Comedias románticas

El último domingo me lo pasé viendo pelis con Tatiana, una amiga que es crítica de cine y escribe en un blog  para el periódico Tribuna do Norte. Super inspirada, ayer ella publicó un texto que me pareció perfecto para nuestro blog. Le invité, ella lo aceptó, y aquí tenemos su primera (espero que no última) colaboración en treintaomás:

“Domingo à tarde. Chuva e preguiça. E, pela enésima vez, eu e uma amiga vimos Julia Roberts se render aos encantos de Hugh Grant em ‘Um Lugar Chamado Notting Hill’. Logo, juntaram-se a outra amiga e a mãe dela. Comédia romântica é assim: poucas mulheres resistem, nem que seja pra ver a mesma cena final pela 347ª vez.

Resolvi escrever este post porque já fui daquelas que odeia comédia romântica. Roteiro previsível, heroínas chatas de tão perfeitinhas e música melosa demais. Era uma combinação que nunca me desceu muito bem. Mas aí surgiram os filmes de Richard Curtis e seu humor inglês irônico (começou com ‘Quatro Casamentos E Um Funeral’, passando por ‘Um Lugar Chamado…’ e chegou ao ápice com ‘Simplesmente Amor’), e comecei a apreciar um gênero mais sarcástico de comédias românticas – que às vezes nem chegam a ser comédias.

Recentemente, o exemplar de tal gênero que mais deu o que falar entre os cinéfilos foi ‘500 Dias com Ela’. Segundo o o próprio filme anuncia, uma história em que um rapaz conhece uma garota, mas que não é uma história de amor. Na verdade – e ouso corrigir o narrador – o filme conta, sim, uma história de amor. Mas é daquelas que se aproximam mais da realidade, em que uma das partes não é correspondida e o seu rosário de desilusões nos parece tão familiar e o protagonista, tão carismático, que não dá para não achar o filme romântico. Porque independentemente dos foras que ele leva, o protagonista continua acreditando no amor.

Em ‘500 Dias com Ela’, Tom acredita que não será feliz até o dia em que encontrar “a” garota. E o filme conclui que a gente pode ficar desencantado e até cansado de procurar. Em ‘Forças do Destino’, comédia romântica com uma Sandra Bullock ainda não-oscarizada, o mocinho não escolhe a mocinha, e o filme é não menos interessante, justamente porque mostra que nem sempre fazemos escolhas baseadas na emoção. Em ‘Simplesmente Amor’, a personagem de Laura Linney troca uns bons amassos e um romancezinho com ninguém menos que o Rodrigo Santoro para prestar assistência a um irmão problemático. Porque nós fazemos, mesmo, muita besteira nesta vida.

Eu gosto mais desse gênero de comédia romântica. Porque romance, de verdade, não é como aqueles de Hollywood. Ele demora a chegar, dá trabalho, eventualmente cansa, e uma hora, acaba. Mas, mesmo assim, me rendo eventualmente a Julias Roberts e seus mocinhos nos finais de semana. Porque tudo o que a gente quer, às vezes, é se render ao sonho do cinema e esquecer que romance dá trabalho. Do mesmo modo com que alguns gostam de ver um bom roteiro de ação no qual, depois de dezenas de porradas, o mocinho sempre se sai bem, outros gostam do conforto das comédias, em que, por mais que haja mil peripécias, a mocinha estará muito bem ao lado do seu mocinho ao final. Mesmo que, na vida, isso raramente aconteça.

Tatiana Lima”

Translation:

Sunday afternoon. Rain and laziness. And for the umpteenth time, a friend and I saw Julia Roberts to surrender to the charms of Hugh Grant in ‘Notting Hill’. Soon, another friend and her mother joined us. Romantic comedy is this: few women resist, if only to see the same scene by the end of 347 th time.

I decided to write this post because I was of those who hate romantic comedy.Screenplay predictable, so boring TRAXPLAYER heroines and other mellow music. It was a combination that never went down very well. But then came the films of Richard Curtis and his wry English humor (started with ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, through ‘Notting Hill’ and came to a head with ‘Love Actually’), and began to enjoy a more sarcastic genre of romantic comedies – which sometimes will not even be comedies. 

Recently, the exemplar of a kind which gave more to talk to moviegoers was ‘500 Days of Summer ‘. According the film announces itself, a story in which a boy meets a girl, but that is not a love story. In fact – and I dare correct the narrator – the film tells, yes, a love story. But it is those that are closer to the reality in which one party is not matched his string of disappointments and it seems so familiar and the protagonist, so charismatic that you can not help find the romantic movie. Because regardless of the outs he leads, the protagonist still believe in love. 

In ‘500 Days of Summer’, Tom believes that it will not be happy until the day we find” the “girl. And the film concludes that we may become disenchanted and tired of looking up.In “Forces of Nature ‘, a romantic comedy with Sandra Bullock, Oscar-winning yet, the hero does not choose the girl, and the film is no less interesting, just because it shows that not always make choices based on emotion. In ‘Love Actually’, the character of Laura Linney prefers assisting a troubled brother than to exchange a few passionate kisses with none other than Rodrigo Santoro. As we do, indeed, a lot of bullshit in this life. 

I like more of this genre of romantic comedy. For romance, really, is not like those of Hollywood. He is delayed, employs eventually tired, and an hour is over. But even so, I surrender eventually Julia Roberts and his good guys on the weekends. For all that we want sometimes is to surrender to the dream of romance movies and forget that it takes work. In the same way that some like to see a good course of action in which, after dozens of blows, the good guy always comes out well, others like the comfort of comedies, in which, for more than one thousand adventures there, the girl is well next to her beloved one at the end. Even in life, this happens rarely.

Los vuelcos inesperados de la vida

La esperada post de nuestra amiga Roci … bienvenida a treintaomás !!

Treinta o más, si, llegados este punto se nos plantean muchas cosas, que si vivo la vida que quiero vivir, si me gusta lo que hago, el trabajo, la ciudad donde vivo, tu pareja, la casa, tu formación… son temas que te vas planteando y da la casualidad que lo haces en el mismo momento y es cuando empieza a tambalearse todo tu mundo, pero ahí estás firme como una piedra para no caerte.

Somos fuertes y aunque en determinados momentos nos desmoronamos cual castillo de arena, siempre existe una situación, unas palabras, un acontecimiento, un paseo, cualquier cosa puede ser una señal para que te haga reaccionar. Pero lo bonito es vivirlo y decírmelo a mí, en cuestión de unos meses me ha cambiado la vida, de no tener trabajo a tenerlo, de tener novio a no tenerlo, de no tener casa a comprarme una, de no pensar en hijos a pensarlo, si lo confieso este tema ha sido tabú para mi toda mi vida, de hecho me he imaginado toda mi vida sin niños a mi alrededor, yo era ese caso raro de las reuniones de amigas que decía que no le gustaban los niños y que con una afirmación aplastante decía que no quería tenerlos, y no sé por qué extraña razón en los últimos meses parece que esta idea me viene a la cabeza más veces de lo que hubiera imaginado, ¿la razón? No os puedo decir, pero a lo mejor tiene algo que ver con que ha nacido mi primera sobrina, Elena, el mero hecho de saber que ha nacido una pequeña criatura de mi familia, tan pequeñita e indefensa me hace sentir inmensa de alegría por su nacimiento. Todo esto extrapolado a lo que pudiera sentir si fuera mío, imaginaros, no lo quiero ni pensar.

Pero si, la perspectiva ha cambiado y me siento contenta porque me arranca una sonrisa cada vez que pienso en ello.

Todo esto me lleva a pensar que la vida da vuelcos inesperados y que la mejor manera de afrontarlos es con positivismo porque de ello se sacan muchas lecciones y aprendes a vivir y disfrutar más, a apreciar las pequeñas cosas como si fueran únicas.

Roci

Translation in English:

The post we have been waiting for from our friend Roci .. welcome to treintaomas !

Thirty or more, yes, at this point we think about many things: am I living the life I want to live, do I like what I do, my work, the city where I live, my partner, my house, my studies … all are things you start to think about.  And it just happens that you think about all these matters when you find yourself weak, and the world around you starts to crumble.. but here I am strong like a stone and I will not fall.

We are strong, although at certain times we fall apart like a sand castle. There is always an incident, a word, an event, a walk, anything could be a sign to make you react. But the important thing is to live such moment. Who would have said to me that in a matter of months my life would change so drastically, from being unemployed to finding a job, from having a boyfriend to not having one, from not owning a house to owning one, from not thinking about children to thinking about them. I have to admit this topic has been a taboo my entire life. In fact I always imagined my life without children around me. I have always been the black sheep amongst my friends clearly stating that I do not want to have children. However, for some strange reason, in recent months it seems that this idea comes to my head more times than I would have ever guessed. The reason? I cannot tell, but maybe it has something to do with the birth of my first niece, Elena. The mere fact of knowing that a small child has been born in my family, so small and helpless, fills me with such immense joy. Infinite happiness, that I do not even want to imagine, how I could feel something stronger if she was mine.

So yes, my outlook has changed and I feel happy because it makes me smile every time I think about it.

All this leads me to think that life takes unexpected twists and turns. The best way to cope is to be positive. From every situation, we can learn various lessons. We learn how to live. We learn how to enjoy life and how to appreciate more the little things and their uniqueness. 

Roci





30s, babies and mother’s day … post by Gabby

It seems that once you officially tie the knot, you’re expected to have babies. BAM!…no discussion about it. I can’t explain how many times I have been greeted by people raising an eyebrow and looking expectantly at my belly – some more obvious than others – expecting me to burst into a song and dance announcing I’m expecting.

I’ve learnt that once you hit your 30s, are married and still childless, people start raising their eyebrow even higher and insinuating that your biological clock is ticking even louder and that something should really be done about it.

When I finally did announce I was expecting, all the raised eye brows finally relaxed and I was given the seal of approval. Lucky me 😉

14 months ago I gave birth to a beautiful boy and as cliche as it may sound, it was the happiest day of my life. Holding him for the first time was an overwhelming experience that cannot be described. My husband and I instantly fell in love with our little bundle of joy and we realised that our world had shifted and had become even more beautiful.

I remember thinking that I finally had to grow up as I was responsible for another human being who depended on me, and to be honest, I was truly frightened.  Suddenly, everything changed. The comfortable routine that had been constructed prior to the baby has all changed and every chore has to be given considerate amount of organising and planning. A simple trip to the supermarket has to be planned and coordinated in advance and I won’t even mention the logistics necessary to plan a night out!

The first few months seem like a constant routine of feeding, changing and burping. Then it’s a matter of child proofing every inch of your home, removing any breakable object and totally ignoring the fact that little grubby hands have left their mark on the coffee table, television, wall and once beautiful white sofa.

Nobody describes the reality of the changes you have to make, or the patience you have to have – the eyebrow raisers certainly steer clear of the topic! 

Inspite of all the changes, these 14 months have been amazing. After having got over the initial hiccups of figuring out what to do with a new-born baby, I started to relax and take the whole experience in my stride. I have accepted the fact that I am not flawless and all that I can do is try my best, learn along the way and enjoy being a mum.

And I must say, it is enjoyable.

Seeing him changing and learning everyday is amazing. Each new achievement he makes means my husband will be whipping out the video camera, ready to record the moment and if the camera is out of battery or not at hand, we get into a frenzy and try to see how to capture the moment.

A proud phonecall to my mother would then ensue, telling her all the wonderful things he’s learnt since we last spoke. Anybody watching us would think that we’re the only parents on the planet!

It’s at times like these that you need to talk to other parents and realise that they do the exact same thing – at least we’re not the only two people losing our marbles.

Today is Mother’s Day and after having been allowed a little lie-in, my husband and son were waiting for me with a card and gift in hand. With a few wobbly steps, my son came over and even managed a sloppy wet kiss, which made my day. At the end of the day it’s the little gestures which have the biggest impact and for the millionth time, I reminded myself about how blessed I am.

 

With my thirties advancing rapidly, I am once again expecting eyebrows to be raised and questions to be asked about when I’m having baby number 2. Hints like – it would be so beautiful for my son to grow up with a sibling or not to leave a big age gap between siblings – have already been dropped.

Who knows? I may just follow their advice…..