As we come up on our long-yearned for Thanksgiving break, it can be hard to stay focused without occasionally giving our minds some time to rest. People are simply not meant to exist as machines that continuously churn.
Grease your gears with another great selection of film in CSEAS’s Thai Movie Night series. This time it is the intriguingly-titled How To Win At Checkers (Every Time). It tells the story of a recently orphaned young boy as his older brother and new caretaker must submit to the country’s draft lottery. The troubling uncertainty and personal growth of the brothers raises questions about the justice of the structure of society.
The movie will be presented at 7pm on Thursday, November 21 in 1500 North Quad (the Video Viewing Room in the Language Resource Center). There is no charge for admission.
The Zal Gaz Grotto Club, it seems, never disappoints.
I had a grand evening watching a Fred Astaire classic and tapping my foot to some hot jazzy tunes played by local ensemble P.O.R.K. The movie was everything you could hope for in a theatrical 1930s musical–the dancing scenes alone were enough to bring this film great fame. The choreography was excellent, each pair a carbon copy of the others in their motions and timing. Elaborate, multi-textured costumes added infinite flair, the skirts on dresses in flight with dance. The love triangle that formed the major tension in the movie was enticing, all-encompassing, and the plane choreography was superb despite the physical constraints of the dancers. I was most shocked by how well the humor works today; I am woefully untickled by most old movies, given the difference in speech patterns and slang. The whole experience was vibrant enough to pull me right into the 1930s; inexplicably, I felt the urge to light a cigarette and dance in glamorous clothes, touching foreheads and moving every which way in the wild Carioca. Everyone seems impossibly beautiful, skin so smooth and clothing so stylish and perfectly suited for each character. And, I must say, Gene Raymond is built.
The live music portion of the evening furthered our education in America’s rich artistic past, bringing life into the antique. Had I come with a partner, I would have joined the dozen or so couples who got up to dance to the passionate music that snaked and drifted through the dimly-lit space. While the others got up to waltz and swing, I and the lady in the motorized wheelchair next to me sat and watched. She tells me that many in the band are university professors, and I’m surprised to find that they never rehearse, only playing together at gigs. Besides songs from the movie, they play a few old hits, like “Sleepy Time Down South.” All the instruments worked well together as one, though their individual solos were enjoyable. I was reminded then how mournful a dampened trumpet can sound, ripping through the air to cry directly to you.
My favorites were the ones that involved singing, as there are some great sets of pipes in the group. Bonnie channeled the exact energy of a time so long before her own, so that I could picture her in costume singing to the dancers of the Carioca. She is quite a strong alto, perfect for this style of song. Jean’s voice was soft, understanding of the mournful themes of his solos. Justin (or “America’s heartthrob,” as he was introduced) made a lovely contribution to one of the ending pieces, somewhat reminiscent of Bublé, and maybe even a touch of Sinatra. Most of all I thought of my favorite cartoon frog, George Washington. There are videos below if you’d like to compare for yourself.
They played for two hours with minimal breaks, which did seem unnecessarily long for both the audience and the dead tired band. I would suggest that in future evenings they cut a few songs from their sets, to reduce the likelihood of depleting the energy of everyone involved.
P.O.R.K. plays every first and third Sunday evening at the Grotto, so you have a chance to swing by soon. Their next performance will be December 8th.
Sundays are all too often reserved for the results of a week of steady procrastination. Or perhaps various responsibilities have tugged you every which way and through the mud despite constant work. The end of the week turns from an intended relaxation day to a horror-filled scramble to finish everything at once. We must fight this international tragedy, by starting to save time for ourselves to self-educate in the matters of the heart and spirit.
And so I invite you to join me at the Zal Gaz Grotto Club (2070 W Stadium Blvd) at 4pm on Sunday, November 17 for an evening of old-time jazz and film. We’ll be “Flying DOWN to RIO with P.O.R.K.,” in which Phil Ogilvie’s Rhythm Kings (P.O.R.K.) will be playing all the songs from the hit 1933 musical adventure comedy Flying Down to Rio after its screening. The cover is $10.
They say 1930s dress is encouraged, though not required, but I will be deeply hurt if I’m the only one in full costume, so I had better see some other participants in there.
The new romantic drama Last Christmas gives a 2019 twist to a classic Hallmark Holiday movie. The movie takes place in modern London and captures the life of a seemingly distressed young adult named Katarina.
The story begins with a down on her luck Katarina after being kicked off of couch after couch. She is forced to find a place to stay at night after working her full-time job as an elf at a Christmas shop ran by a Chinese motherly figure who goes by the alias “Santa.” Katarina, or as she likes to be called, Kate, stumbles upon a seemingly lonely man with an optimistic outlook on the world around him. Tom Webster becomes an outlet for Kate’s stress and struggle with her life.
As the movie unfolds, you begin to hear a lot about the illness that Katarina previously faced that comes up in most conversations with her and her estranged family. But as Katarina becomes less and less financially stable and faces homelessness, she is forced to rely on this family for support.
The movie seems to unpack a lot of different stories and doesn’t nearly begin to complete the narrative of most of them. Her family immigrated from Yugoslavia and with a mother who is caught up on the nationalist sentiment from the Brits, Kate and her sister find it hard to connect with their mom. In addition to her interesting family dynamic, Kate’s sister is also battling with her sexual identity and revealing her girlfriend to the family.
As stated before, none of these different character plots ever seem to come to a definitive end. A huge plot twist at the end leads to some lingering questions for viewers who want to see things work out for Kate, Tom, and her family. Last Christmas is a tear-jerker with a bit of romance that hopes to fulfill some Christmas dreams for its viewers. It’s worth a light-hearted watch.
Parasite is a film best seen going in with no prior background information; I’ll say that first. Once one does have the chance to experience this film, it becomes very evident why it has garnered so many awards and positive reviews.
This movie is a perfectly orchestrated descent into total class warfare. What begins as a sort of heist film with comedic points becomes a gruesome thriller, sucking in the audience into a shocking and layered story of privilege, identity, and sacrifice. The story is well-paced and original, showing the way a family from a lower-class background infiltrates and profits off of an unsuspecting upper-class family. So much is said about the way class functions, whether that’s through a metaphor like living in a basement versus a semi-basement versus a modern home or in a symbolic device of a club-like gift meant to bring about wealth.
In terms of cinematography, the film aesthetically is simply beautiful to watch. There are some points where I found myself struck simply by the artistic style of Parasite. An especially jarring example for me was in the contrast of two sequences towards the end of the film: one being a family saving their personal belongings from their flooded home and thus spending the night in a shelter with other affected families, and the other sequence being a privileged young boy waking up in a sun-soaked, clean tent after deciding to camp out on his family’s perfectly manicured lawn for the evening. The thematic meaning of this juxtaposition was distinctly amplified due to the dutiful attention to light, composition, and color in these shots. The rest of the film has plenty of examples like this, where firstly one feels awe towards the beauty and complexity of the visual and then, due to the striking image, one finds meaning that goes beyond plot.
The performances in this film were crucial to adding dimensionality to the conflict and avoiding binary definitions of characters, their motives, and their actions. All the actors and actresses were extraordinary, but Song Kang-ho’s performance as Kim Ki-taek, the father of the Kim family, was especially powerful. There’s so much behind his character that comes through in his expressions and tone, especially when the film reaches its twist. In an emotional scene with Choi Woo-shik, who plays his son Kim Ki-woo, he speaks of the futility of planning anything in life. His performance here says so much implicitly about his character’s difficult life and what it means to persist in a world where one is perpetually marginalized, and it’s both amazing and devastating to watch.
This review may seem like simple praise, and that’s because it is. In a time where franchise films are finally getting critical attention outside Rotten Tomatoes praise, Parasite offers an excellent example of what films should be getting space in theaters. This film is not only technically executed with precision and style, but it is an important piece of work that speaks to today’s alarming social and economic disparities.
Let me start off by saying, most of this movie was not what I was expecting at all, and it was wonderful. I was so worried about the cliche of a movie about a transgender woman, but it was so real, and not cheesy at all (at least in terms of sexuality). It was still cheesy in lots of other, good ways. Just as a reminder, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the story of a transgender woman and her botched sex change surgery, trying to achieve stardom while searching for love. Let’s unpack that a little.
For starters, the movie includes a super cool, modern (for 2001) insertion of drawings and visual moving art into the film. The art helps explain several of Hedwig’s songs and personal history through abstract sketches that came in and out of the actual movie scenes incredibly fluidly. This was not something I knew would be part of the film, and I loved how it helped illustrate her earliest memories. They also displayed some of her hardships through these illustrations that definitely came across much more classily and understandably in picture form than they might have if they were just regular scenes in the movie.
The music was definitely also a highlight, if not the best part of the whole film. I really enjoyed the very broad range of emotions and outfits (on both Hedwig and the rest of the band) that accompanied each different song. While they were all rock songs, they still had that element of theater-style music that helps to continue the story, and I thought that was an interesting combination of genres.
The storyline and emotional intensity of the plot absolutely came through, which can be very difficult when adapting to a movie from a live show. Although I think some of the more subtle messages of the storyline of Hedwig’s love life might of gone over my head, I still definitely understood each character’s feelings for each other, and their relationships were often complicated and intriguing. That being said, I definitely did not understand the ending of the movie at all. While I don’t want to spoil it, I will say that it is confusing to say the least. I am not really sure how Hedwig ended up feeling or who she ended up with romantically, if anyone at all. Her turbulent relationships were not always completely clear, and it did feel like I was missing some information, especially on the relationship she had with one of her fellow band members. Perhaps the musical contains more information or more scenes that help to explain what seemed like some plot holes.
In any case, the movie absolutely captured my attention from start to finish, and was definitely one of the ones where I was able to forget about anything except the storyline unfolding. It was an absolutely wacky story, but somehow it totally worked with the characters and actors on screen. It was funny, sad, thought provoking, and engrossing, and now I want to see the musical on Broadway even more than I did before! I would highly recommend this movie for anyone who wants both a unique and provocative watching experience.
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