Orange-flowers, swallows, and regret.

"September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret."

— Alex Theroux

My September mood board. These photographs reflect how I'm feeling these days. With the arrival of Autumn a melancholic air surrounds everything. September has had the most beautiful sunsets and some rainy days. As the Irish proverb goes: "Autumn days come quickly, like the running of a hound on the moor." 

When I'm on that mood I dream about being on a Château in Normandy, taking afternoon tea on the terrace, and I constantly listen to some good old jazz songs (specially to Coltrane and Davis), Nick Drake, Charlotte Gainsbourg's IRM, and a lot of instrumental music (from Bach and Mozart to Dustin O'Halloran). Also, I've been watching films from Tarkovsky, Rohmer and Bergman. These three directors have an ability to create gloomy atmospheres and somber characters with reminiscences from Romanticism that are perfect for this time of the year.

Ph.: Trevor Triano, the dreamers (2003), Andre Kertesz, love in the afternoon (1972), Joannablu, Monet's garden, Christopher Baker, Charlotte Gainsbourg for Self Service, twobirdsonabranch, Anna Karina, 'Boreas' by John William Waterhouse, solaris (1972), cuerposiameses

Days of magic, nights of disco

...with April and May come the bright colours, fluorescent clothes, pink skies and hairs, red lips and mint nails, music festivals and neverending disco parties. And you can feel all that by listening to this mix by Suit, with great nu-disco and synth-wave songs that make you feel like you're back to the 80s: Stuck in The Sound, Yuksek, Jupiter, Sébastien Tellier, Citizens!, Tears For Fears, SIMØNE, Ghosthouse, Miami Nights 1984, Little Boots and other great artists:

Suit - April Chart Mix 2012 (Y Este Finde Qué) ♥


Ph.: talkingtokafka, weheartit, labyrinth, rafaël rozendaal, camilla akrans

Dream of horses

...

If you're ever feeling blue, then write another 
song about your dream of horses... (Belle & Sebastian)

"I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. 
You know, horses... taking pictures of your feet." (Lost in Translation)

I've been listening to these two songs a lot lately and they both have a horse-themed video. Trust's video for "Candy Walls" ♥ is a marvelous abstract piece with a 70s vibe, sort of inspired on Equus, directed by the photographer and film maker Eva Michon. Robert Alfons and Maya Postepski are the members of the duo Trust, and they also are the stars of the video! Robert has an amazing voice and he's quite charming too. He looks like a modern James Dean riding a motorcyle with a vintage brown jacket, and he also reminds me of River Phoenix on My Own Private Idaho. 


The Munk & Peaches video, beautifully directed by Lyall Coburn, shows us a cute girl who lives in a country house, one of these dreamy places like the one from Stealing Beauty, where she has horse pics on the walls of her bedroom and walks through yellow fields under the sun with a little horse. The song is a version of the Stephanie Mills disco classic "You can't Run From My Love".


Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! 
xx




Ph.: robert alfons, my own private idaho, video stills, lighthouse keeperess, antonella arismendi

Cashback (2006)

  "... once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it." (Ben Willis, Cashback)

Cashback is one of those films that stays with you for a while after having watched it. The cast is perfect, specially Sean Biggerstaff as Ben and Emilia Fox as Sharon. Ben's thoughts about love, life and art are amazing, and his ability to stop time and pretend that everyone and everything is in a time freeze except himself, is one of the most original things I've ever seen. He's an excellent art student, and he finds in his co-worker at the supermarket, the beautiful Sharon, the muse he needed, and someone who helps him to believe in love again.

Besides the great funny and drama moments, the most interesting thing of this film it's not the story itself, but the way it's been told, and that's why this film is one of the most beautiful works of art I've ever seen. It's an ode to the art of painting and to the beauty of women. Ben says during the film: "I read once about a woman whose secret fantasy was to have an affair with an artist. She thought he would really see her. He would see every curve, every line, every indentation and love them because they were part of the beauty that made her unique". And that's exactly what he does with Sharon.

The whole idea for the film and some of its scenes are taken from a short film with the same title (Cashback, 2004) starring the same actors and also directed by Sean Ellis, that was nominated to the Academy Awards as best short film of the year. The 2006 film was nominated in some festivals too, and it was premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The photography is stunning and mesmerizing, which is not a surprise considering that Ellis, the director, is a well-known photographer who has work with magazines such as i-D, The Face, Dazed and Confused or Vogue, and who also has realised campaigns for Nina Ricci, Dior, or Cartier. The soundtrack composed and arranged by Guy Farley is great too, and one of my favorite songs is the one that appears on the credits, the haunting song "What Else Is There?" by Röyksopp: