Canadian girl out and aboot

Seriously, I've been really busy.

On Thursday, I went to see Last Train home , a documentary film created by a Chinese Canadian Lixin Fan. Fan was a broadcaster who moved to Montreal. His documentary "Last Train home" focusses on the annual trek home for Chinese New Year. Viewers are introduced to a family of migrant workers. The parents work in a factory together and send money home to their two children, who are being raised by the grandmother. Life is hard in the factory and the family communications are suffering. The daughter is torn between staying in the countryside and the life in the cities.

I won't tell you what happens, but this is quite a powerful documentary. It's disturbing to watch and gives you an understanding of what life is like for a Chinese migrant worker.

I've been working really hard the past few days and have been writing like a fiend. My brother and his Fiancee arrived late Friday night, along with my dog. So I now have to take care of Fergus in addition to my other duties. Believe me, I'm not complaining.

Saturday I did a bunch of errands and then went to see a presentation of Wen Wei Dance's Cock pit. The piece is a 70 minute contemporary dance number featuring 5 dancers. It was inspired by the 5 years that Wen Wei spent in Beijing as a Chinese dance student. Pheasant feathers symbolize the masculine in Chinese opera. In his piece, Wen Wei uses the feathers to show movement, competition, sexuality and masculinity. The piece featured 4 male dancers and one female dancer and was a moving, erotic and sexually charged piece. I enjoyed it a great deal, but thought it was just a little too long. Still ,it's been a long time since I enjoyed contemporary dance, and this was a treat.

Sunday I taught a workshop to 3 women who write for the Rat Creek press, a community newspaper on the north side of the city. We went through the basic journalism techniques and tricks and I had a really good time. Apparently I did a good job with the workshop, because I got a lot of compliments from the people who attended, which is always nice to hear.

Sunday night, I watched the Oscars (of course), which were kind of boring. I'm glad with all the wins (specifically that Avatar didn't win), but hope for a better show next year.

Well, I'm not really relaxing. I'm just enjoying the fact that I don't have to drive anywhere this week. Right now I'm catching up on stories that I should have written, doing laundry, writing random things and generally enjoying being at home.

Tonight I have to give a short poetry reading at local reading series.

The Oscars were really good. Mom and I phoned each other multiple times during the show.

1. I really loved Hugh Jackman's opening song thing.
2. I also loved the five presenters theme for the best supporting and best actor and actress categories.
3. There were a number of really good dresses and a number of horrible ones. What was up with Alicia Keyes' eyebrows? And my mom called me to comment on Sarah Jessica Parker's horrible fake boobs.
4. I loved the speech given by Devon Lance Black, the guy who wrote Milk. I was also touched by Heath Ledger's tribute.
5. Did anyone else think that it was horribly tacky that the camera cut to Angelina when Jennifer Aniston was at the mike? (It's over. Give it up. Who the hell cares any more?)
6. My mom called me to yell as Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens appeared onscreen. "Give them off the stage," she cried. I COULD NOT AGREE MORE. We want to see movie stars, people. Actual movie stars, wearing pretty dresses and accepting awards.
7. I wish Kate Winslet had won for "Revolutionary Road", but I was okay with her winning even though my vote was largely for Anne Hathaway.
8. I was also okay with Sean Penn's win, even though my vote was for Mickey Rourke.

The new food security class that I'm taking (Applied Research Methods) is HARD, yo. It's a lot of reading and a lot of work and I have to read all this stuff about research design, which is rather dry.

Work is really busy as well. I head off to another two day conference tomorrow.

I'm still trying to balance everything. I've got a lunch date with my friend Tess today, and a movie date with my friend Jenna tonight. I'm rather sad about the Oscars, as I will probably end up watching them alone. I wanted to go home and watch them with my mom, but I found out that I have to give a poetry reading the next day, so that's really not going to happen.

All is well in my world. The sun is shining and I am really, really busy.

For some reason, I've been watching a lot of Oscar related movies, but I haven't written about any of them. Granted, my participation is somewhat limited because of my location this year, but I've still managed to see a few of the nominees.
( movies under the cut, no spoilers )

In other movie news, I watched "Shanghai Triad" which is an old gangster film by Zhang Yimou. It was pretty good, but he has definitely made better films. I'm trying to watch more Asian cinema and more Canadian cinema. I'll continue to write about these movies as I watch them.

Holy fucking crap! This movie is intense, and well worth watching. The Deer Hunter won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1978. It's an intense look at a group of friends who go to the fight in the Vietnam war and what the war does to them. It stars Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, and Robert De Niro who all turn in excellent performances. This movie is gritty, violent and disturbing, but well worth the ride....

I liked Broadway melody of 1929 a lot more than I was expecting to. It's the story of 2 sisters who tackle Broadway. They meet up with their old friend, Eddie Kearns, who is engaged to one of the sisters, Hank (Harriet). The other sister, Queenie, has grown into quite the looker, and this is stressed time and time again during the film. The sisters have a rough time getting their big break, and Hank is overlooked because of Queenie's looks. Eddie starts to fall in love with Queenie, despite the fact that he and Hank are engaged. Then there are some shenanigans etc.

Some parts of the movie are kind of slow and some of the acting is a bit off (especially from the dimwit Queenie) but it's not a bad film. I have realized that I have a thing for the 1920s style and fashion and there are a few good production numbers featuring some singing, chorus girls and tap dancing.
***
The Broadway Melody was so popular that it spawned a line of "Broadway Melody" films, and one was created every few years. (Judy Garland stars in The Broadway Melody of 1938, and Fred Astaire in 1940) These films have little to do with one another; they're just meant to show the depiction of people trying to get their break on Broadway.

When The Last Emperor won Best Picture in 1987, I was only 11 years old. I think my mother must have rented it on VHS and made me watch it. I know that I'd seen it before, and remember finding it terribly dull. The only details I remember were about the emperor as a baby.

This was the first movie to be filmed inside the Forbidden City, and it's quite the accomplishment. I'm glad that I took the time to rewatch this one, as I was obviously too young to appreciate it on my first viewing. Bertolucci's bio-pic about the life of the last emperor of Manchuri, Pu Yi, is a grand and visually stunning movie. I adored the lavish sets, costumes and fantastic soundtrack.

I was a bit bothered by what I saw as a smidge of Orientalism, and the fact that the movie was in English. (This bothers me about a lot of Asian movies, including "Memoirs of a Geisha") I also thought that the teenager playing Pu Yi sounded a lot like a robot.

On the other hand, I had a renewed appreciation for this film as a historical piece. I studied Chinese history in university and was completely fascinated by it all. This film does a good job illuminating some of the aspects of the fall of the Manchurian dynasty. I wasn't aware that Manchurians borrowed so much from Mongolians. In one scene, it looks as though the characters are wearing Mongolian style head-dresses. I'm compelled to go find some history books to see the differences and similarities between Mongolian and Manchurian dress.

Last night I made many Oscar quips, but there was only one other person to listen to me. I want to go to or have an Oscar party next year, me thinks.

( some comments )

(I think the Academy mainly went with "safe" choices, but to be honest, I wasn't really extremely unhappy with anything.

You can tell that I haven't been feeling well as it has taken me this long to write anything about the list of nominees.

I have several things to say-

1. Yay for the lack of "Memoirs of a Geisha"! After Zhang Ziyi was nominated for a Golden Globe, I was worried that the Academy would nominate her for Best Actress. That movie doesn't really deserve nominations, except in categories like costume, etc.

2. What happened to C.R.A.Z.Y? I thought that this would be a shoo-in for Best Foreign. Alas, I was proven wrong.

3. I was also proven wrong because I thought that "Jarhead" would be Oscar bait and it wasn't. I haven't seen the movie, but I just thought that it would have been one that would have gotten a lot of attention because of the cast and subject matter.

4. It was a good year for gays in the movies, which is awesome. My mother pointed out that this is directly against the current conservative climate in the United States. However, it does prove my theory that times of political repression can often help produce good art.

5. It was not a good year for women in the movies. There were very few movies with good, meaty female roles. (This is true of most years, but this year was really rather crappy) Generally, women were sidekicks in ensemble pieces. The only female driven movies that I can think of were "North Country" (which didn't stay in Vancouver very long, so I haven't seen it) and "Memoirs of a Geisha", which was kind of insulting. (Oh, and I guess "Mrs. Henderson") Okay, that's three now.

6. I'm one of those people who liked "Crash". I know a lot of people who didn't like it, but I know a lot of people who did like too.

7. I have no plans to see "Cinderella Man." In fact, I will not be seeing "Cinderella Man" or "Pride and Prejudice." I am tired of boxing and Russell Crowe, and I don't care for Jane Austen that much. If I watch "Pride and Prejudice", I plan to watch the BBC mini series with Colin Firth. And his shirt.

( more )

I don't feel that I can make comments on all the best pictures or the screenplays as I haven't seen a lot of those movies yet. I do like seeing writers win things, so I enjoy the screenplay and adapted screenplay categories. I don't have a lot to say about sound editing etc, because those categories are not as exciting to me.

( Today I watched Hustle and Flow )

I must say that "It's hard out here for a pimp" is a catchy song and I was singing it for part of today. I'm curious to see how it will be performed at the ceremonies and if the singer will sing all the swears in the song.

I've discovered a technical glitch in the Oscar project. It has to do with the transition from video cassettes to DVDs. Two of the films I need, specifically "Cavalcade" and "Cimarron", still haven't made it to DVD. The library doesn't have the VHS versions, so I will have to try some of the larger chain stores near my house. If not, I'll be waiting until the movies are re-issued on DVD. Zip has them listed as upcoming releases, so they should be released eventually.


1940's best picture winner Rebecca is the only movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock to ever win a Best picture for an Oscar. It was produced by David O Selznick, fresh off his sweep from "Gone with the Wind" which cleaned up the year before.

Sadly, "Rebecca" is the first Hitchcock movie that I've ever seen. From the opening sequence, I knew I was going to love the film. It begins with a voice speaking about how they used to love "Manderley" originally, but now it brings back bad memories. This hooked me immediately.

The film stars Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier . It's the story of a young woman who marries a strange man and then moves into his mansion. There she discovers a series of secrets, which really drive the plot. Initially, I thought I was going to be annoyed by Joan Fontaine, but then I realized that her seeming innocence and bubbly nature was supposed to be part of the character. She quickly loses that as the movie goes on. It turns out that Laurence Olivier wanted his lover Vivien Leigh to take the role, so he was incredibly mean to Joan Fontaine on the set. Hitchcock realized that this was making Joan uncomfortable and uneasy, so he told the entire cast to be mean to her so that she seemed more nervous in the film. A weird technique, but it seemed to work.

I LOVED Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers. She was so fucking creepy.

All in all, I loved this film and it made me want to watch more Hitchcock. Actually, the minute that I finished watching this movie, I said, "Holy fucking shit!" and picked up the phone so I could talk to my parents about it.

Unfortunately, I can't talk much more about the plot, but suffice it to say, it's a doozy.


What other Hitchcock films have you seen and liked? I'm looking for opinions, except I refuse to watch "The Birds" because I love birds and I think that movie might make me afraid of them.

(Also, Alfred Hitchcock, Fidel Castro, Annie Oakley and I all have the same birthday- August 13)