My Home

I mentioned that I'd put up some pictures of the screening room, so here we are.

The door to the screening room, on which I'll display what I'm watching (elegantly on a paper towel) if you'd like to join.

Here is the interior of the screening room. Not the massive screen at the end of the room. And that's my comfy folding lawn chair.

Here's my computer off of which I'm running all the movies. The hard drive to the left is where I'm storing all of them, and I've got my handy dandy remote as well.

Who's that handsome chap?

So as was previously mentioned, I watched Citizen Kane this morning, and I'll be posting a review of it sometime this afternoon. Once the screening room frees up in about an hour, I'm going to watch Modern Times.

Eat Drink Man Woman

Director: Ang Lee
Writers: Ang Lee, James Schamus, Hui-Ling Wang
Release Date: 1994
Genre: Foreign, Comedy, Romance, Drama
Runtime: 2 hrs, 4 mins
Awards: Oscar Nomination, among others
T-Meter Rating: 95%

My Rating: 4 stars

Eat Drink Man Woman @ IMDb
Eat Drink Man Woman @ Rotten Tomatoes
Trailer @ The New York Times

What film comes to mind at the mention of director Ang Lee? Most likely to be recalled is his most famous effort, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), a masterpiece in its display of acrobatics, martial arts, and special effects. Perhaps it is Brokeback Mountain (2005), Lee's controversial exploration into sexuality, that comes to mind. With such big successes and little notoriety in America, it is not surprising that the film often regarded as Lee's greatest work, Yin shi nan nu (translated in English as Eat Drink Man Woman) has all but faded into the forgotten oblivion.

Eat Drink Man Woman tells of the trials and tribulations encountered by Chu, a master chef whose grown daughters slowly leave him in favor of independence and love, the latter of which is achieved by each daughter in a compellingly different fashion. The tale is tragic, yet situations are confronted and the solutions are, for the most part, refreshingly uplifting. Basically, it's Death of a Salesman sans the suicide, with wontons, Karaoke, oodles of announcements and unexpected wit.

Surprisingly, the one factor that usually works against foreign films actually assists Eat Drink Man Woman in its effectiveness: its script. Although I’m sure Chinese-speaking audiences cringe at the lack of consistency between the film's actual dialogue and the provided English subtitles, the constant use of proper titles and full names very accurately displays the formality with which the Chu clan lives. In addition, the abbreviated, and at times curt and catty chatter provided by the subtitles emphasizes the anxiety and confusion encountered throughout the story. These conversational patterns sit in stark contrast to those of us Americans who love to hear the sound of our own voices. And yet, the frequent brevity does not inhibit the inclusion of those ever-necessary enlightening one-liners, for they certainly abound.

Though very well scripted and equally as well performed by its cast, Eat Drink Man Woman's real brilliance lies in its details: the stunning close-ups, the roundabout tracking shots, the subtle cinematographic foreshadowing. Especially spectacular is Lee’s use of intricate camerawork with food, which makes his audience hungry not only for traditional Chinese cuisine, but for more of the film as well. He delicately highlights the action with his diverse soundtrack, cleverly slipping everything from traditional Chinese string melodies to eerie jazz riffs behind scenes without the audience even realizing.

Beyond the carefully fashioned details, however, Ang Lee has presented a genuinely compelling story that is not over-the-top. He cleverly addresses the themes of the everyman without being repetitive or unoriginal. Most importantly, though, he does not beat his viewers over the head with his message.


Images care of Amazon.com and The New York Times.

Setting Up Shop

After having (for all intents and purposes) completed my work and achieved the status of unofficial, pseudo-completeness (which will be in about an hour very official and not pseudo at all), I've basically started my ISP.

Today, I ran around to various faculty members and administrators with questions as to where I should be embarking on my cinematic journey (which empty classroom) and where I'd be getting my projection system. It then dawned on me that perhaps I'll use the room that was probably built for me! The Screening Room!

The Screening Room was built with the Hostetter Arts Center a couple of years ago and contains all sorts of doohickeys and whatnots that somehow end up displaying a gorgeous picture on a more than substantially sized screen (about 7 feet from corner-to-corner by my eyes). In my opinion, the room was a poor investment considering its lack of use, but now I get to take advantage of Amos' silly decision. No offense Mr. Hostetter. Seriously, the Arts Center is awesome!

I'll include pictures once I find a camera of my exact setup - perhaps even a video?

Anyway, I brought in a folding lawn chair (the screening room is not home to comfortable furniture) and sat down and watched my first movie today: Eat Drink Man Woman (review following this post).

But wait! That film was made in 1994! That's no classic! (I know you're thinking this. Don't be shy.)

Well, as I said before, my completion is very unofficial. My sole remaining assignment was (is) a short essay for Mr. Keating's Freedom class. The catch, however, is that the essay had to be on one of the two movies that we watched in class, and I decided to do a review of Eat Drink Man Woman. So, though I wasn't actually complete. I got to watch a movie today. And, though this technically doesn't count for my ISP, I will be publishing a review in due time.

So, I'm on my way. I have off during 1st and 5th periods, but otherwise, I'll probably be up in the Screening Room glued to the projector. If you'd like to join me, do so, but don't talk during the movie unless I talk first!

Tomorrow, I plan on watching Citizen Kane in the morning and either Modern Times or Singin' In The Rain in the afternoon depending on how much time I have. Come on up!

Bravo!

So here I am, backstage during the second performance of Drama IV's final production "Amateurs" (a comedy by Paul Griffin). My character (who also happens to be a critic), for all intents and purposes, dies at the end of Act I. It is Act 2, and I'm bored.

Anyway, I figured I'd update anyone who probably isn't reading my blog yet as to what is going on with the Spoiler-Free project. Today was the last day that seniors had to attend class, so ISP technically starts on Monday.

However!

I am very very incomplete. You see, in order to begin my project, I technically need to finish all of the course work in each of my classes. I have not done this (for a variety of reasons, none of which are particularly valid). Here is a list of the work I need to finish before I am 'complete'.

• English: I must write a brief, one-page essay discussing my reactions to the Civil War poetry of Emily Dickinson.
• Calculus: I need to take the final. Ha!
• Psychology: I need to do my entire final project, a 30-45 minute audio recording of an in depth self-analysis.
• Freedom: Mr. Keating wants a brief, three to four page essay. The topics could vary, but I've decided to do film critiques of the two films with which we finished the year: Eat Drink Man Woman and Working Girl. Both of these will probably be posted by about Sunday-ish, so I guess my project begins then?
• French: Not only do I need to take the last test of the year, but I need to learn everything on it and hand in every homework assignment on it. The test is on about a quarter of Jean Paul Sartre's Les Jeux Sont Faits, of which I've read very little and on which I've done none of the assignments. This is a direct quote from Mme. Castaldo. "Midori, you owe Assignment 2. Jordan, you owe Assignment 3. Scott! My gosh! You haven't handed in anything!"
  

I'm basically trapped in school cinema-less until I complete all this work. Boo hoo.

In terms of the actual project, when it gets going, plans have changed a bit. For one thing, I am not only doing the project for three weeks of the ISP period now, but for the remaining two as well. This is because, originally, I had planned two weeks during which I would take Improvisational Comedy classes with my good friend Ricky Zacharias. Turns out, the theater where we wanted to take these classes (the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater) does not offer the 'Intensive' course that we had wanted to take during the ISP period. Oh well.

For another thing, with the extra two weeks, my viewing schedule has obviously changed as well. I also took a look-see down the list with a couple of people, and we communally decided that I'd probably be better off changing it a bit. I'm not going to post a formal schedule because I think that's ridiculous. I am however going to post a rough schedule at the beginning of each week for films that I will be watching that week.

So, without further ado, a brief list of films that I'll be watching this week:

• Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
• Casablanca
• Day The Earth Stood Still, The
• Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (both the original and the remake in one day)
• Modern Times
• Network
• Pscyho
• Singin' In The Rain

I'll judge the time and probably throw one or two extras on there, not to mention that I'll probably watch some on my own time at night.

Anyway, that's all for now. I have to go prepare for bows.

Thanks Already!

Just one more brief post before I take my 3-week leave.

I would  like to thank Yael Silverman for her artistic contribution to my header above. Her drawing, "Urbanite", and more works can be viewed here.

Thanks again honeybunch.

They're here! They're here!

Please take off your coat. Make yourself at home. Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag; there's an extra toothbrush in the bathroom.

This blog will be a public display for both peers and school administrators in my progress during my Independent Study Project. 

An Independent Study Project (to which I will henceforth refer to as ISP), for those outside of the Pingry population, is a 5-week span of time during which our school respects the senior's right to not do any work (considering its lack of worth) and gives us the "freedom" to pick a project of our own. For my ISP, I proposed a 5-week journey into the realm of classic film, holing myself in a random classroom for hours at a time and rotting my brain with endless amounts of 50's, 60's, and 70's cinema. By some stroke of luck, my advisors approved the plan, and here I am.

Beginning on Monday, April 28, I will be posting reviews, critiques, and general musings about movies that I will be watching. I have a very detailed schedule that will probably need to be changed around a bit considering inconveniences presented by Improv Comedy classes in New York City and Advanced Placement exams. As of now, however, my list includes (but will not be limited to) the following movies:

• 12 Angry Men
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 8 1/2
• Affair to Remember, An
• Breakfast At Tiffany's
• Citizen Kane
• Day The Earth Stood Still, The
• Gentleman's Agreement
• Gold Rush
• Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, The
• High Noon
• Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
• It's A Wonderful Life
• King Kong
• Lawrence Of Arabia
• Modern Times
• Philadelphia Story, The
• Psycho
• Rear Window
• Seven Samurai
• She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
• Singin' In The Rain
• Some Like It Hot
• Spartacus
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• Touch Of Evil
• Vertigo
• War Of The Worlds

Upon including this list in a Facebook note, I incited a comment riot of sorts. As such, I have in great surplus a variety of potential films that will be completing this list at a later time.

Anyway, this post will remain lonely for the next 3 weeks or so. In fact, I really only started this blog now so that I knew I would have the URL, and because it seemed more worthwhile than studying for my Les Jeux Sont Faits test and completing my Freedom journal on Camus' The Stranger.

So it goes.