The best three from the season 2017/2018

Like last year I will tell you which three films had the greatest impact on me in this working season. Two of them popped in my mind immediately, third one is a bit more difficult to choose. I'd like to point out that it's not necessary the films were made in 2017 or 2018, it's just that I've seen them in this season. So here we go. 

1. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME 

Drama, Romance, 2017 

Director: Luca Guadagnino 

Cast: Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg 

In 1980s Italy, a romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant. It's the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman, a precocious 17-year-old young man, spends his days in his family's 17th century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading, and flirting with his friend Marzia. While Elio's sophistication and intellectual gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet remains innocent and unformed about him, particularly about matters of the heart. 

What is not to love about this film. I've seen in two times and I could easily watch it another time. In the middle of winter, the film brought me in the hot summer days. Oh, how I wished it would be summer and I could feel the vibe of summer that the film portrayed. The photography, the music, everything was perfect. And the love was so pure, I felt very deeply with the characters during the film. The film is based on the book Call Me by Your Name written by Andre Aciman and yes, I've read the book also. 

2. I, DANIEL BLAKE 

Drama, 2016 

Director: Ken Loach 

Cast: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Sharon Percy 

A 59-year-old carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two kids as they navigate their way through the impersonal, Kafkaesque benefits system. With equal amounts of humour, warmth and despair, the journey is heartfelt and emotional until the end. 

With this film I cheat a little, because I saw it on TV (it was on my must watch list) and not in cinema, but I think a lot of times about this film and I just must include it in this list. The film made me angry, sad, melancholic. I don't want to tell you too much, but at the end I cried and wondered what is wrong with our world. 

"I am not a client, a customer, nor a service user. I am not a shirker, a scrounger, a beggar, nor a thief. I'm not a National Insurance Number or blip on a screen. I paid my dues, never a penny short, and proud to do so. I don't tug the forelock, but look my neighbour in the eye and help him if I can. I don't accept or seek charity. My name is Daniel Blake. I am a man, not a dog. As such, I demand my rights. I demand you treat me with respect. I, Daniel Blake, am a citizen, "nothing more and nothing less. Thank you." 

3. LADYBIRD 

Comedy, Drama, 2017 

Director: Greta Gerwig 

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts 

Christine "Lady Bird" MacPherson is a high school senior from the "wrong side of the tracks." She longs for adventure, sophistication, and opportunity, but finds none of that in her Sacramento Catholic high school. Lady Bird follows the title character's senior year in high school, including her first romance, her participation in the school play, and most importantly, her applying for college. 

Something easier for the last pick. A nice coming of age film, that had some funny scenes. The film takes place from 2002 to 2003 which was a nice trip down the memory lane, since it was the time that I also attended high school. 

What do you think about my list?

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 96

A damaged survivor of the First World War, Tom Birkin finds refuge in the quiet village church of Oxgodby where he is to spend the summer uncovering a huge medieval wall-painting. Immersed in the peace and beauty of the countryside and the unchanging rhythms of village life he experiences a sense of renewal and belief in the future. Now an old man, Birkin looks back on the idyllic summer of 1920, remembering a vanished place of blissful calm, untouched by change, a precious moment he has carried with him through the disappointments of the years. 

A Month in the Country is a sensitive portrayal of the healing process that took place in the aftermath of the First World War. 

“If I’d stayed there, would I always have been happy? No, I suppose not. People move away, grow older, die, and the bright belief that there will be another marvellous thing around each corner fades. It is now or never; we must snatch at happiness as it flies.”  

“We can ask and ask but we can't have again what once seemed ours for ever - the way things looked, that church alone in the fields, a bed on a belfry floor, a remembered voice, the touch of a hand, a loved face. They've gone and you can only wait for the pain to pass.
All this happened so long ago. And I never returned, never wrote, never met anyone who might have given me news of Oxgodby. So, in memory, it stays as I left it, a sealed room furnished by the past, airless, still, ink long dry on a put-down pen.
But this was something I knew nothing of as I closed the gate and set off across the meadow.” 

Nail polish is from Essence, the line Show Your Feet, with the name Catwalk pink and it's a beautiful fuchsia with blue shimmer. A truly unique shade. The application was ok, no problem with it. 

Have a nice day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 95

Where She Went is a sequel to If I Stay and focuses on Adam and his story. 

It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life. And three years he's spent wondering why. Ever since Mia's decision to stay - but not with him - Adam's career has been on a wonderful trajectory. His album, borne from the anguish and pain of their breakup, has made him a bona fide star. And Mia herself has become a top-rate cellist, playing in some of the finest venues in the world. Then their respective paths put them both in New York City at the same time. 

If I compare this sequel with If I Stay, I would say that If I Stay was more memorable for me, as with this one, good story, but nothing special, the story won't stay with me for long. 

Nail polish is from Bourjois with the name Rouge obscur from the line 1 seconde. It looks like this line is still available (online) but not this colour. As you can see, the colour is dark red that leans on the berry side, the colour that looks good on everyone, in my opinion. The application is ok. 

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 94

In Life, the Universe and Everything, the third title in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy series, Arthur Dent finds himself enlisted to prevent a galactic war. 

Following a number of stunning catastrophes, which have involved him being alternately blown up and insulted in ever stranger regions of the Galaxy, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot get possibly worse, they suddenly do. An eddy in the space-time continuum lands him, Ford Prefect, and their flying sofa in the middle of the cricket ground at Lord's, just two days before the world is due to be destroyed by the Vogons. 

Escaping the end of the world for a second time, Arthur, Ford, and their old friend Slartibartfast embark (reluctantly) on a mission to save the whole galaxy from fanatical robots. Not bad for a man in his dressing gown. 

The nail polish is from Catrice (discontinued) and it's a shimmery green with the name King Of Greens. Nothing wrong with it, it’s just that every time I wear a shimmery nail polish I find that I prefer creme nail polishes, they just seem more sophisticated or at least the application looks better on my brittle nails. 

Have a great day!

Tony Moly Shiny Foot Super Peeling Liquid

Summer is approaching, so it was time to take care of my feet. The skin on my heels was especially hard and cracked. Las year I tried Etude House foot peeling mask, so this year I decided I would try this one from Tony Moly. As always when ordering Korean cosmetics, I ordered it from Jolse and it was 7,63 USD.

The product is described as a foot care program to make your feet feel smooth and sparkly shine.

The foot peeling liquid removes foot calluses from rough feet fast and conveniently, ingredients such as AHA and BHA help remove excessive foot calluses and peppermint extracts relieve stress from feet. Urea, argan oil and lavender keep feet feeling moisturized and pampered even after the foot calluses are removed.

How to use this product:

1. Put sheets on your feet
2. Keep both sheets on your feet and pour the liquid in, wait until your foot skin absorbs the liquid (it takes approximately 1 to 1,5 hours)
3. Take off your sheets and wash your feet until the peeling liquid is thoroughly rised away
4. In 4 to 6 days the dead cells will naturally start peeling off your feet. Do not try peeling them off forcefully You will have smooth and soft feet in about two weeks

So did it work? It does exactly as it says in the instructions. after 5 days the peeling started. And just like in the Etude House mas it first started peeling when the skin was not dry, the skin on my heels was last to peel off and the result there could be better. Maybe if I used these peeling liquids more frequently I could get rid of the hard skin on my heels. Who knows. And there is another thing, as I write this review one month after the application of the liquid I can see that the skin on my heels is almost as bad as before the application. So, the nice skin on my heels didn't last very long.

Before/After

But nonetheless I like this type of foot peelings because the process of the skin peeling off my feet is so fun, at least for me. I will definitely still buy peeling foot masks.

Have a great day!

WhatI'm reading + NOTD pt. 93

The Custom of the Country follows the career of Undine Spragg, recently arrived in New York from the Midwest and determined to conquer high society. Glamorous, selfish, mercenary and manipulative, her principal assets are her striking beauty, her tenacity, and her father's money. With her sights set on an advantageous marriage, Undine pursues her schemes in a world of shifting values, where triumph is swiftly followed by disillusion. Wharton was recreating an environment she knew intimately, and Undine's education for social success is chronicled in meticulous detail. The novel superbly captures the world of post-Civil War America, as ruthless in its social ambitions as in its business and politics. 

Edith Wharton (January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer. Wharton combined an insider's view of American aristocracy with a powerful prose style. Her novels and short stories realistically portrayed the lives and morals of the late nineteenth century, an era of decline and faded wealth. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921, the first woman to receive this honour. Despite not publishing her first novel until she was forty, Wharton became an extraordinarily productive writer. In addition to her fifteen novels, seven novellas, and eighty-five short stories, she published poetry, books on design, travel, literary and cultural criticism, and a memoir. 

The protagonist, Undine Spragg, is a young woman, a superficially beautiful woman who glitters and consumes and believes herself to be entitled to everything she takes from others, because it's not really taking, in her view, it's more like receiving what she deserves for simply existing. And for that reason, it was hard at times to finish the book. Undine is such a despicable character; her selfishness is hard to stand. She gets away with everything and nothing bad happens to her, the only ones that suffer are the ones around her. 

Nail polish is Essence, from the line Show Your Feet, with the name Flamingo rose. The colour is pink with small glitter that is almost invisible on the nails. The application is not the best, I don't know, the nail polish just doesn't look nice on the nails. 

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 92

Libby Day was just seven years old when her older brother massacred her family while she hid in a cupboard. Her evidence helped put him away. Ever since then she has been drifting, surviving for over twenty years on the proceeds of the 'Libby Day fund'. But now the money is running out and Libby is desperate. When she is offered $500 to do a guest appearance, she feels she must accept. But this is no ordinary gathering. The Kill Club is a group of true-crime obsessives who share information on notorious murders, and they think her brother Ben is innocent. Libby must delve into her family's past to uncover the truth - no matter how painful. 

Dark places is the third novel by Gillian Flynn that I've read. And that makes it all of them which are translated into Slovene. Despite the various reviews I like her novels, they have just what I like in crime genre. Which one was the best out of three for me, hmmm, hard to say. Sharp Object was the shocking one for me, so it might stand out, but I liked all of them.

The nail polish is from Essence, discontinued, and would like to be duochrome, maybe you can see it, it tries to shift from brown to violet, but I would say that in the bottle it succeeds better. The name is Princess Prunella. Interesting colour nonetheless. 

Have a great day!