Paint in Film – A Minor Rant

One of the personal issues of being film fan and working in the decorating field is you see things that others don’t, sometimes much to the horror of my long suffering better half.
Often these become rants, like the time we left a beautifully shot Atom Egoyan film, and I obsessed about the poor patching and painting of a wall just behind a close up of one of the main characters. For me it was if, say, Audrey Hepburn had two giant zits on her nose.

Again last night, as I watched Boardwalk Empire, the paint work looked all wrong for the period. The walls looked as if they had been rolled, when the paint roller didn’t come into use for at least 30 years after the timeline of the story. The paint on the trim work as well looked modern as well. There was a look to classic films ( and this shows up into the 1960′s ), that even in cheep throw away sets, you could see the craftsmanship, the attention to detail, and quality of workmanship. Each studio had a look, you could look at a MGM picture and there was a palate that was unique from Fox, or Hammer ( who have some of the best paintwork ).

The Norma Shearer Cocktail

It’s been a while since my last post, and high time I posted something new. With the spring and a bumper crop of Rhubarb I started thinking what sort of cocktail I could make using this wonderful harbinger of warm weather.

After much thought I decided that a Rhubarb Gimlet with a twist was the answer…

I started out by stewing the rhubarb and straining off some of the liquid which I put aside to cool. Once cooled, I dug out the blender and for each glass I added 1 cup of ice for each glass, 2 oz. of Gin, 4 oz. rhubarb water, and maple syrup to taste and crushed the ice while blending all the ingredients. Pour into a chilled cocktail and viola, a cocktail fit for a star.

A little sweet, a bit tart, very refreshing, a classic with a Canadian flavour, and thus I named it the Norma Shearer ( from Canada, sweet and sexy and a bit of a tart – she is purported to have seduced a 16-year-old Micky Rooney…)

For those of you wondering the book is The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster, and contains one of the best descriptions of Silent Film and it’s language I have ever heard or read.

Rare Exports

Monday night this week my better half and I headed off to The Royal Cinema to see a Christmas themed film. Now this is where in full disclosure I must acknowledge I am not a fan of Christmas, and haven’t been for many years. No bad childhood or anything like that, I just find it depressing and every year the retailers seem to gear up a little earlier to get us to conspicuously consume things, which depresses me further. Christmas films are not high on my list of things I need to partake of, and much to the despair of my better half and some of my friends I just don’t get what they see in A Christmas Story.

 

At any rate, we were off to see a film we had hoped to see at TIFF this year but missed. Entitled Rare Exports, this film from Finland is filled with that Nordic dark and twisted humour. Who else but the Finns could make a film about a group of Laplanders living from Caribou hunt to Caribou hunt and scraping a living from this cold and frightening landscape where even children carry rifles to fight off wolves.

 

So it is only natural that this story has a Grim’s fairytale quality to it. This is a cautionary story of a wealthy anthropologist in search of Santa – the original Santa, who has lain frozen for centuries in a block of ice buried beneath a mountain. As his minions work to excavate the block of ice, bad things start to happen and as Christmas gets closer things start to get worse. This is no Coca Cola Santa; this is “the” evil elf himself, the devil, whose elves will stop at nothing to cater to his whims.

 

When one of the hunters accidentally captures one of these elves and  when the discovery is made that all but one of the children are missing he and his young son along with two of the other hunters set off to save the children and battle Santa. This is where I stop in describing the story, so that I don’t spoil the story for those that want to see the film. Let’s just say that there are guns, helicopters, maniacal naked and bloodthirsty Father Christmases and gigantic explosions.

 

I loved this film – but, I will warn you to not see it if you have a really soft spot for Christmas, or don’t want to tarnish any happy thoughts of a Coca Cola Santa.

 

See the trailer for it here. And see a couple of related shorts for the film here.

 

Hats off to the graphic designers for the film – Fake Graphics. I was really impressed by their work.

Speaking Film 1923

This morning, my lovely and knowledgeable better half ( who knows far more about early film than I can ever hope to) showed me an article from the October 13th, 1923 edition of The New York Times describing a new danish invention that solved the problems of sound on film using an early version of what sounds like an optical soundtrack.

TIFF 2010 Thoughts Pt.1

This year we are on a TIFF budget; we will only see five films this year. However, that is five more than last year. It won’t be our 20 to 30 films we have seen in the past, but then we won’t have to take time off work either, and with the ongoing slowdown in work as freelancers – that’s a good thing. Still, it is costing us about $225 to see those films, so it means choosing with extra care.

My better half and I have very similar taste in films, which makes doing a film fest together a pleasure, we also have tastes that differ enough that we can introduce each other to things that we may not look at the first time through. Neither of us are interested in seeing the “Galas” nor the “Stars”, we try to avoid picking anything that we know will have mainstream distribution. Instead we look for those quirky obscure films from places like Finland, Norway, Iceland, Holland or Denmark. We look for favourite directors or writers whose films we have seen in the past and enjoyed. This for me is what makes TIFF great; it isn’t the “A List” Hollywood type films.

Having said that this year we did pick a couple that will probably be released in Canada.

Our first film of the fest was a “road” film from Finland, entitled Lapland Odyssey. It’s the hilarious story of three, twenty-something slacker guys from a small remote town in Lapland who,  in order to save the relationship of one of them, must travel 200 km to the nearest city to buy a Digibox with money they don’t have. Along the way it seems that everything conspires against them including the weather. It becomes an almost holy quest as new obstacles are placed before them that force them to grow beyond who and what they are at the time, and to ultimately grow up.

Did I mention it starts with four hangings? All suicides; men who had dreams dashed by life, and who any of our trio of heroes could become.  I don’t think that I’m giving anything away when I say, that by the end we realise that it is the fourth male, and former schoolmate of our heroes, the one who has worked hard for everything, who has everything except love, especially from the woman he believes is his greatest desire, who is most likely to be the next victim of suicide.

I have to say, that the Q and A with the director afterwards was one of the funniest I have ever been in the audience for.

Next up was The Illusionist, an animated feature by the people who produced Triplets of Belleville. Based on a script by the late great Jacques Tati, The Illusionist is a richly realised film with almost no dialogue; essentially this a silent film that follows the (mis) fortunes of an ageing magician in a world obsessed with rock and roll, television, and all the mod cons. So well have the animators captured the movements and characteristics of Tati, we feel the sadness and loss he experiences. Each scene is filled with tenderness, humour and pathos, something that it seems many filmmakers no longer understand. Here comedy and tragedy walk hand in hand – just as it would have in the work of the greats – Tati, Chaplin, or Keaton.

Each frame is meticulous in it’s detail, with so many visual jokes I will have to see it again to make sure I find them all. Happily, this will be released in Canada in time for Christmas.

Later that day we went to see a much-anticipated spectacle, Norwegian Wood.

Based on the book of the same name by Haruki Murikami (a favourite author of mine) and directed by Anh Hung Tran who is best known for his film The Scent Of Green Papayas.

I have to admit I both wanted and didn’t want to see this because it is a Murikami story. Anyone who has read Murikami will agree that although there is a filmic quality to his writing, it is generally un-filmable because it is so dense and convoluted with much written between the lines. Wisely Anh Hung Tran didn’t try to film Murikami’s book, but rather accepted that books and films are different animals, and shot his own film based on the story Murikami tells. A subtle distinction, but an important one I believe.

Anh Hung Tran had his work cut out for him and visually this film was stunning. He uses nature, subtle shifts in both camera angle, and the colour palate as part of his visual narrative mostly to great effect. He also succeeds to create a retro feel to the film (set in the late 60’s), without making the sets look like a showroom of the period. It is a beautiful film to look at, unfortunately I feel he was let down by his actors, not all of them; the supporting cast shone; sadly his leads seemed in over their heads. The strongest performance comes from Eriko Hatsune who has a very small roll as the girlfriend of Watanabe’s friend Nagasaswa, and she all but steals the film as far as I was concerned.

Kiko Mizuhara who plays the beguiling Midori does a wonderful job and looks exactly as I pictured Midori. That being said, I tend to agree with Justin Chang in his Variety review when he suggests that, “she (Midori) seems to have been tamped down so as not to clash with the film’s more rarefied air…” even still I don’t know how any young man couldn’t fall madly in love with her.

One of my major concerns was the sound mix on this film; the music worked well, but at times seemed to overwhelm the visuals just due to the volume. There were times I found the music shrill and distorted and too loud in comparison to the dialogue.

I believe that Chang sums up this film well when he says, “ With his striking visual sense and gift for conjuring a mood of languid sensuality, Tran Anh Hung would seem the ideal filmmaker to tackle “Norwegian Wood,” Haruki Murakami’s beguiling novel of longing, loss and sexual curiosity in 1960s Japan. But while this beautiful-looking film at times succeeds in capturing its source material’s delicate emo spirit, it’s far less attentive to the richness of Murakami’s characters — namely, a college student haunted by one woman and ardently pursued by another. Lovely but listless picture is likely to test audience patience beyond Tran’s art-house admirers and the author’s fans.”

I would suggest that at 133 minutes this film could use an edit, but then I believe that most films are far to long today.

There is much I want to say about this film but since I would give aspects of the story away I will wait until the film is out for a while to write that essay.

Guy Madden to direct film version of Sparks’ The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman

Imagine my surprise when I logged onto Facebook Friday morning and found that the Sparks Official page had posted that the Mael brothers had announced on a recent KCRW program “Bookworm” hosted by Michael Silverblatt, that award winning Canadian film director Guy Maddin is working with Sparks on the film realization of their recent audio musical for ‘The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman’.

‘The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman’ was originally commissioned by Sveriges Radio (Swedish National Radio) and the mp3 can be downloaded from iTunes. It tells the story of Ingmar Bergman’s arrival in Hollywood – where Bergman is confronted by the lure of a mythological Hollywood seemingly at odds with all he stands for – a Hollywood that tempts him and ultimately tries to control him. What starts as an exploration by Bergman of the possible mutual benefits of his working in Hollywood turns into a Kafkaesque nightmare, a nightmare ended with the aid of a most unlikely saviour, Greta Garbo.

Once you hear the soundtrack there is no question that Guy Madden is the only director for this project. According to the website, Jason Schwartzman of ‘Rushmore’ and ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ fame is also involved in championing the project.

Listen to the Bookworm interview at http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw

The Spruce Goose

Last weekend my charming better half and I attended the wedding of a friend. I have long-held the opinion that weddings should not be approached with any sense of sobriety, but forgot to have a bracing cocktail (or two) before leaving for the ceremony, and neglected to take a flask with me.

Sadly, even though this event was being held in a licensed establishment, the bar did not open until after the ceremony (probably wise knowing a number of the grooms friends…). When the bar did open there was a rush, and we made up for the lost time.
Needless to say the following morning I was in need of a restorative cocktail, and while at brunch at The Gilead Café, I was struck with a brain wave. Spruce Beer and Gin would make a very fresh and invigorating cocktail. Both are perfumed, and both perfumes would compliment each other, so I ordered a couple of bottles of hand crafted Spruce Beer from Quebec to take home with us. Our waiter, (and as a former waiter I absolutely refuse to refer to someone who waits on tables as a server – because in North America this is not a profession, but rather something people do while they wait for a better job to come along) had overheard us discussing the mixing of the Gin and Spruce Beer and asked how we planned to “garnish” the drink. After a moments thought my better half replied “a sprig of fresh Sage” and I said, “Basil”. Dill and other fresh aromatic herbs were also discussed, but it was felt that Sage and Basil were the most promising. As we left each of the waiters on duty stopped by to thank us for the idea, and tell us they were planning to try it once their shift ended.

On our arrival home, I pulled two old-fashioned glasses from the shelf and filled them with ice, poured a good measure of Plymouth Gin in, and topped them off with Spruce Beer and garnished the better half’s with fresh Sage from the garden, and mine with a sprig of fresh Basil, also from our garden. It was a drink that smelled of the forest, fresh and cool. Very aromatic and quite refreshing. I certainly hope the waiters from the Gilead enjoyed it as much as we did.

I’m not sure whether to credit the cocktails or the fine food at The Gilead for feeling well restored that afternoon. Perhaps it was a bit of both, but The Spruce Goose is now part of the summer repertoire of cocktails in this household!

As an after thought, I would avoid using a caraway heavy gin like a Tanqueray, and opt for one that leans to a  more juniper berry flavour. If one were to use a Bombay Sapphire, I would be inclined to call it a “Blue Goose” instead of a “Spruce Goose”