the piano teacher (2001). directed by micheal haneke.

perhaps the black swan will win tonight. it will be shown on tv at 2am, sudan time, which is 7am malaysia time. i am not staying up for that. i have a review with my seniors, yawn really, but necessary for me to attend. so i need my beauty sleep.

in a way these two movies are similar - a tale of sacrifice for art and how far does one willing to enslave oneself for it, that it changes you into someone else. the demands art makes on them physically and emotionally is combustible - it is a world rife with competition, jealousy and intrigues. no one is ever good enough. and everyone is always on the verge of a mental breakdown. perhaps we've never seen a real life example - but what kind of an environment could have produced such destructive forces in otherwise creative individuals?

the protagonist in the piano teacher is a music teacher who teaches schumann and schubert and is very strict in her methods, punishing students to spare them from feeling "not good enough". she is unfriendly, as if she had been wronged in the past. her mother is a creature of constant criticism, as if demanding her to achieve an ideal that is not human. despite the facade of propriety,  she visits sex shops and watches couples having sex to get sexual pleasure. the neat division in her life crumbles with the arrival of a male student who openly flirts with her, as if challenging her authority. the relationship tilts the power balance she holds dearly all this while - the virgin vs. the human needs - as if not sure how to react - she fights the demons of sexual fantasy and reality with equal fierceness. this is a person who has no outlet, but under constant pressure to be perfect - professionally and personally. she is bound to crack, someday, some way. the story ends with her sticking a knife to herself - signifying the pain she felt when the student walks away from their liaison.

needless to say, the movie has many shocking scenes that involve sadomasochistic acts that does not pass NC-17 rating. in my mind, french films is often shot in such a way that involved the audience more closely than hollywood films - and thus, i often feel too close for comfort with the characters. it is an uneasy feeling when you start to feel - you are them, and can be them.

i wonder how the black swan would fare with the piano teacher in mind.

the secret lives of dentists (2002). directed by alan rudolph.

we imagine crazy things in moments of anger, jealousy; emotions, just to name a few. when angry at a spouse, we imagine not talking to them for days in the hope that they would notice and ask us first, what is wrong. we do that to friends, to family, to parents. we want to be noticed, to be acknowledged. it is part of being loved.

this is one of my favorite stories. it is obvious now that i have too many favorites. it's a story of a family man who suspects his wife of infidelity, while he has no credible proof of it, he is haunted by immense jealousy. both of them are dentists who work at a thriving practice. he sways between wanting to believe that nothing really happened, at the same time the feeling of rage is eating him alive - and made worse by a mysterious alter ego who is determined to feed his suspicions.

i like it that the movie is shot in a domestic setting - such that - this person who is experiencing tumultuous emotions of a possible betrayal - had to deal with bringing up three little girls and all the issues associated with making a family and a marriage work. he has no luxury of time and space to speak to his wife about his suspicions which is fast turning into an obsession - with both of them working, the children sick, and the youngest girl being overly attached to him. he has no choice but hide his anger when around the family. he wants her to talk to him about it - dropping hints here and there - but no reaction whatsoever.

the point is - if you have something in your mind, spill it out, now.

i like the nuanced performance by campbell scott and hope davis - watching this movie is like having a camera in front of a family facing family challenges - like all families out there do, everyday. there is one scene in which the family falls sick one by one, the parents were at their wits end trying to hold everything together. when the children finally recover, it's their turn to get sick. a more recent film that explores the same theme, blue valentine (2010) arrives to a bleaker conclusion - that a struggling relationship can not work against a mountain of difficulties in the face of domestic demands.

i prefer to think, that despite anything, if we work hard enough, and still want the same things at the end of the day, we can work it out. i like this story - it's about two people who want the same things, despite everything. i find that comforting.

my sister's keeper (2009). directed by nick cassavetes.

i stay clear of jodi picoult's books whenever i visit bookstores. i am not a fan of lengthy tearjerker novels - at one point of my reading, i would like the book to end. and novels like that - seemed endless. you really need a lot of patience to finish them.

saturday is a sunday here. i woke up late, and called my sisters who were out shopping for a mobile phone. earlier this month i gave her some money for her birthday to get a new phone. she sounded different, her voice is. they went to tesco in shah alam - even that sounds like loads of fun. i had a shower, and watched some tv. there were the curious case of benjamin button (2008) and my sister's keeper (2009). i've watched the former, so i decided for the latter. the former is philosophical about loss, grief and living - i watched it last year. it was a bad move watching the latter. i became a fire hydrant. tears flowed like there is no tomorrow.

i guess i just missed my sisters.

pro-life vs pro-choice? right now i would say pro-choice, but then i don't have a child with cancer. perhaps i will turn into sara and do just about anything to save my child's life. we see the effect of sickness and grief on a family - attention is unfairly divided to the sick child than the healthy siblings and the spouse. the cast is great - good performance from cameron diaz, joan cusack and alec baldwin. the story is well paced and does not trap itself in over melodrama. i wouldn't have cried if it's obviously toying with my waterworks - because it doesn't - it is merely asking a question - what will you do in times like this?

the professional (1994). directed by luc besson.

i haven't watch the (in)famous black swan (2010). why infamous? i avoid watching movies when they sound too big for their own good. takes away the mystery about them. i like not knowing what is in store - the less hype, the better. perhaps i will watch it next year, after the oscar fever has blown over.

natalie portman made her acting debut in this film, she was only 13 playing the 12 years old mathilda, opposite jean reno as leon, a hit man who lived next to her family's apartment. he's a child in a grown man's body, while killing people for money is a day job; he is child-like, has a penchant for gene kelly and excruciatingly lonely. mathilda is a grown woman in a teenager's body, responsible far beyond her years. she does the family shopping and takes care of her little brother. her family is a wreck; her father beats her and deals in drugs for the family's income. they are the epitome of middle income city folks and their unseen poverty - a large family stuck in a run down apartment constantly tight for money, temper and tension holding the background. this film is graced by the chameleon actor gary oldman, who plays the maniacally sadistic stansfield, a dirty cop who rampages mathilda's home, killing everybody in pursuit of the drugs held by her father. she narrowly missed being killed, and swears to avenge her family. hence began the uneasy relationship between mathilda and leon.

this film was heavily criticized by US audience due to the pedophilia element suggested by mathilda and leon's relationship. there is no sex scene between them, should anyone wonder. personally i think they missed the point. this is a story of two people who gets to live their life as they supposed to be - a lonely man who gets to grow up, be responsible and feel love when a child enters his life - in short, he gets to be an adult; and a child who gets to be a child because she is free from having to shoulder adult responsibilities in her young life. watch out for the scene in which both of them were playing a guessing game - it is like watching two children playing - though only one of them is a child, the other is a grown up who had not lived his childhood fully (or relieving his childhood?). i love the soundtrack, it is sad like a premonition that all is going to end badly, but it is hopeful at the same time. i love the camera work, and the acting is top notch. a less capable child actor than portman would not live up to the maturity demanded by this role.

it is not a surprise that portman is well on her way to win an oscar.

dead ringers (1988). directed by david cronenberg.

i watched this movie once a year. it's a ritual thing. i like the nonsensical things about people, and in this film, about a pair of identical twin gynecologist brothers (both men played by jeremy irons) who were co-dependent like they were attached to one body. one of them became involved with an actress and as the relationship grows, he tried to get away from his brother - to be on his own and be his own man. despite wanting independence, he grew restless at the prospect of being away from his brother, both of them degrade into limbo because breaking up is so hard to do. i know all of this is perhaps a bit too dramatic - but it is a metaphor of co-dependency - when you are too attached to something or someone, and perhaps it is no longer good for you, but you just can't leave. this film explores the complex psychology behind unhealthy co-dependency in any relationship - why they are in it, why they can't leave and how identities tend to dissolve in a relationship. are we still our own person?

count on cronenberg to make it as graphic and nightmarish as possible, but it is worth the horror. one of the most outstanding role played perfectly by jeremy irons. one man - two persons - regal, broken, in love, fear. all into one. 

creepy fact - this film is loosely based on actual events, the double death by barbiturate withdrawal of identical twin gynecologist brothers stewart and cyril marcus in new york city, 1975. read here.

400th post! ay yay yay!

eastern promises (2007). directed by david cronenberg.

one of my favorite actors has got to be viggo mortensen. i like his quiet every man quality, seen in many other films, notably in the lord of rings trilogy (2001-2003). eastern promises explores the meaning behind the word "human trafficking". for every crimes and shady deals, they are all done under the veneer of respectability that lulls everyone into thinking anything less than fishy. i like the pace of this story, the character development and yeah, there are gay gangsters out there! this is not a political thriller - thank goodness, i am overwhelmed with the amount of political films hollywood had been churning out these past couple of years. i am less convinced of how convicted they are which makes the issue at hand seemed - trivial.

boiling point (1990). directed by takeshi kitano.

i am not a big fan of yasmin ahmad's films. i am not big of her technique, the long immobile shots and in some parts, i feel that she could have edited more, but chose not to. my brother asked me, after watching this movie, which also experimented with immobile shots and out-of-context scenes imposed suddenly on the audience, why is it we, malaysian audience, accepted what kitano did, which is the same exact thing as what ahmad did, only he did it way earlier than ahmad. so he set the precedent. 

this is my answer. i accepted kitano's novel (at that time) movie making technique because i think it is a different culture, so perhaps that's how they do things over there in japan. i am not familiar with their culture so i decided not to challenge what he did and just accept his unconventional story telling. thinking that i know my culture in malaysia, i was resistant to ahmad's adaptation of other film making techniques because it puts my culture in a different light, which makes it alien. 

she wanted us to examine the facets of being malaysian by making people see the same thing in different ways. and most of us are indeed, resistant to it, because we thought we knew, and yet, we didn't, not altogether. it annoyed us. it annoyed me. i wasn't annoyed of the subject matter. i was annoyed because i was challenged of what i thought i should have known.

she made me see a malay movie at the cinema. i watched talentime (2009) at a cinema in jusco ipoh. that was my first malay movie seen on the big screen.

seven (1995). directed by david fincher.

my favorite movie, number two.

funny people (2009). directed by judd apatow.

i love it whenever adam sandler is not acting retarded. like when he is in reign over me (2007) and punch drunk love (2002). having said that, i love all his retarded movies, such as big daddy (1999) and happy gilmore (1996).  this one is funny. i like this kind of funny; full of stupid sex, fart, masturbation jokes, that aside, this movie is so warming. the characters are real. you think funny people like them laugh all the time and have friends around them 24/7, but it is just a job. who they appear on stage is far from the real person left alone in an empty room. we are our own worst enemy, right? and it is good to know, it's always pays to be the nice guy, and it doesn't matter if you finish last. it is a story of sad people, who are funny. funnily sad, or sadly funny?

updated 23 march 2011. 

this is one of the best reviews about the movie. have a read at apatow's magnum scrotus.

unfaithfully yours (1948). directed by preston sturges.

they don't make rom-coms like this anymore, do they? i enjoyed watching this movie. i laughed. considering i can't finished watching he's just not that into you (2009) and the ugly truth (2009), because, surprise, they are not as funny as they like to think they are.

new doesn't mean better.

walk the line (2005). directed by james mangold.

i like joaquin phoenix and reese witherspoon's singing in this movie. in fact i like it better than the original recording sang by johnny cash and june carter cash. cash's voice in the early 1950's was thin and quivering, unlike phoenix's deep baritone.  

good night, and good luck (2005). directed by george clooney.

excerpts from roger ebert's review:

Clooney's message is clear: Character assassination is wrong, McCarthy was a bully and a liar, and we must be vigilant when the emperor has no clothes and wraps himself in the flag. It was Dr. Johnson who said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." That was more than 200 years ago. The movie quotes a more recent authority, Dwight Eisenhower, who is seen on TV defending the basic American right of habeas corpus. How many Americans know what habeas corpus means, or why people are still talking about it on TV?

limbo (1999), directed by john sayles.

Juneau is the only state capital with roads that lead nowhere. Every highway out of town ends in the wilderness. That serves as a metaphor for the characters in John Sayles' "Limbo," a movie about people whose lives are neither here nor there, but stuck in-between. It also helps explain the movie's surprising story structure, which doesn't obediently follow our expectations, but reflects the way a wilderness like Alaska can impose its own abrupt reality. (from roger ebert's review)

capitalism: a love story (2009). directed by micheal moore.

Capitalism: A Love Story examines the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). The film moves from Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan. With both humor and outrage, the film explores the question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore goes into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal...and 14,000 jobs being lost every day. Capitalism: A Love Story also presents what a more hopeful future could look like. Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do? (from imdb.com)

happy valentine's day, anyone?

(500) days of summer (2009), directed by marc webb.

"look, i know you think she was the one, but i don't. now, i think you're just remembering the good stuff. next time you look back, i, uh, i really think you should look again."

and that's why i don't keep in touch with exes.  i remember everything. pain in the ass. 

but...

"if tom had learned anything... it was that you can't ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. coincidence, that's all anything ever is, nothing more than coincidence... tom had finally learned, there are no miracles. there's no such thing as fate, nothing is meant to be. he knew, he was sure of it now."

that there are miracles, just waiting to happen. and that's why all of us will keep trying, till the day we die.  

unbreakable (2000), directed by m. night shyamalan.

one of my favorite movies of all time. my favorite movie, number one.