Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Story of My Last Week: Lost in Translation

It was a damn scary week for me. I lost three people in my life. First of all my Uncle died of heart failure. It was so sad because I was not there and I did not have that much chance to see him in past three years so … God Bless Him.

Then it comes to even more surprising one if you look at the Age. The Oscar winner director Anthony Minghella died at 54!

The very talented director, scriptwriter and human being’s death of fatal hemorrhage created a huge shock in his homeland, England, when the first reactions belong to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Jude Law, who appeared in many of Minghella’s movies.

The Oscar winner of critically acclaimed “The English Patient” had also made movies like “Cold Mountain”, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and my very own favorite “Breaking & Entering” in his fantastic career.

God Bless Him too.

And finally a few hours ago, CNN announced that Sir Arthur C. Clarke died in Sri Lanka at age of 90.

The visionary writer who had more than 100 books was one of the best in his business. His very famous book called “2001: A Space Odyssey” turned into one of the best movies of our time by the master himself, Stanley Kubrick.

God Bless Him too.

I believe that is enough for one week, do not you think so?

And the Persian New Year is around! Congratulation to you all and wish you all the best and happiness.

Cheers

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Nourooz Impression: A Celebration of Iranian Cinema in Malaysia


The Iranian New Year (Nourooz) will be around in less than a week and in Malaysia it is coming in a new style: “Iranian Cinema in Golden Screen Cinema (GSC)”


From 20th of March, four very famous shopping malls in Malaysia show 10 movies of recent years. These shopping malls are “Pavilion”,” Mid Valley”, “1 Utama” and “Gurney Plaza”. The price for watching each of these ten films is just 5 Ringgit Malaysia (around 15000 Iranian Rial) which is very cheap compare to usual price of 10 to 15 for other movies.


The movies which have been chosen for this special screening are:

1) Café Setareh (Saman Moghaddam)

2) Cease Fire (Tahmineh Milani)

3) Equivalence (Ibrahim Vahidzadeh)

4) Hayat (Gholam Reza Ramezani)

5) In the name of the father (Ibrahim Hatamikia)

6) M for mother (Rasoul Mollagholipour)

7) Mama’s guest (Dariush Mehrjui)

8) Saint Mary (Shahriar Bahrani)

9) Sheyda (Kamal Tabrizi)

10) Twilight (Ghasem Jafari)


Well, in my opinion New Year is all about happiness and stuff and that is why I do not understand choosing of these movies! Because some of them are seriously sad and gloomy!


I have watched this entire list except number 4 and I invite you to watch “Mama’s Guest” directed by the Iranian master, “Dariush Mehrjui” which is one of the finest in Comedy Genre. The other one is “M for Mother”, the last film of late “Rasoul Mollagholipour” which sent to Academy of Motion Pictures from Iran this year. “Café Setareh” and “In the name of father” are also among the good movies of this list.


I hope those of you who live in Malaysia find some time to check these movies and I appreciate if you share your ideas with me about this celebration.


For more information you can visit http://www.gsc.com.my/


God Bless You All


Friday, March 14, 2008

Portishead's Third

Thanks God that Portishead is still alive and they are doing very well. The very long awaited third official album of them is finally out and it cleverly named “Third”. The very famous British alternative band has been muted for almost 10 years due to all solo careers and stuff but this album shows that they are still at the top of game and business.


Portishead officially started with “Dummy” in 1994, then “Portishead” in 1997 and followed by the very popular concert in New York City called “Roseland”. Then group fell silent for a decade and now they comeback with new album and all the familiar electronic rock and new sound stuff.

The 11 tracks and almost 50 minutes (49 min 13 sec) is out in market and I hope you guys find time to listen. My very own favorite track is called “Magic Doors” which Beth Gibbons’ amazing voice gave me goose bumps.

Cheers

Thursday, March 6, 2008

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Saturday, March 1, 2008

There Will Be Blood: There will be an Oscar!


I watched There Will Be Blood in a Malaysian cinema. I emphasis this because There Will Be Blood is among those movies which you have to watch them in cinema and on big screens. The locations and the way that the movie is directed force the audience to go to cinema and watch it. So listen to me and forget about DVDs and etc.

I am sure you know Daniel Day-Lewis won so many awards including the Oscar for his towering performance here. But forget about all these and watch his magic in this masterpiece. I know the movie is so long but I am struggling right now to find a word to describe his amazing performance here in this movie.



There are some moments you ask yourself that is he human? Is he really acting here? This guy is really Daniel Day-Lewis? I mean seriously, it is unbelievable and there was no way to dedicate the Oscar to someone else. He was beaten just once in Berlin Film Festival this year which he lost to Iranian actor Reza Naji.

On the other hand this movie is so long and the story of the unfinished battle between good and bad & demons and angels have been told for thousand times but here is really different. The story, the very unique way of Paul Thomas Anderson directing has offered something to you which simply makes you think for a few days.



To me thinking about religion, the way that so many motherfucker religious people have behaved in the name of God and many other related issues; seem to be eternal. But here at the end of the movie when Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) says "I 'm finished", it seems that something really happens and we can finally have a deep breath and do not think about all those shits or assholes.


There Will Be Blood is a great movie. And certainly it is not for most of the Asian market. But if you have time and enough patience watch this movie. It is something very worthy to watch and think about.

God Bless You All