Enniscorthy , Wexford and fish & chips

Our first excursion in southeast Ireland was to Enniscorthy, which is the town depicted in the movie Brooklyn as Eilis' home town, and where the author of the book, Colm Toibin, came from. We were there on a market day. The streets were very quiet as we walked around. We found the church that was depicted in the movie, toured the castle and got some beautiful views from the roof. They had a small Eileen Gray exhibit, and it turns out she was from this area. There were posters on various buildings touting the movie and the town's roll in it. One of the castle attendants told us that towns people played extras in the movie and if you weren't an extra, you brought a folding chair to watch them shoot it.

For lunch we headed to Wexford to eat at the Nosh + Coffee, which apparently is a tradition for Mei's family when visiting Michael. We walked around Wexford after lunch, ran into a couple of stormtroopers raising money for children's cancer research, found a cute little open air market, and various statues of a US Navy officer (who was born there), a famous Irish hurler (a team sport played with a wooden paddle), and a peasant representing the Irish in the 1798 Rising.

We rested in the afternoon at Michael's before heading to Kilmore Quay for fish & chips at Little Saltee. The restaurant is right near a boat harbour and overlooks the Saltee Islands, which are privately owned but unoccupied islands that are bird sanctuaries. The fish & chips (and mushy peas) were delicious as was the strawberries and ice cream.

Escaping to the movie theatre

I've been trying to sell my condo, which means there are long stretches of time over the weekend when I'm instructed to clear out of my home. So, on those weekends, when I'm not booked up, movie theatres are the idea place to kill a few hours without feeling like you're wasting your time.

This weekend's picks were Looper and Seven Psychopaths. Both were selected due to the convenience of their starting time, but I also got a recommendation for the second one. I enjoyed both. Looper is a time travel movie and it's best to see it without knowing too much about it. Everyone already knows that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play the same character, 30 years apart. I found the makeup effects on JGL a  little disconcerting (particularly the eyebrows), but there were moments when he did BW so well it was eerie. The city that JGL lives in is 30 years or so in our future and you can see from the visuals how things are going to go for us. And it's not good. The time travel aspects would make for very interesting post movie discussions over drinks, and I think there are some holes in the reasoning that won't stand up to much scrutiny. However I thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite them. It's quite a violent movie, and a little gory in parts, but there are quiet moments as well and JGL is such an excellent actor that despite his character being really not a nice person, you start to hope for him to figure out how to get out of his dilemma.

Seven Psychopaths is even MORE violent than Looper and gorier. It's also really funny. I'm not sure there's much substance beneath the humour and violence, although I think the writer/director wants us to find some. Martin McDonagh is a playwright who has made quite a splash in the theatre world. His script is intelligent and twisty and a lot of fun. Colin Farrell plays the straight man who we observe the action through. Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken are incredible. I don't want to give too much away since this is one of those layered movies where you learn how things interconnect as it goes along. Don't get up right away when you see the credits. It's not quite over yet.

Holiday movies

Since I had lots of time off over the holidays, I managed to squeeze in a lot of movies. Aside from The Artist, mentioned on a previous post, I caught the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Martin Scorsese's Hugo and A Dangerous Method. Two thumbs up for the first two, but only so-so for the third.

Dragon Tattoo was a favourite book of mine and I swore that I wouldn't see the American movie, convinced that they would sanitize and dumb it down. Instead, they captured a lot of what made the book so enticing. Rooney Mara was amazing as Lisbeth Salander, Daniel Craig managed to tamp down his James Bond charisma a bit and the higher quality production values (i.e. bigger budget) made for a great looking and sounding movie. One of the main benefits for us English speaking folks for this version over the excellent Swedish version is not having to read subtitles, which creates a certain distance when watching a movie. There is an inevitable delay and distraction between mentally processing the reading while you are watching the visuals that is no longer there when the actors are speaking in your native tongue, especially in such an action packed movie.

I saw Hugo in 3D and I highly recommend you do the same. The visuals are stunning, Martin Scorsese uses 3D not as a trick special effect but as another tool in his artist's palette. While there are a few moments of things coming at you from the screen for amusing effect, many more times, the added dimension simply creates levels of details that draw you into the atmosphere of the story. I am not familiar with the original children's book, but it's a wonderful and heartwarming tale where an unwanted boy helps a lonely old man, and finds a home in the process. There is a lot of movie history told here (and I wondered how interesting that really would be for kids) and some great action sequences in a Paris train station.

A Dangerous Method is a highly intelligent movie but it's origins as a play are not overcome in the translation to the big screen. The movie just seems very static and talky (I know, I know, it's the 'talking cure'). Keira Knightley's depiction of her character's hysteria seems overwrought and old-fashioned. Maybe this is really what hysterical patients acted like, but I found it hard to reconcile it with my modern sensibilities. Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender are wonderful actors and the two of them are entertaining on screen, but movies are a visual medium and this movie didn't take advantage of that quality.

The Artist

I'm playing a little catch up here. I saw this movie just before heading into the Xmas break. This is a black and white silent movie and I was curious about it because it's gotten amazing reviews. I loved it! Without words (there aren't even a lot of intertitle cards) the movie becomes all about visuals and music, making it almost more akin to opera than a typical movie. The facial expressions of the actors are so much more important and this movie has two great acting faces. The basic story is of the "A Star is Born" variety, where a big movie star of the silent era crashes into the dawn of talkies and is unable or unwilling to adapt while a young upstart gets a few lucky breaks and becomes a huge star. The two main stars are French actors unknown to us in the US. In addition to the expressiveness of the actors faces, the movie uses movement in all kinds of ways to tell the story (movement of the actors across the scene, or of the camera around the action).

This is one of those movies that I don't think will work as well in a private home on your own TV. It is critical to see this movie in a theatre where the sound can truly surround you, as well as with an audience where the shared reactions can become part of the 'sound environment' contributing to the movie.

Pina

We had an opportunity to screen this movie by Wim Wenders as a fund raiser for City of Angels ballet. This is a documentary in 3D which includes scenes of Pina's own dances along with her dancers talking about her influence on them as well as performing in various interesting locations (warehouse, factory, field, street median, etc.) throughout the city where they company is based. The 3D was wonderfully done and a great way to capture dance. Pina's own dances can be joyful, angsty, violent, funny. Pina Bausch passed away very suddenly a few years ago, while this movie was being planned. Rather than cancel the movie, Wenders and Pina's dancers decided to continue, to make a movie as a tribute to her. What is most emotionally affecting in the movie is hearing her dancers talk about her, her influence on them, how she made them the dancers they are. They all clearly idolize and adore her and you can feel very strongly in their on-location dances all of the things they feel about her and what her loss means to them. There is an amazing scene where old footage of Pina dancing in Cafe Muller is inserted into the dance with her current dancers. This is a terrific use of 3D technology and a wonderful documentary of a creative genius and the people she inspired.

Pianomania

I didn't know much about this movie when I went to see it, but I definitely recommend it for anyone who is interested in piano playing, concert pianists or grand pianos. It's a German documentary following a Steinway piano technician (i.e., he tunes concert pianos). Several renowned pianists are scheduled to perform in a few halls in Vienna and our hero has to meet with them, help them find the piano that will fit the sound they are looking for, and then tweak it to get each note just right. I don't have a great ear, but I was even able to pick up some of the very slight nuances as the technician and pianist figured out how to get the piano just right. When I was growing up, we had an old upright at home that had to be tuned about once a year and I remember seeing the tuner with his tuning fork and various tools playing notes over and over again. Tuning a concert Steinway is beyond anything I remember from watching our humble old piano being tuned. The snippets of various piano pieces that are played throughout the movie are a wonderful bonus (although it will make you want to hear them in full in a proper hall). I also came away from this movie with a whole new appreciation for the amazing instrument that a grand piano truly is, unlike any other (both in scale and in technicality).

Toronto

I was able to time my visit to Ma and Ba in Toronto to coincide with Julie and D's visit over the Canada Day/Independence Day long weekend. The weather ended up being beautiful throughout my stay. I got in on Thursday and was picked up by D and Julie, as Ma and Ba took Austin and Mari to the Lion Safari for the day. D wanted to check out a new Mel Lastman square area that he'd heard about in North York. When we got there, we discovered it wasn't so much of a square but we were directed to Baton Rouge for dinner by two different groups of passersby.  Despite the name, the restaurant turned out to be a rib place (with very little connection to Louisiana cuisine). The food was pretty good, very substantial with D and I sharing a big plate of ribs.

The next day was Canada Day and we headed down to the Harbourfront where there were a lot of free activities lined up. I was amazed at the number of new condos and apartment buildings in the area. It was a beautiful sunny day and the crowds were out in force, with various musicians, performers, booths and other activities, both commercial and non-commercial. We saw a magician who did a nice routine with some traditional tricks, a competitive jump rope team who did amazing things with a couple of ropes, had ice cream, sipped coconut water from a fresh young coconut and did some crafts with the kids. The jump ropers encouraged audience members to join in and Julie and I gave a go at double dutch and did okay! York Quay Center had a glass blower working in their open craft studio that drew a small crowd. All in all, it was a fun and very inexpensive day.

On Saturday, we all went to ROM in the afternoon to check out the Toga Party and the Water exhibit. The museum had invited some members of a Roman legion re-enactment troupe (similar to Civil War re-enacters) in full Roman military regalia and set up tables for kids to try writing their names in Roman alphabet, do some mosaics and learn Roman numerals. The military gear was mostly hand made by the re-enacters and they all spoke a little Latin! The water exhibit was quite interesting, showing all the ways that water is important, various critters that live near or in water, and how humans have affected our water systems. In the evening, Ma and Ba took the kids home and Julie, D and I went to the Distillery. We were planning to see "The Glass Menagerie" and hoped to grab a bite to eat before. There was a jazz festival on site, so the place was crowded with pockets of great music floating around. We just managed to snag a table at the local brew pub where I had an amazing burger and D and Julie tried some local beers. The play was excellent, well acted, interesting staging and of course you can't top Tennessee Williams' writing. After the show, there was a cabaret evening in the adjoining room. We stopped in briefly to see what that was about. They had a couple of guys on stage chatting in between performances by a Canadian Opera tenor (of Randy Newman songs, of all things), a string/piano trio playing Bach, and a video of a Canadian TV personality ragging on a respected Canadian modern dancer over government funding for the arts. This promised to be an unusual evening but we had to leave as it was getting late. A thunderstorm was brewing on our way out and we were treated to a cool lightening show.

On Sunday, D and Julie and I went to Ontario Place with the kids. Boy, how this place has changed! It's the 40th anniversary of the opening. Now there's a water play area with slides of varying degrees of scariness, a zone filled with squirters and mini-slides and a huge bucket that would fill and dump onto eagerly waiting kids. Another area has mini-rides for smaller kids (as well as games where you can't lose) and a big room where kids can shoot little foam balls at each other! The IMAX was still there, but we didn't even have time to see the movie, there was so much to do! I tried to remember what we used to do at Ontario Place when we went as kids, since most of the activities that Austin and Mari enjoyed didn't exist back in the day! In the evening, I met some Iroquois friends for dinner. Three of them, Julie, Linda and Deb, were also at our last Iroquois reunion a couple of years ago. We added Anne-Marie, Jo Ann and Lisa. Despite the years, we had a great time reminiscing about the past and talking about our current lives. Deb is moving to Kitchener this summer so we don't know if she'll be back for the next time.

Monday looked to be a quieter day. We had lunch at Asian Legend with the Yangs and Huangs. The food was excellent and the adults got to talking making for a long lunch. Since July 4th was also Huang Shu shu and Ma's birthday this year, we ended the meal with a nice cake, a light chocolate sponge with an unusual jello filling. D prepared a barbecue chicken dinner on the complex's grills and we ate at the table in back. The grilled veggies, fruit and chicken were delicious, capping off a nice extra long weekend.

I flew home on Tuesday, enduring a ridiculously long customs line and just making the plane boarding.

Here are some pics that I took during my visit.

As an aside, I saw Unknown (with Liam Neeson) and Unstoppable (with Denzel Washington) on the plane to and from. Both were enjoyable big entertainment movies. Unknown had a plot twist that caught me completely by surprise, and Unstoppable was a terrific chase movie with just a touch of real-life events to make it interesting. I highly recommend both. The third movie I saw was "Win Win" with Paul Giamatti. I found this to be a heartwarming story with some wonderful performances, but it was not so much a comedy as advertised.

Paris, art and movie

I had a Paris weekend in LA!

On Saturday, I went to see the Paris Life & Luxury exhibit at the Getty. We went on Saturday evening, which means the parking is free, and the crowds are smaller. Our picnic lunch came from Bay Cities Deli (order online and avoid the never ending long lines at the counter!) although it was a little chilly to be eating outside. As we were walking to the exhibit building, the sun was setting and the combination of the ominous clouds, the low angle of the sun and the white buildings of the Getty Center was just spectacular. Everyone was lined up at the balcony railings to take it in. The exhibit is a wonderfully coherent way to display a particular way of life at a particular time and place (mid-17th century Paris among the wealthy class). They had paintings, sculpture, furniture and various objects of daily use organized by the routines of the day-bedroom, women's powder room, entertainment room, etc.-which gave meaning to even the smallest object. The level of artistry and craftsmanship is exceptional but what was surprising to me was the interest in science and technology (represented by a microscope and mechanical devices). The curators include sound in some of the rooms with chiming clocks and recorded harpsichord music which adds a lot to the atmosphere.

On Sunday I went to see Woody Allen's new movie, Midnight in Paris, which is on the one hand a love letter to Paris and on the other a cautionary note to avoid living in the past.  Owen Wilson makes for a much more likeable 'nebbishy intellectual' than Woody ever did (at least for me) and the cameos by various luminaries are hilarious. For me, there were so many aspects of visiting Paris that I recognized from my past trips-hanging out on a bridge at night watching the Eiffel Tower light up, walking down random streets with no real aim (although not at midnight), checking out the book seller stalls along the Seine, and totally getting caught up in the cities illustrious past.

Paris is certainly a more beautiful city than Los Angeles could ever pretend to be, but on Saturday night as we were leaving the Getty, we got a view that is essentially LA-a clear night and the lights in the LA basin are sparkling with the ocean just beyond and a crescent moon darting behind the clouds. It's good to appreciate the past, but there's a lot to enjoy about the present, as well.

Holiday movies

There are always a lot of movies getting buzz at this time of year, and going to see movies is one of my favourite Christmas activities.  Today I went to see "The King's Speech" and it was a wonderful movie, very appropriate for the holidays.  Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are amazing as the man who will become King George VI (the current Queen's father) and his speech therapist, Lionel Logue.  I saw Colin Firth interviewed on Charlie Rose and he's quite an eloquent speaker, but the way he depicted the difficulties caused by his character's stammer (stuttering to us in North America) is heart-breaking.  As is typical of a British movie, there is quite a bit of intelligent wit and humour mixed in with the struggles.  As is also typical of a British movie, the secondary roles are filled with top-notch actors (Derek Jacobi, Michael Gambon) as well as old familiar faces (Anthony Andrews, where's he been?) and there is a bit of a Pride and Prejudice reunion, as Jennifer Ehle plays Lionel Logue's wife.  She was Elizabeth Bennet to Colin Firth's Darcy in the 1995 TV mini-series version of the Jane Austen book (the definitive version, as far as I'm concerned).  The eventual triumph of the King is no less suspenseful and joyful for knowing how it will turn out. 

I also saw "Black Swan" a few weeks ago, as part of a benefit for City of Angels Ballet.  I enjoyed this movie, although it's definitely not an uplifting holiday pic.  The movie is creepy and dark and hallucinatory.  The visuals are amazing throughout, from the cinematography to the costumes to the makeup.  Some of the dialogue is a little melodramatic, and the very last few minutes didn't live up to the rest of the movie, especially the climactic final performance.  The dance scenes were filmed so as to give the actors the best chance of looking like real dancers-they were not filmed in full body but showing bits and pieces, arms, heads, etc.  Professional dancers subbed in for the more demanding scenes and the editing of this was superb.  This isn't so much a 'ballet' movie as a movie set in the ballet world.  This is also a movie that you will either love or hate, probably not a lot of in-between.

Update:  On Christmas Day, I went to see True Grit.  What a great movie!  Amazing character in Maddie, the young girl looking to avenge her father.  Great cast, great story, great score, a movie that really takes you away to a different time and place.  

"Never Let Me Go", the movie

My book group read this novel back in 2006 and many of us loved it, plus it generated a great discussion, so I went with a couple of fellow 'book groupies' to see the movie.  Since we'd read the book so long ago, our memories of the story are fuzzy, however the basic and central plot point is one that no one could forget.  I won't reveal any spoilers, although there are plenty of places to read reviews that will tell all.

We all enjoyed the movie.  It's beautifully filmed and captures the slightly unsettled, even creepy feeling of the book, but in such a subtle way that it sneaks up on you.  I'm always fascinated when watching a good movie adaptation of a good book, how the conversion to a visual medium completely changes the emotions of the story for me.  The editing down of the story into a movie felt quite seamless and I really enjoyed the performances by Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly and Andrew Garfield.

Christmas feasting, toys and movies

This past Christmas was spent in Silicon Valley with Neve and Mason and the rest of the Cheng clan. It was a nice relaxing visit, with a LOT of eating. There was the big family feast on Christmas eve where, among lots of other foods, I was introduced to guava cake from Aki bakery in San Jose. Apparently it's famous locally, and I can certainly see why. Neve and Mason must have been VERY good this year because Santa brought them a bunch of cool toys. The GloDoodle was one they kept picking up (as did I!) to draw and erase (the erasing seemed to be part of the fun).

More feasting happened on Christmas day with an informal brunch for whichever family members wanted to stop by. In the evening, we visited the Barty's for a lovely English Christmas dinner. The meal was turkey, roast potatoes, apple pie, christmas pudding and custard from a can (delicious on pie!) and we were all quite stuffed at the end.

The following day Mei and I made a brief stop at Stanford mall, braved traffic and parking, left quickly. That was the extent of the Boxing day shopping. In the evening, Stephen made roast beef and more roast potatoes (can't really get too much of those) along with some delicious trifle from Sarah Barty.

I vowed to have leftovers for the rest of the week! I saw two movies over the holiday, both highly recommended. "Up in the air" was excellent, some great acting by the three leads (George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick). The ending was quite unexpected. "Sherlock Holmes" was very entertaining. Lots of fun banter between Holmes and Watson, they reminded me of House and Wilson, which is ironic and a little circular! Great action, a very Holmesian story (about cults and the supernatural and stuff). They definitely set this up for a sequel.

The year is about to turn and it's hard to believe 2009 has passed.

La Danse

This is a new documentary by Frederick Wiseman. He filmed the Paris Opera Ballet from top to bottom in a fascinating movie that includes a lot of footage of dancers working together and with choreographers, as well as backstage activity such as sewing costumes, dying shoes, keeping bees and arranging fund raising events. The movie doesn't have any descriptive commentary or titling and there is no single person talk-to-the-camera footage either, so you really feel like a fly on the wall watching this amazing organization go through its paces. I was most fascinated by the process that the dancers go through to learn their parts. With the many modern pieces that are shown, the choreographers are there in the studio, tweaking the smallest movements, describing 'motivations', adjusting as they go. In one scene, a couple does something that interests the choreographer who asks them to do it again, however they didn't notice what they were doing so have trouble recreating something that just happened. As I watched this process, I realized that these dancers are taking their exceptional bodies and creating a vocabulary, expressing emotions, ideas, in a way that most of us normal people could never do. We are like toddlers just learning to speak compared with the beauty they can express with the smallest, precise moments.

There is a lot of humour sprinkled throughout this movie. In one sequence, we hear a running commentary as the troupe runs through a rehearsal on stage. When one dancer comes out in her tutu but with leg warmers pulled up over her thighs, someone watching asks why she's wearing thermal underwear.

This movie does more than other ballet movies that I've seen to reveal the collaborative work that dance really is. Sure there are superstars and their individual talents attract audiences, but dance is created by a lot of people, from the stars to the corps members to the people working on costumes and lighting and keeping the facility clean, to the administrators who keep everything humming.

Wiseman includes a lot of footage of Paris street scenes, the vaults and tunnels under the Opera Garnier and empty hallways, which sometimes felt like taking time away from the dancers, however the overall feeling from this movie is of the amazing, difficult, beautiful work of creating dance.

"Where the Wild Things Are"

I went to a screening of this and I loved it. The movie is directed by Spike Jonze, who made 2 of my favourite movies ("Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation"). I love his skewed but creative take on things and he brings a similar sensibility to the classic children's book. A bit of 'backstory' has been added to flesh out the original. The boy who plays Max is remarkable. The 'Wild Things' world is gorgeous and everything about it, the monsters, the landscape is a reflection of Max's real life but filtered through his imagination. You see echoes of Max's anxieties and emotions in the events that happen to him while he's there. And when he finally comes home, the beauty and quiet of the scene between the boy and Catherine Keener playing the mother is amazing.

Up!

This is an amazing movie. It may be the best of the year, and would probably be in my all time favourite list. I saw it in 3D, but it's a fairly subtle 3D. Rather than have stuff thrown at you, it just gives you a sense of dimension and place. Pixar movies are always well crafted stories, but this one has such a pure sense of emotion running through it that makes this a classic. There are moments of menace and fear in the story, as well as great humour. And the dogs!

Sunshine Cleaning

This is a great little movie! The plot is about 2 sisters who get into business cleaning up crime scenes. I'm a 'procedural' junkie (CSI, L&O, etc) so I find the whole idea of this line of work gross yet fascinating. There are a few gruesome images in the movie but no dead bodies (they've all been removed by the time the sisters do their work). The heart of the movie is less the crime scenes than it is the family to which the sisters belong, which includes their father and the son of one of the women, as well as their mother who is no longer with them. This is a family that's down and out but trying in their own ways to make a life and the way that they manage that makes this a rewarding movie.

Slumdog Millionaire

This is a great movie! It's set in India and tells the story of a boy from the slums who goes on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". When he reaches the highest levels of the game, he's arrested because the authorities believe he's cheating. He ends up telling them his life story by way of explaining how he knows the answers to the questions. The movie combines a very old fashioned type of story with some very modern cinematography and great Indian pop music to make a story that can't help but suck you in and make you cheer. It reminded me of how it felt watching "Strictly Ballroom". The sound track is amazing as well.