A week or so ago a friend of mine stated that I was to accompany her to the movies. We were going to see Frances Ha. We would take with us some backed rolls and coffee (the most appropriate movie treat in our opinion) and wollow along with the chatachters because that is a lovely activity for any Satruday afternoon. I of course readily agreed. My expectations for the afternoon were high but as for the movie I was sceptical. The Squid and the Whale, an earler cinematic undertaking of the same director, had left me somewhat cold and the strong self-conciously hipster black-and-white vibes this movie was sending were not convincing me.
We stared our excursion by a stop at one of the only two places in Helsinki that sells bubble tea – E2.
Oh yeah, if you were expecting straight forward narration and a simple movie review, you got the wrong address. Sorry.
Anyway. The bubble tea. I’d tasted the stuff before in Asia and quite liked it. I have an odd fascination with weird foods in general and the idea of small sweetpotatoe based jelly like balls in my cold tea just turns me on. Understandably, this is not the case for eveyone and my friend found the drink, espcially said jelly like balls, disturbing and discusting. I had most of her tea bubbles and felt a tad icky afterwords. But that may have been the rolls or the popcorn be had at the movie, hard to say really. The cafe, E2, was filled with Taiwanies people enjoying their bubble tea. Especially for Finland, I found the place refreshinly different. So if you’re in the mood for some sweetpotatoe ball tea now you know where to go.
As for the movie. I loved it. Its quiet pace, quirkyness and melancholy felt surprisngly sencere.
On later reflection, it seemed like one of the best portrayals of ”my generation” I have seen…well perhaps ever. The generation with wider possibilities and freedoms than ever before and impossibly high expectations to go with that. The generation that grew up in a world of ever increasing individualism and international and technological turmoil. The generation that took birth control as a given and therefore had to redefine such central elements of life as relationships.
It seems we yearn for closeness and notable personal achievement but are often and perhaps increasingly unsure of how were are supposed to strive for these and thus unfortunately often disappointed with life.
While the movie does not provide a cure or a magical answer to the woes listed above it can perhaps help some of us understand our ourselves or the people around us a little better. And that’s really what good books and movies are almost all about I’d say.
To sum up: bubble tea and Frances Ha for all!
Oh yeah, welcome to my blog. Enjoy.
