PERPETUAL MOTION (2005)
China 90 minutes
Directed by Ning Ying, Written by Ning Ying, Liu Sola, Hung Huang
Cast: Hung Huang, Liu Sola, Li Qingin, Ping Yanni, Zhang Hanzhi
Perpetual Motion was introduced as “a sassy film” and indeed, it started off with a bang.
Continue reading “SFiFF iii: Perpetual Motion”
HARD CANDY (2005)
Directed by David Slade, Written by Brian Nelson
Genre: Drama /Thriller
Plot Outline: A provocative drama about a 32-year-old man who takes home a 14-year-old girl he meets on the Internet–with surprising consequences.
Credited cast:
Patrick Wilson …. Jeff Kohlver
Ellen Page …. Hayley Stark
Sandra Oh …. Judy Tokuda
Jennifer Holmes …. Janelle Rogers
MPAA :Rated R for disturbing violent and aberrant sexual content involving a teen, and for language. Runtime: USA:103 min
Hard Candy was at Sundance last year and was picked up for distribution by Lion’s Gate. This film was a pre-festival freebie. The Director, David Slade and principal actress, Ellen Page did a Q&A after.
Awesome.
Hard Candy opens in San Francisco April 28, 2006
EDEN (2006)
Written and Directed by Michael Hofmann
Credited cast:
Josef Ostendorf …. Gregor
Charlotte Roche …. Eden
Devid Striesow …. Xaver
Runtime: 98 min
Country: Germany /Switzerland
Language: German
Eden has been released in Europe and is playing at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) in its North American Premier. I saw it as a bonus for the SFIFF volunteers on Orientation Day. The Program Director who introduced it called it “A culinary story of the power of love.”
Continue reading “SFIFF Reviews i: EDEN”
There’s a stark black screen with two bright white, luminous, almost pulsating, roundish images where eyes would be if the screen were a face. The titles come in to the lower left in a fat serif typeface. Daylight comes swiftly and the white images become blue sky through openings in a rock formation of Monument Valley, Utah. It’s the kind of photograph Wim Wenders might include in one of his photography books of the West. The camera slowly pans around 360 °and then tilts downward to expose an ugly array of white trailers, booms and trolleys of a movie setup. A horse with rider gallops at speed out of the valley, up an incline through the red rock and disappears over the horizon. That is Howard Spence (Sam Shepard), an over the hill movie star cowboy, coming off a binge of drugs, booze and debauchery. Two whores are still in his trailer.
Continue reading “Don’t Come Knocking. A Review”
You remember Markie’s New Shoes, don”t you? Of course you do.
On that January day when Carol and I went shopping and Dine About Towning and museuming, we stopped into a store called Mix on Sutter at Grant. They told us that Marimekko is due to celebrate their 50th anniversary and will have new colors for their shirts. She said they were due in February. I left my number and she said that she would call me when they come in.
Continue reading “Markie’s New Shirts”
I heard about an interesting variation on the radio this morning called a Survivor Pool.
What you do is pick a team to win on each day of play. If they win, you live to pick the next day. If they lose, you’re out. You can only pick a team one time, so beware of picking the high seeds too early.
Just for the hell of it, for openers, Thursday, I’ll take Marquette over Alabama.
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Livermore Valley
Last weekend I wanted to go on a day trip and Carol hrrrumphed that, so she agreed I could put a trip to the Livermore Valley wine country on the calendar for this Sunday.
Saturday, after Farmers Market, I”m making my breakfast and it’s a beautiful day and sposta be shitty on Sunday with lots of rain and I sez to Carol, “Lets go to Livermore today,” and she hrrrumphed that she’s doing laundry and stuff. So I say I”ll do laundry tomorrow, we gotta get out of the house once in a while.
So, we”re off. It’s a shot down the I-580 speedway, which goes south and then east. I”d never been to Livermore. It’s always featured on the TV weather report and usually for being totally hot in the summer, the antithesis of San Francisco, I”m thinking parched and dry. Actually, it has the knobby green hills like Sonoma County, but these are smaller.
Continue reading “Day Tripper”
Carol and I were lucky enough to go to a SF Film Society advance screening of Lucky Number Slevin last night. The Writer, Jason Smilovic was there for a Q&A after the film.
Good flick!
Continue reading “Lucky Number Slevin”
A Letter From Terril
Dear Mark, I have been looking for your old house to add to my Google Earth collection of places from my present and past. Your Hilltop picture got me right to it. I remember the home as charming with the streets still having cobblestones and a trolley track. Anytime I read or hear about cobblestones, my brain flashes back to your street. One of my favorite memories is when Dad took me to see Peter Pan, and we left the car at Aunt Martha’s and took the electrical trolley to a downtown movie theater where we sat in a miniature balcony. I admired your mom. It was very hard to be a single mom in the 50’s. I remember Dad putting in the closets in your house. I also remember seeing your room and your Playboy collection stacked under your desk.
Continue reading “A Letter From Terril”
Marc,
Was reading your blogs and I remember Aunt Martha’s dump cake the best, Terri still makes it.
Mom and Dad got your letter and were thrilled to hear from you. No, they no longer have a computer. They gave that up when they downsized and moved to our side of town. Sam, Marla and I live close to them. I am about 5 minutes away in case anything happens. Terri lives in Colorado and Ruth lives in Texas.What I remember about you the most is the naked lady knuckle buster you had in Aunt Martha’s car!!
Continue reading “Letters and Pix From Cinda”
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