ann kent

Charlotte Gainsbourg & Johnny Depp

I'm loving this clip from the French film Happily Ever After with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Johnny Depp.

Factory Girl: Art, Fashion, & Destruction

I recently watched the film, Factory Girl, starring Sienna Miller.  The movie is an artful, fictionalized depiction of the story of Edie Sedgewick, an heiress who became the muse of Andy Warhol in the 60s.  Andy's studio was named "The Factory" and as you can imagine, all kinds of hi-jinks were rumored to have played out there.  

Factory Girl was an entertaining experience on many levels.  Sienna Miller was amazing.  Watch the clip below to see her as gamine Edie and note in particular the nuances of her expression.  I had no idea that she is such a talented actress.  I loved her character's 60s-style fashion especially the A-line dresses and boots.   I was skeptical about seeing someone portray Andy Warhol as he was a bit eccentric and could not imagine that any actor could make me believe that I was watching Warhol.  Yet, Guy Pearce met the challenge.  He was perfect.

Although there are numerous aspects of the film to enjoy, you will find that the story does not present Andy Warhol in a favorable light.   However, there are those that say that as Factory Girl is part fiction that Warhol's role with respect to Edie was not as depicted in the film.  In any event, the idea of Andy's role in Edie's downward spiral does inevitably give one pause.  Nonetheless, if you are intrigued by 60s era pop culture, this is definitely a film to see.

Here are some shots from the film and a clip.  Enjoy.

 
 

The Twilight House

I am hopelessly un-hip as far as the Twilight series.  I have not read any of the books; however, a few weeks ago, I found myself at the movie.  I must say that the movie was entertaining.  There was a certain eerie sense to the film that was artfully created with the actors, settings, camera, costumes, and make-up.  I enjoyed the film and appreciated the creativity involved in making it.

Yet, the element in the movie that I left most intrigued by was the modern home inhabited by the Cullen family.  The home was breathtaking in every way.  The lines were perfect with many large panes of glass placed throughout.   The use of the glass brought the surrounding forest into the home and I had the sense that while in the home, one might feel as if one were living with the trees.  The furnishings were thoroughly modern, minimal and artistic.  The home conveyed serenity, quiet and calm.  I wonder if Frank Lloyd Wright would have appreciated the design as it was portrayed in the movie.   I was fascinated.  I later learned from the designtavern blog that the house is actually the Hoke house, owned by a Nike design executive (of course), and located in (I think) Portland, Oregon.  Very nice.

  

The Ice Storm and the November, 1998 Issue of House Beautiful

I had an unusual day last Sunday.  In fact, I would say that it was mired in serendipity.  Sunday in the Northeast was cold, rainy and overcast, not a very pleasant day.  I had a few free hours and so I decided to finally watch The Ice Storm with Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci and a very young Katie Holmes.  Although the movie debuted long ago, in 1998, I was intrigued when I found it on a list of novels/movies about suburban angst (research prompted after reading Revolutionary Road).      

Before renting the movie, I vaguely recalled that I may have seen it; however, after watching a clip online I became quickly interested again when I saw that the movie took place in the 1970s and was filmed in several modern (think Phillip Johnson's The Glass House) houses nestled in the Connecticut woods (New Canaan). 

Although I thoroughly enjoyed viewing the lines and minimalist decor of the modern houses in the film, I must say that I rather prefer our present interpretation of modern decor (e.g., see Amy Butler's home via this prior post of mine).  As I am over 40, I also appreciated Ang Lee's (the director) references to that era: the long dresses, the cars, the ponchos, the hair, etc.  In fact, Sigourney Weaver's character looked quite smart and modern in her 60s wardrobe.  Nonetheless, the actual plot of the movie was rather disturbing as all of the four family members who were the focus of the movie teetered on the edge of moral corruption and I won't tell you where they fell at the end of the movie.  All in all, I found the film to be entertaining in that it was complex, suspenseful, and the setting as well as the era were interesting to one obsessed with design. 

After the film, I found myself wanting to browse a new issue of Blueprint or Domino; however, alas, that was not to be for obvious reasons.  So, I perused my stash of design magazines and chose one of my earliest issues of House Beautiful, November, 1998. I was pleasantly surprised.  First, I found an article about Frank Lloyd Wright who I have always been somewhat fascinated by and even more so now after reading Loving Frank and The Women, both about the women in his life.  The article was a good read and I made a mental note to rent the Wright documentary discussed.  

Then, remarkably, I found a most interesting article about the Harvard Five  (Marcel Breuer, Phillip Johnson, Landis Gores, John Johansen, and Eliot Noyes), the five modern architects who met and studied at Harvard's School of Design and who made (in the 50s and 60s) New Canaan, CT a bastion of modernism when they designed their own and many other homes in the area.  Phillip Johnson's The Glass House and others still stand there today.  I so enjoyed reading about that area and the legacy of those five modern architects.  I just may be a little obsessed because I actually grew up in a modern house although not in New Canaan, CT but in Buffalo, New York (see this post  again). 

In any event, my fascination with that article led me to google the Harvard Five and that is when I discovered a new blog, modernhousenotes.  I probably spent hours on Sunday evening reading this blog by a couple who reside in a modern home in New Canaan.  They offer inside information on the condition of modern houses not just in New Canaan but elsewhere in the United States; the modern houses on the market in New Canaan; and other little interesting tidbits concerning the original modern movement in the United States.  In fact, there is even a post about Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York where I grew up.  And so, my path on Sunday was all connected, yielded much enjoyment and led to the discovery of new avenues of interest.  For example, I am now determined to travel to New Canaan to finally view The Glass House.

PS  The old issue of House Beautiful that offered these gem articles also contained articles about two of my favorite designers, Thomas O'Brien and Mariette Himes Gomez (see pictures of her lovely barn complex on Long Island) as well as a view into a favorite Vanity Fair editor's home, Amy Fine Collins.  So happy E-bay hunting, this issue was fabulous!

   

   

Images:  Study and young girl's room from apartment of Amy Fine Collins; bedrooms from Long Island barn of Mariette Himes Gomez' Long Island barn, living room of Thomas O'Brien (Manhatten apartment), House Beautiful, November, 1998.