Monika’s Pensieve

I’ve been totally abysmal about updating this blog of late. Sorry about that :-/ A lot (of good things, mostly) are happening in my off-line life at the moment :)
My blog needs a change of formula I think, but I’ll get to that… eventually. Hopefully, you’ll see some bigger changes here in the next 2-3 months or so :)

{FILM SPOTTING}

Full details about the festival are up here. I’m hoping to attend 4 screenings I think. My tentative schedule is:

Monday, 22nd March
18:30 Videsh (Heaven On Earth)

Friday, 26th March
18:30 Dulha Mil Gaya

Saturday, 27th March
18:00 Singh is King

Sunday, 28th March
18:00 My Name is Khan
(this will be in distribution later, but I’d still prefer to see it during the festival :))

Heaven On Earth (Canada, 2008)

I originally spotted this over a year ago :)

Dulha Mil Gaya (India, 2010)

Runtime: 152′
Director: Mudassar Aziz
Cast: Sushmita Sen, Fardeen Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Johnny Lever
Production House: Insight Productions, Maverick Productions
Plot: ???

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
This movie seems to have been panned by most everybody and I see no reason why I shouldn’t believe the reviews :] It looks like one of those really generic and outdated Bollywood romance films.

The excited part of me thinks that…
Well… Shahrukh Khan is in it :] Not in a lead role mind you… I think originally this was meant to be a cameo, but they extended it or something. I don’t think SRK actually did much publicity for it. After seeing Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi I declared that the next time SRK would do a conventional sort of romance I would seriously doubt I want to see it and then see it anyway and well… that’s exactly my mindset here ;)

Singh Is Kinng (Australia/India, 2008)

Runtime: 135′
Director: Anees Bazmee
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Om Puri, Kiron Kher, Javed Jaffrey
Production House: Blockbuster Movie Entertainers, Big Screen Entertainment
Plot: (from imdb)

A comic caper about Happy Singh, a Punjabi villager who goes through a series of misadventures and eventually becomes the Kinng of the Australian underworld.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
This is clearly going to be mindless entertainment, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing ;)

The excited part of me thinks that…
This did extremely good box office (as in record-breaking box office in India) and it sounds like it’s a proper masala film in the best sense of the term *grin*

My Name Is Khan (India, 2010)

Runtime: 124′
Director: Karan Johar
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Tanay Chheda
Production House: Dharma Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment
Plot: (from imdb)

Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism that complicates socialization. The adult Rizwan marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who mistake his disability for suspicious behavior. Following his arrest, he meets Radha, a therapist who helps him deal with his situation and his affliction. Rizwan then begins a journey to meet US President Obama to clear his name.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
Well… I was very excited about this until I saw the trailer ;) SRK looks very hammy on it, which immediately put me off.

The excited part of me thinks that…
I still think the story sounds fab and it’s been getting great reviews (so has SRK in fact), so despite some scepticism I have high hopes for it :)

Saw Valentine’s Day recently (the review will come eventually :]) and both of the Taylors were mercilessly making fun of their image, which is one of my favourite types of humour *grin*
What I didn’t realize was that Lautner had already done much worse to his image on SNL. My favourite of the sketches is the one embedded below. Like most of youtube, I’m addicted to the bit where he sings “Seenta Claus get down, get down my chimney, ow!” ;) His accent is just perfect throughout *grin*

You can see more sketches from the show here. Another one, which I think isn’t performed or written quite as well, but the idea for it is hilarious is when he’s dressed up as a team Edward fangirl *grin*

{FILM DIARY}

Darbareye Elly (2009, Iran)

Seen: Monday, 26th January 2010
Runtime: 119′
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Cast: Golshifteh Farahani
Production House: Dreamlab
Plot: Three Iranian families go out of town for a couple of days to have some fun and introduce Elly (a young teacher) to a recently divorced friend. Everything changes when Elly disappears and no one knows whether she is alive or dead.

Trailer

Impressions In Short
It’s nice to see a good Iranian film about the urban middle class. We get far too few films like that.

More About the Film
It’s a beautifully constructed film and story. Every scene, every line turns out to be important in the end. Very well acted as well. All the relationships in the film are very meticulously drawn.
It’s also very interesting to watch from a cultural perspective. I came out thinking that this could have been a Polish group of friends on holiday. The only difference was that maybe the appropriateness of certain things was considered with a little more attention (should it be a woman or a man who makes this phone call etc.). Muslim countries are usually considered to be chauvinist, but any chauvinism that was shown in this film could have just as easily happened in Poland in a similar situation.

Recommended?
Yes. It is an art film and it is a little slow, but it’s quite gripping. For anyone who likes to find out about other cultures through cinema (as I do) then this is an awesome film to watch.

There’s been a lot of speculation about whether the upcoming Deathly Hallows movies will feature nudity or not. There actually is a scene in the book where Harry is naked (it’s not a sexual scene if anyone’s wondering), but most people assumed the film would interpret naked as bare-chested.
But then came some vague comments from Radcliffe and Yates that made fans wonder. Some people’s imaginations ran wild and we ended up with theories that we were going to have some sort of sex scene between Harry and Hermione, where they would both be naked. So far these rumours, have no confirmation whatsoever ;), but in a recent French interview with the Trio, we actually have Radcliffe confirming that he has stripped for a scene in the film:

In the Deathly Hallows, you’ll see Harry as you never saw him before ! For example, I shot a scene where i’m entirely naked. When I read the script, I thought that I would carry underwears but no ! I’ve already done it for Equus so it wasn’t so difficult. I’m wondering how people will react, even if any things will be hidden in the screen !

So, er, there you go lol Unless this is another Jamie Campbell Bower type stunt or unless either the translator or the magazine has invented parts of the interview, then I guess this is official :]
I’ve also come across an interesting report, which may or may not be true. I suppose getting Rupert Grint crying in a film is almost as exciting as having Daniel Radcliffe naked ;-P On a more serious note, it is sounding more and more like Ron will not just be the comic relief in this one. I’m really looking forward to that.

{FILM DIARY}

Daybreakers (2009, Australia/USA)

Seen: Monday, 18th January 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 98′
Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, Claudia Karvan, Michael Dorman, Willem Dafoe
Production House: Lionsgate, Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), Pictures in Paradise, Pacific Film and Television Commission, Furst Films
Plot: (from imdb)

In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

Trailer

Impressions In Short
It could have been hilarious if it hadn’t been so gutless.

More About the Film
There were a lot of interesting and fun tidbits in the film, but on the whole I felt it didn’t quite work. Not because it was a bad idea or because it didn’t have the potential, but because they just didn’t go far enough.
From the get-go, they were mixing melodrama and comedy. The opening shot is of a girl, who is infected with the “vampire disease”. She commits suicide by going out into the sun because she can’t stand the idea that she will never age. From there they delve into a world where all the advertisements talk about blood and eternal life and whatever else it is that vampires need. Some of the jokes are obvious (coffee now has blood mixed in), some are more risky (the American military recruiting poster now reads “Join today to capture humans!”). And of course the main character was definitely called Edward on purpose ;)
The problem was that they didn’t have the guts to go far enough into the melodrama and dark humour, so they made a relatively standard sci-fi/vampire flick instead. If the idea had been utilized to its fullest they would have had something approaching the bizarreness of Sweeney Todd I think ;)
It was still a relatively nice film to see, but it could have been so much better. The casting was excellent, they really got the right people for the job (which made it even more annoying that they didn’t go for perverse humour and melodrama in larger quantities - they had a cast that could have pulled it off!).

Recommended?
Hard to say… If they had chosen to either go further on the bizarreness factor or stay more safely in the sci-fi/vampire genre it would be a bit easier to recommend to a specific audience. This way I think most people will be left unsatisfied for one reason or another.

{FILM DIARY}

Hunger (2008, UK/Ireland)

Seen: Monday, 18th January 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 96′
Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Stuart Graham, Liam Cunningham
Production House: Blast! Films, Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, Film4, Northern Ireland Screen, Wales Creative IP Fund
Plot: (from imdb)

The last six weeks of the life of the Irish republican hunger striker Bobby Sands.

Trailer

Impressions In Short
Very tough watching. I guess in some ways there’s a lot to admire in how this film was made, but on the whole it is completely not my kind of movie. I should have realized that would be the case - after all, Ziggy recommended it to me ;)

More About the Film
I found Bobby Sanders an extremely unsympathetic character. Watching him starve to death (by his own choice) was very agonising, but not because I felt for him - because it went on for so long. I kept hoping he would die quicker. I don’t think I’m exaggerating much if I say that he was dying for about a third of the film.
The film was generally very tough going for me because there were no characters there that I could get properly involved in. And the really frustrating thing was that the moment somebody did catch my interest they were immediately removed from the story. Like the prison guard the film starts with. At the beginning I felt very detached from him. And then there’s this whole sequence where the guards violently force the prisoners to wash (they were staging a no wash protest, which meant they were litterally sitting in piss, shit and maggots). And there’s a scene where you can see the violence taking it’s toll on the guard. He goes out for a smoke to unwind and suddenly you know he’s human. That’s when he becomes interesting. You start wondering - why is he doing this, how else is this effecting him, how much does his wife know… Of course we never get any answers. We only get one more scene with him after that.
Bobby’s parents are kind of sympathetic, but again they don’t get much screen time. The priest is interesting, but he only gets one scene… and it goes on like that. There are plenty of characters one could get attached to or intrigued by, but as soon as they hook you, they get removed from the story. Very frustrating!
The style was on the whole well executed, but also difficult viewing. Very static shots, almost no dialogue.
What puzzled me though was the huge dialogue scene inserted about mid-way through. After almost no dialogue for the whole film, you suddenly get this very long conversation between Bobby and the priest. According to imdb’s trivia page the dialogue scene lasted 16min. - that’s almost unheard of. Especially when the majority of it plays out in a wide static shot with no cuts (they finally started cutting a bit later on in the scene, but I think it was over 10min. of the scene before they did - or that’s what it felt like). I’m probably in the minority with this, but I didn’t like that scene at all… I could literally see the actors stressing over how to hold the audience’s attention cause the whole way it was written and shot was kind of against them. They were talking extremely fast and not waiting for the other person to finish their line properly. Not that they had many other options. If their delivery had been slower (and a little more natural) then the scene would have probably been over 20min. I thought this was very limiting and tough on the actors. I suppose they did well with what they got, but it could have been much better if what they got had been more “performable”.
Of course, I suppose what the film really makes one think about is the whole political situation of that time - why all this happened in the first place. And I guess the one compliment I can give this film is that it’s pretty even-handed. What the prisoners forced upon themselves in protest (starvation, sitting in shit, piss and maggots) was much more extreme than any of the brutality the guards enforced IMO (although of course the brutality and the way the prisoners’ basic human rights had been taken away was also disgusting). In the end what I found myself thinking was that it’s a film about two groups of people (Thatcher and her government, Bobby Sanders and IRA) who blindly thought they were in the right and stubbornly went through with their agenda no matter what the consequences. The people who really suffered the most were the ones in between - the families of the prisoners who had to watch them starve to death, the prison guards who followed government orders and then got murdered by IRA for doing so, the families of the guards who had to watch all this unfold knowing they might not see their husband or father again etc.

Recommended?
Definitely yes if you’re into political kind of movies or like very static and silent sort of films. But otherwise approach with caution.
It’s a tough film for people like me, who need to feel involved in the characters to enjoy a film. It really doesn’t let you do that. It’s very drastic also. And naturally, it’s very much an art house film.

{FILM SPOTTING}
This month I actually started out with 13 (!!!) February releases which were of interest to me, but with some effort I’ve managed to cut them down to 8 :] That’s still a lot for an exam month though *sigh*

Leap Year (2010, USA/Ireland)

Release Date (Poland): 5th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 8th January 2010
Runtime: 100′
Director: Anand Tucker
Cast: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode
Production House: Universal Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Birnbaum/Barber, BenderSpink, Octagon Films
Plot: (from imdb)

A woman who has an elaborate scheme to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, an Irish tradition which occurs every time the date February 29 rolls around, faces a major setback when bad weather threatens to derail her planned trip to Dublin. With the help of an innkeeper, however, her cross-country odyssey just might result in her getting engaged.

Trailer
See it here.

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
It looks like an average romcom.

The excited part of me thinks that…
I’ve wanted to see more of Amy Adams ever since viewing Doubt, but I keep passing on the opportunity (in fact one of the 13 films that didn’t make the final cut was an Amy Adams one). The reason I’ve figured I’m going to see this one is Matthew Goode ;-P He has quite clearly been stalking me (he keeps appearing in films I want to see even when I don’t want him there ;)) and I’ve decided that “if you can’t beat them, join them” and I am therefore going to join the Matthew Goode bandwagon ;-P If nothing else then clearly he has good taste in stories and acting ensembles ;) Besides, he looks kind of nice on the trailer - I think I like him with facial hair and an exaggerated Irish accent *grin*
Also, the script for this one was co-written by Simon Beaufoy, which is an extra enticement for me.

Valentine’s Day (2010, USA)

Release Date (Poland): 12th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 10th February 2010
Director: Garry Marshall
Cast: Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift
Production House: Karz Entertainment, New Line Cinema, Rice Films
Plot: (from imdb)

Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine’s Day.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
It’s probably yet another standard romcom.

The excited part of me thinks that…
Taylor Lautner and Ashton Kutcher. Enough said. And Queen Latifah is a nice bonus *grin*
I’m not sure how much screen time Lautner actually has (have a feeling it’s not much), but I’ll take what I can get *sigh*

It’s Complicated (2009, USA)

Release Date (Poland): 12th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 25th December 2009
Runtime: 118′
Director: Nancy Meyers
Cast: Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin
Production House: Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Waverly Films, Scott Rudin Productions
Plot: (from imdb)

During his son’s college graduation, Jane hooks up with her ex-husband, Jake, who’s married to a younger woman. As if being your ex’s mistress isn’t tough enough, Jane also finds herself drawn to Adam, a smitten architect.

Trailer
See it here.

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
I’m not sure I have enough words to express the same thought differently for the third time in a row ;-P The film might be yet another romcom of questionable quality ;)

The excited part of me thinks that…
I long for more commercial Hollywood films, which have female protagonists aged 50+. The day when such female protagonists are not played by Meryl Streep is yet to come, but for now I’ll take what I can get ;)

Amelia (2009, USA/Canada)

Release Date (Poland): 12th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 23rd October 2009
Runtime: 111′
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston
Production House: AE Electra Productions, Avalon Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Plot: (from imdb)

A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
The trailer doesn’t look all that good to me.

The excited part of me thinks that…
It has a good director, a great cast and trailers can be deceiving…

The Ghost Writer (2010, France/Germany/UK)

Release Date (Poland): 19th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 11th February 2010
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson
Production House: RP Films, France 2 Cinéma, Elfte Babelsberg Film, Runteam, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Studio Babelsberg
Plot: (from imdb)

A ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
The trailer isn’t all that enticing.

The excited part of me thinks that…
Roman Polański + Ewan McGregor + Pierce Brosnan + Tom Wilkinson was always bound to arouse my curiosity.

Savage Grace (2007, Spain/USA/France)

Release Date (Poland): 19th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 18th May 2007
Runtime: 96′
Director: Tom Kalin
Cast: Julianne Moore
Production House: 120dB Films, A Contraluz Films, ATO Pictures, Celluloid Dreams, John Wells Productions, Killer Films, Montfort Producciones, Videntia Frames
Plot: (from imdb)

The true story of the beautiful and charismatic Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland, heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Their only child is a failure in his father’s eyes, and as he matures and becomes increasingly close to his lonely mother, the seeds for tragedy are sown.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
It could be one of those generic art house movies that aims mainly to shock.

The excited part of me thinks that…
This seems to have truly shocked some people rather than merely tried to. A lot of people seem to declare this movie totally perverse and sick. I guess I’m a little intrigued by that… especially that I usually trust Julianne Moore’s choices. She tends to pick interesting stories.

Świnki (Germany/Poland, 2009)

Release Date (Poland): 26th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): July 2009
Originally spotted this during the Warsaw Film Festival. I didn’t see it then, but I gambled right - it has indeed found a Polish distributor *grin*

Desert Flower (2009, UK/Germany/Austria)

Release Date (Poland): 27th February 2010
Release Date (worldwide): 5th September 2009
Runtime: 120′
Director: Sherry Horman
Cast: Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall
Production House: Desert Flower Filmproductions, Majestic Filmproduktion, MTM West Television & Film, Dor Film Produktionsgesellschaft, Desert Flower, ARD Degeto Film, Bac Films, Backup Films, BSI International Invest, Mr. Brown Entertainment, Torus
Plot: (from imdb)

Based on the world best-selling book DESERT FLOWER by Waris Dirie - the autobiography of a Somalian nomad circumcised at 5, sold in marriage at 13, who became an American supermodel and is now at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against circumcision.

Trailer

The sceptical part of me thinks that…
I just wonder how come I haven’t heard of this movie before - the trailer looks awesome… Might be that the trailer is much better than the film, but we shall see…

The excited part of me thinks that…
This looks like a really strong British film, the trailer already makes me teary. And I’m loving the lead actress (who I haven’t seen before). And Sally Hawkins and Timothy Spall are looking strong too :)

I had this idea ages back that maybe if I learnt more about vegetables, it would somehow drive me to incorporate more of them into my diet. So I thought I’d write some blog posts about vegetables, but I only ever started drafting one about carrots. So with the purpose of cleaning out my drafts, here it is… The information here is a summary of what I found on-line in various places.

Nutrition and Health Information
Carrots are one of the best sources of vitamin A in nature. They’re also rich in vitamin K, vitamin C, fibre and potassium. For a full nutrient analysis see here.
Eating carrots is healthy for the eyes, hair and skin. It also helps to regulate blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The large quantities of antioxidants found in carrots help protect against cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
In raw form they possess antiseptic, cooling and detoxifying properties and are good for treating inflammation of various parts of the body.
They’re recommended eating for smokers and people who spend a lot of time in cigarette smoke because they help with inflammation of the lungs and protect against cancer.

Trivia

• Carrots are supposed to have originated in what is now Afghanistan and apparently to this day Afghanistan is a centre of wild carrot diversity *grin*
• Carrots were not orange until the 17th century. Before that they came in a lot of different colours - red, yellow, purple, white, green, black. The orange variety was developed in the 17th century in the Netherlands as a tribute to William I, Prince of Orange. It had a better taste and was healthier owing to its high beta-carotene content, so Europe stopped planting all other carrot varieties. Some of those varieties are still cultivated in Central Asia, however.
• The world’s largest carrot cultivator is China, followed by Russia and the USA. Other significant carrot-cultivating countries are Japan, the UK and my own country - Poland *grin*
• There is a giant carrot statue in Ohakune, New Zealand.
• According to an old urban legend, eating a lot of carrots will make you see in the dark. The legend’s origin is really interesting and I recommend you check out this page and another one here for the full story. But, in short, it was perpetuated by the RAF during WW2. They wanted to hide their new radar technology from the Germans, so they explained to the public that they were able to shoot down more German aeroplanes in the dark because they were feeding their pilots lots of carrots.
• According to wikipedia, one of the historical names recorded for carrots is Devil’s-plague.

I thought this was a pretty amusing interview. The audio is a little difficult to make out, but there’s a transcript.

Came across two pretty interesting links about sex (they are work-safe).
This is an article about how you could get your vitamin B12 needs met through oral sex - good advice for vegans ;)
And this was a very interesting (and hilarious) talk entitled “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Orgasm”.