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for all the typical british-humour and wicked-gadgety-fun….
catch the were-rabbit!!!
it is hard not to find it personal when the actor of the protagonist in “The Constant Gardener” has a name that is pronounced the same way as that of a dear friend who was killed in a most unneccesary way almost a year ago and his (Ralph Fiennes) and his co-protagonist’s (Rachel Weisz) roles in the film share some similarities with the kind of work R was involved in…
i never really understood how and what life is like working for aid agencies in Africa (and other parts of the world) despite hearing first-hand the kind of dangers, frustrations and incomprehensible bureaucracies that exist and are highlighted in the film… i could never really fully appreciate R’s experiences… it seemed and still does, utterly remote and horrifying… i could, but then again i guess i couldn’t, understand the passion that drives these aid-workers… and in comparison, my everyday struggles seem insignificant…
it’s hard to describe it all succinctly and adequately… but the film gives a vivid dichotomy of the beauty of the african land and the misery of the people; their helpless yet changeable situations; the pharmaceutical powers that rule their lives and are yet dependent on these lives they ‘sacrifice’ and also the ruthlessness that is present in both the locals and the foreigners… do try to catch the film when it comes to a theatre/cinema near you… the issues raised are real and concern us all.
i used to sing and hum to myself a lot… i sometimes do it subconsciously and often land myself in rather embarrassing situations… in any case, some of my favourite tunes come from The Sound of Music… and here’s one of my favourites… the theme song, no less.
The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
My heart wants to beat like the wings of a bird
That rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies
From a church on a breeze
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls
Over stones on its way
To sing through the night
Like a lark who is learning to pray
I go to the hills when my heart is lonely
I know I will hear what I heard before
My heart will be blessed
With the sound of music
And I’ll sing once more
~~~The Sound of Music~~~
you’d probably recognise the face of the Afghan girl with piercing green eyes that once covered an issue of the National Georgraphic magazine, even if you didn’t realise that the photographer who captured the face is Steve McCurry, one of the world’s best photographers who tries to bring the connectedness of humans through his pictures. as least, that was the case for me… i’d seen the face on his collection of portraits published by Phaidon but i couldn’t remember who the photographer was until i was reminded of his name at the “Face of Asia: Steve McCurry photographs” exhibited at Edinburgh’s City Art Gallery.
it is a wonderful collection of portraits and scenes… and often the intensity of the facial expressions could really tell you so much of the person’s life. what skill, sensitivity and patience it must require to attain the quality of expressivity in his subjects, whether descriptively or metaphorically… what i find so amazing about photographs is how much they tell you about the subject and the photographer and in some other ways, the audience. this inter-connected-ness renders a beautiful role for well-captured photographs.
as i wandered about the gallery filled with his signature pieces, i found myself wondering perhaps what makes Steve McCurry’s photographs powerful is because they capture more than the person or the places in which they live or flee… they capture the ironies of life too and the formidable human strength to overcome some of life’s harshest conditions… they are themselves, life stories. it is life stories that touch… and this is how his photographs have connected people and how people reached out to those they do not know, to help.
i found myself taken to a photograph of an indian man wading through the flood left by a monsoon, water to his chin, him carrying his livelihood, an old sewing machine slightly submerged, to higher grounds… on his face, a resilient but distant smile. when i finished reading the caption that accompanied it, i turned my head not knowing that another lady was also there… and we both just happened to look at each other at the same time.
“It’s so amazing!” she exclaimed with a beautiful smile.
“i am so happy he got a new sewing machine!” i told her…
“Me too!”
that made my day. the happiness is quite indescribable…
Steve McCurry’s work can also be viewed at the pdn gallery and is definitely worth catching if it comes to a place near you.
“Fear is the path to the dark side: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering”
i can’t help but think Lucas has been influenced by Buddhistic teachings… all the wonderful bits of the light vs dark sides are captured in the apparently simple yet profound lines that Yoda ‘enigmatically’ spews… absolutely wonderful philosophical stuff.
ever since i was introduced to Star Wars and all the amazing fun… i’ve always wanted a lightsaber (NB: not the toy but the real thing)… i also want to get hold of a copy of the story in text… and i wouldn’t mind having DVDs of the original trilogy and the new as future pressies in case you ever think of getting me something i’d like… but sharing it with me if you do have a copy would be just as nice!!! i also wanted to have my hair long so i could plait it like princess leia and become a jedi… i also wondered if George Lucas published his stories at all? does anyone know? i’d really like to get a copy…
… so many wants… it’s terrible i know… “learn to let go, [i] must”.
i still like the classics better… however, this last of the first part kind of made up for the two rather disappointing earlier episodes…
but beware… the dark side is strong… “learn to let go, you must“
another movie i watched recently was Turtles Can Fly, which i found terribly haunting… undertones aside, this is a fine production, beautifully subtle and provocative… it is definitely worth the watch if you can take watching people suffer rather harsh circumstances… the mental and physical torments etc. … i say so for i left the movie feeling mentally drained… sombre and carrying a heavier heart…
when f was here last weekend, we managed (apart from attending my old flatmate, Hannah’s Wedding) to watch the one film i had been wanting to catch for ages… i was really glad that the FilmHouse was screening it too as i thought the screenings at Cameo would have ended by then. A Very Long Engagement was worth the ‘long’ wait… i really enjoyed it… and am glad f did too. and Audrey Tautou played a lovely strong-willed Mathilde whose quest to find the fate of her beloved Manech (played by Gaspard Ulliel) saw her learning about some of the horrific experiences of those who went through the war and the psychological scars left on those whose lives intertwined. those who loved Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Am?lie would find traces of his stylistic filmography rekindled in this production… particularly his sense of humor… mostly peppered by quirky characters e.g. Benedicte and her obsession with Chickpea’s (The Dog) silly tendencies… The Postman (Jean-Paul Rouve), etc. and each their distinct idiosyncracies…
i’d love to watch it again… not only to be able to etch the storyline in my mind… to tell myself that i should learn to be more like Mathilde… who remained stubbornly cheerful despite all the challenges… but also to be reminded of the companionship i enjoyed last weekend…
i am awe-struck by the cinematography of Zhang Yimou’s latest film: “House of Flying Daggers” or more aptly titled in Chinese as 十面埋伏 and perhaps more accurately translated* as facades hiding ambushes… which the director presented at the Cannes. i was slightly hesitant to go, having heard mixed reviews from different people and also by the fact that people i often go movie-watching with aren’t free to come along with me… or aren’t here for that matter… so i contemplated for a few days…
however unlike those (e.g. DSD) who have expressed their unfavourable views about the film — whose script incorporated various familiar themes of “Robin-Hood”, “Romeo and Juliet”, and the Chinese Martial Arts genre — i do like it… despite a few qualms which i have pertaining to the passionate scenes, which i feel, were perhaps a little contrived and too drawn-out… and perhaps the Title Song, “Lovers”, sang by Kathleen Battle, would have been more appropriate if it had been in Mandarin… however, the setting and play of colour themes that ran parallel to the subtle plots and the choreographed movements (both minute and subtle as well as grand and epic) were beautifully done…
i guess you might say i am biased, for i do like Zhang Yimou’s films alot and i notice how his style has slowly changed with the years… becoming more fairy-tale like in the modern productions… i also i think Zhang Ziyi is a great actress with a lot of potential… and now i am beginning to understand what people say about Andy Lau’s sensitivity in his acting as well as why everyone’s so smitten by Takeshi Kaneshiro… yet i guess it is our great loss that we will never see this film starring Anita Mui as the Peony Pavilion’s Yee — whose role was eventually played by Song DanDan. and it is in memory of Anita that the film is dedicated.
[a selection of various trailers is available from here]
* a note on the observed discrepancies of the translated subtitles in the movie — for example, the (repeated) lines uttered by Jin to Mei: “I came back for you” was actually “I came back for the one I love” in the original Mandarin… which can be seen as either cheesier or more poetic…
Cameo’s double bill screening of “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” was a sheer delight… it got me into tears… because so many bits of it are so true in my life… the journeys on the trains (both inter-railing through Vienna, and stopping in the city too — although i’ve probably never seen all those places they wandered through… — and through europe on the train…), the people i’ve met, come to know… bade goodbyes and wondered if i will ever meet again… the conversations about growing up, idealism, love, life, struggles within ourselves etc…. and ooh so many many wonderful little things… all encapsulated in those conversations… mannerisms, everything… one could describe it as fictionalised reality… but realistically so.
