Le Nom Des Gens - film review

The names of love. That is the English translation of this outrageous, hilarious and inspiring French film starring people I have never seen or heard about.

This film won some French equivalent of the Oscars ... specifically the lead woman protagonist. She is an amazing actor. Wide blue eyes like saucers and a toothy smile and at least one breast exposed is how she waltzes throughout this comedy drama about the war between liberal left and conservative right.

Her character is an odd mix of ethnic backgrounds which runs into his, that of a closet Jew with a scientific mind and life of quiet solitude including his work as a veterinarian / epidemiologist in Paris. The collision of these two personalities, one reserved and scientific and her character a complete hippie who views the world in black and white or leftist and fascists makes for 90 minutes of humor like no other.

With phrases that describe arcane concepts like 'hybrid vitality' and 'political whore' the film takes the viewer through some harsh and uncomfortable reality of the biased world we live in.

Good watch.

Comments

Charges attract

It is said that opposites attract meaning people with contrary viewpoint sometimes find chemistry to be together. But I'm referring to a modern twist where people are merely attracted towards a common place because their uber communication device aka smart phone is about to die. The charging station. From airports to hotel lobbies or even bathrooms, when in need they are attracted to this power outlet like moths to a flame or a junkie to a needle. A whole new business of supplying these hyper connected folks is now born whose lifesaver product is a backup charge. Asian tourists perpetually carry a phone sized battery pack stuck to their latest Apple phone updating their status to folks in Hong Kong or Shanghai or Bangalore as they pose for selfies with weird facial expressions and fingers pointed out in a letter V. Vain? PS: I dis'charged' my blogger duties making this insightful observation as my phone is about to breathe it's last and my flight gets call...

Costa Rica

Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry. Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while. Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Brown Motion

Search This Blog