Film | Elegy
Elegy is a brooding, poetic look into a man coming to terms with his autumn years and about to discover the fragility beneath his virility. The plot’s a little insubstantial, but the movie is redeemed by stellar performances from its leads — Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz.
David Kapeesh (Kingsley) is a 50-something cultural critic and academic who’s starting to reckon with getting old. He emancipated himself from marriage early on to lead an independent, epicurean life in a stunning New York apartment. Everything is as he wants; he’s playing it all very cool. That is until he catches the eye of his student, Conseula Castillo (Cruz).
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Fashion | Chanel Before “Coco Avant Chanel”
Dollish Amelie star Audrey Tautou is the new face for Chanel No 5, teaming up again with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet for the fragrance’s latest advertising campaign. It comes ahead of a mid-2009 release of Coco Avant Chanel in which Tautou plays the fragrance’s inventor, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.
Film | Would you let this vampire in?
If there are two things that up the creepy factor in a horror movie, it’s children and an uber clean and spartan, homely setting. Swedish director Tomas Alfredson added these two ingredients to his new vampire horror movie Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in).
It’s a combination of fellow Swede Lille Hallstrom’s My Life As a Dog and Takashi Shimizu’s The Grudge. There’s more than good horror to this movie — it’s also a coming-of-age and romance. Let the Right One In is based on a book of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist (who also wrote the screenplay).
Film | Has Lars returned to The Kingdom?
It looks like Danish film director Lars von Trier is returning to the supernaturalism of his roots with his soon-to-be-released horror flick Antichrist.
A couple (played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsborough) go to a cabin in the woods to mourn and get over the death of their son. But, rather than finding bucolic bliss they instead discover that nature is indeed “the devil’s church” and soon become extremely reluctant parishioners.
Film | The Bad Apple: Monsanto’s Dirt File
If sin was a government office building, then an entire floor would be devoted to the file on the world’s largest biotechnology company, Monsanto. At least if this documentary is anything to go by.
The World According To Monsanto (Le Monde Salon de Monsanto) is this file. It was first aired on French and German TV, and I believe is yet to be broadcast in America.
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Web | Australian Interactive a Webby Award Finalist
Which well-known brand in Australia is shortlisted for a 2009 Webby Award for an online interactive that spotlights whales? Is it Optus? Nope. Try Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
The group released Send-A-Whale last year as a fun, creative way of getting people to sign a petition asking the Japanese Government to stop whaling in the Southern Ocean.
You can pimp your own “origami whale”, give it a sound, name and even a tattoo Read the rest of this entry »
Film | Talkin’ ‘Bout Their Generation
I dropped into the cinema today to see The Boat That Rocked. And, yes, it was the nostalgic sexagenarian trip down memory lane to the good ‘ole Swinging Sixties I was expecting. But, it was also a thoroughly enjoyable, vibrant and fun movie, aided a lot by a booming British pop soundtrack.
Directed by Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill) and with an ensemble cast. The Boat That Rocked is a comedic tribute to the UK pirate radio stations of the 1960s that were pretty much the only radio stations playing pop music.
Music video | A glass-and-a-half of Jonathan Glazer
Two of the most successful ad campaigns of all time, at least in the alcohol market, were for Guinness and Stella Artois.
Enter director Jonathan Glazer, who not only worked on these ads, but also a range of music videos for artists such as Radiohead, Jamiroquai and Blur. As well as with actors Ben Kingsley, Nicole Kidman and Ray Winstone on two acclaimed feature films.
With this kind of background, it’s no surprise that Glazer’s oeuvre is included in a DVD collection featuring the work of several music video directors. A few months back I looked at Stephane Sednaoui. Now I’ve had a chance to look at the Glazer DVD.
Music | Music is my radar
This post is a quickie but a goodie. One of my favourite music videos care of the boys from Blur — “Music is My Radar”.
The clip is very retro — 60s futurism. The lads are on the set of a talkshow, which has just cut to a break. Behind them are four gigantic posters of the band members, all reminiscent of The Beatles. The set is 60s mod, blocks of red and white.
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