Our story just gets better and better!Just last week, the Mom recanted her incineration story, and now says she gave the paintings to a mysterious Russian man, and that he has them now. Plus, we have learned about the the head of the investigation, Ms Raluca Botea, who had organized a sting operation to retrieve the paintings. But, a possible buyer, a male supermodel from Bucharest, who had decided not to purchase the stolen paintings, tipped Dogaru off, and the sting could not happen. The paintings are burned, buried, saved, hidden, or sold, or with this mysterious new Russian character. This is going to be the greatest movie ever. Art treasures, a daring heist, a loving mother and grandmother, a woman the head of the investigation, mysterious Russians, prostitution, a male supermodel, a small-time pimp and thief suddenly becomes a master art thief, a tight knit small Romanian village that hates outsiders and only speaks a very rare dialect of Russian, and on and on and on, ... The trial for Radu Dogaru starts next month.
Radu Dogaru, our thief, caught on video
This is great because we have so many good female roles, too! The detective, the mother, the grandmother, the girlfriend!
Fantastic stuff!
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The Wife and I's long weekend is off to a great start. Indian Springs was awesome, totally an Art Deco Jeeves and Wooster style of place. Then, dining at JoLe was a revelation, one of our new favorite places, and a place will return to.
Today we are going to see the new Aubrey Plaza movie, The To-Do List, and grill pork chops at home. Woo-hoo!
I have so much else to catch all you folks up to, as well, but it will be a few days. Love you all, have a splendid Saturday, kids!
And, honestly, despite loving many of these stars (Laura Linney, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, Daniel Brühl, Stanley Tucci, etc, ... ) and thinking that Benedict Cumberbatch is the absolutely perfect choice to play Julian Assange, I am not excited about this motion picture.
I do not for a minute believe that Dreamworks and Bill Condon are the right choices for this subject matter. This seems to me to be the perfect recipe for disaster, an awful film, even if it is boffo at the box office.
I hope I am wrong.
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Meanwhile, anybody see this amazing story on the front page of the NYT today? (Love my weekender subscription!) Olga Dogaru, who lived in the tiny Romanian village of Carcaliu, became haunted by the staggeringly beautiful paintings her son had brought home in a suitcase one night. There were seven paintings in all, including a Picasso, Matisse, Monet, and Gaugin.
The seven paintings stolen, and supposedly incinerated.
When Ms Dogaru learned that her son was a suspect in one of the greatest art heists in recent times, she thought the best thing to do to protect her son was to incinerate all seven paintings in a wood burning stove! (Or so she says, ... )
Now somebody needs to make a flipping movie of THAT story!
I will get right on it.
