Yesterday's Visits Part Two

[jazzy_dave]

The books i bought at  the quaintly lopsided edifice of  Book Place Canterbury are paperbacks ; one on art , the other on philosophy.

The painters book is an old Fontana paperback from 1962 and cheap at fifty pence.





Whilst in Canterbury  i visited the West Gate Inn pub to half another Sixpoint  Bengali Tiger ale.



The river Stour as seen from the High Street. I like the reflection in the water.

I then caught the bus to Ashford to do my cinema visit. The bus was late leaving Canterbury and it arrived in Ashford half an hour later than it should.It visits Wye on the way down which has a rail station manned by a signalman as the barriers there are not automatic - so he has to pen and shut the gates before a train goes through. Consequently, as the village lies on one side of the railway line the bus has to go into the village and out again the way it came in. The us got caught both ways waiting for trains to either alight at the station or pass through.

The film i saw was the new Wes Andesron film "The Grand Budapest Hotel", with a host of stars and is based on the writings of Stefan Zweig. The plot of the film ,nabbed from Wikipedia, is under the cut for those who want to read it.

The film opens in the present as a teenage girl approaches a monument to a writer in a cemetery. In her arms is a memoir penned by a character only known as "The Author." She begins reading a chapter about a trip he made to the Grand Budapest Hotel in the late 1960s. Located in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka, a central European ^[10]nation ravaged by war and poverty, he discovers that the remote, mountainside hotel has fallen on hard times. Much of its lustrous facilities are now in a poor state of repair and its guests are few and far between.

The Author encounters the hotel's old owner, Zero Moustafa, one afternoon and they agree to meet later that evening. Over dinner in the hotel's enormous dining room, Zero tells him the tale of how he took ownership of the Grand Budapest and why he is unwilling to close it down.

The owner's story begins in 1932 during the final years of the hotel's glory days, when he worked as a lobby boy. Zubrowka is on the verge of war but this of little concern to Gustave, the Grand Budapest's devoted concierge. When he is not attending to the needs of the hotel's wealthy clientele or managing its staff, Gustave courts a series of aging, blonde women who flock to the hotel to enjoy his "exceptional service." One of the ladies is Madame D, and Gustave spends the night with her prior to her departure.

A few days later, he is informed that Madame D has died under mysterious circumstances. He races to her wake and the reading of the will, where he learns that she bequeathed him Boy With Apple, a valuable painting, in her will. This enrages her family, all of whom hoped to inherit it. Her son, Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis, lashes out at Gustave. With the help of Zero, Gustave takes the painting and returns to the Grand Budapest, securing the painting in the hotel's safe. During the journey, Gustave makes a pact with Zero - in return for the latter's help, he makes Zero his heir. Gustave is shortly after arrested and imprisoned for the murder of Madame D.

Zero aids Gustave in escaping from Zubrowka's maximum security prison by sending a series stoneworking tools concealed inside cakes. Along with a group of hardened cons, Gustave digs his way out of his cell. They part ways and Gustave teams up with Zero to prove his innocence. Their adventure takes them to a mountaintop monastery where they meet with Serge X, the only person who can provide Gustav with an alibi for the night of Madame D's murder. They are pursued by J.G. Jopling, a cold-blooded assassin who manages to kill Serge. Zero and Gustave steal a sled and chase Jopling as he flees the monastery on skis. During a face-off at the edge of a cliff, Zero pushes the assassin to his death and rescues his mentor.

Back at the Grand Budapest, the military have commandeered the hotel and are in the process of converting it into a barracks. The outbreak of war is now imminent. A heartbroken Gustave vows to never again pass the threshold. They are joined by Agatha, Zero's love interest. She agrees to go inside to retrieve the painting but is discovered by Dmitri. A chase and a gunfight ensue before Gustave's innocence is finally proven via a confessional letter, penned by Serge, that was hidden in the painting's frame. It contains the latest version of Madame D's will which reveals that she was the mysterious owner of the Grand Budapest. She leaves much of her fortune, the hotel and the painting to Gustave, making him fabulously wealthy in the process. He becomes one of the hotel's regular guests.

During a train journey across the border, enemy soldiers inspect Gustave and Zero's papers. Narrating the story, Zero describes Gustave being taken out and shot. As his heir, Zero inherits the fortune Gustave leaves behind. Zero vows to continue his legacy at the Grand Budapest but the ongoing conflict and the ravages of time slowly begin to take their toll. Agatha succumbs to a disease and dies a few years later.

An aging and devastated Zero confesses to the Author that he cannot bring himself to close the hotel because it is his last link to his dearly departed wife and the best years of his life. The Author later departs for South America and never returns to the hotel, leaving both it and Zero's ultimate fate unknown. Back in the present, the girl finishes reading the chapter about the Grand Budapest and leaves the courtyard.

It was a very good film, highly stylized , and will probably need watching again ,It was not as funny as i hoped despite being billed as a comedy drama. If you like the Royal Tenebaums you should enjoy this.

I arrived back in Teyhnam fifteen minutes before midnight. I was quite tired as well.

The final part of this post will deal with the jazz CD's i bought in Faversham.