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THE CHILDREN’S TRAIN NETFLIX

Dec 15, 2024 | BOOKS, MOVIES, BOOKS, MOVIES

We already talked about The Children’s Train when I read Viola Ardone’s book published by Einaudi.

But above all, we talked about The Children’s Train when I read the book Happiness trains by Giovanni Rinaldi.

I became fond of Giovanni Rinaldi’s research work and his subsequent There was me on that train too and with words I travelled through the stories of many children, many families, many people who today still witness the beauty of solidarity through eyes that have seen the train of life run and through words that have much to teach us.

A discovery, a gift, which has brought us the privilege of the direct testimony of Americo Marino.

Americo, not Amerigo, I am not mistaken: the real name of the man we knew as the protagonist of Einaudi or The Children’s train Netflix, played by Christian Cervone and Stefano Accorsi is Americo.

And if in some interviews Viola Ardone recognised Derna, Pachiochia or Maddalena as real characters, officially Americo remains a fictional character, despite the fact that significant elements such as his shoes, to name one, come from his direct testimony.

This is why I could not miss seeing The Children’s train Netflix directed by Cristina Comencini and produced by Palomar.

The film was presented at the Rome Film Festival and has the support of the Emilia Romagna Region and Film Commission Torino Piemonte.

I sincerely hoped for a different epilogue with regard to the personal story of Americo, a person of rare sensitivity to whom I have grown fond of.

A thank you in the credits, a reference, a name, even coffee was mentioned.

How would you react if, we can say the whole world, given that The Children’s train has been translated into twenty-five languages, knew elements of your story, then declined in a different way?

Would you still be happy or would you suffer?

Have you seen The Children’s train Netflix?

If, like me, you are left with the thought of those children travelling to the unknown and how they found the affection of families who welcomed them as children, I think this video will move you, it is not fiction:

Derna and Americo from the Rinaldi Archive

NON-DEMOCRATIC DWARF TALES

Dec 7, 2024 | BOOKS

The last reading I owe to Mary’s Handbook is Andrea Francavilla’s Non-Democratic Dwarf Tales.

The short stories are dwarfed in terms of length but the author’s ability to evoke situations and contexts in the space of a few words by building characters through their dialogues immediately emerges.

The short stories are not democratic, how would you personally interpret this definition?

The author mentions a friend in the acknowledgments for this very title.

These Non-Democratic Dwarf Tales have a common denominator: a rainy night.

I don’t know about you, when I think of the words ‘night’ and ‘rain’ I immediately think of the very famous phrase from the film The Crow: It can’t rain all the time.

For me it’s like a kind of mantra in difficult times.

Do you like the rain?
Do you like to go out when it rains ?

The book’s protagonists are what one might call a repertoire of varied humanity and well represent hardship, frailties, mistakes, doubts, imperfections, and all the varied facets of the difficulties of living.

My compliments to the author on how he has come full circle.

Non-Democratic Dwarf Tales is a first work but I hope we will soon be able to read more by Andrea Francavilla.

In his bio he says he is convinced that behind every problem lies an opportunity and I personally have only to learn.

HUNTING THE BOGEYMAN

Nov 23, 2024 | BOOKS

Caccia all’uomo nero Hunting the Bogeyman published by Pav Edizioni: the latest read for which I thank the author Sabino Napolitano and Mari Manual.

Undoubtedly a striking title: ‘the bogeyman’ is a figure we often learn about from childhood.

The first meaning that the Treccani attributes to him is exactly: imaginary man, with a frightening appearance, who is used as a threat to keep children quiet.

Have you ever heard yourself say such a phrase?

As one grows up, one learns that in reality who we have to fear is not an imaginary figure, however dark and gloomy he may be.

What could be the personification of the bogeyman in your opinion?

Sabino tells us his own through a story that starts with a disappearance.

The investigation leads to a shortlist of hypothetical suspects who could be ‘the bogeyman’ in perhaps a more literal than figurative sense.

The writing gives the reader a glimpse of reality and describes the everyday life of Bari, which could however be the everyday life of the place where each of us lives.

I appreciated the realism through which the author tells the story, leading the reader to the way in which the Bogeyman Hunt ends.

I report the book among the winners of Giallo Festival for best supporting character.

Can you tell me which character is the protagonist of your fears?

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

Nov 2, 2024 | BOOKS, MOVIES, BOOKS, MOVIES, MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Nirvana unplugged in New York, often known as MTV unplugged is first and foremost a high moment in music history to me.

For our very first chat here on the blog, almost five years ago now, I told you about the cardigan Kurt Cobain wore during the recording of this live show.

Then over time we talked a lot about music but never came back to what is really one of the most important memories for me.

First of all it is the memory of an emotion: the first time I listened to Come as you are without even getting to the end I was convinced that I would never like another song again.

Come as you are is perhaps the only one of Nirvana’s most popular songs, performed even during unplugged, I think precisely because of its characteristic intense intimacy.

But every single song performed during MTV unplugged is beautiful.

The cover of The Man Who Sold the World in my opinion beats even the White Duke.

Where did you sleep last night is poignant to the point of almost materialising Kurt’s suffering.

And then Dumb, About a Girl, Pennyroyal Tea … which is your favourite?

Sadly released posthumously Unplugged in New York with every listen reminds us of the pain and loss of an artist who would now be a grandfather, as his Frances Bean became mother to Ronin at the end of September.

Many tales and anecdotes about 18 November 1993 chase each other all over the place, but what we can all still see is Kurt arriving, and after a simple ‘Good evening’ he introduces About a girl by attacking his guitar ride.

The rest is magic, atmosphere, white flowers, candles, drapes and soft lights, like metaphorical arms that welcome us into an immersion of music and sensations, simplicity and depth at the same time, where everything else is stripped away, the whole world is outside, where all that counts is the lightness of a faint breath destined to fade away but which in reality can only remain engraved in the memory forever.

Extreme vulnerability yet disruptive power.

Nirvana Unplugged is one of the gifts I cherish, it is 30 years old today and yet I’m never tired of listening to it again.

I treasure it along with Kurt Cobain Diaries

Nirvana unplugged

and Montage of Heck, which I saw at the cinema earlier anyway.

Nirvana unplugged

On the off chance that you’ve missed something, I recommend catching up: I find it indispensable to understand the deep torment of a Soul torn between the love of music and the pain of life.

I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault

I’ll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame

THE BARD AND THE QUEEN

Oct 5, 2024 | BOOKS, BOOKS

The Bard and the Queen is the book I received as a gift from my aunt and uncle, written by Paola Zannoner, known for writing many books for children, and published by DeA Planeta.

Paola Zannoner has a WordPress blog and the first thing she says about herself is that she lives in Florence.

I imagine that living in cities of art can confer the privilege of having an immense source of inspiration.

And it is the subject of inspiration that I would like to put to you, starting with this book.

I would say that there is no need to explain what a story entitled The Bard and the Queen could possibly be about.

I don’t know about you, but I have a particular fondness for Shakespeare.

I started reading the bilingual books, remember them? Every page had the text in the language opposite.

Il Bardo e la Regina

Back in the glorious days, which as you know I often quote, finding ways to learn languages was not a click away, and these books offered the possibility of having the translation available simultaneously, a bit like today’s online translators, and I point out ‘just a bit’ 🙂

Given that it is certainly not easy to choose, do you have a favourite work among all that Shakespeare has left us?

The book The Bard and the Queen mentions some of them in the course of our William’s life, explaining how they came about, that is, from the events that one day after another make up what is a person’s journey.

Do you think this is necessarily so?

I mean: can one write well about something one does not know?

Did Shakespeare live in the shoes of his characters?

Reading this book I visualised all the time the faces of the performers in the film Shakespeare in love.

But while my imagination did not particularly run to the faces, this book has in my opinion the merit of being sensory.

Smell.

The writer’s meticulous research focused my attention on the olfactory sense, succeeding in describing the atmosphere of a London that is not usually considered in this respect.

Have you ever read a book that was able to materialise one of the five senses?

L’ARMINUTA

Sep 14, 2024 | BOOKS, BOOKS

L’arminuta by Donatella di Pietrantonio published by Einaudi is yet another book for which I thank Monica.

Arminuta is a dialect word from Abruzzo and means ‘comeback’.

Comeback, arminuta in fact, is the nickname given to the protagonist of the book that won the 2017 Campiello Prize.

The Campiello Prize is a literary award by entrepreneurs from the Veneto region and conceived by Edilio Rusconi when he wasn’t yet publisher in 1963.

Campielli are actually small camps, or squares, typical in Venice.

The trophy that is awarded to the winning book is in the shape of the characteristic ‘vera da pozzo’ that is often found in the centre of campielli (small squares) for the supply of water, in particular inspired by the vera da pozzo of San Trovaso in the Dorsoduro district.

The story of L’arminuta also inspired director Giuseppe Bonito.

The film starring Sofia Fiore and Carlotta De Leonardis was presented at the 2021 Film Festival in Rome and is distributed by Lucky Red.

This trailer shows me images that are very different from what I imagined when I read about them.

Have you seen the movie?

What do you think about?

The author: Donatella di Pietrantonio also won the David di Donatello Prize in 2022 for best non-original screenplay.

This ‘comeback’ forces the reader to reconsider the concept of mother.

Mothers.

I told you about someone who had two as Americo Marino and how they both embodied the true essence of being a mother.

Now I tell you about someone who has had two different dropouts.

But the concept of motherhood is so extensive and interconnected with innate love that it can also be expressed in a small, tiny Woman.

And where life deprives of maternal affection, life can give a sister.

“My sister. Like an unlikely flower, grown on a small lump of earth attached to the rock. From her I learned endurance. Now we are less alike in our features, but it is the same sense we find in this being thrown into the world. In complicity we are saved.”