I obviously didn’t know about this cover because it predates my Indian movie journey… but it’s just so damn good, you gotta put it out there, you know? Mother India is so the quintessential Indian movie that every single person (in Peru) that has ever spoken to me about what Indian films they’ve seen, they’ve all name-checked Mother India. Regardless of social status… university professors, business owners, bloggers, taxi drivers, waiters… they all name-check “Madre India.”
I’m starting to feel… as a Yu Aoi fan, that I’m out of a job. Though I’d like to believe that the information I add to the Yu Aoi posts I publish have a little something extra. I mean, I really don’t have any other reason as to why I wasn’t aware of these photos (et more) from two years back. Plus, there are tons and tons of Yu Aoi related Tumblr pages [tag][1][2][3].
However, the craziest one I found was sorekara’s aoi-yu-tagged stuff. There are tons of photos of Yu with her shorter hair in shoots and ads, there’s older photos that I had only seen in tiny version, there’s old photos that I wasn’t aware of. I’m old, and I don’t have the will to get a Tumblr account to follow.
You can’t even subscribe by tags! Anyway~
I couldn’t find the photographer, but this Chanel product placement on the Special section of Vogue’s Dec’12 issue is called 『True White 白という名のモダニティ。』 promoting the J12 White Chanel watch series that costs a fraction of your car (if you use one) — priced between 3.3k pounds to 10k.
Hahaha. I mean, seriously, who would’ve thought 100 years ago that needle watches would become a status symbol.
The concept was that Yu Aoi personifies the concept of the (truthful) pure, modern woman image. And the website is still active, though I had some trouble getting the actual link. And you know what it is with them Flash-based websites, it will eventually go offline- so people took screencaps~
Plus! No one like Vogue to style your fresh short hair.
I still think Paheli deserves a bit more than its current 6.8 IMDb rating, though I’m pretty sure it’s gone up a couple of decimals since I first rated it. I just don’t know why it was so difficult to find this clip of the ending credits song, Phir Raat Kati, which translates to something like Then the Night Passed. It sorta tells you a story throughout the song, and the choreography is super fun while not being your typical Bollywood number.
The music in the movie is also pretty good, with lyrics by Gulzar.
Too bad it’s in this pretty bad quality clip, though it’s better than the good rips of the credits with the small window.
We’re still being pumped for Haider [1][2] with an (short) interview Tabu is doing with Rajeev Masand about the apprehension of playing this part, her choosing the role, and how her ‘brand’ of acting is most often remembered for her seriousness. Though I still owe Hera Pheri a rewatch, I don’t think Biwi No. 1 classifies as one of Tabu’s movies, she’s hardly in it! I thought Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa was funnier, though Kelki Dave stole that movie out of everyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydUt9GgHa9Q
The funniest bit is, of course, when it’s pointed out that she refused Vishal’s offered with a “I’m not playing Shahid Kapoor’s mother,” while bursting out laughing.
She also admits that maybe she’s just lazy to pick films, so that’s something else she has in common with my Yu-chan fandom, apparently. That’s why there will be no other one quite like Joan Crawford. I’ve been re-connecting with Yu-chan, I’m having such fandom conflictive feelings.
“So this is where that photo comes from,” was the first thing I said when I ran into this photo of Mira Nair celebrating her Gotham with Tabu and Uma Thurman. You can also get a sense of how tall Tabu is when she’s not dwarfed by Thurman, who officially is 1.81m but maybe taller (plus, heels). And it’s not because Uma is leaning to one side either, ‘coz on this pic where she’s much closer to the camera or this other more general shot, she’s not dwarfed either.
Also how sweet is Tabu with Ang Lee?
And… I can see where Tabu gets her stern look. I’ve seen her complain about journalists and paparazzis not picking better photographs for the posts and articles they write on her, and from the short time I’ve followed her, I can see what she means. It’s like when CCTV picks photos of John Kerry. LOL
Having said that… Screening photos are such a waste of time coz they always look like horrible snapshots because these things are never lit, so you get all that harsh light of the flash bulb.
Though I did knocked the trailer out because I thought Rani might have been a little “too chunky” to pull off the chasing and fighting [1], her frame actually makes much more sense. I’ve never met in real life a come-hither-you sexy of a female (or male) cop, as many of them just look like the police that are played by extras, instead of them sexy male or female leads on Hollywood movies.
Plus, Rani does look like a total badass, so what’s not to like?
And seeing that she’s promoting self-defense classes and all, why not just lump black-belt Rina Takeda in here. ‘Coz, duh! Rina Takeda would not only take Rani (or Madhuri or Priyanka) out, she would also take down SRK, probably Salman and maybe Akshay Kumar… though I may have read he knows martial arts or something? Maybe he was just a fan of Hong Kong martial arts movies…
There’s an interview with Yu Aoi on (I guess, Japanese?) Woman Mangazine, where she mentions that she’s celebrating 15 years of work… so here’s a snapshot from some issue of ku:nel Magazine of Yu Aoi just chilling eating plain yogurt.
Random enough? LOL, in the interview she talks about what she’s learned from other more experienced actors, like they’re not people of expressions, but people of labor. Then later explains how that played into her “training camp” experience for the shooting of Haru wo Seotte, which was shot at over 2500m above sea level in the snowy mountains.
You can read the whole interview here.
In the meantime, lets take a look at some oldies of Yu’s career, because~~~ WHY NOT? Some good old fashioned All About Lily Chou Chou screencaps via buta-neko.net, and some rare Oha GARU screencap via this blog.
I don’t think you get to see this relaxed version of Joan Crawford very often. It’s so freaking rare that she allowed someone to photograph her like that, even if it was for Life Magazine. It’s almost as if early 1930s Joan was back.
More amazing photos over at JoanCrawfordBest.com
High-Kick Girl! was a really really poorly-edited movie with a very weak script, but Rina Takeda makes a lasting impression because, well… in their words: “No wires. No stuntmen. Literally really kicking. Seriously… I get kicked.” is their selling point.
If Scarlet Johansson gets to be an action star. Why shouldn’t Rina Takeda get to do it? Please, Luc Besson and Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan. Take notice!
SO.MUCH.POTENTIAL.RIGHT.THERE.
Karate Girl was already an improvement. Imagine the possibilities with a strong director, first class action choreography and a proper project surrounding the girl.
