I was passing through Oxfam today and found myself flicking through a film review book. This isn't something I'd usually do, since I've monogamously been reading the Time Out Film Guides for over a decade and although it's always good to have a second opinion, Time Out has always seemed to chime exactly with mine. But something drew me to The New York Times: The Best DVDs You've Never Seen, Just Missed or Almost Forgotten and I think it might have been, after looking at the back of the cover, because it was an American book which had somehow found itself deposited on Bold Street in Liverpool.
Glancing across the pages I discover just how curious it was. Sporadically, across the reviews are post-it notes, which seem to have been left there by the previous owner, sometimes in English, sometimes in French, offering pithy opinions or comments about each of the films. Picking a couple at random: Doug Lyman's Go attracts 'Sarah Polley = Lucy M. Montgomery', Dead Man Walking 'Intressment' and Bring It On 'Best DVD? OK! Ils font aucime discrimination!!! xxx' or something like that, the handwriting is often a bit unclear. It's wonderful and strange and mysterious and I've uploaded pictures of every single note to flickr so that you can read them yourself, and if you know some French, perhaps you could try and offer some translations in the comments there. I'd love to know what some of them actually say.
Am trying to translate what I can. This person keeps using the verb 'to listen' instead of 'to watch' when he's talking about films. French slang, or just plain wrong? My French isn't *that* good.
ReplyDeleteI can see that, thank you very much. It could be slang I suppose, though French is better than mine by all accounts. But what's emerging is someone who's got a good sense of humour in any case. Am I wrong to think that for reason alone it has to be female -- let alone the handwriting?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought too, but sometimes it seems a little too smartalecky for a girl.
ReplyDeleteThe 'to listen' thing is common (and quite possibly correct, I never bothered to ask my academic friends about it) way of saying you've watched.
ReplyDeleteAha. There is a mention of post secondary school system found only in one part of Canada, Cegep. It would seem that the post it note author is from Quebec.
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