Cysfilm

Valentines Day Movie Options on Netflix

My favorite romantic film of all time is Dr. Zhivago. I’m heavily biased towards E. European/Russian themes but I still think many people will agree that it’s one of the greats. It’s long though, be ready. (Oh Laura)

If you’re feeling weary of romantic love and looking for an antidote then you should probably just go straight for the strong stuff and watch Kramer vs. Kramer. Problem solved.

If you’d rather not commit to either extreme then I suggest In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai. You’ll survive it no matter where you stand; in or out of love. It’s a beautiful movie.

All are streaming on Netflix.

A trailer for Dr. Zhivago:

Really?

My jaw dropped when I opened this box and saw how much packing material was used to ship two little stacks of blank DVDs. How can this be?.

Interesting Website

An interesting multimedia website about the war in Afghanistan. Thanks to Art Neill at NMR for sending the link.

ONE-EIGHT BASETRACK

New Stuff on Netflix

A Prophet is now available on Netflix (streaming and DVD). It’s a French crime/prison film. It’s damn good, promise.

Black Swan

Black Swan is a visually striking, tightly structured, high tempo melodrama about an ambitious but sensually naïve ballerina’s ascent to the top spot. The story, which was written by four men and directed by another one, is a male fantasy of what happens when a young, beautiful and well-behaved woman releases her Id to please her virile young director and for the consumption of her dance loving audience. Nina, played by Natalie Portman, lives in a cloistered apartment with her controlling over-the-hill-dancer mother. She sleeps on childish pink bedding while Mom strokes her hair, a music box pings tinny notes and a porcelain ballerina turns. This is probably the weakest part of the film since their mother-daughter relationship is an on-the-nose stereotype but considering the tradition of melodrama the film belongs to, probably not a big deal.

Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Requim for a Dream) puts enormous faith in Portman’s acting skills since much of the story is told in close up on her. Nina’s desires stream through Portman’s face so authentically it will make you wonder about Portman’s own experiences as an actress and her similarities to the character. It’s also interesting that Portman’s real mother is, like her character’s mother, an artist who is heavily invested in her daughter’s career. This might be turf that Portman really really knows. I guess that’s why the simplicity of Nina’s relationship with her Mom, or better yet the predictability, is kind of disappointing. But I’m harping on a little thing.

Vincent Cassel isn’t bad as Thomas Leroy, the ballet’s director and puppet master, but I blame Aronofsky and Portman that he isn’t better. Aronofsky let him slide in some scenes that he looked a little lost in and Portman is so good that someone is bound to look bad next to her. High marks to Mila Kunis, who we know from “That 70s Show” for holding her own next to Portman in full bloom. Black Swan is a top shelf melodrama.

Bush League: Voice Over

These papers are about one third the total it took to draft out the final voice over for Bush League. I never thought it would be this much work to hone it down. I reworked the opening during the holidays to make the first act more accessible and had to reopen this can of worms. Filmmaking is really hard but I never imagined I could love something this much. But what a pain in the ass. Really.

A Few More Photos

These are from Venezuela 2010:

and one from Tel Aviv:

Street Photographer Vivian Maier

Here’s a great little video about a street photographer from Chicago named Vivian Maier who worked as a nanny but spent all her free time shooting street photos. Amazing street photos:

(Thanks Hani)

Trucker Buddy

There are some people in life who you meet and you can’t and don’t know why but you just love them right off the bat – that’s how I feel about my friend Danny Kupkie. He and I worked in Iraq for almost two years together. At that time he was putting a lot of his income into his heavy haul trucking business back in Illinois while I was working to pay off my student loans. As I got to know him I also heard a lot about the Peterbilt truck he had back home. He told me that it had gold flake paint and custom 9/11 murals on three sides, which I found impressive. I got to see him and his truck when he was passing through San Diego last spring, which resulted in the video below.

Danny is headed out to Afghanistan this month to work. I’m wishing him success and a VERY safe return.

More photos from Venezuela and the Revolution Will Not be Televised

The man with the sugarcane is in an area called Los Llanos in the SW of Venezuela. It’s an expansive plain veined with wetlands, there are giant rodents called capybaras, snakes, piranha, fresh water dolphins, cayman and birds birds birds. The dog is in Caracas, poor devil, that’s a tough town even if you have teeth. The flowers are on the road going from Los Llanos toward the Andes. Three weeks and at least a thousand miles by car around Venezuela and we didn’t bump into Hugo Chavez once. I would have liked to.

The Revolution Will Not be Televised is a documentary film about Chavez and the coup that temporarily took him out of office in 2002. It captures his overthrow from inside the president’s mansion, which is an incredible filmmaking feat. But the most important part concerns the Venezuelan people’s reaction to his removal, which is stunningly democratic. Less directly, it’s a comment on the American popular narrative of Venezuela and the willful misinformation campaign(s) that shape it. Man we get some whack information here. I actually thought he was a dictator until I went. That said, don’t listen to Oliver Stone or Sean Penn either.

Unfortunately it’s not available on Netflix or available on Amazon but you can watch the whole thing free here.

And here’s a YouTube clip: