Movie Quote of the Day: Smoke Signals

Starting to get busy with school, but I'm not going to feel guilty about not keeping up with this thing because nobody reads it anyway. Anyhoo, I special ordered in Smoke Signals, which finally came in late last week. In Europe the film is called Phoenix, Arizona. Enjoyable film directed by Chris Eyre, written by Sherman Alexie loosely based on Alexie's book "The Long Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven". The IMDB trivia category for this film says that it's the first film written, directed and co-produced by a Native American. There is a lot of Rez humour and the characters of Victor Josef(Adam Beach, love him) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) are very compelling and complement each other well. I love the parts where Randy Peone (John Trudell), the D.J. of the rez's radio station K-REZ, asks Lester Fallsapart (Leonard George) in the traffic van which is permanently stuck at a crossroads for the traffic report. Lester sits on top of the van in a lawn chair with an umbrella hat on reporting the traffic with things like, "A big truck went by.....it's gone now" and "...Timmy and James went by in a yellow car and they were arguin'.....ain't no traffic, really".

Victor and Thomas go on a road trip to get Victor's dad, as he has passed away. Victor hasn't seen his father since he abandoned Victor and his mother many years earlier. The running theme throughout the film seems to be coming to terms with one's past and family, no matter how bad they might have been. There is a beautiful poem by Dick Lourie that Thomas recites in a voice over at the end of the film. I won't give away the end, but I will give you the poem the film ends with and combined with the visual imagery makes a very touching moment. Here it is, the extra long ass movie quote of the day......

How do we forgive our Fathers?
Maybe in a dream
Do we forgive our Fathers for leaving us too often or forever
when we were little?

Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage
or making us nervous
because there never seemed to be any rage there at all.

Do we forgive our Fathers for marrying or not marrying our Mothers?
For Divorcing or not divorcing our Mothers?

And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness?
Shall we forgive them for pushing or leaning
for shutting doors
for speaking through walls
or never speaking
or never being silent?

Do we forgive our Fathers in our age or in theirs
or their deaths
saying it to them or not saying it?

If we forgive our Fathers what is left?

More ramblings to come....

Movie Quote of the Day: Woo (1998)

While my friend and I were out DVD shoppin, we special ordered some DVDs. I got Woo and Smoke Signals, which came in today. I freaking love this movie. I haven't seen it in quite awhile and it used to be one of my favorite Friday night movies. I'd have a night alone and watch Woo, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and then Sliding Doors. I miss those nights.

Anyhoo, whenever I tell people this is one of my favourites they say they have never seen it or even heard of it. I caught it on cable, taped it and have watched it a kabillion times. It's a guilty indulgence just like D.E.B.S. Woo (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a wild, crazy extrovert with a really, cool tranvestite fashion designer/astrologist who advises her on her every day life. Woo is told by her tranny psychic advisor that she will soon meet with a Virgo who will rock her world, but she is skeptical. Woo's cousin, Claudette (Paula Jai Parker), and her cousin's boyfriend, Lenny (Dave Chappelle) want to be "alone", so Lenny calls the only guy he knows will be home on a Saturday night, his uptight, law clerk friend Tim (Tommy Davidson) to take Woo out. Woo only agrees to go out with him because Tim is a Virgo. From the beginning, Woo and Tim hit it off, but proceed to get into trouble wherever they go and have a crazy night, while Tim gradually loses patience. They often clash because Woo is tempestuous, moody, the life of the party and center of attention wherever they go and you have the feeling she has always gotten whatever she wanted. Tim is more of a watcher, overly cautious and his friends call him "McCauley Culkin" because of all the time he spends home alone (get it?).

Part of what makes this film great is all the other characters. Everybody was perfectly cast. Tim's friends Romaine (Michael Ralph), Frankie (Duane Martin) and Hop (Darrel Heath) are all hilarious as the guys who would rather yell come-ons at women than talk to them. LL Cool J has a great cameo as Tim's worldly, smooth, mack daddy neighbor Darryl. I just went to the message board on IMDB for this movie and people talk about how bad the writing and directing and acting is and I just don't see it. I found the lighting in some of the earlier scenes distracting and Woo's lip colour is just wrong, but to me, everything else is perfect. There are actually very few positive responses to this movie, but I love it anyway. I loved all the characters, the humour, the dialogue and the story arc. Also, I thought the character transformation was great, as well. Woo and Tim are both changed by each other and their night, and they inspire each other to do something different.

Here it is.....

Woo: "There are people who watch things happen and there are people who make things happen. Which one are you?"

More ramblings to come.......

The Devil is a Woman

My film and theater theory class, which I was hesitant to take is actually quite interesting. I really wanted to take Italian Cinema, but they cancelled it (bastards!), so I took this one instead. Our prof has a Russian (I think) accent and it was a little humorous to hear her discussing Freud's theory of women's penis envy (pay-nus) and the sexual sadism/masochism/fetishism in films. One of our reading articles for the class is Laura Mulvey's take on film, in which films are made by men, for men, from the viewpoint of men fetishizing the woman.

The example our professor used to illustrate this was Josef von Sternberg's The Devil is a Woman (1935). It was a good movie that I never would have seen if not for our class. Marlene Dietrich is a Spanish singer named Concha Perez. Concha is the desire of every man who comes into frame in this film. She's beautiful, manipulative, moody and charming, all of which makes her interesting. She is always perfectly and beautifully lit, mostly from the top to bring out her beautiful bone structure.


The film is told in a circular narrative. It begins with a young, handsome man's flirtation with a beautiful, mysterious woman. When the young man, Antonio (Cesar Romero) tells his older friend, Pasqual (Lionel Atwill) of this woman and her name, the older man begins to tell him a story of his tumultuous relationship with the woman through flashbacks. He feels she has used and betrayed him, but he cannot stay away from her, even when she blatantly leaves him in the dust for a young bullfighter. Many times she promised her love to him, then would ask for money or something and when she couldn't get her own way she would pout, flutter her eyelashes, soften her voice and purr (for lack of a better word, I know that sounds cheesy) "But, Pasqualito...", get her way and then leave. Antonio swears to Pasqual that he won't meet her because she sounds like a devil of a woman (hence, the title), but does anyway. This is were the story gets interesting. There are some plot turns and a sort of surprise ending. The sets are quite flat. The majority of the story takes place in Spain during Carnivale, but it looks like a flat, cardboard theater set, or something resembling the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, only happier. One of my classmates felt that Sternberg's heavy reliance on Dietrich's beauty to carry a lot of film seemed weak. Interestingly enough, according to our prof, Sternberg was mirroring his relationship to Dietrich in real life though this film. He brought her over to America from Germany, made her the star of his pictures and evidently feels used in the same way Concha used Pasqual. I thought it was great, campy fun either way. See it if you ever get the chance.

More ramblings to come....

This Week: Art 100

Well, this was the first full week of classes after coming back to school. My art class is not going to be the easy fine art elective that I kind of admit to thinking it was. She told us on the first day, if you thought this was going to be the easiest you'll ever take, you might want to drop out right now. I thought for sure I'd be safe in a class of 108 people, but she gives out surprise quizzes that she admits are attendance ploys. We have a group presentation and studio work. We already had an assignment due. It was only worth 1% of our final mark, but still. If there is even one assignment we don't do (we have to have done at least 8/10 of the surprise quizzes), we No Paper the class. If you aren't familiar with that, it's even worse than failing. At least with a failing grade you tried to pass it. No Paper means you didn't write the final or do any work. I have no doubt I will pass the class because even though I don't do well in my fine art elective classes, I'll give it my best shot. Okay, so that was a lie. I put most of my effort into my production classes, then my film studies classes, THEN my fine art elective classes. I've already done Indian Art History 100, Music 100 and Theater 100. So doing the old dipsy doodle to get around to the point I was going to make....our first assignment was to go to an art gallery, sit in front of a piece for an hour and write about our responses to it. I chose a short, experimental film by Althea Thauberger that was part of the Sobey 2004 Art Award Touring Exhibition at the MacKenzie Art Gallery here in town. The first twenty minutes weren't bad, but it was hard to stay for the whole hour. It was five minutes long but looped over and over til infinty. My friend didn't want to leave because she thought we might miss the big ending (or so she joked). It was this young woman sitting in the woods on a rock, staring out at nothing, then every five minutes she eats her lunch and puts it away. It took a few loops to realize she was eating it the exact same way every time. I read that Thauberger likes to make commentaries on contemporary culture and the earth...or something (forgot already), but to be honest, I'm not sure what the piece was about. I thought the theme could be the disconnection of today's youth from Mother Nature. She was wearing a red coat and makeup that seemed out of place for hiking in the forest. That was my interpretation, anyway.

Movie Quote of the Day: Old School

Since it is back to school time, I perused my DVD collection this eve looking for the perfect back to school movie. I've seen some of the 80's blasts from my past lately (Sixteen Candles, Better Off Dead, Real Genius) but I haven't seen Old School in awhile. Most everybody has probably seen it and I think it is friggin hilarious. It's one of those movies where every little gesture and frame is perfect. Vince Vaughn, Will Farell, Luke Wilson and Jeremy Piven star and Todd Phillips co-writes and directs. Short run down: Boys start fraternity and bond. That's it, pretty much. These guys became known as the Frat Pack after this film. The DVD is awesome because of the added special features. This is one of those DVDs where the feature commentary is another movie in itself. Farrell, Vaughn, Wilson and Phillips all do the commentary and it is as funny as the movie and you learn some behind the scenes things like the frat house was really Will Farrell's in real life and the crew did $40,000 worth of damage to it and that Snoop Dogg was in his trailer smoking up while Vaughn had to entertain 300 extras for three hours while they waited for him to come out and do his performance. Here it is....

Mitch: "True love is hard to find, sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like a goddamn magic show ready to double team your girlfriend..."

Til next time.....

First Week Back

Started back at school on Tuesday and I think it's going to be a good and busy semester. We have the next two semesters to finish our fourth year projects, but our instructor would like us to have all our stuff shot this semester. I have an idea for my project and have to get the script done by end of October. I'm keeping it close to my chest right now, though, because I'm still developing my idea. I'm taking art 100 and it will be a busy class, but my friend Amber is in the class with me so that makes it more bearable. Art is cool and all but I usually don't do so hot on my fine art elective classes. The film and theater theory class is going to be interesting, but I have to say I prefer the production classes. My cinematography class is going to kick ass. My prof is funny and speaks with a Russian accent and has given us some interesting assignments like a 36 slide narrative, we also have to make up a story based on a famous painting (for cinematography?), present an analysis of a 20 minute sequence from a film and shoot a sequence of our own. It's going to be daunting but fun. I will try my durndest to keep up with the writing but when it's at a time like midterms or something, I may be too busy to check in. But you all will still be on mind, even if I'm too busy to say hi. :)

More ramblings to come....

Little Miss Sunshine

It was a real toss up today. Little Miss Sunshine or The Illusionist? I had heard the good word of mouth about Little Miss Sunshine and had a friend recommend it (Thanks, CG). But The Illusionist is getting some rave reviews, so I'd really like to check that out another day.

Anyhoo, this film opened at the Sundance Film Festival and recently opened in wide release. I love Steve Carell and had heard that this was funny. This isn't anything like his work in The 40 Year Old Virgin, however and it won't be your cup of tea if you like the prototypical cookie cutter slapstick/gross out humour movies. This is a smart, dark indie comedy. Steve Carell is also not the star of this film as it is truly an ensemble cast also starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette (who I love), Alan Arkin (who is great in everything he does), Paul Dano and Abigail Breslin.

It is about a dysfunctional family who goes on a road trip so that Olive (Breslin) can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. Her dad, Richard (Kinnear) is a fumbling motivational speaker who aspires to get his 9 step program to make him rich and famous. Her mother, Sheryl (Collette), is barely keeping it together stressing about money problems and trying to keep the peace. Olive is also being coached by her Grandpa (Arkin), a cocaine addicted senior, booted out of his retirement home for his drug use and now lives with the family. Olive's older brother, Dwayne (Dano), has taken a vow of silence until he reaches his goal of becoming an Air Force jet pilot and only communicates using a notepad and a Sharpie. He's 15, into Neitzsche and spends much of the film in a Jesus Was Wrong T-shirt. Sheryl's brother Frank (Carell) has recently attempted suicide and is staying with the family under orders of his doctor. He is a down on his luck Proust scholar heartbroken over a man he lost to his academic rival. In short, they are all losers trying in some way to be winners. Winning seems to be a recurring theme throughout. Richard prattles and preaches to everybody about what a "winner" really is, while Frank rolls his eyes at him.


To be honest, I wasn't pulled in right away. In a weird way, the characters grow and entrance you until you are with them and rooting for them in the end, even Richard, who is a strangely likeable unlikeable guy. As with any 'journey' movie, transformation occurs for everybody. I don't want to delve into that too much, so I don't ruin anything for anybody. Part of the coolness of this movie is slowly being sucked in and anticipating the next event for the family. You really do want to find out what happens to them because you care. One of the most touching things in this movie is when Richard and Dwayne escape from the craziness to quietly talk on the pier. Dwayne talks about wanting to sleep until he's 18 so he misses high school. Frank starts telling Dwayne about the life of Proust. How he writes a book nobody reads and is near the end of his life, broke and homosexual with many unrequited love affairs. He says that Proust realizes that the best years of his life are the ones that he suffered, because that is when he really lived and learned the most. Or something. Frank says, "So if you go to sleep until you're 18, think of all the suffering you're gonna miss. High school is your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that!" It was very touching without being too cornball. I won't give away the end, but I haven't laughed that hard in a theater in a long time. What is really scary, however, is that the girls who played the parts of the other young Little Miss Sunshine contestants are all actual veteran beauty pageant contestants. If you watch the movie, you'll get what I mean. I love how the directors (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris) make a statement against those pageants without being too hokey or heavy handed. Michael Arndt writes a great script.

Little Miss Sunshine
8/10
Highly Recommended
See it because.... you love a great smart, dark comedy, you like a great story, to see a great ensemble cast kicking ass, or you like indie films.
Best line: Dwayne: "Do what you love and fuck the rest!"

More ramblings to come....

Movie Quote of the Day: Dirty Dancing

So you say, why buy a movie that you have seen a million times years ago and still remember the movie virtually verbatim. I'll tell you why, because it's five bucks at Walmart. I haven't seen Dirty Dancing in years. A lot of the DVD's I've gotten lately have been flashbacks to the 80's. Some films held up better than others. I imagine most people have seen it even if it was against their will, so I won't bore you with re-hashing the plot details.

Since I haven't seen it since before I began studying film, I notice things I didn't pay much attention to before. Like the beautiful lighting in the scene when Baby (Jennifer Grey) is changing in the back of Johnny's (Patrick Swayze) car while he is peeking in the mirror. Or the mise en scene and performance when Baby and Johnny are playing around and dancing to Mickey and Sylvia's Love is Strange. A very classic and memorable scene that apparently wasn't even meant to be in the film. Patrick and Jennifer were warming up and rehearsing but the director (Emile Ardolino) liked it so much, he kept it in the film. I appreciate the subtleties now like the way the director had some of the scenes with Baby and her father (Jerry Orbach, RIP) silhouetted, which I now read as a visual representation of their inability to communicate. Just like in Brokeback Mountain, the two main characters in the love story, Baby and Johnny, are always wearing the same colours, a visual representation of their personalities. Baby is almost always in white. White capris, white blouse, white tennis shoes, or white flowy dress. Johnny is always in black. Black tank top, black pants, black leather jacket, black sunglasses. It did always bother me a little bit that it is another film that feeds little girls fantasies. Baby is the idealistic, romantic, naive good girl who sees the good in bad boy Johnny Castle, who's really a hurt little boy inside and just needs the right woman to make him feel loved and believe in him. Excuse me for a minute....*barf*. Okay. Other than that, story wise, it is a technically well made movie. Everybody always quotes Johnny's "Nobody puts Baby in the corner" as the most memorable quote in the movie. Not me, I have a different one. Here it is....

Baby (incredulously): "I carried a watermelon??"

More ramblings to come.....