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Now who is THAT pretty little thang?

Would you believe I’m 25 years old(Just)!?

First picture - Day 1

Second picture - Day 2 Anyway I’ve been doing a little challenge I set up, the #lookyoungerin10days challenge where I’ve been using #avon ‘s #AnewVitale range. Which is a little gift pack I picked up through my rep, where you get tiny testers but definately enough for 10 days anyway, which you get a cleanser, an eye creme and the day and night range. Think I paid about £15 for but nonetheless it’s a campaign that nolonger runs (sorry! You will need to buy them seperately! But keep an eye out, eh?)  Day 1 I felt pretty okay, little stingy but I do have sensative skin to be fair, despite the fact it says for all skin types. (Really, Avon?)  Day 2 (Tonight) I feel great my skin looks and feels younger and yes I know different room/lighting but way I see it, it’s a piece of piss to get on and took me less than ten minutes (I’ll time myself for you tomorrow!)

I know a lot of people have no faith in Anti-Ageing cremes but to be fair I was one of them. However if this is the affect after two days it’s bloody marvelous and will definately be in my monthly shop! My skin feels younger, lighter, cleaner! Healthier and to be honest I haven’t taken a great pic like that since I was 16!!! This Vitale range is for all us nearly past the youngun’ stage (25) I know, I know what you’re thinking. 

A fucking anti-ageing creme for  a TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD!

Yup I feel the same.

But You have to start at some point I guess and with an SPF rating of 25 and skin this great - why on earth would you NOT want to feel like this? Do my challenge and tell me what you think. :) Post pictures of your journey. I won’t post every day  but I will post on day 10 the end result, I’ll take a picture (with this camera!) every day and show you my results.  Now show me yours ;) 

E x

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1st pic Nurturing Nude 2nd Loving Lilac Please do excuse the quality of my rubbish laptop camera, I would have used my phone if it wasn’t lying in some shop or someone’s pocket right now. (Yes, it was stolen, no I can’t report it as it fell inside a taxi then subsequently ‘wasn’t there’) I only went from the car to my front door!

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Avon True Colour lipstick.  (Yeah that one they claim moisturises your lips with the Jojoba Oil) Ever wanted to have a lipstick that makes you look like the chick did on the advert? Ever found that your lipstick is just never the bloody same? That you feel cheated? Well fear no more, because Avon are actually telling the truth.  Forget you’re NYX, your Elizabeth Arden and the crazy prices you pay just £8 and you feel like a million dollars (and believe me, they are NOT paying me to say this - hell they don’t even know who I am!!) I’m just a crazy, quirky mummy who is in love with makeup, that’s all? Is that such a crime? Well, if quality could kill, Avon would be in court because stop the press, this shit actually works.  So far I’ve bought (expecting my next batch - that I bought with my own money btw! No freebies! - tomorrow) “Nurturing Nude” and “Loving Lilac”. 

Now to be honest, I’m not necessarily a fan of Nurturing Nude, purely for the fact that it’s not bold enough for me (well what I actually mean is it was lighter on your lips than it looks to be). Hell even Loving Lilac is too light for me, I soon learned after purchase that I suit darker tones, anyway I digress. I wasn’t a fan of Nude because I found that one, personally to be a little bland. Mind you, perhaps that’s why it’s called nude *self implied facepalm* One thing that had me smiling ear to ear like a dog with a beefy tasting bone was how soft it was, in the past I have always felt resistance trying to get my lipstick on and for years it must have been freakin’ noticeable how resistant it was on my lips as I vaguely recall a lassie in my S4 (4th year at secondary school) classmate asking me;            Her: “What lip gloss is that?”            Me: “It’s not lip gloss “            Her: “So what is it then”            Me: *Cue facepalm* “It’s lipstick”            Her: “Lipstick? Isn’t that for like, old women? *laughs heartily with her                cronies*             Me:  *quite literally staring at her with an implied facepalm* Sure, but it              stays on more than your underwear, unlike you, it can face resistance.  Okay, you caught me, I made that last bit up. Truth is I was genuinely lost for words for about five minutes. I mean how do you even reply to something like that? Pretty sure I went back to her though and said in reply to your earlier question I got style tips from your mum. Yeah something as weak as that. Truth is I wasn’t always this quick witted but nevertheless I digress, again.  Look this lipstick is fabulous, in a quick rundown of why you should buy it it’s:  - Cheap (£8 currently)   - Soft/gliding/not much resistance  - It’s not oily  - Okay you do need to reapply after about an 2/3 hours  - Fabulous shine (but not lip-gloss shine)   - It’s chic   - Comes in a multitude of different colours  - Looks like candy but NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION!  (Yes, there are people who would...)  - Smells lovely and again - not for human consumption!   - Moisturizes via the Jojoba oil   - Tastes lovely (no I didn’t eat it!) I accidentally got some on my teeth.. anyway...  I give it 4/5 bottles. 🍼🍼🍼🍼 Only 4 as I hate the outside packaging. it’s a little too ..dark, don’t think it does the lipstick justice BUT my lips are as smooth as babys skin so you know, Avon, you must be doing something right!!

. 

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Room (2015) Lenny Abrahamson, Emma Donoghue

How would you sum up your life? Or your childhood rather? Would you say it was good? Bad? So so? Maybe you’ve had your share of up’s and down’s but nonetheless you’ve been on either end of the spectrum, you have lived a comforted, sheltered life or had one of the shittiest lives known to man. However what would you do if all that was taken away - in a monent? Or even, how would you be if the only life you knew...was a room?

That is what was brought forth in the independent film, ‘Room’, by director Lenny Abraham. A film that was brought to the big screen from New York Time’s bestselling book of the same name by Emma Donoghue.. 

I have to admit, for the most part I am a heartless bastard when it comes to films, I seem to emotionally switch off when it comes to films. Although I enjoy them and find myself on edge sometimes or slapping my leg on a cliffhanger in frustration, the waterworks...just don’t come. I usually feel the burning of the eyes at a sad scene but generally it doesn’t happen for me. 

Until I saw ‘Room’. 

(Credit:IMDB)

Inspired by the story of Felix, the young boy in the Josef Fritzel case, Donogue wrote a book from the perspective of a five year old boy held captive with his mother, Joy,  in a single room with all available amenities (which we later find out is actually an adapted shed). His mother was captured as a young girl and kept for the non-consensual sexual gratification of her captor. Which ultimately resulted in Jack, the young boy. Whom narrates the story. 

Jack regularly watches TV, he knows he and his ‘ma’ (Joy) are real but is ultimately confused about the idea of the outside world, that there is anything beyond ‘door’ and ‘skylight’ other than ‘space’, you see Jack was born in the room, he grew up in the room and the only world he knows is the one he sees on TV and struggles to differentiate between reality and fantasy.. 

When Joy (I keep writing June, where on earth am I getting June from?) learns that her captor ‘Old Nick’ has been unemployed and may lose the house in which they are held captive as a result, Joy adds 2+2 and gets murder, she comes up with the conclusion that Old Nick will kill them, if he is faced with losing the house. 

So in a desperate attempt at escape, Joy tries to convince her captor that Jack is deathly ill, by putting (very hot!) damp cloth on his forehead to raise his temperature, but when Nick refuses to take him to hospital instead promising to bring back stronger anti-biotics, Joy feels hopeless. She realizes that their only chance at escaping is for Jack to play dead, which he struggles to come to grips with understanding, but nonetheless - does it. 

The plan is that Joy wraps him up in the rug and Nick takes him to his truck (which he does, rather reluctantly, but only to save his own skin because with Jack ‘dead’ keeping him there would surely produce a smell after a while and give the guy away)  So, Nick does as he is told and take the boy away after some class acting from Joy (but then again, who wouldn’t win an Oscar in acting as if you’re child is dead if it meant getting them away from danger?) Then while Nick is driving, Jack is to wiggle out of the rug and jump out of the truck. Which sounds good in theory, but remember this is a little boy we’re talking about who’s never seen ‘outside’ so while remaining quite daunted  by the ‘outside’ he tries to jump and instead falls off the truck and Nick sees him. 

Jack tries to run (despite an injury) and is knocked over by a passer by who to begin with, believes that he has knocked some poor guy’s boy down but almost instantly, clicks that something is not right. When Jack struggles and cries for help, Nick realises the games a bogey and bolts, leaving injured Jack in the hands of a stranger and his dog.

And thus, the wheels of freedom are finally in motion for Joy and Jack when Jack manages to mumble fragments of information as to where they were and where they were captive and so begins the rehabilitation and integration into society. 

Now the one thing I have to say about this film that will never change is that this is unequivocally  deserving of every award it has been granted, never have I ever been so in touch with a film as I have been tonight. I felt every emotion, every tear, every fear, every anger filled tantrum from Jack and as a rape victim, I can understand the disgust and hatred shown towards Nick from the protagonist, of having that innocence stolen and the self flagellation she shows herself. The frustration in not being able to speak about it (although obviously I’m brushing on it now - and can do so after hours of counselling) and the ultimate need to end it all, without much thought to the people around her. The floating fingers, as I call them, of people who ask you why you didn’t do this or that. of being made to feel that it was somehow, all your fault. I understand it all, so to see it conceived in a film and produced so beautifully and so skillfully was almost as if Brie Larson, who plays Joy, was not an actress at all. 

Plot

The story line is very fluid, very clear but also amazingly complex but portrayed in a way that is easy to comprehend. Unless it’s just me, as I study psychology, the ability to understand Jack’s frustration in learning that the life he know is false and to comprehend the afternath of such is surprisingly easy to understand. Thankfully to the viewer, they don’t touch on the mental health implications which would result from such a trauma but we’re here to watch the film, not analyse it. 

What I found fascinating was the center of focus, which was mostly on Jack and how he perceives the events around him. It’s almost as if he is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, when he is excited about the prospect of ‘Old Nick’ bringing him a toy for his birthday. Which soon changes anyway, thankfully. 

To see Jack and Joy’s bond unwavering as they merge into the liberation of their lives, see the up’s and down’s the anxiety of life after ‘room’ is breathtaking. The director doesn’t dance about the afternath as most films do, painting life to be rosey again, they show the true, realistic version of the struggle. Which is evident when Jack recurrently asks about ‘room’ and whether they can go back. 

For plot alone, I award 5 milk bottles. (🍼🍼🍼🍼🍼)

Character

 development.

I am genuinely lost for words. I have been this whole time (which is probably why I repeatedly digress) trying to find the words to describe how raw and realistic the acting was. Brie Larson (Joy) and Jacob Tremblay (Jack) portray their characters, especially to Jacob, for someone so young, to understand such a complex character all I can say is he has a promising career ahead of him. 

Joy and Jack have an unwavering bond, Joy has created a whole universe of wonder with so little inside a tiny room. It is evident how bright and intelligent little Jack is and that is all thanks to Joy and her parenting skills in the face of absolute calamity. (I am thinking that’s not the right word, it’s my first review, humor me!)

It shows the strength and determination of a mother who in the face of danger remains strong for her baby, even when facing the man who defiles her each and every night. To be able to hold such detest for a man inside without it so much as leaking in the slightest to her son, there are no words to describe the respect I have for that. I know it’s just a film but that is testament to the acting, I find myself bleeding this storyline into reality. 

Upon liberation, I think life gets tougher for them, but again, strength shows through for Jack, even forgiving his mother in such an empathetic way for her attempted suicide. Joy, who remained strong for so long, has a moment of weakness when asked “Why didn’t you hand Jack over to your captor to be taken away?” [sic] Joy, feeling like the world is against her, unable to be strong anymore, tries to committ suicide. Probably knowing full well that at least now, her son is safe. That’s not all though, Joy also finds out that whilst she was missing, her parents have broken up and went seperate ways. So to add salt to the wound, the world Joy knew, the memories she had, the ones she held onto so dearly during her imprisonment, are gone. 

We see though that Jack gives her his ‘strong’ (his hair) to make his ‘ma’ feel better again, which ultimately works. This however highlights the childhood innocence born, the empathy that radiates from a child to an adult. Something you don’t normally find in children from captivity, the fear usually leads them to dissasociate but we see in his emotional development a new boy. Who even makes a little friend and starts building a childhood, when Joy sees this upon her release, it’s almost like an instant healer. 

For the character develpment, I give 5 bottles. (🍼🍼🍼🍼🍼)

Conclusion

When people ask me, ‘what is your favourite film?’ I always struggle, I have seen so many films i could not count, it would be impossible, I’d be here forever. However, this film is by far one I will never forget. It’s right up there in my top 5 alongside films such as, ‘The lovely bones’ and ‘Cube’. (As you see I have a penchant for psychological thrillers!)

As a mother this film spoke to me from the viewpoint of Joy, that no matter what you protect your children at all costs. You put them out there, in the face of absolute uncertainty, if it meant saving them from immediate danger. It got touchy feely with the idea that you make the best of what you have and I cannot praise the director or the screenwriter enough for this. But it also spoke to me as a rape victim. The film touched on so many subjects and did so with absolute raw reality, it didn’t sugarcoat things, it slapped it on a plate and said ‘this is what really happens, look at the damage it causes’. 

It also lightened it up a dark situation with the angelic voice of the innocent but very intelligent Jack. So when you’re lump is in your throat, that angelic voice, melts it away. 

I have never been so moved by a film, especially in the scene where Jack and Joy are reunited after Jack’s escape. I braced my bruning eyes and opened the floodgates much against my will, I wanted to say ‘don’t cry’ so much but all I could muster was ‘they found her!’ 

That’s how much you got my heart in a clamp. If clamps were made of film reels of course. 

If I could give this film an award, I would. The only thing I can say is watch it. 

Oh and thanks channel 4 for airing it. Without you lot i’d never have heard of this film - which is odd, seeing as it’s really popular. I should just get out more, but then you wouldn’t have reviews, eh?

Till next time, 

E x

Oh ps, if there is any movies you want me to review, please do drop me a line and ask any questions you like (within reason!! - yes I know that’s contradictory!)