I'm back with foreign films on the brain!

I haven't been blogging as I should, and I suppose that makes me a bad girl, more importantly, just a rotten, bad "writer". No matter what, though, in the end, I always come back to this little space where I can write anything I want, whenever I want, however-which-way I want.

Having said that...

Right now, I want to write about the foreign movies I've seen lately. They have been mostly Asian, ranging in nationalities from Chinese, Korean and Japanese to one French film in the mix.

Here is a run-down of my thoughts on each of these films.

Lust, Caution.(China) This is one of the few movies I've ever watched with an NC-17 rating. If my memory serves me right, I believe it's only the second of such rating I've viewed. With the exception of one disturbing scene I could've done without, but is perhaps necessary to establish the relationship between the two main chracters of the film, this film is superb. It is based on a WWII-era novel by Chinese author, Eileen Chang, and directed by Ang Lee, the same guy who brought us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain.

Lust, Caution, set in pre-WWII China, tells the story of a Chinese acting troupe, who decide to join the resistance against the Japanese occupation. The focus of the film is on the relationship between a young woman from the troupe seducing a Chinese official working with the Japanese, in an effort to assassinate him.

It is, quite simply put, a high quality film with complex characters that keep you wondering about their motives and thoughts. See this.

Harakiri. (Japan) Set in 17th-century Japan, back when Tokyo was called Edo, and the way of the Samurai was the way, this film lashes out at the very heart of the Japanese system.

The movie was made in 1962, during the golden age of Japanese cinema. It tells the story of an old man, a ronin, wishing to end his life with harakiri in the courts of the Lyi Clan House. The film is very well-written, as the old man tells his story in flashbacks, unravelling in the process his true purpose for coming to that house, where the Samurai code, as he puts it, is a sham.

Though this is set in 17th-century Japan, its message is a universal commentary on unjust systems anywhere in time or place.

Raise the Red Lantern. (China) I'd heard about this movie many times before I finally saw it. At the very least, I heard that it was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar in 1992. I also had seen many of Zhang Yimou's, its director's, other films and liked the way he presented the human condition in China.

Raise the Red Lantern is a film that leaves no room for the viewer to like any of the characters. All the characters are guilty of wrongs, whether they are aware of them or not, except for perhaps Yang, the young servant girl of Songlian, the main character and fourth mistress of a rich lord. The title refers to the ancient tradition practiced in the house, where whenever the lord is to spend the night with one of the mistresses, red lanterns are lit and raised in her quarter.

The conditions under which the four mistresses live are hard to describe. Each has her own quarter with a servant. She is well-provided for and has no worries beyond gaining the attention of the lord of the house. It is a constant competition, that is rarely completely won, as one mistress is always scheming to take the attention away from the other.

I personally did not like this film too much, as it is dark and depressing from a woman's standpoint. I can't deny that it's a good film worth watching, however, but you should keep in mind that it's not a popcorn movie, but one that might leave a bad taste in your mouth. I did love the director's way of focusing on the lanterns, and playing out their importance in correspondence with the movie's smart title.

The Bow. (Korea) What do you get when you take an old fishing boat, put it in the middle of the sea, put a 16-year-old beautiful, mute girl on it with a 60-year-old man, and bows and arrows? You get quite a spectacular film, is what I say.

There is very little speech in this ultimately cute film, but it is still well-written. As I mentioned, a 60-year-old man has a 16-year-old girl whom he's raised on the boat since she was six years old. He is not her father, nor is he her grandfather, or uncle, or anything. In fact, he is her abductor, and plans to marry her when she turns 17. She knows this, and she doesn't mind, as all she knows is the little boat that is the world to her. The two live in perfect harmony, not speaking, but practicing archery together, and telling fortunes to visitors on the boat with the boat's archery target.

This harmonious, ignorant life is interrupted when the young girl meets a young man visiting the boat and is instantly smitten with him, much to the dislike of the old man. Watch this film, as it is sweet and not as gross as you may think. The cinematography is stunning, and the ending unlike anything I've ever seen.

And finally...

The Bridesmaid. (France) Where do I begin? This film is a lot of things... and none of them good. It is strange, creepy, pointless and next to The Piano Teacher, the absolute weirdest movie of any language I've ever watched. It tells the story of Phillippe, who lives with his single mother and two sisters. At his sister's wedding, he meets Senta, a strange, and as we see, deranged girl who is convinced Phillippe is her soulmate. After a strange series of encounters between these two "soulmates", the real weirdness begins. Senta tells Phillippe to prove that he loves her by doing certain things; plant a tree, have sex with someone of the same sex, write a poem, and finally... kill someone.

Putting aside the creepy basement Senta lives in, or the strange relationship that Phillippe has with a woman's bust that looks exactly like Senta (that's super creepy)... the characters are case studies all on their own. Though Senta is by far the weirdest of the two, there is something about Phillippe that leads you to believe he needs a good long talk with a psychiatric professional. I hated this is the bottom line.

I've watched more foreign movies, but these are the ones that really stood out. I plan to write about more of them in the near future.

"LIFE EXPLAINED. ON FILM."

I've been curious about a lot of things lately. Something or other will come up and I will get curious and research it.

Recently, I've researched everything from Technical Writing to different do-it-yourself hairstyling tips and tutorials. "For Dummies" books and others are a great resource along with educational DVDs that help a visual learner like myself understand complicated instructions.

Perhaps I'm a bit late in my discovery of videojug.com but no matter. I feel confident in spreading the word about this awesome website that is like a cool, convenient resource of information about anything you can imagine.

With its simple slogan, "LIFE EXPLAINED. ON FILM," videojug.com provides just what it promises. Though I've been focusing on hair and makeup tutorials, I have seen titles for everyday-task-clueless folk. You can learn how to tie a bow-tie, cook a meal, get that smokey eye look, have the perfect kiss, perform a striptease... the list is endless. There are even informational videos about diseases, concepts and ideas.

All the videos I viewed featured professionals, and each video was created by/for videojug with professionalism and expertise. Though I still need to play around with the website to really know all its perks, it seems that users like myself can upload instructional/information videos to the site as well. The site also allows users to post discussion boards.

This site is my new obssession, and I absolutely love it.

Because I have a wedding to go to in a couple of weeks, I have been wanting to try new makeup techniques and hairstyles for the occassion. The smokey eye look and a hair knot are what I've been looking into, and I found instructional videos about both these subjects. There were several videos for each, but these were my top two. You will see that they are brief, easy to follow and understand, and are presented by professionals in professionally made videos with crisp and clear visuals and audio.

So, for the smokey eyes...


How To Create A Smoky Eye Effect

And for the hair knot...


How To Create A Hair Knot

You never know who...

Though I have had quite a rusty month in blogging, I find that all kinds of people still read old blog posts if the subject is relevant to them.

For instance, back in July, I had blogged about my 2nd trip to St. Croix, USVI. I had uploaded some pics and written little tidbits about the island. Some about my personal experiences and conditions at the sites, and I even included some hard facts about the US Virgin Island trio. That was months ago, and I even forgot that I had posted that piece.

When today and out of nowhere an actual St. Croix resident read that post, and left the following comment:

Hi Reem,

As a resident of St. Croix, its cool to see others enjoying the island. Give a shout when you're coming next and maybe I can show you more to write about.

Jim

Thanks Jim for visiting my blog and taking the time to read my post about St. Croix. Time and time again, I realize that writing is a way to reach people. Even people we don't expect to reach.

Career and fitness matters

And it is that time again... I have been featured on Intrepid Media. My piece will be featured through Friday, and it covers the topic of socializing (or I should say re-socializing) through the Internet. I've written about Facebook before, back when I was still enjoying the rush of adding new friends and finding long-lost ones, and though this talks a lot about Facebook, the focus is different. I'm mostly talking about how time and distance aren't the only things keeping certain friendships from being what we thought they might've been had distance and time not been obstacles. Give it a read, if you have the time.


On another note... though I have been working out for years now, and though I purchased a stability/Swiss ball back in 2005, I never really knew how to use it effectively. Most of the time I just let it roll around and would stretch on it to combat boredom and lazy days. After a while I deflated the huge thing and put it away, focusing on other, more "serious" workouts. That was until I learned new exercises that can be performed on the ball, that cover every part of the body, always engaging the core and are super fun to do. I know I sound like an infomercial, but the stability ball and I are like peas and carrots nowadays. I look forward to exercising with the ball at least three times a week, and feel so awesome I feel the need to share this tidbit with people. Try the ball if you're looking for something different that is totally challenging and has too many benefits for a non-expert like myself to list.

Two things...

I've celebrated my birthday, the new year and I hope my blogging will continue, and become stronger and stronger along with my writing. I have a couple things to talk about.

First, I am happy to announce that my piece titled, Ojos de mi Padre, is now published at theshinejournal.com for the month of January.

This is my first publication outside of Intrepid Media in quite some time, and I am very proud of it. The piece was originally published at Intrepid Media, but I'm thankful for IM's flexibility in allowing me to do with my work whatever I wish. Everyone at IM has been incredibly supportive and helpful, and I feel nothing but gratitude for that community for showing me just how far I can go with my talent, and that money isn't a measurement of success for a true writer.

Second thing...

I really believe there is nothing worse than trying to read a book recognized as an important literary work, and find it boring, uninteresting, or just plain bad. I've read through a few of such books in recent years, and though it's hard to get through them, I am still proud in the end when I do finish them and form a solid opinion. That way, I feel my opinion is legit, because I read the entire thing, giving my argument more weight than if I were to listen to that nagging voice telling me to just give up and stop boring myself to tears!

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. In a very short time, I've managed to pick out four or five books in a row that have kept me interested enough to not be able to put the book down. I have finally reached a huge hump with my reading that I am struggling to get over.

In my attempt to not forget the literary classics and greats, which are quite frankly my favorite kinds of books to read, I picked up Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. It has been at least two weeks and I'm just barely halfway done. I hate to say it, but I don't think I can continue with this book much longer. Though I can't deny it is well-written, in the sense that you can almost smell the atmosphere described, it has been agony for me to read about an impotent guy, the cold-hearted woman he loves, and his obnoxious and moody friend all making their way through France and Spain, drinking wine, fishing and hurting each other. I don't know how many pages are dedicated to just describing these characters drinking wine, but it's entirely too much.

I am wrestling still with the idea, but I think I just might give in to that voice and move on to something more satisfying, and stop boring myself to tears.

I think I will move on to The Blind Assassinby Margaret Atwood. I've never read anything of Atwood's, but from the sounds of it, this book is a mix of mystery, sci-fi and romance... and I doubt it pays too much attention to people sitting around and drinking wine by the gallon!