2015-08-31

Yi Yi

Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank, his business partners make bad decisions against his advice, and he reconnects with his first love 30 years after he dumped her. His teenage daughter Ting-Ting watches emotions roil in their neighbors' flat and is experiencing the first stirrings of love. His 8-year-old son Yang-Yang is laconic like his dad and pursues truth with the help of a camera. "Why is the world so different from what we think it is?" asks Ting-Ting.

Can we use the word epic to categorize the size and the reach of a movie or is it just a saturated genre? Well, Edward Yang’s family drama of 2000 is one of the most beautiful film about family since the intimist grand scale studies of Yasujiro Ozu. Summarizing movies is not something I like to do in my reviews and I think it takes too much words that are already wrote by marketers.

But, Yang’s film is touching and riveting just like the pictures taken by Yang-Yang that reminds us of what the others see of us are a side we never see. With a naturalist direction Yang’s mastery is at storytelling and the sincerity of the feelings and situations his multifaceted’s characters embrace. This is honestly, the kind of film that throws you out of your chair.

To cite the late Roger Ebert : There was a time when a film from Taiwan would have seemed foreign and unfamiliar--when Taiwan had a completely different culture from ours. The characters in "Yi Yi" live in a world that would be much the same in Toronto, London, Bombay, Sydney; in their economic class, in their jobs, culture is established by corporations, real estate, fast food and the media, not by tradition. The great film critic couldn’t be more right about Yi Yi, this is a movie about contemporary life and the currents of life. Yang also puts up stories that defies the rules of regular romantic films and the fulfilment of parts of life that Hollywood often offers. Yang demonstrates how a person’s life is fulfilled by not only some moments that can be captured by a motion picture but as the evolution of someone and his actions in the maelstrom of society, family, friends, lovers.


With Yi Yi, Edward Yang left one of the greatest film about family in our contemporary world. It was the first film from Yang I ever watched and I can’t believe I waited this long to discover this talented filmmaker. I hate when I have to finish a film review with a sentence like that but I think Yi Yi s not far from being Yang’s masterpiece if I stick with its praise all over the film world. I’m now looking forward on watching his A Brighter Summer Day.

2015-08-27

Elena et les hommes


Note : this review is my participation to The Wonderful Ingrid Bergman blogathon hosted by the wonderful Virginie at The Wonderful World of Cinema.

Elena et les hommes aka Paris Does Strange Things (Jean Renoir, 1956)

Polish countess Elena falls in love to a French radical party's candidate, a general, in pre World War I Paris, but another officer pines for her.

This French Technicolor fresque about a time where gallantries and polite high society was manners and courtship, we follow the Polish princess Elena, a superb 41 years old Ingrid Bergman who looks like her mid twenties, as a debonair woman ready for amusement and entertainment.

Bergman seems to be in her element as a princess in a Renoir world of Paris and high society. She shines on the screen and her presence is elegant, naive, sexy, and lovable. It was her first film after her departure from her husband Roberto Rossellini and we see her as a new woman. She seems liberated and despite having been broken from this relationship she is still a star and the camera simply loved her.

Elena and Her Men, is not Bergman’s one-woman show despite the presence of Jean Marais and Mel Ferrer. It is a Jean Renoir film and another vignette of his Paris and his France. His films are a visual storytelling of his land and the way people lived and were during his child life. Most of Renoir’s stories are influenced by his childhood in Paris and his later films were his reconnection with his motherland. However, it was not his best depiction of the nostalgia of a memory and the story seems to be too much centered on Bergman’s character and not enough on the politics of France and the implications it could have done.


The story and its treatment is too light for us to really care for the issue of anything but Elena. While Renoir’s most celebrated films had the lenght and depth to reach for greatness, Elena and Her Men is a nice little love story on a political back drop. 
As a huge fan of Jean Renoir and Ingrid Bergman I would suggest to give it at least a watch because both were at turning points of their career having already legendary credits they have had superb careers. For classic film lovers, Elena and Her Men is a delight and may not be a great film but a nice Technicolor eye candy. 

2015-08-17

1941


1941 (Steven Spielberg, 1979)
Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.

After a couple of blockbuster hits in the Horror genre with Jaws in 1975 and the Science-fiction genre with Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, Steven Spielberg was hot at the box-office. While grossing more than half a billion dollars with the two films aforementioned, Spielberg turned to comedy to make a comedy that was reminding of old tymes like the films of Howard Hawks, Norman McCloud, etc. Well, a comedy that was out of its time.

Despite the presence of the most iconic comedians of the time : Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, Ned Beatty as long with film legends such as Warren Oates, Slim Pickens, Christopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Stack and well known names like James Caan and Nancy Allen to name more than a few the film seemed to be a huge pot of anything. Even with the writing work of Robert Zemeckis, John Milius, and Bob Gale Spielberg’s lack of real natural touch for comedy has at the start failed 1941.

Not being a total train wreck does not save the film from being a mess. Scenes after scene the plethora of characters isn’t really connected neither really engaging. Some of the best scenes are with two of the greatest actors of all time Toshiro Mifune and Christopher Lee in the Japanese submarine. For the rest, some riots and the Hollywood boulevard scenes are directed with Spielberg’s mastery, however it’s still not enough to elevate the whole and achieve an Airplane or a Mel Brooks level.

Since there are many characters, there’s a waste of talent like Belushi who has to act again like an animal. Aykroyd might probably the most interesting character and Candy could have been bigger on this as well.

Even if Spielberg made a lesser film with his try at comedy with 1941 it didn’t stopped him from getting back on top with his excellent Raiders of the Lost Ark two years later.  More than thirty five years after its initial release, 1941 has now earned a cult status and is an alien in Spielberg’s filmography. One of the few comedies he ever directed and one of the lowest rated films he ever made. It is indeed a curiosity and if you are a fan of the director you might give it a watch but don’t expect huge belly laughter.


2015-08-10

Music Review : George Kollias - Invictus (2015)


Music Review : George Kollias - Invictus (2015, Season of Mist)

Greek musician George Kollias, known mostly for his work as the longest staying drummer with the band Nile, has released a solo work of Technical Death metal. Well, his main band Nile also does a form of Technical Brutal Death metal. So what does set him apart from the other band? The comparison between both bands is easy and a bit harsh for Kollias.

 It is useless to mention his mastery behind the drums and how he released many lessons on Extreme Metal drumming. But does that make him a composer and a lyricist? This is where Kollias part ways with Nile, on the comparison level.

Invictus is an interesting musical album for the drumming parts and to hear what Kollias has under his belly when it comes to full music. However, Karl Sanders and his other Nile band mates are what it makes the band such an important metal act.

Undoubtedly, Invictus suffers from an easy comparison and making an album in an already closed frame genre does take a bit over the just another Death metal record but not that high either in the bests of the genre.


6.5

2015-08-07

Music Review : High On Fire – Luminiferous (2015)



Music Review : High On Fire – Luminiferous (2015, E1 Music)

Produced by Kurt Ballou (Converge), the latest record from sludge masters High On Fire couldn’t be more on point than it is. A return to their pre-Snakes For the Divine and De Vermis Mysteriis detour. Their music is fast, heavy, and sounds strong as a ton of bricks. Well, exactly what heavy metal music should be. Sandpaper in your ears and not Vaseline.

With singer/guitarist Matt Pike back stronger than ever, High On Fire is promised to great things. Luminiferous is one of the best Metal albums of the year so far. It can have all the qualities listed up and explores some of Pike’s esoteric fantasies. It suits well the music and we are not into Sleep’s territory either. This is one of the reason why it makes an album true to the band’s sound.

On drums, Des Kensel is once again the locomotive and the support for the superb guitar riffs along with bassist Jeff Matz who heavy sound just amplifies the fuzzy yet heavy atmosphere of Luminiferous.


8.5

2015-08-06

Music Review : Liturgy – The Ark Work (2015)



Music Review : Liturgy – The Ark Work (2015, Thrill Jockey Records)

Following their 2011’s Aesthetica, the reunited quartet Liturgy have tried to make obviously an ultimate attempt at making a masterpiece with their craft here. Leaded by Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, Liturgy has been labeled as a black metal transgender of American black metal. However, their relationship with the genre is getting much thinner and felt more into the Swans lookalike.

At 57 minutes The Ark Work might feel a bit long and a bit repetitive with Aesthetica. The theory that Hunt-Hendrix exposes with his diagrams and esoteric vision, as interesting and innovative as they might be, doesn’t weight enough to support the music and its length.

The musical mastery of Hunt-Hendrix on vocals and guitar, Greg Fox on drums, Tyler Dusenbury on bass, and Bernard Gann on guitars isn’t enough to elevate this record to potent follow-up to its predecessor. It is a lesser Liturgy album but lesser Liturgy is still better than many other bands’ best record.


7.1

2015-08-05

Liebster blog Award

Virginie Pronovost’s 11 Questions :

1- If you had the chance to play any movie character, which one would you choose?

Since I’m not an actor I think this is a difficult question to answer. To pick one I think I would say Marty McFly. The Back to the Future trilogy was one of the first series of films I ever watched repeatedly. Every time it would play on TV I would watch it again and again. In fact, I know the dialogues by heart and it is really annoying to anyone to watch it with me.

2- Which movie made you discover the world of classic films?

Interesting question because I never really had to get into classic films. They were there and I got into movies that I thought looked interesting and enjoyable at first. Then came the Masterpiece list of Mediafilm. It then became my obsession to watch them all and if I have to name just one it would be F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu.

3- What are your three most favorite decades in films?

Probably surprising a bit but the 1960’s, the 1970’s is a given, and the 1980’s. Since I’m a huge fan of the French New Wave and the emerging New Hollywood the 1960’s are so important in my mind. Then the director era of the 1970’s gave so many masterpieces and defined films and even TV shows of today. Then the question mark of the answer, the 1980’s, well, I was born in this decade and many films especially Science-fiction and Horror of this decade have left a permanent mark for me. Sometimes, I’m thinking about concentrating my blog on this decade only.

4- With whom do you watch your  films?

Usually alone, the last film I watched was an Iranian film, The Wind Will Carry Us, a masterpiece by the way, and my dog stayed near me all the time. He is the best pal when it comes to stay in the dark with me. Sometimes my wife will be with me for contemporary films. Most of the time I’m alone and concentrated on the television.

5- What movie star do you enjoy the most listening to their interviews and why?

I remember watching clips of the Dick Cavett show on YouTube and I must say that even if he was not a movie star himself he had such a knowledge of films and knew how to interview from Frank Capra to Ingmar Bergman. Cavett had huge stars on his show and to me he was the real star.

6- What do you think was the best screenplay ever written and why?

Taxi Driver, so introspective gritty and sadly true to what’s happening with many shootings lately. It is also one of my favorite film of all time.

7- You have the chance to visit one movie set during an entire day and discover its secrets.
Which set do you choose?


The sets of The Shining or any Stanley Kubrick set in fact. Just to feel the atmosphere and see the details he always put everywhere. But The Shining because I’d like to understand the architecture of the fake hotel and feel the whole thing. I love the haunting aspect of the Overlook Hotel.

8- You try to convince someone to watch classic films. What is your major argument to convince him or her?

I don’t like to have to convince people to watch films. If they are not interested they won’t be receptive and this is even worse than not showing the film.

9- Is there a movie everybody has seen you are ashamed to admit you never saw it?

There are a lot of movies I feel I’m a bit ashamed to have not seen yet, here’s a list : L’eclisse, The Sting, Good Will Hunting, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Red Desert, and many more.

10- Do you own some movie posters? If yes, which ones?

Taxi Driver and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, both hanged proudly in my basement. I know this feels guy movies but both are on my top 10 list.

11- You are invited to a costume ball and you have to dress up as a movie character or a movie star. Which one do you choose?

Definitely and without a doubt costumed as Chaplin’s the Tramp. Such an icon of Cinema and one of my favorite actors of all time.

11 things about me :

1-As my day job I am an Archivist and I work for a public transportation company.

2-About ten years ago, my life goal was to become a movie director. Then a film critic which is something I continue to hope for sometime. I’d also like to be writing about History of film as well.

3-Music also has an important spot in my interests and I play the drums. My musical tastes are really wide but I am mostly listening to Metal in all its sub genres.

4-My favorite author is Stephen King and I think he might be one of the most important American novelists of his time. Even if most of the adaptations of his novels are not quite as good as the original material.

5-As you might know, if you are following this blog for some time, I don’t specialize my blog on any time span or any genre and I never discard a film. To me, films are created equal it’s their appreciation that makes them different from one to another.

6-Besides movie blogging I skateboard, snowboard and run with my black Labrador dog called Elliott. One of the things I love the most is to travel with my wife. We’ve been on many trips together : Switzerland, France, Italy, California, Chicago, Disney World, Hawaii, etc.

7-I have a one year old (almost 14 months) daughter (Sofia) with my lovely wife of four years.

8-The top 3 films I love the most are : Taxi Driver, The Shining, and La règle du jeu.

9-My favorite time of the year is Christmas and I love to listen to Xmas music from late November to Christmas day. I own a pretty big vinyl record collection of Christmas music. But to be honest, I prefer all the hype before the actual holiday and the whole preparation of it than the actual celebration.

10-With time and experience I developed an interest to work with wood and I am planning on making wooden toys to my daughter pretty soon.

11-I am a Quebecois and I live in Quebec City home of the defunct NHL team Nordiques. For those who don’t know a thing about Quebec, it is situated in Northeast Canada and close to New England states of the USA.

11 blogs I nominate for the Liebster blog Award


11 questions for the 11 blogs nominated :

1-What is your best film related memory?

2-Citizen Kane or How Green Was My Valley? Why?

3-Frank Capra or Howard Hawks? Why?

4-What is your favorite movie genre?

5-Do you give much importance to lists like AFI’s 100s, the Sight and Sound’s Top 10, etc.?

6-Is your daytime job is related to films in any means?

7-How long have you been blogging about films and what keeps you going at it?

8-What would be the movie that could define you? Why?

9-Name a celebrity that could be your doppelganger?

10-What it the best film you’ve watched lately?


11-Recommend a movie that almost no one has ever seen and that should be more recognized.
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