every Sunday, at 8pm at Joyce is not here
10/05/2011
09/25/2011
i have a dream...
Yes, it’s a rainy night.
I am not use to bringing an umbrella with me in my whole life and I was walking very fast on the street, under the rain….it made me recall my times visiting Paris…Paris, is always beautiful in the rain…
I was holding a half bottle of wine from Toscana…it is not as expensive as Moris Farms Avvoltore…
Dan Ryan sells a decent Italian wine but a bottle for me is way too much…I feel like I am a boozer but just in a good controlled ( boozer! Tks Edward, for teaching me this word, and more…)
<The Help> is a good movie!
The power of a good movie, is when you want to learn more about why they made the movie, and all the stories behind it.
I spent my half an hour there, while I waited for my juicy blue rare steak, browsing all the history of the “ African American Civil Rights Movement” .
Dan Ryan is always my favorite restaurant, the wooden tables are all tarnished…many single travelers, writers are there and we never bother each other…for years, after I watched hundreds of movies at Pacific Place, I would escaped to here, and write my film-reviews…
A week ago, I watched <mid night in Paris> by woody allen….which most of my friends all believe that I would love soooo much…but, I don’t.
Compared with <mid night in Paris>, < the help> touches me much more. It is a true story of racism and the revolutionary movement.
Which is something Abraham Lincoln announced an end to in 1863, but still many years later the situation is still around…that is what I learned in that half hour:
1896, <separate but equality> by Plessy U. Ferguson;
1963, denied.
1967, “poor people’s campaign”
Malcolm X, the quote and the film!
Yes, Martin Luther King and “ I have a dream”…
My birthday is really close to his day ( the 3rd Monday in January every year) and that is the only holiday Americans use a persons name to designate, besides Lincoln & Washington, and even Martin Luther King was not a president.
I was reading all those historical stories while I was taking my dinner at Dan Ryan…a friendly Black guy stared at me for a while but I am sure that he didn’t know what was on my mind at that moment…
---Apartheid
--- The Emancipation Proclamation
--- I Have a Dream
I felt like I was in another country, I have travelled half of this planet, and I always love to sit in a small restaurant, and read, write and feel other’s lives…
A sincere movie makes us learn, think, and break all the old rules and frames….<the help> is definitely it!
Even M.J. has a song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxREIwfZLoY&feature=related
finally, let’s finish with Martin Luther King’s “ I have a dream”:
....
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
09/12/2011
Monday Movies' Night -- ALL JUST ONE FILM BUT DIFFERENT CHAPTERS
September 12th, Monday Night:
7pm - 8:30pm <A map For Saturday - Our Year Around the World>, one of the best Documentary films;
movie review: http://www.gadling.com/2007/05/23/movie-review-a-map-for-saturday/
8:30pm - 10:30pm < The Cloud>, a film by the greatest Argentina Director Fernando Solanas, 8 Int'l awards;
movie review: http://mubi.com/films/the-cloud
10:30 pm - 01:00am < Life is a miracle >, Emir Kusturica's film, official selection of Cannes Film Festival;
movie review: http://mubi.com/films/life-is-a-miracle
Late Night Film: < The 120 Days of Sodom > the most dark film!!
movie review: http://mubi.com/films/salo-or-the-120-days-of-sodom
how far can we fly...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LLcrYIQ5CA
<long time I haven't cried like this when I watched movie...>
<I was showing this movie at Joyce is not here on Sunday, our Movie's Night>
Yes, Music can bring you to heaven, or it can drag you down to hell….
I am in Heaven & Hell!
Tonight, September 11th in Hong Kong (also September 11th in NYC), I finally choose this film as the last film to watch tonight!!! I have hundreds good films collection (BTW, I hate people asking me to borrow my films!!) but most of them I have never seen…I explained to my friends, that I must leave them until the last few months of my life, when I can’t do anything else but lay on the bed, watching and enjoying all of them…
But, tonight I picked this one from my collection:
<piano solo>
I thank Sally Chu for accompanying me for the entire film;
I thank Allan Ang for providing me with napkins all night long;
I thank Perry Chan for keep my glass filled with nice champagne…
I thank the background noise from my bar’s customers their loud talking,
I thank the rain storm in the middle of the movie for just bringing me more a melancholy mood; I thank all of it…
It is a good movie!
I dated a boy when I was 15 years old, in Beijing, he always played guitar & sang a Taiwanese song call < please go with me –请跟我来>… Three months later, his body was found in the Yan-Shan railway station, crushed by train…Yes, he choose that way to complete his life… I never knew why, at the age of 15 years, why?….even now, I still don’t understand….
I dated a great blues musician in Toronto…a very dark person…he loves his music…music for him is defiantly the 1st thing…I always asked him this silly question, “what is the first thing you love in your life?”…he told me: “music”….besides having a lovely son… I felt great even though I was the 3rd spot, at that moment....A man who truly loves music, and his family, then he knows how to love you & Cherish you....
That’s why I felt soooooo connected when I watched this movie…< Piano, Solo>....
Although I have heard all those familiar Jazz songs in fresco before, it still touched my heart, like the evening waves lapping at the shore….Yes, Chet Baker was in the Movie too, which is my favorite jazz musician…
Yes, I totally understand how much childhood memory can affect our whole life….that is why in my life, I have never trusted forever!!!
I just remember sitting in front of my grand mom < dad’s mom>’s window, waiting for my mom to pick me up…because I choose to go with my mom at that moment,, none of my father’s family has ever talked to me… I was a lovely child in that family before, but since they broke up and I picked my mom, they are all gone from my life…I was just like a garbage bag of smelly shit, waiting the cleaning lady to pick me up…
I understand how those sad memories can destroy our whole life, and Please Luca, I also understand that sometimes we really want to be just blow up in front of people….who cares? Who really cares about us???
They are all carrying a fake mask and rambling around in this beautiful world with their ugly performance!! Who really cares about our sincerity, our passion? Why do we need to control ourselves? Why do we need to keep our attitude (we call –professional attitude) for them??? Why can’t we just do whatever we like….sometimes I just want to scream like what you wanted…" shut up!" And I did it on my birthday this year….it is MY birthday…not yours!!! 40 years ago, I came to this planet from Mars, with nothing….no soul, no feelings, no love, no pain….but, now, 40 years later, I am a complete person, so why do I need to care about YOUR feeling and behave myself???? When we have listened enough noise, why we can't just tell them:
" Shut your freaking mouth UP!"
Yes, they need JUST MUSIC, to clean up their souls!!!
So, Luca…I know, I understand!!!
And you asked your little sister, “how far can we fly…”
I want to know this too!!!
How far can we really fly???
I am trying very hard to fly farther…fly higher….but, sometimes I just feel soooo tired….and I even don’t know if I am flying in the right direction….after I met so many shallow people with vain souls here, I really want to ask now, where is our sky????
I spend a lot of time being alone these last couple of years….and I hold myself well always showing the professional side of me, as I am a professional in front of society….that means, no anger, no complaint, no tears, only put smile on the face all the time....
but tonight, this movie (and to be honest, it is not even a great movie….but it JUST touched my heart with the right tones) totally crushed me….I cried a river… I swear that none of them in the bar has ever ever saw me crying like this….but those tears were from my heart….and they are bitter sweet, and they are pure….they washed all the dust from my life that I has confused me for years….
Yap, MUSIC is my final company!!! Please you guys should all know, that when I die, no matter where I die or how I die, please play a song for me….
I do believe that an artistic sentimental mood will get worse and worse if we don’t control it well, or we just don’t want to control it well:
when I went to Canada in 1989, I just wanted to be a dancer , and meet a good guy…
then when I came to HK years after, I just want to be a traveler, putting foot prints everywhere…
when I went back to Toronto again, I just wanted to be a designer to make a good living …
when I came back to HK 6 years ago, I just wanted to settle down with my new fresh family, with a soft lovely guy, have a baby…cook all the time at home….
But now, I just want to be a real WOMAN, who is 100% devoted to music, and beauty!!!
Music is beauty!!!
How far can we fly…who knows….it all depends on US!!!
How far can we fly, how big the sky? Loca, you are gone, now, it needs me to discover!!!
Loca, I Will Miss You! See you in Heaven, or Hell!!!
09/11/2011
Mid Night in Paris, but not with Woody Allen
<Mid Night in Paris, but not with Woody Allen>
First I want to say, if a once-great artist starts to serve only the national tourism bureau, how sad it is!
I have always respected Woody Allen, he is one of my idols ever since those old days when I was just coming to knew about the Film industry…I have collected many of his movies:
---Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex
---Take the Money and Run
…etc…
But, frankly, I am really upset now…ever since I watched <Vicky Cristina Barcelona>, and especially this time, I have JUST watched his new one < Midnight in Paris>
I can’t help myself, I can’t hold my anger any longer after I watched this movie which was strongly recommended by my close artistic friends…I ran back to office and threw all my impressions about it here, and to the sky, to say how disappointed I am, RIGHT NOW!
First, the beginning of the film, those low quality shoots to speak about Paris, Eifel Towel, Place de la Concorde, La Siena, Arc de triomphe de l'Étoile…etc…are OVER silly!!
My photographer friend EC can make MUCH better shots and Composition then that!!! It was even worse than the French Tourism Bureau’s annual promotion short!!!!
Then, I don’t understand why, all the actors and actresses in his movies have to always speak the way he would!!! Yeah, we love the way Woody’s speaks but, after many years…do we still have heard that kind of talking again & again & again…I just feel funny!
And why he only picks those depressed un-successful but seemly-talented man for the major role, but he always plays down the great- Hormonal italianos…why? Is it because he is losing his confidence as his ages or just because he feels all the great real men should act like a looser and rambling on & on like Stuttering???
Frankly, I like this story, just like I love the film script for <The Curious Case of Benjamin Button>…it’s nice to travel between two time-periods and connect with all the great writers & artists like Dali, Picasso, Hemingway…but it is so shallow to just simply use the Cruel reality compared to the Parisian brilliance…it is very silly to use the mother-in-law’s words compared with the cool tour escort’s knowledge…
And Picasso’s lover, what’s the point? Marion Cotillard only performances the confused part, yes, she is not Dora Marr…she is just Adriana.
And many people talk about the film is about middle class America…holly shxt, if the American middle class really is like this, I would rather be a low-class Hong Kongness!!!
Then, as usual, the film ends up with the Frustrated American writer meeting the French ordinary bookstore sales person…just because they love the same musicians….or just because the girl loves to ramble around in the rain with him < who the hells know why, but I feel that it is too artificial. >
Then I stayed until the film finished…usually as the credits roll down there will be a nice song or piece of unique music playing to attract us---all the crazy film lovers to cry to the conclusion…but you know what, it ends up with Paris Lido typical performance opening music…gosh, I need to go… mama mia!!!
Paris, I have had many many good and romantic memories there in my life… if now I am watching a film about Paris, I don’t want to see only the grand Versailles, the Towel, the Arch….especially from the perspective of a 70 years old Woody Allen….. it is much more than that!!! My mom blames it all on his marriage to a shallow Korean woman that once was his step daughter….I don’t know about that, but I am sorry, Woody, I have not seen any good progress since then!!!
Mom told me after the movie,” I love Paris, but this film won’t make me love Paris more….I still love to go there at least every couple of years, but certainly not for this film!”
Yes, Woody, I will go to Paris, but Not with you!! You lost all your charms that you once had when you directed < Everyone Says I Love You >… that was also about Paris, Venice…
Believe me, next time, Tokyo tourism bureau, Beijing tourism bureau, will hire you…pls, at least you call your film a <tourism promotion film>, it is NOT a piece of art!!!
AT least for me, I am not satisfied with
that!! I know you don’t care, but I do!!!
08/25/2011
<Snow Blade> is the first movie for me to get involved in, as one of the executive producers.
I started to love movies since I was a small kid. My mom once studied in St.Pertersburg, so I was influenced by a lot of Russian Movies.
Then because of the good relationship between China & India, hundreds of Indian movies also jumped into my life.
I love to watch movies in the cinema, my record is 5 movies in one day. Or to cuddle my pillow next to my love, and watch all those unique movies at home---all such sweet moments.
A few years ago, I decided that I needed to learn how to make movies ( I will write my first story soon ), luckily I will be attending HKCU at the end of this year to study film making for two years.
Bey Logan called me to get involved in <Snow Blade>, it is perfect for such a person like me, who is always willing to learn sth new and has a great passion for film making.
I spent 2 great valuable days on location at the film set...I met many many cool film professionals. Even though we had to work <for me, it was like play because all the others worked much harder than me...I felt guilty that sometimes I couldn't help with anything> over 16 hours everyday, but I feel so complete.
I wrote down all my feelings & emotions of those two days already, so I will write soon...For now, I would like to just share some cool photos of this beautiful movie, from an artistic point of view only.
last, share a video of the film-shooting:
08/24/2011
Battleship Potempkin - Odessa Steps scene (Einsenstein 1925)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec&NR=1
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
directed by Sergei Eisenstein
Plot Summary
Commentary Eisenstein freely admitted the influence of D.W. Griffith’s movies, particularly Intolerance, in his work and in the development of Soviet montage. It is not difficult to see the links between the rapid cutting in that film’s conclusion to the kinetic editing of Potemkin. For example, the numerous cuts in the Odessa steps sequence build the individual moments of terror into an almost unbearable emotional climax. Of course, Eisenstein expanded greatly on montage theory to not only build rhythm or suspense but to form intellectual concepts and associations. The dynamic editing of three lion statues to show the awakening of anger and rebellion is a simple but memorable instance of this metaphorical juxtaposition. Another apparent influence from Griffith would be the melodramatic elements that facilitate the film’s political goals. The tsarist forces are completely evil, and sympathy is evoked for the noble revolutionaries and their supporters; issues and characters are simplified for maximum emotional impact. The officers on the ship are given titles such as, roughly, "I’ll shoot them down like dogs!" when dealing with the disobedient sailors. All of the focused victims of the shocking violence on the Odessa steps are women or children. The idea of typage, casting often non-professional actors based on their physical resemblance to a character type, allows the film to forgo character development and individuality. The ship’s priest looks like a prophet from the pages of the Old Testament transplanted into the 20th Century. Additionally, the absence of a main character, except that of the collective Russian people, corresponds to the Marxist principles of the film; one of the only possible protagonists, Vakulinchuk, dies early in the film for the revolutionary cause. This aspect also is reminiscent ofIntolerance’s undermining of audience identification through its large number of characters and shifting focus. Although some of the film’s themes and melodramatic techniques inevitably seem dated, its revolutionary editing is justifiably the most famous and interesting aspect. Nowhere does this montage have greater effect than in the incredible Odessa steps sequence. The various disconcerting jump cuts convey the chaotic terror of the situation, as does the rapid editing of the entire sequence. The attacking militia is often shown by only a line of marching boots advancing upon the citizens to emphasize their impersonal and oppressive nature. Only at the end of the sequence is one of the Cossacks shown in close up as he brutally slashes a supplicating old woman. Evil has been given an identity and will not listen to reason—the only choice is to fight back. The film shows most of the destruction through the citizen’s eyes such as the shot of a child being trampled and the reaction close-up of the horrified mother. Interestingly, as this woman carries her child up the steps to meet the soldiers, she seems to be looking at and speaking to the camera, as if entreating both the militia and the audience to stop the massacre. As mere viewers unable to change the outcome of events, the audience becomes enraged at the guards as they gun down the helpless woman and child. This is potent agitprop as the filmmakers intended, and it is still affecting today. The scene goes further, however, as a woman with a baby carriage is shot by the guards. As she begins to fall, there are cuts to her carriage perched dangerously close to the edge of a step. The fear generated by this editing is confirmed as she collapses and sends the carriage hurtling out of control down the steps. Interspersed with these individual scenes of cruelty are shots, mostly static but a couple tracking, of the fleeing crowd and the approaching line of guards occasionally firing into them. The average length of each shot in this sequence is about two seconds, giving the viewer barely a chance to breathe amongst the chaos. The sequence is so emotionally draining, one gains a new perspective on how powerful, and perhaps controlling, cinema can be. Since this high intensity cannot be maintained, other scenes are somewhat less effective. The montage sequences in the film’s final act suffer not only from following one of the most famous scenes in cinematic history; there are aesthetic questions as well. The rapid jumping between shots of various points on the Potemkin as it sails out to meet the opposing forces yield little suspense or meaning. Perhaps if the shots were held a bit longer, one could get a better grasp of things. As it is, one of the only images that stands out appears to be a poetic long shot showing smoke from the ship’s funnels dissolving into the oceanic horizon as the craft sails forward into conflict. When one sees still frames from the scenes, the interesting compositional elements and graphic relations between shots become evident. But a film is projected over time with many frames each second so that it becomes more difficult to notice these aspects. Because the film was shot on location, there is an interesting documentary or newsreel quality to the visuals. However, the absence of controlled lighting also adds to the lack of clarity in a few shots and obscures the purpose of some of the montage. Any visual confusion must also be partially blamed on the copy of the film which, judging from at least one missing intertitle, is not perfect. Unfortunately, almost no completely accurate print is apparently available which seems strange for such an important work in film history. The symbolic elements of different scenes work in varying degrees. The sequence linking the ship’s surgeon being cast overboard and the maggot-infested meat, accompanied by a title card to further the comparison, is heavy-handed. More effective is the fragmented, overlapping action of a sailor seemingly breaking a single plate twice that interestingly portrays his violent rage and ignores logical spatial and temporal relations. The level of appreciation for the film depends on one’s tolerance for this cinematic abstraction of reality that can explicitly shape events for maximum agitational effect. Andre Bazin’s criticism of montage as being too manipulative may have some worth; later filmmakers would recognize the importance of the longer take and of a viewer’s personal interpretations. Of course, to criticize Potemkin in this way is to take it completely out of its important context. But then again, that is undoubtedly how the film is seen today: 70 years later and in a very different political climate. Nevertheless, the associative editing present in Potemkin opened up new nonnarrative avenues in filmmaking and gave powerful examples of this montage that would outlive and eclipse its propagandistic message.
The film celebrates the limited 1905 Revoultion against tsarism in Russia. Sailors on the battleship Potemkin begin to rebel when they are given maggot-infested food to eat. The ship's captain orders those who protest to be shot on deck, but sailor Vakulinchuk asks, "Brothers! Do you realize who you are shooting?" The shooting squad lowers their rifles, and mutiny on the ship begins. The sailors attack the officers and gain control of the ship, although Vakulinchuk is killed by a senior officer. The sailors take him to the port city of Odessa, where his body serves as a symbol of those who would give their lives for the revolution. Citizens come out to pay respect and offer their support for the Potemkin. Many are gathered on the steps of Odessa when, suddenly, a tsarist militia arrives and begins firing into the crowd. The battleship responds by firing at the headquarters of the tsarist generals located nearby onshore. A squadron has been sent out against the Potemkin, and the sailors decide to sail out and face it. Two battleships approach, and the Potemkin readies its cannons but sends up a signal, "Don't fight—join us." On the verge of a battle, a title reads, "Brothers!", and sailors on all of the ships begin celebrating. The Potemkin and its jubilant crew pass without being attacked and with added support.
Battleship Potemkin overcomes its ideological constraints and uses its abstract form to produce at least one scene of unquestionable power. Sergei Eisenstein’s own comparison of his style to a "kino-fist" is an apt one; the film assaults the viewer’s sensibilities with forceful melodrama and rhythmic editing. Many scenes are calculated to elicit specific responses and, in fact, succeed, but this creates a certain feeling of manipulation because of the film’s overt polemic. Obviously, political concerns of a now defunct nation from over seventy years ago are not going to hold up well. The fact that the film remains effective on some levels is impressive and testifies to Eisenstein’s influential ideas about cinema. His principles of montage were vital to the development of film language and to cinema’s separation from other art forms into its own realm. A film based largely on these editing principles sacrifices some narrative concerns and tends to distance the viewer if not continuously providing ‘attractions’ or ‘stimuli’. Despite claims mentioned by some critics about the film’s perfect and concise example of film structure, Potemkin can be an uneven viewing experience.
