An Education

In life, when you try to take shortcuts it will likely not go well. That's what we learn from watching An Education. This is a story of a master manipulator. A story about being young and wanting to run off with more experience that your young soul can handle. It was painted with lovely music, smiles and giggles. It reminded me of being young and so full of naive love. There is also much betrayal and deceit in this film. Even better, it's filled with the intoxicating voices of Brenda Lee, Beth Rowley and Juliette Greco as the soundtrack. I would have to give my biggest musical mention to Duffy's Smoke Without Fire. It might be one of the best finales of a film I have ever heard.

Peter Sarsgaard has always been a favorite of mine. He is perfect playing the villain. If there were a villain that you feel bad for, it would be David, the character played by Peter Sarsgaard. Many people might think that David is a horrible person, deserveing to rot in his posh car or get arrested for his immoral dealings. I, on the other hand, have surrendered to David's flawless and charismatic manipulation skills and I am ready to defend him against anyone who thinks he should live in misery. You can hate him all you want but deep down you know he has gotten hold of your untouchable insides and can control you any way he pleases. I can't help but laugh at the admiration I came to have for David but that is the appeal of his character. He is really really really good at making the audience think that he is a good man who fell victim to some unlucky misfortunate events. 

You become entrapped in this fairy tail of a young girl played by Carey Mulligan who does a superb job playing Jenny. She teaches us that no matter how smart we think we are, we are never that smart. Jenny is a smart girl who have what appears to be a bright future ahead of her. Until she meets David, the man who promises everything she ever admired in the future. A future that's so far away but is very reachable because of David. He delivers on what he promises. He doesn't fool her into going in a dark dirty room and devour her innocence. At least not until he takes her to fabulous places- the most of fabulous places. Paris.

Jenny's parents demonstrate that the responsibility of raising a child and how incredibly difficult and burdensome it is. You realize that you can't blame them for letting this happen to their daughter. We are all inclinded to make mistakes in life. Even if that mistake is letting Jenny run around with a man more than twice her age while she is still in high-school.

Thanks to the great casting of Emma Thompson, Olivia Williams and Rosamund Pike the story is told with a sophisticated elegance. Along with Sally Hawkins who had a very short yet powerful scene. Can't help but think that Helen, played by Pike, may have been the only one that really understood the rules of engagement. Through out the film she is made fun of by people surrounding her due to her lack of smarts but when it comes down to it, she realizes who she is, who her company is and any consequences resulting from her actions, whether negative or positive. 

At times, An Education feels schizophrenic. So many different aspects of the characters are being buried then resurfaced then buried then resurfaced again. But this is what real people are like. We are continually fighting against our urges,what we think we should do, what we think other people should do and what we think what the right thing is. Go see it, it'll do you some good.

A Place of One's Own

I have two entries, one for Plastic City and another for Raging Sun, Raging Sky. I wrote them, read them and rewrote them again and still was not satisfied for what I have given birth to. Just like any sensible parent would do, I hid them away from the world so no one would be see them. I was not sure why I wasn't happy with the results...until tonight.

Passion did not ignite inside my soul for Plastic and Raging and I concluded that that is the reason that I did not want to celebrate and write about them like I did with Thirst.

Tonight was different. Like going on a first date and not being able to go to bed because of the adrenaline in your bloodstream. I have had the pleasure of witnessing A Place of One's Own. A film about the lives of people struggling to find a place that they can belong to. I believe that I could spend a great deal of time and space writing about each character and the corresponding part of my life to it. Growing up, as most people do, I was never able to look at my parents point of view. How they looked at the world differed greatly than the way I looked at it. One of the things that this film allowed me was to see my entire family's (as well as other people with me) interactions being played out in front of me and appreciate how everything turned out to be because of that difference of thought process.

There is the origami master living on a mountain, creating origami for people to take with to the after life. He is also preparing one to make for himself since he found out he may die soon. Along with him lives his wife, a cemetery keeper with the ability to talk to dead people. There is also the son who looks at the world in a very simple-minded manner; however, that does not prevent him for being caring and reponsible.

A rock star who is struggling to make a comeback return while struggling with the fact that his love interest/former band member is attracting more success than he is.

Two brothers who try to deal with their father's close proximity to death. Their coping mechanisms differ while maintaining the same amount of love and compassion towards their father.

The characters show the kind of genuine personalities often lacking in films. A lot of times actors will fall in the trap of just merely acting out the lines. As good as they may be, they are still just acting. The sincerity these characters displayed made me think that I'm listening to an old man's tale of his pasts and his wisdom.

All of that and add great cinematography and you have A Place of One's Own. I have always admired Asian Cinema when it comes to making visually stunning films. The way they play with colors and ability to transition smoothly from one scene to another always fascinated me. I'm not talking about some cliché adding of red colored walls to symbolize anger. It goes on much deeper and more complex level than that. On some level, this film examined the paradox of people living the majority of their lives preparing for their death.

Good film with the right amount of comic relief. Go see it, it'll do you some good.

Chicago International Film Fest.

Last night I wondered, decades from now, when I am gone, how will people think of films made during my time. Are people going to look at them the same way I looked at Citizen Kane; “a great movie for its time but it’s a good thing I only had to watch it once and it took me 3 days to watch it”? With a sense of appreciation for what it represented at the time but a sense of relief not to have to talk about what exactly it did represent?

Great cinematography seems to be the common thread, or I hope it is, of the films I have decided to see this year at the Chicago International Film Fest. After seeing Thirst I have come to the conclusion that great cinematography is what draws me more than anything to a certain picture…or one of the most important elements of why I appreciate a film. Because I know that if cinematography is all that mattered, I would have fallen in love with Citizen Kane. Yes, cinematography is important but so are other aspects. Think of it as the cliché example of body systems working together, if you are having a hard time grasping the idea. Better yet, the perfect proportions for ingredients yield the best long island iced tea. Those few drops of that special ingredient make it the last thing you would want to drink before your death bed.

It is no doubt that almost every film screening at the festival is extraordinary. What I am looking for is that extra special thing that will make it a little taller than the other guys standing in a crowded train.

Here are the names of the movies I am attending. I am not including any other information on them. I will try my best to review as I go and provide you my thoughts.I tried to skip any American films knowing that I will have the pleasure of seeing them in few months once they are out in theaters here. It is harder to get hold of a foreign picture.

• Eastern Plays
• Plastic City
• Raging Sun, Raging Sun
• Give Me Your Hand
• A Place of One’s Own
• Claustrophobia
• Shorts: Escape/Rebellion
• Spy(ies)
• Shorts: Animation Nations
• Air Doll
• Will Not Stop There
• Dear Doctor
• Persecution

Thirst aka Bakjwi

They say that it is always better in horror movies to leave things to the imagination of the viewer- to hide certain details from the audience in order to tickle their sense of imagination, dip into their fears and let that give birth to their darkest thoughts.

That was not the case when I watched Bakjwi, under the American title Thirst. Now playing at select theaters near you. Seems like the film makers did not want to spare you any details. There WILL be blood in this film and you WILL try to look away.

I have always been a fan of Korean cinema. After all, it did give birth to what may be my favorite film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. Thirst, honorably followed that track of fantastic cinema.

I haven't seen many vampire movies but I can tell you than none of them would have a priest who happens to be a vampire who happens to be in love with a women who happens to be married. I could tell you more about what else other vampire movies lack in relation to Thirst but I would be giving out too many details and I would like not to deprive you of the pleasure of witnessing it first hand. It really does examine the rise and fall of what we call desire/lust/love and it's very comical outcomes. Oddly enough, reminds me of Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I have to say that my favorite actor would have to be Ok Vin Kim. Her portrayal of Tae-joo as, what seems to me, a childish/afraid/happy/adventurer/Sexy/lustful/beautiful/strong/weak/loved/loving woman is just spectacular!

Have I mentioned the great cinematography? At times it honestly felt like the two characters were completely alone in the room. Speed, angles and transition made for an utterly mesmerizing, visually enticing film. Go watch it on the big screen before it's late and you have to wait for DVD release.

Thank you to my younger-than-i-am-senpai for proof reading above. Go check him out, he's got the goods.