Today, I'll be staying home. A day's break after going out fervidly the last 4 days of the week. Jo has left for Sdyney on a vacation and I'll be missing her. To cheer myself up, I'll just think of all the wonderful stuff she'll be bringing back once she returns. hehe. It's been a while since I wrote a review...so I just did. On acclaimed film maker, Michael Haneke's adaptation of The Piano Teacher, La Pianiste.

La Pianiste disturbs but impresses with its honest take on the duality of human nature.

La Pianiste(The Piano Teacher) was a huge winner at the 2001 Cannes film festival bagging 3 major awards, Best Female Performance, Best Male Performance and The Grand Jury Prize putting the french and austrian production in high esteem with critics and audiences alike. About a little over a year later(and why am i not surprized), La Pianiste makes its way here almost without a bang or a whisper via a dimunitive article in the Life section of The Straits Times.(so maybe let's wait another year till this year's Cannes winners arrive) I got a convenient sms from one of my bestfriends Jia who asked me if I wanted to go catch it at the Alliance Franchaise with a limited screen run of two nights(26th and 27th of June). Eileen came along for the ride too.

La Pianiste revolves around the tale of a middle aged piano professor, Erika Kohut(Isabelle Huppert), who is torn between her talent, and passion for music as well as her piano playing, and her baser desires of the flesh. She is uptight, strict, cultured, regal and even snobbish with her status as a famous piano teacher who only teaches exclusively talented students. And yet when she gets away from the academy, her students and her piano, she is addicted to watching pornography and peeping on copulating couples at a drive-in. She also has a love-hate relationship with her mother. Enter a younger, dashing man, Walter Klemmer(Benoit Magimel) who is enamoured with her talent, her love for music and her respectable demeanour. He pursues her while under her tutorship for a masters programme and presents an opportunity for her to live out her deepest, darkest desires.

The lead character Erika is a brutally honest look at an individual who is tugged by two extremities, the aspirations of a cultured mind and the dishonourable craving for sado-masochism and porn sex. Under the calm and cold demeanour, is a self-loathing woman who doesn't know how to come to terms with her own duality resulting in intense pain and grief. Isabelle's longing for a sado-masochistic encounter runs deeper than just mere sexual gratification. Being the one whose career includes executing commands to students constantly , she longs to surrender to instruction and be subjected to severe beatings due to the hatred she has toward herself. Kudos to best actress, Isabelle Huppert, who was able to express Erika's iron strength as a piano instructor and her complete vulnerability when the character reaches breaking point. Benoit Magimel also gave a good performance as Walter, the young cad who is infectuated with her. A hopeless charmer and romantic at first, he too gets embroiled in confusion and hurt when Isabelle shows him her inner self which consequently opens up a part of him he never thought could've existed in his own nature.

There is some fancy piano playing in the film also. The camera work is competent for an independent production but a word of warning, the overhead microphone on the robopole keeps peeking from the top of several scenes and in some extreme cases, the whole mike can be seen hanging down above the actors. That encouraged a couple of chuckles from the audience and the illusion gets somewhat broken but the intensity of the film's plot and the interaction between the characters more than makes up for that little mistake. La Pianiste shows the fine line between self respect and hatred, love and peversity, culture and animalistic human nature. And how when that line is blurred, an individual can be pushed to unimaginable thoughts and deeds.

Man, is this review long. Sorry about all that, but it's one of the few films this year that compels me to ponder so much. This is definitely one movie to try and get a hold of. If you could get the dvd, vcd or video that'd be great but it might be a little difficult because foreign independent productions are a rare stock here and moreover the film is a little more sexually explicit than the usual fare we get in the local theatres. But you can try looking around or if you really want to watch it, place a personal order with a dvd dealer. This is one movie so realistically honest, it might haunt you and make you ponder about your own dualities.

It's geared to be some week. Yesterday, I met up with some friends who ended up having a late lunch. Then me and Jo went to watch Altman's Gosford Park before having dinner at Macs. I was super hungry yesterday and have been stuffing myself for some time now. *Di looks forlornly at her bodily lard congregating at her waist* I had nachos during the movie some more and after dinner I had a cone of Swenson's mocha almond fudge ice cream. Argh! Damn you easy-food-access S'pore!!! Then today, I had lunch with my mum at the American club. And I ordered myself a complete dish of meat loaf(with mushroom sauce), veges and fries and a strawberry milkshake. What the hell is the matter with me??? I did quite a bit of shopping for winter clothing with my mum, hopefully i burnt some of the calories I so gained today. We'll be leaving for Brisbane on the 5th of July. Tomorrow I'll be meeting ex-classmates from junior college and they wanna go for a karaoke session. =p Then on Thursday, I'll be meeting up with my two besties, Eileen and Jiayi for dinner before we make our way to the Alliance Franchaise to catch a special screening of the french movie and 2001 Cannes film festival hit, La Pianiste. *excited* I'm not sure what I'm doing on Friday onwards but I'm pretty much booked and pooped. Wait...I think I'll be going to HMV with my dad over the weekend. Need to confirm. Hope you guys are doing good this week so far too.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers latest teaser just out!

Whatcha waiting around and gaping like a goldfish for??? Go get it!!!
Image courtesy of countingdown.com.

Insomnia opens tomorrow!

Let's give homage to the uber genius behind the super excellent Memento. Christopher Nolan's latest hits theatres tomorrow. Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams lead the cast. Insomnia centers around a police detective(Pacino) who accidentaly shoots his own partner when apprehending a suspect. Still, he has a murder to solve despite the intense guilt with a local detective(Swank) in Alaska, a land where the sun doesn't set. Throw in a mysterious suspect(Williams) and it all makes up for a film full of tension. I need to watch this!!!*hysterical*

It's been one heck of a weekend. Yesterday, me and a couple of undergrad mates went to East Coast beach for a potluck picnic. Jo brought her mum's famous mustard chicken, Ady brought pasta(and she made it all herself! clever girl!), Lou made some tuna with chili and mushrooms and brought ritz biscuits for the tuna so it turns out like these cute appetizers and Zita brought egg sandwhiches. I brought a new batch of my mum's great chicken pie. It was awesome that we ate and hung out together, just catching up. It's been ages since all of us have been together at the same place and the same time. The weather was good for an outdoor lunch anyway.

Today, I watched Windtalkers with my best movie buddy(simply because he's a movie fanatic like me), my dad. It's been a long time since I hung out with my dad at the movies also. Normally we watch almost at least one film a week at the theatre but we haven't done that for a long while now basically because he's got his things to do and I, mine. Not to mention it's just been a couple of weeks ago that he and I had a bit of issues going on. We didn't talk much and I pretty much ignored him. I don't understand why I couldn't bring myself to talk to him then either. Usually I'd have no problems doing that. I'm not sure when it happened, but the bad spell broke simply because we started talking. Sometimes I'm glad it's as simple as that. Windtalkers was entertaining enough but I didn't think it was that great. I've a feeling that Hollywood jumps on the patriotic bandwagon post Sept 11. But it's good enough to appreciate, my dad likes it a lot. But then again, War is his favourite genre. We had lunch at the Japanese restaurant in Hotel Intercontinental. Prices are a lil' more ex than the usual eateries I go to but the food is so excellent. We had a good talk then and he raised the issues we have had and we talked it through and came to an understanding. I feel good about it. I'm so glad things don't get sticky as they are prone to and that it's as simple as two people, fortunately, being on the same frequency. I understand that it's not always like that but in this situation I really needed that clean slate with no conflict. I'm grateful to whatever powers that be, which helped straightened things out. All that over a bowl of mixed tempura and I swear the prawns were as long as the sizable square bowls they came in. How the hell do you get tiger prawns to grow that big??? Steroids?? =p

After going out for most of the days this week so far, I'll be a good lil' daughter and stay home to look after house today. heh. I'll ask my dad if he needs a soccer buddy for the 2 matches today particularly the major England vs. Brazil later at 2:20. hehe. That's why I can catch up with the blogging. I had a peek of what I'll be having for lunch at the dining room, looks like stir fried vege with mushrooms, tofu with spicy black sauce and one of my mum's specialities, rendang chicken pie. YUM!!! I'm so putting on the pounds! Kudos to mum being an excellent cook.

The genius, that is, Robert Altman.
Who loved M*A*S*H??? *looks around* I'm sure several did. It was like one of the icons of the 70s. Unfortunately many of his other more daring and poignant movies were overshadowed by its success. Finally, Gosford Park arrives! But of course there wasn't any decency to bring it in before the Golden Globe awards this year, or even the Oscars. Sigh. Eileen told me just be happy that it actually made it here. Eileen has good intentions but it's still unfair that I didn't get to form an opinion of whether the movie deserved the wins or not! *grumble* Took away some of my critical rights, man... *pout* Oh well, now that it's here, I can't wait to catch it! One of the best things about Altman is that he can get quite anti-Americano and anti-establishment sometimes...hehehe. A quote from the meistro himself: " But Altman doesn't blame Hollywood for anything other than advertising its own bad taste. Suddenly I'm the bad guy." Ouch.

To view trailer and learn more about Godford Park, visit the official website.

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets teaser out!

Picture courtesy of Entertainment Weekly online.
I quite liked the first Harry Potter movie and having read the novel can safely say that the film followed the book to the tee. Much more so as compared to The Fellowship of The Ring for Tolkien's classic. Although I gotta admit that it wasn't a totally excellent film. Proves that a movie can be absolutely faithful in its adaptation and yet doesn't gurantee a great film version. But I still like it nonetheless. heh. =p Let's just hope Hollywood does C.S Lewis right by the adaptation of The Narnian Chronicles which is in the midst of preproduction. Btw, this new Harry Potter trailer is quite cool...check it out.

Addicted to Kurosawa.

I'm a bad, baaad blogger. It's been forever again since I've updated. =p Can't help it...it's the hols and there's just so much to do! =) Just went out with my bestie Eileen today at Marina and Millenia Walk. We had a blast at DFS. Had dinner with my parents too at a halal Thai restaurant at Great World City. Had Tom Yam soup one of my biggest faves!!! And it was sooo good! Anyway, I've got 2 dvd/vcd/ld rentals near my place and the newer outlet has a better system of renting out dvds for the night or the weekend for as low as $3-$5 per night/day depending. The other older one uses this coupon system where we gotta fork out 60 bucks up front. Ack! I'm referring to rentals cuz I've been watching a lot of older movies these days and there're so many precious gems to discover. Good for those who's got movie channels on cable tv but for those who'd like to watch movies and at cheaper prices than cinema tickets, maybe you could consider watching rented videos. I just rack up my dad's classic collection. heh. Hope he doesn't realize some things are missing anytime soon. Anywayz, I'm so totally in love with Akira Kurosawa these days. I've heard about his most famous project "The Seven Samurai" but didn't get around to watching it until I found out that the Hollywood classic "The Magnificent Seven" was based on it. Kurosawa is amazing! I caught "Rashomon" and it just showed me how advanced Kurosawa's ideas were. I was convinced that he set the standards for our contemporary story telling methods. He has admirers in Francis Ford Copolla and George Lucas who's admitted that Star Wars was inspired by another Kurosawa movie, "The Hidden Fotress"(which my dad just got on dvd today. Yay!) But I guess it goes both ways since Kurosawa, himself, is inspired by western literature. His academy award winning "Ran" was based on Shakespeare's King Lear and he's worked on some European and English movies as well. Ok, ok I'll stop gushing and end my own one-girl forum. Just wanna say that Kurosawa is totally awesome and I so recommend Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Ran. I've yet to watch The Hidden Fotress....hehehehe *anticipation*

For more information on the director and his various works, visit the Akira Kurosawa Database.

Hey guys, yeah it's been close to a millenia since I've updated. Doesn't beat the last dry season though. Been sick as I've mentioned on the previous entry. A 5-day fever. Bed-ridden Horrible. Shall never tempt a tonsil infection again. See how much blogging time's been wasted! *tsk* Oh well...not as if anyone cares. =p

Remember what a huge wave The Matrix created back in ' 99? Didn't think the ending was superb but the flick was pretty cool and making a trio of them sounds good enough. I dunno if you guys have seen it already but The Matrix Reloaded teaser is out and it looks fantastique!!!
Be sure to have Quicktime 6.
Get the trailer!
Picture courtesy of Time online and countingdown.com

The crazy weather has finally got to me. I have the worst fever today in a long time. It started off as a dry cough and escalated to chills, heatedness and finally my limbs are so numb and heavy, i couldn't walk properly and my fingers have somewhat difficulty typing. The only reason why i'm blogging instead of resting is because i'm too uncomfortable to sleep. It's awful guys, the hols are not a time to get sick. the only salvation thought i can fancy with myself is that after a good night's rest, i'll be a-ok tomorrow and develop powers to leap buildings, shoot web out of my wrists and get some spider senses, lose 25 pounds and save the world. hehe.

P.S: I was too weak to move from the couch nearest the TV and had to sit through a soccer match with my dad. Ack! US beats Portugal 3:2? A goal from each team was scored by their own team mates into enemy nets? Voiceover said it was an "entertaining" match. Haha. It was... And if i used wrong soccer lingo just now, forgive me...am not a fan. =p

Hope y'all are having a great Tuesday. Ally and Gilmore tonight. Yay!!! I've been eating too much. I just got a whole lot of chocs and candy from The Cookie Man at Takashimaya. Ack! They're just so darned good, I couldn't resist.

Trailers: Psychos and domestic violence.

The things that seem to bring in the thrills these days are psychopaths/baddies and homes assaulted by them. Following at the heels of Panic Room, here are some interesting flicks from a somewhat similar genus. Hollywood does think alike. To view these trailers, make sure you got Quicktime 5.
Enough

Starring Jennifer "J.Lo" Lopez. J.Lo portrays Slim, a woman on the run with her young daughter from an obssessive and dangerous man who relentlessly hunts them down, her own abusive husband.
More info and to view trailer
Unfaithful

Diane Lane is Connie Sumner, a middle aged woman and mother who's in a perfect marriage with Edward Sumner(Richard Gere). A perfect individual living out the American dream, she unwittingly becomes involved with Paul Martel(Olivier Martinez) and the affair becomes her obssession which leads to her own undoing. Discovering the affair on his own, Edward realizes that he's capable of anger and resentment he never thought could ever be in him.
For more info and to view trailer
One Hour Photo

What happens when your friendly photograph developer turns out to be a mentally disturbed person who obssesses over you and your family and tracks your life through the film you send in and stalks you with a camera? Chosen as a candidate for the Sundance Film Festival 2002, One Hour Photo is touted to present Robin Williams' finest acting yet as Seymour the demented photo developer. Although Williams is no stranger to dramatic roles, this film marks a drastic departure from his usual funny-man-roles and plunging headfirst into the haunting psycho category a la Hopkins. He plays another psycho suspect in Christopher Nolan's remake of Insomnia coming soon also.
To view trailer

Hey all. It's been quite a lazy day as compared to last week which was absolutely crazy. Had something on everyday and I thought I won't survive till Sunday. And now that I'm slacking at home, I feel like my joints are rotting away. Heh. The human condition, we're never really satisfied with one situation. Besides Eileen and Ady, a long time blogger, Elf has also moved and runnin' a kick ass site. Check it out. Talk about upgrading... =p Me? I just change the title of my blog. Hee.

This humble but pretty sunflower is for my bestfriend, Eileen. For all the times you've been there for me, and to remind you that I'll be there for you too. Whenever you need me.

Motives when "the profile doesn't fit the profile".


I didn't think Murder By Numbers is that good a film but watching the movie did get me rethinking about serial killing and the motives behind them. I did some reading about the matter some few years back and most of the reasons revolve around depravity, cruelty, sexual release and even evil influences often stemming from childhood trauma. Sandra Bullock is Cassie Mayweather, an emotionally fractured detective and a former victim of a heinous crime, who investigates two teenagers commiting a series of killings with the intension of getting away with it owing to their extensive knowledge on crime from books about criminal profiling and the forensic sciences(or maybe just too many CSI episodes). What disturbs and perplexes me at the same time(quite a dynamic combination eh?) is their motivations for carrying out their extreme misdeeds.

Basically the two antagonists Richard Haywood(Ryan Gosling) and Justin Pendleton(Michael Pitt) believe in a twisted philosophy that one has not fully embraced life if one had not experienced murder and suicide and that crime is a means to free man from the restrictive machinery that is society. They are well-to-do, brilliant students although their parents don't pay them as much attention as they would've liked. And that makes me wonder if it is motivation enough to make these teens kill or is it just inherent evil. Nature vs. Nurture so to speak. To me Richard and Justin seem like healthy, psychologically normal kids except maybe a little lack of morality but then again, nobody in that department's perfect. And I found it incredulous that parents being quite complascent and their being bored compelled them to kill mercilessly and meaninglessly just for the sole purpose of proving a point and living out a philosophy. And even if it were possible, which in all fairness it is, what kind of existense is our world evolving into when people murder with not just diabolical purposes but with clinical detachment as well? I guess this topic does strike a cord with me. Children as young as 9 are commiting rape and murder and high schools are paranoid about someone going gun crazy. Everyone is becoming more of a victim these days and nobody deserves that.

What
kind of clothes should I be wearing? by Evelyn

I've never even seen this brand around...*blur*

Phew! It's been ages since I've updated my blog eh? My exams are over! Woo-hoo! Been catching up on lots of stuff lately, that's why I haven't been updating for a while. Eileen has an awesome revamped site with a new URL, check it out! And Adeline has renovated as well. Wow! Hope I get to make some improvements to my own as well but for now, I'm happy with what I got. =p My bestie, Eileen and I went to the Festival Village at Fort Canning today to watch some performances that comemorates the opening of the Singapore Arts Festival 2002. We enjoyed some brazillian tribal song and dance, Argentinian tango music and Canadian/Haiti performces. They were pretty awesome and we got to sample some internationally alternative music. We watched a bit of Gambuh Macbeth which was a fuse of the ancient Indonesian dance and Shakespeare's classic story. All in all, it was a great experience though we were pooped out by the end.



For more information on the festival and its various performances, go here.

E.T 20th Anniversary Re-release.



One of Spielberg's most important movies and a childhood icon(if you're the kid of the 80s), E.T returns revamped and digitized. ET moves better, but looking better is debatable. I personally like the orginal animatronics entity, awkward jiggles and all. It's not so much how realistic ET is physically(well, ok quite important but then again the lil' guy's an extra-terrestrial in the first place) but rather the intensity of his humanity. Many may find that a paradox, how can an alien be human right? ET is a symbol more than anything else. Spielberg and his crew have said that ET was designed as a cross between a baby and and old man. In that, I feel that he encompasses humanity itself. The wisdom and knowledge, albeit from an alternative lifeform, and the curiosity and sense of wonder of a child who is in the midst of discovering life on earth. Spielberg's project, the preservation of childhood devoid of cynicism(often portrayed by adult characters) holds strong especially in this film as well as many others. So, if you're looking for a great film that opens doors to the potential wonder of life through the perspective of youth and untarnished optimism, ET will make your day. For the rest of us who are already long time fans, it's a chance to relive the glory on the big screen.

For more information and to view the trailer, soar over here.