Music
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REVIEWS
Jupiter & Okwess International Hotel Universe
It may seem odd for a person who attaches great importance to lyrics to review an album where he barely understands a single word. But sometimes you have to broaden your horizons, and that is exactly what Jupiter & Okwess International’ s new album does.
With influences from all over the world and an album called Hotel Univers- this is truly nomadic music. It is not only the international artist and the name of the album that is intriguing, the music is interesting too, though the quality varies from track to track.
Despite using everything from South American and Latino Manu Chao trumpets on Magerita to funky Jimi Hendrix riffs on Bakwapanu, the artist still manages to create an album that does not feel incoherent.
I especially noted The World is my Land?” This track mixes English lines with German and references important world politics when the singer, in German, repeats Kennedy’ s famous words:“ Ich bin ein Berliner.”
Hotel Univers by Jupiter & Okwess International is, as the title implies, an album without borders, in musical, cultural and linguistic terms.
// Rasmus Arvidsson
Come As You Are Director: Geoffrey Enthoven Language: Flemish
A road trip across Europe with your best friends is what many twentysomethings do. But what happens when the three young Belgian men taking the trip are- Lars( Gilles de Schryver), whose degenerative brain tumour has him wheelchair bound, Jozef( Tom Audenaert) who is partially blind and Philip( Robrecht Vanden Thoren) who is immobilised from the neck down.
Come As You Are is the journey of these three friends as they take charge of their lives and decidwqawe to go on a road trip along the wine-route to Spain. Their ultimate destination? A brothel Philip hears of from a friend, in the Spanish district of Punta Del Mar, that specialises in catering to the disabled.
The journey is planned, the protective parents have been convinced and a caretaker has been arranged, when tragedy strikes. Lars’ condition deteriorates and the doctors pass a grim verdict.
The shocking news spurs them into hiring a different caretaker on the sly, and to leave without informing their parents, trying to make the most of life while they still can. Based on the real life experience of Asta Philipot, a British advocate for sexual rights of the disabled, the film’ s sharp portrayal of stark realities is peppered with humour that is situational without ridiculing the protagonists’ disabilities.
Like any good road trip movie, the journey in the film serves as an opportunity for each character to make peace with personal dilemmas and their fellow travellers.
Their initial dislike of their nurse and driver, Claude, eventually evolves into admiration and friendship.
Philip de Clerq’ s witty screenplay and crisp dialogue adds to the narrative’ s charm, picking up on stereotypes encountered while travelling- with the Flemish protagonists loathing French speaking Claude and the fight they pick with Dutch tourists at a vineyard.
Enthoven packs in some great shots of rain-drenched Paris, camping and sun-kissed Spanish beaches- all seen through the eyes of the protagonists, who seeing the world with new eyes.
Oscillating between laughter and tears, Come As You Are entertains while raising awareness and is definitely worth a watch.
// Shreeja Ravindranathan
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