Tag: movie

Inside Out

I’m excited about djing at the Opening Gala Party of Toronto’s Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival, Inside Out.

The shindigs go down this Thursday, May 15. I’ll be spinning from 10 to midnight. Come early and have some fun. Rory Them Finest takes over after 12, so we’ll keep on dancing. Bring your pointe shoes and join us at Canada’s National Ballet School, 400 Jarvis Street (south of Wellesley Street East).

One of the movies I’m looking forward to see is Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell. The documentary is screening on Sunday, May 18. Get your tickets.

Cannes 61

Charlie Kaufman is also in the running with his directorial debut Synecdoche, New York – which sees Philip Seymour Hoffman attempting to build a life-size model of the Big Apple.

Kung Fu Panda, an animated comedy from Dreamworks with a voice cast boasting Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu and Dustin Hoffman, will also premiere on Cannes’ famous Croisette. (source)

For all those who aren’t AP English professors, a “synecdoche,” other than a clever play on Schenectady, where some of the film takes place, is a figure of speech in which a part is used to describe the whole or the whole is used to describe a part (think “threads” for clothes, or “the law” for a police officer). It’s representative shorthand. (source)

I’m a little bit excited about the Charlie Kaufman movie mainly because I liked his screenplay for Human Nature, directed by Michel Gondry. Watch the trailer below.

Hail

Saw “Hail the New Puritan” by Charles Atlas (who was in attendance and did a Q&A) last week. He also did the Leigh Bowery documentary.
Hail is a fantasy documentary about a day in the life of Michael Clark and friends, shot in 1985. I especially enjoyed the parts of the movie where variations of a scene repeated itself and also where wild cuts intersected the narrative. There is a little bit of both in the opening scene below.

Juno

The last movie I saw in 2007 was Juno.
The comedy about a teenage pregnancy was written by an ex-stripper and features very witty dialogs. There is a lot of Canadian involvement: the director, the lead roles and the film is shot in and around Vancouver. One of my favourite scenes is when Juno MacGuff’s step mom tells off the ultrasound technician for her snarky remarks.
Basically, the movie made me feel like I wanted to be a 16 year old preggo girl.

Watch the trailer
Interview with Ellen Paige (Juno MacGuff) at rottentomatoes.com

Juno and her best friend

Syndromes

Syndromes and a Century

I know I’m late to the party, but anyway.
I missed Syndromes and a Century when it showed at the Tiff in 2006. So much has been written about the film, it is on so many top ten lists… It took over a year until the movie by Apichatpong Weerasethakul was screened in Toronto again. I finally saw it last weekend.

Sometimes I think all movies should have two halves. The first half of Syndromes is set in a rural hospital in Thailand, maybe in the 70ties, the second part at a modern day, urban clinic. Both halves begin with a job interview of a new doctor and almost the same dialog.

You might think you slipped through a wormhole while watching the film or was the narrative just mirrored? Is the total eclipse of the sun the first parts version of a black intake vent sucking up smoke in the later part?
The next time, I want the see Syndromes backwards. Back and forth through the wormhole. This should provide the full experience.

And there is the subtle and sometimes absurd humor of a drunken tv doctor, the gay monk who wants to be a dj, the orchid expert. The camera does not move a lot and I guess that adds to the calmness the movie conveys.
If you have a chance to see Syndromes and a Century, don’t hesitate.

More:
Filmmaker’s website incl. Behind the scenes
NYT review
Reverse shot

poster