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I’ve had a burst of creative energy lately and created several new peace mandalas. This one I was quite please with. It was created from a picture of living coral and I titled it life because it appears almost alive. If you look closely, there is a resemblance of five angels with wings spread surrounding the center.
I had a chance to hear a drum team play for a local venue last year and the vibrations from the beat of the drums thundered so powerfully throughout the room that you could literally could feel the vibrations penetrate your body. It was intense and electrifying to the point you had to remind yourself to breathe. Having experienced such a performance was one of the things that drew me to this movie. “The Drummer” is about a young man named Sid from Hong Kong who plays the drums for a rock band in the evenings. His father, a local gang leader with a mean streak, tries to get Sid out of trouble after Sid is caught sleeping with the rival gang leaders mistress. His father sends him away to hide out in the outskirts of Taiwan which is where he stumbles upon some Zen Buddhist drummers practicing for a performance. It is here that he finds his peace and his purpose. The movie did have its imperfections, and there were a few violent scenes, however, the drum scenes which included drummers from Taiwan’s U-Theatre, made up for any imperfections as there energy was above and beyond shear exhilaration.
Title: The Drummer Director: Kenneth Bi Writer: Kenneth Bi Starring: Jaycee Chan Genre: Independent Film/Drama/Film Movement Language: Mandarin / Cantonese Released: 2007
This man has talent. Who would have ever thought that cutting up cardboard boxes would create such artistic visions of green beauty. Check out Mark Langan’s site for more of his amazing projects. He has also done some pretty complex corporate logos that are incredible.
It is about a little boy named Carlos played by Adrian Alonso who lives with his grandmother in Mexico while his mother works in the United States trying to earn enough money to bring him to the States to live with her. In a nutshell, the grandmother dies and the movie is about how Carlos risks his life crossing the border and then how he tries to find his way back to his mother. A warm and feel good type of movie that encourages us to examine and appreciate the small gifts in our own life which we may already have but take for granted. For example living with the ones you love most. Personally I don’t understand the anger in the politics of immigration control and think instead of looking at the situation from the outside in, one should stop and watch a movie like this to see it from the inside out. What a whole new perspective you get when the shoe is on the other foot. Adrian Alonso gave a solid performance for one so young and carried his part well. A great family movie and well worth the watch.
Title: La misa luna / Under the Same Moon Director: Patricia Riggen Writer: Ligiah Villalobos Starring: Adrian Alonso and Kate del Castillo Genre: Drama Language: Spanish Released: 2007
So many people suffer from almost disabilitating disorders, where if addressed and diagnosed, they could live normal and healthy lives without fear. But instead of facing the subject head on, we tend to avoid it, or quietly tip toe around it, or we pretend we don’t see it, even when it stands there looking at us straight in the eye. Phoebe draws us into her world where we begin to realize how helpless it feels to not have control of thoughts and actions and how hard it is to relate and fit into her surrounding world when no one understands what she doesn’t understand herself. Ella Fanning was brilliant and the movie was quite enchanting. Title: Phoebe in Wonderland Director: Daniel Barnz Writer: Daniel Barnz Starring: Elle Fanning Genre: Independent, Drama Language: English Released: 2008
They ended up loving this film so much that we had to watch it twice. It was very entertaining, especially in the beginning. Danny played by Rhys Ifans, is just your regular old bloke who is kind of in a rut with his job, his life, and his relationship with his girlfriend. He decides that he just needs to get away from it all and take a vacation. So what does he do, he ties a bunch of helium filled balloons to a lawn chair and off he goes. He ends up on the vacation of his life and discovers a whole new identity. The movie was fun, it moved quickly and I recommend it for the entire family. It will make you want to do something really crazy like tie a bunch of balloons to your chair and take off for the ride of your life.
Title: Danny Deckchair Writer: Jeff Balsmeyer and Lizzie Bryant Released: 2003
It moved a little slowly at first, and then it took off in a totally different direction that I hadn’t expected, and in the end I was left in shear awe. This was simply a beautiful and heartfelt presentation of one mans journey to finding and losing and finding again the love of his life and I was moved to tears several times. I love movies that take you to far away places and this one actually drew you into and allowed you to experience the culture and the emotions that are embedded within. A perfect movie for a rainy day or quiet evening where you are relaxed enough to really experience the emotions in this tender yet profound journey . Caution: There is a one very sexually explicit scene involving the main character and some strippers that you may want to forward through. Personally I didn’t see the point in adding this scene as it didn’t add any value to the overall movie.
Title: Kirschbluten-Hanami (Cherry Blossoms) Director: Doris Dorrie Writer: Doris Dorrie Starring: Elmar Wepper, Hannelore Elsner and Aya Irizuki Genre: Foreign, Drama Language: German, English and Japanese Released: 2008
Keld was dumbfounded at his wife’s departure and at first he tried to win her back, only to find that she had fallen in love with another man. It was quite comical to see how Keld had come to terms with being all alone after having had a companion for so many years. He couldn’t even cook for himself, so he opted to eat at the same local Chinese restaurant every night, each night ordering the next item on the menu starting with number one. As the film progressed, Keld became more and more a part of the family that owned the restaurant to the point that he fell in love with the owners sister. It was moving to see this man grow as a person and slowly find his passion. There was not a lot of action in this movie, however, it was a beautiful display of the human spirit finding its way home and I highly recommend it for an evening of peaceful reflection.
Title: Kinamand (Chinaman) Director: Henrik Ruben Genz Writer: Kim Fupz Aakeson Starring: Bjarne Henriksen and Vivian Wu Genre: Foreign, Drama Language: Danish Released: 2005
The movie takes place in southern India where Vanaja was being raised by her poor lower caste father who was both a fisherman and an alcoholic. To better herself she went to work for the local land-lady who was herself at onetime a famous Kuchipudi dancer, and Vanaja convinced her to teach her to dance. The director Rajnesh Domalpalli who was also the writer, created the script and the film as part of his thesis at Columbia University. Amazingly he did it on a budget of only about $20,000. Non of the actors had ever acted in a movie before, and Mamatha had neither acted or danced when she was first cast for the part of Vanaja. She spent a year both learning her part and learning how to dance. In this year, she would have actually lived part of her script, which probably helped her so perfectly portray her character. She is truly a natural actress, with expressions so believable that even some of Hollywood’s finest don’t seem to compare. I highly recommend this film for its sheer beauty, especially if you appreciate the art of dance.
Title: Vanaja Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli Writer: Rajnesh Domalpalli Starring: Mamatha Bhukya Genre: Foreign, Drama Language: Telugu Released: 2006 |
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