The Pop Culture Addict’s Blog

A Woman, A Gun, and A Noodle Shop is just a cool title. The trailer is also cool. And the concept is very cool it being Zhang Yimou’s remake of the Coen Brothers’ classic Blood Simple. The actual movie starts off in a very unelegant, very atypical of Zhang Yimou way. The characters are all introduced as broad strokes of goofiness like they are performing in a vaudeville show. They are like the 3 Stooges without the subtlety. So it takes a while to go beyond the deliberate buffoonery and appreciate the luscious visuals. The lighting, the setting, the colors are all gorgeous. Very Zhang Yimou. His Raise the Red Lantern sensibility of style is very evident and truly breath-taking. I can’t imagine why he decided to go so broad with the comedy. I can understand doing a different interpretation of the noir thriller of Blood Simple. But the actual framework of the story is still the same. There’s an unhappy woman, cheating on her abusive husband who finds out and decides to hire an assassin to resolve the issue. There are very dark undertones amidst the Comedy of Errors. I liked how the story progressed neatly and in such a visually stunning manner. I loved the homages to the original movie. The moments of tension are there but are lessened due to the wacky quality. I found the movie interesting overall and would say there were enough good elements to make it worth watching. But the full effect was diminished somewhat by the strange comedic tone Zhang Yimou decided to take. I wasn’t sure if it was how he interpreted the off-kilter humor of the Coen Brothers as seen in Raising Arizona, O Brother, Where Art Thou and the like. Maybe the Chinese translations of Holly Hunter, Nick Cage and George Clooney and company come off as clownish. Anyway, I had to see it because Zhang Yimou is a talented filmmaker who knows how to create lasting images and convey relatable characters and stories. Add that to it being his interpretation of Blood Simple. So, I can see why critics are panning it because of the off-putting qualities of the characters – they dress goofy, they look goofy with unflattering hairstyles and such and they act goofy. But the look of the movie is flabbergastingly beautiful and worth taking in. And through the unevenness, I can see a decent movie. The noodle-making scene is fun and captivating. I also wanted to eat those noodles ASAP. The historical details are also charming like how one character lights his pipe using cotton and a flint stone. Those details stayed with me and made me see how more of these elements could add richness to the movie.

The American
I went into The American knowing the director of the memorable Control about Joy Division would give me something to think about. This is a lean movie reminiscent of spare New Wave cinema. It also has that direct realism of 1960s Japanese cinema. One fellow Pop Culture Addict said it reminded her of Jean Pierre Melville’s Le Samurai. Another said it reminded him of Jim Jarmusch’ The Limits of Control. I agree with both. It is a story about a less than moral man with a strict code of living. The story is a reflection of violence through one man’s eye and also as an audience member. It is beautifully shot as I would expect from the discerning eyes of Anton Corbijn. I have his Work of the Director dvd with a collection of music videos and other work. I am impressed by his movie work as well. The American is based on a book entitled A Very Private Gentleman, The source material is interesting but seems to have a slight sentimental bent that borders on being a tad too much in the movie. But overall, I found the movie to be an artful, terse yet somehow languorous look at a life not well-lived. The presence of Thekla Reuten certainly made me think of In Bruges. She was also in Lost as an assassin. Both seemed relevant to the way I watched The American.

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My favorite NY film fest is going on right now! The New York Asian Film Festival 2010 is playing at NY Film Society and Japan Society.

I guess I will go chronologically. Well let me say my favorite movie and then go in order viewed because I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen.

Ip Man 2
Ip Man was my favorite movie from the fest last year. Donnie Yen embodies this wing chung master, famously Bruce Lee’s teacher, with grace, strength and incredible technique. Donnie Yen is best known from Iron Monkey. He is a star. Ip Man 2 has these over-acting British bad guys vilified like you’ve never seen. It is over the top and unnecessary but the audience knew it was building up to the most needed Ip Man/Donnie Yen kickass moment. There are so many excellent fight scenes expertly choreographed and at times executed by the great Sammo Hung.

NOTE: I will wait until the fest is over before finishing this post. But I wanted to prove that I am still here!

What I’ve seen so far:

Cow
Crazy Racer
Kung Fu Chefs
Bodyguards and Assassins w/Development Hell
Boys on the Run
Annyong Yumika
Confessions
Little Big Soldier
Secret Reunion
Symbol
Red Cliff Uncut

I took time off from the fest to see a play and a non-Asian movie:

Shakespeare in the Park: The Winter’s Tale
Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I also saw Knight and Day before the fest started.

I am excited that Man Shops Globe Season 2 has started!

So to be continued…

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Toy Story 3
As a Pixar fan, I was really happy when they resolved their contentious lawsuit with Disney and were given free and complete reign over Disney Animation. I would not have been able to support a Disney-only driven Toy Story 3. Pixar doesn’t put out anything they don’t lovingly and arduously create with their full attention. That Disney version of Toy Story 3 would’ve been a betrayal to the Pixar legend and not at all created on the same caliber as other Pixar movies. Last fall, I saw the special double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. While I had had fond memories of the movies from the first time around, I was still thrilled to my core by how awesome these movies were.

Toy Story 3 lived up to my incredibly high expectations. I saw it in IMAX 3D. All enhancements were taken advantage of by the Pixar team. The visuals sparkle with joy and detail. The story is charming, engaging and universal. It is a great end to a now classic trilogy. Having it end with Andy having to decide what to do with his toys/exploring the fate of his beloved toys as he prepares to leave home for college, is a brilliant move. The theater was sold out with an audience heavy on the little ones but still ranging across all ages. The movie appeals to all.

Winter’s Bone
I didn’t know much about Winter’s Bone except it was set in the Ozarks and that it had a lot of critical acclaim. I was blown away. From beginning to end I was captivated. It’s based on a book by the same name, Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell. After seeing the movie, I’m interested in reading the book. However, I think the filmmaker Debra Granik and her cohorts made a great adaptation. The story follows a 17-year old girl, Ree Dolly, who is the caretaker of her younger siblings and incapacitated mother. The kicker is her father is an AWOL criminal, part of the extended family’s meth ring. Ree’s family is destitute, living on the kindness of strangers and her scrappiness. The extended family doesn’t look any better off although they offer help in their own unique way to Ree as she searches for her father in order to preserve what little the family has. It’s a mystery, drama and thriller that reminded me of Justified, Breaking Bad and The Sopranos. I am a big fan of all three shows so Winter’s Bone was a big hit with me. John Hawkes shines as Ree’s uncle Teardrop. He is miserable and terrifying but full of regret and loyalty. I recognized his face from Eastbound and Down but his dramatic work was nothing like his character on that comedy. It was a pleasant surprise that Debra Granik, John Hawkes and singer Marideth Sisco conducted a Q&A afterwards. Marideth Sisco spoke a lot to the verisimilitude of the story to life in the Ozarks while Debra Granik made it clear that the meth culture is a just a piece of the culture relayed by the book Winter’s Bone and not a generalization of life in the Ozarks. It definitely felt like a slice of a particular life. The bluegrass music was very appealing and seemed like a light in a dark lifestyle. The soundtrack is going to be made available and is worth investigating.

Shakespeare in the Park: Merchant of Venice
Waiting forever for free vouchers for tickets to Shakespeare in the Park is a quintessential New York experience. It’s oddly labor-intensive in that passive way. You just have to awaken the nerd in you to motivate to plan it right. Think of when people lined up for Star Wars Ep 1. It’s like that but in a different way. The intensity of people’s motivation is also influenced by the star factor. Last year, Anne Hathaway made her theater debut in 12th Night. This year, Al Pacino is reprising his role as Shylock as he performed in the movie Merchant of Venice a short while back. So I trekked out the morning of the show extra early knowing people would be motivated to stand/sit in line for hours on end to see Al live. Anyway, my efforts worked out. It looked overcast but the weather cooperated. The set was interesting. The coolest part was sitting outside, watching the play as the day went from evening to night. It was actually the debut of Merchant of Venice because the first show had been rained out so the cast was palpably excited to perform it for an audience. We were the lucky recipients of this great energy. Al Pacino was astounding as one would expect. The actual storyline is tough to process. Shylock gets berated and abused by almost every character in the play. I can’t believe Merchant of Venice was performed as a comedy during Shakespeare’s time. The comedy part is certainly a different play. I think the Public Theater interpreted the play to be a moral tale about intolerance and persecution more in line with modern thinking. But the undertones of racism are still there. It’s hard to reconcile the gravity of Shylock’s tale with the levity put into the other storyline. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive effort by the Public Theater. They are performing in repertory this summer alternating performances of Merchant of Venice and A Winter’s Tale. So my next endeavor is to see A Winter’s Tale.

Also, the other interesting aspect of seeing Shakespeare live is hearing phrases that are so famous we hardly know their origin at this point or their most famous usages. My brain doesn’t necessarily hold on to every word I read in high school English. So watching live performers say the words is almost rattling. Let me think of what stood out.

-All the glitters is not gold.
-I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,-
A stage, where every man must play a part;
And mine a sad one.
-In the twinkling of an eye…
-Love is blind…

The most famous are:

If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

And of course “a pound of flesh.”

This is a famous phrase. I will just quote myself below:

Added 10/04:Origin of “a pound of flesh”
Here is a more thorough explanation of the origin of the phrase “a pound of flesh” which may be traced back to the Merchant of Venice which was written in the late 1500’s. Shakespeare was thought to have based Merchant partly on a parable about a creditor (with issues) who demands a pound of flesh as payment.

Antonio is the merchant in question who is, at the beginning of the tale, awaiting his ships to return full of merchandise. He is also quick to lend money to his friend Bassanio whenever asked. So, to help Bassanio get the girl of his dreams, Portia, Antonio gets a loan from Shylock knowing that shortly his ships will return and he’ll be flush again. Shylock does not like Antonio because he has not been kind or respectful to him in the past (Antonio has spit at Shylock and called him “dog”) and they are sort of business rivals. Both lend out money but Shylock lends money with high interest while Antonio doesn’t ask for any interest at all. So, Shylock will only lend him the dough with the condition that if it is not paid back in time, Antonio will owe him, Shylock, a pound of flesh.

Shylock says, “…if he should break this day, what should I gain by the exaction of the forfeiture? A pound of man’s flesh, taken from a man, is not so estimable, nor profitable neither, as the flesh of mutton or beef. I say, to buy his favour I offer this friendship: if he will take it, so; if not, adieu.”

Of course, it turns out that Antonio’s business goes bust and Shylock demands his pound of flesh. Even when Bassanio offers to pay back the debt, Shylock insists on Antonio fulfilling the debt himself. There is a trial, and Portia, disguised as a man, acts as Antonio’s lawyer. She is able to lessen the debt to a pound of flesh as long as there’s no blood taken – an impossibility. Also, it is determined that a pound of flesh could not be taken without taking Antonio’s life so Shylock is charged with attempted murder. He gets off but not without having to convert religions (from Judaism to Christianity) and give away all of his money.

So that leaves us once again with the phrase “a pound of flesh” referring to the heavy price of something and also thinking about how both Shylock and Antonio are flawed. But that’s a whole other essay for another time and place.

Added 4/05:
The source: More about the origin of “A Pound of Flesh”
How I came across it: Many thanks to Deborah Soloway for the following contribution from 3/05:

“I work in the field of bankruptcy law and teach to paralegal students. Our textbook, Basic Bankruptcy Law for Paralegals (5th ed. 2004) David L. Buchbinder (Aspen Publishers), contains a short history of bankruptcy law and a discussion of historic systems. Roman republican law allowed a group of creditors to exhibit a debtor in the forum for three days and, if his debts were not redeemed/paid by his friends & family, divide him up into multiple pieces in satisfaction of the debts. There is also evidence that creditors could divide up a corpse and effectively hold the pieces for ransom, since Roman religious practice required the body to remain whole to enter the afterlife. I haven’t read the source material cited by Buchbinder, but I know one of the authors as an able scholar.

I wonder if this might be the original significance of the “pound of flesh”?

Note: I don’t know. But it seems worth noting for further thought and research. Thanks again for letting me post your comment!

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I had the best intentions to go to Film Forum to see the restored print of Breathless this weekend but I’ll have to do it during the week before it closes. But I had a fun week.

Conan O’Brien: The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour
First I went to see Conan at Radio City.

The whole experience was fun. It was a self-selected crowd all a-tingle with excitement.

I waffled on getting a shirt but then I learned part of the proceeds were going to charity which mitigated it for me. I like how my experimental picture came out of my shirt:

Even the opening act was fun and funny contrary to my expectations: Reggie Watts. So that set the mood properly. Then Andy Richter’s voice came on to introduce Conan. Basically, the show was tailor-made to entertain fans of the show. He took his favorite bits and fan favorites and showcased them. He threw in a couple of songs – On the Road Again, The Weight (as an encore) but no Hunk of Burning Love (I missed that). The band (everyone except Max) played through songs rather than just segues. I loved seeing Andy again. You cannot see a blessed thing in this picture but I took it when Conan came on stage in a purple suit worn by Eddie Murphy in Raw. Andy is standing next to him. My view was better than the picture suggests. My camera was not the highest quality. But I wanted to capture the moment. I caught the purpleness of it at least.

Conan made geographically topical comments and jokes about being back in NYC and so close to Rockefeller Center. There was great warmth in the air. He and his crew seemed to be there to show gratitude to the fans and were genuine in their desire to entertain. I had read reviews of the show so I knew there would be an appearance by Triumph via pre-recorded video. The notorious bear got a makeover into a panda. The Walker, Texas Ranger lever was re-named to something and still evoked the biggest laughs. This is when his guest stars came out. Let me think. Maybe they started beforehand. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart did a silly but boisterous skit involving a dance-off. Vampire Weekend performed a song with Conan playing along. Bill Hader, John Krasinski and Paul Rudd all got to pull the lever. Conan showed his favorite clip of a tiny Haley Joel Osment on Walker, Texas Ranger. It was all very satisfying.

Splice
I had already planned on seeing Splice this weekend but then while I was waiting in line for Conan, I got a free pass. Score! If you don’t know, Splice is about two geneticists played by the very hip Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody who create a creature mixing 10 kinds of animals with human DNA. The trailer suggests it might be horror film but it turned out to be pretty straight-forward sort of Michael Crichton-ish. The science isn’t terribly outlandish. I mean, many cinematic and fictional liberties are taken for entertainment value but it follows a natural development of relationship with the creature. I haven’t seen Adrien Brody in a while and had forgotten how engaging he is on screen. Plus, he got the coolest wardrobe and he wore it well. Sarah Polley seems to have been focusing on her directing career recently. But it was nice to see her again. Some of the creations reminded me of eXistenZ which Sarah Polley was also in but it didn’t quite reach the brilliance of David Cronenberg. Still, it was an entertaining movie. It was more of a sci-fi thriller than horror movie. The main genetically spliced creation was eerily embodied by the the child actor and adult actor who played it. As an audience member, I formed a relationship with it/her as the scientists did on screen. It got a bit outrageous at the end. Also, the plot twists were fun but fairly easy to see from afar. I don’t need to be endlessly surprised so that wasn’t necessarily a negative. Overall, it was a decent watch.

Get Him to the Greek
I got a kick out of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Russell Brand is pretty funny during his late night appearances. Also, I saw his stand up once and found him funny. He has an interesting approach that teeters on the edge but he seems to have a good sense of what’s funny and is always willing to make fun of himself. On the dvd extras of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, they talked about how good Russell Brand’s improv skills were and also showed clips of him riffing. So I saw promise in the idea of a movie that focused on his character, Aldous Snow. The trailer is pretty funny. But it made me wonder if it was one of the trailers where the funniest bits are squeezed into those 3 minutes while the rest of the movie is just so-so. My expectations were tempered so I was pleasantly surprised by the relative substance of the movie. I mean, it’s not particularly deep but I laughed a lot and would watch it again.

Toy Story 3
I’m so excited to see Toy Story 3 but it doesn’t open until June 18th. I have hope for The A-Team which opens this week.

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The Messenger
I had wanted to see The Messenger in the theater but it didn’t play for very long. Or I just missed the window of opportunity. Anyway, I watched it on dvd. I had already expected Woody Harrelson to be good. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ben Foster. No, that’s not true. I was worried that he was going to be over-the-top and play a character like his 3:10 to Yuma/Hostage ones. But actually, he demonstrated restraint and believability in The Messenger. I didn’t dislike his acting in those other movies but I felt like he had more range than that and was wondering if he’d take other types of roles. Anyway, I’d been meaning to watch The Messenger since it came out but knowing the subject matter, it’s about two soldiers assigned to notifying next of kin about their loved ones’ deaths, I was waiting for the right time. Memorial Day seemed like a fitting time. It certainly lived up to my expectations. It’s thoughtful, it’s well-acted, the story is respectful and well-crafted. It’s a full movie that shows these characters dealing with enormously difficult situations. I also really appreciated the documentary that’s on the special features called Notification. It seems like it would be hard to watch but it was touching and interesting as it shows interviews with family members who have had the experience of being notified and soldiers who have had the experience of having to notify next of kins and providing the follow up assistance to families. I highly recommend the movie. I learned from the extras is that only the last story/notification was based on a true story the filmmakers had read about. The others ones were fictional accounts. Also, yes, they had the support of the military and they received positive feedback from soldiers and vets. Oren Moverman said he had not spoken to the ones who didn’t like the movie so he didn’t have their feedback to share.

Ossos
My fellow Pop Culture Addicts gifted me with Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa saying they had heard they were good movies but had not seen them yet. I had not heard of Pedro Costa or the movies but was intrigued. Criterion typically doesn’t put effort into packaging movies that haven’t been lauded for some reason or another. So, I started at the beginning and watched the first of the trio, Ossos. It means “bones” in Portugese. Fountainhas is the area of Lisbon in which the characters live and the movies take place for the most part. It is an impoverished area of Lisbon. The movies are present-day but they seem period because poverty never seems contemporary. What I noticed first was that every image was striking, beautiful almost. It’s a series of beautiful images. Is that enough to make a movie? It took 30 minutes before I was grabbed by the story which starts as soon as the movie begins but doesn’t quite reach the point where I care until this scene in the hospital with the young father falling flat on his face on the floor. But at this point in the movie, I had to go back to the beginning and fastforward through it all to re-watch it to make sure I had caught everything. It is about a young mother who comes out of the hospital, picked up by her friend, abandoned by her boyfriend. The boyfriend/father is introduced even before the mother. He enters the scene and is destitute, desperate, yet seemingly paternal until you see what he does and and asks for in terms of help. The deadpan feel of the movie made me think of Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise, etc.) and Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine for one). As I’ve read about Pedro Costa, I’ve learned he’s compared to Robert Bresson who was a photographer at first before becoming a filmmaker. He was known for his pared down scenes with actors conveying the emotion of the scene and environment in the starkest of ways. Yes, that is what Ossos is like, bare, stark, minimalistic. BUT, the colors are rich. The images are deliberately framed and cinematic. Very Truffaut. Stark but beautiful to look at. I actually spaced out while watching it because I became hypnotized or something by the slow, deliberate pace. As I said earlier, at that 30 minute mark, I was shocked into motion and actually went back to the beginning and fastforwarded through all of the images to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I hadn’t but it’s put together in such a such a way that when something actually happens, it gives you pause and makes you question whether you just saw something happen or if it was a mirage. I will watch the next movie sometime in the future. I did notice that Pedro Costa made Ossos a very reasonable 97 minutes but the next two movies become increasingly longer. 157 minutes is a long time to watch a painting-like movie. So what am I saying in this review? I’m glad I watched Ossos. It showed me a world I didn’t know about and would have never seen otherwise. It shows these characters moving through their lives trying to make ends meet, trying to care for themselves and others. It also made me think about Hunger which is a very visual experience of a movie. I’ve said of Hunger that it is a movie I recommend but I will never watch it again because it was so gut-wrenching. I would watch Ossos again because while the story matter is bleak, there is still a distance from the pain of the characters. So I could see it again to look at the angles and study the performances. Hunger just took it out of me. It was so up-close and visceral.

All Together Now
I am sure I’ve mentioned the Beatles/Cirque du Soleil documentary All Together Now before because I watched it a while back but I watched it again recently and had to comment on it. What a fantastic documentary. I am a Beatles fan but I wouldn’t say I am a Cirque du Soleil fan. I appreciate the artistry of the individuals in the troupe and performances. But it’s just not to my taste. Too New Age-y. However, Love is the one show I actively want to see. I think it’s closed in Vegas now but if it every comes to NYC, I will go. I already got the album the second it was available. Let me find my review of that.

This album, Love, is fantastic! Forget the Grey Album, this album has the Beatles mixed with…the Beatles. Love it! And it is mixed by George Martin, who, with his Beatles’ credentials, had access to recordings of versions of Fab Four songs previously unheard by the public. He worked on it with his son Giles. I admit I’ve had my doubts about Cirque du Soleil being my cup of tea. I saw one show awhile back and was impressed by their acrobatics but wasn’t quite feeling the new age vibe. I was agreeing with the Simpsons rendition of Cirque du Soleil, if you remember that or was it on South Park – both had parodies. But this show, Love, looks great. I saw a special on the premiere on E!, and it was very moving because Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, her son Julian Lennon, Olivia Harrison, son Dhani and George Martin were in attendance. Also, I saw, and maybe you did too, Cirque du Soleil performing a scene from Love on the Tonight Show. It actually looked really good. Right now it is only playing in Vegas.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that, according to the liner notes, George Martin and son mixed together 135 songs into 26 tracks. So cool.

24
So 24 is over. I watched it from the first jaw-dropping episode in Season 1 till the middle of Season 8. Then I felt compelled to watch the series finale. I know I missed a lot of hard decisions, violent scenes and political tragedies. But I’m glad I made the effort to watch the last 2 hours of the show. I think I stopped watching 24 this season because I felt like my tv plate was full and it was getting to be hard to take the strife of Jack Bauer’s existence. Why was it so hard? After all these years, why did people still doubt his analyses of difficult situations? Why did people still not trust in Chloe O’Brian when she has proven time and time again that she is always the smartest and most capable person in the room? But it all came together in the finale. People’s loyalties remained true, especially Jack and Chloe’s. I was shocked to see where Cherry Jones’ President Taylor had found herself. But she did the right thing in the end. And there is definitely room left for the promised 24 movie to be filmed in London sometime in the near future.

Lost
I wrote about Lost last week before I saw the series finale. It was very divisive at the end of the season. Fellow Lost fans were either on board or completely turned off. A fellow Pop Culture Addict said she watched the finale with a group of 10 and 8 of them hated it. I was satisfied by how it ended. I’m still processing it but as I think about it, I find interesting things to think about. I just read how Jorge Garcia’s little dog Nunu was hit fatally by a car yesterday. So sad. Along with many other Lost fans, I really got to know Nunu as the third podcaster in Geronimo Jack’s Beard. So sad but I think Nunu was loved and had a great life.

Treme/Justified
Treme and Justified keep going strong. Party Down is also holding up. I see that a handful of my shows are starting soon: True Blood, Burn Notice, Leverage, White Collar and Eureka. My Boys is coming back too. So I’m looking forward to all of those.

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