body’s clock, which thought I was still in the Bay Area even after a 13-hour flight and two nights of no sleep. Under these conditions — with around 90 pounds of clothes and books that I Read More…
