所以 親愛的各位 愛丁堡的電影節結束了
接下來 格子在新房子還沒有找到的情況下
(很好啊 你完蛋了)
will go to the most westernly village in mainland britain
是叫做mull的地方喔
所以我們晚一點再見面囉
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
new event announced
所以 親愛的各位 愛丁堡的電影節結束了
接下來 格子在新房子還沒有找到的情況下
(很好啊 你完蛋了)
will go to the most westernly village in mainland britain
是叫做mull的地方喔
所以我們晚一點再見面囉
Monday, August 28, 2006
edinburgh film festival 8/27 FINAL!!!!
The Ring Finger (L'Annulaire)
Diane Bertrand / France & Germany / 2005 / 100 min
Olga Kurylenko, Marc Barbé, Stipe Erceg, Edith Scob
Diane Bertrand / France & Germany / 2005 / 100 min
Olga Kurylenko, Marc Barbé, Stipe Erceg, Edith Scob
A fairytale for grown-ups - complete with a big, bad wolf.
After almost losing a finger in an accident on a factory assembly line, Iris visits a mysterious 'institute' to be treated. Once there, she's invited to take a job assisting the unnamed doctor (Marc Barbé) as he transforms his patients' severed limbs into 'specimens': afloat in formaldehyde, ready for display, as if in a museum. One day, he suggests she begin wearing some red high-heeled pumps ... and then things really get strange. Adapted from a cult novel by Japanese writer Yoko Ogawa, this erotic reverie inhabits the same surreal realm as the films of David Lynch and Walerian Borowczyk, and provokes the same delicious sense of beguilement and unease. Starring possibly the world's most beautiful woman, Ukrainian-born former model Olga Kurylenko, it's a haunting journey into the subconscious.
SUMMER PALACE(頤和園) REVIEW
Sheitan
Kim Chapiron / France / 2006 / 95 min
Vincent Cassel, Olivier Barthelemy, Roxane Mesquida, Nicolas Le Phat Tan, Leïla Bekhti , Ladj Ly, Julie Marie Parmentier, Leïla Bekhti
Can you play Le Marsellaise on duelling banjos?
A night out clubbing in Paris takes a nasty turn for three friends (one Vietnamese, one African, one French), when they accept the invitation of the beautiful Eve (A Ma Soeur's Roxanne Mesquida) to visit her house in the country. Once there, they're the focus of some Deliverance-style shenanigans from the inbred locals, all overseen by the bewhiskered, manically grinning Joseph (Vincent Cassel, in a scene-stealing performance), who soon takes an inexplicable shine to the one white member of the gang... A slow-burn chiller, this nasty debut feature ramps up the sex, violence, humour (and yes, it is funny) and general insanity to truly disturbing levels. 'The ending is way out there', said Variety, and that's an understatement. Put it this way: A Year in Provence, this ain't.
edinburgh film festival 8/26
Water
Deepa Mehta / Canada / 2005 / 118 min
Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas, John Abraham, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman, Raghuvir Yadav, Vinay Pathak, Rishma Malik, Sarala
Conceived amid outrage, its maker's life threatened. Now able to be seen at last.
Set in the 1930s, in the Indian holy city of Varanasi, Deepa Mehta's long-awaited new film - the third in her 'elemental trilogy', following Fire (1996) and Earth (1998) - examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple ... in particular, the beautiful, headstrong Kalyani, unwilling to accept the harsh restrictions imposed by Indian society on widows, and her relationship with a man from a lower caste, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. A tale of forbidden romance, set against the backdrop of the nation's struggle for independence from British colonial rule, the film's birth proved an unusually difficult one, with shooting interrupted for four years (!) following massive protests from Hindu fundamentalist groups. Now completed at last, the scale of Mehta's achievement is apparent: this powerful, sensual drama is a major work by any standard.
Deepa Mehta / Canada / 2005 / 118 min
Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas, John Abraham, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman, Raghuvir Yadav, Vinay Pathak, Rishma Malik, Sarala
Conceived amid outrage, its maker's life threatened. Now able to be seen at last.
Set in the 1930s, in the Indian holy city of Varanasi, Deepa Mehta's long-awaited new film - the third in her 'elemental trilogy', following Fire (1996) and Earth (1998) - examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple ... in particular, the beautiful, headstrong Kalyani, unwilling to accept the harsh restrictions imposed by Indian society on widows, and her relationship with a man from a lower caste, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. A tale of forbidden romance, set against the backdrop of the nation's struggle for independence from British colonial rule, the film's birth proved an unusually difficult one, with shooting interrupted for four years (!) following massive protests from Hindu fundamentalist groups. Now completed at last, the scale of Mehta's achievement is apparent: this powerful, sensual drama is a major work by any standard.
edinburgh film festival 8/25
Next Door (Naboer)
Pål Sletaune / Norway / 2005 / 75 min
Kristoffer Joner, Cecilie Mosli, Julia Schacht, Anna Bache-Wiig, Michael Nyqvist, Øystein Martinsen
'Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours...'
Having just broken up, somewhat acrimoniously, with his long-term girlfriend, mild-mannered John lives alone in the apartment they formerly shared. His days are uneventful, though you sense a lingering misery over the end of his relationship; the world outside seems curiously blank and distant. But then, one day, he realises that next door live two highly attractive, intensely sexual young women (flatmates? sisters? lovers?), who tempt him into various kinds of transgression - a fantasy that quickly descends into nightmare... Reminiscent of Polanski's classic Repulsion, as well as some of the darker imaginings of David Lynch, this quietly horrifying thriller - from the director of Junk Mail (EIFF 2000) - is a genuinely frightening journey into the subconscious, which tightens the screws inexorably to its stunning climax.
THE GREAT HAPPINESS SPACE: TALE OF AN OSAKA LOVE THIEF
Jake Clennell / USA / 2006 / 75 min
Welcome to the many mysteries of Japan's 'host bar' phenomenon.
The 'Great Happiness Space' is Osaka's Rakkyo Café: a club run by ambitious young entrepreneur Issei, where a core staff of 20 young men are groomed to become the top male escorts in the city. But contrary to expectations, these boy-toys are (mostly) heterosexual, and their clients are strictly female: attractive young women who are willing to spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on these sharp-dressing, smooth-talking young men - buying their time, 'financially worshipping' them, in return for 'sweet conversation' and ... ahem, other services. Which would be unusual enough, were it not for the fact that many of these female patrons are themselves prostitutes - who, you would think, should know better. A cold-eyed study of love for sale, this is one of the most puzzling, paradoxical, and provocative documentaries of the year.
Pål Sletaune / Norway / 2005 / 75 min
Kristoffer Joner, Cecilie Mosli, Julia Schacht, Anna Bache-Wiig, Michael Nyqvist, Øystein Martinsen
'Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours...'
Having just broken up, somewhat acrimoniously, with his long-term girlfriend, mild-mannered John lives alone in the apartment they formerly shared. His days are uneventful, though you sense a lingering misery over the end of his relationship; the world outside seems curiously blank and distant. But then, one day, he realises that next door live two highly attractive, intensely sexual young women (flatmates? sisters? lovers?), who tempt him into various kinds of transgression - a fantasy that quickly descends into nightmare... Reminiscent of Polanski's classic Repulsion, as well as some of the darker imaginings of David Lynch, this quietly horrifying thriller - from the director of Junk Mail (EIFF 2000) - is a genuinely frightening journey into the subconscious, which tightens the screws inexorably to its stunning climax.
THE GREAT HAPPINESS SPACE: TALE OF AN OSAKA LOVE THIEF
Jake Clennell / USA / 2006 / 75 min
Welcome to the many mysteries of Japan's 'host bar' phenomenon.
The 'Great Happiness Space' is Osaka's Rakkyo Café: a club run by ambitious young entrepreneur Issei, where a core staff of 20 young men are groomed to become the top male escorts in the city. But contrary to expectations, these boy-toys are (mostly) heterosexual, and their clients are strictly female: attractive young women who are willing to spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on these sharp-dressing, smooth-talking young men - buying their time, 'financially worshipping' them, in return for 'sweet conversation' and ... ahem, other services. Which would be unusual enough, were it not for the fact that many of these female patrons are themselves prostitutes - who, you would think, should know better. A cold-eyed study of love for sale, this is one of the most puzzling, paradoxical, and provocative documentaries of the year.
edinburgh film festival 8/24
STEPHANIE DALEY
Hutton, Denis O'Hare, Melissa Leo Hilary Brougher / USA / 2005 / 91 min 30 sec
Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy
Another triumph in the remarkable career of one of our favourite screen actors.
Winter in upstate New York, and 16-year-old Stephanie (Amber Tamblyn, from TV's Joan of Arcadia) stumbles through the snow during a school ski-club retreat, leaving a trail of blood behind her. Collapsing, she is rushed to hospital, where it is discovered she has just given birth - only to be subsequently charged with murdering her newborn child. This ripped-from-the-headlines premise stars EIFF favourite Tilda Swinton, superb as a forensic psychologist - herself recovering from a recent stillbirth - determined to uncover the truth about Stephanie's actions. With its treatment of such hot-button issues as teen sex-education, and the separation of Church and State, this could easily have become an 'issues' picture; instead, it's a subtle, complex film, one which moves effortlessly between social melodrama and scenes of clinical, almost Cronenberg-like horror. Quite an achievement; quite a film.
Hutton, Denis O'Hare, Melissa Leo Hilary Brougher / USA / 2005 / 91 min 30 sec
Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy
Another triumph in the remarkable career of one of our favourite screen actors.
Winter in upstate New York, and 16-year-old Stephanie (Amber Tamblyn, from TV's Joan of Arcadia) stumbles through the snow during a school ski-club retreat, leaving a trail of blood behind her. Collapsing, she is rushed to hospital, where it is discovered she has just given birth - only to be subsequently charged with murdering her newborn child. This ripped-from-the-headlines premise stars EIFF favourite Tilda Swinton, superb as a forensic psychologist - herself recovering from a recent stillbirth - determined to uncover the truth about Stephanie's actions. With its treatment of such hot-button issues as teen sex-education, and the separation of Church and State, this could easily have become an 'issues' picture; instead, it's a subtle, complex film, one which moves effortlessly between social melodrama and scenes of clinical, almost Cronenberg-like horror. Quite an achievement; quite a film.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
edinburgh film festival 8/23
World Animation 1
90 min
MIDNIGHT MY LOVE (CHERM)
Petchtai Wongkamlao, Anuch Wongsawan
In the mood for love?
Bati (Petchtai Wongamiao, star of action blockbuster Ong-Bak) is a Bangkok cab driver, whose only two passions are the radio soap operas and Thai pop ballads that accompany him on his lonely night shifts. A loner, seemingly born a generation too late, Bati has no cell phone, no TV, and no real friends. But one night he picks up Nuan, a hooker en route to a job, and something sparks his interest; soon he's driving her every night, and a chaste romance forms between these two very different characters. But can it last? Incorporating brief comic inserts (mimicking the hothouse style of 1960s Thai melodramas) with its prevailing air of romantic melancholy, this is something special: an achingly beautiful portrayal of love's capacity to surprise and, occasionally, to redeem.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
edinburgh film festival 8/22
THE TREATMENT
Chris Eigeman, Ian Holm, Famke Janssen, Blair Brown, Stephanie March, Stephen Lang, Roger Rees
Voted Best Film at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
A neurotic English teacher in New York City, Jake Singer (Whit Stillman regular Chris Eigeman) has more than his fair share of issues. He's barely on speaking terms with his father. His girlfriend recently walked out on him. And then, of course, there's his mother's death - which he's still far from over. Anxious and depressed, he embarks on a course of psychoanalysis with Dr Morales (Ian Holm), a maniacal, vaguely sadistic Freudian who seems to be doing him rather more harm than good. Hope blossoms when he meets Allegra Marshall (Famke Janssen), a beautiful, widowed socialite with whom he soon falls in love - but what will the good doctor say? This adaptation of Daniel Menaker's bestseller is a clever, stylish treat. Jake might be struggling, but judging from this film, the literate NY ensemble comedy is doing just fine.
IN TO GRAT SILENCE(DIE GROSSE STILLE)
Philip Gröning / Germany & Switzerland / 2005 / 162 min
Shhhh...
As a young filmmaker, Philip Gröning approached the monks
of the Grande Chartreuse Monastery, located high in the French Alps, to inquire whether he might make a documentary of their lives - lived for the most part under a vow of silence - and their faith. 16 years later, they answered him: this film is the result. The delay attests to the unhurried pace of life behind the monastery's walls, its sense of existing somehow outside of time, and Gröning's film itself, while lengthy, boasts similar rewards: watching, you soon acclimatise to its rhythm (and its ravishing imagery: a visual symphony in bare stone, shadows and dusty light), and come to appreciate the virtues of a life lived outside the noise and chaos of the modern world. A poetic essay par excellence, this is unique.
edinburgh film festival 8/21
Little miss sunshine
Steve Clarell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin
Hmmm. Maybe beauty is only skin deep...
Determined to get their seven-year-old daughter to the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant (though, in truth, she's only a wild-card entry), a seriously dysfunctional family take a cross-country trip from New Mexico to California in their battered VW van. There's an ambitious, motivational-speaker dad (Greg Kinnear); a harried, 'pro-honesty' mom (Toni Collette); a foul-mouthed, heroin-snorting grandad (the great Alan Arkin); and a gay uncle (comic genius Steve Carrell), suicidal after being rebuffed by one of his students. And, of course, the would-be Little Miss Sunshine herself: tubby, fragile, yet monomaniacally pursuing her dream... The undisputed hit of this year's Sundance Film Festival, this darkly funny comedy is at once a skewering of the American Dream, and a bittersweet, surprisingly touching ode to the modern family.
edinburgh film festival 8/20
tuning
Peter Musevski, Natasa Burger, Polona Juh, Tomi Janezic, Andraz Polic, Ana Kerin, Taja Strle
See it with someone you love ... and maybe even trust.
Married couple Peter and Katerina are drifting apart: while in Brussels on business, he visits a hooker, and returning home, half-heartedly pursues a liaison with a former classmate; meanwhile, his wife, a graphic designer, conducts a brief fling with a poet, whose book of verse - titled, ironically, Closeness - she's designing. But only one of them will pay the price...
Co-written by Romanian director Sinisa Dragin (whose Every Day God Kisses Us on the Mouth played EIFF in 2002), this is an uncomfortably clear-eyed look at marital discord and sexual politics, reminiscent in its power, and unflinching honesty, of Bergman's great Scenes from a Marriage. Faultlessly acted by its ensemble cast, and stylishly directed, it's a film for adults, unafraid to confront the issues it raises.
princess(prinzessin)
Birgit Grosskopf / Germany / 2006 / 82 min
Irina Potapenko, Henriette Müller, Desirée Jaeger, Amina Schichterich
You know, that title might just be ironic...
The 'princesses' of the title are a gang of four young women, living in the public housing slums of a dismal West German suburb: Katharina, recently relocated from Russia; Yvonne, who's about to go to prison for almost beating another girl to death; perverse, sexually aggressive Jenny; and Mandy, a creepily precocious 11-year-old. It's the dead space between Christmas and New Year's Eve, and the girls are trying to make the most of Yvonne's last day of freedom: the following morning, she must report to jail. But Yvonne, unpredictable to the last, has other plans... Depicting its dead-end setting with discomfiting fidelity, lit by flashes of sudden, surreal invention (like the sound of fireworks, constantly exploding from the tenement balconies), this is a powerful, harrowing drama about friendship, loyalty and betrayal.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
The note for Edinburgh international film festival
電影節的來臨比起三倍的FRINGE還要來的魅惑人心……. 2006格子
Film house，依然飄散著我熟悉且舒服的味道，某種相對於台北半夜以後誠品的氛圍… 而相對於台北的金馬影展，愛丁堡的電影節以一種迅速流進我末梢神經的姿態侵略性的開始佔領我下兩週的生活重心與版圖。也許以往在金馬影展的展期中我的生活總是充斥著更多莫名的事物好讓我分心，而在愛丁堡就是可以輕鬆的坐下來，點一杯茶，配著巧克力mousse、堅果muffin，拿著節目單，ㄧ圈一圈的將時間切割剪黏下來雙手奉上－給我親愛的電影之神。
電影的劇照絕對性的影響人類的觀賞衝動與期待，像是逛書店封面設計不佳的書一樣，劇照不佳的片單只會讓我消化不良。但是這次的影展真的非常用心的在處理宣傳，軟體與硬體也都搭配的相當得宜，時值電影節60周年，精美的印刷傳單、電影結束會後導演親臨的小型討論會、許多片單在售票櫃檯小桌前贈送小胸章加post card、接近半夜的買一送ㄧ票價大放送等等… 真的很難在短短的時間內拍板定案，不過這也是看影展的有趣之處，用心找到自己愛看的電影後，劃下紅色標記，喝下最後一口咖啡，工作人員將ㄧ張張淡藍色底影展的票自列票機中取下，收進小小信封裡 ~ 整個過程真的是非常愉快耶！
旁邊ㄧ群人七嘴八舌討論剛剛結束的電影，對面的捲髮小姐，輕鬆的吃著用麵包粉炸至酥脆金黃的雞肉條，而我，默默的選定了心中的純16影展，預計在這兩週狠狠的看它個十六場………
==============================
兩家愛丁堡影痴的大本營與film house 與cameo加上另ㄧ個UGC旗下的大型電影院CINEWORLD，三家電影院聯合舉辦這一次的電影節活動(Dominon被我自動刪掉了)，三家電影院的地理位置略略形成一個銳角三角形；然候接下來的兩個禮拜， 我的生活大概也就是隨著這個個性鮮明的銳角三角形開始逐電影而居吧 ！！！
edinburgh film festival 8/19
LONDON TO BRIGHTON
Paul Andrew Williams / UK / 2006 / 90 min
Lorraine Stanley, Georgia Groome, Johnny Harris, Sam Spruell, Nathan Constance, Alexander Morton, David Keeling, Jamie Kenna, Chloe Bale, Jack Deam
One of the discoveries of the year.
24 hours in the life of a prostitute and a young runaway, fleeing to Brighton in a desperate attempt to save their own lives. This bare-bones synopsis, however, does little to communicate the scale of Paul Andrew Williams' feature debut: its assurance, its cinematic élan, the steely conviction of its performances. And above all, its gritty verisimilitude. Avoiding most of the clichés of the dirty-realist Brit flick, refining instead an ensemble of credible, often contradictory characters, it's reminiscent of Mike Leigh's Naked in its vision of a debased demi-monde, its two heroines clinging to each other as they move through a world of violence, petty crime and revenge. For Williams, it's the first feature in what looks likely to be a notable career. Catch it here first.
FIRST LOVE (HATSU-KOI)
Yukinari Hanawa / Japan / 2006 / 115 min
Keisuke Koide, Aoi Miyazaki, Masaru Miyazaki, Rena Komine, Yu Emoto, Tadahiro Aoki, Yuya Matsuura
Retro romance meets gangland thriller in this stunning Japanese drama.
1960s Japan, and Misuzu, a high school student with a chaotic home life, finds a sanctuary with her brother Ryo and his friends - a group of nihilistic teenagers who spend their days hanging around bars and indulging in drugs and casual sex. But one of the youths - the ambitious, charismatic Kishi - wants more, and devises a plan to rob a bank van, and the group begin rehearsing the heist. Based on an allegedly autobiographical novel by Japanese writer Misuzu Nakahara (in which she claimed, almost four decades later, to have been involved in the legendary '300 Million Yen Affair', the never-solved December 1968 robbery that remains the largest criminal haul in Japanese history), this powerful widescreen saga is the finest Japanese drama of the year: a stunningly visualised elegy of life, and love, on the edge.
Paul Andrew Williams / UK / 2006 / 90 min
Lorraine Stanley, Georgia Groome, Johnny Harris, Sam Spruell, Nathan Constance, Alexander Morton, David Keeling, Jamie Kenna, Chloe Bale, Jack Deam
One of the discoveries of the year.
24 hours in the life of a prostitute and a young runaway, fleeing to Brighton in a desperate attempt to save their own lives. This bare-bones synopsis, however, does little to communicate the scale of Paul Andrew Williams' feature debut: its assurance, its cinematic élan, the steely conviction of its performances. And above all, its gritty verisimilitude. Avoiding most of the clichés of the dirty-realist Brit flick, refining instead an ensemble of credible, often contradictory characters, it's reminiscent of Mike Leigh's Naked in its vision of a debased demi-monde, its two heroines clinging to each other as they move through a world of violence, petty crime and revenge. For Williams, it's the first feature in what looks likely to be a notable career. Catch it here first.
FIRST LOVE (HATSU-KOI)
Yukinari Hanawa / Japan / 2006 / 115 min
Keisuke Koide, Aoi Miyazaki, Masaru Miyazaki, Rena Komine, Yu Emoto, Tadahiro Aoki, Yuya Matsuura
Retro romance meets gangland thriller in this stunning Japanese drama.
1960s Japan, and Misuzu, a high school student with a chaotic home life, finds a sanctuary with her brother Ryo and his friends - a group of nihilistic teenagers who spend their days hanging around bars and indulging in drugs and casual sex. But one of the youths - the ambitious, charismatic Kishi - wants more, and devises a plan to rob a bank van, and the group begin rehearsing the heist. Based on an allegedly autobiographical novel by Japanese writer Misuzu Nakahara (in which she claimed, almost four decades later, to have been involved in the legendary '300 Million Yen Affair', the never-solved December 1968 robbery that remains the largest criminal haul in Japanese history), this powerful widescreen saga is the finest Japanese drama of the year: a stunningly visualised elegy of life, and love, on the edge.
edinburgh film festival 8/18
THE HOST (GUIMUL)
Bong Joon-ho / South Korea / 2006 / 119 min
Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doo-na
The hottest title at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Inspiring a bidding war upon its World Premiere at Cannes, Bong's latest feature - like his 2003 breakthrough, Memories of Murder - is a canny blend of genres and tones, playing at times like a half-dozen films in one. At core, though, it's a monster movie: a mutant creature emerges from Seoul's Han River and, as monsters are wont to do, begins attacking people. (To pitch the film to financiers, the filmmaker reportedly cut out a fuzzy image of Scotland's own Nessie, and glued it onto a postcard of the river.) It's also some of the best fun you'll have in a cinema all year: shot with extraordinary confidence, effortlessly juggling moments of SF wonderment, white-knuckle drama, and pitch-black comedy, and featuring some state-of-the-art CGI effects, it's enough to remind you why you started going to the movies in the first place.
HOLLY
Guy Moshe / USA, France, Israel & Cambodia / 2006 / 113 min
Ron Livingston, Virginie Ledoyen, Udo Kier, Chris Penn, Thuy Nguyen
First feature as part of the 'K-11' project, highlighting the issue of child sex-trafficking.
Shot on location in Cambodia, including many scenes in actual brothels in the notorious red light district of Phnom Phen, this feature is a captivating and emotional experience. Patrick, (Ron Livingston) has been 'comfortably numb' in Cambodia for years, when he encounters Holly (Thuy Nguyen), a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute. Holly's virginity makes her a lucrative prize, and when she is sold to a child trafficker, Patrick embarks on a frantic search through both the beautiful and sordid faces of the country, in an attempt to bring her to safety. Harsh yet poetic, this feature forms part of the 'K-11' Project, dedicated to raising awareness of child trafficking and sex slavery. Co-starring French starlet Virginie Ledoyen, Udo Kier, and the late Chris Penn, in one of his final screen performances.
Bong Joon-ho / South Korea / 2006 / 119 min
Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doo-na
The hottest title at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Inspiring a bidding war upon its World Premiere at Cannes, Bong's latest feature - like his 2003 breakthrough, Memories of Murder - is a canny blend of genres and tones, playing at times like a half-dozen films in one. At core, though, it's a monster movie: a mutant creature emerges from Seoul's Han River and, as monsters are wont to do, begins attacking people. (To pitch the film to financiers, the filmmaker reportedly cut out a fuzzy image of Scotland's own Nessie, and glued it onto a postcard of the river.) It's also some of the best fun you'll have in a cinema all year: shot with extraordinary confidence, effortlessly juggling moments of SF wonderment, white-knuckle drama, and pitch-black comedy, and featuring some state-of-the-art CGI effects, it's enough to remind you why you started going to the movies in the first place.
HOLLY
Guy Moshe / USA, France, Israel & Cambodia / 2006 / 113 min
Ron Livingston, Virginie Ledoyen, Udo Kier, Chris Penn, Thuy Nguyen
First feature as part of the 'K-11' project, highlighting the issue of child sex-trafficking.
Shot on location in Cambodia, including many scenes in actual brothels in the notorious red light district of Phnom Phen, this feature is a captivating and emotional experience. Patrick, (Ron Livingston) has been 'comfortably numb' in Cambodia for years, when he encounters Holly (Thuy Nguyen), a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute. Holly's virginity makes her a lucrative prize, and when she is sold to a child trafficker, Patrick embarks on a frantic search through both the beautiful and sordid faces of the country, in an attempt to bring her to safety. Harsh yet poetic, this feature forms part of the 'K-11' Project, dedicated to raising awareness of child trafficking and sex slavery. Co-starring French starlet Virginie Ledoyen, Udo Kier, and the late Chris Penn, in one of his final screen performances.
edinburgh film festival 8/17
WORLD ANIMATION 2
95 min
180 minutes of the finest animation from every corner of the globe. The annual showcase for the best animation in the world produced over the last 12 months, proves once more that animation is a thriving art form and that its diversity and range just keep on growing. In order to bring you the best the world has to offer, we are constantly hunting and selecting the most exciting, inspiring, amusing, weird and wonderful work - in short, the best animation today contained in two 90-minute programmes.
LOVE SICK (LEGATURI BOLNAVICIOASE)
Tudor Giurgiu / Romania / 2006 / 85 min
Maria Popistasu, Ioana Barbu, Tudor Chirila, Catalina Murgea, Mircea Diaconu, Virginia Mirea, Tora Vasilescu, Valentin Popescu
A love story, plain and simple.
On her very first day at college, Kiki meets Alex, newly arrived in Bucharest, and the two fall abruptly and completely in love. The fact that they both happen to be girls is quite irrelevant - both to each other, and to the filmmaker, who takes a refreshingly angst-free, non-sensational approach to the subject matter; this is first and foremost a romance - a story of attraction, flirtation and passion between two very different personalities. Slipping easily between past and present, and aided by the undeniable chemistry between its two young leads, this semi-impressionistic study transcends its apparently casual structure to achieve, at last, a yearning blend of joy and heartache. One of the year's most charming pictures, it constitutes an auspicious debut from the talented Giurgiu.
95 min
180 minutes of the finest animation from every corner of the globe. The annual showcase for the best animation in the world produced over the last 12 months, proves once more that animation is a thriving art form and that its diversity and range just keep on growing. In order to bring you the best the world has to offer, we are constantly hunting and selecting the most exciting, inspiring, amusing, weird and wonderful work - in short, the best animation today contained in two 90-minute programmes.
LOVE SICK (LEGATURI BOLNAVICIOASE)
Tudor Giurgiu / Romania / 2006 / 85 min
Maria Popistasu, Ioana Barbu, Tudor Chirila, Catalina Murgea, Mircea Diaconu, Virginia Mirea, Tora Vasilescu, Valentin Popescu
A love story, plain and simple.
On her very first day at college, Kiki meets Alex, newly arrived in Bucharest, and the two fall abruptly and completely in love. The fact that they both happen to be girls is quite irrelevant - both to each other, and to the filmmaker, who takes a refreshingly angst-free, non-sensational approach to the subject matter; this is first and foremost a romance - a story of attraction, flirtation and passion between two very different personalities. Slipping easily between past and present, and aided by the undeniable chemistry between its two young leads, this semi-impressionistic study transcends its apparently casual structure to achieve, at last, a yearning blend of joy and heartache. One of the year's most charming pictures, it constitutes an auspicious debut from the talented Giurgiu.
edinburgh film festival 8/16
SUMMER PALACE (YIHEYUAN)
Lou Ye / China & France / 2006 / 140 min
Hao Lei, Guo Xiaodong, Hu Lingling, Zhang Xianmin
Breathtaking, controversial drama, from the maker of Purple Butterfly (EIFF 2004).
It is the mid-1980s, and teenage Yu Hong leaves her village, her family and her boyfriend to study at Beijing University. There she discovers a very different world, and falls passionately in love with fellow student Zhao Wei. But though their relationship soon comes to overwhelm everything else in their lives, the weight of history soon pulls them apart - their story, like those of so many others, overwhelmed by the massacre in Tiananmen Square. Featuring a level of sexual and political frankness unprecedented in mainland Chinese cinema, Lou's fourth feature was banned by his country's government days before its Cannes premiere. It is shown here uncut: a groundbreaking film, and a masterful integration of editing, art direction and sound design, by one of the most important and accomplished directors working today.
MIRRORBALL MADE IN JAPAN
80 min
Visual adventures, Nippon style. A comprehensive, eye-poppin' round up of must-see Japanese music promos and shorts.
Robots! Games! Fashion! Art! Japan has always been at the forefront of the aesthetically cutting edge, and this year's selection of promos and shorts proves no exception. With the likes of director Nagi Noda (Partizan Productions) leading the pack, the bar has been set VERY high. From the dizzily surreal to the so-cute-it-hurts, Mirrorball Made in Japan has put together a veritable bento box of live action and animated visual styles.
Lou Ye / China & France / 2006 / 140 min
Hao Lei, Guo Xiaodong, Hu Lingling, Zhang Xianmin
Breathtaking, controversial drama, from the maker of Purple Butterfly (EIFF 2004).
It is the mid-1980s, and teenage Yu Hong leaves her village, her family and her boyfriend to study at Beijing University. There she discovers a very different world, and falls passionately in love with fellow student Zhao Wei. But though their relationship soon comes to overwhelm everything else in their lives, the weight of history soon pulls them apart - their story, like those of so many others, overwhelmed by the massacre in Tiananmen Square. Featuring a level of sexual and political frankness unprecedented in mainland Chinese cinema, Lou's fourth feature was banned by his country's government days before its Cannes premiere. It is shown here uncut: a groundbreaking film, and a masterful integration of editing, art direction and sound design, by one of the most important and accomplished directors working today.
MIRRORBALL MADE IN JAPAN
80 min
Visual adventures, Nippon style. A comprehensive, eye-poppin' round up of must-see Japanese music promos and shorts.
Robots! Games! Fashion! Art! Japan has always been at the forefront of the aesthetically cutting edge, and this year's selection of promos and shorts proves no exception. With the likes of director Nagi Noda (Partizan Productions) leading the pack, the bar has been set VERY high. From the dizzily surreal to the so-cute-it-hurts, Mirrorball Made in Japan has put together a veritable bento box of live action and animated visual styles.
Monday, August 14, 2006
反戰大遊行 in edinburgh
叮咚問我 她們在反什麼 我說 總之是黎巴嫩和以色列的戰火問題吧 再詳細一點 我可能就會不知道了 原本要去national gallery看展覽的途中 剛好遊行隊伍就這樣來到王子街 手邊的相機派上用場 穿梭在遊行裡 好像有那麼一點 新聞記者的感覺 跟著bbc的記者一起咖咖咖咖 的獵取鏡頭 感覺還挺新鮮的 最後 我要在這邊語重心長的說 我 格子 希望世界和平....
edinburgh festival part2
收集街頭藝人的日子又來了 愛丁堡是一樣的熱熱鬧鬧 兩場frindge的秀以後 ㄧ直沒有那種我ㄧ看海報就會超想去的檔次 昨天在躺在pub裡的包廂內邊看節目單邊跟來的遊客聊天 extra smooth的 john smith反倒帶給我渾身的慵懶(弱慢 下次可以ㄧ起去歐) 藝術節還會怎麼演下去 就問問我的鏡頭先吧 還有親愛的瓊芳 下次遇見我的問候語 可以不要再是
格子你今天沒去喝酒喔 !!< 尤其是 呃.......那時候才五點>
格子你今天沒去喝酒喔 !!< 尤其是 呃.......那時候才五點>
Saturday, August 12, 2006
為什麼要買廣角 pentax 14mm/2.8 smc
當初想了很久 基於pentax獨特的發色和定焦靜優異的品質 決定投入p的世界 14mm是我買的第一顆鏡頭（然後在30秒之後買了35mm/f2)
很多人都會問我花錢投資一顆定焦廣角鏡值得嗎？對下次聽到我說定焦 不要再問我為什麼不可以拉近拉遠 然後說 阿這個不好啦～～please）其實廣角不但可以拍大景，街拍也是別有一番風味，這顆14mm在兩側控制優異的變形，加上pentax smc獨家的smc抗耀光技術，2.8的大光圈，紮實的金屬手感，就客觀條件來說：非常的深得人心。
就主觀來說，我不喜歡過於誇張的魚眼鏡頭（8~12mm) 那種過渡壓縮或膨脹的視覺效果，確實能為攝影帶來不少樂趣，但是我總是有一種無法親近的特殊感受，怎麼說呢？或許是太不真實，或許也是自己還不到體驗魚眼魅力的時候吧。
在愛丁堡的街邊，趁著提款機領前的空檔，一位在身旁牽著腳踏車的小女孩就這樣『趴嘰』～一聲，街頭的快拍就是這麼樣輕鬆呢～～
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