Pit Stop

Greetings all!

Firstly, can I just second the thanks for the Blog's birthday wishes, and thank you again to the phenomenal T!

Rains-wise today:

• The Adirondack Daily Enterprise note that Before the Rains will be shown at the Lake Placid Film Forum, occurring June 12-15:

[...] “Before the Rains,” which will also be screened on June 12 at the Palace Theater, is set in 1937 in a picturesque hill station in the south of India. Director Santosh Sivan, who also did the sublime cinematography, creates an increasingly tense atmosphere as his leading character, an English plantation owner played by Linus Roache, begins an affair with an Indian house maid. [...]

The Forum's website adds that 'Paul Hardart, one of the film's producers and the president of Adirondack Pictures, will host this screening.'

• There are more tidbits on the three Houston wins (Film, Cinematography and Music). See Galatta and IndiaFM.
• One Rediff reporter was happy with the film, although 'tut tut' to the mistake:

[...] In the early hours of the New York morning, Sivan's film transported me back to pre-independence Kerala. Sivan's stunning camerawork and Rahul Bose's quiet and moving performance made up for the lapses in the film's script. ... Two days later, I was at the Soho House...in the Meatpacking district of Manhattan for the press day of Before The Rains. Bose and Nandita Das were there along with the two British stars of the film -- Linus Roache and Jennifer Ehle. [...]

Another blogger is equally complimentary, calling the film 'visually breathtaking'. She adds:

[...] As the wife of the English planter, Jennifer Ehle gives an amazing performance. When she realizes what has happened between her husband and the servant girl, I thought her glare alone would kill her husband. [...]

• The critics are ushering lots of love in the direction of Mr Bose (see India FM for a taster). Also, ION Cinema speak to the actor, while Movie Web have a video chat about the film and Mr Bose's other passion, professional rugby. Elsewhere, Linus Roache tells Daily News about working in India.

Rains info from the first of those is as follows:

[...] Before The Rains releases in America on May 9. It's going to play in New York and 10 other cities. Not in the NRI theatres, but it's definitely an art house release. So director Santosh Sivan and I hope to make an impact beyond the song-and-dance formula with this one," says Rahul from Los Angeles. [The film] goes to the UK in summer. [It] has just won three major awards at the Houston Film Festival. "It's a triumph for Santosh on so many levels. A film in English from India winning the awards for Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Music… it's incredible!" says Rahul, who plays the male lead in Santosh's cross-cultural colonial love story.

Rahul is in LA for the screening of Before The Rains before he moves to Houston for a gala screening. "There'll be an auctioning of the film for me by the NGO Pratham. My sympathies with the people who'll have to lunch with me," jokes Rahul. About the film, Rahul says, "It's a film-noire about an illicit love relationship and how I get caught. It's definitely an art house product with an element of the whodunit." [...]

• Rukus Avenue have a picture of the-man-behind-the-music, Mark Kilian, in action at the IFFLA. (Second photo down). They consider 'walking out of Santosh Sivan’s Before the Rains screening and finding the film’s composer...performing selections from the soundtrack' to have been one of the most memorable moments of the Rhythm Village Festival.

In other news:

• Playbill note that Time magazine have listed Tom Stoppard as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The page on Sir Tom was written by a certain Mr Hawke. Here is a snippet:

[...] I remember when I was younger being intimidated by the intellect, scope and verbiage of his plays; they were impressive but written for some elite group to which I had not been given membership. But I came to find that more often than not, the audience left the theater impressed with themselves. He'd challenged them, and they'd answered. [...]

• The Rankin Vault urge everyone to pick up the works of J. Ehle Snr:

[...] If you haven't read any of Ehle's novels about Western North Carolina, you are missing one of the greats. His novels clearly show he is a man who wrote ahead of his time. [...]

• TimesOnline chat to Peter Hall as he uncovers another new star, and he re-tells the story of how he discovered someone else 17 years ago:

[...] “I always write on my audition notes something that will help me remember them afterwards,” he recalls. “This extraordinary girl came in and read, and was remarkable. And I wrote on my sheet of paper ‘voice like Rosemary Harris’. And, of course, it was her daughter, Jennifer Ehle, whom I didn’t know.” [...]

• Lastly, one lovely blogger gives an insight into the many and varied ways the world enjoys Pride and Prejudice:

[...] I ironed a ridiculously wrinkled pair of pants while watching part of the BBC (Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle) version of Pride and Prejudice. [...]

Well, why not?! Being mentally in Meryton certainly makes household chores more bearable!