San Sebastian Film Festival 2018

As noted in our last post, the 2018 San Sebastian Film Festival started for us at 3:00 am on September 15 in Canada when we spent over an hour choosing movies and buying tickets for 17 movies (Shana actually bought a ticket for an 18th film that I was not interested in). Our return trip from Canada involved a flight from Toronto to Paris and then an afternoon train back to San Sebastian. We arrived home around 10 p.m. on September 21st - the first day of the festival.

Between the 22nd and the 28th, I saw 16 movies (Shana saw 17). We skipped one of the movies (The Sisters Brothers) for which we had bought tickets because it aired at midnight after we had already seen 14 movies including three that day. We just needed the sleep. Unlike last year, we did not have any star sightings on the street, but our viewing of First Man included an introduction by the film's stars: Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy both of whom were quite charming:

The best movie we saw was Spike Lee's latest, BlacKkKlansman, which was both entertaining and an impressive political statement. We saw several other "big" movies: Beautiful Boy with Steve Carell and Red Joan with Judi Dench, as well as plenty of smaller movies in both English and Spanish (with English subtitles - we are not ready for a whole movie in Spanish...yet).

In any event, as was true last year, the films we saw were hit and miss. Shana actually left five movies early including one where she had to walk right past the director and actors to leave - bold! Here is a list of all the movies we saw with a brief comment for each (* = Shana left early):

El Amor Menos Pensado: good, not great, movie about what happens when an empty nest couple decides to separate.

Yuli: film about a Cuban ballet dancer, which Shana saw alone. She liked it.

Mudar la Piel: documentary about the mediator between the Spanish government and the Basque separatist group ETA made by the subject's daughter. Had potential, but did not reach it.

Beautiful Boy: based on a pair of memoirs about a father and son dealing with the son's drug addiction. Again, good but not great.

*Leto/Summer: Another movie based on a memoir. This one about the rock-and-roll scene in St. Petersburg, Russia in the early 1980's. Worth seeing if you are looking for something different.

I Hate NY: documentary about transgender activists in NY.

First Man: only one comment: it is no Apollo 13.

*In Fabric: a stylized horror film that was apparently an homage to an Italian B-movie genre of the 1970's and 80's. We didn't get it.

Red Joan: based on a true story about a woman who provided British nuclear secrets to the USSR in the 1940's, but was not caught until she was in her 80's. Good, not great.

*Angelo: just don't bother.

Jaen, Extra & Virgin: a really interesting documentary about olive oil (yes, we are serious). Recommend it to all you foodies if it shows up on Netflix.

BlacKkKlansman: as noted above, our favorite.

Les Distancias: a film about some Spanish college friends who get together years later for a weekend in Berlin. Another film that had unrealized potential.

*High Life: sci-fi movie with Robert Pattinson. Interesting concept, but again the movie failed to live up to the idea.

Perfect Desconocidos: probably the second best movie we saw, but unfortunately it is in Spanish without subtitles (electronic subtitles in English were added for the film festival). The story of a dinner party where seven friends - three couples and a single - agree to publicly reveal the content of all communications (calls, emails and texts) that arrive on their phones during the meal. Of course, the participants have many secrets...

The Book Shop: a nice, British movie about a book shop. Nothing special, but enjoyable.

*Roma: Alfonso Cuaron's (Gravity, Y Tu Mama Tambien) latest. A really interesting look at the life of a native servant and the wealthy family she works for in Mexico City in the early 1970's.

All-in-all, we had a really good time, but I think next year we won't plan a trip immediately after the week of the festival. Seeing so many movies is fun, but also requires some recovery, which we did not have as we left on September 29th for Italy. More on that trip to come.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana

Toronto Family Time

As part of our Canada trip, we spent nearly a week in Toronto with my first cousins. My dad was born in Toronto and his sister’s children all live there. These are some very special people to us and we were thrilled to have the opportunity for an extended visit with them.

We started out with a weekend at Eli & Adina’s cottage on Lake Simcoe. We visited the cottage with Clyde in August/September 2016, and fell in love with the area, which is incredibly beautiful and peaceful:

So, of course, we wanted to go back, and Eli & Adina indulged us by holding off on their end-of-season renovation projects. It was a special weekend that included a long bike ride, a Shabbat nap, relaxation on the dock, games, good food, wine, and a Kawartha milkshake (Kawartha is a local dairy that makes fantastic (!) milkshakes). It was heaven on earth.

While there we also got up in the middle of the night to buy our tickets to the San Sebastian Film Festival, which went on sale at 9 a.m. in Spain. Not sure if it was the cottage air or the early morning hours that led us to purchase tickets to see 17 films in 7 days. (17 – not a typo!) Next post will let you know how that turned out.)

We returned to the “city” to relax, see the rest of the family, meet our newest cousin Gloria May, and celebrate cousin Molly’s 17^th birthday.  

We also observed Yom Kippur. There aren’t any opportunities to attend Jewish services in San Sebastian, so I was grateful to go to shul.

We miss our family and friends a lot, and our time in Canada with Jeff’s parent’s and my family was precious.

Hasta luego,

Shana & Jeff 

Niagara Falls

While visiting Toronto we ventured out to see Niagara Falls, which was high on Jeff’s Mom’s sightseeing list. I had been to the falls as a child but only had memories of it based on photos and Jeff had never been, so we were happy to make the drive and enjoy more family time. The Falls are an amazing sight and we’ve got some pictures to prove it:

The main Horseshoe Falls straddle the Canadian-US border. We stayed on the Canadian side – during 2018 we have not yet been and don’t have plans to be in the US at all.

From the Canadian side, you can take a Hornblower Cruise right up to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls wearing the obligatory red poncho:

You really need that poncho to keep from getting completely drenched. From the US side, the Maid of the Mist boat makes the same journey with passengers wearing blue ponchos. We’re not sure why they use the term “mist.” When you get close to the falls it is much more like actual rain and you get pretty wet, especially your shoes. It was a good thing the sun was out to dry us out!

It is worth the trip to see the falls, which are an incredible force of nature. The combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America. I could have watched and listened to the water go over the falls for hours.

Other than the falls, the Niagara Falls towns on either side of the border are vile tourist traps that we could not get away from quickly enough. Once we had our fill of the falls we headed for a scenic drive along the river towards Niagara-on-the-Lake where we visited a couple of wineries. Of course, we did! We were favorably impressed by the local wines and our lunch at Oliv Tasting Room & Restaurant (Strewn Winery) and 13^th Street Winery.

All in all, a terrific day trip full of good memories.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Quebec, Canada

In many ways, Canada is very similar to the United States (insert 51st state joke here). However, this is definitely not the case in Quebec where the French influence remains strong over 200 years after France was ejected from that part of the "New World".

On our recent trip to meet Jeff's parents in Canada, we visited both Montreal and Quebec City. We learned a lot about the history of "French" Canada, and how it turned out that French remains to this day the first language of this province and one of the official languages of the entire country (for example, food ingredients must be listed in both English and French throughout the country).

Shana and I had previously visited Montreal and so only spent a day there this time. We walked around and encountered this reminder of the dual history of Quebec:

This pair of statues is a combined work known as "The English Pug and The French Poodle". On the left is an English man holding his pug while giving a haughty look at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, symbol of the French Catholic Church. On the right is a French lady holding her poodle while giving a look of disdain at the headquarters of the Bank of Montreal, symbol of English power. While these two are ignoring the other, their dogs are looking at each other trying to find a way to unite. We found them quite amusing -- the dogs in particular.

Leaving Montreal, we rented a car and I drove to Quebec City, the first time I had driven in 2018 (!). On the way, we stopped to introduce my parents to poutine. If you have never had poutine, you are really missing out. Basic poutine is french fries with gravy and cheese curds. You can then add pretty much anything you want (we had one with bacon). Ugly, yet delicious. And, oh so healthy.

Quebec City, which was founded in 1608 (yes, before the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock) is absolutely beautiful, with a walled old city, similar to many European cities. It even has a fantastic old hotel, Le Chateau Frontenac, that looks like a castle. We learned that Quebec is actually a native word meaning "where the river narrows" as Quebec City sits on the St. Laurence at a point where the river is "only" one kilometer wide.

We took a tour of the province's Parliament building, which provided a lot of interesting history about the mixed heritage of Quebec. Here is a stained glass window from the building containing both the fleur de lis, the symbol of the French Kings and the lion, the symbol of the English Kings. The maple leafs, of course, represent Canada itself:

So, how did Quebec come to have this mixed heritage? Well it turns out it was mostly the fault of the Americans (blame America!). During the Seven Years War (1756-1763), which was referred to as the French and Indian War in North America, there was a battle near Quebec City known as the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. This decisive British victory ultimately allowed England to win the war and take control of all French colonies in the "New World". After that, it was predicted that English would displace French in what would become the Province of Quebec, but that was not to be, in part because the Quebec Act of 1774 gave increased sovereignty to the people of Quebec. Why? Because the British were so concerned that the Quebecois would join the restive American colonists in rebelling against the Crown that they acted to secure their loyalty. As a result, Canada is a dual-language country to this day.

Near the Parliament building, Quebec has honored several of its famous women. Although women gained the right to vote in federal elections in Canada in 1918, in Quebec women could not vote in provincial matters until 1940! Here are Mom and Shana joining in their history:

We really enjoyed our time in Quebec and recommend it as a place to visit, although we would recommend avoiding the winters, which are apparently long and brutal.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

Apologies

We want to apologize to all our faithful readers for being AWOL from vinoconvino for the past couple of weeks. We have been extremely busy and that is going to continue, but we promise to detail our recent adventures as soon as possible.

When we return, we will have posts about Canada, the San Sebastian Film Festival (16 movies in 7 days), Naples, the Amalfi Coast of Italy, Cinque Terre and Prague. So, keep checking back.

Ciao,

Jeff and Shana