#I just really liked the Cocteau film ok

[madam-o]

La Belle et La Bête, 2014 (spoilers)

                                    Ohhh, yeah. That’s the stuff.

Ok, so I finally watched the 2014 French version of BatB with Vincent Cassel (rawr!) as a sleek, sexy, leonine Beast. Like the famous 1946 Jean Cocteau film of the same story, this is not a movie actually meant for children (despite the obviously studio-injected presence of a pack of hunting beagles turned into odd, chibi, “Littlest Pet Shop” versions of themselves). I know that this confuses the hell out of people, but seriously, this is a fairy tale with some mature themes. As presented in 2014 and 1946, it’s a story about men and women and how they often clash despite being uncontrollably drawn to each other. Mostly it’s about how men are lying, selfish pricks, but women aren’t shown as being much better either; at their worst in both these films, they’re shallow, greedy, petty, little bitches.

One thing needs to be said about this movie that was obviously not clear to anyone but the director and other members of the production: this is not a retelling of BatB from the Americanized 1992 Disney movie POV or any other version other than Cocteau’s classic film, and Cocteau’s “La Belle et La Bête” is extremely fucking French. So there’s not much to be found in the heart string-pulling department here, which is why so many of the critiques of this film note its lack of tear-jerking scenes or touching romance. However, this is not meant to be a rom-com or a romance in the American tradition. This is a story with a lot of obvious sexual overtones and a portrayal of the often unpleasant side of humanity.

Like the Cocteau version, this movie is inhabited by a group of childish, asshole siblings for Belle, who is more or less the only decent person in the cast. Even her doting father comes off as a foolish, overly indulgent parent to his brood of ungrateful brats. But there is a young brother who seems at least a little guilt-ridden about how his older brothers act, and a fortune teller who seems like an okay person, even if she has dreadful taste in men. 

The cast is pretty huge, really, and a lot of time is spent with the humans in Belle’s life, just as in the 1946 version. The stuff with the enchanted castle and the Beast comes off much more dreamlike and symbolic than the everyday world, more of a plot device than the actual focus of the plot. The humans are the meat of the story, really, and the Beast’s story is an illustration of humanity.

So here the Beast represents “men” in general more than being a specifically-drawn man struggling to free himself of the dark part of his nature. He’s a prince, but a very broadly painted one. We are shown that he was more concerned with himself and his personal interests than he was with spending time with his wife and keeping his promises to her, but that’s about all we know of him as a person. Neither this version or the 1946 one is particularly interested in him as a well-rounded character. Cocteau idealized the Beast and saw his melancholy struggle to be worthy of love more noble than the end result. In fact, he intentionally made the Beast more attractive than the prince.

Meanwhile in the Disney versions of BatB, the prince/Beast grows just as much as Belle does, and in fact he grows more because he’s the one who’s truly changing. He’s a lovable dope, an average guy who overcomes his male cluelessness. They show a lot of interaction between the two characters and a love that’s born out of friendship.

It’s a completely different feeling than the French versions of the story, which make the relationship between Belle and Bête more adversarial and competitive. The atmosphere between them is serious, angry, and extremely sexually charged. She wants him to respect her and not scare or intimidate her, and he wants her, period. He acts like he thinks that she should submit to his desires simply because she’s his possession, but she isn’t having any of it. She tells him that he disgusts her, which sends him into a rage. 

The best scene in the whole movie, as far as I’m concerned, follows this. Belle has a very disturbing discovery of the Beast consuming a fresh kill in a very suggestive manner on his former marital bed. She flees from him across a frozen pond and he leaps on top of her (while donning a very sensual, white fur coat, by the way). He acts like he’s gonna do something to her similar to the poor dead pig on his bed, but then it gets all sexy and kissy-kissy, until the ice breaks and she falls into the freezing water, anyway.

In the end, Cassel’s prince is not a changed man as much a sexy prize that Belle wins through sheer patience and endurance. Her crappy family does everything they can to ruin everything, but she doesn’t give up and just keeps doing her thing until she finally wins her happy ending. So you get a less three-dimensional prince, but you get a kickass female lead and a sexier story. Not a bad trade-off, imo. 

There’s several parts of the 2014 movie that feel tacked on for purposes of padding the running time, mostly involving some fairly impressive CGI stone giants, the aforementioned “kid-friendly” (ha NO) beagle creatures, and some side plot involving a Gaston-expy and that fortune teller with the poor personality judgment. There’s definitely some flaws, but I don’t find them unforgivable simply because the movie is so damn beautiful and makes it all look so lush and atmospheric. But I do miss some of the creepier trappings of the Cocteau film, like the arm candle sconces and the sculptures that watch you.

Cocteau did it better, it has to be said, but the 2014 movie is an acceptable homage to his vision.

[365days365movies]

March 9, 2021: Orpheus (Review)

Man, I really should’ve taken a film class in college.

Orpheus, understand, is a fantastic film...that I am highly unqualified to judge. I man, I’m gonna give it a shot, but this isn’t gonna be a professional film essay on the reflections (ha) of this movie on the French political scene at the time or anything like that. It’s just gonna be what I thought of the movie.

And what did I think of the movie? Well, other than letting me refresh my French language skills a little, I had an excellent time with this movie. It’s stunning, it’s groundbreaking, it’s breathtaking, and it’s a great example of what can be done with clever filmmaking and practical effects. I mean, what would you expect? It’s Jean Cocteau.

I’ve only seen one of his films prior to this, La Belle et la Bête, and that’s a beautiful film in its own right, with equally fantastic effects. Like Aladdin and The Thief of Bagdad, Disney took a lot of that film’s aesthetic and themes from Cocteau’s version of the story. What can I say, they’ve got good taste.

As for me...I’d like to think I have good taste, but that’s technically what this whole thing is for, right? To broaden my palate and further define my taste. Sooooo, what exactly did I think of this one? Check out the Recap (Part One | Part Two) if you want to see my reaction to the movie as I watched it! Otherwise...

Review

Cast and Acting: 9/10

Jean Marais is our star here, and one of Cocteau’s favorites (he was also the Beast and the Gaston in La Belle et la Bête four years earlier). He plays Orpheus like an absolute dick most of the time, which is interesting, since the character is the prototype of a tortured artist, so it makes some sense. However, that portrayal is somewhat on the writing, less so than Marais’ performance. That said, he’s still fantastic in the role. François Périer is also fucking fantastic as Heurtebise, and is genuinely my favorite character (and I still think he was meant to represent Hermes). María Casares intricately plays her complex character, an aspect of Death in love with a poet. Which, yeah, rules. And Marie Déa and  Édouard Dermit were...fine as Eurydice and Jacques. Yeah, they were both very good, but I can’t say that they were perfect, especially Dermit. But still, all of these were strong performances in a strong movie.

Plot and Writing: 9/10

Oh boy, the PLOT. Jean Cocteau’s screenplay is a great example of a screenplay adapted from source material, but doing something completely different with that material. It’s adaptation done...well, right, but also done creatively. Now, obviously, that’s done mostly through the visual rather than the verbal, but it’s still done VERY well. I mean, come on, they turned the tale of Orpheus into a Hades and Persephone love story as well!

 Yeah, I didn’t mention it in the Recap, but think about it! An aspect of Death, referred to as royalty, falls in love with a mortal human. Said mortal is also in love with another woman (allegedly). Now, yeah, that’s basically the whole “even the Gods loved Orpheus” thing, but HE also falls in love with HER. She’s Hades, and he’s Persephone! But in the end, he needs to return to the mortal world for springtime, while Hades must remain in the Underworld...for now, anyway. Maybe that’s e over-reading a bit, but I can see it. In any case, the screenplay’s adaptation of the original story is fantastic. Not the easiest to dissect, maybe (the whole “Death loves Orpheus” thing sort of comes out of nowhere), but still great!

Directing and Cinematography: 10/10

I mean...it’s Jean Cocteau (and Nicolas Hayer for the cinematography). What else am I gonna do, give him a nine and say that it wasn’t perfect? I mean...come on. It was amazing. It’s Jean goddamn Cocteau. The camera movements and shot framing are goddamn spectacular IT IS JEAN FUCKING COCTEAU

Production and Art Design: 8/10

Art design was only really OK, though. Yeah, sorry, sometimes it struck me quite well, but I don’t know that I can say the production and art design was as much of a stand out for this one. The only reason is because the camera and editing really did all of the work here, real talk. Cocteau made this movie look amazing, not as much the movie itself. But don’t get me wrong, the movie does still look amazing. Whomever did the location scouting did a great job in finding an abandoned military school for the Underworld, because it’s great looking. However, again...the way it’s all shot isn’t about the set itself, it’s about the camera work. And one other thing...

Music and Editing: 10/10

MMMMMMMMMMMWAHCHEF’SKISSBABY

Yeah, now, this is an amazing goddamn editing job be Jacqueline Sadoul, and the music by Georges Auric is equally as fantastic. This is a gorgeous film, and the editing is a HUGE part of that. Practical effects is one thing, but clever editing also made this film work as well as it did. There’s so much to unpack with that, it’s genuinely hard to go into. But hell, I don’t need to. Watch this film, especially if you have HBO Max. You’ll see what I mean, because it’s a fantastic looking movie that’s genuinely hard to describe to the unfamiliar.

92%, and I’m not looking back.

Well, one day I probably will, because this movie was wonderful, and DEFINITELY worth another watch. Mostly so I can better figure out what’s going on, and what Cocteau’s trying to say. Although, to be fair, this movie isn’t as experimental as film can get, not by a long shot. It’s still beautiful, without a doubt, and it’s absolutely worth a second viewing.

OK. Now that that’s done, let’s go to another country renowned for its fantasy stylings. Or, to be more accurate...let’s go back. You guys ready to get spooked?

March 10, 2021: Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

princess-nazario:

It's ok, thanks for clearing things up. See, everytime theres a post that might just be different the tumblr-fad! Version you speak or questions how tumblr might be romanticizing them theres always annoying people in the replies saying that theres a version where she wanders down the underworld herself, or that the version where shes kidnapped is...weak or a damsel in distress since it doesnt fit into tumblrs made idea of empowerment?? Its so annoying honestly. I saw this kind of stuff in a lot of posts while exploring the greek myth tag and its just... infuriating. I definitely should ignore them but it seriously makes me kind of sad and angry at the same time? The hades and persephone posts are everything(mostly tumblr-fad!) Version I reread your original post and yes I do agree, tumblr-fad! Persephone does take away a lot of the complexities and archetypes I read you examine. I think Hadestown might portray Hades and Persephone's power struggle well, it doesnt completely ignore the implications its giving off for the sake of some romance. This is what tumblr is doing and it's really annoying. By doing this and reducing the characters here to simple boxes it's taking away your interest in the myth, I think that's what you meant? I think your study of Hades/the underworld being Persephones self, cthonic meaning "spirit of nature within, inner self" while I dont fully understand that's really cool. I especially dislike how woobified and depowered he usually is in the tumblr-fad! Theres a lot you can work with him as the antagonist in a retelling I think. In fact maybe itd be great to have a retelling that explores the power struggle between Hades and Persephone and shows how Persephone gets through adversity and becomes of equal power through oppressive authority? Thatd be really cool. Tumblr-fad! Version is the twilight of myths but kind of the opposite. In twilight, the author itself romanticizes the creepiness and power struggle that might be there between Edward itself(although Bella does have a lot of agency so I think that's why it resonated so much with female readers?) while the Persephone has a various amount of versions, most versions being she was kidnapped/abduction with many meanings and metaphors and allegories to things, and tumblr-fad! Version ignores nuance in favor of their ships. Thanks for being so open and honest about this, I honestly was stressed because I thought my response maybe being immature or uninformed might be irritating or annoying. I haven't been sneaking through your blog or anything like that, I just saw your original post in the goddess demeter tag so I searched up "Persephone" on your stuff since I was curious with what else you might have to say about it. I wish Tumblr could maybe bother to learn something called not everything is entirely not THIS thing or the OTHER and maybe do something different from what Hades and Persephone coming to be known as the peak of all love stories on the website.

@princess-nazario I hope you don’t mind, I copy pasted your last reblog into a new post thread because the last one was getting massive.

I think I’m starting to understand what you’re getting at regarding the perception of victims as “weak,” and it makes a lot of sense. Thank you for clarifying regarding the “damsel in distress” trope because that’s when it clicked for me what you were talking about. I actually agree on that point, I think there is a tendency for pop feminism to kind of portray more vulnerable, sensitive or fragile women as less feminist, so I can see how you’re applying that to your views on how people on tumblr perceive the story of Hades and Persephone.

That said, I think you have a lot of different angles you’re looking at this whole thing from, and that’s great! However I think there’s so many subjects you are trying to tackle here that it seems like you are kind of are only half informed about, maybe from exploring discussions online. I think this is resulting in conclusions that are kind of confused and lacking in more solid foundations, if that makes sense. I think maybe you might benefit from exploring each element further on their own merits.

For example, did you know that there are a lot of different feminist viewpoints on Twilight itself? And not all feminists completely condemn it? In my opinion, there are a lot of things about Twilight to criticize, however there was a distinct element of hatred for the interests and desires of teenage girls involved with how people responded en masse to the Twilight phenomenon. I don’t think you were old enough to be directly familiar with all this at the time. I think a decent primer would be this video from Lindsay Ellis (tho please keep in mind that some of her most recent content is not for younger audiences). It doesn’t cover all angles of the topic, but it does give an alternative perspective in retrospect about the raging Twilight hate that swept through pop culture for a long time:

Also, there is a whole conversation to be had about the concept of “woobification,” and why that word exists, as well as how it is used in conversations about girls and women’s fantasies. The original post I made shows that I have my own frustrations when male villains and darker archetypes are whittled down to something seemingly non-threatening and “socially acceptable” myself (like...turning the beast into the prince in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), but in my experience, people have often used the word “woobie” to describe any explorations of the vulnerability of these types of male characters when women do so because they find those men intriguing or attractive, and that can get kind of tricky because in many ways, those conversations can harbor a subtle resentment and shaming towards female fantasties, period.

I’m getting the impression that maybe there’s something about Hades and Persephone, or at least the archetypes they embody, that really intrigues you, but you’re not sure what you are supposed to think and feel about it from a feminist perspective. That’s ok, ultimately you’ll figure it out on your own. I can’t tell you what to think about the myths themselves on their own, separate from contemporary feminist media because that’s ultimately it’s own thing, and you can springboard your own perspectives and reimagining off of the original in any way that feels right to you.

 What I can do though, is leave you with some age-apropriate content that I was consuming at your age, as well as a link to a site that explores stories with similar archetypes that Persephone embodies. 

The site is called Girls Underground, and it explores and catalogues stories about girls who go on heroine’s journeys in the “Cthonic” context like I was talking about, as in exploring their own inner psyches through the experience of traversing a strange, scary, magical place. Sometimes these stories involve the trope of a spooky attractive male character who takes on an adversarial role that is sometimes also romantically charged, but not all of them do. I think the resources page may be of particular interest to you because it links to essays on subjects within this genre of storytelling. The Examples page has a ton of other stories not listed here that you can take a look at, however not all of them (but many of them!) are kid friendly.

Movies that I would recommend: 

Labyrinth (1986), which was my favorite film since early childhood, and is the reason I love these types of stories to begin with.

Legend(1985), which doesn’t depict a healthy dynamic, but is a great film and does have a big place in the general conversation about this type of storytelling.

Howl’s Moving Castle, either the book or the film. 

Pan’s Labyrinth is rated R for some gore and violence, and it has scary moments, but I think it’s fine for most teens. The character of Pan is not part of that whole “demon lover” trope because the heroine is a small child, but he takes on a similar role in terms of being a figure that embodies the underworld and thus a major part of the heroine’s psyche.

Honestly, I would consider Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (the original, not the live action remake) a good rendition. It was written by a woman.

Jean Cocteau’s black and white La Belle et La Bete.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, or a film adaptation of the same.

Rebecca by Daphne DuMarier, which is what my username is from. I’m fond of the Hitchcock film adaptation.

Honestly, the 2004 adaptation of Phantom of the Opera is...flawed, but it was my introduction to Phantom, and it’s a lot of melodramatic fun. 

It’s worth noting that in a lot of these stories, there are not perfect, healthy relationships depicted between men and women. There is cruelty, there is harm. But in many cases, that does not mean these stories have nothing to say about relationships between men and women, nor does it say that they are solely tales about abuse and we cannot find romanticism within them. Each story has it’s own flaws, it’s own strengths, hold deeper meanings beyond the surface. They contribute something distinct to a rich history of artistic explorations of the dynamics of power in romance and the female experience with our own desires within a patriarchal society.

[felicereviews]

Les Enfants Terribles (1950)

It’s funny because I recently posted something in a facebook group about a film I watched for this blog series - a film that I’ll blog about in a few days.  I asked the group if I liked the movie, which I know is silly but I really wanted feedback and general opinion.  Having never taken a film class my only qualification for blogging about movies is that I love them and have seen a ton of them.  The film I posted about earlier today and Les Enfants Terribles are both part of the Criterion Collection.  While some of the Criterion subject matter can be bleak, there is also some really good shit in there.  Les Enfants Terribles is an example of making art out of a film.

I don’t claim to have understood the whole thing and I was certainly disturbed by a lot of it but I was also captivated by the story and entranced by the style of the film.  Flipping entranced like I can’t take my eyes off the screen and what’s going to happen.

These two siblings seem to hate each other and yet they can’t be apart.  Everyone around them suffers, even them.  It’s a little bit sexy and scary and a lot troubling.  I want to watch it again.

The feedback I got on Facebook about the other movie went something like this...  ‘Try writing some notes to yourself, to be read by you at a later date. Make the words you write as DESCRIPTIVE as possible, that is important, because the general tendency for those who aren't used to 'feeling what they feel', is to use evaluative language, such as 'her acting was bad'.  

I can’t tell you how tickled I am to get that feedback.  I just wish I had it before I watched Les Enfants Terribles.  I hooked into what the guy said about ‘not feeling what I feel’.  Actually that’s one of the reasons I watch a lot of movies.  They help me sort out what I’m feeling.

Les Enfants Terribles is not my first Jean-Pierre Melville film - I have blogged about Le Samourai for Noirvember and I do not shy away from French cinema as I love the language so much.  But I think this was my first Jean Cocteau story and he really took me into the world of these two characters.  It’s not a romance or a drama or a noir or a thriller - just a tale.  So - to be sure the actors have to be fantastic to carry it through since the movie is filmed like a play.  That’s it - that’s why I loved watching it.  Because I love a one-set story.

The sister is played by Nicole Stéphane and the brother by Edouard Dermithe.  Two talented people who did not appear in any popular television shows or have dozens of film credits to their names.  And yet the impact on generations who see this film is as great as any ‘major film star’.  Remember that - when you want to make art - it lasts.  

OK - enough out of me.  Go watch this movie.

[aretrothing]

Hiya, I hope you are ok :)

For the ask meme 4, 6, 28 and 29 if you're comfortable answering them xx

(I'm ok, thanks. Hope you are too!)

4: Favourite Recipes:

I have a couple of favourites so here you go!

1. When I was in the summer of Y7 I was in a "foreign baking" competition thing, half of us made Madelines and half of us made these Spanish things which were similar. I was in the Madeline half (I only entered because I knew how to make them) and I made Lemon Madelines with Candied Orange Peel with a recipe from a baking book, they won second place and I got a wooden spoon.

They're really simple to make and really nice, for my added bits I added lemon extract, lemon zest and I don't know how to make candied orange peel, it was something my mother had made earlier that week. I still make them now!

2. My other one is a strawberry milkshake by the Nil By Mouth Foodie on Insta, I made it dairy-fied and added lemon extract instead of vanilla and forgot the maple syrup but it still worked and was nice.

6- Favourite Sounds:

1. Seagulls. It's a strange one, but it makes me think of my childhood holidays by the sea and the ice cream that used to be consumed, and the fun I used to have. I love ice cream but seagulls steal it a load (though it's never happened to me) where we go every year, so it also means fear in a way that you'll lose your ice cream.

2. Music. I've loved music since I was born, my father was full of Shoegaze and obscure things and my mother was full of folk and indie as well as being a highly-trained musician herself. I grew up surrounded by music and I love most genres, as well as playing the Clarinet since the age of 8 and the recorder since the age of about 7 (I started at the age of 5 but my hands were too titchy for it)

3. Human voices. I grew up with radio 4 on all the time so I became acclimatised to it I guess.

4. Breathing. It means you’re not alone and there is someone out there who you can talk to.

5. Liz Fraser’s voice. Do I really need a reason for this one?

28- What I’ve always wanted to do:

See the Cocteau Twins. Unfortunately I’m 25 years too late :\

29- Favourite Media:

You have just asked me the holy grail of questions.

I love all formats for different reasons.:

For music: I love streaming because it’s accessible and getting spotify is probably the best thing I’ve ever done as it’s opened up a whole new world of music. I can also listen to shit over and over again if I want to without having to faff about or annoy anyone (I have a habit of this with songs, today’s one is It’s A Sin by The Pet Shop Boys) I love CDs as my parents have a huge collection and a stereo so I used to lie on the sofa and listen to loads of their music. I love tapes because they’re the things my parents recorded stuff on, I’ve heard my mum aged 10 thanks to one of them (She managed to rickroll me from 1986 as well) and it also contains many of my parents old favourites and mixtapes, I’ve heard the one my mum made my dad when they first got together and it’s things like this that make them so special to me. I adore vinyl because it’s a really cool format, you have access to loads of old albums and it’s just the best. My highlights at the mo are Tin Drum by Japan, Dare by The Human League and Never Forever by Kate Bush but I’m always adding and I’ve built up a small collection in a plastic box.

For other: Radio was an absolutely huge thing for me as a young child and it still is. My parents would listen to radio 4 all the time and it was a big part of my childhood, chattering away in the corner. I was part of the DVD thing and so didn’t have anything to do with VHS, but DVDs were another huge part of my life as they allowed access to the outside world of film. Mum used to have LoveFilm and that’s how we accessed other things, and we had a blockbuster down the road.

(Thanks for the ask!)

[fayewonglibrary]

THE ICE QUEEN OF CANTO (2002)

Faye Wong was known for her scalding temper as much as her singing but now she’s cool, collected and very much in control. Don’t believe the hype, she tells Vivienne Chow.

“The truth doesn’t matter any more,” intones a calm and collected Faye Wong, when she is asked whether her relationship with Cantopop star Nicholas Tse Ting-fung is on the rocks. She leans purposefully back in her comfy chair, snaps a bite out of a square of French toast and summons her assistant for another packet of Mild Seven cigarettes. It isn’t so easy to rile Faye Wong any more.

Three years ago, it would scarcely have been noteworthy had the pop diva launched herself at me across the table and jammed the toast into my eye. At a press conference at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in 1999, Wong lost her temper when an inquisitive journalist from Singapore submitted a question about her divorce from Beijing rock star Dou Wei. She screamed at the reporter, told her it was no one’s business but her own and stormed out in the kind of dramatic huff only stars seem able to carry off.

All I get is a cheerful, perhaps defiant smile and a puff of cigarette smoke. Wong appears only too happy to consider the question, despite the over-anxious butt-in from another assistant, who says: “Would you please cancel that question!” - intent on smothering the 32-year-old singer. Quite obviously, however, she can take care of herself.

“I’ve already answered it,” Wong cuts in. Well, actually, she hasn’t. What she has said is this: “The main function of the entertainment press is to get stories that are entertaining but sometimes the truth may not be as juicy as you imagine. Even if I answer the questions honestly, they still make up stories. They have their own ideas on how my private life should be. I have no desire to change that image so I choose not to answer. In this way they can continue to write whatever they want to.”

So she’s answered by questioning the question’s validity - that old celebrity trick - but at least that toast is staying on her side of the table. “Sometimes the entertainment news about me covers details I have never heard before,” she says. “I quite enjoy reading the stories myself. I’m just so fascinated by this. But I’m not keen to tell people who I am or explain to people what I have or haven’t done. Now I don’t really mind what has been written about me.”

That’s about as close an answer as anyone’s likely to get from Wong on the state of her relationship with Tse, who is 11 years her junior. Not that you can really blame her. Since the couple walked out of a private function, hand in hand, two years ago, they have been pursued relentlessly by the paparazzi.

And that’s hardly surprising, given Wong is the undisputed queen of Cantopop and Tse, a Cantopop star himself, is also the son of 1960s heart-throb actor Patrick Tse Yin and actress Deborah Lai. That was more than enough star quality to send even the most haggard entertainment hack into a frenzy when the couple’s romance was first revealed. Now there are rumours of a parting of ways, the gossip machine is again moving into overdrive.

But Wong has learned to be philosophical following the often fanatical media interest surrounding her marriage to Dou in 1996 and divorce three years later. “I’m more open-minded now,” she says. “At the beginning, I got upset quite often by the way I was portrayed in the newspapers and how people saw me. But since I can’t ask the entire world to change for me, I now look at these matters in a positive way.”

Until, that is, her five-year-old daughter by Dou, Ching-tung, is added to the mix. Ching-tung has been the subject of cut-throat press clamour since even before she was born. The battle to publish the first photograph of Wong pregnant resulted in a court case between rival newspapers Oriental Sunday and Apple Daily. The Oriental Sunday snapped the slightly swelling singer in the baggage lounge of Beijing Airport in October 1996 - the first confirmation that the star was expecting - and took Apple to court after it printed a spoiler story on the front page, including the picture, on the same day.

Since then, even the little girl has had to run the press gauntlet. On February 1, Chinese-language entertainment magazine Sudden Weekly published photographs of Ching-tung at the Hong Kong International School and ran an interview allegedly conducted with her on her way to the school in Repulse Bay. The interview claimed the youngster said Tse hadn’t visited her mother for some time. Wong was understandably furious. And for a moment, as she recounts the episode to me, the expression that darkens her face would, I know, have been terrifyingly familiar to the unfortunate reporter at the press conference three years ago. Wong leans forward. She’s more serious now. The interview never took place, she says. “I checked with my maid and spoke to my daughter. She has never done this kind of interview before. Sure, she might have said hello to someone but there couldn’t have been enough time for her to tell a reporter so many details.

"I understand people want to read about her and she cannot escape from being harassed because she is my daughter. It is not harmful if they make up stories about me but she is only a five-year-old child. Can’t the public sacrifice a little bit of their curiosity so the child can grow up in a healthy environment? Can’t they at least just wait till she’s older?”

Up close, it’s easy to see why Wong’s face graces so many magazine covers. She has beautiful, big round eyes. She says her tall and slender figure requires little maintenance, even after she gave birth to Ching-tung. And Wong is a trend-setter. What she wears will often become the hottest fahsion items of the season - even though she seems to be the only person able to carry off what are often quirky designs.

Born in 1969, Wong moved to Hong Kong with her family from Beijing at the end of 1987 when she was 18. Her enthusiasm for singing led her to the respected voice coach Tai Sze-chung and , at just 20, she was recommended by Tai to Cinepoly, with which she secured a record deal.

In 1989, Wong released her debut album, Shirley Wong Ching-man, a stage name she then used, which won her Commercial Radio’s Ultimate Female Newcomer(Bronze) award. In 1991, she left for the United States to study music. When she returned the next year, she released the album Coming Home, which became her first platinum record. She retrieved her real name, Wong Fei - Faye Wong - in 1994 and has so far made 22 studio albums.

In 1997, Wong announced she would make no more Cantonese albums when she left Cinepoly for global giant EMI. But she does sing the occcasional Cantonese song in addition to the records in Putonghua. “It is a marketing decision,” she says. “To sing well, one has to master the language in order to deliver the best sound. Putonghua is my native tongue so naturally I’m more confident with this language. But records are considered a commodity and we must take sales into account.”

Wong’s singing and songwriting talents, if widely recognised, are often tagged under the “alternative” label, although she has been voted best female singer on numerous occasions in Hong Kong, the mainland and Southeast Asia, and took the best alternative song composition trophy last year at the CASH Golden Sail Awards in the SAR with Han Wu Jie.

This kind of success usually brings a measure of satisfaction, so how does Wong still find herself singing songs she deosn’t particularly like? “I enjoy performing my own compositions but my taste in music is too off-mainstream and only a few people appreciate that,” says Wong, who has covered songs by Tori Amos and collaborated with Cocteau Twins. “I know what the masses like and I know they skip my compositions and listen to the commercial tracks. Hong Kong is not like Japan, where it accomodates various musical styles. I have too many business partners and I must consider their interests as well. I’m more mature now and I strike a balance between my personal interests and commercial value.”

Thus, she is promoting her new film. It is the Lunar New Year crowd-drawer Chinese Odyssey 2002, her fourth film, in which she plays opposite Tony Leung Chiu-wai. It is also a testament to her new, more-mellow attitude. When she last played opposite Leung in Chungking Express in 1994, Wong barely spoke to her co-star. This time, in a hectic two-month shoot over Christmas, she says the pair got on well. Leung told the South China Morning Post she “seemed like a different person this time. She is very cheerful and friendly.”

Wong plays the role of Princess Wu Shuang, who escapes from her palace for fun, often disguising herself as a man, only for both a man and a woman to fall for her. “Filming Chungking Express was painful for me because I had no idea what I was doing at all,” she says. “But Chinese Odyssey 2002 was an enjoyable experience - though I didn’t have time to sleep. The team spirit was fantastic.”

But it’s not just her character that changed between the two movies, she insists. Wong Kar-wai, the director of Chungking Express, and Jeff Lau Chun-wai, who wrote and directed Chinese Odyssey 2002, were two extremes. “As I am not confident and experienced with acting, I need demonstrations on how to act,” she says. “Jeff gave me very clear direction: he is willing to teach, whereas Wong Kar-wai did not want me to understand what was on his mind. I just had to perform what he told me to and some of the situations were quite embarrassing. Sometimes I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. It was good for me because there was no need for me to analyse the character. But now I want to know more about acting.”

In Wong’s 1994 song Exit, she describes herself as having a lack of patience. That’s one thing that has not changed. After 30 minutes, a clutch of cigarettes and a snack attack of toast, she gets up with an “Is that OK?” and has exited left before even her hovering assistants can pretend it was their idea.

------------------------------------------------------------------

SOURCE: THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

[woluf]

I’m going to both dedicate and blame this post on @yesterdaysantiquatedchests because encourages me too much when I mention these things. I’ll preface this by saying sorry if it ends up a load of wank and a long post cause I’m just throwing this together in one sitting without much research, but anyway. So yeah go blame Ben if this goes tits up (kidding, ilu)

 I was watching the new live recording of I Promise and it reminded me of an art piece. Firstly however, for those of you who don’t, you need to know about Radiohead’s lighting & stage designer Andi Watson. Andi has been working with them for decades and was with them on the life-changing Ok Computer tour and it was also the worst night of his life during the Glastonbury ‘97 fiasco. 

Andi is basically an artist, and he draws loads of inspiration from films and so on, which is where me get Thom’s infamous eye in You And Whose Army which Andi drew inspiration from John Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet

(Thom’s eye (left), Blood of a Poet (right)

and we also know about the trapezoidal screens first used in the 2006 world tour

(image from 2012)

The idea behind the screens is to make the experience immersive, ‘hallucinatory’ lights and sounds make the entire set up the focus and not just the band members. These screen serve that purpose, as well as linking to the many Orwellian themes in the bands lyrics (e.g. 2+2=5) of surveillance, technology and often paranoia. We watch Thom, but in return he watches us, larger than life but also fractured.

So! What this is sort of bring me to is less that I feel what I’m about to tenuously link together is the actual inspiration behind this newest setup, but more how it falls in line with how Andi creates these visual experiences. 

The visuals for I Promise see Thom silhouetted before a pinkish oval screen, the edges deep pink like chromatic aberration from camera photos and the shadows a rich, deep purple - almost mournful.

It’s simple, but somehow imposing. The colours similarly are the same as Let Down, Karma Police, No Surprises, EIIRP and Reckoner (when I saw them in Berlin in 2016 at least, sometimes the colours of the songs change but seem to remains relatively consistent throughout each tour). Though not entirely connected (EIIRP perhaps) those song usually share some similar themes and are linked through the colour of the lighting; something mournful or there being regret, but there is also redemption.

Anyway, what mostly struck me about this new set up was that it (for whatever reason) reminded me of The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson, which was installed in the turbine hall of the Tate.

Yeah yeah, I know it’s a bright orange sun and Thom’s standing behind something you’d be awfully worried if you saw the sky the same colour. Really my point is what this represents and also it’s visual reflections on Radiohead’s gigs.

Eliasson describes the connection between the gallery and this piece

The reason is obviously not because of the relationship between the institution and the weather, but for me it’s the relationship between the institution and society. Fundamentally the work is about people, passing information back and forth, at every stage spreading into the next chain, so that a sort of human nuclear reaction is taking place.

It’s about people and our connection to each other, to the world, our experiences and - like the weather - our survival with and against something. many of the themes in Radiohead’s songs deal with aspects of these. The official video for I Promise sees our disconnected (paranoid?) android head driving through a city, we see the people whist Thom’s voice sings to us “I won’t run away no more, I promise”.

And like the weather, how the rain and clouds drift, smoke appears drifts across our screen

Illuminating us - the audience - like the great faux sol in The Weather Project. It’s immersive, powerful, and something greater than us as individuals. It is, too, beautiful.

There are some more connections I want to make between Andi Watson and Elliasson, but primarily my point is how Watson creates these incredible experiences using lighting and stage design. He makes light into a sculpture, he makes it dance, and transports us to another world with his visuals and colours alongside the music in a way few people many to make us connect with both ourselves and each other.

I Promise is perhaps not the best example of this, and again I don’t think Andi took inspiration from this particular installation, but I still think there are interesting connections to be made, and to ultimately celebrate Andi himself as an artist in his own right.

[wordsparks]

Apropos of Nothing: My Foreign Language Knowledge

Discovered some interesting posts about foreign languages tonight so felt like bragging about my own language knowledge.

- I am fluent in English, which is also my mother tongue. But you probably figured that out already.

- I am proficient in French, Spanish, and Japanese. I minored in French in college, so I’m most proficient in that of these three. I can read, write, speak, and understand it. Due to my college only having French classes up to 300 level (I went to a state school with not much of a Languages Department), I’m basically at an intermediate level; when I took the e-TEF (the Test d'Evaluation de Français - basically the official proficiency test given by the French government) a few years ago I think I got B1 overall, which is lower intermediate.

Spanish I’ve only taken one class in, a Conversational Spanish class in 8th grade. But I’ve worked at a couple jobs where I was surrounded day in and day out by Spanish-speaking people, and somehow I managed to pick up a lot, enough to help customers pretty well in Spanish, and to be told by Spanish speakers that my Spanish is very good. I only know one verb tense, most of the words I know have to do with food, and I sometimes get my words mixed up, but I manage. I try to practice my Spanish on my Spanish-speaking coworkers, as well as trying to sound out the Spanish text on bottles and boxes. (Here in California, almost every product has text on it in English and Spanish).

Japanese I picked up from watching a lot of subtitled anime. Seriously. I also used to own Berlitz’s book Essential Japanese and would go through that. I’m able to speak pretty decently, and to recognize Japanese if I hear it spoken. Plus, I’m getting to the point where I actually understand a lot of the Japanese songs I listen to (both anime songs and regular j-pop). I can’t read or write Japanese though, but I would like to learn. I’m also very interested in the culture (beyond just anime and manga) and have done lots of research on it. There is a Japanese Garden near me that I visit fairly often; I went to their Cherry Blossom Festival earlier this year, and got to see some great cultural demonstrations (ondo dancers, a koto and shakuhachi duo, taiko drummers, and this guy doing a really old form of poetry) and eat under one of the many cherry trees they have there. Last time I went there, I got to make a teru teru bozu, this little ghost-looking thing that is supposed to bring good weather if you hang it in your window. I’ve also gotten into some vloggers who vlog about Japan, so I’m learning quite a bit that way culture-wise.

- In addition to those four, I can speak bits and pieces of Italian, German, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Hebrew. Russian and Hebrew I tried learning through podcasts - One Minute Russian and Learn Hebrew Pod respectively - but then gave up. I don’t recommend Learn Hebrew Pod because they make you get a paid subscription to get the most out of it, which kinda defeats the purpose of a podcast, and is probably why I quit listening to that one. I got into these two languages cause of my heritage - I am 1/8 Jewish (which probably is barely anything, and plus I’m not Jewish religiously) and my paternal great-grandmother was from Latvia, which was under Russian control at the time. Italian I picked up from I don’t know where, Chinese ditto. German I picked up a bit from a friend I had in junior high who was taking it; I’ve also been listening to some of the songs Super Moonies did for the German dub of the 90s Sailor Moon anime. (My fave is “Kämpfe Sailor Moon”).

- I can also sing songs or parts of songs in other languages - French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Hebrew, in addition to English of course. (This is mostly due to anime and to Josh Groban).

- I have tried to expose myself to films in other languages. I’ve seen several Chinese films, the most recent being one I got from the library last year called Balzac and the Little Seamstress, which is set during the Maoist period. I’ve seen Japanese films too, though mostly anime; the most recent one I saw was Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name. Last year, though, I finally saw Rashomon, the famous Akira Kurosawa film from 1950. I watched that at the same time as the Little Seamstress one; I was doing the Artist’s Way 12-week thing with some friends and did an “Asian Day” Artist’s Date in honor of Lunar New Year. I watched films in Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, and Tibetan that day. I was also going to watch a film in Vietnamese and one in Korean, but I got tired after the first four. (I got all those from the library too…that library has a rather large foreign film selection). Other than this I have seen a few French films (like Au Revoir Les Enfants, Amélie, the animated film Kirikou et la Sorcière, and Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bête), a few Bollywood films, one in German and Russian called Europa Europa, and the sad Italian WWII movie Life is Beautiful, among maybe others that I forgot.

Ok, bragging over. I think I have made my point. Basically, languages come rather easily to me. Maybe it’s talent, maybe my autism, maybe inheritance (my dad’s grandmother knew 7 languages when she came here from Latvia). Not sure. Also, I think it’s sad being multilingual doesn’t seem to be a priority in the U.S. But that’s a whole other argument.

[specialpotforinstantnoodles]

a short guide to russian music

spoiler: there are three covers of radiohead’s creep because (another spoiler) russian music is either sad or bad or both and creep cover fits in all those categories. for @aw--sugar  (i decided to make a post instead, hope you dont mind) (i also understand that no one has time for this shit so if you are curious enough to look through this briefly but dont care enough to listen to all songs i ve highlighted the best ones like this)

first of all a blatant rip off of Radiohead’s Creep because yeah. the entire thing is pretty fucked up. time to suffer Маша и Медведи - Любочка

Кино post-punk lads from 1980s greatly inspired by Joy Division and The Cure (and often compared to T.Rex, The Smiths and R.E.M.). this is not just a band, this is an entire cult, every single russian post-punk band that has existed after them was influenced by the band at some point or another

notable songs: Звезда по имени солнце, Перемен, Группа крови, Кукушка

Аквариум (Борис Гребенщиков) russian new-wave (not really). it s hard to describe their style as they have been active for more than 40 years now. i’ll only list their songs that they’ve written for film Асса since those are my favourites

notable songs: Город золотой, Мочалкин блюз, Иду на ты, Мы стояли на плоскости

Земфира how to rip off Ok Computer era Radiohead and get away with it. just kidding (not really)

notable songs: Ариведерчи, Небо лондона (this is basically a radiohead cover, come on), Мы разбиваемся (same shit). actually, have her Creep cover, why not (spoiler: embarassing): Земфира - Creep

Сплин how to rip off radiohead and get away with it part 2. just kidding. i know them, you know them, everyone should know them. famous for their lyrics, the lyrics are considered contemporary poetry and are featured in numerous russian literature textbooks and studied in schools. the most well-known russian band abroad

notable songs: Романс, Выхода нет, Остаемся зимовать, Гни свою линию, Пластмассовая жизнь, Маяк have his Creep cover as well, perpetual suffering: Сплин - Creep

Мумий Тролль alternative rock band popular mostly for their frontman’s voice. sometimes are reffered to as a brit-pop band and every time that happens a part of me dies.

notable songs: Невеста (just look at those 2000s visual effects. damn), Медведица (nsfw), Утекай

Flёur ukranian band, female vocals, all lyrics are in russian. they discribe their sound as cardiowave, in fact it s some sort of folk-ish darkwave-ish something, very similar to Cocteau Twins

notable songs: Эйфория, ...И солнце встает над руинами, Формалин, Пустота

Ploho part of what is often called siberian post-punk wave. it s concidered popular now (i guess). this band is my favourite from that movement, they started from classic ‘lets rip off every single joy division song and pretend it s totally fine’ strategy that is used by everyone who decides to become a new post-punk god (new ian curtis) but then started gradually moving towards something more dancey and new order-ish like and uh oh well i ve run out of words to say

notable songs: Кресты, Дорога к гулагу, Мёртвые герои, Добрая песня

if you are interested (and even if you are not idc this is my post) here are some other kids from the movement that are not good enough to deserve their own separate paragraph but are decent enough to be mentioned at all: Утро (also known as Motorama): Утро - Сад, Утро - Души стареют быстрее тел, Буерак (careful the vocalist doesnt know how to fucking sing): Буерак - Спортивные очки, Петля пристрастия: Петля пристрастия - Груз

and this is just random 80-s, 90-s stuff Жанна Агузарова - Чудесная страна, Ночные снайперы - Ты дарила мне розы (lesbian vibes hehe), Би 2 - Полковнику никто не пишет, Би 2 и Чичерина - Мой рок-н-ролл, Найк Борзов - Лошадка (a song about cocaine that i knew by heart at the age of four because why not), Найк Борзов - Последняя песня, Ленинград - Экспонат (huge hit of 2016 the song was literally everywhere mostly because of the music vid that has 105 000 000 views on youtube. also lots of swearing), Смысловые галлюцинации - Вечно молодой, Nautilus Pompilius - Прощальное Письмо, Земляне - Трава у дома (hell yeah synth pop) and those are just for the sake of gay vibes: Ласковый май - Белые розы (terrible but soviet boys band! and so many gay vibes! just watch the vid), T. A. T. U. - Нас не догонят (some pop shit but yeh), T. A. T. U - Я сошла с ума

and since we are finishing with trashy stuff let me just leave this here without any explanation

[scarboxart]

Beauty And The Beast wasn’t good people! *spoilers ahead*

OK as someone who's obsessed with that fairy tale and has seen like every version on film I have to say if you're nostalgic just go watch the old animated one because this is literally just recreating it frame by frame and line by line and the actual new stuff they add really, really suck (with maybe one or two exceptions)

Ok the things that pissed me off the most... I love Emma Watson... but her singing was VERY weak! In fact they AUTO-TUNE her voice! Like really this is a very song heavy movie and either pick someone who can sing damn well or just don't make it a musical because the original was already an amazing musical. She just couldn't pull this off and her acting was not that amazing either. The second biggest issue I have with Belle is how they're trying to make her a stronger, more capable woman but that goes to hell. There's a scene where she's actually figured out a way to escape the room she's locked in through the window even before the Beast scares her away. But guess what?! Mrs. Potts arrives with some tea and Belle's like "Oh fuck it! I guess I'll have tea and food instead of saving my life and escaping even though I already have the means" Like wth?! And in the end when she's going back to the castle on horseback to help the Beast she takes off the ball gown and remains only in her undergarments as if they're trying to show she's gonna kick some ass and she's not gonna need a dress but huge shock SHE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT! And there's problems with the Beast too. He looked and sounded ok for the most part but they try to give him this tragic backstory where his mother dies and his dad becomes really mean so that's why the Beast was mean when he was a prince. THERE'S NO NEED FOR THIS! Don't try to justify his behaviour in the beggining! That's how he's supposed to be because he's just a selfish, conceited prince and that's what makes his change all the more meaningful! He already has a tragic backstory, he was turned into a freaking beast! And there's this RIDICULOUS moment when he decides to let Belle go to her father and he bursts into this dramatic song... I swear I cringed in the theater. THERE'S NO NEED for them to make up a new and totally forgetable song that's not in the original for him to explain how he feels. WE ALREADY KNOW HOW HE FEELS! He hates to let her leave but he does it anyway because he loves her. Btw Belle also has a backstory in this and hers is not that much needed either but it's not as bad as with the case of the Beast. Anyway there's more surprises! In this version the enchantress who curses the Beast is an actual character with a name and everything. And in the end when the Beast "dies" and Belle says she loves him it's NOT HER LOVE that breaks the curse! NO, THE ENCHANTRESS SHOWS UP AND BRINGS HIM AND EVERYONE ELSE BACK TO LIFE! That's right love has nothing to do with it! In fact the Beast doesn't even say he loves her himself! Actually I didn't even feel the chemistry between the two of them like I did in the animated one...*sighs*

Ok there are a few thing I liked about this movie concerning the updates, because like I said everything else is IDENTICAL to the animated movie. So LeFou is gay in this version which not only makes some sense, but is actually a lot of fun :D and Josh Gad's performance also helps. Speaking of performances Luke Evans totallly stole the show as Gaston for me and he had the best singing voice.Another thing which I actually really liked and made a lot of sense in my oppinion was to make the Beast smart. In the animated movie he can't even read which is weird for someone who's a freaking prince! But here not only can he read but he's read a great deal of the books in the library he gives to Belle. In fact their shared interest in literature is something which brings them closer, which I thought was a very good idea. Also the castle looks gorgeous and it falls apart more and more with each leaf that falls from the rose which was pretty cool.

There's more issues with this movie but this post is too long already. If you're thinking I'm just comparing this to the original too much how can I not when they're trying to recreate it in almost every frame?! In all honesty  like I said you better watch that one or if you want to see a different spin on this story watch the French movie from 2014. Better yet you can watch the Jean Cocteau movie from 1946. I'm done with this!

[365days365movies]

March 11, 2021: The Seventh Seal (1957) (Part One)

Well, I did Cocteau this month already, so...time for another big boi director, I guess.

I’m sorry for me, too, because this one scares me a little more than Cocteau.

Ingmar Bergman. One of the greatest directors of all time, and the only prominent Swedish director that I’ve ever heard of. Also someone whom I’m DEFINITELY not qualified to judge, but here we are anyway.

Best known for Persona, Fanny and Alexander, and...one more movie, Bergman was an EXTREMELY prolific director, and far more influential on global film than you or I know. Seriously, dude influenced everyone from Martin Scorcese to Terry Jones to Peter Hewitt in one way or another. He’s passed away, as of 2007, at the age of 89. And speaking of Death...

There have been a LOT of incarnations of Death in media. Hell, we literally looked at one two movies ago, in Orpheus. You could argue that Ugetsu also revolved around death, but I’m talking about Death, the physical embodiment of the concept.

Now, the most common incarnation seen is the Grim Reaper (pictured above), but there are MANY other well-known versions. Here, have a few different versions, just for taste.

Yeah, that’s a lot. Kudos if you knew all of them! But that last one...I mentioned Peter Hewitt earlier. He directed Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, and in it, the two meet that films version of Death, a Swedish-accented ghoul. And if you’ve ever wondered about that, or about this joke from the opening song of Muppets: Most Wanted:

...Well, keep reading. Like I said, Bergman was influential, and perhaps NONE of his films was quite as influential as The Seventh Seal or Det sjunde ingelet. Welcome to a show about Death.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

ONCE AGAIN, The Criterion Collection logo brings us in, followed by the opening credits and music from that should accompany a Dark Souls boss, followed by a quote from Revelation 8:1-6, about the opening of the Seventh Seal. Roll credits?

Well, no. Instead, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, we meet a knight, resting there and praying to God, as his horses drink from the salt water. This is Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), a knight who is resting here with his squire, Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand). As Block takes out his chess set, he is joined by...

ALREADY?

Holy shit, I didn’t expect this scene to happen FOUR MINUTES IN??? Dear Lord, if this is happening now, what the hell is the rest of this movie? I am afraid of that answer now.

Anyway, yes, this is Death (Bengt Ekerot). And yeah, dude is indeed a CREEPY motherfucker. He’s been at Block’s side for a long time, but has now finally come for him, at last.

However, Block, ever clever knight that he is, capitalizes on rumors that he’s heard about the character, and challenges him to a game of chess. They start, with Block playing white and Death playing black.

But as they’re about to begin, we cut to Block and Jöns leaving the beach. Huh. OK then, I guess we’ll get back to that, huh? Jöns speaks of ill omens, and they see a pair of corpses, rotted after a long time dead. As their journey continues, we shift focus from them to a small group of actors in a caravan.

One of these actors - Jof (Nils Poppe) - sees a vision of a woman walking with her infant child, as angelic music plays in the background. He runs back to the caravan, where he wakes the sleeping Mia (Bibi Andersson), his wife. He tells her that this was the Virgin Mary and her baby boy, Jesus. Um...wow. Holy shit, my man.

Mia takes her husband’s vision as his active imagination, while he takes it as pure fact. Apparently, he’s very prone to having these kinds of visions. Mia warns him to tamp those visions down, or people will think him a fool. All of this rouses both fellow actor Jonas Skat (Erik Strandmark), and Jöns and Mia’s infant son Mikael (a cute chubby baby).

The troupe is on their way to Einsmore, performing for a group of priests. They will perform in a play about Death, once again making me think about Beetlejuice the Musical, which is really need to watch.

Block and Jöns arrive at a church, where real-world painter Albertus Pictor (Gunnar Olsson) is painting a Danse Macabre. Jöns asks why paint something so...well, macabre, and Pictor notes that it’s not a bad thing to remind people that they will die. This is especially as the Black Plague sweeps across Europe. YUP. IT’S THAT TIME PERIOD.

The two speak more on the absolute HORROR of the Bubonic Plague, a topic that clearly bothers Jöns. Meanwhile, Block goes to pray in a confessional, where he reveals that he doesn’t truly understand the point of prayer in this world. He’s clearly struggling with his faith, which must be HELL for a knight. And he delivers these confessions to his ever-present companion: Death.

Block wants God to speak to him directly, and questions whether or not God truly exists. He wants to do one last, meaningful thing before he meets his inevitable end. Block hasn’t yet realized that he’s speaking with Death, and openly talks about the chess game they began that morning. Death replies that they will continue their game in a nearby inn. This is how Block intends to prolong his own life.

He goes back out to meet Jöns, who’s still speaking with the painter, and the two leave the church. Directly outside, a woman is in the stocks, and is preparing to be burnt at the stake for learning carnal knowledge of Satan. She’s also being blamed for being the cause of the Black Plague itself. Just gotta say, big if true, goddamn. Black wants to know if she’s met the Devil himself, but she’s not quite all there.

Block and Jöns continue their journey, making their way from farmlands. Jöns goes into one of the barns in a village, where a dead body lies. He then hides as another man enters, and steals jewelry from the woman’s corpse. This is Raval (Bertil Anderberg), and he’s quickly caught in the act by a mute woman (Gunnel Lindblom).

However, before he can do anything to this poor girl, he’s stopped by Jöns, who recognizes him from the seminary, ten years prior. He tells him to shove off, and offers the mute woman a place as his housekeeper. And, uh...yeah, Jöns is kind of a dick, but more of a cad, y’know? He’s not likeable, but he also isn’t hateable.

In town, the actors’ troupe is performing, and the leader of the troupe - Skat - is seduced by a woman during the performance, and they have sex in the bushes behind the stage. As all of this is happening, the performance is interrupted by a group of flagellants, extremist priests that whip themselves and parade through the town, showing their extreme devotion to their faith. Fuckin’ yikes, this is a thing that ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

And as these people, devoted in their faith and pain, march through the town, the townspeople are moved to tears by this act. And this act has real blood, sweat, and tears poured into it. The head priest of the parade then gives a fatalist sermon to the townsfolk, noting that death will come for them all with the plague, and berating them for their seeming ignorance of their fate.

And dude is MEAN. He mocks people’s appearance, and screams to all of them that they’re doomed, and will die painful deaths. Watching on is not only the actors’ troupe, but also Block, Jöns, and the mute girl (yeah, she never gets a name, goddamn it). The pain parade moves on, singing their solemn hymns all the way. And I’m not gonna lie...it’s intense. Especially knowing that this shit actually HAPPENED? Damn.

Once they pass, Jöns notes his disbelief at this display, never believing how far people will go, or the stories that they’ll tell. He’s interrupted by blacksmith Plog (Åke Fridell), who’s looking for his wife. Meanwhile, inside, a group of townspeople talk about the spreading plague, and wonder if this is the end times indeed. Plog comes in and asks Jof where his wife is. He also doesn’t know, but it’s revealed that this is the woman that Skat ran off with in the bushes. The conversation is joined by thief Raval, who outs Jof as an actor, and a friend of Skat.

Raval and Plog both threaten him for information on Skat and Lisa’s whereabouts, and humiliate him in front of the entire tavern. It’s actually quite hard to watch as well. This poor, poor guy, who seems like a nice enough dude, is essentally tortured for the transgressions of his asshole friend. But it’s interrupted by Jöns, who stops Raval in his tracks, and slashes his face, which he said he’d do if he ever saw him again.

Excellent spot for Part 2, I think! See you there!

[eradikeats]

18 Questions About Music

I was tagged by @and-so-are-you​ who is my husband/soul mate/trash can friend. Follow him for art and soft-goth vibes x

1. Which bands/artist do you own the most albums by? this question goes two different ways for me because i own whole discographies of many artists/groups and, some of these artists will have longer careers than others so inevitably they will have more albums, you feel. reality is that i own literally everything Maynard James Keenan has recorded and released in an official capacity either with Tool, APC, or Puscifer - plus soundtracks he’s appeared on. The Beatles because i took all of my parents collection and ripped it to my laptop. i own A LOT of Bowie and Prince, all of Muse’s albums, every Joy Division/New Order, The Cure, Deftones, White Lies, IAMX, Elbow. generally, if i get heavy into a band i become a collector. 

2. What was the last song you listened to? The Human League - Seconds

3. What’s in your CD/Record player right now? i was listening to Cocteau Twins Heaven Or Las Vegas while i cooked dinner because you can kind of just yodel along without actually focusing on words

4. What was the last show you attended? white lies at music hall of williamsburg last month

5. What was the greatest show you’ve been to? oh jesus. there’s been a few tbh. elbow at reading 2011 was insane because i was back in the UK and a fucking rainbow erupted over the stage while they performed the birds and i totally lost it. a perfect circle at lollapalooza was the time i became someone Other. IAMX in London last year was emotional as shit cause i was coming down from a stomach flu, was with @simonjpg and @and-so-are-you and they played This Will Make You Love Again and wow. Muse’s War Child gig with fuckin DEAD STAR and the whole of the internet erupted asking me if i was ok which, no i certainly was not. i saw Stevie Wonder for free two summers ago which WOW. funny i’m naming legends but once i saw O’Brother open for Biffy Clyro and they blew me the fuck away. i’ve been a fan ever since and i’m so pleased they’re doing really well now.

 i’ve been blessed with some incredible gigs.

6. What was the worst show you’ve ever been to? yikes. ive never been to a show where the band i’ve paid to see are awful but ive suffered some horrible openers, let me tell you. the worst was when i went to see brian fallon and his opener, i literally do not remember who, was so terrible i got a headache halfway through the set and had to leave the entire gig because i was in agony. 

7. What is the most musically involved you have ever been? uh, in what capacity? well. i play violin and am a singer, i sight read better than i sight sing though. sight reading means im kind of okay at piano although my left hand prowess is non-existent, really. but i mean, if we’re being open and honest, i actually am employed in the music industry, so that’s pretty damn involved if you ask me lol.

8. What show are you looking forward to? SO MANY. ive got some huge festivals this year - Gov’s Ball, Glastonbury, and Lollapalooza (supposing i get tix to the latter). elbow in november, New Power Generation at the start of April. who knows what else will get announced - hoping for some official Franz Ferdinand dates (besides their gov’s ball set) or an APC tour. 

9. What is your favorite band shirt? i have this v-neck black shirt from when i saw The Cure last year. the only size they had was xxl and i got it just because im compelled to get shirts at every gig i attend. its honestly the most comfortable shirt i own and i use it as pajamas. 

10. What musician would you like to hang out with for a day? honestly, id love to spend a day with Dan Smith from Bastille. im not even like super, duper heavy into the band (i love them but not how i love many others) i just want to get some sandwiches and talk about movies with him. we’d have so much to discuss. probably would also love to hang with lorde and osmose some of her glamour. 

11. Who is one musician or group you wish would make a comeback? like...from the dead? bowie or prince, full stop. come back and make a new album, Fair To Midland. such a specific, identifiable sound - no one is filling their space now they’re gone. 

12. Who is one band/ artist you’ve never seen live but always wanted to? BOWIE AND PRINCE. im haunted by the time Prince came to NYC when i was in college and i was too fucking poor to see him. rammstein have decided to play an NYC date for the first time in fucking years and i just so happen to be at glastonbury when they’re here (i am bitter). TOOL is on this list but WILL BE REMOVED IN JUNE, CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE. also, recently lady gaga but specifically during her fame monster years. she came round when i was in college and my housemates went - regret it because she seems like an amazing performer. 

13. Flawless albums? shit. wow. ok. ive got many. Radiohead - In Rainbows, Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes, Prince - Purple Rain, NIN - Year Zero, Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas, White Lies - Ritual (i swear to god, you have no fucking idea how far ahead of its time this album was- it’s six years old and it sounds like it was produced yesterday), Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go, elbow - the seldom seen kid, Ghinzu - Blow, and Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain - to name a few. i find when you listen to a lot of music, you wind up discovering how much art is really out there which is probably why my pretentious ass has a longer list than most idk

14. How many concerts have you been to, total? please don’t make me count. a very high number.

15. Who have you seen the most live? Muse

16. What is your favorite movie soundtrack? I have three really. The Fountain, A Single Man, and Pride & Prejudice. Also, not films but Braid, Bastion, and Transistor are some of the best video game soundtracks. I can’t really go a month without listening to them. 

17. What was your last musical ‘phase’ before you wisened up? i turned my ‘phase’ into a career, i think we’re shit outta luck on the ‘wisened up’ front. 

18. What is your ‘guilty pleasure’ that you hate to admit liking? i love the shit out of K-Pop. it’s been like a 7 year quiet thing in the back of my mind, but if you want to learn some SHINee/EXO/f(x) moves, i got you!

i forgot im supposed to tag people omg uh ok @zombeesknees because she is my queen and i want to know what she’s into; has @simonjpg done this yet? idk, do this if you want!

[haroldgross]

New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic

New Post has been published on http://literaryends.com/hgblog/beauty-beast-2017/

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

You’ve probably already seen this (I hadn’t) and nothing I’m going to say here will change your mind.

So, if you loved this film, power to you and move along, you’ll probably think I’m being sour and unromantic, but I’m not. I love this story, and am particularly fond of the Grimm’s version and the Cocteau film, which leans heavily on that source. I even like the TV version (but, hey, that gave us Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton, not to mention George RR Martin). But this Disney version is simplified and just not as engaging.

Like all fairy tales, there is a base truth Beauty wishes to convey, to teach. There are many ways to get there if you want to do variations of the story, but to really get there, in all cases, you have to truly care for the characters and their situations. You need to feel their fear and see their changes. Disney’s offering is all distraction and almost no emotion. That doesn’t make it un-entertaining, it just makes it empty entertainment, however pretty. And, to be fair,  the production design (real and digital) is truly a thing of beauty and imagination. Also, the nods to Sound of Music and Esther Williams, among others, are a riot.

But the story itself is rushed and almost utterly without tension or sense of time. It all seems to happen over the course of, at most, five days. I certainly believe in immediate connections between people, but they don’t usually involve kidnap, threats, and imprisonment. That takes time to overcome. In this case, everyone walked in knowing what would happen and didn’t even try to pretend it wouldn’t…the closest feint was the faked, depressing ending which the Enchantress (whom we’ve been spotting hanging out all along) deals with silently and completely without comment.

Does it still work? In its way, yes, but not because it is on the screen, but because it is in your mind. That is not only a cheat, but ultimately unsatisfying. It didn’t really do anything new for us. Frankly, there was too much other stuff to allow there to be characters and acting so that we actually cared about Belle, the Beast, her father, etc., and not just about the “story.”

There were other annoyances as well. The forced amount of diversity in the cast, seemingly without purpose, meaning, or basis. The continuity gaffs with the horse who magically appears at either end of the journey as needed, with or without tack. Peasants that suddenly have fancy dress. And then there was the great “controversy,” which was over so fast I actually almost missed it. Man people are screwed up if that was what flipped them out.

Ultimately, this is an OK piece of distraction, but not a great or classic film; it is simply big and flashy. Sure, it’s worth a single watch, but there isn’t a single performance worthy of mention, nor specific results calling out.