Shakespeare: Always relevant!

May 1, 2010 by

Shakespeare Theater in Chicago For the past five years I have had the pleasure of attending, almost, all of the Shakespearean works productions at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. It’s always a nice treat for me to be there. The Chicago Shakespeare Theater breaths life into the words I’ve read for so long. For a lack of a better word, it’s magical! Not too long ago, I got to see Taming of the Shrew.

I am not going to bore you with a mediocre synopsis of Taming. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to tell how un-mediocre Taming was.  I’m not an educated critic. I’m here as an audience, heck I was excited to get a picture of me in the theater!  Yes, some critics looked too harshly on this production of Taming. Yes, some audience actually left during the play. However, I will go there again in a Shakespeare second! In fact, I’m already planning another trip there.

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Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Jan 19, 2010 by

Let me tell you about why Lady Vengeance is one of the greatest films ever made. I say this over and over again, something magnificent happens when watching East Asian cinema, especially Korean cinema. Even more specifically are the masterpieces of Chan-wook Park. After all, he is responsible for why this cinematic romance started, when I wrote about Thirst. Film makers in East Asian cinema are able to communicate with me through so many other means than the spoken dialogue. That is exactly it: the films are so much more than just a script that’s being read. It is so beautiful, so inspiring. I wish there were other words that are not so trite for maybe then you might side with me and understand what it’s like to watch a film like Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. I feel that now, certain words are used more often which in turns takes away the sincerity of those particular words. Enough about this though. Let me tell you about why Lady Vengeance is one of the greatest films ever made.

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An Education

Dec 22, 2009 by

In life, when you try to take shortcuts it will likely not go well. That’s what we learn from watching An Education. This is a story of a master manipulator. A story about being young and wanting to run off with more experience that your young soul can handle. It was painted with lovely music, smiles and giggles. It reminded me of being young and so full of naive love. There is also much betrayal and deceit in this film. Even better, it’s filled with the intoxicating voices of Brenda Lee, Beth Rowley and Juliette Greco as the soundtrack. I would have to give my biggest musical mention to Duffy‘s Smoke Without Fire. It might be one of the best finales of a film I have ever heard.

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SPY(ies)

Oct 18, 2009 by

I believe that most of our lives go on unplanned. As much organizing and effort one puts into having a straight line from point A to point B, most of the time, line has lots of curves and waves. If you did have a straight line, then the points you can stop at between A and B are infinite. Or so my math teacher taught me.

For me, a very important stop happened when I needed an elective and the only class offered was a photography class. What on Earth am I going to learn at a photography class?! I learned things I wish to never forget. My professor once told me, when she was in France, she witnessed something that she did not expect. Artists there are treated like doctors and lawyers. With so much respect and admiration. I was reminded of that by director Nicolas Saada when he said something very similar. He said “by declaring yourself an artist you are removing yourself from the class system”.

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A Place of One's Own

Oct 15, 2009 by

I have two entries, one for Plastic City and another for Raging Sun, Raging Sky. I wrote them, read them and rewrote them again and still was not satisfied for what I have given birth to. Just like any sensible parent would do, I hid them away from the world so no one would be see them. I was not sure why I wasn’t happy with the results…until tonight.

Passion did not ignite inside my soul for Plastic and Raging and I concluded that that is the reason that I did not want to celebrate and write about them like I did with Thirst.

Tonight was different. Like going on a first date and not being able to go to bed because of the adrenaline in your bloodstream. I have had the pleasure of witnessing A Place of One’s Own. A film about the lives of people struggling to find a place that they can belong to. I believe that I could spend a great deal of time and space writing about each character and the corresponding part of my life to it. Growing up, as most people do, I was never able to look at my parents point of view.

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Thirst (Bakjwi)

Aug 14, 2009 by

They say that it is always better in horror movies to leave things to the imagination of the viewer- to hide certain details from the audience in order to tickle their sense of imagination, dip into their fears and let that give birth to their darkest thoughts.

That was not the case when I watched Bakjwi, under the American title Thirst. Now playing at select theaters near you. Seems like the film makers did not want to spare you any details. There WILL be blood in this film and you WILL try to look away.

I have always been a fan of Korean cinema. After all, it did give birth to what may be my favorite film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. Thirst, honorably followed that track of fantastic cinema.

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