Desk Set : watched last Friday w/ Katie & Sky
This movie wasn’t half as fun as I thought it would be. I love me some Katherine Hepburn, or at least I thought I did, but I spent much of this movie confused because she was laughing her crazy head-thrown-back New England laugh and I didn’t understand what what so godamned funny about the plot. Maybe you had to be there. The clothes were great and I took some small pride in the fact that the librarians were better than a machine (even if they were rattling off complex, memorized answers just like robots most of the time). Anyway, this is one of those LIBRARIAN movies that you’re supposed to watch and so I watched it and I think Party Girl should be our group movie if we get to vote on it.

Divorce Italian Style (Divorzio all’italiana if you’re being fancy): watched last night w/ Sky
This movie was hilarious and I really enjoyed that they made a totally hot lady (Fefe’s wife) look “ugly” by giving her a unibrow and a mustache. Those hips were out of this world. Also the weird dubbing was pretty great and I loved all of the clothes and I’d like to live in a castle now.

Visual Acoustics: watched tonight w/ Sky
This film has been selling out @ Northwest Film Forum – so much so that they were showing it in both theaters tonight. It’s a documentary about Julius Shulman, a world famous photographer who is best known for capturing modern architecture in Southern California: Case Study Houses, Palm Springs, etc. He was a swell guy and the documentary had a lot of great footage of him visiting with all sorts of people: previous owners of houses, new owners, and architects. Shulman was a pleasure to watch, and his photographs were amazing. That’s about all that was good about this documentary, though. There were all sorts of woozy special effects, random Jib Jab style animations, a not very cohesive story line and weird edits throughout. It seemed more like a really long Power Point presentation (with some video thrown in) than a film. A few times they didn’t give names of people who were talking until they’d been on screen for a minute or so – super frustrating.

It wasn’t an awful documentary, but it wasn’t a good one, either. I’m a connoisseur of the documentary film, and it makes me cranky when I see half of Seattle lining up to see a mediocre one when there are so many AMAZING ones slipping under the radar every day. I also take issue with people who assume documentary making is easy, or easier than making a fiction film.

* Brain is stuffed due to entirely new job in entirely new place which I don’t really want to talk about because I’m still trying to reconcile myself with the fact that I have an entirely new job in an entirely new place

If you are into crying happy tears and get choked up about food and they way we eat then you ought to watch this film. Even if you don’t get choked up, but still care, or want to care, hunt it down. Unfortunately the film isn’t in wide distribution yet, so you can’t buy the DVD or get it from Netflix. You can catch a screening or get it from the library, though:
Screenings for 2009
DVD @ The Seattle Public Library

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest. – Confucius

Cindy Shui Yu

This week’s movie was Up the Yangtze, a documentary that Sky and I tried to catch during SIFF. We were too far back in the rush line and missed the show, but we did speak with the director (who was going up and down the line, talking to moviegoers and handing out postcards) who told us that the movie would be opening in July. So we hopped on the scooter and went to the Varsity last night to watch it.

First off, let me state for the record that I am not a crier. I’ve remained stoic and dry eyed through many films that have left my companions all weepy. That said, I cried quite a bit during this movie. Not just during the movie, but afterward, in the bathroom. It hit some veins – poverty, sacrifice, family, helplessness – that are sensitive.

This shouldn’t keep you from the movie – in fact, I hope it makes you go see it. Or rent it. Or check it out. I’ve read a bit about the Three Gorges Dam, and I’ve seen other documentaries on the subject, but this documentary was a visceral and emotional look at a situation that is far too easy to intellectualize. On top of it all, the movie is spectacularly filmed and edited – it’s beautiful to watch.

In the spirit of the Confucius – here is my knowledge gathered in the last week or so. Nothing too earth shattering, but it’s an interesting excercise to classify things this way.

Reflection – Man am I lucky. I have the normal aches and pains of human-ness, but overall I’m very blessed and have a good, good life.

Imitation – When dealing with someone who is upset, a honest “I understand” goes a long, long way.

Experience – Allergies are not to be messed with. I learned this watching a friend have to swing a large needle into his thigh and be taken into the emergency room after eating something made in a factory with nuts.

Sita Sings the Blues

We ended up treking over to Queen Anne to catch Sita Sings the Blues. It was a sweet multilayered animated film based on the Hindu epic The Ramayana, set to bluesy 1920s singing. We should have gone to Indian food for dinner after the movie to keep things consistent but we had Thai instead and it was pretty bleh. What’s up with the ketchupy Pad Thai in this town?

The House is Black (Khaneh siah ast)

The House is Black (Khaneh siah ast) is a short film by Forugh Farrokhzad, a famous Iranian poet. It takes place in a leper colony. I watched it twice last week and again this weekend. It’s pretty amazing – rhythmic and strangely beautiful. The DVD we got from the library had some other shorts on it and they were interesting, too. I don’t remember what food we had in conjunction with this film – probably tea if it was late.

This weekend Jaime was here for a visit, and she talked me into renting The Descent (by Neil Marshall, who also wrote/directed a movie called “Dog Soldiers,” which I’ve put on hold). It was a good horror flick that had a nice mix of things to terrify, confound, and capture the imagination. The fact that I’ve always had a thing about caves/being trapped underground probably helped. We had wine with this movie, along with burgers (for Jaime and Sky) and a gardenburger (me).

We finally got around to watching Into the Wild, and I have to say it was an underwhelming experience. It did spark an interesting conversation between Sky and I, and later with others.* As a movie, though, I have to give it a thumbs down. Maybe I was just sick of white male bourgeoise after sitting through the IMAX presentation of Grand Canyon Adventures: River at Risk. Sky and I were gesturing and eye rolling so much during this movie that I’m surprised we didn’t get booted from our seats. The presentation seemed to send the message that only blonde rich people ought to care about the environment. Or so it seemed to me. I think during ‘Into the Wild’ I was chewing on my lips because I was too annoyed to eat, and during the IMAX movie we were enjoying complimentary Red Vines, popcorn, and a blueberry cocktail courtesy of an unamed bathroom fixture company.

If I want to watch nature stuff (and I always do), I prefer it in amazing, super fancy splendor, a la
Planet Earth, which we’ve been watching on and off for the last two weeks. While watching the Arctic/cold portions we enjoyed hot cocoa with marshmallows.

*Mostly this consisted of Sky defending taking off into the wild as a “universal” desire and me ranting about how it was a MALE desire since woman are historically tied down to babies and even if they can get away from babies they would end up diced up into little pieces if they took off w/ a backpack and smile. Feel free to discuss this in the comments, naturally.