The Emperor
— Ryszard Kapuscinski

As the only foreign correspondent for the communist news agency in Poland, Ryszard Kapuscinski had a great deal of freedom in exploring the world. He was present for more than 40 revolutions and was imprisoned numerous times as he travelled the globe searching for colourful tales of power and intrigue to send home to a largely isolated population living under  communist rule. The Emperor is the most literary of an intended trilogy on how power is obtained and lost. The book details the court of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassi, the end of the line of Abyssinian rulers. Kapuscinski conducted interviews with courtesans who had jobs such as wiping urine off the shoes of dignitaries after the monarch’s dogs relieved themselves and placing pillows under the feet of the ruler whose diminutive stature meant his legs dangled off the edge of his thrones. By using quotes for entire passages in the book, Kapuscinski is able to show the bizarre relationship the monarch had with his people. The courtesans, unable to come to terms with the monarch’s fall from grace, still refer to the former ruler using terms such as “his venerable highness”. This inclination to see Selassi as a flawless ruler is precisely what leads to the downfall of the regime: out of touch with the opinions of the frequently starving population, the monarch was unable to maintain his grasp on power.

Flicked

Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is a 56-year-old, hugely successful Broadway playwright who has a run-in with 63-year-old flamboyant bachelor Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) — under thoroughly inappropriate circumstances. Her under-30 daughter Marin (Amanda Peet) has a crush on Harry and, worse, he has a heart attack in her beach house while on a hot date with Marin. A reluctant Erica nurses him back to health, and loses her heart to him. Harry, of course, is too much of a womaniser to get tied down — or so he thinks, even as Marin figures out that something may be cooking between her mum and him. Things get even more complicated when his handsome 36-year-old doctor Julian Mercer (Keanu Reeves) falls for Erica. Director Nancy Meyers cooks up a film packed with unconventional relationships, a whiff of Paris, laughter and loads of fun — all the while not forgetting the important message: it is never too late to fall madly and deeply in love. Keaton and Nicholson share livewire chemistry; their conversation on the beach is a treat as are their stolen sandwich-making moments in the kitchen. In the end, Harry makes the transition from flamboyant playboy to grandfather a bit too effortlessly.