The first reviews from the Lima Film Fest are up… you can already buy tickets for the shows which start showing on August 6th until August 14th. They aren’t much, but you can get all the Lima Film Fest 2010 tagged items to keep updated throughout this week.
Here are the reviews at the moment:
Just had the chance to catch Kick-Ass, and let me tell you. Forget about Kick-Ass, we need more Big Daddy and Hit Girl~~~ Better yet, we need more girly potty-mouthed super heroes.
In a movie too centered on the insipid Kick-Ass — mind you, the film is title with his name — Hit Girl rocked my world.
Based on the manga by Fumi Yoshinaga, Ooku — refering to the quarters of the Shogun’s female companions — tells the story of a fictional Edo era in Japan where women have become the dominant members of society, and males are sought after to reproduce.
Actress Kou Shibasaki will be playing the female shogun.
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This made me think of the comic Y: The Last Man, which was the first ever comic I got into due to my roommate wanting me to read it. If you haven’t read it, do give it a look. You can be blown away.
As for the movie, the trailer kinda game me chills. Kou Shibasaki as the Shogun, such a marvelous idea. What’s Kazunari Ninomiya to do? xD
Entre a Luz e a Sombra (2009)
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Luciana Burlamaqui
Between Light and Shadow is a documentary that spans 7 years into the life of a Brazilian actress, who devotes herself to working with the prisoners in Carandiru — which was the largest penitentiary in South America [there’s even a movie about the 1992 massacre there]– A couple of the prisoners, Rap duo 509-E members Dexter and Afro-X, who were there for different sentences, are encouraged to create music.
The documentary shows that even though the actress [whose name escapes me, and doesn’t show up anywhere] and the guys from 509-E were born in the same city, but where born in different parts of town and in different families, there’s a disconnect. This is why The Actress spends 20 years of her life working with prisoners on theater workshops, dancing, encouraging them to create music, or paint, while also supporting 509-E in their rap careers in and outside prison. The rap duo is granted permission to perform at events outside prison while still doing their sentences because the judge granting these permissions is convinced that this is a good way to give prisoners a second chance.
Of course politicians and police enforcement officers are against prisoners going out and commenting on political issues. And of course the duo, young at that time, was against “The Man” so they didn’t waste any time to speak up.
There are problems in Carandiru, the prisoners take over the prison with hostages — “We have women and kids” read one of the messages they hung — and the situation got out of control. The prison was closed down, the prisoners transfered, and Carandiru was demolished. With terrorist groups running rampant in and out of prison, government officials stopped letting prisoners do public events… even when 509-E was winning big in the Rap festivals and awards.
Finally, as time passed by, Dexter and Afro-X split after Dexter was transfered to another prison, and Afro-X was given probation because he was fathering a child with singer Simony.
In a telling ending, both Dexter and The Actress — who were a couple in the beginning of the documentary — tells us what we’ve known all along. Maybe it’s just better to put your best effort in keeping children out of the prisons. Because once people live “the life” and feel proud of it, there’s never going back.
2.75/5
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL – DOCUMETAL
Screenings:
Tuesday 10 @ 4pm in Centro Cultural Catolica – Sala Azul
La Yuma (2009)
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Starring: Alma Blanco
Directed by: Florence Jaugey
La Yuma — don’t ask me what Yuma means, but La Yuma is the boxing nickname of the character — tells the story of a girl from the poor neighborhoods of Managua, Nicaragua, who wants to become a professional boxer. One day she sees her brother mugging a young journalist who loses a disc with his work, so she decides to return it to him, and decides that she likes him. As she deals with her possible love life, as well as her family life with her younger siblings, good-for-nothing mother with her good-for-nothing boyfriend, she finally gets the chance to train under renown boxing trainer Polvorita.
La Yuma pretty much reminded everyone of Girlfight — which launched the career of now the familiar Michelle Rodriguez — for their “tough girl who wants to box” theme, but ultimately La Yuma distances itself from boxing, and focuses on what Alma Blanco’s character has to do for her and her siblings to survive.
Since the story starts out as a boxing film, and then distances itself from it… La Yuma seems a bit disjointed, as if you were watching 2 or 3 different films. However, the film’s protagonist is interesting — she’s tough and sassy with a sense of humor — she keeps bringing you back into the story. The acting is a bit uneven, especially from Ernesto (Gabriel Benavides) the “love interest” and you wonder why La Yuma feels attraction towards him, but characters like Doña Scarlett (María Esther López), or La Cubana (Juan Carlos García) are enjoyable and memorable enough.
3/5
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL – FICCION
Screenings:
Monday 9 @ 5.15pm in Cineplanet Alcazar – Sala 1
Tuesday 10 @ 7.30pm in Centro Cultural Catolica – Sala Azul
Thursday 12 @ 9.45pm in Cineplanet Alcazar – Sala 1
You’ll have to excuse my Japanese. Is the English translation “The Most Beautiful Me”? Okay, I had a listen to most of Nakashima’s discography, after I was totally team Nana xD She strikes me as a emotionless-goth sometimes, and then the other times she strikes me as a total emo. However, I kinda dig her music.
She sounds great on Ichiban Kirei na, and somehow with my understanding of the lyrics… they seemed kinda poetic. I mean, the kind of lyrics that I like from Asian songs in general. Like having to sing about “that time in winter” and stuff like that. I like it when songs talk about the seasons and the elements, hahaha.
I think this song is the theme for Unubore Deka.
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At last! I had seen this video about 2 weeks ago and was waiting for Typhoon to upload it because the version I had seen was a TV capture and it was fullscreen.
In Chan Mian Jing, Bibi is all eclectic again. I think her hair is really great, she has had great hair since she moved to Typhoon – why are we discussing this? Well, because we already know Bibi can sing. She can’t dance, but she can sing. So Bibi’s biggest obstacle is looking and acting like an idol. I really suggest Typhoon moves away from this. Yeah, make her look sleek… I even admitted she looked really great on Canned Fish without the glasses and the long hair, but I also said she didn’t look like Bibi. So I appreciate that Typhoon let Bibi use her dark-rimmed glasses for this video, but the eclectic look doesn’t go with it.
So keep Bibi’s hair styles and colors, keep the glasses… and please, put Bibi on a well-tailored suit with a Motown sound. Her voice can deal with it.
As for the music here? I liked it, the song is one of the highlights in style from an album that has a LOT of types of music. She experimented a lot with different sounds. It feels you’re going through different music eras when you listen to it. For instance, there was a song that sounded so much like Stevie Wonder, and then I Miss U Missing Me sounds very late-90s, while Canned Fish sounds early 2000s and One-Way Mirror sounds mid-2000s LOL.
Finally watched Polanski’s The Ghost Writer. In short, very well done. Loads of thrills, melodrama, some humor… loads of politics. Having said that, Olivia Williams needs more attention. She was pretty great last season with An Education — and was completely snubbed –, and she’s always been interesting on screen.
Every time I bring up her name, people say “who?”
And you must know her for sure! I mean, she was on Dollhouse~~~ and she had a cameo on X-Men The Last Stand, She was Mrs. Darling on Peter Pan. She was also on The Body with Antonio Banderas, she started out as Bruce Willis’ wife on The Sixth Sense, and was on Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. WTF, she’s been a working actress for almost 20 years~
On The Ghost Writer? She pretty much blew me away. The question is, should she be going for Best Actress, or just go for Best Supporting? Supporting acting always gives good results.
The album will be released on August 13th, to coincide with the release of his directorial film debut Love in Disguise. 18 Martial Arts, which contains the first single Chai Mi You Yan Jiang Cu Cha (Daily Necessities), will be released in different versions including the Love Key HK version, Taiwan version, the House Key HK version, Taiwan version… as well as a Normal Edition HK and Taiwan, and a Taiwan version with a mini-photobook and a DVD with the MV and trailer for his film.
It’s independence day in Peru! So I made you all a playlist again with old school Peruvian rock. Awww, man~~~ those where the days. Or maybe I have my stages… without the internet, I grew up with this music. With the internet, I moved on to music in English… and having Asian friends, I follow so much Asian music now. — Did you noticed the whole front page was filled with Asian music posts??? — And then people call me a music snob.
Anyway, Feliz 28!
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