June 19, 2011 – Diva

Sadly, the word “diva” has become so overused that it is beginning to lose it’s meaning. But the film of the same name lives up to its title. The other night I was surprised to learn that a friend, who knows his French movies, had never heard of, let alone seen Diva. It’s one of the greatest films of all time and I am rather astonished to realize it has already been 30 years since it was first released.

Diva was the directorial debut for French director Jean-Jacques Beineix. It starred Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez and Frédéric Andréi. The film is visually beautiful and has one of the best soundtracks of all time. I have listened to the soundtrack hundreds of times. It includes an Aria from Alfredo Catalnai’s opera La Wally. Catalani is a relatively unknown Italian composer and his operas remain fairly obscure. His most well known contribution to music may be the aria used in the film.

Diva had a steady showing on the second-run theatre circuit in the 1980’s. As many of those old theatres have closed up, it’s sad that films like this don’t get shown very often. They become overwhelmed and lost in the in the thousands of titles available from services like Netflix. There was something to say for the curatorial approach that certain art house theatres took back then. It’s sad too, because like many films, Diva has less of an impact on the small screen.

If I still haven’t convinced you yet to seek out Diva, just watch the trailer…

June 1, 2011 – Cosmos Pliage de Papier

I know just enough French to know better, but not that much to know French.

On my most recent Japantown excursion I bought some groovy, outer space-themed, foiled origami paper. It’s the sort of thing that will always come in handy. Oddly enough all the Japanese is translated quite literally into English and French. The product is described as Japanese Folding Paper. Obviously the translator was unaware that origami is an English word now too. There are some important cautionary warnings on the package in Engrish. My favorite is, “No horseplay with the folded paper.”

What caught my eye this morning was the French translation for origami paper — Cosmos Pliage de papier. It stirred my imagination and I quickly imagined some dashing, aristocratic French playboy circa 1959. Cosmos Pliage de Papier would be the sort of jetsetter who’d be racing cars, hobnobbing in Monaco and training to be France’s first man in space. He’d finish a quick last cigarette. Then climb aboard the rocket that would blast off from a base in Nouvelle Guinée. I can imagine the black and white footage and I can nearly hear the Serge Gainsbourg tune about Cosmos Pliage de Papier. All that from a package of origami paper….