Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis
I just heard about a great new movie called "Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis" (Welcome to the Land of the Ch'tis), a French comedy that takes place in the North of France. Apparently it's doing really well at the box office.
I've written a bit about Ch'ti before, the "patois"/language spoken in the North of France. It's spoken in the North of France, where I was living and teaching a few years ago. When I watched the promo video I almost literally died laughing. There were so many stereotypes and memories. For example, when the guy from Paris drives up North he passes a sign welcoming him to the North and right away the skies open up and it pours with rain (it did rain almost the entire time I was there, including last summer when I went back for a day). They also tease the language, and there's a great line where the Parisian asks "Is there something wrong with your jaw? You're talking funny?! Does everyone here talk like that?". The Ch'ti welcome the Parisian, and at one point teach him how to talk like them. So at a restaurant he tries to order in Ch'ti and the waiter says "I'm sorry sir, I'm from Paris and don't understand what you've said" at which point the whole table breaks out into cheers because he's one of them.

Lost in Translation, Revisited...
When I first watched Lost in Translation in Canada a couple years back, I'll admit that I didn't really like it. I know that it got some great reviews but I honestly found it a bit boring.
I bought a copy of Lost in Translation the other day and the back cover seemed a bit lost in translation itself. The DVD features "Longuoges: Englis & Fransais" as well as "Subtitoes:Ftanssis,Espainol" [sic]. I finally had a chance to watch it on Friday, and must say that I loved the movie. It's quite insightful and very funny at the same time.
The two main characters, Bob and Charlotte, are both sleepless, lonely, and totally lost. Lost in the world, lost in love, lost in life. Totally lost. Sure the setting is 'exotic' Tokyo, but it could take place anywhere. People trying to find themselves in the world.
It doesn't sound all the exciting, but it's incredibly funny. Some of the comments they make, things that happen -maybe part of it is that I can relate to it a certain degree, being in a place with a totally different language, culture, food, customs, etc. The times when you just sit there looking out the window, looking at everything and nothing. The times when you wonder how things will work out. The times when you try to hard to figure it out.
If you're lost in some way, you'll probably find yourself in this movie for at least the 102 minutes that it runs.

Disappearing DVDs...
I had better not say anything incriminating, but everyone knows there is a healthy market for cheap DVDs in China, and in many other countries in this part of the world. It's quite easy to get a DVD soon after the movie is released in theatres (though of varying quality, sometimes with someone's head as they get up for more popcorn). Anyway, a few days ago all the cheap DVDs were cleared out of a shop that I have visited on occasion. Apparently this happens from time to time as the police do their job, but in a week or two the DVDs should be back and members of the police force, not in uniform of course, will be back buying DVDs with the rest of us.

Sexy Beijing - Lost in Translation
I was reading Sinosplice this morning, and came across a really funny video originally posted on Danwei. SuFei, the host, talks to Chinese people about why some of them choose such interesting names (i.e. Samanfar). Check it out below.

Rabbit-Proof Fence...
I finally watched Rabbit-Proof Fence, a movie that I've been wanting to see for a while. It's the true story of three aboriginal girls in Australia who were taken away by the government to be trained as domestic workers. The three girls managed to escape, and make their way 1,500 miles through the Western Australian countryside and desert back to their home. Along the way they are hunted by the authorities, who try to out-smart the three children.
It's set in 1931, a time when the Australian government removed "half-caste" children from their homes "to save them from themselves", from what's called the "Lost Generation" today. Two of the three original girls are still alive today, and are still living in the Outback. It's a truly incredible story.

The Cup...
Last night I met up with Sophia (from Vancouver/Montréal) and two of her friends from here in Ottawa at Centretown Movies (an outdoor movie theatre) where we watched The Cup. It`s a movie filmed by a Bhutanese Rimpoche about a group of young monks obsessed with the World Cup.
Afterwards we went to Pub Italia, which is a cool place in Little Italy, and we got a table on the patio. I was shocked and delighted to learn that they had Kriek Cerise on tap! It was a really nice evening, and it was nice to see Sophia before I go visit her next weekend in Montréal.

Cidade de Deus...
I recently watched two interesting films (surprise!). The first was called Cidade de Deus (City of God), a Brazilian film based on a real story from the City of God favela near Rio. A favela is the Portuguese word for a slum, and about 20% of Rio de Janeiro lives in favelas, separated from the rest of the city. The film was incredibly moving. It gives you a new perspective.
The favelas are where a lot of the hard-core drug dealers come from. Because the people are so poor, a lot of them don't have much of a choice. They can work legally for almost nothing, or can make a lot more money, and gain prestige and guns, by working as or for a dealer. There was a documentary after the movie, that talked about the drug-dealing and poverty problems. They interviewed drug dealers, people living in and near the favelas, police officers, and the police chief of Rio. What I found the most shocking was the frankness with which the police chief said that if the police weren't corrupt, then there would be havoc on the streets. The Rio police force is the best trained, and most highly armed police force in the world. They're probably better at close range fighting than the Americans (even after they invaded Iraq).
The police chief pointed out that if the police were to go and raid the middle and upper class that use drugs, then they would lose support from the tax paying population, and the whole system would collapse. So, they target the poor instead. But in doing so the poor attempt to fight against the police. He argued that it's necessary to keep the poor suppressed. I can't remember all of his reasons, but he did bring up some interesting points.
The second movie, which I watched in French film class on Friday morning, was called Indochine (Indochina), with Catherine Deneuve. It was set during the French occupation of Vietnam. Deneuve plays a wealthy French rubber plantation owner, who had never been to France. I won't give too much away, but needless to say it involves the communist uprising, and the two sides of the French perspective to their role as a colonial power.

French Film Weekend...
I watched a total of five French films over the weekend, as part of my French Film class homework (I have to write the essay up this upcoming weekend).
It started on Friday morning with class, where we watched "A bout de souffle" (Breathless), by Godard. It was a revolutionary film in 1960, and still jars the senses. There are a lot of coupe sèche (jump cuts), where the editing doesn't match up (on purposed), and the music has no relation to the film. As well, topics in the film that would normally be considered important are given almost no attention, while the banal details of daily life are brought to the forefront. It was really interesting, but not a movie that I'd watch just for the craic of it.
Then I watched "La Haine" (Hate), a black-and-white film from 1995. It was basically 24 hours in the life of three "mecs de la cité" (guys from the inner-city), and their daily struggles. It focused on the aftermath of a riot in their neighbourhood, and how the react when one of their friends gets murdered by the police. I'll leave the ending a surprise. I'm going to have to watch the film at least once more.
Then on Saturday I watched "Cléo de 5 à 7" (Cleo from 5 to 7), a 1961 early feminist film. It follows Cléo, the main character from 17h to 19h, from a tarot card reader, to the hospital where she goes to find out the results of her medical tests (to see if she has cancer or not). Along the way, you see her meet with friends, her musicians (she's a singer), her lover, and a man she meets along the way in a park.
Then was "Diagonale du Fou" (Dangerous Moves), a film set in Geneva, Switzerland during the Cold War. It takes place around a chess championship -East vs. West, Communist vs. Capitalist, Young vs. Old, etc. It was a bit slow, but intellectually sort of interesting. I wouldn't recommend it.
Last night I watched "Nô" (No), a Québécois film from 1998. It takes place during La Révolution Tranquille (The Quiet Revolution) in Québec in 1970, as well as at Expo '70 in Japan, and the FLQ kidnappings. The "Nô" refers to a Japanese dance, as well as to the "Non" vote during the first Québec independance referendum. It was a bit of a weird film, but strangely interesting at the same time. Another one I wouldn't recommend, but found interesting.

Cinema...
Last night I went to the late show of In Good Company with some friends (it was an OK movie, better than I had expected). The cinema was almost totally empty, but it turned out to be a bit of a high school reunion.
One of the friends I went with, Marlin, went to high school with me. We first ran into two girls that graduated with us. One, Amanda, I haven't seen since high school, and probably wouldn't have recognised (she's dyed her hair, and put on a few pounds). I must admit that I had totally forgotten her name. The other, Erika, I haven't seen since we were both in Switzerland, near Lausanne, almost 2 years ago now. Then, after taking our seats, a guy walked in that I haven't seen since grad either.
The other thing I noticed is how young everyone working at the cinema is! I remember when I was (a lot) younger and everyone working there seemed so old. Now they all seem so young, pimply, and greasy haired, lol.

A Very Long Engagement...
I'm not talking about people I know who are getting married (although I found out that another girl I graduated with a few years back is engaged), instead I'm talking about the movie.
A Very Long Engagement (or Un Long Dimanche de Fiancailles in French), is a French film that is about a 19 year old lady who's fiancé has gone off to fight in the First World War. It's based on a book written by Sebastien Japriscot. I don't want to give too much away, because there are a lot of plots twists and turns.
It's quite frankly an amazing movie. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes, and I can easily see why. It's a love story, an anti-war story, and a mystery. The scenes from the trenches were so incredibly realistic, it brought back memories of seeing some of the WWI sites in France.
It was filmed by Jeunet, who also filmed Amélie. Audrey Tautou is in it (also from Amélie, and who'll be in The DaVinci Code when it's filmed), and so is Jodie Foster. Jodie Foster speaks French in the movie, and without any accent. I've heard before that she's fluent in French.

Hero...
I finally watched the film Hero with Jet Li last night, and loved it. I first wanted to see it when I was in France last year, but missed it at the cinema by one day (they had just pulled it the night I finally went out to see it). Then it came out in North America this year, but I didn't get to see it until I rented it last night on DVD.
It's a Chinese film, about four assassins (I hope I didn't spoil the plot), and their plan to assassinate the king. The cinematography was absolutely stunning, and the fight scenes were reminiscent of those in Crouching Tiger. The colours were incredibly vivid (colour plays an important part in the film), as were the locations where it was all shot. I'll probably watch it again tonight before I have to return it tomorrow.
I also bought Run Lola Run with Franka Potente (also in Bourne Identity/Supremacy) on DVD yesterday for $7.99+tax (about 6 Euros or 6 USD total). It's probably my favourite German film, although Good Bye Lenin! is pretty good too. Run Lola is basically three vignettes, showing how changing one thing can dramatically alter the outcome of the overall event. As one guy from the National Post put it, "Run Lola Run is like Viagra for the eyeballs... The most thrilling and creative film I have ever seen!"

Bowling for Columbine...
After being asked many times in France if I had seen "Bowling for Columbine" and if it was true that all Canadians don't lock their doors, I finally watched the movie by Michael Moore (after working on my term paper most of the day). It's the movie that Moore did before Fahrenheit 9/11 (which I also saw, and thought was good too).
It was mainly about gun violence in America, and the tragedy that happened at Columbine High School in Colorado. There wasn't really anything new in the movie that I haven't heard or seen before, but it was interesting to see it all put together. The higher gun violence rate in the US, the lack of medicare, the NRA (National Riffle Association), and the massacre at Columbine.
When the documentary got to the part about the shootings at Columbine, I remembered a film that I watched in France called "Elephant". It's a film that is based on the shootings, yet follows both the killers, and some of the students in the school that get killed. It's not a happy movie, but it's very moving.

Movies...
I watched a documentary Sunday night on CBC called "The Control Room". It's about Al Jazeera's coverage of the War in Iraq, which the American's called Iraqi propaganda, and the Iraqi's called American propaganda. I thought that it was an excellent look at both the Arab news network and the war, from a relatively unbiased view (which is hard to find in North America).
At uni tonight, they showed "L'Auberge Espagnole", a French film that I first saw in France, and loved. I've tried to find it at movie rental places here, but they don't have a big selection of foreign films (I could probably find it in Vancouver), so I was thrilled to see that the Modern Languages department at my uni showed it. It was hilarious -better than I remembered it.
I took my sister along, and met up with Nick, Leah, and Lindsay at uni. After the movie was over, Sheila and her bf said hi, which was a surprise. I didn't think that they'd come out, but it was good to see them.
If you haven't L'Auberge Espagnole yet, I highly recommend it.

Hero...
I saw a trailer on TV for the movie Hero the other day! I don't usually get excited about seeing a movie, but I can't wait to see this one. I wanted to see it while I was in France, but alas, I didn't get to see it, and thought that I would never get to see it.
I was planning on going on a Wednesday night, because that's cheap movie night in France. I got to the cinema, then learned that in France they change the movie line up on Wednesdays, and that Wednesday they decided to no longer show Hero.
So, I went back to my carpeted room at the MAJT all bummed out. I figured that I'd never get to the film, since it wasn't out in North America before I left (films are usually out here before in France). I'm excited to see it when it comes out in cinema in a week or two.

The Bourne Supremacy...
So, last night I went to see The Bourne Supremacy, which I had read in English while I was living in Lille, France. The movie had almost nothing at all to do with the book. The only thing that was the same was that Bourne was framed, and a few of the character names. The book takes place in Hong Kong, China, and Macau, while the movie takes place in Europe.
Still, I thought that the movie was great. It had a lot of action, and was really well done. I'd definitely watch it again, but I don't know if I'd want to own it.

Fahrenheit 9/11...
So, I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore today. I went to see it with Sophia, who was an English assistant in Lille (and lived down the hall at the MAJT from me).
First off, I really liked the movie. Even though it was obviously a documentary, it didn't really feel like one. Granted, it wasn't an action movie like Spiderman 2, but it was really well done.
Although I agree with a lot of what he has to say, you also have to look at the fact that he is only showing his point of view, and that it's fairly easy to use some of the quotes out of text (of course Bush isn't the best public speaker, but still). Moore does make a good case against Bush. He starts off with how Bush should not have even become President of the States (the whole Florida voting scandal), then Bush's credibility goes downhill from there.
Has anyone else seen the movie? What do you think?

Snow Day, Elephant, Good Bye Lenin!, Dracula, Blind Shaft...
"One of these words is not like the others..."
It would be Snow Day! Today was a snow day for me, sort of. I did try to make it out to school, but the teacher who drives me in was sick, so I had to take the bus. Three hours later I arrived 3/4 of the way to work, in time to miss the bus. There was no point in me going any further, because the next bus was after my day was over. There's only about 3cm of snow here, but people are going crazy. There was a tiny bump in the road (by Canadian standards), so traffic was severely blocked up.
Another problem with snow in Lille is that it covers up the dog crap that is all over the sidewalks. You just have to hope that you don't step in any (good luck, it's hard enough when you can see where it is!).
This past weekend there was a film festival in Lille, with the best films of 2003. First of all I went to see Elephant, an American film (I don't know if it came out in North America or not, any insight?) by Gus van Sant based on the shootings at Columbine High. It was quite controversial, but won two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. I can't really say that I enjoyed it, but it was a good film.
Then I went to see Good Bye Lenin!, a German film. It was about a lady who falls into a coma just before the re-unification, then wakes up eight months later. The doctor tells the son that she may relapse if she is subjected to too much stress, so he pretends that East and West Germany are still separate. I thought it was a great movie.
On Monday I went to see the play Dracula, in English, at a theatre in Lille with one of my schools.
Then I went to see Blind Shaft, a Chinese movie about miners, that was banned in China. The movie shows problems with China's mining system (many mines collapse on the workers), at the same time as it tells the story of two crooked miners and teaches a moral lesson.
A+

The Movies...
Well, I finally saw Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers last night. I figured that I had better see the second Lord of the Rings in English before I get to France, when the third one comes out. It was a really good movie. I'll be for sure watching the third one in version originale when I'm in Lille.
I also saw Pirates of the Caribbean at Silvercity today. It was better than I had expected, although I hadn't expected much. The plot line was not believeable at all, but I guess that doesn't matter too much. Some of the fight scenes were cool though.

Le Pacte des Loups...
I watched "Le Pacte des Loups" ("The Brotherhood of the Wolf" in English) yesterday. I watched it just in French yesterday, but I'm going to watch it with English subtitles today. It's a French horror movie based on a legend about a wolf that ravaged the French countryside killing peasants back in the 1700's. Of course the film directors decided to make some liberal changes for the sake of the plot line.
But it's got some cool fight scenes (HongKong style action, they actually brought in a crew from HongKong to help out). I also loved the editing, and the cinematography was excellent. But the ending was kind of dissapointing.
The weird thing is that it's rated 12 in France, but 18A in Canada (well, 13+ in Québec).
Now I want to see "L'auberge Espagnol", but I haven't been able to find it over here. It's a comedy about students from several European countries and what they live through while going to a university in Barcelona. I've heard from several people that it's a pretty good movie (and it's got the girl from Amélie [that was another great movie!] in it!)