Cinema · Observations
Watched Netflix's "Dracula": three ninety-minute episodes are just the thing for a weekend. It is a pity that each episode is weaker than the last, but it remains an engrossing spectacle: a splendid acting partnership, with the Bond-type looks of the towering Dane Claes
Cinema · Pop Culture · Ethnography
Particular attention is drawn to Dumbledore's final expedition with Harry Potter to a cave on a rocky seashore, which turned out in the end to be a quest for a false Horcrux. The most interesting details emerge when one recalls that at that moment Dumbledore already knew of
NB! · Cinema · Books · Observations · Pop Culture · Ethnography
Cinema · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
In Netflix's The Last Czars, this is what we are invited to take for the heir to the Russian throne, Nicholas Alexandrovich, at the funeral of Alexander III. Let me remind you that Nicholas was 26 🤷🏽♂️ Of course, in former years people looked older and worse than we
Architecture · Cinema · Heritage
The Rostov Kremlin is, beyond doubt, one of the most famous historical architectural complexes in Russia. Every year many millions of people stroll through its chambers, corridors and along its walls, in the company of the heroes of the Soviet comedy "Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession". It was Rostov,
Art · Cinema · Pop Culture
One of the greatest treasure houses in world cinema: the secret chamber of riches in the abandoned city from the 1942 British-American adaptation of "The Jungle Book". The treasury is shown in two scenes. In the first, Mowgli finds himself in the deserted palace of a vanished
Cinema · Observations · Mores
My beloved Isabella Rossellini reports from the set of "Domina" on the story of Livia Drusilla, together with the director Claire McCarthy. In the photograph her coiffure does not much resemble a wasps' nest, the shape of which was extremely popular among her heroine's contemporaries,
Cinema · Monarchies · Observations
As usual, The King is not without its traditional Francophobia. The view of France, the French, French chivalry and the French king is prejudiced and one-sided. The Netflix film was undoubtedly made with English political interests in mind. It is sad that France lacks the resources to answer in
Cinema · Books · Monarchies · Observations
Of course, such a nod towards the ruling dynasty is no invention of Michaud's; writers and makers of meaning have resorted to this device since time immemorial. Shakespeare, too, when he seems to scold Henry V, on the one hand brings him closer to the common people, rendering
Cinema · Monarchies · People
The End of Henry V's Story. The almost fairy-tale finale of Michôd's film, with the young king's romantic rapprochement with his bride Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI, who by some strange coincidence is dressed extremely poorly, contrary to the custom among
Cinema · Monarchies · Observations
The Causes of the War. Did Henry V have any real motive for invading France? Well, if one imagines that the son of a usurper might wish to shore up his contested legitimacy on the throne, say, by uniting the crowns in accordance with the testament of Edward III. Moreover,
Cinema · Monarchies · Observations
Laurence Olivier's 1944 "Henry V" deserves its due: it was not only more realistic and spectacular but also interesting, yet in essence it was theatre, quite literally Shakespeare's play, with the action set in a theatre. It is curious how the film's