Vaginal Realm

I watched only one film at the recently concluded 11th French Film Festival -- Les Enfants Du Paradis (The Children of Paradise) -- at the Shang Cineplex last June 18. Directed by Marcel Carné and written by Jacques Prévert, the movie stars Arletty in her career-defining role, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Marcel Herrand, and Louis Salou.

The set and music is so rich and ambitious for a project filmed during the German occupation of France in World War II. The set's designer, Alexandre Trauner, and the Music Director Joseph Kosma, had to work in utmost secrecy during the project as they are both Jews. A real-life theater and a quarter-mile boulevard had to be constructed, and almost 1,800 extras were hired, most of which were also members of the Resistance during the war and uses acting as daycover. The film runs for a little over 3 hours, a violation of the German sanction that all films should only run for an hour an a half, thus it was cut into two installments --

Paradise in the title refers to the highest, farthest, and thus cheapest seats in the theater, the only seats the poor and working-class can afford. Set in the 1840s theater district in Paris ("Boulevard du Crime"), the story revolves a beautiful and free-spirited woman, Garance, with whom four men have fallen in love with. First is Baptiste, who aspires to be the best theater mime actor of his time (coincidentally played by Jean-Louis Barrault, who is the best mime actor of his time). He was lovestruck by Garance when she threw a flower his way when he defended her honor against a theft charge through his witty mime acting. The second time they met was at the Funambule, the mime theater where Baptiste works. Second is Frederic Lemaitre, a rather flamboyant and obnoxious actor with humble beginnings in the Funambule and shifted to spoken word theater because silence is torture to him. He was able to bed Garance when she invited him to her bed, but lost her when he tried to possess her indefinitely. Third is Lacenaire, a man criminal disguising as a gentleman and a scribe. His frustration as a playwright made him create a real-life drama by his own hands, while on the process committing crime to get him by. And the fourth is Count Edouard de Montray, an upper-class gentleman who showers Garance with all worldly possessions to grant him exclusive patronage of her. All men but Baptiste failed to capture Garance's heart, but ironically the two did not end up together for Garance's sense of love is so simple and destructive at the same time, she cannot seem to commit herself to one man once he tries to possess her.

The story is a contrast of sorts. From the "paradise" section of the theater to the exclusive box seats, the peasant Baptiste to the extravagant Count Edouard, and the beauty of love blossoming and love departing, the movie is a good rendition of love and life in fiction and in reality. The movie is dubbed as "the greatest French film ever made", and I'm not surprised.

And yeah, I actually think that Jean-Louis Barrault is gay.

Read an in-depth synopsis of the movie here.

Labels: movie reviews

Babala: Para sa mga Mature Readers Ever!

I was able to watch a re-staging of Zsazsa Zaturnnah: Ze Musikal at the PETA Theater last April 22 with Penha. And boy, wasn't that the most worthy of my P1,400 or what?! The show was fabulous! I was laughing my ass out the whole time, and there was no dull moment during the entire 3-hour run of the show.

The play is based on Carlo Vergara's graphic novel of the same title. Superfluous with flamboyance oozing with homosexual innuendos, the play was sure to strum on your funny bone what with their witty exchange of antics that were bursting with gayness and humor. Of course, what better way to deliver the lines that were written by a gay writer than a gay cast? No, not just fairies, but also by what are now called babaeng bakla.

Eula Valdez's performance came as a suprise for me. I am not a fan of Kampanerang Kuba nor have I watched one full episode of it, so I was not aware that Eula can actually sing. What's more, her acting prowess was astounding given the fact that she has not done theater before and may have been used to many takes of her scenes in TV and movies. Plus, she has a kick-ass body for a 35 (36?) year-old woman that she pulled Zaturnnah's Japayuki-inspired t-back costume damn well. Life is indeed not fair huhuhu...

Zaturnnah's villains were drop-dead hilarious. From the giant frog (for which the townsfolk used action figures to represent themselves so'd the frog would appear gigantic) to the walking zombies (who eventually appeared to be gay as they were undressing Dodong instead of eating him alive) to Femina and the Amazonistas, it was all so apt for the stage adaptation. Too bad Agot Isidro did not play the role of Femina as she did for the CCP staging, but what the heck. I had a grand time watching their asses whooped by Zsazsa at nobody can change that. Heehee.

Aling Britney was first portrayed very well as a walking zombie more frightening that the living dead, only to be transformed by Ada at the latter part of the show. Dodong defied all expectations from his godly physique by surprising the audience by his singing talent. And Didi...ah Didi. The gem of the show. I can't imagine the flow of the show if they hadn't cast Joey Paras for the role. He supposed to had only filled in for Ricci Chan, and I was glad that he did. Hahaha, I still laugh like a buffoon whenever I recall whatever line of Didi. Most memorable line: "Hoy pogi!" (while making a gesture of offering a blow job. Didi is in a hospital gown with a dextrose in one hand and a dextrose hanger in tow. And of course, a roller in the bangs)

All in all, Penha and I enjoyed the show immensely that we forgot all about the squabble we had the night before. Ahehe, nothing but a good laugh to chase your blues away. :)

Labels: movie reviews

"It was not the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."

Got to watch King Kong with my college bosom friend Amie last night. And all I can say is the movie kicks ass! 'Twas the movie I've seen in a long time that actually made me scream in excitement, drop my jaws in awe, and thank God for directors and producers who don't compromise the quality of the story board for special effects. The background was awesome, though there were some scenes where the effects fell short, coz it was OBVIOUS that the background was just simulated, like the moment between the sergeant and the noob, and the descend downhill from King Kong through a medieval bat with fangs of a sabertooth tiger.

Having said that, it was pretty funny that all animals (from dinosaurs to bats to centipedes) in Skull Island have fangs the size of a kris. I know ancient animals were equipped with tools of gigantic proportions, but all of them?! even bats? and roaches are the size of king lobsters. Even creatures that I thought were invented for Final Fantasy were present. Teehee, maybe such creatures existed once upon a time after all.

The Empire State Building scene was phenomenal. It captured the essence of the original Kong movie, and Naomi Watts gave an astounding performance as Anne. Though i never really liked Naomi, her beauty and grace in this movie was a classic. And maybe because she didn't actually have dialogues in the movie. :D

Amie and I were already hungry at the start of the movie, so after 3 hours of grumbling stomachs, we rushed to the Megastrip to gobble at Cafe Metro. I was intrigued by this resto, however this died down as we looked on the menu and discovered that it was actually Recipes with a different name. Same menu, same tastes, and same hefty proportions of rice. The food was so-so. I'm not fond of recipes anyway. Oh well, at least now i know.

Then a quick visit to starbux, and by 12:30 we decided to call it a day. It was her birthday last saturday and I forgot to greet her. Stupid me. I went online for about an hour at the nearby internet cafe and by 2am i headed home. Talked to trash for about 30 minutes, then went to bed. Yep, that's how one of the Wednesdays of my life is spent. :)

Labels: movie reviews