2008-01-21

The Darjeeling Limited [濫看]

Nothing is to be expected before actually seeing The Darjeeling Limited. When a splash of colors came to the eyes, one couldn’t help but exclaim to the beauty that Marc Jacob and Eric Anderson have to offer.

Never had a Marc Jacob suitcase or bag looked that wonderful - the fun jungle pattern illustrations of Eric Anderson (brother of the director Wes Anderson) complemented with the startling orange is simply an art. Wes Anderson is no doubt a top visual artist – for he is such an smart ass to have Natalie Portman’s perfect nude butts placed side by side the cute suitcase we adore.


[heard these LV suitcases are set for autions. Never in my life did I want any LV products, these are prolly the first (mebbe the last too?!)]

[Adrien Brody's (on the left) baby blue shirt and baby pink boxers are just perfect...]

[Now his shades and the red necklace are just as cool, ok I admit, he's my fashion icon.]

Enough visual impacts… (only they are so overwhelming that we started to wonder if India really is that beautiful beyond the lens). Yet if you still remember Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums” (produced 2001), it would hardly be surprising to have all these; plus, of course, the weird / awkward characters in his movie.

Wes had continued to construct individual stories for different characters; only minimal background information is given, leaving the audience open to wide speculations. Adopting the Shaw Brothers way of filming (or is that Bollywood in fact?), the often sudden zoom-in or zoom-out camera movement had encrusted a low-fi touch to the Bollywood-imitation.

In Wes’ films you are forever dumbfounded - on one hand you feel like things displayed in front of you are all-so-awkward and seriously mismatched; on the other though the conflicting elements are just so edgy that almost are compelling. It doesn’t matter if you agree to the story or not, it is always the funkiness and eccentricity that attract.


[Wes Anderson himself]


Background Music: Within You Without You - Sonic Youth

2008-01-16

香港潮語學習字卡 [潮童]

蘇生,八十後文藝青年,集感性與搞事於一身;早年曾戲謔天生就是東 Touch 記者材料,結果殊途同歸 —— 齊齊去教書。當集體回憶跟保育變成潮流與消費的一種,他大哥攤攤手,搞囉! 再回來,笑嘿嘿已弄來一套 “香港潮語學習字卡”。

文字不掙錢,當藝術家或潮人談何容易。蘇生笑 “賣文具先有得發!”。忽然想到友人說的先出名、狂賺錢,進而把創作權收歸己有。That is, creative mind we are.

回說字卡本身。粵語拼音跟注釋都做得很仔細 (外藉同事吃吃笑學識叫人 “收皮”),幽默處埋在應用例句上。例如 “賣飛佛” 的 “我都唔唱 K o既,跳舞先係賣飛佛”;熟口熟面的 “暗寸” 跟揶揄看得津津有味。大哥說自己最愛 “屈機” 的那張,我問,喜歡飛機的你為何不加 “飛機王”?

首批於推出後已迅速售罄,增補強化版快將面世,詳情後續。


Background Music: Ocean of Noise – Arcade Fire
Pix: 我懶,在蘇生的網站偷的。

2008-01-10

Blueberry Nights - Still the same old hat [濫看]

不是說所有人的故事都在 2046 裡劃上句號了嗎? 怎麼我只看到重慶森林換了人,像午夜凶鈴變成七夜寃鈴 (The Ring) 而已?!

同一樣的橫搖、同一樣的慢鏡粗粒子、同一樣的高跟鞋與女人的小腿… 玻璃上的寫的不過換了英文、蹲在快餐店裡的梁朝偉換成祖迪羅、張國榮還魂變成 David StrathairnRachel Weisz 也不過是林青霞的影子。

老外都愛王家衛,拜倒其下的總說老香港真美;只有小時候課外活動老是參觀歷史博物館的我們會啐道,造作。少不免對某些情景某些事物執迷是人之常情,作者不易當,藝術家更不易為。常是,成名了風格建立了,怎樣從自己的成功開步走繼續向前才是困難。

高達一直思考愛,他的電影每每像一篇篇論文自不同角度切入分釋。山田洋次想武士道多年,每次拍出來的東西又總和而不同,層次細緻。塔可夫斯基說,電影該朝著掙脫箇有成規的方向發展,呈現人生裡最真實的一面。李安試了又試,終於在色 · 戒裡重新又活過來了。只有王先生,依然故我沉溺在自己的世界裡。

當然,凡事憑感覺的話藍莓夜仍是迷人不已,精心打造的對白依舊發人深省;可是,觀眾的期待就真的謹謹如此嗎? 大家說 Sofia Coppla 不該當導演,勸她乾脆拍 MV 好了;倒看我們的王大導除了愛美就只有執迷,來來去去三幅屁,不其實也同一回事?


Background Music: In the Backseat – Arcade Fire