When I wrote my review, I couldn’t find a proper poster so I grabbed photoshop and whipped my own, but I made note that it wasn’t any official artwork.
However someone ended up using it xD
You might like to know that YAM’s got a big resolution of the nifty poster designed by Giselle Monzon Calero.
I was re-watching the DVD for Swallowtail Butterfly that I bought after watching the film on YouTube xD – and Because I’m cheap, I bought the Hong Kong version, when the Japanese version comes with English subtitles. I don’t think it’s the DVD per se, but the way it was shot. I don’t really know what it is, it’s scratchy, and it could certainly be because the film is kinda old. However, I would like to see a clean better release by Criterion… of all of Shunji Iwai written and directed films~
Just saw Julia Stiles on Dexter… question is, is Dexter going to kill her or not? xD Also, Kyle Butler, you’re screwed. Mazuka thinks you look like Justin Bieber. LOL
The Daily Beast has some pretty art from shows. Including Dexter Season 1-4.
Dexter art by Ty Mattson. For more, head over here.
You’re probably tired of me talking about Hana & Alice. It feels like I have posted this before somewhere, but since I can’t find it with a simple google search… I’m posting xD
To quote myself;
Just for the sake of being consistent… I was in the mood for the music of Hana & Alice, which I have come to love after multiple views. I also got the urge to listen to the music for Hyakuman-en’s OST but can’t find anything, so if you know where I can listen to it… let me know.
Anyway, as I was saying~~~ Hana & Alice Soundtrack, it’s so quiet… yet wonderful. Wo Ai Ni breaks my heart. One of the best Yu Aoi film scenes you’ll EVER see~~~ Here are three tracks I found at IMEEM. The rest after the break.
Shunji Iwai is a SOB xD without knowing about music, he composes this score. How’s that for justice?? LOL Now, every time I hear or read Wo Ai Ni (I Love You in Mandarin), I’m reminded of the movie. The way she tells her dad “Papa, Wo Ai Ni” and her dad says “Zai Jian” – OMG, so so sad. Poor Alice. Don’t worry, let’s eat Tokoroten together xD I don’t think I’m into the taste of seaweed in my pudding, but I can eat something else… I’m sure. xD
Yay! I’m done with the Garbo films that come on the TCM Garbo Signature Collection. On this batch there’s Queen Christina — my favorite just because of the line about being a bachelor xD — then there’s Anna Karenina, Camille and Ninotchka.
My favorite of this batch turned out to be Anna Karenina, even though it was the trickiest one to do. I wanted to use the train as the symbol of the film, but I couldn’t find a perfect train with the perfect smoke/steam. In the end, I ended up looking for smoke/steam alone… and I almost just use that by itself, but I thought it would look too much like the cover for Devil and the Flesh… so I made a composite image. LOL
I also sort of liked how Ninotchka turned out. It’s completely different to the other covers, except for the Criterion logo and titles, but like I told my friend JK when he asked why Anna Christie was the only one in color – besides whiskey not being whiskey without the color… Anna Christie was Garbo’s first Talkie, so to make it different in a “Garbo Talks” sort of way, there’s color. LOL, but you know… that may be total bull.
Same with Ninotchka – “Garbo Laughs” and so the cover is completely different to the others. It’s got more color, the titles and signature are in black. You can check the whole Fake Criterion set on Flickr.
Just started a Greta Garbo Fake Criterion Collection, from the TCM Garbo Signature set. The only one I’m choosing not to do is Grand Hotel… and of course, the TCM archives. So I’m only missing Queen Christina, Anna Karenina, Camille and Ninotchka. ;P
My favorite fake cover… is between The Mysterious Lady and Flesh and the Devil.
In this one, I like the flame… which you know, I picked from the classic scene where they are lighting their cigarettes and the shot gets so awesome with the light. Of course, I couldn’t find a lighter, so decided to just use the flame. And in it, you can see a bit of that scene if you squint enough.
Plus, Flesh and Devil sounds so sinful and all about kinky passion. LOL Fire, right? xD
And The Mysterious Lady plays the whole spy thing. I’m not even sure if the gun fits the movie, it just looked like it did… it wasn’t too “period-like” and it wasn’t a modern shotgun.
It just didn’t feel right to use Greta Garbo and/or the movie stills. It seemed kind of… dull. That’s why I’m kind of disappointed on my version for Mata Hari. I couldn’t find a still of just the head piece, and I didn’t want to use Garbo’s face — as striking as it was — and I was about to use just the ring, but I guess it’s not really that striking.
And of course, Anna Christie plays on the whole “Gimme a whiskey!” line. After all, Garbo Talks! LOL
You can check the rest of the set here.
Agua Fría de Mar (2010) – aka. Cold Water of the Sea
Genre: Drama
Directed by: Paz Fabrega
Cold Water of the Sea tells the story of a young couple about to get married that go on a holiday trip to a tropical “paradise”, when they run into a girl who seems to be lost in the middle of the night. When they try to find her parents, the girl has long gone, which creates a bizarre connection between the girl and the woman.
Perhaps Cold Water of the Sea’s best feature is its locations in the “exotic” beaches of Costa Rica, because neither characters nor situations live up to anything. It’s not as if we wanted high tension drama on this, but we at least expected to sympathize with the characters. However, we end up knowing little about them, having spent a bit less than 1.30hr into these people.
A lot of the time is spent on the little girl, who tells the couple that her whole family has died in a transit accident, when in fact they were alive. Why is that? “Kids are like that” stated the mother, but why did she come up with something like that? She is certainly more than a spoiled brat, treated differently from her three older brothers by her dad. There are certainly hints of Electra Complex in the girl, but nothing is explored. Instead, director Fabrega decides to make some sort of distinction between social classes? Just because one side of the story is set with a poor family at the beach, and the other of a well-off young couple at a fancy resort?
2/5
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL – FICCION
Screenings:
Monday 9 – 3pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 5
Tuesday 10 – 8pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 5
Wednesday 11 – 8pm – Cineplanet San Miguel – Sala 1
Thursday 12 – 10pm – Centro Cultural Católica – Sala Azul
Saturday 14 – 8pm – Cineplanet Primavera – Sala 1
José Martí: El Ojo del Canario (2010)
Genre: Drama, Biography, Historic
Directed by: Fernando Perez
FYI: NOT official artwork.
Jose Marti: El Ojo del Canario tells the story of Jose Julian Marti Perez, the Cuban national hero and Latin American literature figure, between the dates when he was 9 years and 16 years old.
The film is more a representation of different things that could have had an effect in the way Jose Marti saw his motherland Cuba. Born from his Spanish father from Valencia and his mother from the Canary Islands, Jose Marti grew up a pretty privilege life getting to study at private school, learning mathematics, and reading.
He is bright and studious, and his mother and teacher want him to continue his studies, despite his father’s desire for him to start working right away. At a tender age, he goes off to work with him, and earns him praises for his King-styled handwriting. In school, he is very influenced by his best friend Fermin Valdez Dominguez, as well as his teacher Rafael Maria de Mendive. All of this, plus his exposure to slavery, which was still practiced in Spanish-ruled Cuba, made him want to yearn for a free Cuba.
The two leads who play Marti in the film — one as a child, and the other as 16-year-old Marti — are more than capable to carry the film. In fact, Damian Antonio Rodriguez who played kid-Marti reminded me of a young combination between James Franco (Milk) and Ben Whishaw (Perfume: The Story of a Murdered). Despite me not believing that Daniel Romero, playing 16-year-old Marti, looks anything like Rodriguez, there’s no denying the talent put into his characterization.
The film doesn’t feel all that connected, sometimes jumping scene from scene without any flow, however that doesn’t take away much from the acting and the story director Perez wanted to tell. Cuba is showcasing a very well put together biographic piece.
3/5
COMPETENCIA OFICIAL – FICCION
Screenings:
Monday 9 – 10.30pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 5
Tuesday 10 – 10.15pm – Centro Cultural Católica – Sala Roja
Wednesday 11 – 9.45pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 1
Saturday 14 – 3pm – Cineplanet Alcázar – Sala 5
The look amazing [the whole set], but my favorite was American Beauty because of the colors used, it just stands out on that set because of that.
Look through the whole set here.
Thanks to Mirella for the link. ;P
Just to show you I’m not hiding any info. Or am I?
Huh… food for thought.
Anyway, this is the first FLOWERS review I find, in English… not that I scouted FLOWERS reviews in Japanese, because that would be too much extra work, to be honest.
And because I couldn’t find a proper poster for FLOWERS, I made my own — you’d think that’s also extra work, but I do like playing around with Photoshop for fun. LOL Does it look official? xD
Moving on! To the review. It’s not positive. Actually, I sensed a hint of irony while reading it, and of course… FLOWERS reeks of Chick Flick – non-negative connotation. Why point this out? Because there’s a lot of description of what’s going on, and the conclusion is “not enough actual drama”?
What then to make of Norihiro Koizumi’s “Flowers,” which recreates the look of everything from the 1930s black-and-white dramas of Yasujiro Ozu to 1960s Toho Technicolor comedies? Neither slavish imitation nor inventive recreation, the film is more about its faux authentic look and feel-good story lines than actual drama.
While pointing out Gus Van Sant’s Psycho is a shot by shot remake, the review mentions FLOWERS recreates the look of every era they’re showing in the film… which, actually to me sounds appropriate. After all, my mom thinks Mad Men should be broadcast with a funny 1960s tinge. LOL
Maybe the film’s fault is having six leading ladies, because that’s a LOT of storylines. It just makes you feel like there’s just too much going on, and then you’ve got the chick flick.
The solutions to the heroines’ various dilemmas mostly include finding Mr. Right — or Mr. Good Enough — and having babies.
Though that alone makes me feel like chocking someone, I gotta put that in the context of the storyline. Perhaps the heroine’s various dilemmas are impossible to solve, so women make do with what they got. It’s called settling and survival… and Japan pretty much sucks at letting women survive without a man. RIGHT?
And what do you know… maybe it’s emotional. I say, if FLOWERS makes me cry, I’d consider it a job done. After all, the film’s biggest crippling device is…
“Flowers,” however, is not Koizumi’s film so much as that of Takuya Onuki, an ad-agency creative director, who got the idea for it while making TV commercials for Tsubaki shampoo. Featuring top models and actresses, the ads offered striking proof that, as the copy said: “Japanese women are beautiful.”
They certainly are in “Flowers,” which stars six of the most gorgeous, if variously talented, Japanese actresses now working: Yu Aoi, Yuko Takeuchi, Rena Tanaka, Yukie Nakama, Kyoka Suzuki and Ryoko Hirosue. Koizumi and cinematographer Taishi Hirokawa film them in one glamour shot after another — perfectly lighted, posed, madeup and coifed.
Bolding mine.
Of course, ad agencies. And talent agencies…
SUCK IT UP, Idol system! SUCK IT UP!
If you want to read the whole review, you can head over to Japan Times.
