SPOILER ALERT Sex and Lucia is one of those movies that will grab me and won't let go. I saw it with the fascination a child has for her bedtime tale, I connect to it with my soul and viscera. The movie speaks of an island where one can change the course of one's life, an island that floats like a raft atop the sea, that is so full of caves as to be nearly hollow, so that each of the many holes you may fall into is really a tunnel that will take you somewhere else. This is the island of Lorenzo the writer, Lucia's boyfriend.

But to start at the start. Lorenzo's first book told the story of a birthday boy who had made love to a stranger on a full moon night in the ocean. He is having a writer's block while writing his second. Lucia and he become lovers after Lucia meets him at a coffeeshop and tells him she is in love with him and wants to live with him. In parallel, we see a daughter being born from Lorenzo's nameless union. In time, in his second novel, Lorenzo will have to face his child, named Luna after the full moon. His agent gives him the plot of this story, where Luna is born and he finds her in a park, and this leads to a house where a man lives with two women, and there is torment, passion, suffocation, lust. Lorenzo gets to spend a night with his child only if he succumbs to the lust of sexy au pair Belen; in an unforgettable scene he tells a bedtime story to his daughter in a bedroom furnished as if it's underwater, just as Belen dresses herself up for seduction. Luna dies before Lorenzo can tell her that he is ... Читать дальше »

All my life I have had a special interest in ancient Celtic culture and lifestyle and a particular fascination for 1st century Britain. Therefore i have done a great lot of research over the years and read and watch anything I can find on the subject.

"Boudica" was probably the worst historical film ever made and could easily enter the Guinness Book of Records for the most historical inaccuracies, both in number and variety, ever seen on a screen. Apart from the swords (where were the shields?), chariots and some of the women's hairstyles there was absolutely nothing right. i know it wasn't meant to be a comedy, but there are some utterly hilarious lines in this film.

Female leaders were very common in ancient Celtic society. Boudica was probably the ruling queen of her tribe anyway, but the Romans only accepted a man in that position and made Boudica's husband (who was much older than her and died of old age, not headaches!) the client king. There were a number of warrior women in 1st century Britain, though Boudica was the only one mentioned in history. Tacitus writes that to the Romans "the worst humiliation of losing the battle with Boudica, was being defeated by a woman!"

Tacitus, although on the other side, describes the British tribes and some of their customs and clothes in some detail. The producers of the film obviously haven't read any of that, or the actors and actresses would at least have worn costumes and hairstyles more appropriate for the period. Women always wore dresses, even in battle! The ... Читать дальше »

This version of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden takes the novel and eliminates all but the most crucial elements to make sure the story makes sense, but there is so much left out from the book that it takes away a lot of the magic. Rather than have the garden act as a magical entity in itself, it is more of an escape from the creepy dreariness of Misselthwaite Manor, a gigantic monstrosity of a mansion that does justice to the enormity of the one portrayed in the novel but is such a brooding and unpleasant place that the escape of it overshadows the magical curiosity that should be entailed by the garden. The film creates a great sense of atmosphere, with the long hallways and the tremendously and unnecessarily elaborate living quarters that Mary is placed in, and we see some wonderful things as Mary sneaks around to explore the mansion, although she really only goes into one room and then her explorations are over.

Kate Maberly delivers a wonderful performance as Mary Lennox, the spoiled little girl who is sent to live with her uncle, the reclusive Lord Craven, when her parents die of cholera in India, an event which never seems to affect her since her parents were always too busy for her anyway. Mary doesn't seem to care too much where she is being moved to beyond the fact that it is such an inconvenience for her, and she soon has to face the fact that she is no longer going to be waited on hand and foot like she was by her Ayah in India.

Heydon Prowse also gives a great performance as Colin Craven, t ... Читать дальше »