Archives For black and white

Todo lo que se diga de mí es mentira, no soy Doña Diabla, ni una mujer sin alma, ni mucho menos China Poblana que se queda con lo que no es suyo. Con la imagen que el público tenía de mí, no hubiera podido vivir, me conformaba con que dijeran que soy la mujer más bella del mundo, salí de El Peñón de las Ánimas y llegué a París como La Bella Otero, he sido una eterna enamorada, pero no soy una diosa arrodillada. He sido La Generala de mi pueblo en Sonora, así como Doña Bárbara, La Mujer de Todos, me conocieron como La Devoradora porque todos eran los ambiciosos que querían a la Maclovia de Pátzcuaro.

Maria Felix: Rostro del Cine Mexicano

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Everything that’s been said about me is a lie, I’m not Doña Diabla nor the Woman Without a Soul, much less a China Poblana that keeps what’s not hers. With the image the audience had of me, I wouldn’t have been able to live, I settled for them saying I was the most beautiful woman in the world. I came out of The Rock of Souls and made it to Paris as La Belle Otero, I’ve been A Woman in Love, but I’m not The Kneeling Goddess. I’ve been La Generala of my hometown in Sonora, just like I was Doña Barbara, One Woman for All. They knew me as La Devoradora because everyone else were the overambitious that wanted the Maclovia from Patzcuaro.

Y se nos fue, Chespirito. RIP, Chavito.

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I would get a time machine, go back in time and have a torrid affair with 1930s Joan, if I could. xD I know this is a Sadie McKee still, but she was so good-looking in Dancing Lady.

It’s another double feature!

La Doña has been in the mood for fighting this week [1], and this time she’s taking Deepika Padukone- or I suppose El Peñon de las Animas (The Rock of Souls) is taking Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela, where both balas and golis are exchanged nonchalantly, and music is spared in between two families that have been warring for generations.

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Though Maria Felix is playing much more of a señorita role on this one (than usual), and this western musical (that’s what all rancheras are, right?) gets some pretty nifty cinematography and sassy moments and lyrics, there’s one thing that Ram-Leela has~~~ and that is Supriya Pathak.

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Are! Mashallah, mashallah~

Oh.mah.gosh.

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It’s a battle of the horse-riding sword-brandishing tough ladies that -actually- existed in real life, with lives brought onto the silver screen, beautified while being personified by THE faces of their own Golden Eras.

In the case of Greta Garbo, of course, with Hollywood in her most fun and most relaxed Queen Christina, often mistaken for a man and featuring the infamous scenes of Garbo kissing a lady and being romanced by John Gilbert while in mannish get-up. Then there’s the Mexican and Latin movie classic diva La Doña Maria Felix as Catalina Erauso, escaping a convent and dragging it up as Don Alonso, making the ladies of the Peruvian Viceroyalty swoon in La Monja Alferez, with a twist ending to match Some Like It Hot.

And to quote Toni Collette:

We’re women dressed as men dressed as women!

This is a tough one. I do have a terrible Greta Garbo bias, but I think I’m handing it down to La Doña on this one. Maria Felix is like the awesome fusion of everything that’s good with both Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford.

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.

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More amazing photos over at JoanCrawfordBest.com

Chris Li Yuchun, Amber, Jing Chang and BiBi together one one stage for once in my life. Not even performing together, just standing one next to the other.

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Considering the amount of non-filmi background, it’s rare to run into much material surrounding Nimrat Kaur, who was so fantastic in The Lunchbox. This is a photoshoot by Bikramjit Bose for MW Magazine during the release of the movie.

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I hope she gets to do more films, at least one a year, because with that weird Bollywood casting directors, you never know. uh huh~

More images here.

Flawless Doona Bae is flawless always. All the time. Whatever the onslaught of heavily enhanced new actresses in Korea and across Asia may be, whenever you see Doona Bae’s face, you’ll always know it’s her.

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Madhuri with Swag

April 12, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’m not a fan of the cowboy gauchito hat, but I was surprised that Madhuri Dixit’s Facebook page shared this photo of her showering all her swag. It’s the first time I’ve seen some sort of gender-bending from India. Like… I would die with all the femininity that is supposed to embody women there with their overly long hair, their strong accentuating make-up, the saris and anarkalis.

Rani… sorta did the gender-bending gig for Dil Bole Hadippa! [1], and she had swag but the role was played for laughs, while Tabu has worn suits for different reasons in a number of films (lawyering up in Ghaath, gender-switcheroo gag in Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa), and wore short hair for a brief period during Hu Tu Tu, but I’ve never come to grips with that.

Maybe I’m just used to seeing them with long hair and saris. I also love how the color red suits Tabu. Sure~ it looks good on film and photoshoots, and it could be local – so of your own – and exotic at the same time, but I would find having to live with it exhausting.

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