Comments on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
(The film was discussed May,  2014 at the SVMLC *monthly meeting)

6/7/14

I agree with the Academy Awards on their decision that this film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" ranks supreme in those area of art direction, makeup and visual effects.  I still think the movie is weak on screenplay (simply say that it is overly ambitious to make it a convincing story) and on acting overall (I have dwelled upon this in the group discussion at the meeting).

Of course I don't deny the use of magical realism is a clever way in this fantastical film, nonetheless I believe even when the story is stretched far out of the realm of reality it still needs to follow the rules of logic.  It is a modest demand by audience of all levels. Unfortunately there are many such unsound instances.

Maybe I am an oddball ill fit in this group（our discussion group),  I think that this group focuses more on literature than movie.  Many of them are well versed on literary merits such as the writings or words used in the dialogs (indeed they shine like gems from moment to moment.)  Whether they fit in the overall scheme of the story is yet unknown, sometimes uncalled for.  Of course this is only my opinion.

I have a feeling that it (the screenplay as well as direction of the film) strives to reach an epic level such as the kind we witnessed before us :  "Gone with the wind", "Lawrence of Arabia" or even "Forrest Gump" to name only a few.  It sends out too many threads but at times leading nowhere or not connecting with one another.  I also did not see many memorable moments or sequences which stand out in this movie.

Again this is just my two cents.  Maybe I was too focused on the merit of technical aspects (General direction, screenplay, editing, and overall structure and tone or mood of the film) and failed to see the smaller yet numerous sequences which gave many people satisfaction.

* SVMLC stands for Silicon Valley Movie and Literature Club.

Grace
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Dear members

The film won  the following awards in the 81st Academy:
- Best Art Direction
- Best Makeup
- Best Visual Effects

These webpages explain why:

介紹一個奇特的電影人

介紹一個奇特的電影人（寫於2017）

在台灣逛書店時看到一本書名「說電影」，作者是一位奇特之人，名字叫王正方Peter Wang.

我們這一代，或者更早一些時日，讀過＂方方日記＂的人或許不多。然而你可能聽過這部片子「北京故事」，導演兼主演即為王正方。

李安在序中介紹他：「他在生活、語言及心態上都是非常到位的中國人、台灣人、香港（電影人）與美國人。他的電影與為人言談很能代表70、80 年代生活在美國的華人知識分子。」

正巧他拍的兩部影片我都有，但是VCD，2000年之際在香港居留時普遍的光碟形式，品質較DVD 差。 ＂北京故事＂（A great wall）在1986年推出時大概是自乒乓外交後第一部華人拍的回鄉電影？是他自編自導自演的影片。也曾到香港發展，在方育平的＂半邊人＂（Ah Ying)  1983 年影片中飾演男主角。

在這本書中他暢談中外電影軼事，包括他在電視上舌戰群雄（其中有紐約前市長Koch 在座）只為了幫華人及亞洲人爭取權益。

Grace

亞洲十大愛情電影

March '14

This is a belated response to the list of  Asian films on "Love" as provided by an HK film critic a couple of weeks ago (see appendice below).

I have seen 7 out of the ten from the list and agree to some extent they are good movies on the subject of love.  Without seeing many of  the movies in this categories, may I venture to suggest just a few more:

Christmas in August 八月照相館 by 許秦豪 (S. Korea); The Road Home 我的父親母親 by  張藝謀 (China) ; Three Seasons by Tony Bui (Vietnam).

Grace

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亞洲十大愛情電影

〈香港看世界〉鄭漢良

February 22, 2014 06:00 AM | 1241 次 | 0 0 評論 | 1 1 推薦 | 電郵給朋友 | 打印
●今年剛過去的西方情人節與中國的元宵節剛好同一天，香港南華早報資深影評人Matt Scott應景推出他認為是亞洲出品的十齣最好愛情故事電影。讀者不妨參考一下。

排名次序如下：陳可辛的「甜蜜蜜」、日本今村昌平的「鰻魚」、陳凱歌的「霸王別姬」、關錦鵬的「胭脂扣」、王家衛的「花樣年華」、南韓郭在容的「我的野蠻女友」、李翰祥的「梁山伯與祝英台」、日本岩井俊二的「情書」、費穆的「小城之春」以及柯景騰（九把刀）的「那些年，我們一起追的女孩」。

筆者早已不看華語片多年，偶爾只會在電視上捕捉到有些電影的頭頭尾尾，上述名單上的電影，看過的大概只有「胭脂扣」和「梁山伯與祝英台」，因此沒有說三道四的資格。

Five Documentary Titles on Artists with Brief Introduction

3/1/2013  The following are five documentaries my film club used for our 《 One of a Kind Artist Series 》which includes 5 titles featuring artists from different fields and trades back in 2013.  A brief introduction was included in the announcement to be sent shortly ahead of each event when the film was to be screened and a discussion session followed..........................

今年我想再推出一個新系列講藝術家的記錄片集錦。 一個17歲香港出生的音樂天才、一位85歲耄耋老人在日本東京地鐵站近旁僅有不到十個座位的小店做壽司，還有一名去世後才被發現生前做了一輩子清潔工的畫家，這些人中有一條共同線牽引，就是對自己喜愛的事業的執著。喜歡記錄片的朋友及藝術音樂愛好者都不要錯過這幾部平時不容易看到的影片。.............
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First Installment : 音樂人生 "KJ"   Directed by 張經緯  2009,  92min.  to be screened on Sunday, Jan.13, 2013 from 2 pm to 5 pm.

KJ is a biography of a Hong Kong musical genius.  Touching on subjects such as the meaning of life, god and the artistic process, the director's 6-year- conversations with KJ reveal how a young man inspired by his music teacher and his many conflicts with his peers and parents.  KJ is not about the victory of a genius, but how he learns to be a " human being".

Second Installment : 壽司之神  "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"  Directed by David Gelb,  2011, 83min.  to be screened in February, date to be determined.

Eighty-six year old 小野二郎 worked in his field of making sushi for the past 70 years of his life and still not retired.  Hidden in a swarm of concrete jungle of Tokyo city, his sushi establishment has somehow got the attention of the world.  We will find out more not only about this old man in quest of perfection in his art of making sushi but also the people surrounding him, be them fish vendor or rice merchant, all seems to bear the same attitude of perfecting their trades and crafts.

Third Installment  :  "In the Realms of the Unreal"  directed by Jessica Yu,   2004,   82 min.  to be screened in March, date to be determined.  (This title has been shown previously in a Taida film club screening)

Henry Darger was a reclusive elderly janitor.  He lived quietly and alone in a Chicago apartment.  When he died in 1973, his landlady discovered a stockpile of paintings and a 15,000-page illustrated novel "The Realms of the Unreal" which when revealed began to shed some light into this strange man's life and the obscure corner of his soul.  Jessica Yu is the director whose earlier documentary "Breathing Lessons" won her an Oscar award.

Fourth Installment : "Hasashi Tenmyouya"  --  "天明屋尚"  by Ishizaki,    2006，80 min.

Hisashi Tenmyouya (天明屋尚) is a Japanese artist born in Tokyo, Japan in 1966. He calls his art style Neo Nihonga and is known for merging techniques and themes from traditional Japanese art with themes of modern Japanese life in his work. In Japan, the artist has somewhat of an "outlaw" reputation for his mixing of fine art and street art. During his early career he worked as an art director at a record company and did illustration work for underground Japanese magazines including Burst.

作品激進，略帶龐克風，獨樹一幟的年輕畫家天明屋尚，在日本傳統畫加入當代元素，給現代的日本藝術注入一股新氣象。

Fifth Installment:  "Bill Cunningham New York"

The last of the documentary series "One of a Kind Artists" which we started earlier this season will come to a close with this insightful and inspiring film.

An 80 plus New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham for the last few decades has become a semi-permanent fixture of the Manhattan street scenes riding on his #29 bicycle (28 have been stolen) chronicling fashion trends he spots from the sidewalk crowds.  A dedicated artist whose only wealth is endless filing cabinets containing rolls of film negatives on his previous photographical work some of which he published in his New York Times Style section column "On the Street."

Grace Liu

是枝裕和和《海街日記》

是枝裕和《海街日記》中的攝影
Cinematography of Koreeda's "Our Little Sister"
（2015）

"Our Little Sister"  [海街日記], original Japanese title "海街 diary",  2015, Japan.  2 hrs. 8 min.

Written, edited & directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu, this film is an adaptation of a graphic novel to film successfully rendered.  It seems making of the film is well in his comfort zone, Kore-eda's last feature "Like Father, Like Son" also dwelled with relations between reunited family members. This time the more distinct aspect is that the leading roles are all female mainly in the four sisters of a small Japanese town.

The story revolves around three sisters who live in their grandmother's home and the arrival of their teenage half sister.  Similar to the great master Ozu, Kore-eda's attention to details of everyday routines and the calm observation of his camera lens give the film a serene quality which evokes good old time of a bygone era.

The cinematography is absolutely stunning which is yet another treat of this film.

導演：是枝裕和
攝影：瀧本幹也

本事：日本鎌倉的香田三姊妹住在祖母遺留下來的老屋中相依為命。某日忽然收到了15 年前拋下他們，從此杳無音訊的父親死訊。姊妹們決定前赴告別式父親靈堂前上香盡最後的義務，卻意外與同父異母十四歲的妹妹相遇，發現她的親生母親早已過世，繼母未曾善待她。三姊妹決定接這位小妹妹回去同住，展開了同在一個屋簷下的日子。（台版影碟上簡介）
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是枝裕和是我最喜歡的導演之一，2014年出版的《宛如 走路的 速度》（中譯本）為是枝導演的第一本隨筆，記錄他的日常、創作與世界。這本書有如導演陪著我們走一趟人生歲月，他的文字和他拍攝的影片一樣，充滿生活細節的觀察，一步一停駐，一邊徐步看風景，一邊思索人生。

《海街日記》這部影片中有許多走路的鏡頭，出門、回家路上，海灘沙地上留下腳印的徘徊，影機鏡頭都移動得極其徐緩。前半部的拍攝手法較為保守，很多類似小津安二郎的鏡頭，用長鏡 long shots，一景一鏡攝影機不轉動 ，讓鏡框內的人或物自己説故事。電影鏡頭著重在細節自然的呈現，像是姊妹們延續老祖母舊習，在自家院落的老梅樹上摘取青梅，置於玻璃瓶中釀製家傳美酒；四個姊妹緬懷往日交換自己所知父親的往事；諸如此類生活中偶得記憶片段溫馨但不煽情，歲月似乎停留在那些靈光閃現的剎那之間。

後半部有較多新奇精彩的攝影取景，影機也不時變換拍攝的角度。例如看煙火的那一段，幾個年輕人坐船中靜待煙火施放，小妹妹也換上了華美的傳統和服上船。下個鏡頭映出一葉扁舟漂浮於漆黑的暗夜中，影機選擇不拍上空不停爆響的煙花，反而用水中倒影映現光影的變化。最後再轉入一個特寫鏡頭，對準在光影中這群年輕人仰望上空的面龐和身影，一閃一現，記錄這段快樂的時光。

下一個鏡頭轉到二姊服務單位的屋頂平台上，她和同事齊聚此處欣賞煙花。這煙花距離較遠，而且被兩幢大樓遮住，他們看到的只是兩樓中間露出的一小片暗夜天空，工作之暇偸得如此良辰美景的職員們仍是相當開心。接下來，四姊妹返回家中，在自家院子裡，手執煙花棒像孩童似自得其樂的玩耍。雖無真正煙火的絢麗，四姊妹融洽和樂的身影朦朧似夢幻，動作被放緩，閃爍的火光照在她們發光的面龐上，似乎要將這段幸福時光凝駐在彼此心中，永遠不忘懷。這一段拍得如詩如畫，十分動人。

此外，櫻花隧道那段也拍的很美，有情調。

去年在影社這部影片的討論會中，參加此活動的朋友們各自分享觀影所得。好幾位敘述他（她）們自己的心路歷程，呼應影片中刻畫的許多細節，如長女照顧姊妹守護老家等情節，感人至深卻不過火，足見是枝導演功夫之深，火候恰到好處渾不見斧鑿迹痕。

是枝導演的影片總是從生活細節中切入，或是家庭成員們聚在一塊兒吃飯作菜，或是茶餘飯後的閒話家常，《海街日記》和他的另一影片《橫山家之味》（2008），從日常作息和飲食滋味中衍譯出平凡卻永恆不變的親情，同樣是描寫親情及其間矛盾的影片。

Grace