recent viewings

underworld: rise of the lycans (2009)
WATCH IT if you like
- the underworld franchise
- tight leather pants on your male lead
- lord of the rings special effects but with wolves



army of shadows (1969)
WATCH IT if you like
- ambient, european films about the war
- stellar acting that well supported minimal dialogue
- gorgeous cinematography
- criterion collection films



the third man (1949)
WATCH IT if you like
- orson wells (when he's onscreen, you realize that he's, by leaps and bounds, a superior actor than everyone else in the film)
- a good mystery
- a story in which americans are bumbling idiots
- criterion collection films on blu-ray



blueberry nights
WATCH IT if you like
- mediocre movies
- seeing rachel weisz and natalie portman act in circles around newby norah jones.
- seeing rachel weisz and natalie portman delivering unpolished dialogue
- seeing what happens when christopher doyle doesn't bother showing up to do his job as the cinematographer

viewings

i managed to watch some films in the past few weeks and have this to say about them:

32 Short Films About Glen Gould (1993)
-- yes yes, i should be ashamed for not already having viewed this 'canadian masterpiece.'
-- i saw it at the pacific cinematheque last night with a mostly affluent, white crowd where there were KNOWING LAUGHS and 'hmms' heard in great excess. this created (to me) an elitist atmosphere where i felt that i was intentionally left out of an inside joke.
-- elitist mood aside, i could appreciate what the directors where trying to do in creating a piece of film that was a reflection of the creative genius that the film was documenting BUT... i wasn't super blown away by it.
-- i was especially NOT IMPRESSED by the mediocre cinematography (and cheap film stock) and by the POOR dialog replacement.
-- yah, blah

Encounters at the end of the World (2007)
-- this was a dvd rental
-- directed by the venerable Werner Herzog who has made some great stuff in the past
-- this documentary is about the people who live/work in antarctica
-- there were some very beautiful underwater shots but the doc lacked a strong structure and kinda meandered.
-- blah

Doubt (2008)
-- saw this at Tinseltown 2 weeks ago
-- oh my god, DON'T SEE THIS WASTE OF MONEY AND TALENT
-- dialog sucked, directing sucked, cinematography was mediocre, story was weak
-- horrible

Army of Darkness (1992)
-- bruce campbell is FREAKING AWESOME
-- wonderful

it's the tops

for those of us who like to compile (and read) these things, here's my top lists for the year.


. FILMS. . .
#7 Orz Boyz
#6 Still Walking
#5 Synching Blue
#4 Heima, a light documentary about Sigur Ros
#3 The Savages
#2 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
#1 Lives of Others (ok, i know this film came out in 2007 but i only watched it this year)


. MUSIC. . .
#5 Black Mountain: In the Future
#4 Ladyhawk: Shots
#3 Fleet Foxes: s/t
#2 Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid
#1 Radiohead: In Rainbows


. EATING OUT. . .
#6 2 chefs/aurora/medina
#5 Trattoria
#4 Chambar
#3 Grub
#2 Pied-a-Terre
#1 Boneta

this might be my favourite picture from 2008:

Claire Denis_director

i stumbled upon a review of Claire Denis' new film "35 Rhume" which played at the Toronto International Film Festival.

i immediately searched (in vain) for the listing on the Vancouver International Film Festival website. luckily, Happy Bat, had a copy of Denis' "Friday Night" from 2002.



last night i watched the movie and tonight i'm listening to the director commentary.

essentially, Claire Denis is making the type of films that i've been picturing in my mind; films that are ambient, atmospheric, melancholy, full of intense undertones, and have almost no dialogue.

the camera zooms in on and caresses the characters' hands, legs, mouths, and flirtive glances. she delights in the little movements and small gestures.



listening to Denis talk about an intimate scene and what it means to her has, literally, put me on the verge of tears.

i'm utterly inspired.

now what?

my post-mamm life so far:


- sleep in: check. i stayed in bed until 11am yesterday.

- visit my family: check. i visited my dad yesterday and we looked at washer/dryers because (oh joy) my dryer broke the night before rob left for toronto.

- purchase a new washer/dryer unit: to do.

- have some bubble tea from my favourite place in richmond: double check. i managed to let the bubble tea slip from my hand as i was closing the passenger side door and it crashed/broke underneath the passenger seat. i went back and ordered another one.

- combine bubble tea and baileys: check. i brought the bubble tea home and figured i'd try a little experiment. the result? a little bit of both but not quite either. it was strange but sweet.

- watch "Wings of Desire": check. watched it last night and it was exquisite. here's a clip:



- wait for rob to come home: check. rob is returning this friday.

cinema

we've just returned from tinseltown where rob, p and myself went to test our hair-brained idea of using the playstation3 as a player for a projector.

i was absolutely dreading having to arrive at 11pm then waiting until 11:45pm when the film in theatre 9 ended before connecting the machines and testing the various export and compression methods we came up with.

but then, we entered the projection area





and i was immediately reminded of Goodbye Dragon Inn, a film by taiwainese filmmaker Tsai Ming Liang.

although the corridor was noisy with the clackity sounds of projectors, at the same time it was super quiet. seeing these large metal platters holding the film was neat, too. while we waited, we peeked thru all the windows and caught glimpses of films. i saw the last 3 minutes of mummy3.

it was really cool. and i'm not talking about the last 3 minutes of mummy3.


check out this clip of Goodbye Dragon Inn i found on youtube

plays on trains and japanese westerns

. .. ... letters from lithuania



i'm not into plays; that kind of acting generally turns me off.

but.

rob and i recently met one of the directors of letters from lithuania and was impressed by her enough to go to this outdoor, sitting on the miniature train, live music, puppets, and stilt-walking play.

because of recent rains, the play had been canceled for a few nights but the weather this past friday night was rainfree. also, the canceled nights, i think, resulted in some great performances from the actors who had been waiting for better weather to allow them to perform.

it was awesome: great performances, a rather creative use of stanley park's miniature train route, tricky timing for actors that were running around the outdoor sets, a compelling story, and good pacing.

and, although i thought the ending was a bit cliche, i nevertheless had to work hard not to cry.

the play ends today (aug 31) if you're thinking of going to it. tickets available here.

here's a review by the straight.


... .. . sukiyaki western django *warning: spoilers*



this is one crazy japanese western by takashi miike. and by crazy, i mean awesome.

here's what i liked about it:
- an older attractive woman was secretly super skilled and killed a whole bunch of guys
- quentin tarintino had this bizarre japanese southern accent and looked like a scarier marlon brando's dr. moreau as done by southpark.
- there were some asian male eye candy.
- the dialog was mostly cliches stolen from popular westerns and then some (i.e. payback's a bitch)
- the rock n roll inspired western duds looked like the offspring of a union between betsy johnson and anna sui.

check out the trailer here

german cinema and edmonton weddings

::: edmonton weddings :::
k+k's wedding was the definition of simple elegance. from the dress to the green evian bottles used as dinner table centerpieces to the ceremony at the edge of a fountain.

as well:
- rob was the best man at this wedding.... he got super nervous then super drunk. fortunately, his dvd collection was not nearby.
- for the first time ever, i was the 'sole shooter' as they call it which means that i don't have the luxury of editing between 2 cameras like i usually do.... this sucks and meant i was under extra pressure to avoid sucky shots.
- the coleslaw had these weird yellow curly things that, upon closer inspection, revealed themselves to be UNCOOKED INSTANT NOODLES.... ummm, WTF, i don't know how to even respond to such use of INSTANT NOODLES. i excitedly told my workmates of this bizarre discovery and they were not surprised as, apparently, this is a common use of UNCOOKED INSTANT NOODLES by non-asians. i'm still in shock.
- the groom and groomsmen started their day off with a 'hot towel shave' at a men's spa staffed exclusively by hot aestheticians. luckily for rob, he was the only one whose girlfriend was present with a video camera running.

here's a favourite still


::: german cinema :::
i watched Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) last week and it:
- made me cry approximately 3 times throughout the film
- has rejuvenated me cinematically
- now resides on my list of PERFECT FILMS. perfect films have it all: direction, acting, story, cinematography, and music.
- makes me a bit weepy when i think about the ending, even now
- is a film for which the premise sounds kinda boring but the film is anything but boring. similarly Half Nelson's premise, high school teacher is a drug addict who connects with a student, also sounds rather uninspired but is actually really really awesome.

barking dogs and flying bats

. . dogs . . .
this afternoon i was watching some special features from the Cleo from 5 to 7 dvd (which was part of the 4 by Agnes Varda box set gift from rob) when the repetitive barkings of the dog next door disrupted my "trying not read the english subtitles to figure out how much parisian french i can make out but i can't really so i end up reading the english super quick anyways" attempt.



i stop the dvd player and listen.
yep, it's my neighbour's dog.
she's a small german shepard type dog.

i know it's a she because i constantly hear her owners say (as they are leading her down the hall while she BARKS LOUDLY): be quiet, good girl, be quiet. this is their approach to reducing her barking for at least the past 3 years since i've lived here.

i resume play on the dvd because i figure the neighbours will bring the dog inside.
15 minutes later, i'm on featurette #3 and the dog is still barking.
i hear someone across the street yell: SHUT UP

i decide to step into my patio to confirm it's my neighbours dog. i look towards their patio because it sounds like the dog is in their patio. i hear the squirting of water and look up.

the 3rd floor neighbour directly above the barking dog unit is squirting water from a water mister thing into the patio. she sees me and says: i'm trying to stop the dog from barking. then she says: why don't you go knock on their door?

so, because i had just consumed some liquid courage and have encountered the neighbours many times in the hallways and they seem very nice (although passive aggressive types) i think: yeah! i'll go knock on their door and ask them to quiet their dog. but i secretly think the neighbours must be out or else they would have let the dog back in already.

i go to their door, wearing my pjs (hey, it's 8pm already and no boyfriend to dress up for) and hear what sounds like loud tv and talking.

i knock firmly but a little on the soft side and wait. i hear footsteps and more voices which are mingled with the tv voices. but the door does not open.

but the barking does not stop.

so, i decide to go thru my patio and walk up to the neighbour's patio to see the barking dog in person. i'm standing 1 metre away from the dog and the dog is now barking AT ME NOW. i look at it wearily knowing there's not a damn thing i can do to quiet this animal up.

so i say: be quiet and shhhh.
yah, didn't work.
but i stand there for a few minutes staring at the dog and just looking at it and feeling resigned.

i walk away and just as i walk back into my patio i hear the male owner say "be quiet, be quiet, be quiet" and brings the dog into their unit. i'm not impressed with them ignoring my knocking. do they think it's easy for me to knock on their door?

i say: bad neighbours.
and also this....

ATTENTION NEIGHBOURS: a million "be quiets" will not shut your dog up. take her to a freaking dog trainer already. or i might have to enlist mr. t to take care of the situation.



. . bats . . .
saw batman yesterday and it was really really good but not freaking amazing. the best part of the movie was the acting by heath ledger and a few very nicely framed shots (i.e. joker hanging out of the police cruiser and joker hanging upside down).

some fun and non-fun things

last thursday. . .
babysitting my 3 yr old nephew so my brother and sister-in-law could celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary. my nephew really only wants to play with other boys so rob was the real babysitter that night. verdict: fun but exhausting. for rob.

last friday and saturday. . .
hanging out and getting to know rob's good buddy from high school: eating at memphis blues, driving him thru the downtown eastside, more eating, catching the Wolf Parade show at the commodore, and walking jericho beach. verdict: fun

last sunday. . .
meeting with chris and paul on the indie studios across canada web series idea. verdict: fun but lots of coordination to figure out

yesterday. . .
power outage at work so we cleaned our desks, cleaned out the server room and had beer with our lunch. rob and i watched guatemalan handshake at the vancity theatre. the film was a joy to watch; i felt inspired. verdict: an unusual work day and the film was fun

today. . .
working from home for the first time ever and i stayed in my PJs until 6pm. rob, bill and i watched frownland at the vancity theatre. frownland and guatemalan handshake are 2 of 9 films considered to be party of an indie film movement called mumblecore. however, i really really did not like frownland. it was waaaaaaaaaay too experimental angsty. i hated the acting, the characters, the plot (there was none), and especially the way the film (i felt) went out of its way to test me to see if i was artsy-fartsy enough to watch it.

i can't believe frownland received all the accolades it did. i was ABSOLUTELY NOT IMPRESSED.

our antidote was to drive to The C&L Internet Club which is a warehouse at the foot of boundary and marine drive that houses an amazing collection of dvds. they had a sale tonight so we spent a hour and some serious cash on:
- the complete Dr. Katz tv series
- Neil Young's Heart of Gold concert dvd

also this: our good friend, Terry Miles, was elated to find out that his film (When Life Was Good) was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival. we're so happy for him. i'm also pretty happy for rob since he has a significant non-speaking part in the film. rob will be going to toronto in september as a cast member.

verdict: working from home is fun. frownland is not fun. buying dvds at C&L is very fun although not fun on the pocketbook. a friend getting into TIFF is excellent fun.

disconcerning

i have a white hair management strategy.

basically, i strategically part my hair for maximum exposure of non-white hair growth. but i've been loathing my super long bangs lately and tonight decided to change the part to my right side.

then i watched the film Spider and painted my toenails.





when i went back to the bathroom, i noticed my hair.
specifically, i noticed white hair and i also noticed crazy wirey hair.



and, although i know white hair exists on my head, it's still a shock to see a cluster of them.

i'm predicting that tomorrow will be a witness to an entire day of bad hair. thank goodness i have an offsite client meeting at 9 in the morning to ramp up the morning hair angst.

oh yes, Spider was magnificent. a cinematic, ambient piece of storytelling. too bad his latest endeavour, Eastern Promises, was such a disappointment.

spring cleaning (2 of 2)

for the asian titles, i must warn you all that i have doubts that these are legitimate copies since they were very inexpensive when i bought them in richmond.


. . CHINESE TITLES . .

1. & 2. Election (2005) & Election 2 (2006)
Election 2 on IMDB
As election time nears, current Triad chairman Lok (Yam) faces competition from his godsons. At the same time, Jimmy (Koo) looks to increase his business relations with mainland China. --IMDB



3. Chinese Ghost Story
Info on film
Leslie Cheung stars as Ning, a meek tax collector who finds himself involved in a wacky supernatural romance. He's slated to become a victim to enchanting ghost Nie (Joey Wong), who's bound to an evil tree demon (Lau Siu-Ming) who feed on men's souls. Ning's soul is slated for consumption, but due to a variety of circumstances, he's prevented from becoming soul food. Even more, the comely Nie grows to care for Ning, and vice versa. Then roving ghostbuster Wu Ma shows up to take down spirits with his nifty Taoist methods. There's also impomptu singing, sumptuous production design, and a tree demon with an extraordinarily long tongue. --Love HK Film



4. Peking Opera Blues
Info on film
This slapstick comedy drama stars three of Hong Kong's most attractive and popular actresses of their time: Brigitte Lin is the daughter of a general, Cherie Chung is a petty thief, and Sally Yip is the daughter of the manager of the Beijing Opera theater. The story is set in 1911 when the Chinese revolution overthrew the monarchy and established a republic. The general's daughter has to steal an important document from her father's safe in order to help out the guerrillas who are fighting for the republic. Her exploits and those of her two friends flow back and forth between the Imperial Palace and the theater of the Beijing Opera. Action, farce, and political satire tumble over each other as the story leads up to its dizzying rooftop climax. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide




. . JAPANESE TITLE . .

5. Battle Royale (2001)
Battle Royale website
With the Japanese currently leading the way in thought-provoking cinematic violence, it's only fitting that Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale is being touted as a Clockwork Orange for the 21st century. Based on the novel by Koshun Takami, the film opens with a series of fleeting images of unruly Japanese schoolchildren, whose bad behavior provides a justification for the "punishments" that will ensue. Once the prequel has been dispensed with, the classmates are drugged and awaken on an island where they find they have been fitted with dog collars that monitor their every move. Instructed by their old teacher ("Beat" Takeshi) with the aid of an upbeat MTV-style video, they are told of their fate: after an impartial lottery they have been chosen to fight each other in a three-day, no-rules contest, the "Battle Royale." Their only chance of survival is through the death of all their classmates. --Nikki Disney




. . KOREAN TITLES . .

6. The Romance (2006)
On IMDB
Trailer
Yoon-hee is so harassed by her husband's obsession and frantic love, that even breathing is painful to her. One day, her sudden suicide attempt is foiled when someone takes her in his arms and saves her. Hyung-jun is a rough-looking detective. He asks nothing, but maybe he knows that for some people, just being alive is hard enough. ~ Tiger Cinema



7. Spider Forest (2004)
DVD info
Trailer
Korean, psychedelic horror. I was confused ~ China Lily



8. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
On IMDB
Trailer
IMDB is stupid because they didn't credit the same director, Park Chan-Wook with Old Boy. ~China Lily



9. The President's Last Bang (2005)
on IMDB
Review by film blogger
Trailer
The President's Last Bang is an unabashedly leftist take on a dark period in Korea's history. Set (almost) entirely on the day of President Park Chung Hee's assassination in 1979, the film is an out and out attack on his regime, and paints the former president as a drunken lech with an unhealthy obsession with the Japanese. ~ Like Anna Karina's Sweater


10. Flower Island (2001)
Film info
From shocking and sad to funny and beautiful, from tears to laughter, from bleak reality to poetic fantasy; Song Il-gon enters Korean Cinema with a bang after a few acclaimed short films (Liver and Potato and The Picnic). Time will tell if his impact will be as powerful as Hur Jin-ho's first feature (Christmas in August), but Flower Island promises great things for the future of Cinema in Korea, and even the World. ~ I Love HK Film



11. Distance (2001)
on wikipedia
By the same director who made Nobody Knows ~ China Lily

i heart don mckellar

i watched the complete "Twitch City" series this past weekend while convalescing from the FLU OF 2008.

and i have come to this conclusion: don mckellar is HOT.

for sure NOT as hot as my boyfriend but HOT in the canadian film community kinda way.

don mckellar acts, writes screenplays and directs. in COOL SHIT.

let me count the ways in which don mckellar has been involved in COOL SHIT (that i've seen):
- The Adjuster
- Exotica
- Last Night
- The Red Violin
- eXistenZ
- Childstar

also please note: the HOT scenes between don mckellar and molly parker in Twitch City MELTED ME.

cola-flavoured aspirin granules

okay, a quick update:

- tonight i completed the colour correction on all the stills i took at the wedding this weekend, found a skookum aperature plugin that does direct uploads to flickr

- 1 day post-hangover (tues), i caught a nasty flu

- ken from seattle is arriving today in vancouver for the destroyer concert on saturday

- i attended the asian script reading group on monday night in hopes of doing some stealth casting for our next feature

- on tuesday, cola-flavoured aspirin granule sample packs were being handed out at the skytrain station at waterfront and about half the office had them. so, because i was starting to come down with the flu, i thought i would try it. this stuff looks and tastes like Fun Dip. i'm not sure aspirin should taste like candy.

spring cleaning (1 of 2)

rob and i went thru our dvd collection this weekend and now have a shoebox full of dvds that didn't make our "does it inspire us?" litmus test.

email me by next Thursday (May 22) if you want any of these.

i've separated the titles into 2 blog posts so that the post isn't insanely long. this blog post will deal with the north american titles listed in no particular order.


1. The Motel (2007)
www.themotel-film.com
Thirteen-year-old Ernest Chin lives and works at a sleazy hourly-rate motel on a strip of desolate suburban bi-way. Misunderstood by his family and blindly careening into puberty, Ernest befriends Sam Kim, a self-destructive yet charismatic Korean American man who has checked in. Sam teaches the fatherless boy all the rites of manhood. --The Motel website



2. The Ice Storm (not the new criterion edition, 2001)
The Ice Storm at Wikipedia
Suburban Connecticut, 1973. While the Watergate hearings blast from the TV, the wayward Hood and Carver families try to navigate a Thanksgiving break simmering with unspoken resentments, sexual experimentation, and cultural confusion. With crystalline clarity, characteristic subtlety, and even a dose of wicked humor, Academy Award–winning director Ang Lee adapts Rick Moody's acclaimed novel of American malaise into a trenchant, tragic portrait of lost souls. Featuring a tremendous cast of established actors (Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver) and up-and-coming stars (Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes), The Ice Storm is one of the finest films of the nineties. --Criterion.com
This is on my list of perfect films. --china lily



3. Thelma & Louise (Special Edition, 2003)
Thelma & Louise on IMDB
I think we all know what this movie is about. --china lily



4. Dummy (2004)
Dummy on IMDB
Steven, a socially inept young man who struggles to express his feelings, learns to communicate with the world through art of ventriloquism. --Amazon.com



5. Where the Truth Lies (2005)
Where the Truth Lies website
A female journalist tries to uncover the truth behind the breakup years earlier of a celebrated comedy team after the duo found a girl dead in their hotel room. Though both had airtight alibis and neither was accused the incident put an end to their act. -- from the DVD



6. Imaginary Heroes (2005)
Imaginary Heroes website
Imaginary Heroes is a look at one long year in the lives of an ostensibly typical, upper-middle-class suburban family. It tells a tale of a family in crisis with wit, warmth and a very contemporary sardonic spin. --Sony Pictures Classic



7. the Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Film trailer
Will Smith stars in this moving tale inspired by the true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman struggling to build a future for himself and his 5-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Smith). When his girlfriend Linda (Thandie Newton) walks out. Chris is left to raise Christopher on his own. Chris' determination finally pays off when he lands an unpaid internship in a brutally competitive stockbroker-training program, where only one in twenty interns will make the cut. But without a salary, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and are forced to sleep on the streets, in homeless shelters and even behind the locked doors of a metro station bathroom. With self-confidence and the love and trust of his son, Chris Gardner rises above his obstacles to become a Wall Street legend. --DVD



8. Shipping News (2002)
Shipping News on IMDB
An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life. --IMDB
A star-studded cast: Julianne Moore, Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett, and Judy Dench. --china lily

maybe it's just me

i watched "Iron Man" with rob and terry last week. i thought it was a really well-made superhero movie.

and while i was watching the movie, i couldn't shake the feeling that this story seemed familiar to me.

and it occurred to me in a flash.
Project Grizzly!!



beyond the superficial "big traumatic event makes guy create a heavily armoured suit" here are some other similarities:

1/ Missing Father
.. Iron Man's father was deceased
.. Troy (Project Grizzly main character) had a strained relationship with his father and his father never appeared in the documentary but Troy constantly talked about him.

2/ Father as larger-than-life figure
.. Iron Man's father was this super smart scientist
.. Troy's father built a replica of an Iroquois village all by hand, all by himself.

3/ Existence of unconditionally supportive female
.. Iron Man had the lovely Pepper Pots to take care of him
.. Troy's wife bore him a child and allows Troy to hang out with the boys

4/ The Return
.. Iron Man escapes his captors and doesn't have to return and seek revenge against his captors BUT HE DOES
.. Troy survives the grizzly and also feels the need to go back

5/ Facing Enemy = Facing Father
.. Iron Man hated the weapons that his father helped create
.. Troy continually referred to the grizzly as "the old man"


anyone agree? anyone?

file under "not sure"

this weekend, i'm walking through the lobby of my building and i notice this.




umm. i'm pretty sure there was an actual fire extinguisher sitting in this extinguisher housing before. but. yah. it's empty. WTF?

... ... ...
in other news, here's a point of view that's overdue:
Too Much Viral Marketing?

basically, this is the type where all those kids with too much time to spend on finding obscure clues and fake websites to obtain more clues to find more fake websites just for the purpose of being one of the nerdy few to see some fake behind-the-scenes video or to unlock some secret chamber of information about an upcoming movie.

and. so why does a geezer like me care? well, i don't really care except that i had, for the briefest moment, thought we should do something along those lines for the ladyhawk documentary. but then i decided that the target demograhic for the documentary doesn't include the target demographic that viral campaigns appeal to.

who knows if i'm wrong. oh well.

i have other things to worry about. like missing fire extinguishers.

heima

rob and i, along with a couple of friends, sat in the comfiest theatre chairs in vancouver (in the vancity theatre) to watch Heima, the documentary about Sigur Rós performing impromptu, free concerts throughout Iceland.

we had already bought the dvd and loved it but when we heard it was playing at the vancity, we HAD TO GO and, yes, it was worth it.

i cried 10 minutes into the film, it was that beautiful.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL, some other cool things happened:
1/ the vancity lobby sells beer and wine (at $4 ea) that you can BRING INTO THE THEATRE!!! how civilized.
2/ the canadian dolby dude happened to be in vancouver and perfectly calibrated the speakers at the vancity for the film.
3/ the film's director was also in town and there was Q&A after the screening.
4/ the volume was CRANKED UP and totally put you into this environment where YOU FELT like you were at a Sigur Rós concert.
5/ there was a freak snowstorm after the screening.
6/ the 4 of us ended the night with hot bowls of congee and wonton noodle soup

a rather perfect evening.

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days is simply a stunning film.

i won't lie to you, it's a full on artsy-fartsy film that, deservedly, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

directed by a romanian director, situated in 1980s romania before the fall of communism there, this film is exactly the kind of intense, layered, brilliantly-acted kind of stuff that rob and i want to make.

thanks to ken t for insisting we watch this on the big screen.

big news in the cinematic arthouse world!

one of my all-time favourite directors, Hou Hsiao-Hsien (of Cafe Lumiere and Millenium Mambo), is making a fantasy chinese martial arts movie - a genre called wuxia.

this is the equivalent of Wes Anderson (of Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket) deciding to make the next Batman.

also, Hou is using Shu Qi (his female lead from Millenium Mambo and Three Times) for his wuxia film. this is just craziness.

in an interview with The New York Sun, Hou says this:

"I've made my share of art films, so I think it's time to switch gears," Mr. Hou said. "I'd like to devote the next 10 years to making wuxia films. Rest assured, they won't be your ordinary kung-fu movies that other filmmakers have been making. The Tang dynasty produced countless novels that are quite fascinating. The first one I've chosen is about a female assassin called 'Nieyin niang.' It won't be easy to film."

Three Times (2005)



Cafe Lumiere (2004)


Millenium Mambo (2001)


btw, if anyone wants to see any of these 3 movies, i have them for the lending.