Filed under: Motion picture, Music | Tags: Bei yiwang de shiguang, Café Lumière, Camille Dalmais, 珈琲時光, 被遺忘的時光, Flight of the Red Balloon, Good Men Good Women, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Infernal Affairs, Juliette Binoche, Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge, Song Fang, Taiwanese cinema, Tchin Tchin, Tsai Chin, 好男好女
It’s nearly March and I shouldn’t be sighing sighs of relief, nor should I be watching such films as Flight of the Red Balloon because they are too beautiful for multitasking (I will re-watch), but anyways…
The film concludes with the song “Tchin Tchin,” performed by Camille Dalmais, a French-language adaptation of Taiwanese singer Tsai Chin’s “被遺忘的時光” (Bei yiwang de shiguang or “Forgotten Time”). When I heard the first “Tchin Tchin,” it sounded immediately familiar and because of its sound and the film’s piano score, I thought it must be adapated from something seriously old school in Chinese cinema. So I thought back to my courses in Chinese cinema, and other courses screening Chinese films, but it definitely wasn’t anything socialist realist or Fifth Generation… eventually I was forced to make a Google search (notice how I don’t verbify the brand) which led me to the blog of Paris-based artist Chow Shuen-Git. She(?) links to performances by Tsai Chin and Camille (below) and I remembered where I’d heard it first.
In the first ten minutes of Infernal Affairs (also below), after their characters and capacities have already been set, Andy Lau comes in to check out some audio equipment for his new flat and Tony Leung is minding the store. Not quite so old school…
“Human voices are drifting towards you,” he impresses, when testing out the set. In the end, the three tracks (the oldie played in Infernal Affairs, the live clip of Tsai Chin, and Camille’s rendition) are very different. I prefer the clarity and crackle as it is played in Infernal Affairs, but the French version is wonderful and fitting with Flight of the Red Balloon. “Great lyrics, so precise, so careful so simple and good,” said the blogger. Now I’m trying to track down the soundtrack to the film but malheureusement, it does not appear to be available.
Next I will try to see Café Lumière, another international co-production and homage by Hou Hsiao-Hsien which appears to give music a central role. This is the first film I’ve seen from the director although his name is always around (I think I’ve seen other Taiwanese “New Wave” films though). My departmental association was promoting a screening of 好男好女 Good Men, Good Women last week but I had to study for a midterm the next morning. The film concerns history and memory and identity. Despite my education, I forget about Japan… =/ Interestingly, much of the fieldwork for the material I was studying from that night was done in post-war Taiwan and there was really not much mention of it.
Anyways, the film I watched tonight was wonderful, and I will watch it again. It probably wasn’t clear from my post but the film is in French and takes place in Paris. I think it is recognised as a French film, starring Juliette Binoche (who has been recently in Montreal- yay Montreal). Song Fang, who plays a film student from Beijing, is actually a film student from Beijing. Hou met her in Pusan a couple years ago. Mentionned video embedded below, enjoy:
[Camille's interpretation set to excerpts from the Voyage]
[The trailer for Flight of the Red Balloon]
[The first ten minutes of Infernal Affairs:
The scene I speak of begins around 8:07 and the song begins to play at 8:56]
Filed under: Motion picture, Music | Tags: A. R. Rahman, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Jai Ho, Longinus Fernandes, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Slumdog Millionaire, Sukhwinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Victoria Terminus
Filed under: Motion picture, Music | Tags: A. R. Rahman, Anthony Dod Mantle, Danny Boyle, Dev Patel, M.I.A., O... Saya, Slumdog Millionaire
I went to see Slumdog Millionaire yesterday with Annie and her friend Andrew. I really liked it. It got mostly good reviews from the film critics except for one that wiki mentions which criticises as nothing special but glossy sentimentality. While cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle’s work was incredibly *wow* I think it was still a great film underneath. I had a little trouble taking Dev Patel seriously whenever he had a romantic scene because of his work on Skins but I still think he was very good. It wasn’t “OMG BEST ACTOR EVER” but I’d be really happy to see him pick up a few more awards (he’s already been recognised) in the spring ’cause it’s nice, ’cause he’s young (it’s weird watching Skins when you’re like a couple years older than the characters but so much more boring and you wonder, are British kids just like that or huh?), and he did a good job, and like… yea. That said, I think I was happier for Marion Cotillard winning Best Actress for La Mome at the Oscars last year, than I might’ve been for Ellen Page, even though she’s young (and bonus points, Canadian), ’cause Cotillard was so happy and it was so unexpected.
So yea… this is me recommending the movie. Go see it. I’m really digging the soundtrack (by A. R. Rahman) right now. M.I.A. is so cool. The song I’m digging most features her: O… Saya (Pitchfork is streaming).
All this said, I’m not a big fan of dunh dunh dunh *destiny*. Still, I’m a fan of the movie.
Filed under: Current events, Music, Tangents | Tags: Automobile manufacture industry, Coparck, TTC Transit City, World of Tomorrow
For the last few weeks, my Windows Live Messenger personal message has been, “cars in the sky, parking lots all around,” inspired by an episode of Curious Orange that featured the band Coparck almost exclusively. I don’t actually use MSN so often so I don’t notice these things – I haven’t changed my display photo in years. But they’ve been speaking about the auto industry and hopes for a bailout on the news with reference to both Canada and America and then the line popped back in my head. In my mind, I think I’d prefer that the money be spent to either ease the workers who will inevitably lose their jobs into retirement or other employment sectors. I really don’t think cars are for our future. It’s certainly been said before but if consumers don’t want to buy the cars that those factories in southwestern Ontario (and you know, wherever in the States) are able to make… maybe we should be making something else if manufacturing is such a big deal. It’s my first day at home today and I saw an ad for TTC Transit City on the way home from the train station and I thought, hey… (just sayin’) Bombardier’s still doing pretty well I think. The wiki article has an upward-pointing green arrow for 2008 anyhow.
Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about economics. I just know that I can’t be the only one who believes in infrastructure-investment.
