In Bruges (United Kingdom, 2008)

In Bruges is directed by Martin McDonagh and stars Bendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell... and ofcourse I immediately noticed our Dutch actress Thekla Reuten it it as well.

In Burges is a story about two Irish hitman who has to hide in Bruges but most of all it's a dark comedy. The conversations between Gleeson and Farrell are often hilarious and be prepared for oneliners like 'they are filming midgets'! The story has its serious moments to when Farrell is morally challenged by one of the outcomes of his shootings. The first half of the story is very different than the second half. Where in the first half it's mostly humour, in the second its more like an action-drama movie and deals more about human nature and the choices we make.

Sometimes Colin Farrell makes me a bit nervous with his acting, he just seems to overact sometimes but in this movie he is really great I have to say! Brendan Gleeson is acting brilliant like ever!

And Bruges.....well what to say? Our Belgium neighbours sure have a wonderful city!

Update films: Zhang Ziyi

'Are you stupid'? were the words of Zhang Ziyi during the filmfestival at Cannes when she met some people who didn't know what happened in china. Zhang Ziyi donated about 90000 euro's to the victims of the quake.

Just a quick update about the forthcoming films of Zhang Ziyi. Will she star in the live-action version of Mulan in a while? It seems like a rumor, but this rumor is already there for a while.

And ofcourse we have to wait some months for her appearence in 'Mei Lan Fang', the movie about the very famous Peking opera star.

This place of dreams

Will we go there once more,

to this extraodinary place,

where the darkness

hides from itself?

Where the wind tries

to grab and got hold of your clothes

the sun enlightenes your hair

into the most precious gold

I'm standing there

Just watching you

There is nothing else

I should or wanna do

Will we go there someday

this place of eternal dreams

Where I will meet

you for forever once more

Chinese dragon boat festival

Yesterday many inhabitants of China will have participated in the festivities of the annual Dragon boat festival (Duanwu). This festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month. The origin is rather a tragic one. In Chinese a poet, 'Qu Yuan' in 278 BC, didn't want to lose his pride. In fact he was banished from serving high offices cause he was being accused of opposing the alliance. He was accused of treason and because of this, 28 years later, he committed suicide. He jumped into the Miluo river and drowned. Local people, who admired him, threw food in the water, so the fishes would not eat his body. There is another version which said a dragon ate all the food the people had thrown into the water. Because of this, people began to wrap their food up, which resulted in the famous Zhong zi! The rice packages in lotusleafs.

Every year the death of the poet who died in honour of his country is being memmorated by this dragon boat festival!

Wool 100% (Japan, 2006)

Wool 100% is a Japanese fantasy film by director Mai Tominaga. This is one of those weird experimental productions that could only be made in Japan.

A strange story about two sister who live together in a mansion collection garbage and at one day a girl appears knitting something, which has to be done over and over again. Well there will be some explanations but they are pretty well hidden! It's cool when a story is a bit weird but it has to keep your attention, and that was the problem with me... my mind flew everywhere during some scenes that just seemed a bit too long. It prizes atmosphere above all!

The animation scenes are just brilliantly made, I loved those.

The cinematrography is pretty good, the music could be a bit better in my eyes.

So it's an experimental story which is pretty well made but it couldn't convince me all the time.

Last life in the universe / Ruang rak noi nid mahasan (Thailand & Japan, 2003)

Last life in the universe by director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang was everything I could hope for!

This is art, this is the art of making a movie! And yes, again Christopher Doyle is responsible for the camera work. When you don't know him you should be ashamed! He is also has done the cinematography of In the mood for love and 2046 (I doubt if there ever will be a better movie than these ones).

The story is about the accidental meetting of a suicidal Japanese librarian and a Thai hooker. It's difficult to explain the storyline because this movie is just pure poetry, it has some kind of hypnotical influence. The entire movie you will hear mostly English and Japanese, the director never choses one of them really and also you wil lface some Thai. This also adds some strangeness to this movie, and believe me, it is really weird.

It all started with a book about the last lizard on this planet. Why does Kenji like this book so much? Maybe because the author committed Harikiri (seppuku).

The acting by Tadanobu Asano is truely amazing, but has he ever done different? Well just watch this movie, this ride of art, this ride of poetry and lose yourself in the scenery and the relationship that grows between two completely different persons.

Be with me (Singapore, 2005)

Be with me is a movie from Singapore by director Eric Khoo. The director made a movie which consist of three stories of love. In the entire film, there are almost no spoken words so the scenery had to make this movie. This is what art is all about, because he succeeded in a perfect way.

The film never gets boring though not too many things happen. The painfull stories of a man who finds it difficult to move on after he lost his wife, of a girl who finds another girls she loves but after a while isn't able to reach her anymore and of a security officer who secretsly falls in love with a woman he sees passing by everyday. Another important story is that of a blind and deaf woman who writes her life story down.

The director made the choice to show some aspects of these different stories, it's not the average beginning and ending. A simple film which will remind people of their personal experiences with love in this life. Eric Khoo has done beautifully, with some really great music in it. I highy recommend this unconventional film.

And to quote: Are there dreams that do not die?

Machine girl / Kataude mashin gâru (Japan, 2008)

Normally I tell something about movies that has some kind of beauty in them. Mostly thes emovies are almost art, maybe even better. But I am making an exception now.

A movie that is very new and is called Machine girl by director Noboru Iguchi. I won't bother with the storyline cause you only will watch this movie for its, gore, gore, gore.

A strange Japanese action movie that had very weird special effects, in Hollywood I guess no one will like this one! But in fact it is rather hilarious! Tons and tons of blood, arms and legs flying everywhere..sometimes it's great t owatch such a movie cause afterwards you are having a big smile on your face. Well, critir=ts will probably hate this film but it's rather great! Minase Yashiro is the star of this movie, with a decent performance and yes ofcourse she wears a school uniform!

Glue - Historia adolescente en medio de la nada (Argentina, 2006)

Glue is a Argentinian coming of age movie by director Alexis Dos Santos. ant the story is about what? Well just like I said... it's all about groing up, discovering sexuality and troubles within your family. It's a very slow movie which just wants to show you a glimpse of an 16 year old Agrentine boy and his frustration with life, like all adolescents have at that age. For me the film was pretty much okay, but it didn't satisfie me completely. Sometimes it was a bit boring and my mind couldn't stay with it all the time (It's plausible that had to do with the sate of mine I am in).

Cinematograpically it was very good, some beautiful scenes were shot with an 8 mm camera, together with some adolescent philosophical texts. The music fitted perfectly as well and maybe this was the best thing about this film. I haven't said anything about the clothes yet but that is totally unnecessary because they are okay, there is not too much attention paid to them. And the title of this film refers to a strange drug scene.

A nice movie to watch, but not the best in town.

City Sharks (Singapore, 2003)

Today I watched City Sharks by director Esan Sivalingam.
I didn't expect too much of it and when I just watched for about 15 minutes I thought the acting was really horrible. does it get better...no..do you get used to it... yes.
And when I stopped feeling irritated by it I really could enjoy it. Not that it is a brilliant movie but some moments it manages to be really hilarious.
It's about three boys who grew up in an orphanage. The orphanage has to shut down or.... they have to raise much money. Well our three guys want to save the orphanage and collect debts in Malaysia. A road movie is the result, with its very good moments.
No sentimental or sadness this movie (well it is a tiny tiny bit though) but just a movie to have a good laugh about. But still..... why did the director wanted the actors to act in such bad ways.....
I couldn't even find an image of this movie!

West Beyrouth (Lebanon, 1998)

'West Beyrouth' is a film by Ziad Doueiri. It's a story that tells about the lives of two boys (in highschool) during the starting of the civil war in Beirut, Libanon, in 1975 when the city is divided between east and west, muslim and christian. The film doesn't focuss on this civil war, why the war started will never be explained so when you don't know anything about the complexity of civil wars in the Middle East you won't get to know more after watching this movie. But, you won't enjoy the movie less because it's a movie about growing up in a time of war. In fact I think you could call it a coming of age movie. At first the war seems exciting and it is brilliant that the school is closed but after a while the mood of the film changes, tragedy seems to take more over in their lives.

It's interesting to see how people just try to move on during those times. People who don't flee but try to stay at their places, try to manage to get some food.

Don't expect a war movie but a movie about two boys who just began to explore life, and now they have to do it in times of war.

Be with you / Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu (Japan, 2004)

This movie by Nobihiry Doi is another one of those very good Japanese drama's.

The story of love and sadness, which is so beautiful it probably will make you feel a bit emotional. The love that is meant to be, but roughly taken away, or do you get another chance? a bit of a fantastical twist here that makes it even more interesting.

The last 20 minutes of this film are great too, the story is surely different than you will expect in the beginning.

Everything just seems to be right about this film, one of the best in it's genre. Together with the perfect acting of Takeuchi Yuko, Nakamura Shido and Takei Akashi, the beautiful music it is an amazing ride of love and beauty.

Legendary Courtesan Hwang Jin-Yi (South Korea, 2007)

The movie I just saw was Hwang Jin-Yi by director Yoon-Hyun Chang.

I had this movie for quite a while at my place but just never seen it yet. I had some feeling like, well a movie about a courtesan for more than 2 hours and 20 minutes seems a bit long. I didn't thought it could keep me interested but dear God, I was completely wrong!

It's a film about legendary Courtesan Hwang Jin-Yi in 16th century Korea. She grows up as a member of an aristocrat family but after some hidden secrets were revealed she lives her life like a courtesan (a Gisaeng, Korean version of a Geisha). It's a love story and a drama which setting is in ancient Korea.

The scenes and art direction are brilliant, all praise to the director and camera team. The colours and clothing are great as well... together with a really interesting story it easily becomes one of the best movies I saw in a while. To be clear about it: it's sad and really heartbraking, not the joyful Hollywood production. A beautiful but sad phrase:

"If I die, bury me in the streets so that people may tample all over me"

And then the actress Hye-kyo Song , wow, she was not only too beautiful but she acted so great, I was almost blown away by her beauty and skills. It wouldn't suprise me when she becomes famous really quickly.

It seems like I watched an unknown masterpiece today!

And just one more time the actress:

Storm Riders / Tian Xia (China, 1988)

Well just a very short post about this one!

Storm riders is an enjoyable movie to watch! With good acting of Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng and Sonny Chiba it really was worth more than 2 hours of film.

So when you wanna watch a nice adventure movie with pleny of martial arts, this one is good for you, but don't expect an innovating movie. In it's kind, it satisfies greatly! It's martial arts at is best!

I have to warn you to watch the version which runs for 2.07 hours. There is another shorter version of this movie to but you won't understand the story if you watch that one!

Salo, or the 120 days of Sodom / Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (Italy, 1975)

In 1975 a movie emerged that shook the entire filmworld. For over 30 years it was sealed away, forbidden in most countries, people forgot about it but now it is in the world again. I even heard abour people that buy copies of this movie for about 600 dollars.

What movie am I talking about? 'Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom' by director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

A movie that shows northern Italy in 1944, where there is a small area that hasn't been liberated yet from fascism. In this period the elite brought man and woman to their homes for their enjoyment, their pleasure. Pleasure in the most cruel ways imaginable. In this film you will see some of these masochistic games. It really hurts your soul when a girl screams 'God, why has thou forsaken us'.

This film is highly disturbing! Showing the darkest of minds and make you really hate humanity. It is no ta movie that should be seen by many people, it's too heavey too cruel, I guess your experience an ill stomach after watching it. I already seen some sick movies, but this one is different. Not only for its shock effect but also to show the sickest things people are being capable of. It makes you really lose faith in this world. In one way you want to turn it of for every second but in fact you just can't, it's kind of intruiging and you just have to keep watching. Even when you know it will only be more cruel.

It isn't a bad movie, not at all but it's only watchable for a very few and in the end nobody can say they enjoyed this one. You are lucky when the scenes only haunt you for a couple of days, so really you should only watch it when you have very strong nerves.

I won't see this one ever again but I am glad I had the chance to see it to come to this conclusion.