This film says very little, but with carefully constructed dialogue, understated but sincere acting, and well manicured pacing, create layers and depth that go far beyond any obvious conversation...
I'm sorry. It's been forever since I've posted. But to make it up to you, I'll do something different. Here is a list of music videos that remind me of why I love and miss LA--it's not really about the lyrics as much as the people, the look, the feel of the videos themselves. Tell Me Something - Gotham Green & Quickie Mart ft. Freddie Gibbs & Jes Hudak Deuces - Chris Brown feat. Tyga & Kevin McCall Gucci Gucci - Kreayshawn Roll Up - Wiz Khalifa Tinie Tempah - Til I'm Gone ft. Wiz Khalifa
Story of infidelity and guilty set in a Mennonite community in Mexico. It's a slow movie, but every scene feels full. It masterfully captures the silence and lightness of their physical lives, and it is a heavy contrast against the turbulence of their human, spiritual lives. For example, the first scene starts with the main family sitting in their kitchen at the break of day, silently eating their breakfast. The clock can be heard ticking in the background, and the imagery is heavy with the mundane (as far as it...
These guys are the real life Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler. Not only are they in it for all the real blood, real pain, real life-span shortening, chronic pain inducing, possibly paralyzing from the neck down action of wrestling, they are also drug addicts whose sister gets killed by her husband's ex-wife, fathers whose kids think their dads are being killed over and over again, and sons with really intense father issues. Every single person in this documentary is fascinating and absurd. Some of them spend years...
Every Chinese New Year, 130 million migrant workers travel back to their home village, and create the world's largest human migration. For three years, director Lixin Fan travelled with one couple who...
When one starts watching Fellini films, a happy ending is not what you expect. But sometimes you want so badly for things to work out for Giulietta Masina (La Strada, Ginger and Fred), and the expected tragedy still breaks your heart in the end. The theme is the oft-repeated prositute-with-a-heart-of-gold. But Fellini and Masina create a beautiful film that goes beyond the cliche, and touches upon questions of poverty, charity, class, fame, and religion. There is a pretty amazing scene where the prostitutes go to...
Story of a teenage FOB (fresh off the boat) from Korea. The film really captures well the loneliness and isolation of being a new poor immigrant, and the quiet grief and anger that at any moment overwhelms...
I don't usually post a lot of new movies, and I don't know if it was the snuck in bottles of beer or the national teeniebop dance competition that was going on downstairs in the theater, but this movie...
Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park. Reminds me of middle school in LA so much. How I used to sigh after the cute long-haired skater boys. And reminds me also of the longings and paranoia and drama of it all. (although the kid here has a better reason for it) The film is slow moving, but masterfully done. Gratuitous use of slow-motion shots, which, along with a beautiful use of color saturation and light, eventually bulid up to create a dream-like scape of both forward and backward moving memories. (This sentence will...
