A Monkey Movie Report

Sometimes a film comes along that reaffirms your love of movies. For me, this film is one of those films: I usually find films about a city to be self indulgent pieces of crap to be avoided at all costs. I could care less how much Woody Allen wants to fuck NYC or how Paris makes pasty British film directors jizz in their jeans. But when I saw that Michel Gondry was attached to this film I knew I had to at least give this movie a fair shake.

I was not disappointed.

Gondry's portion is in my opinion the high point of the movie but the other directors portions are definitely worth seeing. The film opens with Gondry's tale of a young woman who feels like she's in the way and on her way to becoming part of the scenery. So she does what any other woman in her position would do, she turns herself into a chair when other humans are around and she ends up in the apartment of a young male who takes good care of her. It's a trippy tale that's very entertaining.

I wasn't familiar with the work of Leos Carax and after seeing his story about a feral almost subhuman man who lives in the Tokyo sewer system and who comes out only to terrorize Japanese people because he hates them because in his mind they are too clean and too ugly I may have to search out other films he's directed. This one is a strange tale with an odd ending.

And finally Bong's improbable tale of two hardcore agoraphobics is a sweetly touching and fitting end to this movie about odd people in Tokyo.

I recommend this film highly.

More reviews you can choose to use

The Proposition is an Australian western. It's a gritty, violent, at times absorbing film.

The movie centers around Guy Pearce, who plays the middle brother in a family of outlaws, and the man who is tasked with bringing him and his brother to justice, Ray Winstone, as the local police captain. Winstone captures Pearce and his younger brother in a shoot out and he makes him a deal, go kill your older brother (Danny Huston) and I'll pardon you and your younger brother. Off Pearce goes and once he finds his older brother things go down hill for all concerned pretty quickly.

This film, written and scored by Nick Cave, is a realistic gritty dirty western. It's the kind of western that Hollywood made for about 5 minutes back in the mid '70's but had to stop because they hated filming people with so much dirt and grime on them. It's the kind of western that I really like, it's full of action and interesting characters who aren't scrubbed clean when they should be filthy and hairy.

Standout performances littler this movie like diapers and beer cans litter yards in trailer parks. Winstone and Pearce are especially good. I recommend this one but be warned, there's violence and some of it is of a sexual nature.

This CD is a kick ass blend of dance music and rock 'n' roll. The sound of this band leans heavily on drum machines and other electronic devices but when coupled with their often cheeky lyrics and the cool sounding voices of the singers, it all works. I really dig it. I love the art they used in it as well.

And finally I just finished this book:
It's a great read and a very distinctive take on modern China by a westerner who has lived in China off and on for many years.
Ms. Dewoskin found herself not only working for an American PR company in Beijing for a boss who refused to speak or learn Chinese language and customs, she managed to end up starring on a Chinese night time soap opera. Her tale of how she managed to juggle those two jobs, her Chinese friends, the Chinese language (both written and spoken), other expats, and daily life in China bowled me over. I'm impressed by any westerner who lives and thrives in China, a country so radically different than our own, and the fact that did so while she was a young single attractive woman on her own was amazing to me as well. I applaud her courage and the way she stuck to her principles while living and working in Beijing.

I highly recommend this travel essay book. And I hope Ms. Dewoskin writes more about her other adventures in China soon.