la belle époque (and the painbirds)

good morning. good morning. after his brush with 70ies nostalgia in the work and words of joyce kozloff, horsemouth is back at it in la belle époque. this is a combination of the charlie kaufman games with time/ faked reality and 70ies nostalgia and crucially done in french (and thus seriously in danger of charm overload). daniel auteil is a grumpy old man not at home in the modern world, eventually his wife slings him out. a company arranges 'experiences' where you can take part in the re-enactment of a historic event. daniel wants to go back to 1974. 

'where did all you people go?' asks auteil of a hippie at a party. the modern day actor (playing the part of a 70ies hippie) feigns incomprehension. of course daniel is now an old man, he is a bad fit for the shoes of his younger self. he knows what he knows, and the actors around him are young and cannot answer. 

of course (it being a modern french movie) this travelling back in time saves the relationship and re-integrates daniel into the modern world and economy. (here horsemouth is reacting against it). if the film had been made in the 70ies auteil would have exposed the artifice and made a radical breakout to freedom and authenticity - instead we get a layered confection of fictions that leads him through this and back to reintegration. 

horsemouth was once accused of liking cinema du papa (pre-nouvelle vague french movies) over the radical offerings of godard etc. the accusation stung (because it has a truth to it). 

yesterday horsemouth went down to see enza's photos in an exhibition at the brady arts and community centre it's on until the end of the month as part of women's history month. some of the work in the exhibition comes from the radical work of four corners and cameraworks at 113 roman road from the 70ies.  a fair few of enza's friends were there. they drank (discretely hopefully) and ate snacks, looked at the art, and conversed.  horsemouth was a little out of practice at the meet and greet and so left earlyish and so missed suke. 

perhaps we are beginning to come out of the pandemic if even horsemouth is prepared to socialise in an enclosed space. (we have reached an acceptable level of risk and death). 

today is the anniversary of the death of mark linkous (sparklehorse).  about whom  horsemouth knows very little. the songs are good though. they do a lot with a few elements. horsemouth spent a little time watching a video on modes. his musical knowledge (and his technical abilities) are in fact very limited. he should take advantage of his free time to remedy this. 

monday altruvista day. a friend wants to record (but horsemouth reckons everyone is too busy or knackered  to do it). horsemouth is making progress through new media in art (he's made it to chapter two).