Director: Wong Kar Wai

Cast: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Rebecca Pan, Lai Chin

Now when did I last see a good film like this I wonder… A stylistic masterpiece by Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai, it’s a story that stays with you even after you’re long finished. In The Mood For Love revolves around Mrs Chan (Maggie Cheung) and Mr Chow (Tony Leung). A stunner, who could have otherwise had several admirers following her, Mrs Chan comes across as rather sad and lonely character. So is her next-door neighbour, Mr Chow.

As the story unfolds, we get to know Mr Chow’s wife was having a romantic liaison with Mrs Chan’s husband. The discovery sort of bonds them together.

A journalist by profession we see Chow Mowan and Su Li-zhen leaning on each other for solace. There is evidently a spark of desire, but they decide to take it easy and never cross their limits perhaps out of social pressures or on ethical grounds.

It is their restrained pining for each other and the uncertainty of future that constantly intrigues you. As Mrs Chan says, “We will never be like them!” The two characters may at times remind you of Kim Ki Duk’s 3-Iron or 1948 classic Spring in a Small City for that matter. 

The yearning here is so poised that you are bound to feel for the protagonists. Instead of adding sexually explicit sequences writer-director Wong Kar Wai uses each movement of his camera to explain exactly what he wants to convey.

He is one of those gifted filmmakers who actually think through the lense. The camera keeps hovering – capturing glimpses of the cigarette smoke, raindrops, steaming cauldron of noodles, a small fan, curtains and the telephone – but constantly focussing on these two people stranded in unhappy marriages.

A visual delight, the colour scheme seems breathtakingly beautiful

Another interesting thing that immediately draws your attention is Mrs Chan’s fixation for bright floral print dresses. Neatly stitched in similar cuts with slightly exposed shoulders, her dresses come as a contrast to her otherwise gloomy mood.

The filmmaker chooses a theme with universal appeal, the constant struggle between repression and pleasure. It doesn’t take sides, or if it does, it doesn’t force the viewers to choose.

Wong’s re-creation of Hong Kong in 1962 (the year when the story begins) is so apt that one tends to forget he has only shown us the rough sketches of the place and the existing social scenario.

A visual delight, the colour scheme seems breathtakingly beautiful. The film’s haunting background score accentuates the untold misery.

VERDICT: Despite it’s slow pace, the film lives up to its title as a touching mood piece.

The idea that a cultural movement begins or ends with the flip of a calendar is, of course, fallacious. ”60s Music” is an identifier of a specific strain of popular music that really refers to the time period, between 1965 (mid-career Beatles) and 1976 (The Sex Pistols). What we think of as the Golden Era of 70s movies began, arguably, with The Graduate in 1967 (or Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the year before) and ended with Raging Bull in 1980.

For now anyway, the 2000s can be called The Netflix Decade, a time when, in theory, more movies were more accessible to more people than ever before. That doesn’t necessarily mean everyone took advantage of this opportunity. Still, the idea that a movie, even one from say, Romania about abortion, can have a second life on video is encouraging. If you’re a stickler for lists, consider this the 90 (or so) best movies of the last ten years. What this era in film will ultimately be called is anyone’s guess, but, many films in this list, particularly those made in the US, reflect life in the Age of Terror, where the country was led by a man whose ambition far exceeded his abilities.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days – Over the last ten years there has been a rush, in relative terms anyway, of films from countries that were formerly behind the Iron Curtain. The best of these was a heartbreakingly frank film about the moral and practical dilemmas of abortion while Eastern Europe crumbled in the late 1980s. A movie of unflinching honesty. (2007)

8 Mile – Don’t laugh. Yes, Eminem played himself, but great movies put the viewer in a time and place and Curtis Hanson’s impeccable direction gives life to the hopelessness of Eminem’s Detroit ring of despair. The performances of Kim Basinger and Mekhi Phifer are first-rate.  The movie looks even more authentic now that Eminem has faded from the limelight. (2002)

21 Grams – The title refers to the amount of weight we lose after we die. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s follow-up to Amores Perros brought together a math professor (Sean Penn), a grieving housewife (Naomi Watts) and a re-born convict (Benicio Del Toro). The story isn’t arranged chronologically and the morality of what’s taking place is apparent before the full impact of the plot.

The 25^th Hour – Spike Lee’s least bombastic work. Three men (Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper) one of whom is preparing for a prison stint, re-assess their lives in New York City while terrorist occupied planes still echo in the background. The request made late in the film by Norton will make you gasp, but then nod in agreement with his logic. (2002)

About Schmidt – When Jack Nicholson’s wife dies he decides to rent an RV and drive around trying to avoid the realization that he’s a selfish creep. Alexander Payne’s portrait of aging shines even brighter when compared to the emptiness of another Nicholson film about old age released several years later—The Bucket List. Hope Davis is brilliant as Nicholson’s estranged daughter. (2002)

Almost Famous – The best fictional account of the rock and roll life this side of Spinal Tap. Billy Crudup hits every note as an ambivalent guitar hero. Philip Seymour Hoffman is hysterical as rock critic Lester Bangs. Cameron Crowe’s movie also launched the career of Kate Hudson, who plays a groupie. Don’t hold that against it. The “Tiny Dancer” sequence on the tour bus is sure to put a lump in your throat. (2000)

Amelie  – Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s fable starring Audrey Tautou is certain to become a beloved classic if it hasn’t achieved that status already. Jeunet and Tautou occupy a world that looks much like our own yet is eminently more just, hopeful and full of love. Engaging from any number of perspectives. (2001)

Amores Perros – The three-pronged story about how lives have been irreversibly altered by a car accident can only be described as awe-inspiring. It introduced the world to the massive talents of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Gael Garcia Bernal and the progenitors of Latin American Cinema. Much as Amores Perros is a child of Pulp Fiction, it is also the father to the acclaimed City of God. (2001)

Away From Her – This tiny movie about a woman (Julie Christie) coming to grips with Alzheimer’s raises challenging questions about the true nature of love, honesty and companionship. That Sarah Polley was only 27 when she directed this counts as a miracle. (2007)

Babel – Whereas Amores Perros’ and 21 Grams’ centerpiece were a singular event, Innaritu’s Babel centers on a singular feeling brought on by a digital, wireless age. It’s one of mutedness. We can speak to more people in more places than ever before, yet we still have no clue what to say. The characters’ eyes tell us everything we need to know about their hollowed-out existences. In Babel, continents are little more than land masses that separate people trying to cope with this new world. Brad Pitt has never been better. (2006)

The Beat That My Heart Skipped – Romain Duris dreams of becoming a concert pianist conflict with his father’s desire that he follow his footsteps into a life of low-level street thuggery. Director Jacques Audiard brings together the disparate physical and emotional universes that Duris occupies. Paris, probably the most-filmed movie locale in the world after New York, is presented in a new, fresh way. (2005)

Before Sunset – Nine years after Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy fell in love on a single night in Vienna they meet again. Except now they’re in Paris. But time has passed and things have changed. Or have they? A great idea executed to perfection by director Richard Linklater and the two leads. (2004)

Black Hawk Down – Mark Bowden’s searing chronicle of the US Army’s disaster in Somalia. Ridley Scott and a strong ensemble cast capture the frantic efforts of well-intentioned men in one impossible situation after another. (2001)

Bigger Faster Stronger* – A straightforward documentary about steroids and American culture by a first time director and former devotee of the weightlifting/bodybuilding scene. (2008)

Bloody Sunday – Made prior to United 93 and The Bourne movies, Paul Greengrass’ re-creation of the events of January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland seethes with anger. (2002)

Borat – Far and away the best comedy in recent years. Although it dutifully serves its  function as a biting social satire, it’s the bar which other comedies strive for: “Yeah, (title) was pretty funny. But it’s no Borat.” (2006)

Bowling for Columbine – With the school shootings still fresh in the public mind Michael Moore’s film about America’s obsession with guns is a tour de force of filmmaking. It’s become the template for countless other issue-driven documentaries, but the original is still the best. Who could forget Moore emerging from a bank, gun in hand as gratitude for opening a new bank account? (2002)

Capote – I tend to resist portrayals of historical figures little more than overwrought imitations, but there are some performances that just throw you back in your seat. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s depiction of the caustic, gifted, tortured Truman Capote is such a performance. (2005)

The Dark Knight – One of the major secular features of Bush Era was rampant self-involvement. Facebook has turned the personal into the global scale. In a landscape where fame goes to those who are willing only to be more extreme than their predecessor, Heath Ledger, as the sadistic Joker tapped perfectly into this pathos while living up to unprecedented pre-release hype. Everything, onscreen and off, about The Dark Knight reflected the culture of entitlement. Mostly though, The Dark Knight delivered on all its promise.  The movie has flaws; Christian Bale’s smoky (or is it gravelly?) voice is an unneeded prop and the stunt make-up of Aaron Eckhart’s character is unnecessary. That said, it performs the near impossible—a summer blockbuster whose story and message stays with you for days, if not weeks. (2008)

Darwin’s Nightmare – A documentary about the perch in Lake Victoria that shows the social and political effects of an ecological nightmare. While An Inconvenient Truth was the environmental movie that bagged the awards and attention, Hubert Sauper’s movie chilled and moved. (2005)

Eastern Promises –  David Cronenberg re-emerged with A History of Violence, but its follow-up was far more entertaining. Naomi Watts’ London midwife stumbles across the Russian mob, as personified by Viggo Mortensen, cultures clash, mayhem ensues–including a grisly fight in a steam bath. (2007)

Edge of Heaven – The best movies of the decade made outside the US addressed the blurring of boundaries among class, race, ethnicity or sexuality. Fatih Akin’s film about a German Turk who moves to Istanbul in order to find his half-sister makes you wonder if maybe boundaries aren’t such a bad thing. (2008)

Elephant – Gus Van Sant’s take on school violence is haunting. The impending carnage looms over the characters to such a degree that, as an audience member, you want to shake them by the shoulders and tell them to run before the bullets start flying. (2003)

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room – The best of its type. A traditional talking-heads documentary that harnesses the national outrage of the Enron collapse and the subsequent dominoes that fell. Names are named and we’re given plenty of reason to hold those mentioned in absolute contempt. (2005)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – I resisted this as too gimmicky at first and I don’t buy Jim Carrey doing anything serious, but on a second viewing it struck me as a thoughtful consideration of how memory relates to romantic longing, especially considering it’s a major studio release. The rare instance of  when a blend of a potentially toxic mix of artists–Carrey, Kate Winslet, Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman results in a coherent final product.  (2004)

The Fall – A suicidal stunt man, an eight year old Eastern European immigrant girl who speaks accented English, Charles Darwin, Alexander the Great and many, many others people populate Tarsem Singh’s follow up to The Cell. Reportedly made without CGI, it’s unlike any film ever made. (2008)

Finding Nemo – A father clown fish loses track of his son clown fish. In desperate need of help in finding him, he is assisted by a pang fish with short-term memory. That the movie somehow takes a parent’s worst nightmare and turns it into something cute is a testament to its many charms. Edged Ratatouille and Up for a spot behind WALL-E on this list. (2003)

Garden State – While it’s easy to dismiss the movie as a tool for Zach Braff’s navel-gazing, Garden State appealed to people of a certain age, pre mid-life, who wondered, “What’s it all for?” It owes massive debts to The Graduate and the work of Wes Anderson but it’s a movie of and about its time. (2004)

George Washington – David Gordon Green’s somber sketch on poor black children in North Carolina plays like a Miles Davis number. The movie is all mood, but by the end, you feel like you know the kids in this movie intimately. (2000)

Gone Baby Gone – This may be a blasphemy in some quarters, but Ben Affleck’s directorial debut does Clint Eastwood better than Eastwood himself. It confronts many of the same issues as Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River the difference is the performance of Amy Ryan, as the world’s worst mother. (2007)

Good Night and Good Luck – George Clooney’s paean to an era gone by was meant to be a body blow to the modern media, where rumor and innuendo flourish. More than David Straitharn’s uncanny impersonation of Edward R Murrow, most the high points are the elegant singing of Dianne Reeves that served as a bridge scenes of increasing tension. (2005)

Goodbye Solo – Souleymane Sy Savane is  Solo, a Senegalese cab-driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (the Tar Heel State is a new hot spot for American Indie Cinema). He picks up a weary, southern man who asks that a few days from now Solo take him to Blowing Rock National Park, no questions asked. Ramin Bahrani’s movie is so loaded with symbolism it’s easy to overlook what an assured, confident piece of filmmaking it is. If there’s any justice, Savane will pick up an Oscar nomination this year. (2009)

Happy-Go-Lucky – How far does attitude go in life? At first glance Sally Hawkins’ Poppy is gratingly optimistic, but as Mike Leigh’s small masterpiece unfolds we see that Poppy is far more sophisticated than we’ve given her credit for. Furthermore, I can think of no film of this or an era that so lovingly presents a friendship between two women—Hawkins and Alexis Zegerman. They’re co-workers and have each other’s backs in ways that the girls from Sex and the City would never understand. (2008)

The House of Flying Daggers  – Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon set a standard that Zhang Yimou’s exhilarating epic set in the Tang Dynasty surpassed. That’s Ninth Century kids. Two police officers, with differing motives, force a gorgeous dancer to go undercover and infiltrate The House of Flying Daggers, a group of militants who steal from the rich and give to the poor. There’s a sequence where…ok forget that, watch it and you’ll instantly recognize why this movie is on a “Best of” list. (2004)

In America – After WALL-E this was the movie that stole my heart. Jim Sheridan directed a script he wrote with his daughters about a family a lot like their own. It’s the magical story of a family overcoming the loss of the youngest child through great sacrifice and a move to Hell’s Kitchen. Sarah and Emma Bolger, who play the precocious daughters, will steal your heart too. (2003)

In the Bedroom  – Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek have a son (Nick Stahl) who gets involved with an older woman (Marisa Tomei) estranged from her husband. When Stahl gets killed by the husband in a jealous fit Wilkinson must face his own thoughts of revenge in this wrenching drama directed by Todd Field. (2001)

In the Mood for Love – It’s 1962 Hong Kong and Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are neighbors who suspect their spouses of infidelity. Wong Kar-Wai’s film is in the grand tradition of a love story set against a society in upheaval, but simmers with a lust and eroticism all its own. Runner-up to Y Tu Mama Tambien for sexiest film of the decade. (2001)

In the Valley of Elah  – When Tommy Lee Jones’ son goes missing shortly after returning from a tour in Iraq, he sets out to find him. In the course of his quest he’s aided by Charlize Theron and the movie becomes a layered treatise about the war in Iraq, the military and family. In his best roles, Jones face says far more than any word could and that’s certainly the case in this movie, which takes its title from the site of David’s biblical battle with Goliath. (2007)

Into the Wild  – After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Chris McCandless, the child of well-to-do parents, gave away all his possessions and hitchhiked across America en route To Alaska. A wonderful companion to Jon Krakauer’s elegiac account of McCandless, Sean Penn’s movie brings together sweeping natural panoramas, marvelous supporting characters (Hal Holbrook especially) and a pitch-perfect score from Eddie Vedder. (2007)

Junebug – So many films about the clash between urban and rural ways of life resort to easy stereotypes, but Phil Morrison’s movie strikes just the right tone. Now living in Chicago, a son brings his art gallery-owning wife (the stunning Embeth Davidtz) to meet his parents in rural North Carolina. He re-acquaints himself with his brother whose wife (played by Amy Adams in the breakthrough performance of the decade) is pregnant. New conflicts arise as old wounds are re-opened. Celia Weston is delightful as the family matriarch. (2005)

Katyn – The legendary director Andrzej Wajda may have made his best film in his 80’s. It’s the heretofore untold story of the slaughter of thousands of Polish soldiers at the beginning of World War II by the Russian Red Army. Wajda focusses on how the Russians lies about the massacre left a permanent stain on the Polish psyche. The final twenty minutes of Katyn put your heart in your throat. (2008)

Kontroll  – Nimrod Antal’s film about life in the Budapest subway system defies easy description. Every scene and piece of dialogue seems loaded with literal and metaphorical interpretations. And the metaphor can apply just as easily to the main characters as to life in Hungary after the fall of the Soviet Empire. (2005)

 Lilya 4-ever – Abandoned by her mother, 16 year-old Lilya must fend for herself in bleak, gray Estonia. She meets a young man different from the abusive thugs in her neighborhood. He is kind to her and promises to pull her out of her dire circumstances. Hopeful and desperate, she trusts him. Thinking they will run off to a slice of heaven, Lilya is instead lowered into a kind of Hell that can only be borne from the minds of the truly evil. Lukas Moodyson’s film muscles its way into the pit of your stomach and stays there for days.

Little Children  – The decade’s best movie about suburban dystopia and arguably Kate Winslet’s best performance. She plays an educated mother whose marriage is passionless. She begins an affair with Patrick Wilson –The Prom King, as he’s dubbed by the neighborhood mothers—whose marriage is  deteriorating while he attempts to pas the bar exam. Most memorable, however, is Jackie Earle Haley, a sex offender trying to start a new life while under the watchful eye of self-appointed moralist. (2006)

The Lives of Others – An engrossing film about the horrors of life on the front lines of the Cold War. Ulrich Muhe is a member of the Stasi in 1984 who listens in on the conversations of a playwright and his lover. His own life being one of boredom he becomes increasingly engrossed in those of his subject. Florian Heckel von Donnersmarck crafted a film of personal destruction while addressing contemporary issues of privacy in a time of unparalleled freedom. (2006)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – It will be hard to explain to future generations the impact that this series of films had on a populace put on perpetual edge in the age of terrorism. Thousands of people lined up to watch the entire trilogy, nine hours in total. It did not take much imagination to see the similarities between Peter Jackson’s sprawling epics and the state of world affairs. The stories of honor, mysticism, fellowship and duty in the face of an indefatigable enemy bent on an engineering an apocalypse resonated with millions of people who had never even heard of JRR Tolkien. (2001-2003)

Memento  – How Christopher Nolan began the decade. The taut Guy Pearce is covered from head to toe with tattoos. He’s also written himself hundreds of notes. The ink on both the paper and his skin is critical because he has no short term memory. In normal circumstances this would be quite the conundrum, but it’s worse because Pearce’s wife has been murdered and he’s trying to figure if he did it or if someone else did. Memento was that rare, visceral movie that left the audience in their seats after the house lights came up, catching their collective breaths. (2001)

Michael Clayton  – Where Good Night and Good Luck was a clarion call to a lazy media elite, George Clooney got back in front of the camera in this tightly written drama about corporate malfeasance. He’s a fixer who keeps small problems from becoming big ones. He must prevent an old friend gone crazy (a manic Tom Wilkinson) from jeopardizing a billion-dollar project while keeping the company lawyer (a scathing Tilda Swinton) at bay. Tony Gilroy’s movie recalls 70s classics like The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor. (2007)

Minority Report - The back end (after Artificial Intelligence: AI) of a Steven Spielberg double-dip on the dire possibilities of the near future, blisters with energy. Tom Cruise plays a pre-crime officer—criminals are arrested before they commit their crimes—who finds himself caught up in agency politics that have far-reaching implications. Watch it again just to see how prescient it is, based on a Philip K. Dick novel. (2002)

Monster’s Ball  – An extremely graphic sex scene featuring Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton (ick) generated buzz, but Marc Forster’s depiction of troubled lives in the south is harrowing. Heath Ledger, Sean Combs and Peter Boyle are excellent in support of Berry’s raw performance. (2001)

The Motorcycle Diaries – Before he became a face on a t-shirt, Ernesto Guevera was called “Fuser” by his friends. As a student, he and a buddy traveled through South America on a beat up Norton 500. Gael Garcia Bernal is Che in Walter Salles’ exquisite travelogue about idealism colliding with reality. The Machu Picchu sequence is breathtaking. (2004)

Moulin Rouge! – Unapologetically over the top, Baz Luhrman’s was the best musical of the past ten years. A courtesan (Nicole Kidman) falls in love with a would-be poet (Ewan McGregor) much to the chagrin of a duke. This triangle is resolved in a splash of song, color and double-entendres. Jim Broadbent won an Oscar the following year in Iris, but he deserved it for his role as the ringmaster here. (2001)

The New World – Terrence Malick’s lyrical, contemplative rendering of the affair between John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahantas sweeps you up and carries you off to a place that only he seems to be able to construct. When the duties of colonization become too much, the stability of their relationship is threatened. (2005)

The Notebook – The moment you say, “Oh, come on! That would never happen!” you’ve missed the point. Every character in the movie is of a type and that very broadness is what makes the film such a timeless love story. (2004)

No Country for Old Men – Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh immediately joined the pantheon of cinematic psychos but Tommy Lee Jones is outstanding as sheriff trying to make sense of killer whose weapon of choice is a cattle prong. Josh Brolin is up to Jones’ lofty standards as Chigurh’s main target. Kelly MacDonald turns a potentially forgettable role as Brolin’s wife into the moral center of the film. While the movie may have caught fans of the Coen Brothers off-guard, it fits nicely in the canon of the makers of Miller’s Crossing, Fargo and Blood Simple. (2007)

Once  – Set in modern day Dublin, Glen Hansard is a Hoover repair man and Marketa Irglova is an immigrant caring for her mother and daughter. They are both amateur musicians and gradually they write songs together that reflect their growing feelings for each other. A small treasure. (2007)

Pan’s Labyrinth – In order to escape her sadistic stepfather in Franco’s Spain, a ten year-old girl imagines a secret world where she must perform three tasks to prove that she is, in fact, a princess. Fashioned by Guillermo Del Toro, who spent the decade creating worlds that exist just beyond the reach of our own. (2006)

Requiem for a Dream — Four disparate characters succumb to drug abuse. Most frightening in Darren Aronofsky’s film is the descent into madness of a woman collecting social security played by Ellen Burstyn. Far from a lecture, the movie shows in explicit detail how different people become addicted for different reasons.  (2000)

Sideways - In celebration of his philandering pal’s upcoming nuptials, Paul Giamatti takes him on a tour of California wine country. Like any good road movie, Alexander Payne’s film contrives one scenario after another in order to reveal something about the characters. What made Sideways different was the intensity of Giamatti’s portrayal of a man consumed by his own self-loathing. (2004)

The Station Agent – A thoughtful independent film from Thomas McCarthy about a dwarf (Peter Dinklage) who inherits an abandoned train station after his best friend dies. He’s subsequently harangued into friendship by a chatty hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale). The unlikely friends then encounter a woman (Patricia Clarkson) who is in mourning. Well-deserving of the many awards it picked up on the festival circuit. (2003)

Taxi to the Dark Side – Of the many righteously indignant documentaries criticizing the Bush Administration Alex Gibney’s was the best. It’s the story of an innocent Afghan cab driver who was tortured and killed while in US custody. He’s not a casualty of the madness of war, but rather, the victim of carefully vetted policy.  (2007)

There Will Be Blood  – P. T. Anderson’s sprawling epic of greed, oil and religion has a problematic ending but who could forget the opening scene, where Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, without saying a word, grunts his way into our psyche. He plunges one hole after another into the ground through the force of his personality, creating to a fortune but and future that will, most certainly, be bloody. An instant American classic. (2007)

Traffic  – The War on Drugs from the peripatetic camera of Steven Soderbergh. In his most complete film, he inspects many, if not all, aspects of the struggle and concludes that the effort has been a colossal failure. Sturdy performances by Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Quaid, Don Cheadle and Michael Douglas anchor a somewhat chaotic enterprise. (2000)

Waking Life – Richard Linklater’s mind-massaging meditation on truth, reality, dreams and just about everything else washes over you like a hot shower. The fact that it merges animates live action characters pushes it to the stuff of legend. An exponentially better “alternative reality” film than Mulholland Drive. (2001)

WALL-E – The other major secular strain brought on by the reign of error that was the Bush presidency was conspicuous consumption. Remember that he suggested we go shopping in the weeks after planes were crashed into the financial and political capitols of the country. And we did. Boy did we spend. The magicians at Pixar presented the down side of this approach to calming our collective nerves, while telling a tender love story. If you didn’t go “awwwww” at least once while watching WALL-E may God have mercy on your soul. (2008)

Waltz With Bashir  – Perhaps the first and last of its kind. An animated documentary about an Israeli soldier’s memories of a battle that occurred some twenty years earlier. Ari Folman’s autobiographical story of The Lebanese War had the unique distinction of reminding you of several other films while still being thoroughly original. (2008)

Y Tu Mama Tambien – The sexiest movie of the decade. Maribel Verdu joins Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna on a road trip from Mexico City to a mysterious beach with no strings attached. Much steaminess follows. (2002)

You Can Count on Me  – Before starring in Kenneth Lonergan’s movie Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo had minor roles in minor movies. They play a brother and sister who are connected by a tragic event from their past. Each day is a struggle as they to overcome their flaws and make something out of their shiftless lives. Linney was nominated for an Oscar as a single mother trying to build a life out of perpetual setbacks. The soundtrack features several songs from Steve Earle, who knows a thing or two about turmoil. (2000)

Zodiac  – David Fincher’s story of the serial killer that spooked the Bay Area in the 1970s. Jake Gyllenhaal is a newspaper cartoonist who starts out trying to decode the murderer’s cryptic messages and ends up more obsessed with finding the killer than the police officer (Mark Ruffalo) assigned to the case. Fincher gets the grisliness out of the way early and delivers an unsparing crime procedural; the inclusion of Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man on the soundtrack is inspired. (2007)

They barely missed the cut: High Fidelity, Oldboy, Adaptation and Up

Best Releases Three or Four Decades Late

Army of Shadows – Jean-Pierre Melville’s classic of The French Resistance, released in Europe in the late 1960s made going underground heroic and cool. It ushered in a much-deserved reassessment of Melville’s place in The French New Wave. (2006)

Killer of Sheep – the life of a Los Angeles slaughterhouse worker in black and white with one of the best scores in film history. Charles Burnett’s film sat in a vault at UCLA for 30 years until it was released on video by Milestone/New Yorker Video. (2007)

Underrated, Forgotten or Worth a Second Look

24-Hour Party People – Steve Coogan nails it as the riotously self-possessed Tony Wilson, the television host who sired the Manchester music scene in the late 1970s. Michael Winterbottom adeptly recalls a flowering cultural moment that was both depressing and inspirational. (2002)

The Bridge – Eric Steel’s documentary about why the Golden Gate Bridge has become Ground Zero for suicides. More than that though, it’s about those left behind and trying to make sense of the profoundly tragic. (2006)

The Cell – The acting isn’t much (Jennifer Lopez playing a psychologist and Vince Vaughn playing it straight) and the plot machinations are absurd but Tarsem Singh’s movie about the subconscious of a serial killer is loaded with visual explosions from start to finish. (2000)

The Claim – When you sell off your wife and baby daughter for a gold mine it’s just a matter of time before it comes back to bite you, even in the pre-Information Age. There’s no escaping karma on that one. Michael Winterbottom’s version of Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge is unforgettable. The icy turn-of-the-century Canadian landscape is the ideal backdrop for this morality tale. (2000)

The Dish – What role did Australia play in the first moon landing? Well, the country put up a satellite interface in a remote desert. Sam Neill plays one of the technicians who helps the locals prepare for and cope with their day in the, uhh, sun. Patrick Warburton is winning as the American liaison. (2001)

Everything is Illuminated – The movie based on what might be the best novel of the decade barely registered at the box office. Eugene Hutz steals the movie as Elijah Wood’s linguistically-challenged guide and Liev Schreiber’s debut behind the camera is extremely faithful to Jonathan Safran Foer’s source material. (2005)

Heaven – It came and went in the blink of an eye, but Cate Blanchett is a bald vigilante aided and abetted by police-officer Giovanni Ribisi. Impossible to categorize as an action pic for the art house crowd (or is it vice versa?), Tom Tykwer’s movie merits another consideration. (2002)

Idiocracy – Mike Judge’s futuristic comedy about what happens to a society that spends decades rewarding impulse and hubris over intellect and honesty. Sound familiar? (2005)

The Illusionist – In pre-World War I Vienna Edward Norton plays a magician who astonishes and taunts royalty (Rufus Sewell) and law enforcement (Paul Giamatti). It was overshadowed by The Prestige which was released the same year, but it is better shot, better acted and without the cop-out ending of Christopher Nolan’s film. (2006)

Innocence – After his wife dies a man looks up his lost love from over forty years ago. She has married and is living a comfortable life. Now in their 70s, they try to pick up where they left off. Paul Cox’s film of hope, death, loss, regret and risk tugs at your heart and never lets go. (2001)

Last Orders – A London butcher (Michael Caine) instructed his best friends (Tom Courtenay, David Hemmings and Bob Hoskins) to throw his ashes into the water at Margate beach. His son (Ray Winstone) joins them as they make the journey, recollecting about what was and what might have been. The type of small, touching film that big stars don’t seem to make anymore. (2001)

LIE – Paul Dano, in a pre-There Will Be Blood role plays a teenager who sits on a bridge above the Long Island Expressway. He has nothing, so when a dubious character, the slimy Brian Cox, offers him some semblance of normalcy, he takes it. (2001)

Made – Jon Favreau’s comedy is a follow up to Swingers which again features him and Vince Vaughan. This time they’re playing wanna-be mafiosos hired by Peter Falk to cut a deal with Sean Combs. The repoire of the castcast is terrific and the movie is even funnier with the audio commentary on (by Favreau and Vaughn). (2001)

Our Daily Bread – A dialogue-free documentary about the mechanized, industrialized nature of food production. Make sure you eat before viewing. (2006)

The Proposition – Set in late 19^th century Australia, the underappreciated Ray Winstone is magnetic as a frontier lawman determined to bring peace to his town. A group of four brothers has terrorized the locals and Winstone urges two of them to turn in the oldest, who is the ringleader. This sounds like a traditional Western but Nick Cave’s bloody and depraved script is accompanied by a setting that invites comparisons to Antonioni. (2006)

Reign Over Me – Almost all of Adam Sandler’s comedic characters are emotionally-stunted man-boys. His character in Mike Binder’s film is also a shell of a man, mumbling his way around New York City on a scooter, donning headphones to keep the outside world away. Don Cheadle is his usual superb self playing a dentist, trying to find out what’s gone wrong with Sandler, his old college roommate. In the course of reaching out to Sandler, Cheadle must face problems in his own life. (2007)

Sweet Land – In 1920s Minnesota a beautiful German woman arrives to marry a Norwegian farmer. He speaks little English and she speaks none. This is the least of their troubles as her ethnicity, in light of World War I, gives the rest of the community pause. Ali Selim’s feature debut is quiet, elegant and assured. (2006)

The Widow of St. Pierre – Patrice Leconte’s tale of redemption set in the (then) French colony of Newfoundland in the 1850s. Emir Kusterica plays a drunk sentenced to death for a murder. But time passes before the guillotine can arrive from France. Slowly, the community, represented by Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil, comes to see the murderer in a different light. (2001)

The Yards – James Gray’s story of corruption in the Queens rail yards was unjustly ignored by audiences on its release. Perhaps it was because the star, Mark Wahlberg, was an unproven quantity as a dramatic actor (Ok, some might say he still is), but he more than holds his own among James Caan, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Charlize Theron and Joaquin Phoenix. (2000)

A Double Feature About Women Living on the Margins

Frozen River and Wendy and Lucy -  Melisso Leo and Michelle Williams try to save their son and dog, respectively, while staring some hard truths in the face. (Both released in 2008)

Actors of the Decade—Gael Garcia Bernal and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Actresses of the Decade – Cate Blanchett, Laura Linney and Kate Winslet

Directors of the Decade – Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Christopher Nolan

Overrated

Brokeback Mountain – A movie more concerned with its message than advancing the story in a cinematic way. The script is clunky (saved by Heath Ledger’s performance) and for a movie intended to bust stereotypes, it’s comprised of supporting characters who are exactly that.

Knocked Up – Where The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a sweet, bromance about the complexities of dating, this was self-indulgent. A stoner who lives with other porn-living potheads hooks up with a successful television producer? That’s a shaky premise to begin with and impossible to ignore whenever the two leads start talking about child rearing. Why weren’t women insulted by this movie?

Lost in Translation – Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson are displaced Americans in Tokyo. It’s a Jim Jarmusch movie done by Sofia Coppola. One Jarmusch is plenty thank you very much.

Mulholland Drive – What’s this movie about? No, really somebody tell me.

Movie that’s aged the worst – Crash. Only five years old and the tale of race and circumstance in Los Angeles already feels quaint.

And what of Wes Anderson? – His four films (three live-action and one animated) are entertaining, but they’re all riffs on a similar theme—highly stylized portraits of fractured families done to great soundtracks. They all made my best of the year list when released, but Anderson, so far anyway, has been content to have his characters talk about their struggles rather than show them.

Television (Still a vast wasteland)

The conversation begins and ends with The Wire. If you haven’t seen it you have deprived yourself of storytelling on par with Charles Dickens, but more visual. There’s no point in spilling more cyber-ink on it as countless others have extolled its virtues. So watch it. Now. You’re welcome.

The two best documentaries of the past ten years originally aired on television. Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home revealed every available side of Bob Dylan including a few that Mr. Zimmerman would rather have kept under wraps. Scorsese seemed to talk to everyone who ever had anything to do with Dylan.

The other great doc was Spike Lee’s agonizing, thorough, poetic story of the debacle and failure of our government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. It’s not hyperbolic to call When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts an act of public service.

OK…if I must choose…a baker’s dozen…(I actually already tipped my hand above by adding a clip after the summary)

WALL-E, Amelie, The Dark Knight, Memento, Amores Perros, In America, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Moulin Rouge! There Will Be Blood, The Lives of Others, Waking Life, You Can Count on Me and Lilya 4-ever.

Maggie Cheung coves and features in fashion spread for  Harper’s Bazaar, China. While I do not know much about Maggie I thought the dress she is wearing looks FAB which is why I decided to post her cover shot.

IMG|SOURCE: MX

Sí, el titular es llamativo. Puede parecer un truco sucio para llamar vuestra atención, pero no es nuestro.

Zhang Ziyi ha anunciado que quiere a Shu Qi para la película “Secret Fan“, basada en una novela del mismo título de la escritora Lisa Lee. ¿Y qué tiene que ver esto con los desnudos? Pues parece ser que la novela tiene más de una escena en que las dos protagonistas aparecen completamente desnudas, escribiendo una en el cuerpo de la otra.

Shu Qi empezó su carrera en películas de categoría III, y fotografías eróticas (no os las vamos a poner aquí ¡pervertidos!…para eso está Google), así que parece que no le hace mucha gracia la idea. Ziyi está intentando convencerla a toda costa, pero por si acaso no lo consigue, hay una lista de posibles sustitutas: Fan Bingbing, Ruby Lin, Yao Chen, Zhou Xun (¡¡¡voto por Zhou Xun!!!), Gong Li (Gong Li desnuda, seguro que la mitad de búsquedas de Google en la historia, contienen esas palabras…), Maggie Cheung y Li Bingbing.

La verdad es que la lista parece que la hayamos hecho nosotros al responder a “¿A quien te gustaría ver retozando con Zhang Ziyi?“, pero no es nuestra, lo juramos.

A todo esto, la película trata de dos amigas (en chino “laotong” amigas unidas, como en un juramento de hermanas), que viven los tortuentos finales del siglo XIX (Crisis política y social en China, la última dinastía estaba a punto de caer). Lily y Snowflower (así se llaman las chicas) han pasado la vida recluídas en casa, y ambas han sufrido el vendamiento de pies, y su relación se va haciendo más fuerte poco a poco hasta que llegan a lo de escribirse cosas en el cuerpo (al parecer, una tradición poética de Hunan).

En fin, Zhang Ziyi es la que ha dado la lista, suponemos que para crear todo este “hype” respecto a lo de los desnudos. Lo que no sabemos si esta vez, Ziyi se desnudará o utilizará una doble de cuerpo como ha hecho siempre hasta ahora.

The Conqueror’s Story is a historical drama and mainly focusing on two famous characters during Chu-Han wars, Lau Bong (Adam Cheng) and Hong Yu (Kwong Wa).

Poster

The story started off with Lau Bong’s memories before he became the first emperor of Han Dynasty. He was a government official in a small village. He did not have any good personalities except for his care to the people that lived in that village. He tried his best so the young would not need to go to work at the Great Wall. However, his power was limited and he could not save them at the end. During that time, Hang Yu went to Lau Bong’s village to gather more allies to join his army. He wanted to kill the Qin emperor to save the people. Later on, Hang Yu found out that Lau Bong had the same idea as him which was to save the people. Therefore, they made a promise to become blood-brothers and Lau Bong said he would raise the flag at Xiangyiang when Hang Yu won the wars.

However, Lau Bong married to Lui Chi (Maggie Cheung), a wise woman who swore with Hang Yu that she would make her husband became the first emperor of the new dynasty, which affected a lot on his life. When the mandarin in the village ordered Lau Bong to gather more people to go to work at the Great Wall, Lau Bong and the people left the village. Unfortunately, they met a tornado and then a big white snake that made their journey got delayed. They could not go back to the village and could not go forward, they got stuck in the middle of nowhere. Lau Bong was so upset, he went into the white snake and started to talk nonsense. Luckily he killed the white snake and later on, it became a legend that helped him to gather people to join in his side.

On both Lau Bong and Hang Yu’s journey to prepare to kill the Qin emperor, they met a lot of wise men. But their relationship got uglier when Lau Bong accidentally got into Xiangyiang before hand. Nothing was the same after that incident which created the Chu-Han wars that took eight years before it completely felt into Lau Bong’s hands.

• Storyline: I am rarely watch historical drama because I don’t really enjoy to watch stuffs that relate to history. However, most of you who are fans of  TVB should know that TVB always make an exception while making historical drama, they changed a little bit and made it more enjoyable to watch. The story about Lau Bong and Hong Yu is not new but TVB’s writers really bring out a lot of funny things related to the event. (3.5/5)
• Characters: I don’t really know about the personalities of the true characters so I basically look at them as a normal drama. Lau Bong is lazy and he seems that he doesn’t really care about anything. Even though, he shows a lot of bad traits but he mainly loves his people and hate to see people dies. Hang Yu, on the other hands, is very strict and sometimes very cruel to others. He just wants to win the war and kills the Qin emperor as soon as possible. I think the writers want to make Lau Bong’s character more likable to the audience. Beside these two main characters, I like Fan Bai and Zhang Liang. They are both on Lau Bong’s side and help him a lot during his mission to conquer the country. Fan Bai is really straight-forward and very true to Lau Bong. He is kind of dumb sometimes but I like his loyal to Lau Bong. Zhang Liang is the wise one. He helps a lot for Lau Bong, especially giving out future guessing to support Lau Bong. (4/5)
• Couple:
  • Lau Bong and Lui Chi: She married him because she saw the possibility that Lau Bong might become the emperor one day. Lau Bong did not really like her at first but later on, he accepted her and they both had two children. Their relationship almost felt like partner in a business more than as a lover. However, they both supported each other in hardship. (3/5)
  • Hang Yu and Yu Ge: Their relationship is really difficult because Hang Yu’s advisor warned him that she might cause the problems on his journey. However, their relationship is not really interesting. And their conversation is very boring, they just keep repeating the same lines over and over again. (2.5/5)
• Casts: I really like Adam Cheng in comedy series. This is not a comedy but his acting is really silly and funny. He portrays the character very well. Kwong Wa also does good on his part. He looks so mean and scary when he kills the enemy. (3.5/5)
• Costume/Make-up: Good. I like the make-up for the soldiers when they got back from the war. All worn out and tired. (3.5/5)
• Music: Not bad, but not really my interest. (2.5/5)

total rating: 64%

Unlike some, I disagree with the idea that kindness comes from a state of thankfulness. I’d argue that it comes from a position of inner strength and solid self-knowledge.

I differentiate between two forms of kindness or even, three.

1) The first is the kindness that is wrought from upbringing;

2) The second is the kindness wrought from the self-knowledge that one can be, in the necessary situation, be as brutal as it is horrifying, but it would be wholly unnecessary for the particular situation you’re in;

3) The third is the kindness from intentionality. In this category are two sorts of kindness: One, from a need to pander; the other, as a manner of practice following the rule of “Be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves”. It thus follows that the latter sort of kindness may overlap with that of #1 but in fact, if intentionality comes into play, is not.

Kindness of form #2 is a situation of mutual respect.

Kindness of form #1 is blameless.

Kindness of form #3 in both cases, are more complex. For the first sort may also accrue from fear and the second sort may be derived from caution. And thus typically, I don’t consider them to be kindness per se.

Of course, in some cases of play and humour the first sort of kindness of form #3 is permissible. It presumes on the outset however, a certain level of interpersonal familiarity.

Kindness of form #2 is an interesting one. I suspect that you find it most in people with a commanding presence no matter their stature or status. And it grants them a certain level of X-factorness that is much like that of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (my favourite actress and actor). They exude a kind of self-assuredness that is I think enviable but clearly hard-won. (And if it is hard-won, then maybe, yes, there’s a certain level of thankfulness, but I don’t think that’s digging it deep enough.)

Of course, there’s also a fourth category of “kindness”: Jovial whimsicality mistaken for kindness.

so the three films i’m going to talk about are (in the order they are to be viewed, not in the order in which i love them):

in the mood for love

marie antoinette

wings of desire

these films are all favorites of mine, all time favorite favorites, best movies ever and i can’t pick which one would be my all time #1. it’s too hard. they have influenced how i think, feel, dress and view the world. i could do a full on blog for each one. the only way to settle it would be to have them fight for my favor but no matter who won i would be disappointed. sigh.

so instead i’m going to focus on the amazing fashion/style of each movie and talk about how to pick out an outfit from each one. now, this is an imaginary internet shopping outfit, i’ll list real prices but nothing is really affordable. i imagine the outfits i pick out to be like inspiration for you to go out and find your own at your local vintage shops and nordstrom racks.

i wish, sometimes, that this blog was one of those blogs where i am like a maria von trapp of  fashion and i can say “hey! remember that amazing white coat rachel weiss wore in the brothers bloom???? well, here is how to make it in a half hour with the fabric from your old sofa and six nickels”. but guys, i am just not that girl. so enjoy.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

as i mentioned before, this is a movie that is seriously up for best movie ever award. it’s so beautiful and tragic with the most amazing costumes and music that it might melt you into the floor. it did me. hong kong 1960’s. hot, hot, hot tony leung. unrequited love that is so soft you can barely hear it but it’s deafening. is this another one of my quiet films? you betcha.

wong kar wai, i think, is all about the skin tight, crazy, crazy tight cheongsam. it’s what he puts all his ladies in and they all look amazing. if you are going to try this look, be sure to either have gone to the gym and dieted for at least two years before. like that all grapefruit diet. it was really hard to find cheongsam that didn’t look like bad prom night, but here it is a beautiful one clocking in at $129.99:

if you are looking for a gorgeous cheongsam of your own, please do not be deterred by the picture of paris hilton that instantly pops up when you google “cheongsam”. there are a lot of affordable ones and to achieve the full wong kar wai treatment, you’ll have to take it to be tailored. but you really can’t argue with those lines. they are beautiful. from here i’ll take you to proper accessories to give yourself the look of the heroine mrs. chan at the climax of the movie: stark reds and blacks.

stella mccartney red trench for $658. love those classic sharp lapels.

14k white gold and black pearl dangle earrings for $312

a black miu miu leather nappa shoulder bag for  $1,150

and dont’ forget your pumps! beautiful christian louboutin new decoltissimo 85 patent pumps for $565:if you want to go chan to the max, you’ll also need some silk stockings, a beehive and some killer black eyeliner. i suggest calvin klien for lingerie, mac for make up and some aqua net for hair (i used to have a roommate with a beehive and she swore by that stuff).

MARIE ANTOINETTE

so if you have been reading this blog for a bit you will know i am obsessed with sofia coppola’s marie antoinette. i have already talked a lot about how incredibly ornate yet quiet this film is. it’s really astonishing. and it is so, so beautiful and detailed. eating with your eyes, i call that. but i’ll shut up now and let you see for yourself, if you have not already.

now, all the blogs and magazine articles i checked out in prep for this blog in regards to marie antoinette inspired fashion, which seemed to peak around 2006 (but in my opinion is always in style) were all like “OMG! don’t over do it, pick ONE color you like or do ONE loud thing that is MA inspired and tone the rest down or you’ll look costume-y.” and you know what i say to that? FUCK THAT SHIT. i think if you’re going to pull together a marie antoinette inspired number you better look DECKED. it’s marie antoinette for crying out loud! i don’t want to see that you put on a jeweled cameo necklace over your black turtle neck because you were “inspired” by marie antoinette. no, no. if you are channeling the great MA, you better turn it out. that being said, i give you my marie antoinette outfit….waist up first:

first, pompadour your hair until it looks like candy floss.

then some tarina tarantino tulle flower clips scattered about in baby blue, clocking in at $70

pretty dangling pink earrings from betsy johnson for $41

next, a stack of fake pearls. necklaces, from top: pearl-and-chain necklace, $1488, pearl-and-safety-pin necklace, $963, tom binns; single-strand pearls, price upon request, mikimoto. stolen from marie claire, i think.

personal fave, the ostrich-feather vest, $3,275,  givenchy by riccardo tisci

underneath which will live this beautiful knit corset by ditu who only gives you prices and sizes on requests.

now waist down all valentino, poor you…

valentino red silk organza miniskirt for $495

then scare yourself up some baby blue tights and finally, finally, stuff your pretty manicured tootsies into…

these beauties are hot off the spring 2010 runway and i don’t have a price. i’m guessing they will cost you some kind of organ or access to your dna.

last step, powder your nose and rouge your cheeks. mac can help there (they don’t pay me to promote them so hard and i don’t work there, i swear, i just believe in the goodness of mac). and you have marie ala 2009. voila!

WINGS OF DESIRE

i feel like wim wenders, the director of wings of desire, would not be super happy to see his beloved ode to berlin end up on a blog that is mostly-ish about fashion but, whatever. this film isn’t especially fashion heavy like the other two but it is so beautiful, every word, every picture. it’s a love story to a city. it’s a love story to love. it’s a love story to life.

mostly black and white, it will occasionally blast into color and give you the greatest of shocks. “the world is such an amazing place!”,  you will think, “i didn’t know!”. set with adoration in the bleakness of berlin late 80’s (with a surprise nick cave guest spot! could this movie BE cooler?) it follows the story of an angel who becomes fascinated  by a circus performer, the etherial marion the acrobat. played beautifully by solveig dommartin. columbo is also in it. it’s amazing. there’s really no key outfit to this movie, just some fun bright circus colors, the colors of berlin and the graffiti and the architecture there. so i just had fun playing with what i thought marion would dress like.

it was hard to post something that didn’t look like porn off the american apparel website (which, sadly and gladly? i don’t know how i feel about that place, is where you go for 80’s inspired basic pieces) but i found this cute red turtle neck dress for $32…but remember when buying from AA always buy like 6 sizes bigger then you are. okay, enough with the AA frowning upon.

i loved this beautiful, exquisite burberry coat (can i get enough burberry coats? no i cannot) in purple over the red, having fun with my circus theme but not going too far. plus, marion wears trenches in the film. everyone wears trenches in the film. this coat is $1,084.

next we got some steve madden duffled boots with a fun fringe that isn’t too western for europe i don’t think clocking in at $159.90

finally, accessories. well, she’d need some sensible black stockings for that outfit because berlin is COLD in the winter time, she could pop into KaDeWe for those suckers and you could fly to berlin and do the same (or go to macys). marion loves big red lips, so again i’d send her to mac, because they do that well for people who understand lipstick (not me, sad to report).  then we have silver art deco earrings by hq design for $157

and last but not least for that wild red, pre-tori amos (tori amos copied it) hair i have some fun peacock feathers. marion needs feathers because she is an acrobat and closer to angels then she knows.

even though this picture looks very fancy, i can guarantee that YOU who are probably closer to bankruptcy then a glam career with the circus, can make that headband for under $7. why do i say this? because despite my earlier “i’m not maria von trapp” bit, i did make two feather headbands with a friend this summer that are NICER then the ones i see for sale for $30 and we made them for under $5. so there’s my dab of thrify this post. and here’s my dab of columbo, who really makes the film.

and please, please, pretty please, go check out these movies if you have not yet! they are so wonderful and beautiful and will make you feel all kinds of sad pangs and wild joys. if you watch them for the first time, i would love to hear you thoughts.

ain’t art grand?

This article originally from chinesegirl

Maggie Cheung Ho Yee is not Maggie Cheung Man Yuk. This Maggie Cheung is more younger and beautiful. Maggie Cheung Ho Yee is Hong Kong actress, and ever competed in 1994 Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant.

His first noticed TVB drama was Return of the Condor Heroes in 1995. Although she acted as a minor rule, her fans still admired her as a good actress. However she achieved mainstream popularity with the series “Old Time Buddies”, in which she played a character based on 60s teen idol Connie Chan Po-chu.

Although Maggie Cheung seems to reduce her schedule, but she is still a good actress, as she had worked with another Big Star TVB Actor such as Gallen Lo, Louis Koo, Roger Kwok, Steven Ma, Joe Ma, Moses Chan, Gordon Lam, Jessica Hsuan, Flora Chan, and Kenik Kwok.

Maggie Cheung new drama is Oh My Darling, after she played in Chinese Han Dynasty film in The Conqueror’s Story.

Maggie Cheung Profile
Name: 張可頤 / Cheung Ho Yee
English name: Maggie Cheung
Profession: Actress
Birthdate: 1970-Mar-20
Birthplace: Hong Kong
Height: 170cm
Weight: 49kg
Star sign: Pisces
Chinese zodiac: Dog
Blood type: O

Maggie Cheung photos, and pictures :

Passa på att se filmvisning i Uppsala den 12:e nov. Filmen är Peter Chans lovordade Hong-Kong klassiker  “Comrades: Almost a Love Story.” eller på svenska “Bara vänner – en kärlekshistoria” från 1996.

Filmen utspelas tio år innan dess premiärår. Det är år 1986, 2 kineser flyttar till Hong Kong Li Qiao (Maggie Cheung) och Li Xiao-jun (Leon Lai).  “Comrades’ ” originaltitel är “Tian mimi” som betyder ung. “Livet är sött som honung”, vilket är en smått ironisk titel som symboliserar kinesernas hopp och drömmar när de ger sig av för att söka ett bättre liv.  Tian mimi är också namnet på en kinesisk poplåt och landsplåga, som också förekommer i filmen.

“Comrades” är en av raden filmer under en perioden, mellan slutet av 80-talet till slutet av 1990-talen, som kan beskrivas som postkollonial-postmodern och postmodern reflexiv. Jag ska snabbt avbryta den tankegången och spara det akademiska till en kommande djupanalys av filmen, men jag kan summera det som att det handlar om mötet mellan Fastlandskina och Hong Kong. Filmen speglar de funderingar, den rädsla och det hopp som då var tydlig i konst, litteratur, film och övrig inhemsk kultur. Samtidigt som filmen är ett vardagsdrama, finns en spänning, både i handling och i bilderna. Det är svårt att beskriva utan att göra en lång utveckling och fördjupning, men “känslan”  i filmen är verkligen Hong Kong-film. Och framförallt allt när Hong Kong-film är som bäst. 

Jag kan säga dig att filmen är mer än sevärd. Har du inte tid nu, eller läser det här efter visningen har varit, så försök att se den om du har möjlighet. Det är en mycket bra film och ett vardagsdrama utöver det övriga. Ett starkt skäl till att komma på visningen om du ser det här i tid är att filmen är helt utgången. Alla DVD-versioner runt om i världen är helt slutsålda och vi vet inte när någon kommer att ta upp produktionen igen. Hur som helst är min visning den 12 november näst intill unik och säkert den enda chansen du får på mycket länge att se filmen i ett större format.

Filmen har vunnit 22 priser på filmfestivaler världen över och fått enormt många lovord. Det har skrivits mycket om den, den har analyserats och omnämns i alla bättre böcker och antologier om Hong Kong- och kinesiskspråkig film. Vill du läsa mer så kan du göra det om filmen ‘Comrades: Almost a Love Story’ på IMDB.COM. Där ser du att det inte är jättemånga som betygsatt filmen, och alltså inte heller sett den. Men jag ska säga dig att betyget 8 av 10 är riktigt, riktigt bra för ett icke-engelskspråkigt drama och en Hong Kong-film i allmänhet. 

'Comrades: Almost a Love Story', 'Bara vänner - en kärlekshistoria'

Plats och tid: 12 november kl 18.30-21 Geijersalen, gamla Fysikum, Thunbergsvägen 3P – inträde 40 kr .
Jag gav den först med den engelskspråkiga titeln på hemsidan. Men jag visar den med svenska texter.
Visningen anordnas av Svensk-Kinesiska föreningen i Uppsala och ämnet Kinesiska på Instutitionen för orientaliska språk.
se även Svensk-kinesiska föreningens hemsida.

David, FilmMedia – Filmblogg

Happy Halloween! I’m pooing! I can has privacy plz.

Happy Owloween!

2004: 2046 di Wong Kar-wai

“Un film dal gusto squisito, dalle atmosfere struggenti” (Il Messaggero), “…un meraviglioso rebus, sospeso fra immaginazione letteraria, passato che viene dal cinema e futurismo della mente” (Ciak), “…un cinema di incantamento dei sensi e di piacere assoluto dell’immaginazione” (Repubblica).

Dello stesso regista, e con lo stesso protagonista, abbiamo ammirato lo splendido In the mood for love (e 2046 è il suo seguito ideale).

L’ammirazione si ripete per questo nuovo capolavoro (frutto di tre anni di lavoro) permeato da una perenne atmosfera onirica, intrigante e affascinante oltremodo (1).

“Un film di eleganza sopraffina dove i personaggi e i luoghi si mescolano in una sinfonia di luci, impressioni e colori”, così lo presenta Cult, il canale satellitare che lo sta mandando in onda in questo periodo. Un continuo, ammaliante oscillare tra immagini anni 60 e immagini futuristiche dove non sai se applaudire maggiormente la straordinaria abilità registica, la eccezionale bravura dell’intero cast, la suggestiva colonna sonora, il bellissimo contrasto (come qualche critico ha sottolineato) tra la smagliante bellezza ed eleganza delle figure femminili e l’ambiente miserevole e degradato in cui si muovono.

Presentato al Festival di Cannes 2004, è un film complesso ed ermetico («Attenzione, 2046 non è una storia d’amore… ma una storia sull’amore - sottolinea il regista di Shangai -. Nessun finale felice. La “chiusa” è affidata allo spettatore perché il film è come un pranzo: noi offriamo l’antipasto e il piatto principale ma il pubblico deve portare il dessert»), un film raffinato ed estetizzante (visivamente è uno splendore) che parla del passato che rimpiangiamo e che non ritorna, un film da gustare scena per scena e che chi ama il “vero cinema” non dovrebbe assolutamente perdere.

p.s.

Così Wong kar-wai ha presentato 2046: «I due film, ‘In the Mood for Love’ e questo, sono nati in contemporanea. Sono in un certo senso la stessa storia. Finito ‘Mood’, questo è ricomparso. Ma non lo considero un seguito. Semmai una rilettura degli stessi personaggi, il rapporto fra i due film è lo stesso che il protagonista ha con il proprio passato: più cerca di dimenticarlo, più quello ritorna, Il messaggio del film è che bisogna prima o poi fare i conti con i propri ricordi».

note:

(1) Gian Luigi Rondi scrive: “Quel 2046 ha tre significati diversi. È il numero di una stanza d’albergo, è l‘anno in cui Hong Kong finirà definitivamente sotto la sovranità della Cina, è il titolo di un romanzo di fantascienza in cui uno scrittore triste immagina un misterioso treno destinato a trasportare i suoi passeggeri dagli anni Sessanta dell’azione in tempo presente verso il 2046”.

scheda

premi e riconoscimenti

sito ufficiale

Bastardi senza gloria. Ero curioso di vedere dove e come Tarantino avrebbe piazzato l’ormai consueta scena di feticismo del piede. Riesce sempre a sorprendere: geniale trovata il pretesto della scarpetta perduta, che fa tanto Cenerentola. Ma a ben guardare il nostro Quentin ha preso due piccioni con una fava: Diane Kruger oltre che ad avere piedi bellissimi, nel film è la copia fedele della Barbara Bouchet degli anni ‘70. Tarantino è un grande: fa i film per giocare con i suoi feticci e riesce pure a farti divertire.

Contrariamente a quello che sostengo di solito il doppiaggio italiano in questo caso massacra il risultato finale. Le 4 lingue parlate nel film, inglese, tedesco, francese e siciliano, meritano di essere godute nella versione originale con i sottotitoli, in modo da poter percepire in pieno la dissacrazione dell’inglese masticato nel Tennessee prima e l’improbabile siciliano poi, ad opera del tenente Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt).

Härom natten drömde jag om oriental sweetlips. Det brukar jag göra några gånger då och då så här på höstkanten. Jag är väldigt förtjust i oriental sweetlips nämligen. Ooo nej då, jag talar inte alls om den typen av “orientaliska läppar” som de flesta av er kanske tror. Ni tror jag far efter någonting i stil med Maggie Cheungs mjuka läppar va? Nej, visserligen skall jag väl inte sticka under stol med att det har hänt att jag har drömt om hennes läppar också.

Maggie Cheung

Nej den “Oriental Sweetlip” jag talar om nu är något så relativt osensuellt som en fisk. En fisk som finns i stort sett i hela Indiska Oceanen och som kan bli upp till 85 cm lång. Den lever oftast i små grupper på 4-5 och upp till ett 20-tal individer. Att just denna fisk har betytt mycket för mig beror dels på att det var en av de första “lite större” tropiska fiskar jag stötte på under mina första tropiska dyk. Tidsmässigt sammanfaller detta ungefär med när The Cure släppte sitt  helt fantastiska album “Disintegration”, alltså runt -89. Bara en så’n sak.

En annan orsak till att jag tycker om just Oriental Sweetlips är att när man arbetar som dyk-guide är det extremt viktigt att man håller koll på i vilken riktning strömmarna går. Det är ingen konst om strömmarna är starka, men om dom är så svaga att det är nästan omöjligt att att bedöma dom, så är det ändå så att det är en extrem skillnad för den grupp man dyker med om dom skall få förmånen att ha hjälp av strömmen eller tvingas simma emot den i den dryga timmen ett dyk pågår. Den allra svagaste ström blir ordentligt tröttsam för de allra flesta under så lång tid.

Här kan man ha stor hjälp av Oriental Sweetlips. Dom är nämligen helt otroliga på att känna av strömmar. Hur svag strömmen i vattnet än är så står denna fisk ALLTID med huvudet mot strömmen. På så sätt kan man som guide under vattnet enkelt avgöra den bästa riktningen för dyket.

Oriental Sweetlip (Plectorhinchus vittatus), med huvudet mot strömmen

Så det faktum att den där firren dyker upp i mina drömmar under höstarna tyder på att det nu börjar bli alldeles för länge sedan jag hade lyckan att få sjunka ner i Indiska Oceanens turkosa vatten. De orange små fiskarna på bilden ovan är förresten “Anthias” som jag skrev om i inlägget: “Veckans värsta svammel”. Jag kan tillägga att samtidigt som jag skrivit detta har jag avnjutit en alldeles förträfflig fisksoppa och ett glas Chardonnay. Tala om “mixed emotions”

Jag hade dessutom tänkt knyta ihop det här inlägget med en frågeställning, men det är egentligen en frågeställning till manliga läsare och jag har som sagt en övervägande del kvinnliga läsare på den här bloggen. Men jag kastar ut den ändå, det kanske kan ge upphov till diskussion i båda lägren. Så här tänkte jag, om man som man var tvungen att tillbringa en längre tid på en öde ö och fick tillbringa denna tid med en sjöjungfru, d.v.s. en varelse som är till hälften fisk och till hälften kvinna. Vilken del skulle då män föredra? Den som är fisk upptill eller den som är fisk nertill? Vad tror ni kvinnor? Och vad säger ni män?

Actress Lee Na-young visited England last week to attend Burberry’s show at London Fashion Week, according to her agency on Monday.

Lee, one of the only two Asian actresses alongside Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung to be invited to the show, attended the Burberry Prorsum Spring/Summer 2010 Show held September 22, according to BOF Entertainment.

The 30-year-old actress also met with Burberry Prorsum Creative Director Christopher Bailey to congratulate him on his show, said BOF.

Other worldwide celebrities including Emma Watson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Agyness Deyn, Liv Taylor and Victoria Beckham, were also present at the event.

Lee first rose to stardom with TV series “Ruler of Your Own World” and later won an award for best actress in film “Someone Special” at the 25th Blue Dragon Film Awards. She has also appeared in scores of TV commercials in Korea.

Asiae
<10Asia All rights reserved>

Regia: Quentin Tarantino
Sceneggiatura: Quentin Tarantino
Attori: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Tim Roth, Michael Fassbender, Julie Dreyfus, Cloris Leachman, Samuel L. Jackson, Til Schweiger, Maggie Cheung, B.J. Novak, Rod Taylor, Christian Berkel, Daniel Brühl, Paul Rust, Samm Levine, Martin Wuttke, Gedeon Burkhard, Jacky Ido
Fotografia: Bob Richardson
Montaggio: Sally Menke
Produzione: Lawrence Bender Productions, The Weinstein Company
Distribuzione: Universal Pictures
Paese: USA 2009
Uscita Cinema: 02/10/2009
Genere: Azione, Guerra, Avventura
Durata: 148 Min
Formato: Colore 35mm – 2.35 : 1

Trama:
I ‘Bastardi senza gloria’ sono soldati ebrei incaricati, durante la seconda guerra mondiale, di infliggere ai nemici tedeschi terribili punizioni. La squadra speciale degli ‘Inglourious Basterds’, capitanati dal tenente Aldo Raine si troverà a collaborare con una spia degli Alleati, Bridget Von Hammersmark che lavora ad una missione per eliminare i vertici del Terzo Reich.
Insieme arriveranno a Parigi, dove una donna di nome Shosanna Dreyfus sta progettando la sua personale vendetta, dopo aver assistito alla morte di tutta la sua famiglia per mano del colonnello nazista Hans Landa.
Il luogo della resa dei conti è una sala cinematografica di Parigi gestita da Shosanna, dove il tenente Raine e i suoi ‘Bastardi senza gloria’ avranno l’occasione irripetibile di modificare il corso del conflitto e della Storia…

Note:
La pellicola è distribuita in Italia in 400 copie. Molte delle quali in lingua originale sottotitolate.