In ‘The Emperor of Shoes‘ set in Guangdong, China, Spencer Wise tells us the story of Alex Cohen, a 26-year-old heir to a thriving shoe business. Of course, the shoe business thrives on the backs of underpaid Chinese workers, which Alex begins to see slowly. Wise turns the spool unhurriedly, the various threads interleaving beautifully....
How would you feel if you had the chance to observe your loved ones from a distance? Suburban life, so much is the same, week after week. Who hasn’t had the impulse to put their life on hold for a moment, just vanish completely? Well, Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston) in the movie Wakefield, not just...
As Ireland gears up for the onslaught of tourists for St Patrick’s Day (17th March) it struck me that this would be my third St. Patrick’s Day here in this beautiful city of Dublin. Every year, for 2 to 3 days Dublin is turned into a heaving mass of green as tourists throng from all...
This is what I get when I don’t write reviews for a week. A pile of messy thoughts, all tumbling and falling over each other in a heap on the floor of my mind. Here they are, laid out very briefly as I pick my way through them. I am not quoting from the books...
March is the month of awakening. It is the month of the first rays of warm sunshine, of the first flowers, the vernal equinox, and of festivals. As a kid, we were introduced to the very concept of Spring (which is near non-existent in South India) through the work of English poets. We grew up...
This week was all about the Audi Dublin International Film Festival (ADIFF), which is an annual event consisting of screenings of movies from all over the world. It’s usually a very difficult task to pick a few movies because all of them seem so good but I do restrict myself to two or three. This...
Over the past week, I finished reading three books. Two of them were extremely slim volumes, and absolute pageturners, which made it very easy for me to finish them quickly. Here are my reviews. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson Train Dreams pulled me in right away with its opening lines, In the summer of 1917 Robert...
Europe is in the grip of a heightened cold snap due to a Siberian freeze that’s bringing with it numbing winds and snow. Dublin is feeling it too. February is supposed to be the month when spring begins in Ireland. I am only now beginning to see signs of it when I spotted the first...
Five movies this week. I feel decadent. But the movies were all mostly good, and it was a good mix of English, Hindi, and Tamil. While Aruvi was unexpectedly disappointing, Qarib Qarib Singlle was unexpectedly good. Here’s a brief roundup. Coco (English) Coco was a surprise watch this week and I am glad I got to...
There is something sad and heartbreaking about an orange tree ruing its fruitless state. That’s why the moment I chanced upon this poem I decided to highlight it for “Versedays” this week. Written by Frederico Garcia Lorca, one of Spain’s most loved poets of the 20th century, The Song of the Barren Orange Tree immediately...
