Western Watchers

On the Film 'Propostion':

Used to watch westerns back in the day, that somebody can learn from Peckinpah and Ford and generate new interest in otherwise ordinary stories is good. I may be past the interest stage of seeing gun toting vengeful actors searching for a good gunfight but am always there when it comes to decent plot. Adding the Australian outback adds some mystique too and helps me to further recover from ever wanting to be be remided of moral sub-texts behind gunslingers for hire shooting indians. Morality was expedient back then but there is nothing wrong with presenting issues where survival is paramount and morality is just a notion.

Recently saw Match Point which although different in some ways to the Woody Allen genre is much the same in how he his actors intermingle and the social banter that oozes out of their mouths. It seems he is a prisoner of his own psychological fears of having to deal with a dominant mother who always has to see her kids married. That has been a subplot in Woody's films for decades.
There is a bit of novel symbolism but nothing original, the tossing of the ring over the canal fence much reminds me of the falling ring in Sixth Sense. Somehow it connects the real world with an ethereal one and it is a parallel to the ball that doesn't make it over the net. They demonstrate the failure of the young man to come to grips with his relentless passion but also to rid himself of any guilt. He is metaphorically throwing the prospects of a peaceful marriage away.

Aida re-done

Verdi's Aida is a slice of history in itself. Italy put it on at the Caricalla in the mid-80's and the costumes, marching theme and backdrop was stupendous to observe. The arched remanants of the old salt stores served as entrances and exits. The light reflecting off the old brick added to the majestic atmosphere of the music but one has to draw a line between the pagentry of the opera and the opera piece itself. That is to say a good opera isn't necessarily something that has to have dozens of participants, victory marches and gold tinted gowns. That Leger is pumping new blood into the piece is also of no surprise when one is aware of its popularity and wants to draw additional public.

Opening People's Minds

Re: 'Mohawk Girls' Documentary

Recently I had the pleasure of partaking in a short film where native students were taken advantage of by clergy teachers. Native children in other films are seen as glue sniffers and their parents as permanent alcoholics. I learned that a number of films had already been made showing the downside of native societies in Quebec, not necessarily on the south shore. So much attention has been down on their going to drugs, never being able to make in the big world that most of us have developed misconceptions about natives being unable to compete with their white colleagues. Isn't it time to pull the plug on this perennial negativity?
Now advertising Mohawk plight is the first step, then concerned citizens should make an effort and bridge the ties between the reserve and the city. It's time to permanently remove the associaition we have of Kahanwake as just a place to pick up cheap smokes and where teenage girls do nothing more than get pregnant. More opportunities should be made available to Mohawk children so that the bubble isolating form the city in their view is removed.

White Planet

Movies like this do build awareness but sadly to say no one here has the courage to spell out the reality of documentaries on the Arctic North. Political interest on the vanishing wildness type pictures has never been a popular subject especially when legislators are busy just classifying what nature there is to exploit. If it's oil, it means that a pipeline from the McKenzie delta is more important than indigenous indians living at the river delta and much more important than which way caribou migrate. If ice is melting faster than it is reformed, no amount of cinema celluloid is going to keep penguin numbers from dwindling.
In recent years more attention has gone more on preventing polar bears from reaching inhabited areas in the north than preserving the white bear's population. Seal pups on ice floes grab more attention for their fur and for their survival But I can still pretend that nothing is happening that far north, can't I? And who really cares about the two or three degrees warming over James Bay and the consequent premature vanishing snow cover on the way to Ungava. The mine industry might refer to the melt as an excuse to better road development in the region and so it goes, exploitation versus survival played out year after year as arctic species disappear.
But the images are lovely, some people may think twice about about depleting the wildlife there. We can all pretend that all is well, so far away from city life, that films on the morth are going to solve the artic dilemma by itself.

Hoodwinked

Fine the way of animation studio is to go towards something more 'organic'. Why not just say that the creators want something that is close enough to being human without the hassle of dealing with costumes and actors memorizing their lines?The film is probably a great way to reintroduce a tale that sublimally informs youngsters of the darker side of human nature. The big bad wolf will get his due no matter what the art form...hmmm.
Now I have an issue about always seeing famous names for the people doing voices for animated cartoons. It doesn't have to be that way as there are other creative talents with voices yearning to speak out. I know this because of years of voice work myself at lesser known sound studios. Don't know whether to point my finger at the studio for taking advantage of an actor's celebrated status to bring in a box office cache, controlling American distributors or both.