Monika’s Pensieve

{BOOK DIARY}
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Language: English
What It’s About
It’s a novel about a boy (Aamir) who grows up in Afghanistan and moves to America with his father when the Soviet war breaks out. He has a very guilty secret that he has to eventually atone for by going back to Afghanistan during the Taliban [...]

{FILM DIARY}
The Duchess (UK/Italy/France/USA, 2008)
Seen: Monday, 29th December 2008 (cinema, pre-release screening)
Runtime: 110′
Polish Distributor: Best Film (9th January 2008)
Director: Saul Dibb
Cast: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper
Production House: Paramount Vantage, Pathé, BBC Films, BIM Distribuzione, Qwerty Films
Plot: The true (or, er… sort of true - it’s been meddled with a bit [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Happy-Go-Lucky (UK, 2008)
Seen: Saturday, 27th December 2008 (cinema)
Runtime: 118′
Polish Distributor: Monolith Films (28th November 2008)
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Eddie Marsan, Samuel Roukin
Production House: Ingenious Film Partners, Thin Man Films
Plot: Poppy is a primary school teacher in London and she always tries to stay happy ;)
Sally Hawkins interview
I already put the trailer [...]

{FILM DIARY}
The Neverending Story (West Germany/USA, 1984)
Seen: repeatedly, but most recently on Friday, 19th December 2008 (on a 1988 released VHS tape - which is how I’ve always watched it *grin*)
Runtime: 90′
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway, Tami Stronach, Alan Oppenheimer
Production House: Neue Constantin Film, WDR, Warner Bros
Plot: What if you had a book [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Jodhaa Akbar (India, 2008)
Seen: Sunday, 14th December (cinema, special screening)
Runtime: 213′
Polish Distributor: Blink (should be out on DVD sometime next year)
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan (narrator)
Production House: UTV Motion Pictures, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd.
Plot: Based on legends and historical accounts, the story of what may have transpired between Akbar, [...]

I’m behind with my “film diary” as usual :] My last weekend was very intense due to the Polish National Championships in Figure Skating about which I’ll hopefully write more later *grin*
So anyway - all the films in this post were viewed on the 22nd of November. I hope I remember them well enough to [...]

I’m reaaaally behind with my “film diary”, so I guess I should start with that before I forget what I’ve been watching :]
{FILM DIARY}
Chak De! India (India, 2007)
Seen: a few times now, but most recently on Saturday, 8th November - it’s the first time I’ve seen it on the big screen and it makes quite [...]

{FILM SPOTTING}
The fourth edition of Ticket to Bollywood (a Bollywood mini-festival) will take place in Warsaw in about a month’s time (5th-7th December). Tickets are usually hard to get, so if you’d like to attend some films with me let me know soon :) There’s some general info about what they’re showing here and the [...]

{BOOK DIARY}
I had intended to post a little about the books I’m reading, but as you may have noticed I haven’t so far ;-P I’m far from being an avid reader, but (amazingly enough) I have read a few books since moving my blog here, so it’s high time I told you about them *grin* [...]

One of the things that I find most mind-boggling about India (or what I think I know about it anyway) is that every opinion or stance you could possibly conceive of seems to be somehow represented if you look for it hard enough. Things that seemingly contradict will mysteriously manage to function side by side.
Mumbai, [...]