My So-Called Life (1994)

My most favourite show 'My So-Called Life', premiered 20 years ago this week, and how was i not going to talk about it? Seriously, i watched it back then and it rocked my world, such a good show about adolescence, so truthful to reality it hurt, and to this day, no other show has achieved that.

It was unfairly cancelled after its first season but it received so many fan letters asking to bring it back that they nearly got it around for a second season but Claire Danes had already signed to star in 'Romeo + Juliet' and the filming never happened. But anyway, one season and the show remains ageless and iconic to those who have watched it and i had to, of course, dedicate a post about it.

 After the cut i posted some stills that i liked, i couldn't find many from Ricky (probably my fave character from the show) and it's a shame, but you can watch one scene that it's pure bliss and that i loved from him here and if you haven't watched this show, please do, it will still get you even if you have left your teenage years behind, as it happened to me when i rewatched it a few years ago. Beware because you will end up obsessed with Jordan Catalano:

Fall fashions in classic movies

 This is something genius, photographer Bobby Doherty has included this season's runway items into some classic movies' stills and the contrast is really great.

From Oz's red shoes turning into Saint Laurent boots or Marie Anoitnette dressing Dior, these pictures are really fantastic and proving that fashion is ageless and iconic movies can follow today's trends. I've posted a few below but be sure to check out many more at the source.

 Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?' in Erdem and Givenchy.

 Diane Keaton in 'Annie Hall' in Saint Laurent.

 Kirsten Dunst in 'Marie Antoinette' dressing Dior.

 Faye Dunaway in 'Bonnie & Clyde' in Miu Miu.

 Meryl Streep in 'Kramer vs. Kramer' in Burberry Prorsum.

 Gwyneth Paltrow in 'The Royal Tenembaums' in a Valentino coat & Hermès bag.

 Brigitte Bardot in 'Comptent' in Chanel.

Anne Bancroft in 'The Graduate' in Brian Atwood heels.

sources: nymag

'Short Term 12'

I watched 'Short Term 12' ('Las vidas de Grace') some time ago, and i wish i have talked about it here but i simply couldn't, i don't think i could express all the feelings that this movie contains. Because it has them all.

Centered in a group home for troubled teenagers and starring Brie Larson as a young supervisor, this may be, alongside 'Her', the best movie i watched last year. And it's so incredibly underrated.

In this scene, we see Marcus, a boy who's about to turn 18 and be left all by himself on the streets, expressing all of that on this rap song he has composed, which also includes all the pain that has brought him there. And it's painful as hell, and you can feel that. The great achievement of the movie is precisely that, that it has no band aid and things are what they are, as tough as they may be, but real.

I can't recommend this movie more, you will fall in love with Brie Larson if you haven't already and with the rest of the cast because everyone is fantastic on it. Enjoy the rap scene below and watch this movie because it's worth it, but keep in mind that it will touch you to the core without noticing.

sources: seedandspark & youtube

Elle Fanning by Craig McDean for Interview Magazine

Since i was without a computer for a few months i haven't been able to post much, and i have a few things left behind that i wanted to post even though on internet standards, are old now. Like this photoshoot of Craig McDean with Elle Fanning for Interview Magazine May 2014.

Elle Fanning is gorgeous, there's no question about that, but apart from delivering solid performances and having a very good eye choosing her roles, she seems to be super lovely and charming, and a girl her age (she's only 16); and while other starlets her age look like 25 and act like they're that old (Chloe Moretz or Kylie Jenner to name a few), Elle, despite being as tall as a model, looks and acts like a regular teenager and i love that. And she looks great and age appropriate in this shoot, a little bit sexy but not too much, cool and innocent with that angel face she has, i loved these pics and i'm posting them just because.

Let's hope Elle Fanning never changes. Like ever.

sources: interviewmagazine

Palo Alto (2013)

(Spoiler free)
I was really looking forward to watch 'Palo Alto', Gia Coppola's directing debut based on a book of short stories by James Franco (not too keen on this last thing, though).

The trailer, as it was everything that i had seen from the movie, showed a very similar style to her aunt Sofia Coppola, beautiful shots, girls hanging their heads through a car's open window, all very Sofia-esque. Which i adore, but that didn't say much about Gia Coppola as a director. But let me tell you that, even though she has inherited lots of similar things from her, Gia Coppola is definitely something else.

It's easy to compare them, the film it's beautifully shot, the use of music is on point and the style is somehow alike but that's pretty much it. Whereas Sofia creates a more dreamy, gloomy world, Gia is more accurate in depicting reality. Not that Sofia doesn't make it, she embellishes it and i adore that, but Gia goes straight to the core of things.

Gia Coppola gets into the world of accommodated highschool students and really achieves to create that environment, the intimacy they have on their bedrooms, the boredom they experience, the absurdity of their actions like getting arrested just because you've seen the girl you like kiss someone else. It's like a secret camera into the world of these group of young people and she really achieves that. It really reminded me to The Teenage Gaze by Petra Collins, it has that whole mood and both really achieve what it is to be a teenager.

On the other hand, the story is just fine, somehow it leaves you expecting that something is going to happen but just as life itself, and especially in that age, everything is boring and not much happens aside from small victories by oneself; like finally admitting you have a crush on someone or leaving friends behind. Some have compared Gia's work with Larry Clark's 'Kids' or to Gus Van Sant, i wouldn't go that far, but she's definitely creating her own signature style and being a Coppola that's not easy.

About the cast, Emma Roberts proves again that no matter the haters, she really can give solid performances, Jack Kilmer is really a surprise and i totally liked Zoe Levin, who could be a true Sofia Coppola girl and reminded me to 'The Virgin Suicides', i think i liked her character the best.

Many will find the movie boring and with no substance, but i definitely liked it though maybe, just maybe, i expected a little bit more from the ending. But if you're a Sofia Coppola lover or are into small stories with a lot behind, you have to definitely watch it.

Also, the soundtrack is really good and i can't stop listening to this version of Blood Orange's 'Champagne Coast', i'm playing it non stop so enjoy the song, see some beautiful stills from the movie that i adored behind the cut, and give Gia Coppola a try because she's not the new Sofia, she's another talented Coppola in the making: