Saturday, February 23, 2013

Lee Ji Min


ph: Park Ji Hyuk

A day in the life, Feb 21


A day in the life, Feb 21, window display

Laura Ponte


ph: Alfonso Ohnur

Songs in the key of my life: John Cale - Sabotage


My German Rock-Lexikon set John Cale's album Paris 1919 on their list of the 100 most important albums in rock music. I got the album and my disappointment was immense: I expected a more aggressive effort from one the Velvet Underground's founders, but this was in my ears a very mellifluous work. This was in the 70s, and although I eventually did find appreciation for this album much later, I dismissed John Cale for the time being. However, a few years later, 1979 actually, one of my favourite radio jockeys, played Sabotage on his show, and this song really knocked me off my feet. Here you had a full force aggreesive song with messy cacophonous guitar lines and a militant message ("Read and destroy everything you read in the press Read and destroy everything you read in books"). In comparison most contemporary punk songs sounded lame. It took me decades to get the album on cd, but I had it on cassette, copied directly from that radio show. I've heard it numerous times, and for years it was also useful for scaring guests away.


Natasha Poly


Adams æbler (2005)

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.
Remarkable parable successfully combining a serious examination of Christian issues with dark humor; Luis Buñuel would have approved.

Maltin **: "Ineffectual black-comedy allegory...Means to be profound, as it deals with the nature of good and evil, but it's merely overwrought."


Friday, February 22, 2013

Who's That Girl?


Photographer: Mark Morrisroe


Bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Morrisroe

Myf Shepherd


ph: Marcin Tyszka

A day in the life, Feb 20


A day in the life, Feb 20, at the butcher's

Natalia Vodianova


From my vaults: Jean-Pierre Cassel


Bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Cassel

Shane Seng


ph: Jason Eric Hardwick

New York


Aysche Tiefenbrunner


First Lines: Luigi Pirandello - One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand


"What are you doing?"my wife asked, seeing me linger, unusually, in front of the mirror.

Xenia Kovtunenko


A day in the life, Feb 19


A day in the life, Feb 19, dirty snow

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Christy Turlington


ph: Nick Knight

Dernier domicile connu (1970)


A tough, efficient policeman, has been sent to a second-rate police station after being reprimanded and given a female partner with an assignment to find a man whose evidence is instrumental in convicting a murderer.

Well-crafted policier which provides besides two great central performances a realistic, but bleak vision of 70s Paris.

Nicole Trunfio


ph: Gomillion & Leupold

New Stuff: The New Yorker


Maud Welzen


Ondine (2009)



The story of an Irish fisherman who discovers a woman in his fishing net who he believes to be a Selke (a water nymph).

Likable love story set on a bleak Irish coast with some fairy tale allusions.

Maltin ***: "Writer-director Jordan deftly mixes dark reality into this fantasy-like saga. Diverting sequences between Farrell and Rea are a treat; newcomer Barry is a natural."


Natalia Skorek


ph: Felix Valiente

New Stuff: Ashes of Time


A gift from my pal Ralf.


Clémence Poésy


ph: Signe Vilstrup

Rising Sun (1993)


At the offices of a Japanese corporation, during a party, a woman, who's evidently a professional mistress, is found dead, apparently after some rough sex.

Convoluted whodunnit with a sloppy plot, mildly entertaining.


On second view: badly dated and really not that entertaining.

Halliwell (no star): "Turgid thriller, revealing paranoid feelings about the Japanese in America but not much else to engage the interest."

Maltin **1/2: "Strppied-down version of Michael Crichton's detailed and controverial novel (adapted by Crichton and Kaufman) is alterbately compelling, confusing, obvious, and silly, with credibility strained to the breaking point."


Who's That Girl?


Art: Chrissy Angliker


Find more at:

http://www.chrissy.ch

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Nimue Smit


ph: Bojana Tatarska

A day in the life, Feb 18


A day in the life, Feb 18, standing outside looking inside

Xenia Deli


From my vaults: John Cassavetes


Bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cassavetes


Anna Selezneva


ph: Knoepfel & Indlekofer

New York


Siri Tollerød


First Lines: Ivan Bunin - The Village


The Krasovs' great-grandfather, nicknamed Gypsy by the servants, had borzoi hounds set on him by his master, Durnovo.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Kate Moss irrégulière


A day in the life, Feb 17


A day in the life, Feb 17, window display

Malin Persson


ph: Federico De Angelis

The Lovely Bones (2009)



A young girl is murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory.
Although obviously made with a lot of talents involved the director overdid the phantasmagorical elements on the verge to kitsch.

Maltin **1/2: "Well-made, well-acted adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller suffers from overabundant, heavy-handed images of an Edenic afterlife that don't connect with the rest of the film."


Maryna Linchuk


ph: Victor Demarchelier

New Stuff: Wuthering Heights


My Valentine's Day gift for Ursula.


Zhang Xin Yuan


ph: Chen Man

The Strangers (2008)




A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.

A standard horror film situation is done with style and some inventive and scary twists.

On second view: I still stand with my initial evaluation.

Maltin **: "Not terribly scary, in spite of insistent bursts of music and loud effects on the soundtrack...but even worse, it's pointless."