Photos: Classiq Journal
“ ‘tis a gift to be simple
‘tis a gift to be free,
‘tis a gift to come down to
where you ought to be.”
Shaker Dance Song, by Joseph Brackett
Viewing
Badlands, 1973
Terrence Malick
“I’d been a part of making a nearly perfect movie,” Sissy Spacek recounts in her autobiography, “and if I never did another film again, it would be okay, because it was enough to have done Badlands. Terry Malick went on to direct a succession of brilliant, complex films, from Days of Heaven to The Tree of Life, always with Jack by his side as production designer. But nothing has ever really matched the magic of discovery we all felt that summer in the Colorado desert, when we learned how a film could be a living, breathing, collaborative work of art.”
Badlands (1973) was Terrence Malick’s astounding first feature film, a cinematic free verse, a visually lyrical ballad loosely based on the actual case of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, teenage lovers, who went on a killing spree in Nebraska in the late 1950s. Badlands introduced us to the unique talent of Terrence Malick and to many of the distinctive elements in his movies: the poetic approach to narrative and character, the shooting in natural light, the innovative editing, the use of voice-over, the collision of human suffering or violence with natural beauty – it is the director’s particular film-making style that makes a story that has been told many times, of two lovers who are criminals and are pursued across America, an original. A film that is the result of a brilliant mind, of a free mind.
At 50, Badlands is timeless and still timely. I have written about it at large here.
Jurassic Park, 1993
Steven Spielberg
For a couple of years my son had a passion for dinosaurs, he dreamt, drew and breathed dinosaurs, and the whole family became experts in the Latin names of dinosaurs and Jurassic Park became one of our go-to family movies. That age has dawned now, but we wanted to celebrate it along with the film’s 30th anniversary, so we watched it again a few days ago. We still love it, we still marvel at all that inception idea (and at Michael Crichton’s ingenious mind), we still fear the velociraptor more than the t-Rex (“Clever girl!”), we still think it looks very real, we still got carried away by John Williams’ music, we still believe they should have stuck to just this one film, and I thank Steven Spielberg for learning so well from Hitchcock. “The public is avid for everything that touches the imagination…as long as it remains credible.” – Steven Spielberg
Apocalypse Now, 1979
Francis Ford Coppola
There are some films that I intentionally saved watching. Apocalypse Now was one of them. And I am glad. Glad that after so many films watched, it still surprised me, especially visually speaking. And the special effects had nothing to do with it. David Mamet’s words come to mind: “This is good filmmaking, to juxtapose images. Now you’re following the story.”
Reading
Jean M. Twenge’s iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. There is so much truth and worry in this phrase that it was all it took for me to buy the book, without having read anything about it before. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to read it, know the facts, be shocked by the reality and try to find the solution.
Listening
Needle Drops. Rico Gagliano talks with veteran music supervisors behind some of the most culture-defining movie needle drops of the last 40 years.
The album: The Life Pursuit, Belle and Sebastian
Making
The most beautifully designed notebooks. Hand-bound, textile-clothed, in the most luscious colour palette. Ink Tales Letterpress.
Exploring
“The Costa Meno isn’t a real place, although we wish it was. Imagine if there was a vacationland where every place to stay was run by a nonna chef and her clever niece who has collected World of Interiors her whole life and doesn’t want to change the furniture of their little inn at all except for ensuring there are good mattresses and bedding. They keep the 1960s tile and all the art from the great-grandparents. All the meals are homemade, and maybe there is a view, maybe not—it doesn’t matter, because it’s just a short walk to the beach, or into town. These are the places that show up on page 248 of Google search—they aren’t in a collection like Small Luxury Hotels (although we were thinking maybe we should start one!), and have zero marketing budget. We know we highlight a lot of fancy places here, but these are the ones we (and we think you) truly crave—the authentic, the charming, the discovery; properties with both heart and soul. And, not to mention, hotels we can truly afford!”
From the latest Yolo Journal newsletter. Yes, this is the kind of travel I like (and the intel we all appreciate). The latest issue of the magazine is out, too.
“Simplicity is the greatest sophistication.”
Leonardo da Vinci
The regulars: The interviews, newsletters and podcasts I turn to every week and/or every month because they are that good. Craig Mod’s newsletters: Roden and Ridgeline. Soundtracking, with Edith Bowman. Alicia Kennedy’s newsletter. Gone to Timbuktu, Sophy Robert’s podcast on the art of travel. Wachstumsversuche, with Sarah Schill. Sirene and Racquet magazines, in print.
