i still have time to read. and to blog.

I acquired the book of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind, and I was thrilled. I devoured the book at hand and managed to finish it (after periods of interruption and frustrations) after two days and a night. 

I watched the movie first, if you remembered. The movie was after all an almost faithful recreation of the book, with the characters brought to life solidifying my imagination and enhancing my memory as each pages were procreated as flitting and well-befitting as the concoction of the words that were used. The book was a mediocre work of a god, that if you know what I mean. I was merely (an understatement) drawn by the words which were as clear as they were colorful,  as they reverberated in the inner recesses of my brain. If Grenouille was so intoxicated by virginal scents, I was allured and drugged by the wondrously harnessed texts. I forgot I was just a reader. At least temporarily. The story was a perfect work of a genius with Grenouille being a perfect murderer, a sublime image of a psychopath, a personage worth hating and loving at the same time. 

I definitely gave a thumbs-up for the story, the plot. The movie, however, still could not contain the delightfully macabre description of everything that was on the book. Don't fret for the movie though. It is as volatile as the book, and to watch it is blissful as reading the book, however with certain degree of  homage to the book.

Spoilers. The movie salvaged 12 virginal scents with the addition of the final scent, that was Laure's, to complete the perfect scent that Grenouille concocted in his mind. However, in the book, Grenouille needed 24 sacrificial virgins and Laure, to perfect his gallery for the creation of his infamous perfume. A major modification? That's why sometimes movies suck. And we who watched suck the most. So read! Lol. Click.

perfume: the story of a murderer (a movie review).

In my quest to find the movie that could be both boredom-killer and mind-blower, I came across with so many books (not movies, my mood shifts so sudden) with which I found disappointing until I came across with a book written by Peter Suskind. I didn't know how I came across with such. Pardon me with my memory, they became picky sometimes. The title caught my interest. It was like fireworks display during Holy Week. I tried to find an e-book of this title but the luck seemed to be dodgy that time. I tried to satiate my bloodthirsty excitement by scanning series of videos from YouTube and I was not disappointed to see that there were installed parts of the movie. Do I sound cheap? Get lost. So click and roll!

But my happiness was just few reels away since I found out that it was not complete. Damn that pathetic creature who uploaded the first few parts only. Bet he's spending his life like a troglodyte now. Selfish brat! And so continue my mind-wrecking quest to find the whole copy of the movie. Since this movie was quite not popular, I had a hard time finding the legendary copy of this. That was when the world of torrents did not open itself to me first. So shy. It was a year ago. HAH!

Anyway, I have a repertoire of taste when it comes to movie. They range from the cochlear-busting-slash-techie type of films up to the grotesque-slash-epic movies which were all docile to the whims of my mood. Such movies were all slaved by my own criteria. You see, I have my own yardstick with which I gauge the movies I watch, whether they are just another waste-of-time piece or an epic one. Some considerations to see were as follows (you can plagiarize mine):

1. The actors or actresses are not make-believe like some sort of once-upon-a-time story with which the characters are too perfect to be true that even the strands of their hair look like Venuses intertwined. Movies should be realistic. Or almost.

2. The story is a spark of wit, struggle, beauty coupled with brilliant eloquence. It should be a banquet of rich storyline and not just an hors d'oeuvres of CGI effects and gadgetry (although this may pass for an eye-candy).

3.The movie haunts your deepest psyche and thus leave you, if you're in a cinema, dumbfounded; or if you're at home, insomniac after you've already watched the movie 3 times in a row. It becomes a topic for a week.

Going back to what I mentioned a while ago, I downloaded the movie from a torrent and watched it with my friends. I'm sorry I can't find it in any movie shelf since last year. Waiting until now was way too much for me, my ego's bleeding. But patience was always rewarded. With Smeagol laugh, I could finally ravaged "my preciousssss". So click and roll!

The story revolved around the brilliantly gifted and grotesquely obsessed perfumer, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille who performed a morbid experiment to preserve the scent which could bring the world at its feet. The narration was flawlessly delivered and the scenes perfectly executed. Wait. I won't summarize the film for you coz this will render you imbecile relying too much in my shortchanged compendium. Just a tickler though. Naked bald girls. Homicide. 12 + 1 scent = ultimate perfume. A modest orgy. A cannibalistic ending.

Let me share a piece of it to you (a narrative excerpt towards the end):

"He still had enough perfume left to enslave the whole world if he so chose. He could walk to Versailles and have the king kiss his feet. He could write the pope a perfumed letter and reveal himself as the new Messiah. He could do all this, and more, if he wanted to. He possessed a power stronger than the power of money, or terror, or death - the invincible power to command the love of man kind. There was only one thing the perfume could not do. It could not turn him into a person who could love and be loved like everyone else. So, to hell with it he thought. To hell with the world. With the perfume. With himself."

You'll be surprised to hear that familiar twang of Alan Rickman. Remember Snape of Harry Potter? You'd wished you'd been circumcised twice if you'll not watch this.