Just watched Talk to Her, a Spanish film which blew my mind with its spare but highly polished style. The narrative is fascinating and tragic but lacked moralizing and judgement of its extremely ambivalent characters. While the characters judge the film itself does not, and I find that fascinating. There are some absolutely beautiful sequences and is exemplified by a faux Twenties silent film sequence, a film-within-a-film about a scientist and her shrinking lover. Odd ballet sequences which mirror the film's story start and conclude the piece. I think my favourite moment is when Lydia, a controversial female matador is being strapped into her costume; the violence of the tightening buckles mimics the violence of the bullfight that follows.
Worked on more of the first chapter of Meringue's novel; it's coming along in smooth spurts of inspiration and I keep getting fresh fuel for it. The most recent inspiration is the adventures of Ralph and Joseph Fiennes' other brother, Sir Ranulph Fiennes. While his brothers are well-known British actors, Ranulph was knighted in 1982 for circumnavigating the planet from South Pole to North Pole. He's an explorer and adventurer practically out of some old pulp novel. The kind of things that Meringue would do with a cocktail in hand aboard a hot air balloon. She'd be accompanied by a small monkey named Beirut.