The best writer of all times was Fjodor Dostojevski, and the best writer of our time is John Irving.
I know many will not agree with me. There are many other fine writers. There are even many other great writers. But none have the originality that John Irving has, and few are such great story tellers.
Of course the absolute master piece was The World According To Garp, where just one scene makes all pieces fall together, and suddenly everything in the book makes sense.
But just now, they were playing The Hotel New Hampshire on TV.
When I first saw this movie, now 20 years old, I must have been around 15.
What I mostly remember from that time is the scene where brother and sister are having sex to be free, which I found unimaginable.
This was Jodie Foster, about 5 years before she gained superstar status in The Accused. As always, she was playing a great role.
Now, looking back at it so much later, and after having seen it many times, what I find most amazing now is how great the young Jennifer Dundas Lowe is playing her fairytale-like character Lilly, the dwarf.
If you want to see what she looks like, this is a trailer of a more recent movie with her.
Also interesting to see is that many themes from John Irving's very first book Setting Free The Bears come back: Vienna, the bears, extremists.
And of course the eternal Irving themes are also there: His books are always about a writer, and you always find some strange sexual relationships.
I think this movie, just like much of John Irving's work, has been misunderstood by many people.
At first sight, you could think it is just vulgar sensation.
But when you can look through this, this is a beautiful fairytale with very deep hidden meanings.
Although some meanings are not so hidden. The most explicit message is: "Keep passing the open windows.". Without jumping down.
Which made me think: Wouldn't this be a good name for software?
Open Windows
Doing this, maybe you could get tons of money from Microsoft to change the name, just like Lindows.