First of all, sorry about the blog hiatus: I just spent two weeks on a family holiday in New York (and the two weeks prior to that were spent planning the holiday)(why is there always so much to do before you go on a trip? The pre-trip stress almost cancels out the trip relaxation!)
I've got a few book recommendations to write: the next Fairies of Dreamdark book by Laini Taylor, and a very unique alternate world fantasy by Hiromi Goto. But I'm still unpacking, and there are relatives in town now, so it'll take me a few days.
But in the meantime I can tell you about the movie I watched on the plane on the way home: Never Let Me Go, based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro. Wow. What a beautiful, perfectly crafted, exquisite movie. And a total sob-fest: let's just say I'm glad I was half spaced-out on Gravol when I watched it, because otherwise I'd have run out of tissues. (You know from the beginning what's going to happen, so I'm not giving anything away.)
It takes an idea that's been done in various sci-fi guises: we've discovered how to cure all diseases and extend life by creating clones and harvesting their vital organs. But this is not a sci fi movie, not by any means. For one thing, it's set in the 1970's, 80's and 90's in rural England, so it has the feel of a period piece. And it's not about cloning. It's about three characters--clones who have been brought up in a special school where they have a strangely idyllic childhood while preparing for their lives as Donors. It's about their coming of age and their relationships with each other. It's about love, and art, and what it means to be human. It is entirely and in every way brilliant, both in plot and in screenplay and in cinematography and acting and editing. Not that I know much about those things, but I can at least recognize when they're perfectly done (I used that word already, didn't I). Go see this movie, and watch it as a work of art. Yes, it's sad, but it isn't depressing, and it is just so beautiful.
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