YiYi: A One and a Two

I recently watched a Taiwanese film made in 2000 called YiYi: A One and a Two – Edward Yang's last film before he died of cancer at 59. (I am now in the process of hunting down his other films.)

This is one of those movies that's about life and also, everything. It's small and therefore big. A real gem.

Here's the trailer below.

The Black Between the Frames

Loved this e-mail that Natalie Portman sent to Jonathan Safran Foer.


From this Times Magazine piece.

Cute.

 From Wes Anderson
 

Music for Your Monday

Georges Delerue's Score for Le Mepris

Bernard Hermann x North by Northwest

Love, love this brilliant classic:

2001: A Space Odyssey

I went to a showing of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The NY Philharmonic played the score live while the film played. This piece being the most recognizable of course – big, loud, triumphant, and marvelous.

The Dangling Conversation

An excerpt from Fred Wiseman's 1968 documentary "Highschool"

New York, I Love You

My favorite short from New York, I Love You. I saw this years ago, but still it stays with me:

Black Narcisuss

Last weekend, I saw Black Narcissus (1947), a film about a group of nuns trying to build a school in the Himalayas. What an epic piece of film-making. Jack Cardiff's moody cinematography is breathtaking, and the whole film's expressionism seemed ahead of its time. These are scenes I'll remember for a while.

The Ledges: Newport, RI

When I watched 2007's Evening last week, I found myself more taken aback by the house they shot the movie in. I still can't forget it.




It's a house called The Ledges owned by the Cushing family in Newport, RI. How breathtaking is the light? The views? Especially in this scene:

Out of Africa

They just don't make movies like this anymore. The cinematography, Meryl, and the music, the music! Sweeps you away.

Wes Anderson Films / Floor Plans

Cannes Festival Posters

I love the posters for Cannes - this year's featuring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward is especially sweet. Wouldn't you agree?

A Dependable Thing

It's one of those dependable things.

Nora Ephron's New York. The bagels and lox, the cafes, the greenmarkets, Central Park, the morning bustle, the banter, the charm (why does nothing seem charming anymore?).

You've Got Mail.  
Even when my life is up in the air, changing, it's one of those dependable things.

Why Do We Read and Write Poetry?

Oscar Nominess Revamped

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are releasing a series of screenprints inspired by this year’s Best Picture nominees and created by nine different designers and illustrators. How cool are they?

 

 

More here!

More on Love

Amour

Last night, I finally caught AMOUR, Michael Haneke's latest.
The film is about how a couple in their 80s copes when one of them suffers a stroke, and defines love in a way that I'd never seen portrayed in a movie before.

It was a lovely film. Sad, quiet, powerful.
Both Jean Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva are legends in French cinema, best known for work they did in their 30s, and to see them give such awesome performances here in their 80s was truly inspiring.

Not something I will easily forget!

See the trailer here.

Chi il bel sogno di Doretta / Puccini

The other day I woke up to this aria playing on the radio.



It literally drew me out of my sleep - it was so heartbreakingly beautiful (those soaring high notes) ... and so familiar.
After some digging...Aha! Of course! It's from this scene from one of my favorite films ever.
And the words are particularly lovely. Here's the translation:

Doretta's beautiful dream

Who could guess
The beautiful dream Doretta had?
Why her mystery
Came to an end

One day a student
Kissed her on the mouth
And that kiss
Was the revelation:
It was the passion!
Mad love!
Mad happiness!
Who will ever be able again
To describe the light caress
Of a kiss so burning?

Oh! My dream!

Oh! My life!

Who cares for wealth
If at last happiness flourishes!
Oh golden dream
To be able to love
In this way!

Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo

I have no idea what they're saying, but I already know that it's going to be my favorite movie.



Psst...Have you seen Priceless? or Heartbreaker?