May Recommendations

[mylar1]

I've decided that since I always love recommendations on movies/TV shows/books/music/fanfic/etc, I will make a monthly post and post some of my current favorites and recs and ask for some of yours. Tell me something that you love or that you think I would like, anything really.

Recommended Movie.

Peter's Friends.
The story of 6 friends who get together for a reunion after 10 years apart. Really, the only things you need to know about this one is that it has a brilliant cast (Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Emma Thompson. Seriously, how can you not watch it for the cast alone) and that it is amazing. The end.

Recommended Book

The In Death Series by JD Robb (Nora Roberts)
It's a futuristic cop series. While I like the mysteries, what has kept me coming back to the series are the characters. I have absolutely fallen in love with all of them and they are what make the series worth reading.

Recommended Music

Ministry of Rhythm
My friend's jazz fusion band that my bf does sound and lights for. Most of their stuff is instrumental, but my friend and everyone else in the group are crazy talented. They have a few songs up on their Facebook page (conveniently linked above) so go listen and tell me what you think and become a fan if you like them.

And so concludes my recommendations for the month of May. Leave yours in the comments below. :D

Comments

[portkey.livejournal.com]

I love Peter's Friends. But then I'm completely in love with Stephen Fry, so that's kind of my default setting for films starring him, but that one in particular is fantastic. The cast is superb.


My recs:

Movie



Very difficult to describe - quasi-surrealistic but not. The basic plot is that an infirm, bed-ridden and broken-hearted man tells elaborate fantastical stories to a little girl who's at the hospital with a broken arm but has the run of the place so that he can gain her trust to con her into stealing pills for him so that he can commit suicide. The film switches back and forth from his bed to the epic tale he's relating to her (with him and her and various other patrons of the hospital that he sees from his bed being given heroic or villainous roles). The cinematography is breathtaking, in a way that reminds me of Pan's Labyrinth (although they have very different styles - it's more about how they use the imagery to establish mood). Existential but ultimately a simple story about the bond the two form. And the little girl actor is utterly astounding.

Book



850 pages of epic historical fantasy. It's written as though it were a historical retrsopective, i.e. it's told as though these are 'true' events - with tonnes and tonnes of footnotes that give little tidbits of backstory to this alternate universe where magic has been part of the Britain for as long as the country has existed. It's treated as its own scientific field. And within that context, it gives a fascinating look at an alternate-universe version of Victorian England. But ultimately, again, it's a book about people and relationships. The eponymous characters' relationship is so wonderfully complex and develops in so many different fascinating ways, and the background characters are all very well fleshed-out and the story is just dazzlingly original, captivating, engrossing and fulfilling.

Music



The Decemberists (http://www.decemberists.com/)

Though at first blush their promo pictures might seem an affectation - they're almost invariably put into some form of period garb by photographers - and for that matter, that their style of songwriting might be one itself, ultimately they're an amazingly talented band who eschew the trappings of modern alternative music. Moving effortlessly between sounds ranging from folk to pop to rock to even the occasional funk or metal, they use a predominantly storytelling approach to their lyrics, exploring such characters and scenarios from a an urchin chimney sweep in some in Old England to two male prostitutes (and lovers) in modern Portland (from whence the band hails), if you dig deeper into what Colin Meloy is singing about, you begin to realise that he uses these stories - often of a past time, and often involving some kind of sea-faring-ness (he has a naval fetish, let's be honest) - to portray the human condition with depths of emotion that it's easy to write off given that they're not "his" stories. And though sometimes ridiculous - he'd tell you that himself - they still manage to somehow pull it off with panache, but not pretention.

[mylar1.livejournal.com]

I agree 100% about Peter's Friends. I watched it today and didn't find anything not to love about it and the cast is phenomenal.

However, what I had actually intended to say before Stephen Fry distracted me, was that I loved how descriptive you are in your recommendations. I love the way you speak (write?) as it is, but you make it impossible for me not to want to read/watch/listen because of the way you described the movie/book/music. The book in particular sounds really interesting, that one is definitely going on my "must read soon" list.

[portkey.livejournal.com]

Hee. Thanks. :)

Obviously I take a certain amount of pride about the way in which I speak and type, so those comments are very flattering. But yes, do! It's slightly difficult to get through just due to length, but I had literally zero lulls in my interest so I finished it in a couple days easily.