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(e)Book – Love and friendship

  (e) Book –  Love and friendship Full title :  Love and friendship and other early works Author : Jane Austen Score : /10 Year : 1790 (original) ; 2012 (this edition) Publisher : Duke Classics   ISBN  978-1-62012-155-9  // 9781620121559  (ebook)  Pages :  Language: English Jane Austen is best known for her 6 novels, which all have been adapted into tv movies - but after having read Virginia Woolf's short fiction in chronological order, I decided to apply the same for Austen's publications, to better appreciate her growth and evolution in narrative style. So, before reading her novels which were released from 1811 to 1817, in the following order :  Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma,  Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, I decided to go back to her teenage years, reading Love and Friendships, and other early works.
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Movie – Days of heaven



Movie – Days of heaven

Score : 5/10  
Year : 1978
Director:  Terrence Malick 
Country: USA
Language: English
Duration: 1h34 (IMDB) ; 1h30 (French DVD) 

Writers: Terrence Malick 

Set in 1916, Days of heaven can be summed up thusly: the hard lives of farm workers, centered around 2 characters on their way to Texas Panhandle. (that's as far as can be said without spoilers). 

This is yet another movie I find overrated on IMDB ; Indeed, it scores 8/10 there, which is true only for the cinematography, with sometimes is rather grandiose and well done. 

Another strong part is that it is told from a perspective of a teen-aged character, through her narration. The dialogues are kept rather simple, because she wouldn't understand or here all that the adults are discussing. 

 Period vintage machinery and costuming were used to great effect, and add to the artistic level of this movie. 

Sadly, I was quite disappointed that this film didn't have more to offer than a very basic story, where everything is quite evident in its symbolism. For example, there are 4 characters corresponding to the 4 elements, and they are easily spotted. 
The moral of the story is quite unidirectional and offers no shades of grey. 

The acting was ok, but I never forgot I wasn't watching actors, and there lies one of the biggest issues : it should've been a lot more. 

The sound was quite lacking ; I had to raise the volume a lot, and I don't understand how it could've won an award for this, unless it's an issue of bad DVD pressing... 

Fellow vegeta*iens : I was annoyed and disgusted from several scenes (I believe I counted 6 or 7 distinct ones) with hunting, people plucking birds, and other roasted animal corpses, which can be seen as part of the hard lives they are leading, but which I felt quite pointless in the end. it reduced my appreciation for the movie. 

I don't plan to ever watch this movie again, and certainly don't understand its high IMDb score, nor its status of significant enough to be preserved by the Library of Congress, and relate more to its initial critical and box office failure to garner success... which is a shame, because I think it had some potential. 


Starring : Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz, Robert J. Wilke, Richard Libertini, 



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