Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The film begins with Ali (played by Amir Farrokh Hashemian) walking into the shoe repair shop, to pick up his sister's shoes. When he left the shop, Ali passed by one of the local grocery stores to buy a pound of potatoes that his mother had asked him to pick up for her. Around that time, a junk man was going around, collecting all of the people's garbage. He stopped by the grocery store, picked up the garbage that was outside (along with the bag that has the shoes in them) and left. When Ali walked out of the store, he discovered that the bag with the shoes were gone. So he checked all over the grocery store to look for them. Unfortunately, he knocked over some cases of fruit as he was sticking his arms through the corners. When that happened, the grocer yelled at him and told him to get lost. So Ali ran behind a wagon, waiting until it was safe for him to go back to the store. When he went back the second time, the same thing happened to him again. (Poor Ali, now he has to go home and tell his sister the bad news.) He looked everywhere for it, but it was no where to be found. Poor kid has to walk home with a look of disappointment on his face. When he got home, the only question on Zahra's (played by Bahare Seddiqi) mind was: "Did you get my shoes?" He didn't want to tell her, but he had no choice. So when he broke the news to her, Zahra was very upset and she said things like : " How am I going to go to school tomorrow?" At this point, Ali is begging Zahra not to tell their parents that he lost her shoes. For if she did, he would up in a lot of trouble with their father.When Ali's father (played by Mohammad Amir Naji) came home from work, he yelled at Ali for not helping his mother out around the house. He was very upset. He was insulting Ali and calling him all sorts of names. And by the look on Ali's face, the words that were coming out of his father's mouth were extremely painful for him. After the father was done ridiculing him, Ali went to do his homework on the floor. That's when Ali started to figure out a way for Zahra to go to school tomorrow. However, he knew that this was going to cost him something, but he didn't care. His only concern was getting her shoes back at all costs.
As the two of them were doing his/her homework, they exchanged notes to one another. And that's when Ali told Zahra that she could wear his shoes to school tomorrow. All she had to do was leave the house before him, go to school, leave school and hurry back to him so that he could go to school. There was only one flaw to his plan, he would arrive to school late. So each day Ali would have Zahra meet him in an alley by their house to exchange the shoes. The first day after her school finished, Zahra ran as fast as she her little legs could carry her to get to Ali on time. When she got there, Zahra gave him the shoes and he was off. Unfortunately, as he ran up a flight of stairs, the hall monitor stopped him dead at his track, questioned him about it and told him to go top his class. The next day, Ali was late for school again. The hall monitor stopped him a second, but before he send him off to class, he told Ali that the next time he's late, he will not let him in the building. And when Ali was late for a third time, the hall monitor did exactly what he told Ali what he was going to do. Fortunately for Ali, his teacher had a talk with the the hall monitor and Ali was allowed back in the building.
One evening, when Ali's father came home from work, he said to his wife (played by Fereshte Sarabandi) that Ali will work with him tomorrow. The job would require them to pose as gardeners so that they could make more money. So the next day, Ali and his father got on a bicycle and rode into this town that was far from their home. When they got to the town they were told to be in, Ali and his father started going from door to door, ringing people's doorbells and asking them if they need any gardening done in and around their home. Every house they passed by, they would receive rejection. That was until Ali came upon a house where a little boy started talking through the intercom. So the little boy called his grandfather over and let Ali and his father in the backyard. Ali's father went straight to work, while Ali was playing with the little boy. After the work was done, the grandfather of the little boy paid Ali's father, he thanked him and the two of them got back on the bike and rode off.
In the final scene, after begging and pleading with the coach, Ali had entered the race. He reason for doing so, was that he wanted to win the second prize that came with coming in second prize: a new pair of sneakers. He wanted to win them for Zahra. The race started and Ali was off. So he ran and ran for miles, as fast as he could. As he was running past some of the other boys, one little spoiled sport purposely pushed Ali into the ground. But Ali didn't stay there, he got right back up and ran even faster. At the end, Ali crossed the finish line first and won the grand prize. That same kid who pushed Ali, ended up throwing a tantrum, right in front of the whole crowd. Many (including the coach and Ali's teacher) were so excited and so proud of Ali. However, Ali was unhappy because he didn't win the shoes. And the film had to end on both a happy/sad note. This is one film that might never forget. Everything about was well done. I give it two snaps up in a circle. Great job.
The movie "Bumbai (Bombay)" is based on true incidents that happened in India. Arvind Swamy (Shekhar Mishra Narayan) plays a south Indian Hindu man who believes in love at first sight when he finds himself in love with a beautiful Muslim woman named Shaila Bano (played by Manisha Koirala). And where they are from, it is considered forbidden to be in love with someone of the opposite religion. Against their families wishes, the two lovebirds get married and move to Mumbai, where Shekhar is a reporter for a huge day to day newspaper of India. As they are living in Mumbai, Shaila becomes pregnant and gives birth to twin boys. The director documented the rest of the movie at the time of the December 1992-January 1993 quarter. That was when Ran Jammabhoomi and Babri Masjid were involved in a controversy which lifted up a lot of religious tension in Mumbai, along with other parts of India and sparked violence and riots. Both Shekhar and Shaila are far away from the twins. Unfortunately, Shekhar's father and Shaila's parents are killed when some rioters burned down their home. From both factions, a reporter is interviewing the police as well as politicans. Throughout the latter portion of this film, there is a moral of one's thought as an Indian rather than Hinduism and the Islamic faith is commonly occurring. At the end of the film, Shekhar and Shaila reunites with the twins after searching for them in hospitals, morgues, and shelters. Unfortunately for the twins, violence has left impressions in their minds that are impossible to remove.Shekhar and Shaila are in love with one another and they want to get married. They only have one problem, they both are from different religious backgrounds. Shekhar's religion is Hinduism and Shaila is of the Islamic faith. In modern/secular India, their marriages creates a problem for both families. So they elope and move to Mumbai city, where Indians are more accepting and tolerant to people like them. December 6, 1992 was certainly a day of national humiliation for all of India, because a group of extreme right-wing Hindus were tearing down the Babri Masjid Mosque in Ayodhya, in which resulted in religious riots all around India- which includes a city in Mumbai called cosmopolitan. The Narayan's are the proud parents of Kabir and Kamal Bashir: their twin boys. During the time of the riots, both families make a decision to settle their differences by burying the hatchet and go to Mumbai to visit their children. Unfortunately, a fire broke out in their village, which caused Shekhar and Shaila to be separated from the twins and killing Shaila's parents and Shekhar's father. Now all of the Indians are afraid of the armed/angry mobs which leaves them asking (the same question that was asked in British India in 1948): "Are you Muslim or Hindu?" For the Indians the answer to that question, in a way, mean life or death. And the sad part is, not even the lives of young children will be spared. They stand a much better chance of being killed than adults, it's because they are so young, innocent and they probably don't understand what's really going on.
One could say that this film was the Indian version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." In the first scene, Shekhar sees Shaila for the first time and falls madly in love with her. So he goes and does everything in his power to get close to her, including following her around and showing up wherever she would be. In fact, the man was so much in love with her, that he even disguised himself as a Muslim woman and got on the boat, just to be with her. And if that wasn't enough, he went up to the mountains and serenade her with a sing just for her.
In another scene, Shekhar was sitting at the dining table eating breakfast and talking to his father. (Interesting how the film makes no mention of his mother.) As the two of them are talking, Shekhar tells his father that he's in love with a Muslim woman and he wants to marry her. Of course, the father was not happy to hear that. So he stormed out of the house with some men and went to pay Shaila a visit. When he gets there, he has a war of words with Shaila's father, which started a type of family feud. Just like the one Romeo and Juliet's parents had over them. That's what I mean when I called this film India's version of Romeo and Juliet.
The war scenes were horrible and to the extreme. It was horrible to see all those people being punished killed for things that they haven't done. None of them deserved what those monsters did to them. My heart was grieving for the twins when the terrorists grabbed them and poured gasoline all over them. If it wasn't for Shekhar and Shaila saving them, they would have been burned to death. In this movie, the terrorists have proven that when they come around and place an attack, no one is safe, not even children.
The ending was the best part of the film. The family came back together, every terrorist that was armed dropped his weapon and the war that was going on, came to an end. Unfortunately, there were still some civilians that didn't survive the riot. It was interesting to see that when the house was being burn down, both Shaila's parents and Shekhar's father put the safety of the children first. Even if it meant for them to give up their lives. When you're a parent and your child is in a life or death situation, you're going to do whatever it takes to safe them. I know I would if I had any children. Everything about this movie was well done, especially the war scenes. The director made it seem so real. Good job.
Dreams is a film that that essentially contains eight different small story lines, however there are some which extends over in conditions of characters and material themes-mainly with mankind 's relations to the environment. The first dream 'Sunshine Through The Rain' : I (played by Mitsunori Isaki) is a little boy who was told by his mother (played by Mitsuko Baisho) never go outside when the weather is both sunny and cloudy. For that's the time when the foxes come out and have their wedding. And if anyone was around to witness the event, it could have consequences that are rather fatal. The second dream 'The Peach Orchird' : I, as a young child, (played by Toshihiko Nakano) meets the ghosts of the peach trees, which was cut down by insensitive human beings. The three dream 'The Blizzard' : spiritual intervention rescues a team of mountaineers from a terrible blizzard. The fourth dream 'The Tunnel' Akira Terao plays a man who comes face to face with the spirits of a army platoon, in which he is responsible for their death. The fifth dream 'Crow' : Terao plays an art student who has an encounter with 'Vincent Van Gogh (played by Martin Scorsese) and walks into Van Gogh's paintings. The sixth dream 'Mount Fuji in Red' : a nuclear meltdown occurs and intimidates the devastation of Japan. The seventh dream 'The Weeping Demon' : contains a picture of a post-nuclear world, which was made popular by human mutations. And the final dream 'Village of the Water mill' : contains a beautiful sunny picture of a village has a population of people who are completely one with nature. In the first dream, I is just a little village boy who lives with his mother. Like all children his age, all he wants to do is play outside, but his mother told him to stay indoors. For it was the day that the foxes were getting married and all the villagers were prohibited to go outside when both weather conditions occurred because if they did, the consequences were extremely fatal. On that particular day, I stepped outside for a while as a result of his curiosity. But when tried to go back inside the house, his own mother would not come back in. When he was inside before, she warned him on what might happened if he did go outside. She said that he could not come back into the house until he asks the spirits to forgive him for whatever he did. That left him no choice but to walk away from his home, leave his mother behind and vacate the premises.
In the second dream 'The Peach Orchard' : I walks into a forrest where he sees a celebration happening. Unfortunately for him, it was the wedding of the foxes. So he hid behind a tree so that they wouldn't discover him there. And he was frightened. Each time they would move and pass by the tree, he would move to the opposite direction that they were going. After the wedding party passes the tree, I turns around and sees this young girl collecting orchards in the forest. So he ran after her to see where she was going. When she got to a hill with steps, she disappeared and I could not go any further because the spirits of the peach trees were standing over him. They were performing a ritual and telling him all that the humans did to them and their land. They also explained to him how they became spirits.
In the dream 'The Tunnel' : at this point, I was a full-grown man. In fact, he was a commander of a army platoon. As he walking along the streets, he came upon a tunnel. So he proceeded walking through the tunnel with only the sound of his feet moving along the ground. He looked left and right to see if everything was o.k. When he got out of the tunnel, he heard a dog growling from inside the tunnel. So he stopped, turned around and out came the dog that was doing all of the growling. The dog was circling around I and growling at the same time. After a while, the dog went back into the tunnel. However, it wasn't long until he heard the footsteps coming from the tunnel. All of a sudden, out came the ghosts of his former army platoon. The ghost of Pvt. Noguchi (played by Yoshitaka Zushi) spoke on behalf of the squad. I told them that he was the reason why they were died.
The 'Crows' dream is the one where I is an art student. He was in an art museum admiring each exhibit. And he came along one of Van Gogh's paintings. So he sat down on a bench to study it. Next thing he knew, he was in a field. So he walked and walked until he saw Vincent Van Gogh painting a portrait of the sky and land. Van Gogh didn't want to waste his time talking to I. That's when packed up his belongings and left. So I followed him into a corn field where there was a huge flock of crows flying all over the place. When he got to the edge of corn field, I found himself in the same painting that he was studying.
The 'Mount Fuji in Red' dream was where I walked into this city in Japan, that was experiencing a nuclear meltdown do to Mt. Fuji erupting with lava, poison and other dangerous chemicals. The people were running for their lives. Among them were a Nuclear Plant Worker (played by Hisashi Igawa) and a woman with her two children. During the entire disaster, the man explained to I what was happening and what will become every living thing. There was only one place to go and that was in the sea. At some point, the man jumped into the sea and committed suicide.
My least favorite s dream in the film was 'The Weeping Demon.' This was when I had an encounter with The crying demon (played by Chosuke Ikariya). When I saw the demon, he didn't know what to think. After a while, the demon told him everything that happened to him, the rest of the people and the world. Then the demon brought I to a pit full of demons. He even asked him if he would like to become one of them. I ran out of there as fast as he could.
And my most favorite dream in the film was 'Village of the Water mill.' I comes across a village that has no name. After he crosses the stream where the children were playing, he encountered an old man (played by Chishu Ryu) sitting with his back facing the water mill. It looked like he preparing a blanket of some kind. So I approached the old man and asks him a few questions about. He answered each one of them. As the two of them were talking, the old man said something that he had get ready to celebrate a funeral. He said when a person dies, the whole village celebrates his/her life. Therefore the entire population will always be at one with nature.
All in all, this was a great film to watch. I can see it took a lot of work and planning to make this film happened. The director and the entire crew did a incredible job on this project.
Angelica Lee plays Wong Kar Muna, a young blind girl who receives a cornea transplant so that she could normally like everyone else. Unfortunately with the surgery, she finds out that she's able to see the dead. She even finds out that some of the ghosts that she meets are not very likable. In order for her to regain her sight back and stop seeking ghosts, she has to travel from place to place and go the home of the previous eye donor to find the cause and the solution to her problem.Wong Kar Mun, 18, lives in Hong Kong with grandmother and older sister. Since the age of two, she has been declared blind. She go through with the cornea transplantation surgery, and realizes while she recovers from her eye surgery, she discovers that she can see ghosts. Lawrence Chou plays Dr. Wah, the man who supports Mun and helps her solve her problem.
Eighteen year old Wong Kar Mun comes home from a long-hard day. First, she takes off her jacket. Then she takes off her sunglasses. When she does that, her eyes make her look scary. Freaked me out a little bit. After she puts on her pajamas and gets ready to fall asleep, she just lays there and relive everything that happened.
The first hospital scene was the one that started it all. This was where she started to see ghosts. Actually, this is where a shadowy man would appear each time a person would die. The first dead person that she saw was the old woman who was lying in the bed right across from where Mun was sleeping. The old woman died on the same day that Mun was admitted. That night, Mun heard some noise coming from outside the halls. She saw the shadowy man, got out of her bed and followed him into the halls. When she got there, the ghost of the old lady was standing at the opposite end of the hall. Slowly, she walks down to the other end where the dead old lady is standing. As she moves closer and closer to the ghost, she reaches out her hand and suddenly disappeared and reappeared around Mun. After a while, she returned back to her bed. I don't think she got any sleep after that. I know I wouldn't if I saw a dead person.
While Mun was in the hospital, she made a new friend named Yingying, (played by Yut Lai So) an eleven year old girl who has been diagnosed with some form of cancer. Their first meeting was after Mun was admitted in the hospital. She was lying in bed when she heard (or felt) someone was approaching. When she grabbed the person's wrist, she took off the blindfold and there she was; Yingying standing right above her, with a camera in her hand. She was taking pictures of everything and everyone she saw. After becoming fast friends, Yingying and Mun took one picture together. Yingying gave the picture(on the train) to Mun so that she would have something to remember her by. Somehow, Yingying knew it wasn't going to be long for her to die.
One day, Mun's older sister takes her to go see Dr. Wah, a psychologist who could be able to help Mun with her problem. So she sits in front of the doctor and tells him everything that she has seen and experienced. When she finshed sharing her story with him, she could tell that he thought she was a little bit crazy. He said that he didn't. All he wants to do is help her. From that day forward, he started to figure out ways to help her. In fact, there was a scene where they went to see a specialist. His office was located in this hospital that looked more like a waiting room for the dead. As Dr. Wah is talking to the specialist, Mun wanders off, looks around and sees that dreamt about this place. That when she figure out how to resolve the mystery of her vision. And that's when she decided to go to Ling's old house. Ling (played by Chutcha Rujinanon) is a young girl who died some years ago, as a result of hanging herself in her room and committing suicide. She was also the one who donated her eyes to Mun so that she could have the operation. While the two of them are in the house, Ling's mother tells them the story on how Ling died and how Mun developed her gift of seeing the dead. After the mother was finished with her story, Mun felt Ling's presence coming near. Apparently, so did the mother. So Mun was telling her to come upstairs with her, but the mother didn't want to because it was just too painful. Mun went up stairs and figured out the whole thing.
The ending was just like Ling's prediction in the village. A disaster was on its way and Mun was going from vehicle to vehicle warning everyone to get out and run for their lives. Unfortunately, when the disaster hit, it was too late. It claimed all of those people's lives and now their ghosts as well. However, during the attack, Mun was stroked in the eye by a foreign object, which left her completely blind. The interesting part was, after all that happened to her, the world seemed more beautiful to her now than if she did have 20/20 vision. What a great attitude she had. I'm glad she didn't feel sorry for herself.
I'm not a fan of horror movies, but I have to say that I enjoyed watching it. Everything about it was well done. The story line was quite breathtaking and the actors were just great. The Pang Brothers did an excellent job on this whole project.
Shanghai Triad (Yao a yao yao dao waipo qiao) takes place in a ritzy town in Shanghai in the early 1930s. The movie starts out with Uncle Liu (played by Xuejian Li) travels back to Shanghai with his young cousin, Shuisheng (played by Wang Xiaoxiao), so that the boy could come and work for 'Boss' (played by Baotian Li), who's the leader of an empire full of drugs. Shuisheng is only a mere country boy, (thanks to Uncle 6th) who becomes fascinated and intrigued by the extreme wealth that he finds himself surrounded in. His only job is to be Xiao Jingbao's (played by Li Gong) personal assisstant. She's 'Boss' new mistress. As Shuisheng tries to get use to his new position so many things are happening around him that is beyond hi imagination. Xiao Jingbao is having sexual intercourse . Fat Yu has begun a war of gangs and 'Boss' suspect that someone in his gang is be untrustworthy.In the first scene, Shuisheng is walking with a crowd of people, trying to get to the place where he is supposed to meet Uncle 6th. A truck passes him by, the driver backs up and out comes Uncle 6th. He looks up Shuisheng, from head to toe, embraces hi and tell him that he hasn't seen him since he was a little boy. While Uncle 6th was sitting inside the truck with the rest of the gang, Shuisheng had to hide in the back of the truck, covered with a blanket, so that where they were going, no one would see him and expect him to be there. Finally they reached their destination. When Shuisheng uncovered himself and tried to get out, uncle told him to stay in the truck, for he did not want him to know what was happening. Uncle and the gang walked up a ramp, headed to the place that they were going, found whoever they were looking for and killed him. Then they returned to the truck and drove away. Unfortunately, Shuisheng had to witness such injustice.
As they were riding back to Uncle's house, Uncle was telling Shuisheng all that he needed to know about the type of business that he's about to get into. He explain to him what to do, how to do it, how to greet people, and what not to do. He even explain to him how he was supposed to conduct himself around 'Boss' and all of his other goons. Uncle told him that his only job was to be Xiao Jingbao's (a.k.a Miss) little errand boy.
Later in the film, uncle took Shuisheng to this very high-class club for gangsters. As they were sitting at a table, uncle told Shuisheng that he will show him which girl was Miss. The entertainment got underway with the dancing girls already on stage, performing in front of the crowd. And as soon as Miss started to sing, uncle pointed her out to him. Uncle started to insult her. He said things about her that were so true. He even called her a slut. Shuisheng was so fascinated by it all. especially Miss. After the show was over, they both went back stage for Shuisheng to be introduced to his new employer. There she was, sitting in front of her mirror, looking at everything that's in the room. She called for one of her girls to come over here and give her the money that she was hiding in her bra. Miss was pretty nasty to her. She said that she doesn't like to break the rules. Even though she gave her back the money, she treated her like dirt and told the girl to get loss. After she was done humiliating that poor girl, She called Shuisheng over, looked him over, and asked him to give her light for her cigarette. Naturally, he felt so awkward that he dropped the lighter by mistake and bowed his head. When she asked him had he ever slept with a girl before, he said that he slept with his mother when he was just a little boy. The moment she asked that, I'm thinking this woman wants to sleep with this kid. Obviously, she was just playing around with his head.
In one the final scenes, Shuisheng and the little girl were playing and having fun around a pond. Miss walks up to the little girl and asks her what she wanted to be when she grew up. And the little girl said that she wanted to be just like Miss. She also asked the little girl if she knew any songs. She said that she knew just one. And when Miss heard the little girl singing, she said her grandmother used to sing it to her when she was a little girl. To me, each time Miss would spend a little time or even look at the little girl, her heart would start to change. The little girl was a reminder on how Miss used to be when she was that young. I bet in the back of her mind, she was saying that she miss being a little girl.
The final scene was a little shocking. Shuisheng was hung upside down, while 'Boss' is sitting there lying to her about her mother and Miss, along with telling her that he is going to make her just like Miss. He was literally saying that he is going to turn this poor little girl into his very own prostitute. I think that was a very awful thing to say to a little girl. Now that's a dirty old man. All in all, everything about the film was well done and the story line was well thought out and written.
In Taipei, there are members of specific family that want to know what the true meaning of life is. The lead, NJ, (played by Nien-Jen Wu) is in despair. He waiting for his brother to pay him back because he owes him some money. NJ's mother (played by Ru-Yun Tang) has fallen into a coma do to an unfortunate incident. When NJ's wife finds out that her life is empty, she experiences a crisis that becomes spiritual. He gives his business partner some good advice and the partner ends up making some very unwise decisions. And after 30 years NJ and his former love reunites for the first time since he broke up with her. Ting-Ting, (played by Kelly Lee), NJ's teenage daughter experiences her first time falling in love when she looks at feelings of roil in the flat of their next door neighbors. With the assistance of a camera, NJ's 8-year-old son, Yang-Yang (played by Johnathan Chang) who is like his father, finds the truth. At some point of the film, Ting-Ting asks this very interesting question: "why is the world so different from what we think it is?" Some food for thought.The movie starts out with the wedding of NJ's brother and his new bride. As the bridal carries on with the celebration, along with family and friends of both the bride and groom, NJ's 8-year-old son, Yang-Yang gets teased by some girls from the wedding. One girl is holding him from behind, another one grabs one of his shoes and throws it by the stairs, while the rest of them are just teasing him. So he started to come up with a plan to get even with the girls, he just didn't know yet. And his plan came together when one of the heart-shaped balloons burst right behind NJ. After a little prep talk from his mother, Yang-Yang got up from his seat, walked toward the table where the girls were sitting and popped it right in front of them. Apparently, his plan worked because it not only made them afraid, but it them cry.
After the wedding, NJ and his brother were just talking about the family, business, and everything in that fashion. During the conversation, his brother mentioned that he owed some guy named Piggy some money. (I think that was his bookie or something.) So he asked NJ to loan him some money. He remembered that owes Piggy some money, but he owes NJ and a bunch of other people money as well. I'm guessing some more than others. When the family comes home from the wedding, a neighbor was telling Min-Min to go to the hospital , because NJ's mother fell into a coma as a result of taking a nasty fall in the house. So Min-Min got back into the car and they drove off.
During the wedding scene, NJ and Yang-Yang were waiting for the elevator. And as the elevator doors were opening, out came NJ's ex-girlfriend, whom he hasn't seen for thirty years. They started out with a little small talk. Then she went back into the elevator. It wasn't long until she came back out and told him how she felt for all those years. Later in the film, they reconnect with each other during a business trip in Tokyo and went their separate way afterwards. At the end of the hotel scene, I 'm thinking at some point, the two of them are going to have sexual intercourse. However, that wasn't the case. It turn out that it was going to be end of what they had back when they were young. And I'm sure he would have had to admit that to Min-Min.
As I think of Yang-Yang, I would have to say that he was somewhat of the comic relief of the movie. The reason is that he did somethings that were rather funny. For example, running out of the bathtub naked, jumping into the swimming pool with his clothes on and taking pictures of people from behind. The part about him that interested me the most, was when he read what he had written down to say to his grandmother at her funeral. I think that was a very nice touch on the director's part.
Toward the 23rd chapter of this film, the grandmother had recovered from her coma. When Ting-Ting saw her grandmother, she walk into the room, kneeled right beside her and just talked. And while they were talking, Ting-Ting asked her grandmother this: "Why is the world so different from what we think it is?" After a while she told her grandmother that the world is so beautiful.
Hable con ella (Talk to Her) is the story of four lives leaning towards his/her destiny in every direction. The film begins with two ballerinas,performing in a very dramatic play. As the performance progresses, the two male characters (Benigno and Marco)are sitting right next to each other. The interesting part is that neither one of them realizes it until Benigno (played by Javier Camara) turns his head sideways and takes a glance at Marco. After that, Benigno continued to watch the play.When the play was over, Marco (plyed by Dario Grandinetti)drove to a near bar to get himself a drink. As he was sitting at a table, waiting for it, he spotted Lydia (played by Rosario Flores) sitting on a bar strool, drinking ang talking to another man. So Marco casually walks up to her and tells her that he would like to have a word with her. When the two of them were done with his/her drink, Marco offered to give Lydia a ride home. As they were in the car, Marco started to ask Lydia some personal questions about herself and I think the guy that she was with in the bar. So they had a little argument until they reached her house. However, when Lydia walked into her home, her ran out of the house, beack into Marco's car and screaming "there's a snake in my kitchen." She was in such of shock that she didn't know what to do. So Marco got out of the car, went into the house and killed the snake. On his way out, he grabbed her purse and went back to the car. She told him to take her to a hotel because after what just happened, she was too afraid to go back into her house. So they drove to an all night hotel where Lydia would have to sleep and wake up wearing the same clothes that she wore when she came to the hotel. Although they didn't sleep with each other, the relationship between them became evident.
Marco is a journalist who is still mourning a ten year old love affair that he had with his ex-girlfriend and Lydia is a professional bullfighter who is also just getting over her ex-boyfriend. As the story progresses, the love birds begin this beautiful love affair until that was put on pause. One day, while Lydia was preparing to fight a bull, she started to feel unsure about something. I'm not sure what it was and who was it about. I just saw that expression on her face. Unfortunately things did not go the way she had planned. For some reason, she kneeled down and pulled out her good luck charm. Then she got and braced herself for the bull. All of a sudden, the bull came charging out of its starting and gored Lydia, which left her in a coma. So the ambulence (along with Marco) rushed her to the hospital. And this is the place where Marco and Benigno meet for the first time.
Benigno is a nurse at the hospital. His soul purpose is to nurse back to health the only patient that he still in love with, Alicia, a young ballet student who fell into a coma when she was hit by a car four years prior to the event. And he has been caring for her ever since. He does everything from talking to her to holding up pictures for her. Unfortunately she can't see them because her eyes are closed do to the coma. He even bathes her along with a female nurse. I 'm sure that hospital had some very policies about things like that.
It turns out that the hospital is the exact place where Benigno and Marco form a bond of friendship. So throughout the movie the two of them draw closer and closer. Almost like brothers. In a sense, like Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho. I can recall their friendship becoming more intimate on two occasions. The first on was when Marco was giving Benigno a ride home and Benigno said that he wanted to marry Alicia. So Marco told him to come back to reality and get in the car. He was telling him that he couldn't marry her because she' still in a coma. And the second one was when Marco went to visit Benigno in prison after hearing that Benigno lost his job and was arrested for raping Alicia while she was still in a coma.
The movie, in itself was well written, thought out, and the actors did a tremendous job on making his/her character come to life. I have to say that I enjoyed watching it and seeing how a young man like Benigno can go from complete loneliness to having a friend like Marco who really cares about him. I take it he was an only child and it was very difficult for him to make friends as a child. Now that he is an adult, it's much easier for him to meet new people and become friends with them.
After losing both her husband and daughter in a very tragic car accident, Julie Vignon (played by Juliette Binoche) finds herself starting her life over as a single woman. Along the way, she moves out of her old house and into her very own apartment. She meets Lucille, a prostitute (played by Charlotte Very), Olivier (played by Benoit Regent) , a man who knew her late husband and the man she ends up with, and her mother (played by Emmanuelle Riva), who resides in a retirement home for the elderly. Julie's late husband, Patrice (played by Hugues Quester) was a famous European composer. He would travel all over Europe just to compose music. Often time, he would have to leave his family behind. At one occasion, while he was away on business, he met his mistress, fell in love with her, had sexual intercourse and now she is pregnant with his son. Apparently, Patrice and Julie' marriage was not all that great. I'm guessing that was a time where they were separated or maybe they were getting a divorce. I think they were divorced. Usually, when there's a divorce, tragedy is never far behind. Just pay close attention to the news and the people that are around you.
Not too long after the funeral, she started to have some very dangerous thoughts about taking her own life. She didn't feel that life was worth living and she didn't want to be alone. So she just isolated herself from the rest of the world. However, all of her emotions, thoughts and destiny was going to change.
One night while sitting alone in her old house, she decided to call Olivier and visit him over. So they engaged into a little small talk and she asked him to come right over. When he got there, he was all soaking wet because of the rain. First, she asked him to take off his coat. Then she asked him to take everything else off. That's when she removed her shirt (or sweater) off. Obviously she wasn't wearing any bra underneath it. Slowly he walked toward her, leaned up against her and the two of had sexual intercourse. The next morning, she woke up before him. She was all dressed up, packed her things in a box, embraced him and told him to lock up after he leave. As soon as she walked right out of the door, Olivier got up, put his pants back on, went to the window and screamed for her to come back.
As Julie is in downtown Paris, she her pays her realtor a visit. She wanted him to help her find another place to stay. It was not going to be easy, but he tried anyway. After that, she went to a cafe where she ordered and ate two scoops of ice cream along with some coffee (which she poured into the glass to eat with her ice cream) in a glass. And as she was sitting there, she saw a musician standing on up against a wall, playing his flute. The notes that he was playing were very familiar. When she left the cafe, she saw the same man lying on then floor. She asked him if he was alright. He lifted his head, grabbed the case that contained his flute and went back to sleep.
One night, while she was going to bed, she heard a noise coming from inside of the building. She stepped out of her house (wearing only her nightgown), the power went out, the door clothed behind her and she couldn't get back into her apartment. So she sat on top of the stairs and tried to get some sleep. She was able to close her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, she saw a strange man going into Lucille's apartment. I take it he was just another married me who was committing adultery with his mistress. And in this case, Lucille is that mistress.
At the end of the film, Julie became more opened to people. Her whole outlook on life kept improving every minute. She really started to change when she met and got to know her late husband's mistress. She saw that the woman was pregnant and asked if the baby was Patrice. She said yes and she said that it is boy. She asked if the woman picked out a name for him. The woman said no and Julie told her that he should be named after his father.
As I was sitting there, watching this movie, I thought of some possibilities on how the director came up with the title of the film. There were some things in the movie that contained the color blue. For example, the blue candy that she was eating in her old house, the blue lamp, the blue water in the pool that she was swimming in. Not only that, but I think it was how she felt after her husband and daughter died. The notes on the music sheet were blue. On the French flag, the color blue means liberty and freedom.
Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) is the story of two young who have different sexual preferences and develops a great friendship with one another. One is a homosexual and the other heterosexual.The relationship with the two began when Diego (played by Jorge Perugorria) sits at the same table as David (played by Vladimir Cruz). First, David sits down and eats his dessert. Then Diego comes and sits right across from him. So he starts flirting with David by eating his dessert in front of him. Then he starts talking to him. And sometime during the conversation, Diego mentions to David that he has some photos of him. So David is telling Diego that he wants the photos. Diego tells him that the photos are he but he would have to come home with Diego and get them.
And this is where the entire movie begins. Even though the opening scene was David inside a hotel room with another man's wife, I still say that the scene where David and Diego first meet is the primary scene. After all, the movie centers on them and they are the stars of the film. So it makes perfect sense to me.
Diego and David proceeds up the flights of stairs and almost end up bumping into diego's (nosey)neighbor, Nancy (played by Mirta Ibarra). She is just one of those people who enjoys prying into everyone else's business, but her own. In fact, there is a scene where she walks into Diego's apartment and discovers David for the first time. That was when she started to come up with a plan that will make David fall in love and sleep with her. If I'm not mistaken, I think she was some sort of a prostitute. I didn't figure that out until David was alone in her apartment, dancing, kissing and going upstairs (to her bedroom)to have sexual intercourse.
After that entire sexual experience that David had with Nancy, he knew that he was falling in love with her and he was going to tell her that the next time he'd see her. His friendship with Diego grew more intimately. He was able to open up to him and share things that probably other people never knew about him. He stopped being against what Diego was and started to accept him not only for what he was but for who he was both on the inside as well as the outside.
The final scene was the one that left the biggest impression throughout the film. When Diego had asked David to give him a hug, he refused. But when he was asked a second time by Diego, he hugged him with pure love and sincerity. Diego even said to David that he loved him very much. As far as David's old roommate/friend, I don't know what happened to him. I don't think his opinion on homosexuality had changed much. After the fight him and David got into, their friendship was over the moment he told his friend that he was not going to do his dirty work and was not going to be involved with his plans anymore.
Throughout the entire movie, there was only one question that was just sitting in the back of my mind: why was this film called Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) and where did the director get the name for the film? I guess I'll never know. Anyway, that's not important right now. What is important is that this movie had more than one story to tell. Not only was this a story about two young men from opposite sides of the track, but this was also a story on how we as human beings should never be quick to judge and tom hate someone just because he/she is different from us. Even if you don't agree with his/her viewpoints on life and his/her lifestyle, no one has the right to discriminate against anyone.
Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch) is a film that talks about love, betrayal and death. This film takes place in a small town in Mexico City, where three different stories come together as a result of a near-tragic automobile accident. Each of them have to learn how to handle loss, regret, and the harsh realities of life, all because of love. By entering his dog Cofi in a dog fight, Octavio (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) tries to make enough money to help his sister-in law (played by Vanessa Bauche), who in fact that he falls in love with. However, she ends up staying behind with her family and he ends up crippled and alone. Octavio is the one who causes the accident, because things really started to heat up after his dog Cofi was shot in the middle of the dog fight. It was not long after the fight when Octavio marched back in the arena and stabbed the gunman to death. That's when he ran to his car, ran a(red) light and crashed right into the other car.
The driver of the other was Daniel's (played by Alvaro Guerrero) mistress Valeria (played by Goya Toledo), who was distracted by her dog's (Richie) barking. After losing one of her legs in the accident, Daniel and Valeria's romantic escapade came to an end.
The only one who was an eyewitness to the accident was a homeless man named El Chivo (played by Emilio Echevarria), who is a caretaker for dogs who have been injured and ran away from their owners. He is also a former guerilla who plans an assassination. In one of the final scenes of the movie, he breaks into his daughter' home, walks into her room, calls her on a cellphone and left this long message, reviling his true self to her.
This movie was such a tragedy. It just seemed to me that there was always one tragedy after another. Even though love was the common factor between all three characters, there was just too much twists and turns involved. Not to mention the use of profanity was just so unbelievable. However, it was very written and done.
The Battle of Algiers is a film that features a war between the French and the Algerians. This is also a film which demonstrates the Algerian revolution on the side of the French as well as the Algerians. After a devastated loss in Vietnam, the French Foreign legion felt that they had to prove something to themselves as well as for their country. As for the Algerians, all they ever wanted was their independence and freedom. And similar to the wars that has happened in the past, so many of their people (including their soldiers) had to die just to have it. However, it was not going to make any difference to them. For they were not afraid to die for their country and they were determined to get their independence at all costs.
And so, both countries clashed and declared war on each other. Each country had their own methods of torture. The Algerians would create bombs and used them to kill the opposition. For those who take part in it, war is a very nasty and harmful.
Thousands of French police officers were shot by the National Liberation Front of Algiers in 1954; which started a movement for the Algerian's right for independence and freedom. This gave the Chief of the French Police to set up a bomb in their quarters. Unfortunately, thousands of lives were taken from the Arabs.
Often times, the NLF would prefer to use women (instead of men) to plant the bombs for them. In the film, they had three women carrying the bombs in her handbag. Two of the women were sent to different bars, while the other one was sent to plant one at the Air France office. And from three different locations, all the bombs blew up and took the lives of many.
Colonel Mathieu (played by Jean Martin) is the head commander of the French military forces. He is very abusive, disrespects the rights of human beings and is very fond of using torture to end the lives of the NLF.
After fighting the hardest war that they have ever been engaged in, the Algerians finally got what they were fighting for; their independence and freedom in 1962.
Tsotsi is based on a true story about a young South African thug who has fallen into a lifestyle fill of crime. The story takes place in a South African ghetto (Soweto slum) outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is very unfortunate that David/Tsotsi (played by Presley Chweneyagae) is a young man who grew up with nothing but bitterness in his heart. That was because his father was the same way. His dangerous lifestyle caused him (along with his gang) to kill an elderly man in the train (during a robbery), punching one of his fellow gangster, Boston (played by Mothusi Magano) to death; treating a beggar (who was crippled) like he was a dog and hijacks a woman's car from her own driveway. When she tried to get her car back, he shot her in the stomach and drove off.
As he was driving, there was a baby boy seating in his car seat. After he parks the car, he brings the baby to his house, which is a slum and starts to get used to the baby.
Little did Tsotsi know, the baby was going to change his life for the better.
After watching this film, I found it so interesting that the director actually used a baby to help David/Tsotsi to see what was in his heart and what he needed to do to change his way of living. I also found it so interesting that every time David/Tsotsi would glance so heavily at the single mother, the memories of his mother and his childhood would appear in the mind.
All in all, I would say that this film is one that I will never forget. Even though there was a lot of violence and profanity, it was very interesting.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Hydewood Park Baptist Church
100 Norwood Avenue
North Plainfield, NJ 07060
Phone: (908) 754-6363
Fax: (908) 754-2750
E-Mail: office@hydewood.org
Are you looking for a church that...
- Preaches the gospel of Christ?
- Provides ministry opportunities
for all ages?
- Makes you feel welcome and
part of a church family?
Well, we encourage you to come visit us at Hydewood Park Baptist Church and be a part of our worship experience. We provide information on our website about our church, its Pastoral staff, and its ministry opportunities. Please take a few minutes to explore our site and see how we serve the Lord. We trust that you'll find all the information you are seeking.
Thank you for visiting our site, and may God bless you!
Key Verse:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"
Matthew 28: 19-20 / NIV
North Plainfield, NJ 07060
Phone: (908) 754-6363
Fax: (908) 754-2750
E-Mail: office@hydewood.org
Are you looking for a church that...
- Preaches the gospel of Christ?
- Provides ministry opportunities
for all ages?
- Makes you feel welcome and
part of a church family?
Well, we encourage you to come visit us at Hydewood Park Baptist Church and be a part of our worship experience. We provide information on our website about our church, its Pastoral staff, and its ministry opportunities. Please take a few minutes to explore our site and see how we serve the Lord. We trust that you'll find all the information you are seeking.
Thank you for visiting our site, and may God bless you!
Key Verse:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"
Matthew 28: 19-20 / NIV
Monday, August 3, 2009
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