Rooms on Film: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

star-crossed: dodge and penny meet mere days before the apocalypse

This is one of those movies I watch whenever I find it playing on cable. A quiet little story about two people who meet as the world is counting down the end of days. As society literally breaks down around them, giving way to despair and chaos on every level, neighbors Dodge and Penny meet and join forces to return to their loved ones before an oncoming asteriod extincts mankind.

While Dodge is the main character, mired in a tidy regret, this post is about flighty Penny's apartment. She's the life of this party...

Rooms on Film: How to Make it in America 2

rachel (lake bell) in her one bedroom palace eclectic

Okay, so it has been a year since my first post on this cancelled HBO series, but as promised, here is the second installment featuring my favorite of the show’s many homes! In season two of How to Make it in America, Rachel (Lake Bell) moves into an eclectic 1BR apartment. Designed by Kelly McGehee, the set has a typical prewar breadbox layout. The never-seen bathroom is just off the front door, the simple kitchen flows into the vibrant living room, followed by the sunny bedroom. The apartment also has lovely prewar bones, including French doors and a bay window…

Rooms on Film: Enough Said (Marianne's House)

Let's have a look at the second of three lovely homes in the 2013 film, Enough Said. Unlike main character, Eva's (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) little suburban two bedroom, Marianne's (Catherine Keener) house is just a little more..something I can't quite put my finger on. Certainly Eva is impressed when she first visits the home. This one is also in a suburban neighborhood, but the location seems to offer some cooler outdoor decoration options. 

Should Eva be jealous? I certainly am.

Rooms on Film: The Bourne Legacy

This action flick is a lot of fun! Tense, exciting, covers lots of climates and locales. As is typical of a Bourne film, everyone was dead serious. There isn't much room for comic relief. If someone smiles before the last five minutes of the film, they probably don't mean it. By far, the most arresting interior location was this rural Virginia mansion owned by Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz). Still very firmly in fixer-upper status, this house was completely breathtaking. From this wonderful oval staircase to the worn gray exterior, it was a marvel of great bones and light. The abundant potential was evident in every shot.

Brace yourself, this ends in flames. 

Rooms on Film: Think Like A Man

based on steve harvey's #1 bestselling book

This movie hasn't even opened yet. I just saw the trailer in front of the sci-fi flick, Chronicle (which rocked out 100%!). A few cool sets were shown in the...2.5 minutes, a gorgeous global bedroom among them. So, of course, I had to find a few shots while it was still on the brain. Think I'll go see this one just to see the rest of this girl's home:

her clothes fit with her decor: ethnic prints and chic colors

Rooms on Film: Just Wright

leslie's (queen latifah) bedroom - very vintage

It's a story as old as the hills: worthy, confident chick falls for a guy who can only see vapid lookers, until he finally realizes the difference between companionship and lust. Such is the formula of Just Wright, in which two cousins fall for a pro basketball player for different reasons. Consummate physical trainer, Leslie, saves the career of hotshot, Scott, at the behest of his fiancee - her freeloading, golddigging cousin - Morgan, and falls in love herself.

Personally, I find this story baffling. 

Rooms on Film: The Adjustment Bureau

I don't know what is going on with Matt Damon right now, but he keeps doing movies that make me kinda love him. Not he's-so-hot-infatuated love. No, I'm talking old school Andrew McCarthy-he's-so-sweet-love. To wit, a charming little movie called The Adjustment Bureau which has been all over HBO lately. 

matt damon and emily blunt

Rooms on Film: Mission: Impossible II

So there's this new movie out, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, which I definitely plan to see. Action movies are absolutely my thing. But in the course of reviewing the new movie, many people have passed judgment on it's three predecessors, particularly M:I-2. Despite the fact that M:I-2 outgrossed the other films by $10 million to date, it is apparently the least loved in the series. 

But not by me. Oh, no. M:I-2 is one of my guilty pleasures, right up there with The Legend of Billie Jean. Actually, higher.

Rooms on Film: HBO's Hung

Have you ever watched that HBO recession sitcom, Hung? I tend to enjoy the mind games the characters play, the hijinks this fly-by-night prostitution scheme leads to and the Sex and the City-style comic sex scenes. And, in particular, I like the down-to-earth set design. My favorite set is Tanya Skagle's modest 1BR  apartment. The cool thing about her place is that it is colorful, eclectic and realistic. It is a rabble of items that are old, low-cost, affordable and occasionally expensive. You believe this quirky, neurotic, creative person lives here. 

This season Hung has come up with a new set: the Wellness Center for Women. Thanks to HBO's thoughtful guided tour video, I was able to explore the space more closely than the show does. I'm actually quite curious as to how they decided to decorate it. Quite a bit of the furnishings look salvaged. We get to see the characters decorate with artwork that supports their seminar, "Orgasmic Living," both subtly and overtly.

Rooms on Film: The Guitar

Back in 2008, I was perusing the New York Times and saw a review for a movie called, The Guitar. The movie sounded like a real downer: Last Holiday, without the life savings and whirlwind travel spree. The accompanying photo seemed to confirm this as the doomed protagonist appeared pale and emaciated. Her environment however - financed by a credit card spending spree - was…to die for:

image credit: jo jo whilden/cold fusion media

 

Some time later, I stumbled on the image in my extensive "style tray" folder and started searching for screencaps. The internet turned up very little, but some of the images really looked promising in terms of the overall set. Then, lo and behold, one evening the movie  - which was a Sundance Festival entrant - turned up on Sundance Channel. Finally, a chance to see this delicious apartment in all its glory! It did not disappoint. This apartment is, to borrow from Pat Conroy, “a feast for the human eye.” The way it is decorated and lived in defines bohemian living. Facing her end, Melody Wilder revels in every reasonable sort of sensory and sensual indulgence. And. I. Mean. Every. She literally takes the time to delight in being able to smell, taste, touch, hear, and see. 

If you've seen The Guitar, you know it does get a little steamy in the middle. And the musical score rocks. And it is a bit unbelievable. But...this sort of urban fairy tale of how it takes a terminal cancer diagnosis to help broken note, Melody Wilder, rediscover her harmony is really pretty fun and uplifting. The environment, moving from a dark, cramped basement apartment, to a sunny penthouse loft on the Hudson River, is as responsible for Melody's reawakening as anything else. 

Witness the transformation: 

Rooms on Film: Diario de Una Ninfomana

If you follow my Flickr stream, you know I developed a minor obsession with the sets in this film last year. In particular, the leading lady's apartment in the beginning of the film, where her pursuit of pleasure is firmly established.

Based on the book (bio) by Valerie Tasso, the film is set in Barcelona where we follow Valerie through the ups and downs of finding the right man to match her appetites, maintaining steady employment and taking advice from her elderly French grandmother. Later, things gets dizzily better and then tragically worse. 

This movie is so frank and randy that people find it rather scandalous. But I broke down and ordered the dvd and I have to say... it ain't so bad. She's just a woman with a very strong libido who really does want the fantasy of a prince to sweep her off her feet and give her a family. Val goes down some taboo paths to find her way, but she comes to understand the dark side of some her fantasies.

But, oh, that apartment...

the eclectic hallway of val's barcelona apartment

Color Texture Pattern: Words to Live By

For sure, the same basic things attract me in home design as attract me in fashion. Color + Texture + Pattern. Then throw in Shape as the final criterion. Every item in a space should possess those three aspects. Particularly spaces that are Eclectic or Bohemian. And all of these things work best in some kind of balance that soothes the eye. Brights with neutrals, shiny with coarse, stripes with florals, large prints with small, and round with angular. 

Observe the various bedrooms from each Season of the series Secret Diary of a Call Girl:

Season 1:  the room features an ornate, carved bed with upholstery that has an earth tone smooth background and a bright velvety floral print. the wall is done in a floral brocade wallpaper. and the feature wall is accented in satin, brocade curtains in a rich deep purple. as an eclectic touch: the bedside table is a modern ghost, and the lamp is a retro mod in bright blue and red. and the round cocoa chairs add another opposing style.