A hectic week

I have to admit it: I have abandoned Dickens this week. It's not just that I did not have time to write in this blog, but that I could not find the time to read a single letter written by him. I have carried my iPad everywhere with me to no avail. I had over 100 exams to correct plus twenty-something essays and the second semester has just started, with its new classes, new students, new timetables. I've been snowed under with work and just managed to find some time to attend yesterday's concert by the Granada Symphony Orchestra, watch Julius Cesar at the Retroback Film Festival on Wednesday, and the pre-release of Hugo, the latest film by Martin Scorsese, on Thursday.
So, yes, I abandoned Dickens but I found his traces in Scorsese's film. What a beautiful story! I spent all day yesterday telling everyone I met that they had to watch it. Very Dickensian in tone but particularly in the care with which every single character is introduced on screen until it becomes a full-bodied individual. The narrative is beautiful, the photography superb, with an elegant and intelligent use of the 3D, which does not look for the cheap effects that I particularly find so annoying. On top of that, a magnificent performance of Asa Butterfield, the boy with the big blue sad eyes which are, in fact, Hugo's. Scorsese plays homage to the beginnings of cinema, but the film is more than that: it's a story about loss, hope, faith, and the power of narratives to connect people's lives and to help us live our dreams. Beautiful, moving, elegant film. One of those which will remain lodged in my soul forever. Don't miss it!