Marie Brenner writes in her new memoir Apples and Oranges, “It is the tone I know well, hate and love, rage and need, all scrambled together.” A sister’s desire to understand her older brother takes her out of the city and into Washington State, better known as apple country. Coming from a journalistic background the book reads like Brenner is in a hurry, chapters are short, sentences even shorter, facts are thrown on to the pages in a flurry. The story itself is intriguing especially for those of us who have siblings, even more so with those that have a difficult relationship with their siblings. Apples and Oranges never fully grasped my attention but did continue to entertain and intrigue which made me return to the book until the end.
A husband goes off to fight the war in Iraq. A wife (Lisa Kudrow) is left to take care of her two unruly boys and hold down the fort. An awkward and inane brother-in law (Scott Prendergast) is asked to help out with the kids. Kabluey, the mascot for a local business, brings these characters together as they rediscover the meaning of family, friendship and community. The movie is surprisingly hilarious, touching and captivating.
Successful as a professor and cultural critic, David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) is brief and noncommittal in relationships with women because ”beautiful women are invisible… we are so dazzled by the outside we never make it in.” Ideals are altered by a magnetism Kepesh feels for the unique and radiant austerity of a student (Penelope Cruz) in one of his lectures. In “old age”, which Kepesh believes to be “the biggest surprise in a man’s life” he reflects on friendship, family, and most deeply, love.
Elegy is casted impeccably and the direction of Isabel Coixet is affecting.
Marie Brenner writes in her new memoir Apples and Oranges, “It is the tone I know well, hate and love, rage and need, all scrambled together.” A sister’s desire to understand her older brother takes her out of the city and into Washington State, better known as apple country. Coming from a journalistic background the book reads like Brenner is in a hurry, chapters are short, sentences even shorter, facts are thrown on to the pages in a flurry. The story itself is intriguing especially for those of us who have siblings, even more so with those that have a difficult relationship with their siblings. Apples and Oranges never fully grasped my attention but did continue to entertain and intrigue which made me return to the book until the end.
