WHEW!

For the first time, I spent my days off in total seclusion. Usually I still work during days off because there wasn't anything better to do. Tuesday, slept the whole day and then had dinner with BC at the freshly opened Pepper Lunch in Rockwell. Wednesday, watched DVDs the moment I woke up. Practically subsisted on bread, overripe mangoes (two weeks old), and pineapple juice.

Started on the first chapter already, but a throbbing headache brought about by its snail-paced setting ended my attempt at watching this 15.5-hour magnum opus by Rainer Werner. Reconstructed by the Goethe-Institut in 2005, it is based on a book by Alfred Döblin. It was reshown in the Berlinale in 2007.

My third time to see this. Known as Abril Despedaçado, it's a Brazilian production that was released in 2001. A must see. BTW, the film's star, Rodrigo Santoro, played the role of Xerxes 1 in the film 300 (bet you didn't know that!), and is currently in Cannes for the screening of Che.

Loved this one! Alfonso Cuaron is fantastic! Who could forget his Y Tu Mama Tambien and Great Expectations? This time he gets the chance to direct some of the best actors alive, Clive Owen among them. Children of Men inspects the reality of a very near future - a scary perspective of a world gone awry.

Amazing film! It really tears you apart. It makes you question your own values.

Michael Clayton won for Tilda Swinton, one of the best actress of our times, the Best Supporting Actress nod from the 80th Academy Awards and the BAFTA. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4-star rating and Richard Roeper named it "Best Film of the Year".

I ended the day with a dramedy, Steel Magnolias. Loved the one liners! Witty! Funny! The film, released in 1989, is based on the death of director Robert Harling's elder diabetic sister. He was advised by many of his friends to write about his feelings as a coping method. What started as a short story expanded into a full-length play. One will be reduced to crying and laughing during the length of the film so be forewarned.