Brazil (UK, 1985)

Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet called Brazil "retro-futurism", a willfully absurdist dystopian fable about an impossible future that feels more like an antiquated past. It is the story of a society completely controlled by a dictatorship. Every single move is registered by the government, and bundles of acts must be filled out before anyone wants to do anything. Our main character falls in love with a girl he meets on the street, and in his attempt to find her, he accepts a promotion in the information ministry. An exciting and blow-your-mind experience begins when he tries to get into the files and find her profile. This is retro-futurism in all its true form, and true science fiction jewel not to be missed.

The Squid and the Whale (USA, 2005)

Noah Baumbach's latest film is a very un-Royal Tannenbaums tragicomedy about a family tearing itself to shreds. 12-year-old Frank and 16-year-old Walt watch their once-famous novelist father and rising writer mother turn family history into urban myth. At times perceptive and moving and bracing, also admirably ruthless, it is also a very funny story. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney do an excellent job as a married couple trying to save their marriage. The film won the 2005 Dramatic Directing and Waldo Salt Screenwriting price at the last Sundance film festival.

Nuit Noire (Belgium, 2004)


Surrealist director Olivier Smolders wanted to make a film similiar to Lynch's Eraserhead, a masterpiece in the surrealist cinema movement. And if you watch closely, there are quite a lot of things in common between both films, especially the dark scenes and lurky soundtrack. I'll try to explain the plot: the director of a museum for natural science, let's call him Jean, finds a woman in his bedroom one day. She is sick, and soon we discover she is pregnant. Meanwhile, we also learn Jean has some serious pscychological problems. He is obsessed by the fact that his sister died and was attacked by lions. We see some gory scenes which correspond to his nightmares. Jean decides to make a cocoon out of the sick woman. After several days of "incubation", a new woman is born, who becomes his new girlfriend. All along the way, Jean's sister appears and talks to him. What is the connection between his sister's violent death and the new-born girlfriend? It's up to you to find out.

Sans toit ni loi (France, 1985)

Director Agnès Varda has an interest for subjects that involve women. In one of her most famous films, Sans toi ni loi, a young help is found dead in the countryside. From that point on, we go back and see how she lived her last days as a runaway. In all the towns she passes thru, she meets interesting people. Some are more willing to help her than others, but unfortunately the young girl soon loses interest in people, and always decides to move on and find a new town. This is not a feminist film at all, nor does it speak against woman. It is an authentic portray on the life of a teenager who has lost all hope on stability and society in general. We also get to hear the real French countryside accent, since most of the folks were taken from real life. The last scenes are so realistic they can be difficult to watch.

The Fisherman and His Wife (Der Fischer und seine Frau / Germany / 2004)

As part of the International Film Festival of Montréal, this little german movie had its world premiere yesterday. Director Doris Dörre came up with an interesting twist to the classical Grimm brothers fairy tale. Ida, daughter of Romanian refugees who came to Germany, wants to be a fashion designer. During one of her trips to Japan, where she looks for exotic fabrics and clothes, she meets two German guys. She falls in love with one of them, Otto, and quickly get married. Otto is a veterinarian specialized in fish. Ida then becomes famous with her clothes designs and builds a fashion imperium of her own. Otto, on the other hand, remains with his old job, having no ambitions in life. At the end, when Ida loses all her money, she is also convined that true happiness and love does not depend necessarily on money. A fast paced story with a good soundtrack makes it a nice love story to watch.

In Canada

I am writing my blog from the city of Montreal now. Some say it's the capital of the film industry in this country, I would like to believe that. In the meantime, I am busy looking for appartment, food, friends, a job, etc., etc., the essential things in life. To begin with, there is the World Film Festival going on right now, which will end this weekend. For more information check out this page: www.ffm-montreal.org.

The Scarlet Kimono (USA, 1959)

Director Samuel Fuller was a very prolific screenwriter. Unfortunately, his career as director did not quite stood up. Although he is considered an excellent film director, his few films are unknown to movie fans. In this particular one, Sugar, a nightclub stripper, is brutaly assassinated one night. Police detectives link her murder to a criminal organization. Apparently, Sugar used to buy oriental style paintings from a local artist (junkie I would say). The local artists falls in love with both police detectives who are investigating the case, and a moral dilemma ensues. Meanwhile, we are led to believe that Mr. Shuho, a sumo wrestler, is behind the murder, and he runs back and forth trying to escape the law. A lot of Japanese traditional ceremonies are shown, but at the end, the real murderer is not the one we thought. A surprising twist gives this film an interesting approach, but there is also a lot of blah blah blah in between, which could have been cut.

The Kiss of Death (USA, 1947)

Another gangster movie by director Howard Hughes. This time, professional “crook” Nick Bianco, is caught by the police while stealing a jewellery in New York. Police detective Di Angelo (I don’t understand their penchant for Italian names, like the mafia) puts him in jail. His other two assistants were able to escape. Bianco misses his wife and two little children girls. Along the way, he helps police detectives catch other gangsters. He becomes what they call a “squealer”, one who “sings”, in other words, tells the truth and blames other crooks. This is an interesting approach, far from expressionist scenes, the Kiss of Death deals more with the consequences of leading a life trying always to evade law and order, and the relation between his wife and two little kids. Extremely well acted scenes and a suspenseful climax make it a fun noir film to watch.

My Top 30 (week of 14 August 2005)

1. Lifehouse – You And Me
2. Ludacris – Pimpin’ All Over The World
3. Lil’ Jon & the Eastside Boyz – Get Low
4. Ben Moody feat. Anastacia – Everything Burns
5. MVP – Rock Ya Body
6. Timo Maas – First Day
7. Destiny’s Child – Girl
8. Mis-Teeq – Eye Candy
9. Mariah Carey – We Belong Together
10. Shakira feat. Alejandro Sanz – La Tortura
11. Bodyrockers – I Like The Way

12. Black Eyed Peas – Don’t Phunk With My Heart
13. The Game feat. 50 Cent – Hate It Or Love It
14. 50 Cent – Just A Lil Bit
15. Nivea – Okay
16. Miri Ben-Ari – Jump & Spread Out
17. Fat Joe feat. Nelly – Get It Poppin
18. Rihanna – Pon De Replay
19. Akon – Lonely
20. Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes
21. Rachel Stevens – So Good

22. Beverly Knight – Keep The Fire Burning (Remix)
23. Lemar – Time To Grow
24. Basement Jaxx – Oh My Gosh
25. Rob Thomas – Lonely No More
26. Mariah Carey – It’s Like That
27. Akon – Bananza (Belly Dancer)
28. Amerie feat. Eve – 1 Thing
29. Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
30. Selma – If I Had Your Love
31. Anastacia – Heavy On My Heart

The United States of Leland (USA, 2003)


Independent films from the USA always surprise me. I wonder why they do not have more of these and less no-brains action remakes (I think money explains it all) It’s a shame really.

Leland, son of famous novelist Albert Fitzgerald, commits an atrocious crime. He kills a boy with Down syndrome named Ryan. He does not feel any remorse. His jail teacher and writer wannabe, Pearl Madison, sees a great story for his next book by writing about Leland. He starts meeting with him and having existentialist conversations. Meanwhile, his ex-girlfriend, Becky, is under treatment for drugs. Things get complicated when we learn that Ryan was Becky’s brother. Director Matthew Ryan Hoge plays around with many interesting ideas: the existence of God, good and evil behaviours in people, the loss of any hope for a better and happier life. It deals with many controversial messages. It reminded me of American Beauty, with Kevin Spacey playing the role of writer Albert Fitzgerald. This is another gem from the American indie scene.

Scarface (USA, 1932)

Controversial producer Howard Hughes, who was recently portrayed by DiCaprio in Scorsese’s latest film, the Aviator, was a controversial fellow back in the thirties. Scarface represents the first truly violent gangster film in American cinema, and that makes it a classic. Back in the days when beer was prohibited, Tony (Paul Muni), an “alcohol” dealer, makes tons of money and enemies along the way of becoming the king of all bars in the city (the name of the city is never revealed to the audience). He also meets the love of his life, and while trying to seduce her, he keeps a grip on his sister who is dating older and dangerous alcohol dealers. The political message is very strong. It denounces the government’s lack of control over the many beer mafia groups in the US at that time. The movie was made in 1930, but censorship prohibited its exhibition until 1932. Albeit the good interpretations and plot, the movie never received any prize (nor any nomination for that matter). Scarface was definitely a film ahead of its time, a breakthrough in gangster movies

What Time Is It There? (Ni Neibian Jidian / Taiwán, France, 2001)

Director Tsai Ming-liang likes long panoramic shots. Every scene in this movie lasts at least three minutes, some are much longer. There is no background music. This is the perfect example of minimalism in film. Some will love it and some will surely hate it. There is no formal script, and actors are just given clues as to how they must act in every scene. Tsai Ming-liang explores his most recurrent themes: solitude, dysfunctional families and lack of communication. In this French-Taiwanese production, Lee is a street vendor. One of her customers insists on buying Lee’s own watch. She tells him she is going to Paris on vacations. He starts to daydream about Paris, and one night, after asking the operator on the phone what time it is in Paris, he suddenly feels a need to change the time of every watch or clock he stumbles upon. He sets every clock to time in France. Meanwhile, we are taken to Paris to see how this girl spends her days in the city of lights. Nothing unusual happens because she is alone all the time, she doesn’t speak French and feels somewhat isolated. This is an interesting take on minimalism in film.

The Machinist (Spain, 2004)


I loved this movie. At first you do not know what to expect. Twenty minutes into the film, right after the terrible accident in the factory, for which Trevor is blamed (Christian Bale) in which a worker loses his arm, and after he declares to her prostitute “girlfriend” that he hasn’t slept in one year, and you see his naked chest resembling a living skeleton or a concentration camp refugee, you cannot take your eyes away from the terrible events that occur, one after another, giving the audience only small hints as to what is really going on. Everything goes downhill for Trevor from this point on.

How can remorse mess someone up and alter his or her life? That is the constant question director Brad Anderson tries to give answer to. And he does this incredibly well, with scenes that keep you going until the very end. Trevor experiences hallucinations and cannot separate them from real life. He even believes his work colleagues are plotting against him. The terrible truth is much simpler, but equally disturbing. This is definitely a must-see.

Land of the Dead (USA / Canada, 2004)

If George Romero has a preference in filmmaking, that would be zombie movies. His 1968 black & white zombie classic, Day of the Living Dead, earned him worldwide reputation. In this remake, we get to see Romero’s latest interpretation of a world full of zombies, where the few humans left try to survive. New social classes have emerged. The rich live in the tallest building of the city (I believe it’s Chicago) the poor live in the slums around this building, protected from the zombies only by electric wire fences and the military. One ex-military wants a condo in the building. His request is refused by the building authorities. He then seeks revenge by stealing a bus-tank with war missiles. In the meantime, zombies learn how to use weapons, and soon enough a war between “normal” humans and the “stenches” (as they call the zombies) ensues. There are heaps of gore scenes: zombies eating human bodies a plenty, all in the spirit of the 80’s slasher films.

The Hole (Dong, Taiwan, 1998)

In this rather depressing film, two neighbours (let’s call them the guy and the girl, since their names are never mentioned) live in a shabby, old apartment building in downtown Taipei. The government authorities have urged them to leave the building before the year 2000. The story takes place one week before New Year’s Eve. Additionally, there is also a strange virus in the city that starts with a flu and makes people act like cockroaches, crawling around searching for moist and shallow corners. If this is not depressing enough, it is always raining in the movie, non-stop. Water leaks appear everywhere in the apartments, and the girl gets tired of calling the plumber to no avail. Her upstairs neighbour, the guy, discovers a hole in the living room. He starts spying her neighbour without her noticing. In between the scenes, there are five musicals. The girl and the guy sing and dance together in their apartments, in the building lobby and all around the building. This is a sharp contrast to the overall sad circumstances in which they are living. There is an absence of background explanation as to why these two persons are living there and why are their apartments in such a bad state. Nevertheless, director Ming Ling-Tsai comes up with an unconventional story, a mix of minimalism and musical film.

Euro English

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as Euro-English.

In the first year, s will replace the soft c. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard c will be dropped in favour of k. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome ph will be replaced with f. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expected to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent e in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing th with z and w with v. During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary o kan be dropd from vords kontaining ou and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

Source: unknown

A hurricane is approaching...

Today's events were marked by the hurricane Emily, which brought the much needed rain to my city. And the best of all, all activites were cancelled!!

My Top 30 (week of 16 July)

1. Black Eyed Peas – Don’t Phunk With My Heart
2. The Game feat. 50 Cent – Hate It Or Love It
3. 50 Cent – Just A Lil Bit
4. Nivea – Okay
5. Miri Ben-Ari – Jump & Spread Out
6. Fat Joe feat. Nelly – Get It Poppin
7. Rihanna – Pon De Replay
8. Akon – Lonely
9. Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes
10. Rachel Stevens – So Good

11. Beverly Knight – Keep The Fire Burning (Remix)
12. Lemar – Time To Grow
13. Basement Jaxx – Oh My Gosh
14. Rob Thomas – Lonely No More
15. Mariah Carey – It’s Like That
16. Akon – Bananza (Belly Dancer)
17. Amerie feat. Eve – 1 Thing
18. Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
19. Selma – If I Had Your Love
20. Anastacia – Heavy On My Heart

21. Mario – Let Me Love You
22. Ashanti – Only U
23. Good Charlotte – I Just Wanna Live
24. The Chemical Brothers – Galvanize
25. Usher – Caught Up
26. Lisa Stanfield – Treat Me Like a Woman
27. Snoop Dogg – Signs
28. Nelly – Flap Your Wings
29. Daddy Yankee – Gasolina
30. Rupee – Tempted To Touch

2046 (Hong Kong, 2004)


This is the second part of “In The Mood For Love”. Director Wong Kar Wai actually shot both movies simultaneously. Why this one comes out four years later is a mystery to me, but this second part, 2046, has not been released yet. It was only shown at the Cannes Festival in 2004, where it received very good critics. Much expectation had also been created around this movie, especially since Wong Kar Wai barely finished the editing of the film to show it in Cannes, almost missing the festival.

Again, Mr. Chow comes back from Singapur after working as a journalist. He meets several prostitutes who also live in his apartment. The interesting twist here is, Mr. Chow is writing a novel about a train leaving now and then for 2046. Everyone thinks he is writing about the future, when in fact he is writing about his own past. We have scenes of Mr. Chow’s past life, combined with scenes from his novel. He soon falls in love with her apartment neighbours and with beautiful female androids that come out of his novel. What is real and what is fiction? That is for the audience to figure out. The music and strong vibrant colors used in most scenes is impressive. It sets the right mood for an original romantic drama.

In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong, 2000)


For director Wong Kar Wai the only important thing is the present. In his films, he strives for spontaneity (there is no script with dialogue) and tries to capture a particular atmosphere, with the help of music, during the most important scenes. There are no hidden symbols or messages, no narrative background. Following these guidelines, Wong Kar Wai finished his romantic fiction, In The Mood for Love, after one year dedicated exclusively to shooting. It is the story of two neighbours, Mr. Chow and Ms. Shaw, who inadvertently and slowly fall in love. They also collaborate together in the writing of martial arts novels, which are published in a local magazine. At the end, Mr. Chow must leave her and go to work in Singapur. The setting is 1962 in Hong Kong, the days are cloudy and rainy and the instrumental music played in certain scenes makes for an excellent story that creates “moods” for the audience to enjoy.