Venice, Entry 8: In China, they eat dogs
And speaking of them, my old Norwegian friend Niels asked Tim Burton at the press conference today how come that every stop-motion movie of his features a dead dog. (Corpse Bride does too, and it's v. funny.) Burton answered, "You know, dogs have a shorter lifespan than people. So it's only natural that over time you'll outlive several of them. I, for example, have had five dead dogs so far."
"And he still keeps them all in his house", added HBC.
You gotta hand it to Helena. She just isn't aging at all, and her Bride is now officially my favorite leading lady of the Mostra, beating out Isabelle Huppert in her award-hogging turn in the officially unwatchable Gabrielle by Patrice Chereau, and even my wonderful Lee Young-ae, the incomparable Lady Vengeance, who signed her autograph "To Vladimir, Best of Luck, Always". I consider that a serious endorsement of my future, yet I chose a puppet corpse over her. Go figure.
But I have to add Sammi Cheng's performance in Stanley Kwan's Everlasting Regret to the list now. The film, while suffering from some narrative problems, is a strikingly visualised and edited look at the life of a Shanghai woman from the late 1940's to the late 1980s -- a chronicle of tumultuous times in Chinese history told mostly in incredibly composed closeup shots. That's the thing with Chinese films -- you might have problems with this or that aspect of them, but on the whole, they're always worth watching, always manage to fulfil that cinephile yearning in you. Take Wang Baomin's Sunflowers, for example: a completely independent production, using non-actors and a leading man who doesn't say a single word in the whole movie (echoes of Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron there, to be sure), and a story centered around sunflower fields and seeds, with a Chinese Bob Dylan crooning folk songs as support. The result? A mesmerising investigation of a young man's coping with a rape he committed many moons ago.
Actually, a story that's very much the same is told by Norwegian director Paul Sletaune in Next Door. A tale of a man's descent into his own guilty conscience, the film reeks of Lynch and Fincher while managing to be a pefectly engaging B-movie, perfect for a midnight screening. Fave scene: lead actor Kristoffer Joner exchanging hard punches to the face with supporting actress Julia Schacht as a prelude to some hot, hot sex. Quite the most arousing scene of the entire festival so far, if you're pervy. And Julia looks as if she sprang fully formed from the brain of Milo Manara. She's actually here, and there was a perty for Next Door on the Lido this Monday. Did my old Norwegian friend Niels call me to get there and exchange a few tips on better punching with Julia? Yeah, right.
Now I hafta think of a punishment for him.
"And he still keeps them all in his house", added HBC.
You gotta hand it to Helena. She just isn't aging at all, and her Bride is now officially my favorite leading lady of the Mostra, beating out Isabelle Huppert in her award-hogging turn in the officially unwatchable Gabrielle by Patrice Chereau, and even my wonderful Lee Young-ae, the incomparable Lady Vengeance, who signed her autograph "To Vladimir, Best of Luck, Always". I consider that a serious endorsement of my future, yet I chose a puppet corpse over her. Go figure.
But I have to add Sammi Cheng's performance in Stanley Kwan's Everlasting Regret to the list now. The film, while suffering from some narrative problems, is a strikingly visualised and edited look at the life of a Shanghai woman from the late 1940's to the late 1980s -- a chronicle of tumultuous times in Chinese history told mostly in incredibly composed closeup shots. That's the thing with Chinese films -- you might have problems with this or that aspect of them, but on the whole, they're always worth watching, always manage to fulfil that cinephile yearning in you. Take Wang Baomin's Sunflowers, for example: a completely independent production, using non-actors and a leading man who doesn't say a single word in the whole movie (echoes of Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron there, to be sure), and a story centered around sunflower fields and seeds, with a Chinese Bob Dylan crooning folk songs as support. The result? A mesmerising investigation of a young man's coping with a rape he committed many moons ago.
Actually, a story that's very much the same is told by Norwegian director Paul Sletaune in Next Door. A tale of a man's descent into his own guilty conscience, the film reeks of Lynch and Fincher while managing to be a pefectly engaging B-movie, perfect for a midnight screening. Fave scene: lead actor Kristoffer Joner exchanging hard punches to the face with supporting actress Julia Schacht as a prelude to some hot, hot sex. Quite the most arousing scene of the entire festival so far, if you're pervy. And Julia looks as if she sprang fully formed from the brain of Milo Manara. She's actually here, and there was a perty for Next Door on the Lido this Monday. Did my old Norwegian friend Niels call me to get there and exchange a few tips on better punching with Julia? Yeah, right.
Now I hafta think of a punishment for him.