Two male penguins adopt a chick
I thought this was a rather amusing story :)
This is an article about those who fled the Swat valley, but from a very different angle:
There are about seven barbers in Rangmala, a camp for displaced people which is a couple of kilometres from Malakand Top.
Although they want to go back home once the Taliban have gone they are relishing the chance to work without being threatened.
Shaukat Ali came to the camp from Mingora.
On Sunday he shaved his first client for eight months.
He says that there were about 100 barber shops in Mingora and they all were ordered by the Taliban to immediately stop shaving off beards as it was un-Islamic.
That’s what the media have been speculating about recently. I found this pretty interesting - an interview with Kim Jong-il’s eldest son and in English no less. I’ve never seen an interview with anybody high up in North Korea’s hierarchy before.
{FILM DIARY}
Seen: Saturday, 6th June 2009 (DVD, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 85′
Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Ryuhei Matsuda, Masanobu Ando
Production House: Eisei Gekijo, Excellent Film, Maki Production, Shochiku Company, Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo
Plot: (from imdb)
An unknown future. A boy confesses to the murder of another in an all-boy juvenile detention facility. More an exercise in style than storytelling, the story follows two detectives trying to uncover the case. Homosexual tension and explosive violence drives the story which delivers some weird and fascinating visuals.
Trailer
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A Trailer
Impressions In Short
Very artsy and very homoerotic *grin*
More About the Film
This is an extremely artsy piece where the mood is much more important than the story. It’s the kind of thing that most people would probably find insanely boring. Takeshi Miike actually said the following in the ‘making of’ featurette:
Recently I’ve realized that movies that put me to sleep are good movies. Ones that bore me and put me to sleep. They give you tranquillity. There are things in the world that make you angry and sleepless. So movies that help you sleep are great. So if someone buys the DVD, absent-mindedly watches it, and eventually falls asleep… and between dozing and consciousness, the movie is still going, still flowing… as they enter the world of dreams; I think it’s a piece that could be watched like that.
That rather sums it up, doesn’t it? ;)
Despite the lack of plot and the dreamy atmosphere, the film has some very defined characters and very strong performances from the (all-male) cast. I think the cast in this is very impressive, as they have hardly any dialogue or plot to use. Mostly they have to convey the whole characterization just by “being”. My personal favourite is naturally Matsuda Ryuhei *grin* Though I think I’m not as obsessed with his face as I used to be ;) I still think his porcelain doll looks are great to look at though.
I’ve watched the film for the third or fourth time now and I still don’t entirely get the symbolism. Though, for the first time, I have some sort of theory about the CGI butterfly that randomly appears during the film. I think it appears when Jun is feeling somehow threatened, though I’m still not sure… Maybe I’ll get it the next time I watch it ;)
Recommended?
Yes, if (like me) you think watching an artsy film with no plot can be an enjoyable experience. Otherwise you should probably stay away ;)
{FILM DIARY}
Seen: Saturday, 6th June 2009 (DVD, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 99′
Director: Martin Sulík
Cast: Marián Labuda, Roman Luknár, Zuzana Sulajová, Jana Svandová
Production House: Artcam International, Charlie's Bratislava, STV, Slovenská filmová tvorba Koliba (SFT)
Plot: (from imdb)
Jakub’s life arrived at a dead-end. He leaves his job, and gets into conflict with his father. The trouble just grows by his relation with a married woman. Breaking out, Jakub realizes the pleasures of the countryside in the old garden of his grandfather. He finds true love with an angel, and encounters various exciting moments of his new free life. Strange visitors arrive, and he wont get back to town anymore.
Scene From The Film
Impressions In Short
Why this film has barely been shown outside of Slovakia is one of the world’s greatest mysteries ;) It’s a bit art housey and crazy, but it’s rather charming and most importantly it’s fun!
More About the Film
I saw Záhrada for the first time about 9 years ago during a retrospective of Martin Sulik movies at a film festival. As his films received a great audience reaction (the reaction to Záhrada was particularly good), most of his films were promptly picked up by a Polish distributor. Záhrada eventually got some sort of limited theatrical release in Poland, but it was never released on DVD, so after years of waiting I finally gave up and bought the Slovak DVD edition which has English subtitles.
This “conspiracy” to make it as difficult as possible for people to see the film rather bewilders me. I’d understand if it was some sort of art film that was very challenging to watch, but it’s anything but that! It’s very sweet and charming.
The story mainly consists of Jakub sitting around in his grandfather’s garden while progressively more and more absurd things happen around him. He keeps having unexpected visitors of different sorts. They include a Shepard who explains he leads a nomadic lifestyle because otherwise God will make him a saint. And he also gets visited by men going by the names of Wittgenstein and Rousseau (the actors are even cast to slightly resemble the philosophers). There’s lots of references in the film, but if you miss them (and I think I probably missed about 80% of them :]) it shouldn’t matter.
The cinematography is simple, but quite beautiful. And the rural setting is used to great effect both visually and story-wise (cats have magical powers and ants are doctors).
On the whole, it’s a funny film which should leave you with a warm kind of feeling. It’s a bit slow though.
Recommended?
Yes! My mum liked it and was as perplexed as I am about why this film was hardly released anywhere. And generally speaking, I find my mum’s opinion a relatively good way of testing whether a wider audience will like a film *grin*
Below I’ve embedded a video about how the Inpupiat community in Kivalina, Alaska are bringing a law suit against the major oil companies. Due to global warming their village will have to be relocated. The move is very costly and they hope to get the necessary money through the law suit.
The villagers will try to prove that oil companies have funded biased scientific research to mislead the American public about the truth of global warming. This is set as the most difficult part of the suit for courts to dismiss.
The Borat publicity was crazy, but the Brüno publicity is shaping up to be some of the most tasteless, crass and vulgar publicity that Hollywood has seen - check out Brüno’s spread in Marie Clair - Brüno’s A-Z is quite something ;)
I guess there’ll be a lot more articles and interviews like that to report in the near future, but for now the loudest publicity stunt was what he did at the MTV Movie Awards - I think the best bit is Zac Effron’s face upon getting called up on the stage lol
Everyone’s been discussing whether or not Eminem was in on the joke. At the moment reports suggest he was.
The strike I’ve been following has finally come to an end - it lasted two months. More details on the settlement can be found here.
Consequently, release dates for the coming major Bollywood releases have finally been announced :)
{FILM SPOTTING}
Polish Distributor: Monolith (10th July 2009)
Release Date (worldwide): 8th July 2009
Director: Larry Charles
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen
Production House: Everyman Pictures, Four by Two, Media Rights Capital
Plot: (from imdb)
Flamboyant Austrian fashionista Brüno takes his show to America.
Trailer
The sceptical part of me thinks that…
It could get a bit too vulgar even for my taste ;)
The excited part of me thinks that…
I thought Borat was hilarious, so there’s a good chance I’ll have loads of fun with this *grin* I think Sacha Baron Cohen is quite amazing when he does these sorts of movies. He’s a true method actor.
Also, this is definitely going to be one of the most controversial films of the year (at least in terms of commercial cinema). There’s already been a few reports on various controversies the film has spurred - like this one for example.
This is the story of an Afghan boy who was imprisoned by US authorities at the age of 12. He is still in Guantanamo today. While most of the cases of prisoners who were underage at the time of capture have been resolved by now, his was not the only such case.