Archives For Films

Gigante PosterGigante (2009)
Genre: Subtle Drama with Romantic Comedy Moments
Starring: Horacio Camandule & Leonor Svarcas
Directed by: Adrian Biniez

Gigante (Giant – literal translation) tells the story of Jara, a big security guard that works night shifts at a supermarket, who begins having feelings – maybe a bit of stalkery feelings – for the pretty floor cleaner.

This is the thing about films, your characters can do anything and you can feel whatever you want~ In the real world, having someone secretly following you around would totally freak you out, but it doesn’t happen in Gigante.

Jara sees the floor cleaner through the security cameras, and as days go by he checks on her without her ever knowing. One day he decides to see where she goes when she’s not working only to find out she goes to the Internet cabins, after that he sort of makes a habit out of following her and “watching out” for her, in the process knowing about her likes. He even saves her a couple of times at work, and even defends her honor when some cab driver shouts obscenities/pick-up lines at her – It’s cute in the film, but I don’t recommend anyone trying his moves in the real world. Moreover, I don’t know~ I didn’t feel her. Especially at work, she was absent-minded, and a bit clumsy… actually she exasperated me a bit during her supermarket scenes.

The film has its good moments, even though I saw people sleeping, don’t get me wrong. However, if I wanted to feel good about stalking someone, I’d watch Faye Wong on Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express stalking Tony Leung. LOL – 3/5

What? Eh? Twilight?

August 6, 2009 — Leave a comment

LOL

I just got linked to Variety, that says that Jodelle Ferland has been cast in Twilight.
Say what? First Dakota, now her…
Summit’d better be paying them loads of money.

And this explains the sudden surge for Jodelle Ferland these past two days.

I mean, I don’t doubt Ferland’s abilities… after all she did pull a pretty
freaking awesome job on Gilliam’s Tideland – total freak out~ xD
but come on… Twilight? xD

By Peter Jackson, Ooh la la~~~
This trailer is awesome, though at the moment

[iframe width=”560″ height=”349″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/jvWXV-c2hWo?rel=0″]

Huacho PosterHuacho (2009)

Genre: Drama
Starring: Manuel Hernandez, Alejandra Yañez,
Clemira Aguayo & Cornelio Villagran
Directed by: Alejandro Fernandez Almendras

Huacho tells the story of a low-income family in central Chile, following the point of view of each member – grandparents Clemira and Cornelio, daughter Alejandra, and her pre-teenager boy Manuel – for a period of 24 hours, as they deal with the overlap of modern and rural life.

The film starts off early one morning, as everyone gets ready for a new day, and have breakfast, when suddenly the lights go out. Manuel checks if the fuses blew off, but they didn’t, so Clemira asks her daughter if she remembered to pay the electricity bill – Alejandra says she did, but of course she didn’t.

The story breaks off as Clemira leaves for work selling cheese on the side of the highway, Alejandra goes to work at a touristic hacienda, Manuel goes to school, and Cornelio goes to the field he is fencing. It all paints a realistic description of a family that is trapped between a modern society where you need to pay your bills, but still find yourself getting a new dress or wanting a brand new video game, and a rural lifestyle where you struggle for the price of milk to make your own cheese to make ends meet.

The film has a lot of scenes that are devoid from any dialog, and has characters wandering around or just standing there, which either makes you wonder what they’re thinking or gets you to feel gloomy. My favorite segment was probably grandmother Clemira’s as she struggles to sell the fresh cheese she’s made, and all her seller “friends” begin leaving one by one. In the end, Clemira is at the bus stop alone waiting for Manuel to pick her up.

No big climactic big bang booms, Huacho will slowly show you a seemingly average day of a normal family trying to cope with the changing times. It actually reminded me of some slow-paced Japanese films, and those pawn! – 3.75/5

Check it out, yo!
Park Chan-Wook’s 1999 Simpan
Though make sure you can dispose of 30min of your time xD

[iframe src=”https://videos.nymag.com/embed/player/?content=Q3P9JP050GWF2MF9&widget_type_cid=svp&title_height=24″ width=”416″ height=”315″]

This will be a double-review post. The Lima Film Festival begins this Friday, and I will be reviewing a couple of films this week… and maybe even next week.

On this post, we will review the Argentinean film Excursiones (Hikes – literal translation) released this past March (Buenos Aires Film Festival), and the Brasilean film Feliz Natal (December, or literally Merry Christmas) released October last year (Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival).

Continue Reading…

I want more McDull!

August 1, 2009 — 2 Comments

LOL’

I confess, I saw “McDull, the Alumni” because I saw a clip of Bibi, and thought it was hilarious. My first thoughts? To tell you the truth, the film is really really REALLY weird. Firstly because it starts out with some peeing contest bathroom humor – because it’s supposed to be a “double feature” but whatever~

If you actually skip that part, the film is better.

Then they tell you the story of George Washington, played by McDull and his mom. George Washington liked to chop stuff, so one day he chopped the soy chicken!!! Guilty he went to his mom and told her “Mah, I chopped the chicken.” His mother in return told him that what he had chopped wasn’t chicken, but duck. LOL ~ Turns out, McDull is a series… and this is what happens when you just watch the films. LOL

McDull, the Alumni is the third film in a series of McDull stories~~~ starting with My Life as a McDull, and followed by McDull Prince de la Bun. LOL But of the three, Alumni is the one that has to do less with McDull. Moreover, a 4th McDull film titled McDull, Kung Fu Kindergarten is set to open in Hong Kong in two weeks time (though apparently it already opened in Mainland China).

McDull… or Mak Dau (in Cantonese) is the main character. Mak Dau is a little pig with a dark spot on his right eye. On the day of his birth, his mother wished for him to be intelligent… no, no~~ a businessman – no, no~~ how about as handsome as Chow Yun Fat or Tony Leung? xD But in the end, she only wishes her son would be lucky in life.

So that’s how McDull starts the journey of a pretty unremarkable life. He’s not the most handsome, he’s not bright, but he gets by~~~ dreaming, trying, failing, and trying once again.

On Alumni, McDull does a crossover with real life, as the Spring Blossom Kindergarten is celebrating it’s almost 50th anniversary, in which they will be celebrating almost 50 years of educating almost 50 years worth of graduate students who have now become pillars of society.

McDull, the Alumni

Awwww, aren’t they cute?

Continue Reading…

Woah, long time no Yu posting! LOL
xD

I dunno if anyone’s seen this, but it’s a discovery for me.
Je detest lire, et ecrire en francais aussi.
Les accents, je les detest!
lol

Anyway! From H Magazine~~~
KOMIKKU06
Manga mitai ni Ikitai

Something like Comic’06 – Living (or I want to live) like Manga –
or Manga-looking Life. LOL’ Japanese is all about interpretation xD

Tekkonkinkreet is one of my fave Yu projects~

H Magazine - Tekkon

Continue Reading…

Not Coraline or Alice in Wonderland wicked,
but still worth watching~
And it’s filled with celebrity voices…
like George Clooney (Mr. Fox), Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox), Michael Gambon,
Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody
Brian Cox, Anjelica Huston and even Wes Anderson who is also directing this
stop-motion animated film… hmm,
do I see a new Best Animated Feature nominee here?

[iframe width=”560″ height=”349″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/n2igjYFojUo?rel=0″]

That I don’t longer really support Western music?
After all, one might risk being sued even for sampling work before thinking of buying.

I mean, you do get a drive before you get convinced of getting a new car.
I can, after all, also ask for my cousin’s car for a drive…

I admit it. I don’t buy as much stuff as I used to, but can you blame me?
I was a 17-year-old with my parents’ credit card access…
I bought a lot of crap. A lot of crap that I don’t use anymore, but keep
because it’s money. So do you blame me for not wanting to buy more crap anymore?

What did I just get? Three albums, and one DVD (two, if you count the one that comes as extra)
All Asian products. These cost more than regular American stuff
so I need to cut back even more on stuff I get. LOL
so only top-rated or fan stuff make it~~~ xD

From the things I just got, it’s two Faye Wong albums which I downloaded last year.
DOWNLOAD. Now I’ve bought them as imports. Cost even more money. LOL
However, they’re very awesome albums, and worth buying.
I’m also looking for a copy of To Love, and almost lost money
while trying to purchase from eBay.
Then… the crap I’m not buying and people are suing for? Not so much.

I also bought Bibi’s Time album that comes with mini PB and DVD~
that’s loads of extras for the price of a regular album almost…
also… I’m a fan of Bibi… after I DOWNLOADED her music.

I also bought Don’t Laugh at my Romance on a HongKong Region DVD
that comes with English subs… Japan version doesn’t…
I saw the film as a DOWNLOAD.
I’m also a fan of Yu Aoi after I DOWNLOADED her films.

got the trend?

Yes. Downloading music (or films etc) and profiting from it is wrong. I don’t buy piracy.
Yes. Saying you’re a fan of something you’ve never physically supported is wrong,
but not as wrong… sometimes, people just can’t. Though they should find a way…
opening a fanclub… spreading the word it’s at least something…
No, downloading music is not like stealing a car. Downloading music is like asking your
cousin if you can use his car, just like he asks if he can take your bike out for a ride.
I might end up buying a car, or not… just as he might get a bike, if he finds it useful.

But this industry wants me to buy crap. I’m not buying.