About Chocolate Parfaits

Days of being wild

I actually had an affinity for Maggie Cheung ever since I saw “Comrades: Almost a love story” (a film which J.R. liked!), most likely the first Chinese movie I have really, really liked. After all, I still remember it vividly and would totally want to see it again.

This movie is 6 years older but both give me a similar feel of the “old Hongkong”, from those times when most Hongkong movies were bad – and they made lots of them cheaply. You can barely see Wong Kar-Wai’s mark in this film, both in style and in story. There is none of Wong Kar-Wai’s bright neon colors, and character-wise, well, women are mostly beautiful and stupid, men are mostly violent assholes and so it’s really hard to relate to any of the characters.

I think I care a lot about how a love story starts. With both women, the main character does nothing but annoy them. This kind of seduction, which is somewhat similar to the one with Bai Ling in “2046”, in which women always have to be bitchy and refusing so that the man first has to be verbally and physically violent, and subsequently (why in the world?) makes the girl laugh maniacally completely escapes my understanding. Isn’t there something wrong if any love story in the world starts like this? I have absolutely no understanding nor pity for people who approach their relationships this way.

But let’s assume the beginnings were not so unlucky. Then, I find the part of Maggie Cheung’s story quite lovely. The characterization of her being lovesick and desperate about being broken up with was written surprisingly nicely. Plus her chemistry with Andy Lau is pretty awesome. They were the best scenes of the whole film. After that, the movie just went downhill. The fight scene in the restaurant is the most ridiculous and random I have ever seen, I think. Hong Kong movies for sure!

There are minor aspects in which “Days of being wild” is similar to Wong Kar-Wai’s newer films – the topoi of time and memory, of rejected and painful love, of platonic friendships and lost opportunities. Ultimately, however, I think the main character’s violence destroys all potential pleasantness of the film. Perhaps Tony Leung’s character in “In the Mood for Love” and “2046” is similarly unpleasant, but I just didn’t see it.
Next time, I have to watch a love story in which the lovers are actually equal. And perhaps set in a location where it rains less.

The Blues Brothers

This movie absolutely makes no sense. It blows your mind how it is possible to make a film that completely defies logic but totally works that way. The rule in “The Blues Brothers” is: As long as the Blues Brothers win, anything can happen.

Again, it totally doesn’t matter. “The Blues Brothers” is a film that seems to just be there so that famous people can perform their songs. But how much enjoyment it comes with! Amazing. The enthusiasm for music – good music – that comes with the film reminded me a lot of “Interstella 5555”. I mean… Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown etc. etc… Wow, really. Oh yeah, and Twiggy and Steven Spielberg as office clerk! I absolutely loved the singing and band scenes, and can totally see myself warming up to musical movies now. Isn’t tap dancing totally awesome? The same goes for literally every single piece of music they are playing in the film. It makes me wonder why I don’t listen to that kind of music more often – I mean, hey, the Beatles are timeless too.

I am actually impressed at how much can happen in a movie like this: I am sure it would be a fun drinking game to count how many cars are being destroyed in the film. But the best aspect of the film is its incredible tempo reminding me of “One, Two, Three” at times; it is only interrupted when a music scene is inserted. Since I knew nothing about the movie beforehand, the first time that happened, I was just astonished at how much effort was put into the song and its well-choreographed performance with a huge cast of dancers. Great.

This is probably the most escapist film I have seen in awhile, and boy I loved it. It’s sad I don’t really have anything specific to say about it – these kinds of cult films need to be watched.

2046

I knew it would be really, really hard to top “In the Mood for Love”. There is a reason why the film is most likely the most-acclaimed film of this century so far, and it’s probably hard for any new film to gain as much widespread approval from the critics; I suspect it will take another 10 years at least. That is how good the film was.

Even so, I would probably say that “2046” is mostly more of what we’ve had. Mood, cinematography and topic of the story are all similar. Even the way people love in this film are similar to “In the Mood for Love”. Basically, there really are only two major differences between the films: One, we finally see a fictionalized story and get a deeper insight to what the main character is actually writing. Two, we see the main character in a relationship with many women, but he didn’t truly love any of them. In that respect, all of “2046” reflects upon “In the Mood for Love” because every single one of his actions in this film are a way to cope with having lost the one woman he loved. That you cannot substitute love is the true message of the film, a very beautiful yet sad one. Whereas the love story from “In the Mood for Love” failed because of unfortunate circumstances, Chow’s relationships in this film fail because he became unable to have relationships, making the film even sadder.

The strangest thing both about “In the Mood for Love” and “2046”, or maybe even about Wong Kar-Wai’s style in general, is that I actually feel much more emotionally estranged from these films than I expect. The film makes me go “Oh God, this is so beautiful” yet at the same time, I don’t feel emotional when I see it. Wong Kar-Wai touches me on a ‘head’ level, but not in the heart. I don’t love like his characters love, that is for sure. I also noticed how none of them ever said “love”; it’s always “xi huan” or “suki” which is “like”. While it might be beautiful that people don’t confess their love to each other explicitly, it’s just not the type of thing I would do. I would say “I love you” straightforwardly and know that it would still be true five years later. Perhaps they are all just too Asian, who knows?

Acting-wise, I think that Gong Li got a completely boring role, Faye Wong is doing her job well, but Zhang Ziyi is clearly the most shining character here. I have always liked her, and she plays the troubled, superficial yet deeply loving woman perfectly. She is an actress you never would want to typecast into something: Innocent country girl, sexy love interest, prostitute – she’s done them all.

I wish Wong Kar-Wai had made more movies. At the end of the day, there aren’t very many directors who can do them better than him. But then again, can “My Blueberry Nights” etc. measure up to his ‘trilogy’?

Moon

I totally would not have expected that! After all, it’s only been a few weeks since I saw “Source Code”, and I was only mildly impressed. When Duncan Jones says that he has worked all his ideas into “Moon”, I totally believe that. (Side note, the interview is actually quite interesting to read; I had to laugh when he mentioned how he hated graduate school at Vanderbilt.) Apart from certain stylistic similarities and the simple but straightforward, gripping storytelling, “Source Code” is nothing like “Moon”. It seems like somebody actually put thoughts into “Moon” whereas “Source Code” just feels like it’s a more or less interesting story turned into a blockbuster.

One aspect that is really nice about “Moon” is how it is totally not pretentious. Looks-wise, it evokes films like “2001” and “Blade Runner”, but it never even attempts to confuse the viewer or pose a question it cannot answer. Even though “Moon” brings the very general “Who are we? What does it mean to be human?” question, we are shown merely an aspect of human life, namely in a state of complete loneliness and in confrontation with their own clone. On the one hand, I would have wished that Jones had exploited more questions, and more facets of the premise, but on the other hand, I am really glad that he chose to opt for doing one relatively simple thing right.

I have had a hard time remembering another science fiction film which I thought was better than “Moon”, and that is surprising because I wouldn’t actually say that the film blew me away. Maybe movies are just not the perfect medium for science fiction. I feel like books are better both in terms of how much detail and thought you can convey with them, as well as their ability to let the readers’ imagination flow. Ultimately, I personally think that films show too much.

Without a doubt, I really liked the film. I wholeheartedly recommend it, especially if you are into science fiction. Unless I see it again and come to the conclusion that the film really is better than other science fiction, I would probably say that it’s a little bit below the level of my all-time favorites. Which says a lot!

The Graduate

Ah, the entire world and their mother has recommended this film to me, and up until the end, I actually did not know how it’s going to end (though of course, I did indeed expect some sort of happy end). “The Graduate” is certainly one of those films that you have to watch more than once. I did not laugh a single time while watching the film (which is something I also don’t typically do when watching a Woody Allen), yet at the same time, I found the film to be utterly amusing. Some of the scenes must definitely have entered the realms of what we consider today cult, that is how funny they are.

At the same time, I’m not so sure if I liked Mrs. Robinson’s betrayal. For the first time they are showing a young boy in a relationship with some old woman and it had to be a clichéd housewife who is unhappy and seduces him in the most disturbing manner possible. Even though that was delivered in a funny way, I find it a little sad that the first famous woman in film history to seduce a young man had to be such a bitch.
Dustin Hoffman, of course, was wonderful. How can an actor be so incredibly cute and professional at the same time? Considering his later roles, he has shown an amazing variety in his acting career. Very impressed. I definitely can see why Shii is such a fan.

What can I say – finally I have seen the film! It was a great experience, though it is strangely not a personal favorite. It didn’t blow me away at first glance, but from the subtle commentary on the people around Benjamin (especially the parents! hahahaha), it is possible that I will end up liking the film much more on a second view, just like it happened for Annie Hall.

Thor

So, as we established before, drive-ins are great. They even are so when the movie itself is crap! Okay, so Thor wasn’t completely crappy. I thought it was mostly enjoyable and somewhat suspenseful. Even Loki’s turns were actually surprisingly interesting, though I might have been too tired to completely get it.

What bugs me about the film the most are perhaps its absolutely horrendous directing (the way the story is told is just somewhat boring) and the main character. I haven’t seen all that many testosterone-laden films where the main character possesses huge man boobs, but whenever I do, the manliness of this main character annoys me like crazy. At times it’s fun (like the scene in the diner where Thor smashes his cup), but most of the time, it just makes its main character one-dimensional. Even his character development towards a wiser and more humble son didn’t help.

I also wonder if it was Natalie Portman who herself decided to turn her character into a fierce and supposedly smart scientist, because it’s cool nowadays to do the Marie Curie thing to little girls. It would be very like her, and perhaps this film marks the verge at which I think I don’t actually like her as an actress anymore. Ugh.

There is a part of me who really wanted to see the film. Maybe I was just smitten with its looks and it’s a film that a lot of people have probably seen and could talk about. Plus, I like nordic mythology. But even though the film was enjoyable per se, I thought it was ultimately forgettable at the same time.

Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2

Never. Finally I went to a drive-in movie theater for the first time in my life, and the two movies they were playing at the Starlight Six was “Kung Fu Panda 2” and “Thor”. Since I don’t like watching sequels without seeing the original, of course I just had to see the first film in preparation to the big day. (In fact, I even disliked having seen “Intolerance” without seeing “The Birth of a Nation”, but in the end, I still have not seen the latter.)

Drive-ins are absolutely awesome. The feeling of sitting in a car, the slightly hot yet breezy air – just the general atmosphere makes you feel like a teenager again. It was quite an impressive experience actually. I wished we had grown up with drive-in theaters; I would have loved to go with Loris. Instead, we watched movies on our laptops and went to lakes and strolls through the neighborhood instead. How sad and bland is that in comparison? Even so, for a teenager everything feels intense, I suppose.

So, unsurprisingly, I loved “Kung Fu Panda”, both parts. This is how a kid’s story should be. Certainly the story is not too innovative, the first part was very reminiscent of “Mulan” with the seemingly uncapable who turns into a master and the second part is very “Lord of the Rings” in how the main character takes his little team and saves the world. I don’t mind, really. The characters are all incredibly lovely, the jokes are funny and the shortness of the films helps the fast-pacedness of the direction, which I thought was good but nothing special. It’s not like the characters nor the story need that much time to develop after all. Ultimately the films are just a lot of fun!

In comparison to the first part, I thought the second part was mostly more generic. The side-characters actually get even less screen time than before – very sad! They were so great, and it’s a shame since it is to be expected that their voice actors could have done wonders to the characters. Po’s past is clichéd but ultimately somewhat lovely, and heartbreaking (!) I also liked that Po is “just a normal Panda” but then turned out to become great. Well, I just enjoy these kinds of simple stories and actually totally think that the film would be worth to re-watch again. Maybe someday when I have kids? :D

El Laberinto del Fauno

Whenever there is a film that I disliked, knowing very well that everybody and their mother loves it, I feel like I am in a really tough position. Today, I wrote an e-mail to a friend who I accused of being unable to confront his disagreement with me, and I know very well that this is generally something very, very hard. I love it when people like the same things I do, and there is a certain disappointment when people don’t like certain movies as much as I do (take Shii and JSA, or Shii and Hidamari Sketch, or Shii and… okay, that was actually all). I don’t think I mind it, but I would still find it sad. In consequence to that, I feel like I can rave away comfortably when I like a movie, but should back up my disliking for something with some sound arguments.

In this case, I guess the film was just something completely different from what I expected. I mean, oh my God. The whole film was just dark, gory and downright sad. There is no single character who was truly likable (except for the faun who, in my opinion, had some lovely antics), and the fact that it’s supposed to be a parabel cannot hide away how the film is full of clichés: The evil fascist and his maniac behavior, the mother who marries for money and is weak in almost every aspect and the little girl who escapes into her dream world. Sadly, at the end of the day, the main character doesn’t actually do very much. This is fairly normal for a little child, and very unusual for a fantasy film. (Actually, this is somewhat refreshing, but still depressing.)

On top of all that, the actions of the characters just make you cringe. The little girl mostly makes sense, though I believe that I would certainly not have given into my hunger just by looking at that creepy eyeless guy. But as a war movie, the film just had too many disturbing details: Why would they kill the doctor without questioning him nor considering the possibility that they will need him to cure the captain’s wife? Why didn’t Mercedes run away after it was obvious they will see the opened storeroom door? That is like outright telling them that she collaborated with the enemy, what in the world. The worst part was where she was chased by horses and not even been shot at. There is no obvious reason as to why they would rather shoot the doctor than kill her; besides making food she didn’t look like she was all that useful after all.

The main reason why the film ended on such a dark note is the fact that the rebels refused to tell the captain’s son about his father. This is what you do during a war, but with that, they just showed how they were no better than the fascists after all. And there is another one: I think the film can be interpreted such that Ofelia’s fantasy world is all just her imagination. Nobody else in the film ever gets into contact with the fantastic world, and everything in the real world could potentially have happened without her doing. In that case, it would mean that she died completely needlessly. Very sad. I think I don’t like needlessly sad movies anymore.

Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe

So the writing block continues. There is nothing deep to say about it, it was a fun movie with a stupid plot. Oh my God, it was incredibly stupid, ahahahaha. I was cringing every time he kissed that woman who, sadly, was perhaps one of the most boring love interest characters I have ever seen in a film. It is to be expected, it was a movie for TV. In fact, I am not sure if I should continue blogging about these kinds of TV movies at all. They are expected to be bad and mostly for entertainment, but for completion, I felt like I should.

Another reason, of course, is that I can now rant about my favorite TV series! “Burn Notice” cannot technically be called favorite TV series because of its many, many weaknesses, but I think one has to admit their guilty pleasures freely, and “Burn Notice” certainly is one for me. Luckily the next season is going to be airing soon, ho ho ho. Even when it’s an artsy film, I tend to watch them mostly for entertainment purposes. I don’t think I would ever hold a film in high esteem if it did not entertain me in some form or another, but at the same time, I still would feel bad about “dumb” entertainment. “Burn Notice” is on the thin line between what I would generally say is very good and the kind of show that I watch because I have been burned out from work during the day (bad pun not intended, for realz). The series manages to hit a nerve with me; I love the show’s simple formula with a few main characters helping out people in trouble on an episodic basis, leaving you with a generally happy feeling after almost every single episode.

The film follows practically the same formula as the show itself, with the exception that we don’t have the backdrop of stylish Miami. But the ‘clients’ completely make up for it; they are so much more amusing and likable than usual. The film definitely got me into the mood of looking forward to the next season of the series!

The Godfather II

Blogging has become a chore lately, though I don’t really know why. Perhaps it is because I actually have seen the film a few days ago, and just like for the first film, have been wondering what I should write about this film.

The first time I have heard of “The Godfather” was when I went to the cinema for the first time to see “You’ve got mail”. Ever since, it was clear that I would have to read “Pride and Prejudice” (which I did, something like 10 years ago) and, of course, watch “The Godfather”. Now that I finally saw these films, I am at a loss of words.

Actually I had hoped that the second film would be better than the first, considering that it would have a larger budget and generally show more of Michael. I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed, but most of all, the film actually felt very strongly like a sequel. Of course I am very eager to know what happened after the first film, but it does seem to be very hard to keep up with the incredibly high quality that the first film came with. The atmosphere, the composition of the shots, the flow of the story – almost everything feels like “the same thing but less” in the second film. The characters come off as less evil, the story feels less dangerous, the intrigues more simple and boring… perhaps the only good aspect was how the character of the brother evolved. Fredo was a good guy until the end, he was just foolish and stupid; his death is the one which marks Michael’s final decision to becoming completely evil. At the end of the day, unlike his father, he pretty much failed everything that was dear to him – his business, his family and friends. But then again, was he too ‘soft’ since he clearly cared for certain people (namely his wives and his family) or too cruel (for not actually taking their own wishes into account)? It’s hard to say, and perhaps that was the most interesting aspect of the film.

I’m not so sure if and when I would want to see the last film of the trilogy. Parts of me really wants to (you cannot just watch the first 2 and not the last ones!), but another part knows that it would be a disappointment for sure. We will see.