01 July 2008

Sheikha Mozah ... such elegance !

I stumbled upon Beautiful Muslimah a blog about fashion and the hjab and was amazed at the amount of content Alixianna the blogger had about the hjab and fashion. It is a tricky and popular matter to have fun with fashion whilst wearing a hjab and covering up, but the blog is so rich with ideas, tips, and articles on how to mix both up, it looks rather fun and not as hard as I thought it would be! I will def go back for more an depth read ! But until then check out these pictures of Sheikha Moza. She is the wife and high-profile figure of her Qatar's politics and society, and plays an active role in Qatar's government. She is the driving force behind Education City and is also the Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, Vice-President of the Supreme Education Council and a UNESCO Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education. For a well rounded visionary in the middle east , she also has fantastic style, and wears her hjab with such elegance and grace!

















The Painted Viel .. Still my Numba One

Watching the Edge of Love over the weekend really got me thinking of my ultimate number 1 movie , The Painted Veil, which I saw a couple of times in the cinema last year (which I never do). I loved the movie so much I went out to get the book by Somerset Maugham which I have re-read twice (which I also never do).

You will have no trouble falling in love with this movie, it combines a powerful love story, cultural conflict, and engaging performance by Naomi watts and Edward Norton.

The Painted Veil begins in 1920’s London society, where Kitty (Watts) is considered an old maid though she is just in her early twenties. Rather than stay confided to her mother Kitty chooses to marry the very boring and dull bacteriologist Walter Fane (Norton) and quickly moves with him to Shanghai.

Walter is not quite the knight in shining armor Kitty imagined, and she gives up all hope on him after an awkward romantic encounter with his socks on and the lights off. Kitty then finds herself attracted to the Vice Counsel Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber- whom she is now married to, they also have a baby together). Their relationship develops into a love affair and it's not long before Walter discovers their affair. Broken hearted and furious, Walter takes up a job in a cholera-infested village and cruelly insists that Kitty come with him. As disease and strife tear apart the world around them, Kitty and Walter find a way to come back together.

More impressive then the plot is amazing cinematography. At times, the scenery is so beautiful you literally forget you are in the cinema! Both Watts and Norton give outstanding performances and the chemistry between them is so passionate and strong. At times, a glance between them was moving enough to make you shiver.

The Painted Veil is so romantic, but its also about self-discovery in light of cultural differences and bleak circumstances. Truly unmissable.
































The Edge of Love .. Heavenly!

Excuse the flow of movie reviews coming your way, I'm tending to spend my long hot summer days wilstering in the bargain sails in London's West End, and cooling off by watching movies after I've usually eaten a truckload of Cous Cous in the evening.

If I could direct a movie ( it is on my imaginary to-do list) this movie would be it. Since I watched the Painted Veil last summer(starring Naomi Watts and the gorgeous Edward Norton in rural China during the cholera epidemic), no movie has come close to hitting home. But I am so happy to say the Edge of Love had me on the edge of seat, not breathing at times at the wonders of this movie. It was poetry made into a movie. When the acting is sooo good, the plot so sharp and flows so easily from one scene to the other, the costume so deliciously perfect, the location synonymous with the story, the music and script and direction was just so epic, it fits and is like poetry. I just found no flaw in the movie, and I loved how there was so right or wrong in the plot rather you are left with some space to make some of your own judgment and staple together your personal conclusions. I found myself slowly gluing parts of the narrative together long after the movie has finished.

The movie is about Dylan Thomas a Welsh poet starring his wife played by Sienna Miller and his muse Keira Knightley (the screenplay was written by Knightley's mother, Sharman MacDonald).

The film shows glimpses of Thomas's poetry but there is more emphasis on the women in his life his wife Caitlin (Miller) and Vera (Knightley), his childhood sweetheart. It's 1941 ( same setting as Atonement), and Vera has established a somewhat successful career as a singer entertaining the troops in the underground tube station, attracting a captain named William Killick (Cillian Murphy who is utterly gorgeous in this film). But when William goes off to war, Vera find herself in a not-so-obvious love triangle with Caitlin and Thomas (Matthew Rhys). The best part about The Edge of Love is Seinna Miller who for the first time ever proves she is more than a fashion trendsetter but also an amazing actress. It is also the first time I find Keira so beautiful in this movie, its almost tiring to watch close-ups of her face over and over again when she sings (very beautifully I may add). This movie is really a must see, I do highly recommend this British Beauty!