You’re often on my mind.
Thank you for giving us Two Tigers (兩隻老虎) and its theme song Ke Yi (可以) [1].
And off-topic, this amazing commercial.
Archives For actress
It’s been about a month or so since the first reports of Nicole Kidman’s AFI Lifetime Achievement Award started trickling. I had already read that she was thanking the audience that had stuck by her doing some of her weird little films, but it was still different watching the video and hearing her say it.
the audiences that have stuck by me through everything — I just want to say thank you because there’s so many little weird films I’ve done and I know there’s people out there that go and find them and watch them. You’ve stood by me and stuck up for my weird, weird choices and I’m so grateful for that.”
I was obviously to young to watch To Die For or Portrait of a Lady in the mid-90s, but it is no wonder I’m thought of as one of those odd ones when I had dragged friends from school to watch things like Birthday Girl or Steven Shainberg’s Fur, which I have rewatched this past weekend. Reese’s speech about Kidman’s passion for cinema just reaffirms my love for Nicole and her body of work throughout these past two decades, in which she has been resurrected by the press more than once with so-called “comebacks.”
Here’s to two more decades of amazing films (and series). *Cheers*
Not gonna lie and say I haven’t been obsessing over the trailer for Crew since it dropped, and looking at the clips for Ghagra [1] and kinda giddy at the cover remix of Choli Ke Peeche [1].
I even finally re-watched Idhi Sangathi (with synced subs!) because of it.
Tabu finding riches in highly unusual places!
My only grip with the film, currently, is that my suspense of disbelief is dropped when I see them carrying kilos of gold. Autistic.
Other than that, I’m a super fan of potty-mouthed Tabu (I hope the announcement that theatrical was edited only means we get the potty-mouthed version on Netflix), and I want someone to ask them how much of the funny bits were ad-lib and improv, because that scene where they tell Kriti to sell her assets and the reaction to it was hilarious.
Isabella Leong has been on and off since she made her official film comeback back in 2015 with Murmur of the Hearts, which is an amazing film. Se also had small roles or almost cameos on 12 Golden Ducks that same year, and got back together with Pang Ho-Cheung for a small role in Missbehavior in 2019.
From her recent interview on A Date with Luyu (鲁豫有约), you can tell that she enjoyed or had fond memories of her debut film Isabella, which Pang directed almost 20 years ago— which also amazes Leong when she realizes how fast/much time has passed. I was also amazed at how she remembered the tracking of the shot, all the more amusing when both clips were put together for contrast.
In 2020, she appeared on Ann Hui’s Love After Love, which was available to watch on MUBI in some territories, and might be available on places like Netflix or Prime, depending on your territory. Now, she’s part of the most recent Dante Lam HK film starring William Chan and Nick Cheung, titled Bursting Point (爆裂點) [Trailer], which I’ve mostly heard positive things about.
Since her teenaged (!!!) sons already give her enough time to move about life, she’s been a lot more active at events and, if you follow her on Instagram, photoshoots. Which finally gets me the reason I was writing this post- she’s the first cover of 2024 for the Condé Nast Traveler China edition, which is a luxury travel magazine based in New York.
I checked their website to see who was the photographer of the shoot, but it looks like they haven’t updated that since their May 2023 issue was published (relatable). Editorial director Shawn Ong only mentions their collaboration with Eastern & Oriental Express Southeast Asia in prep for the launch of their luxury train in two different seasonal routes. The train interiors look (and photograph) amazing. They’re elegant, colorful and textured without looking overwhelming [1][2][3].
However, this is not a travel blog. I took these bad screencaps of some of my favorite shots.
Director Ong’s post features many more pictures, in case anyone’s interested. My favorite is this out of focus one. lol
… is Amy.
I asked the collective conscious who the biggest Yu Aoi fan was, and it pulled this up.
I’ll take it.
Amy is the biggest Yu Aoi fan.
Hi, guys!
Long time, no see! I found these new photos of Yu-chan the other day, when my computer broke down. I finally managed to get through that hard disk.
These are done by Mana Yamamoto for Lula Magazine [2][3].
It took a while, but
Happy 1000th fan!
If you aren’t following the list yet, you might discover a gem or two!
My only Letterboxd anticipated message came in the other day, but I took a little bit longer to post because the better side of my OCD got to me.
But here it is!
I went on a Stephen Chow binge, and got to watch a bunch of Hrishikesh Mukherjee films for MUBI. Not to be the Debbie Downer of the terrible 2020, but I hope 2021 picks up. This is the first time in my movie-watching history that I only have one single 4-star rating in my Year Films Ranked list. Two titles if you consider Marona’s Fantastic Tale.
This 2021, I have decided to shut off social media and restart blogging once again. It doesn’t matter if it’s into a blackhole of information. I’ve started with this Spanish translation of a review for Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do, since the film is in rotation at the Indian entertainment channel ZeeMundo. We also have a proper Spanish title for Haider (!).
I’m probably two weeks ahead, compared to my Ballot posting last year, which means my Independent Spirit Awards ballot is still halfway done, but my Academy voting ballot is pretty complete.
I might end up watching The Two Popes, but all I’m really waiting for to open in theaters is Bombshell (which opens this Thursday), Little Women and 1917. Harriet is never going to open down here, but I really got a soft spot for this type of movies.
I’m really REALLY surprised Girl in the Hallway didn’t make the cut. You can watch the short on Vimeo.
Happy late holidays and New Year, everyone!
My most awaited Letterboxd e-mail came yesterday with my 2019 movie-data. Though my writing input has definitely not improved, cutting down on Mamamoo stuff has increased my movie watching habits, for sure.
Compared to 2018, I logged 480 films (though over 50 or even many more could be short films), which represents a 23% increase. In terms of hours, there was an increment of over 100hrs or 16%. This increase still doesn’t match my 2015 levels, when I reached 530 logged films (9.5% short) or clocked 959hrs (14% short)… but it’s getting there. I am still at 2017 New-To-Me level of movies, though.
My most-watched actor was Glenn Close because I went on a marathon of her movies because I really thought that she could win the Oscar, not that I wasn’t pleasantly surprised to see Olivia Colman win for The Favourite. And Francois Ozon was my most-watched director because MUBI programmed many of his films, including Les Amants Criminels, Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Young & Beautiful, and L’Amant Double.
And as my writing output has been so poor, I haven’t written any End of the Year (or Decade) posts. Gomen.
