chinadoc

i just watched the brilliant (Canadian) documentary Manufactured Landscapes and was absolutely mesmerized throughout. it also brought back vivid memories of my time in China and the sheer scale of growth and urbanization i witnessed outside of Shanghai

my film fest sched [updated]

Saturday: Erik Nietzsche The Early Years (Jacob Thuesen)
this was interesting: written by famous Danish director Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark), it's the story of his experience at Stockholm's government-sponsored film school in the late seventies (von Trier's actual student films are strewn throughout.) it was quite funny, and a very good window into the history and motivation of this famously ruthless artist

Sunday: Joy Division (Grant Gee)
Vanessa and i loved this one: an extremely well-made documentary about one of the most influential bands of the last century. Grant Gee, who also directed Radiohead's Meeting People is Easy, took us back in time to 1979 Manchester through his masterly use of interviews, music, photography, and rare live performances .... i haven't stopped listening to Unknown Pleasures since i left the theatre

Monday: No Country for Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
intense. beautiful. brilliant performances by Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem (who was also wonderful in The Sea Inside). the Coen brothers have done it again

Tuesday: In the Valley of Elah (Paul Haggis)
Wednesday: Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog)
Thursday: Man of Cinema: Pierre Risseent (Todd McCarthy)
Saturday: Man from Plains (Jonathan Demme)

and now ...

BrokeBack Mountain in 30-seconds re-enacted by bunnies

thank god .. i mean DOUG .. for Canada!!

the rise and fall of the third reich

i've seen two films recently which act as interesting bookends to the rise and fall of Adolph Hitler and the German Third Reich:

Max takes place in 1918, and is the story of an art gallery owner (played by John Cusack) who befriends a struggling young artist named Adolf Hitler. Max encourages young Hitler to channel his raw emotion into his art, while destiny, as we see, has him channel it elsewhere. Although the particulars of the story are fictional, the depiction of the young tyrant has strong roots in history, and the insights into his beliefs (and particularly, his understanding of art as propaganda) are as interesting as they are astonishing.

Fast-forward 25 years: Downfall takes us into Hitler's bunker during the brutal last days of the Third Reich. Seen through the eyes of his secretary Traudi Junge, optimism crumbles into grim realization and terror as it becomes clear that Germany's defeat is inevitable. As the Russian army circles the city, the dimly lit halls of the underground refuge become an execution chamber for the Führer and his closest advisors.

Controversial films? Absolutely. Worth viewing? I think so.

eloisa to abelard

how happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
the world forgetting, by the world forgot.
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
~alexander pope
~and a great film

The Yes Men

What an interesting documentary! Check it out on DVD ...

"The Yes Men are a team of merry pranksters with an agenda. Advocates of gender equality, economic parity and human rights, they've been responsible for such famous stunts as the massive Barbie doll-GI Joe voicebox switch in toy stores during Christmas 1993 and the campaign parody website gwbush.com, which then-candidate George W. famously tried to have shut down because "there ought to be limits to freedom."

This hilarious and eye-opening do-it-yourself documentary follows the exploits of Yes Men Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano as they travel the globe posing as spokesmen for the World Trade Organization, speaking at economic conferences and making appearances on CNBC -- all the while pretending to espouse (and thereby expose) what they see as the WTO's goals: the exploitation of Third World labor to increase the profits of First World corporations. The funny thing is -- or is it the scary thing? -- their quarry never seem bothered by their innocuously delivered outrageous statements (the Civil War was the "least profitable war in history," and slavery is passé because foreign sweat shop labor is cheaper to maintain), and few even realize they're being set up -- even when the pranks grow exponentially absurd." ~SPLICEDwire mini-review by Rob Blackwelder