There are some films that make you just want to be there, even though you know rationally that it was only a movie, not real life (and even if it was real life, by the time the film comes out the original event is long-gone). There is something exciting about standing on a street corner that you have visited in film-inspired dreams. Films immortalize locations even as they mess with local geography; they give us a glimpse into an incredible range of places and possibilities.
Music, too, takes you on a journey. Sometimes you are drawn to a city for the music scene, or the narrative of a particular location told in a favorite song. Emotional landscapes are explored in the way music accompanies you on a long road trip, gives solace in a dark midnight hour, or keeps you dancing around in the house in the disco between kitchen and living room.
And then there are books, which allow you to create such a strong inner world that can seduce you to try and translate this into your physical experience, and give access to another level of perception in your travels through their depth and complexity. So in that spirit, here are my top five literary-, film-, and music-inspired travel destinations.
Finland
As a child, I was enchanted by the series of Moomintroll stories by Tove Janssen. Such a beautiful magical world, with the fillyjonk who believed in disasters, the hermit Hemulen, and Snufkin whose appearance on the bridge signalled the end of winter hibernation. It’s best taken with a dose of pine-needle cordial, which I was charmed to find actually exists. It’s a land where the whole world is frozen under a blanket of snow, and the comet that mysteriously lands in a cave, where a magician’s hat turns eggshells into clouds you can float on. Then there is Moominmamma and her pancakes with strawberry jam, which I finally tasted at the Seahorse restaurant in Helsinki, where they came piled in an enormous stack, with lashings of whipped cream.
I still feel something of this enchantment in the place, every time I visit Finland it feels like there is a magic veil drawn over me, and the world takes on a more wondrous hue. There is the landscape, a silent wildness in the archipelago and the incredible quality of the light. Not to mention rituals of sauna, a lively electronic arts scene, and the endlessly charming and unexpected quiet humor of the Finnish people. This is beautifully depicted in the films of Aki Kaurismaki, although I have only watched them since going to the country. Still, his vision of the world in The Man Without a Past would be enough to inspire me to visit.
New York
It was 1980 and the Sleaze Sisters showed me a life I had never imagined could exist. The movie is Times Square, and it tells the story of two girls from different backgrounds who meet in a mental hospital, and run away together seeking a way to live their dreams—a life of stardom for Nicky, and understanding for Pamela. Tim Curry plays the radio DJ who supports their aspirations. The soundtrack is fantastic, Patti Smith Group, Gary Numan, Talking Heads, The Ramones; the film is a punk-rock love letter to New York and outcasts everywhere.
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