Today the”real” Ariane makes some predictions how the Rhapsodies version of her datewith Brian will go. (The actual date will probably be a lot more vanilla.) However this doesn’t stop it being an enjoyable spectator sport for his sisters. In reality, while Tara and Rowan are amused by Brian dating a “real woman“, I rather doubt they’d be this complicit. Though they’d probably enjoy seeing him taken a peg or two… (and the flag taken down and hidden)
Also noteworthy, I have no idea why Lisa is with them… or why she thought it was an important enough occasion to wax.
Ariane Makes Her Move (With Tara, Rowan and Lisa Watching
A very happy 115th birthday to Mr. Louis Armstrong! Let’s celebrate his life by joining him in celebrating life in general with his wonderful and optimistic performance of the title song from Caberet! (minus all of that pesky cynicism and sarcasm courtesy of Mr. Fosse and Ms. Minnelli.)
Now I’m sure when everybody saw the theme was “Un-American Vietnam War Films”, they said, what? With all of the peacenik anti-war messages, most of them have, besides John Wayne’sThe Green Berets, how many Vietnam War films are pro American?
Okay, you got me. I admit it. I phrased the title that way to cynically manipulate search engines. What I meant, when I said “Un-American”, was actually “non-American” as in Vietnam War films done outside of the United States.
In John Woo’sBullet in the Head, Ben (Tony Leung), Frank(Jacky Cheung) and Paul (Waise Lee) are three friends growing up in the mean streets of Hong Kong. Together they are part of a gang where, in an act of retaliation, they accidentally kill a rival gang boss. They flee to Vietnam where they’ve heard you can make a killing in the chaotic lawlessness caused by the war. They’re not particularly concerned about the war itself. It’s not their problem.
They’re corrected of this misunderstanding almost immediately when a street bomb, targeting a South Vietnamese officer, destroy the load of contraband they brought to make contact with the Saigon underground with. Things go from bad to terrible from until they’re fleeing to the countryside only to get captured by Vietcong.
This was an interesting film. It had quite a bit of Woo’s lyrical brutality but at the same time, it was far more cynical. Budget wise, Vietnam in this film was about as convincing as the one in Full-metal Jacket, I think most of the money went into explosives, but that is not the point.
For the most part for me, this film felt very much like a cross between Platoon and M*A*S*H (Though any illusions this is a comedy go away after the camp is shelled by enemy mortar fire in the first fifteen minutes) For the most part what makes this is the work is the film’s tone. While obviously not keeping any secrets about the horrors of war, beyond one soldier’s cynical commentary about how nobody at home cares about the war, it doesn’t really have an overt opinion. Because of this, the main message that comes out of this is war is boring. Like M*A*S*H, most of the film focuses on all of the things the soldiers do to pass the time between missions, from a weekend whoring in Saigon, to betting on a tarantula/scorpion fight, and of course lots of beer. Even the missions are treated like another day to work (except, of course, for that pesky ten percent mortality rate)
Today we have rhapsodies suitable for children courtesy of The Wiggles with their version of Hugo Alfven’sSwedish Rhapsody! It’s funny, when I first saw the name of the piece I said, there’s no way this can be the same one. But I checked it is albeit one with a very different tempo. But I checked it very much a variation of Alfven’s work. That’s okay, though. I have so many variations of Liszt and Queen in this series, why not go with lesser known but very good rhapsodies?
I confess, because of whenI got back from my trip too latte to get my Scarecrow selection for the week but fortunately my library picks suggested a theme and I decided to catch up on Studio Ghibli. Much as I’m a huge fan of Ghibli’s work I’d been lax on my viewing since Howl’s Moving Castle. I was more than happy to play catchup. These two are the most recent films of the Ghibli lineup and allegedly the last films of their two respective creators.
The first on my film is The Tale of the Princess Kaguya by Ghibli’s number two master. Isao Takahata. I can’t say I’m technically a fan of the man’s work. I love Pom Poko but Grave of the Fireflies is so depressing I’ve never been able to last through the first half hour but I can’t deny his brilliant craftsmanship.
The tale of princess Kagura is a mostly straight retelling of the classic folktale The Tale of The Bamboo Cutter. It tells the tale of a Bamboocutter who finds a tiny princess inside a bamboo shoot. The princess turns into a baby girl who grows at an unnatural speed. Because of this she is nicknamed “Little Bamboo” by the children of the village. From there she is taken to the city and trained to become a princess.
This film is utterly gorgeous. It is all handdrawn in an incredibly simple style, looking almost like a picture book. (And for some reason William Steig keeps coming to mind.) It takes it’s time to show all of the different emotions of the princess over her life and experiences. I especially like the way the otherwise thin pen lines are replaced with what looks like dry brush when an especially emotional scene takes place.
When I first heard about Hayao Miyazaki’s supposedly last film, The Wind Rises I imagined an extremely personal artsy piece that sadly might not be interesting to his normal fanbase. I’ve haven’t been so glad to be to be wrong for a long time. This was very good and on my list of best Miyazaki films I’d happily put it up there with Porco Rossoand Houl’s Moving Castle.
In The Wind Rises, Miyazaki tells the true(ish) story of aeronautics engineer Jiro Horioshi from his childhood to the nineteen forties with him completing the first experimental prototype of the Zero fighter plane.
During this we are told the story of the love of flight (something Jiro would never be able to do himself due to his poor eyesight, and the power of genius and creativity.
As always Miyazaki’s strengths are his wonderful lyrical style and his meticulous attention to detail. As well as showing his famous love of flight in all of it’s glory.
I love how he plays against type with his characters, the best example being Jiro’s no nonsense boss who at first glance comes off like a bitter little troll, almost an anime version of Gilbert Huph from the Incredibles, who turns out to be Jiro’s strongest supporter.
My favorite scene is the shocking portrayal of the Kanto Earthquake. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an earthquake portrayed a shockwave before with the houses going up and down as if on top of a giant water bed. The accompanying sound effect makes it seem organic almost a living thing that doesn’t care about the quickly growing chaos that it caused.
