Tag: Follow the Sun

Children's · Classic Films

Pollyanna

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Pollyanna, 1960

Sometimes, it can be challenging to play the “glad game”. I’ve been thinking about this recently as I approach the one-year anniversary of my novel Follow the Sun being published. I look back on those photos of my launch party and my smiling face as I finally saw my book on a shelf, and I want to go back in time and tell this person: enjoy it because this might be the only day you’ll feel like you’re “enough”. As I wrestle with my thoughts about a book that never really found its audience, and contemplate getting back on the roller coaster again, I think about what Richard Egan says in this week’s pick Pollyanna (Disc/Download): “What this girl really needs is a good shot in the arm of hope.”

In Disney’s first venture into live-action cinema, Hayley Mills plays the perpetually sunny orphan Pollyanna, who is sent to live with her rich spinster aunt Polly. In a town full of jaded, disgruntled people, this little girl is a bright light of positivity. She convinces Agnes Moorehead that it’s far too early to be picking out a coffin, she shows Adolphe Menjou that his knowledge of refracted light is actually really cool, and she helps Jane Wyman find a second chance at love with Richard Egan. With a cast like this, and a heavy dose of melodramatic music, I’m a little shocked this film was not directed by Douglas Sirk. It feels very Sirk, with a dash of Frank Capra. Just like George Bailey, Pollyanna will realize that when the chips are down, and her little white-stocking’d legs are paralyzed after a bad fall off the roof, it’s her community who’s really there for her. They are what she can be glad about, just like I’m glad for mine.

One thing I can say about Harrington (sorry, “Gladtown”) is that the residents really like their ice cream. I didn’t even know ice cream was such a thing at the turn of the century, let alone variations like Sorbet and Frappes! This week, let’s enjoy this sweet pink riff on the Strawberry Frappe, a Ladies Aid.

Ladies Aid

2 oz Beefeater Pink Gin

1 scoop Vanilla Ice Cream

3/4 oz Lemon Juice

1/4 cup Milk

3-4 Strawberries, sliced

3/4 cup crushed ice

Strawberry (garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass with one large ice cube, and garnish with fresh strawberry.

I am all too aware of how many wonderful manuscripts never make it out of an agent’s slush pile, and therefore I’ll always be glad mine miraculously made it through the gauntlet of luck, timing, and craft to land with a major publisher who put so much care into the editorial and design process (not to mention the stellar audiobook version, which totally made me cry happy tears!!!). I am also glad that the wonderful people who did read Follow the Sun have reached out with their positive reactions and let me know my work meant something to them. I’m glad I still have this blog, which brings me so much joy and stress-relief week after week. I’m glad that by publishing this book, I saw my Cinema Sips community grow even more, because as it turns out, people who like to read also like movies and cocktails. I’m glad I have people in my life encouraging me to try, try again. Maybe, just maybe, I’m playing the game after all. Cheers!

Classic Films · Holiday Films · Musicals

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964

During a recent conversation with a friend, the subject of 1960s Christmas movies came up. Trying to list my favorites, I quickly hit a wall. Seems the 1940s and the 1990s pretty much cornered the market on holiday flicks. Maybe that’s why I wrote such a lengthy Christmas section into my novel Follow the Sun—I wanted to create a stylish world of silver tinsel trees, Shiny Brite ornaments, and elaborate teased updos. A world of Henry Mancini albums on the hi-fi, fondue on the buffet table, and structured Saint Laurent evening gowns. Like my novel, Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Disc/Download) only has a brief stopover at Christmas, but it’s memorable enough for me to consider this a holiday film. And not just any holiday film, but the most glamorous one in existence.

Presented in operatic form, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg has a straightforward (albeit tragic) plot. Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve) and Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) are young, gorgeous, and madly in love. They consummate the relationship shortly before Guy leaves for war, and although Geneviève promises she’ll wait for him, her meddling mother forces her to doubt he’s ever coming back. Pregnant and alone, she marries someone else, leaving the father of her child heartbroken upon his return. Eventually, he moves on too, and years later they share a sad reunion under the backdrop of a snowy gas station. With stunning production design and more color than I’ve ever seen in a movie, Umbrellas manages to make a world papered in pink and orange damask impossibly sad and beautiful. As Catherine Deneueve trudges back to her car on that cold Christmas Eve, your heart just breaks for her. This is the definition of a Blue Christmas.

I covered this movie years ago for Moviejawn with a Crème de Violette cocktail, however this was before Empress 1908 gin came into my life. Distilled with butterfly pea flower, this gin has lately given rise to many colorful cocktail experiments. One of my favorite gin botanicals is cinnamon, so I’ll be using it for a holiday twist on a French ’75. While watching The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, I recommend drinking a Cinnamon ‘75*.

Cinnamon ‘75

1 ½ oz Empress 1908 Gin

¾ oz Lemon Juice

½ oz Cinnamon Syrup

1 tsp. Maple Syrup

Champagne, to top

Cinnamon stick garnish

Combine gin, lemon juice, cinnamon syrup, and maple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with champagne, and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

*Recipe adapted from Empress Gin website

I like to think the characters of Follow the Sun would have seen this movie upon its release in 1964, and maybe Caroline, drawn to the emotional music score, would have returned more than once. Perhaps Daphne narrowly missed out on the Catherine Deneuve role because of her lackluster singing voice, and she still holds a grudge against Jacques Demy. Maybe it caused them to realize (as it caused me to realize) that the holidays might be painful as we think about those we’ve loved and lost, but nevertheless, there’s still beauty and glamour all around. Joyeux Noël!

Uncategorized

‘Follow the Sun’ is here!

LizLocke1 Comment

I almost can’t believe I’m typing these words: I am a novelist.

My debut book Follow the Sun was published by Random House Canada today, and you better believe I am celebrating! Instead of featuring a movie/cocktail pairing this week, I decided it would be more fun to do a book/cocktail pairing. If you’re currently reading Follow the Sun, I recommend drinking a Hemingway Daiquiri!

Hemingway Daiquiri

2 oz Light Rum

1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur

1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice

3/4 oz Lime Juice

Lime Wheel for Garnish

Combine rum, maraschino liqueur, grapefruit juice, and lime juice in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

I chose this drink out of all the ones featured in my novel because it’s something the main character shares with a friend at the historic Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. And what else has Cinema Sips been than my way to share a drink virtually with all my movie-loving friends? The blog has given me a way to connect with so many fantastic people who have supported me in my ten-year journey to the bookshelf, and I don’t have the words to describe how grateful I am. When I started to wonder whether anybody would ever read a single page I’d written, or if this fiction thing was all just a silly, stupid dream, Cinema Sips followers were here for me. Cheering me on, and making me feel a little less alone.

The truth is, Follow the Sun was not an easy book to sell. It doesn’t fit into a perfectly-sized genre box, unless we’re counting “Beach Read” as a box. There’s a lot of romance in this story, but it also focuses on a young woman’s growth in a time where feminism was just gaining traction. It’s also set in 1966, although I’m hesitant about putting it in the historical fiction category. It just doesn’t feel like a lot of other historical fiction reads I’ve come across, due to its breezy style and tone. Maybe I don’t know what this book is, other than an escape. It’s an escape into a world where style reigned supreme, the parties were epic, the people were glamorous, and the settings were grand. A book about the 1960s Jet Set might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like reading about a world very different than the one most of us have known, then you might just like my ode to “attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places”. That was the Slim Aarons motto, and it’s because of his photographs that I wanted to devote so much of my attention to this era. These pictures made me feel like a time-traveler, and in a world where everything around us is on fire, doesn’t that sound kind of great?

Slim Aarons, Getty Images
Slim Aarons, Getty Images
Slim Aarons, Getty Images

That’s not to say that things were perfect in the sixties, or that women with money had worry-free lives. They still experienced grief and heartache and misogyny just like many of us do now. But it’s my hope that readers are able connect with the beauty in this fictionalized world I’ve created, where swimming pools sparkled in the sunlight, and a young woman’s voice could be the thing to set her free from the golden cage. I hope you fall in love with the love story of Caroline and Jack, and root for them just as much as I did while writing. I hope, if you need an escape this summer, Follow the Sun can provide it. Cheers!

P.S.- If you’re wondering which movies inspired scenes in Follow the Sun, check out my article at Moviejawn!

Dramas

Before Sunrise

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Before Sunrise, 1995

I have to apologize. There’s just no excuse for the bizarre oversight of excluding Before Sunrise (Disc/Download) from this blog for so many years. Sure, I’ve mentioned the trilogy as a whole. I’ve written about it in my favorite film zine Moviejawn. I’ve recorded a podcast episode about it (releasing in a few days from the folks who brought you Dazed and Confused 33 1/3!). I even wrote a novel inspired by the concept of two lovers meeting in a faraway place, never knowing how or when they’ll see each other again (Follow the Sun, coming out June 6th 2023 from Random House Canada). In short, I love this movie. I’m obsessed with this movie. And finally, at long last, I’m ready to talk about it over a cocktail!

In looking at the Before trilogy as a whole, my current favorite film out of the three is Before Sunset. I say “current” because I believe these films grow and change as their viewers do. That’s what’s so magical about them. Now that I’m smack dab in the middle of my life’s journey, some triumphs and setbacks under my belt, but still a vast unknown up ahead, it feels comforting to watch a film about a writer who’s still trying to make sense of the past while figuring out how he wants to move forward into the future. Boy, do I get that. But back when I was seventeen, watching Before Sunrise for the first time, there was no “past” to reckon with; there was only anticipation. It was all in front of me: love, career, passion, a home. Watching Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meet Céline (Julie Delpy) on a train to Vienna felt like the answer to life’s great puzzle. Connection was the root of happiness, even more so than love. We connect with cities and occupations just as we do with people. I connected with this movie because it conveyed so much of what I was feeling at the time, and I connect with it still because of the memories of what those “firsts” felt like. The first time you felt a mutual attraction. The first time you kissed someone new. The first time you understood how big a role fate and timing play in our lives. The first time you truly didn’t want the sun to rise after one perfect night. Maybe I’ll never have some of those “firsts” again, but this movie reminds me that I did, once. And I’ll have other ones, in time.

If you’re going to spend all night walking around a foreign city, talking about philosophical theories and encountering a random collection of poets, palm readers, and players (I still want to know how things ended up for Wilmington’s cow!), then you’re going to need some caffeine. While watching Before Sunrise, I recommend drinking the popular Viennese sipper, the Café Maria Theresia.

Café Maria Theresia

1 Tbsp. Sugar

3 Tbsp. Cointreau

8 oz Fresh-brewed Coffee

Whipped cream

Orange Zest

Combine sugar and Cointreau in a cup, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add coffee and stir gently to combine. Top with whipped cream and orange zest.

If you’d asked me prior to 2004 whether Jesse and Céline really met up again in Vienna six months after they said goodbye, I would have said yes. Unequivocally, yes. You see, I believe in happily ever after’s, and I don’t want to live in a world where these two people can’t make it work. We may have come to the end of their onscreen journey with Before Midnight (unless Linklater decides to pull another rabbit out of his hat), but my views on this couple are unchanged. They may find themselves separated over and over again by fate and circumstance, but in my mind they will always make their way back to each other.

On that note, I’d like to give a quick plug once again for Follow the Sun because if you like the anticipation and romance of Before Sunrise, you’ll probably enjoy these elements in my book. To read an early copy, be sure and sign up to receive the Cinema Sips weekly posts via email before March 1st 2023 (you’ll find the sign-up field on the right-hand side of the screen on the Cinemasips.com desktop site, and if you’re a mobile user, scroll up/down until the “Follow” button appears at the bottom). My publisher has graciously agreed to send NetGalley links for an advance copy of the e-book to my loyal followers since so many of you have told me how excited you are to read it. Of course, if you’d rather wait and throw the final print version in your beach bag this summer, pre-orders are always an option, and deeply appreciated!! Cheers, and thanks to all my current and future readers for getting off the train with me 😊.