OUR WEEKLY PROCRASTINATION

“Henri,” according to American photographer Willard Van Dike,“who was not only an intellectual but a maverick, used to go down to Wall Street so he could find a Rolls-Royce or a Cadillac to spit on.”  

(Taken from this Financial Times article).

This week we visited the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris. The expo covers over 70 years of Cartier-Bresson life, and features over 500 early and recent drawings, black and white photographs, archives, paintings, the films he worked in with Jean Renoir and the ones he directed.

I've read an article by Sean O'Hagan in The Guardian saying that this exhibition was amazing as it revealed some aspects little known of his work, such as his strong political commitment with communism and his surrealistic explorations. I would add that the way the exhibit is curated emphasizes the recurrent themes that Cartier-Bresson was always curious about, and how because of his persistence (as well as his already well-known amazing eye), he managed to create an incredible rich body of work that the spectators have the pleasure to witness in detail at the Pompidou Centre.

If you happen to be in Paris, or if you are coming before the 9th of April, don't miss it, it's totally worth it!

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Photo Henri Cartier-Bresson via rendezvousenfrance.com

In case you needed an excuse to visit Paris soon, this is the one! Sean O'Hagan writes in The Guardian: "The subtitle of the Pompidou Centre's retrospective of the 20th century's best-known photographer could be: Almost Everything You Know About Henri Cartier-Bresson is Wrong. Or, at least, Long Overdue a Rethink. Its curator, Clement Cheroux, has risen to the unspoken challenge that any Cartier-Bresson exhibition now presents: how to shed new light on the life and work of an artist who so defined the medium that yet another celebration of his genius might seem superfluous." Read full article in The Guardian. E.T.P. 8'

Photo: Belle de Jour still via BFI.

Since th BFI's movie lists are always great, specially when it comes to meaningful procrastination, this week we are sharing one that will definitely catch your attention: 10 Great Films About Sex. "As Lars von Trier’s Nymph()maniac arrives in cinemas and on the BFI Player, we survey sex on film with a list of some of cinema’s naughtiest classics. Warning: this feature contains explicit imagery!" Read the list in the BFI website. E.T.P. 12'

HER still via happynicetimepeople.com

Emily Ruscoe makes a really interesting comparison in the blog Mediander between Spike Jonze's Her and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.  "Her, Spike Jonze’s new movie about love and tech, may not be too substantive, but it’s very pretty to look at. The action takes place in a futuristic yet familiar Los Angeles filled with jewel-like, colossal buildings and smoggy skies, which has drawn comparisons to another sci-fi flick set in L.A.—Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner." Read full article in Mediander. E.T.P. 3'