If any of you have watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you would most definitely remember that quirky song Knights of Camelot, where King Arthur (Graham Chapman), after considering the nonsense that goes on in the castle Camelot, decides that taking his knights to Camelot was a bad idea, henceforth leading them to the opportunity to embark on a quest for the Holy Grail.

If you don't remember or haven't watched it, here's how that song went in the movie...



Hey, it's after all Monty Python!

Anyhow, someone posted a video on Youtube that blended this song very nicely with scenes from Star Trek indeed! Very good effort, I must say, almost like those promotional videos that TV stations make to promote upcoming shows or something...



Brilliant!

Robert Ebert, renowned American film critic, made such a comment in his review of The Fall...

"You might want to see for no other reason than because it exists. There will never be another like it."

In fact, I believe that what I wrote in my Facebook status on 15th November 2008 pretty much sums up my viewing experience of The Fall...

"... is totally mesmerized by 'The Fall'! Brilliant cast, magnificant cinematography, breathtaking scenaries, beautiful story. What more could u ask?"

Indeed. With a movie like this, what more could you ask for?



Directed by:

Tarsem Singh

Written by:

Dan Gilroy
Nico Soultanakis
Tarsem Singh

Cast:

Catinca Untaru -------- Alexandria / The Black Bandit's daughter
Lee Pace -------------- Roy / The Black Bandit
Justine Waddell ------- Nurse Evelyn / Sister Evelyn
Robin Smith ---------- One-legged actor / Luigi, explosives expert
Jeetu Verma ---------- Orange picker / The Indian
Leo Bill ---------------- Orderly / Charles Darwin
Marcus Wesley -------- Ice delivery man / Otta Benga
Julian Bleach ---------- Orange picker / Mystic
Daniel Caltagirone ----- Sinclair, the actor / The evil Governor Odious


The skinny: (shortened from the synopsis on Wiki, which contains major spoilers!)

Roy Walker (Lee Pace), an early 20th century Hollywood stuntman, lands in the hospital after performing a dangerous stunt to impress his girlfriend. Distraught and suicidal after losing her, the bedridden Roy befriends a fellow patient, a young girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru). He enchants her with vivid, fantastical tales about six heroes, all of whom are dedicated to fighting a common enemy, the "evil Governor Odious."Although Roy has genuine affection for Alexandria, he also has an ulterior motive: by telling tales and gaining her trust, he tricks her into stealing morphine from the hospital pharmacy so he can commit suicide. As the line between fact and fantasy blurs, real-life people begin to populate Roy's fictitious stories, and the stakes are raised as Roy's intent of suicide escalates while Alexandria becomes completely mesmerized by the ever-changing epic.

A little background...

The Fall has been described as director/screenwriter Tarsem Singh's vanity project, and the truth is not far from it. As I gathered from various interviews and commentaries, The Fall was actually conceived a long long time ago, but was only materialized when Tarsem, known mainly for his commericals for Pepsi, had the means to finance the project out of his own pocket. Word has it that he had approached several big film studios to produce the movie, but was either turned down, or was forced to turn it into a movie for kids (as what Lee Pace commented upon hearing this, "what would they have done to the suicide thing then?")

So, about 10 years ago, Tarsem began location-scouting for The Fall in the hope that one day he would be able to make his movie. When the time came, what resulted was an awesome movie which features landscapes, architecture, scenery etc. from no less than 24 locations, with the bulk of the action situated in South Africa, and various wonderous locations in exotic India. Other countries where they cast and crew filmed in included Ladakh, Cambodia, Spain, China, Indonesia, France and many many more.

Can you recognize all these locations below? Hint... nothing is being digitally altered in the pictures and all these locations are authentic (of course, these are just a fraction of all the locations they went to):







Given any mordern-day director, such fantastic backdrops would likely only be achieved through the use of computer graphics, blue screens and the creativity of a set designer. However, for Tarsem, this was not the case. In fact, it was hard to believe that Tarsem indeed did not use any CGI until I watched the featurette that came with DVD, where you saw for your own eyes how each location transformed into this breathtaking look through Tarsem's clever use of angles. For example, the Escher-looking locations such as the 'Labyrinth of Dispair' was in fact an ancient Indian observatory.

But more than that, just watching Tarsem and his cast and crew being there and then in all these locations, I couldn't help but marvel to myself, "such amazing places actually exist on earth!"

Such is the power of the camera, but only when manipulated by one who has the eye for such beauty. Tarsem is one of them.

The look

The reality sequences were suitably dull, creating just the right environment in which a 6 year-old girl and a bedridden man would conjure up a story about bandits and love and revenge. However, when it comes to the fantasy sequence, the look is whimsical yet still believeable. The entire fantasy was portrayed through the mind of Alexandria, who interpreted Roy's ideas in her own fashion, for example, taking the "Indian" to refer to one who had come from India, even though Roy had really meant "Red Indian". The actors in the fantasy also played their scenes to look like a tableux, as if these images had popped right out of a picture book. A real feast on the eyes indeed.

The script

The story, apparently is not original, but is actually based loosely on an old Bulgarian movie Yo Ho Ho from the early 80s. Nevertheless, even Tarsem himself has repeatedly mentioned that he had gained the inspiration of The Fall from this movie. However, many who have watched Yo Ho Ho found The Fall to be only similar in theme, virtually unrecognizable from the original movie.

Whether the theme is similar or not, I find the who premise of The Fall brilliant. The whole concept of shared imagination works very well in this story where the fantasy sequence is not merely an entertainment piece. It is a medium in which Roy's innermost angst and bitterness is manifested, to which the innocent but very intuitive Alexandria picks up on subconsciously, proceeding to increase her investment in the fantasy to prevent the tragedy which he had set himself up for. Realizing that the stakes are high and very real in the events that unfold in the fantasy, audiences respond emotionally not only towards the characters of Roy and Alexandria, but also to the Black Bandit (Roy), his daughter (Alexandria), and all the other heroes in the fantasy.

Tarsem made it clear from early on that the crew should rely completely on the cast in deciding how the script would be written, mainly because "a five year old is not going to buy into what you write". A very clever decision on Tarsem's part, which was evident especially in the hospital scenes where Roy and Alexandria would engage in spontaneous conversations. In these scenes, Tarsem basically would have actors Lee Pace and Catinca Untaru sitting on the bed with the curtains covered, whereas unbeknownst to little Catinca, there were in fact holes in the curtains so that the camera could capture every genuine action that the 6-year-old would conjure as she bonded with Lee. This created some of the best elements of the story, for example, when Catinca genuinely mistook the spelling of "morphine" as "m-o-r-p-h-i-n-3". Tarsem immediately took opportunity of the situation by changing the script to Alexandria stealing a full bottle of Morphine, but throwing the rest away and leaving only 3 tablets for Roy because he "only asked for 3".



Watching Catinca in this movie is very different from watching other child actors in bigger-budgetted movies where their dialogue make them sound really mature for their ages. However, by giving little Catinca the freedom to deliver her lines the way she needs to, Tarsem has created a character who speaks and acts is just like any other child. It's hard not to be charmed by little Catinca indeed. Through such an approach in filming, one could also really feel a deep sense of affection that both Roy and Alexandria had for each other. In fact, as co-writer Nico Soultanakis aptly puts it, this movie is essentially a love story between a child and an adult.

The cast

Catinca Untaru, the 6 year-old Romanian actress selected to play the role of Alexandria, was simply charming. As mentioned, Tarsem basically allowed Catinca to deliver the lines as she felt most comfortable with, i.e. in exactly the same kind of broken English that a non-native child would utter. Also, the way Tarsem filmed the scenes between Lee and Catinca also meant that all the nose-picking, the fidgetting, the gnawing on the cast all looked as real as they get. All these, combined with Catinca's adorable looks (chubby, rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes...) and innocence, all made the character Alexandria very real, very natural and very likeable indeed.

I also adored the chemistry between Catinca and Lee. While halfway into the movie Roy had begun to use Alexandria to obtain morphine to kill himself, you almost don't blame him as you could easily sense that the affection between them was mutual and genuine, and that Roy was indeed a broken man struggling to come to terms with all that has happened to him. The onscreen chemistry was reflected in real life as well, apparently, when about a week into the shooting Catinca got so attached to Lee that she would draw pictures for him and fetch him desserts during meals.



Tarsem has said repeatedly in numerous interviews that Lee Pace was his first and only choice to play the role of Roy, a decision which he made after watching Soldier's Girl. Lee certainly rose to the occasion. From the depressed and spiritually weakened Roy to the tableux-y and heroic Black Bandit, it looks like no character can be too difficult for the talented Lee to tackle.

In fact, for the role of Roy, Lee not only had to play his own character well, he had to, in his own capacity as an actor, accomodate little Catinca in the scenes he shared with her. From the commentaries and featurettes, such examples included shifting his head when he saw that the inexperienced Catinca had lean her face into his shadow, or improvising his lines when he saw that Catinca was not giving the cameras the rections they wanted. I believe that it is anecdotes like this that points towards the kind of actor Lee really is - humble, professional, convicted to his craft and generous. I sure hope that such a positive attitude towards his profession does not change over time. As long as he maintains that attitude, plus his talents, I'm sure he will have a bright future in the industry.

A little video

This came from the beginning when Alexandria first meets Roy, and when Roy tells her the first story of Alexander the Great. Tarsem shot the movie chronologically, which means that this first meeting was also the first time Catinca had met Lee Pace. As Lee Pace was presented to Catinca as a real-life paraplegic (a deliberate arrangement on Tarsem's part), Catinca was truly scared of Lee at first. However, once she warmed up, there was wonderful chemistry already present in this first meeting. You can also see what I meant from this clip about how Tarsem managed to capture all the innocence of a child without compromising on the flow of the script.

Apart from watching the chemistry between the two leads, this first story was an important lead-in to the main fantasy v.s. reality portion of the movie. It kind of taught you how to watch this movie, that you had to be expected to go to and fro in both sequences, and that the fantasy would be influenced by events happening there and then in the reality.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Conclusion

The last I saw at IMDB.com The Fall garnered a total of more than 10,000 votes, with an average score of 8/10, which is very impressive. In fact, the bulk of voters, about 31% of them, had given The Fall a full score of 10/10. By any standard, this tells you a lot about how viewers in general felt about this movie which no production company wanted to produced and received only limited screening in theatres 2 years after it was completed.

So what if this was Tarsem's vanity project? To quote from Ebert, watch this because it exists, and because you might never get a chance to see another like this again.

Trivia: (from IMDB.com)

A miscommunication between the casting agent and Catinca Untaru led her to believe that Lee Pace was a real-life paraplegic. Director Tarsem Singh found that this brought an added level of believability to their dialogue, so he decided to keep almost the entire cast and crew under the same impression by getting Lee to be a paraplegic both onscreen and offscreen for two whole months during the filming of the entire reality sequence.

Tarsem shot the hospital scenes with Catinca Untaru in chronological order. As filming progressed over the course of six weeks, she grew taller and her English improved, like her character would have in real life. She also lost her two front baby teeth right before shooting began, so filming in sequence allowed for the continuity of the gap between her teeth to remain consistent.

Darwin's monkey "Wallace" is a reference to the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who independently developed the idea of natural selection. Darwin and Wallace presented the theory together, but due to the publication of "On the Origin of Species" Darwin usually gets sole credit for the theory.

While trying to get financing for the film, Tarsem Singh put together a small memory box much like Alexandria and used it as a tool during pitch meetings.

Links...

Click here for the official website.

See here for official promotional video clips from the movie.

Click here for Robert Ebert's review of The Fall.

It was an emotional roller-coaster ride in the past few weeks. So many things happened it's quite hard to have a really clear picture of what actually went on. Anyhow, that kinda contributed to the lack of updates on this site.

Hmmm... where do I start? Let's start with something... happy.

Numero uno.... salsa y espanol

Ok, I have stopped salsa classes. Went all the way up to Intermediate 3 then decided to take a break... Alright, not exactly a happy thing to stop salsa but it was replaced by something nice, and that was Spanish lessons. You see, I wasn't quite happy with my progress at Las Lilas and felt that it may be good to start exploring other schools. And so, I found the National University of Singapore Extension Program.

Well, well... What do you know? Years of turmoil back then yet now I'm with glorious NUS again. For those who didn't know, NUS' business arm started an enrichment centre which offers a wide range of certificate and diploma courses which is open to the public. Spanish language was one of them.

This decision to join the NUS Ext turned out to be a wise one indeed. The teacher, Rosa, hails from Peru and is very experienced and appraochable. Imagine that typical image of a slender, middle-aged Latino lady, decked in an elegant red dress and holding up a glass of red wine... Yup, that's the kind of image Rosa gives. She sure appreciates her wine, but she is probably more happening than most of us in the class, enjoying a trip or two down to the Latin clubs when she can. In fact, just a few weeks ago Rosa took us all to have paella at a cafe at Arab Street, then pulled us all to Cuba Libre to chill out amist an excellent mix of Spanish songs.

However, the best thing about Rosa is that she makes the language so accessible for all of us. Three of us jumped from Las Lilas to NUS Ext's Level 2 Spanish, and it took us 2 years of Spanish to reach there. Compare that to our other classmates, who took only 4 months to reach there and are in many ways actually better than us! Rosa takes a very practical apprach to teaching the language, and is always able to put everything into clear perspective. In fact, many aspects about language structure which we were very hazy about while still in Las Lilas have now become so much clearer under Rosa's teachings. Rosa also 'forces' us to tell her a gossip at the start of each lesson to train us in our ability to strike a conversation on our feet. I tend to cheat by preparing beforehand, but at least I think I'm much more confident conveying information in Spanish now.

Numero dos... sobre la estudiar...

Hmmm... one of the main contributors to the emotional roller-coaster ride. Would really love to ventilate about it but...

Numero tres... sobre mi trabajo...

Ok... I really should stop now. Next please!

Numero cuatro... ¡peliculas, peliculas y mas peliculas! ¡Me encanta!

Yes, movies, movies and more movies! Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day and The Fall DVDs finally came in through the mail from Amazon.com!



Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day can be described as somewhat like little quaint cottage house... Nothing explosive, nothing incredibly emotional - just good ol' storytelling, likeable characters and good British humor. Set against the back drop of post-WWI, pre-WWII Britian, the story is about all about Miss Pettigrew ( the wonderful Frances McDormand) and her encounter a budding American nightclub singer (played by Amy Adams from Enchanted) and her three lovers. As unapologetically modern it sounds, this movie was actually adapted from a novel that was written precisely during this period in the 1930s! Nevertheless, nothing too saucy that would put its rating anywhere near an NC16. At the end of the day, I simply enjoyed the simplicity of the story, and had felt real care and concern for the characters through the experienced cast.

I've been talking about The Fall since like forever! And I finally got to watch it!



Haha... In talking about the picture on the right, Tarsem has this to say, "Oh my God,... looks like a big swan and a duckling, and she's just toddling along with him in the background". (taken from The Washington Post)

From all my previous posts on the movie you would have known that I had high expectations for this movie. All I can say is this - the movie matched and even surpassed the high expectations I had for it.

It was certainly a little big movie.... "Little", because this movie had such a limited release in theatres and had starred mainly unknown actors and actresses (of that time, that is). "Big", because the locations were breathtaking, the cinematography was spellbinding, and the story was completely mesmerizing! Apparently, because no major film studios wanted to finance the movie, India-born director Tarsem forked out his own money to make it, and that involved filming in no less than 24 countries, exploiting fully the wonderous landscape and historical sites for the movie.



Roy and Alexandria in the reality sequence, where the story he tells her goes from a simple fantasy to an eerie representation of his depressed and suicidal state of mind.



And just 2 of the many beautiful backdrops in the fantasy sequence.

And the acting... Oh my gosh, I'm officially in love with Catinca Untaru, the little Romanian girl who plays the lead of Alexandria, and also the Lee Pace, the storyteller who was a broken man emotionally and literally. The chemistry between was them so natural and very convincing indeed. The fantasy sequence that Tarsem created was a reflection of Alexandria's interpretation of the story, and that was where all the magificant backdrops and costumes came in. Excellent stuff! A definite must-watch!

Apart from movies, I was at a time literally hooked onto all 4 seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus, enjoying their unique "pythonesque" humor in its full glory. Some sketches seem really silly or nonsensical, but there are certainly lots of gems in their writing. An absolute joy to watch!



This opening title above comes from the first season and is now inseperable with Monty Python.

Numero cinco... sobre arte...

Finally, more art creations lately. Was experimenting with stained glass painting for a while, some paper art and also some painting... Recently a colleague introduced shrinkable plastic artwork to me and I'm having lots of fun trying it out :) Basically, you use make an ordinary drawing on this plastic sheet, cut it to the desired shape, the toss it into the oven toaster. There, it will shrink under the heat, creating a small, hard piece of artwork which you can use to make accessories or scrapebook decorations. Here's one I made today...



I also did some felt pieces a few months back also and had some leftover. So I decided to decorate this plain blue pouch which I got free after buying some Silkpro face products...



Yup, that completely narcissitic name tag was made using the shrinkable plastic also.

Speaking of felt, this remains one of my favourite pieces which I made specially to match the dress I wore as a brooch for my office's D&D...

I've watched this movie twice now but I am still very amused by it. I think it's the boldness of the subject, the keen observations of the Pythons on society and human behaviour, and the overall humor that ensues that makes this movie such a memorable one. In fact, if you read the full article on Wikipedia on the movie, you would realize that despite the fact that it is a comedy, it is in fact a very intellectual take on various aspects of our lives (religion, politics, mother-son relationships) made very accessible to the wider audience.



Life of Brian was Monty Python's second movie after their series, Monty Python and the Flying Circus, ended its run of 4 years.

From left to right: Michael Palin, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (see my previous post for more information)

No doubt, the subject would be touchy. But as demonstrated beautifully in one BBC discussion programme, it is offensive largely to those who take an extremist view in religion, and those who pass judgement over the movie without actually seeing it. In that debate session on BBC, Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, the Bishop of Southwark, put the case against the film, with Pythons John Cleese and Michael Palin in the defending team. The debate ended with the comedians winning, as "both Pythons later felt that there had been a strange role reversal in the manner of the debate, with two young upstart comedians attempting to make serious, well-researched points, while the establishment figures engaged in cheap jibes and point scoring." Segments of the debate session can now be found in the documentary in the DVD.

Why is it so hard to look at this movie from a satirical point of view? In fact, from very early on in the movie it was established that Brian and Jesus are two different people, and Brian is simply a man born in the wrong time, the wrong place, and thrown into all the wrong circumstances. The movie is not about the religion, but about the way we humans behave within a social entity. At the end of the day, I suppose people choose to believe what they want to believe in - which really is the whole point of the movie.

Despite the huge controversy which sparked off protests, demonstrations and some really harsh words on religious grounds in the 70s when it was released, Life of Brian has managed to win over most in the public and has remained one of the most memorable movies in modern film history today.

Highly recommended read on Life of Brian with a wealth of information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_brian. All quotes in this post have been taken from there.

A timeless classic.

Description of the story

(since it's already almost 30 years old, I thought no harm posting the entire story from Wiki :P):

Brian Cohen is born in a stable a few doors from the one in which Jesus is born, a fact which initially confuses the Three Wise Men who come to praise the future King of the Jews. They manage to put up with Brian's boorish mother Mandy until they realize their mistake. Brian grows up an idealistic young man who resents the continuing Roman occupation of Judea, even after learning his father was a Roman Centurion, Naughtius Maximus - who raped Brian's mother ("You mean; you were raped?", "Well, at first, yes").

"Naughtius Maximus his name was. Promised me the known world he did. I was to be taken to Rome, House by the Forum. Slaves. Asses' milk. As much gold as I could eat."

While attending Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, he becomes infatuated with an attractive young female rebel, Judith. His desire for her and hatred for the Romans lead him to join the People's Front of Judea (PFJ), one of many factious and bickering separatist movements who spend more time fighting each other than the Romans.

"Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front."

The group's cynical leader Reg gives Brian his first assignment: He must scrawl some graffiti on the wall of the governor's palace. Just as he finishes doing this, he is confronted by a passing centurion who, in disgust at Brian's faulty Lati grammer (being the infamous "Romanes eunt domus", or "the people called 'Romanes' they go the house"), forces him to write the grammatically correct message ("Romani ite domum" or "Romans, go home") 100 times. The walls of the fortress are covered in text by dawn. When the Roman guards change shift at daybreak, the new guards try to arrest Brian, but he manages to slip away with the help of Judith.

Brian then agrees to participate in a kidnapping plot by the resistance, which fails miserably (due to a clash with an "enemy" separatist faction intent on the same mission) and forces him to go on the run again. This time, he doesn't evade capture and is summoned before Pontius Pilate. He tries to get away with it by claiming to be a Roman, and the son of Naughtius Maximus, but the captain of the guards refuses to believe Brian and believes it to be a fake name, "like Silius Soddus or Biggus Dickus." Fortunately for Brian, the guards collapse into a giggling fit after an irate Pilate reveals that one of his best friends is a high-ranking centurion genuinely named Biggus Dickus, and he makes his escape.

"Anybody else feel like a little... giggle... when I mention my 'fwiend'... Biggus... Dickus?"

Following a series of misadventures, the fugitive winds up in a lineup of wannabe mystics and prophets who harangue the passing crowd in a plaza. Forced to come up with something plausible in order to blend in and keep the guards off his back, he babbles pseudo-religious nonsense which quickly attracts a small but intrigued audience. Once the guards have left, Brian tries to put the episode behind him, but has unintentionally inspired a movement; and finds that some people have started to follow him around, with even the slightest unusual occurrence being hailed as a "miracle."

"Oh, uhh, no, the point is the birds. They do all right.... and you're much more important than they are, right? So, what are you worrying about? There you are. See?"

"I'm worrying about what you have got against birds."

After slipping away from the mob (who are busy persecuting a "heretic" - actually a hermit that Brian unwittingly disturbed) and spending the night with Judith, he opens the curtains the following morning to discover that an enormous mass of people, proclaiming him the Messiah, has formed outside his mother's house. Appalled, Brian is helpless to change the peoples' minds, as his every word and action are immediately seized as a point of doctrine.

The hapless Brian cannot even find solace back at the PFJ's headquarters, where people fling their afflicted bodies at him demanding miracle cures. Reg even claims that he has booked a session at the Mount for him. After sneaking out the back, he is finally captured and scheduled to be crucified.

Meanwhile, a huge crowd of natives has assembled outside the palace, spurred on by the general feeling in the community that Brian's fellow "prophets" have been exacerbating. Pilate (together with the visiting Biggus Dickus) tries to quell the feeling of revolution, by granting them the decision on who should be pardoned. Instead they are just fed various names intended to highlight their respective speech impedements, e.g. pronouncing "Roger" as "Woger". The assembled hordes collapse to the floor in laughter at the spectacle.

Pilate eventually orders Brian's release, but various crucified people all claim to be "Brian of Nazareth" - one man stating "I'm Brian and so's my wife" - and the wrong man is released. Various other opportunities for a reprieve for Brian are denied as one by one his "allies" (including Judith) step forward to explain why they are leaving the "noble freedom fighter" hanging in the hot sun. Condemned to a long and painful death, Brian's fellow sufferers attempt to lift his and their own spirits by singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

Absolute favourite moments:

Oh, so many of them! How do I even begin...?

I supposed the best way is to simply post the clips - those that I can find, that is.

As some of the accents can be quite strong, coupled with poor sound quality, I've managed to find full transcripts of the relavent clips from this website: http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/brian/brian.htm. This is useful in appreciating the jokes, really.

Clip 1: The People's Front of Judea discussing what the Romans had ever done for them.



In this clip:

Reg - John Cleese
Loretta/Stan - Eric Idle
Francis - Michael Palin

REG: They've bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we had, and not just from us, from our fathers, and from our fathers' fathers.

LORETTA: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.

REG: Yeah.

LORETTA: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.

REG: Yeah. All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?!

XERXES: The aqueduct?

REG: What?

XERXES: The aqueduct.

REG: Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that. Uh, that's true. Yeah.

COMMANDO #3: And the sanitation.

LORETTA: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like?

REG: Yeah. All right. I'll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done.

MATTHIAS: And the roads.

REG: Well, yeah. Obviously the roads. I mean, the roads go without saying, don't they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads--

COMMANDO: Irrigation.

XERXES: Medicine.

COMMANDO #2: Education.

REG: Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough.

COMMANDO #1: And the wine.

COMMANDOS: Oh, yes. Yeah...

FRANCIS: Yeah. Yeah, that's something we'd really miss, Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.

COMMANDO: Public baths.

LORETTA: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.

FRANCIS: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it. They're the only ones who could in a place like this.

REG: All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

XERXES: Brought peace.

REG: Oh. Peace? Shut up!


Clip 2: How the case of the mistaken identity escalated out of proportion...



In this clip:

Brian - Graham Chapman
Simon the Holy Man - Terry Jones
Arthur - John Cleese
Shoe Follower - Michael Palin
Youth - Eric Idle

[holy music]
FOLLOWERS: Master! Master!...

BRIAN: (sees Simon the Holy Man) Hey! Is there another way down? Is there another path down to the river?

SIMON THE HOLY MAN: Mmmmmmm.

BRIAN: Please! Please help me! I've got to get-- (Brian falls)

SIMON: Mm. [whump] Oh, my foot! Oh!

BRIAN: Shhhh!

SIMON: Oh, damn, damn, damn!

BRIAN: Well, I'm sorry. Shhh.

SIMON: Oh, damn, damn, and blast it!

BRIAN: I'm sorry. Shhhh!

SIMON: Don't you 'shhhh' me. Eighteen years of total silence, and you 'shhhh' me!

BRIAN: What?

SIMON: I've kept my vow for eighteen years. Not a single, recognisable, articulate sound has passed my lips.

BRIAN: Oh, please. Could you be quiet for another five minutes?

SIMON: Oh, it doesn't matter now. I might as well enjoy myself. The times in the last eighteen years I've wanted to shout and sing and scream my name out! Oh, I'm alive!

BRIAN: Shhh!

SIMON: Hava Nagila! Hava Nagila, ha ha ha! Look out. Oh, I'm alive! I'm alive! Hello birds! Hello trees! I'm alive! Get off. I'm alive! Hava Nagila. Hava the relinq--

FOLLOWERS: Master! The Master! Master! Master!...

SHOE FOLLOWER: The Master! Aha. He is here!

FRANK: Master!

FOLLOWERS: The shoe!...

ARTHUR: The shoe has brought us here!

ARTHUR and HARRY: Speak!

FOLLOWERS: Shhhhh!

ARTHUR and HARRY: Speak to us, Master! Speak to us!

BRIAN: Go away!

FOLLOWERS: A blessing! A blessing!

ARTHUR: How shall we go away, Master?!

BRIAN: Oh, just go away! Leave me alone!

SHOE FOLLOWER: Give us a sign!

ARTHUR: He has given us a sign! He has brought us to this place!

BRIAN: I didn't bring you here! You just followed me!

SHOE FOLLOWER: Oh, it's still a good sign by any standard.

ARTHUR: Master! Your people have walked many miles to be with You! They are weary and have not eaten.

BRIAN: It's not my fault they haven't eaten!

ARTHUR: There is no food in this high mountain!

BRIAN: Well, what about the juniper bushes over there?

FOLLOWERS: A miracle! A miracle! Ohh!...

SHOE FOLLOWER: He has made the bush fruitful by His words.

YOUTH: They have brought forth juniper berries.

BRIAN: Of course they've brought forth juniper berries! They're juniper bushes! What do you expect?!

ELSIE: Show us another miracle!

ARTHUR: Do not tempt Him, shallow ones! Is not the miracle of the juniper bushes enough?!

SIMON: I say, those are my juniper bushes!

ARTHUR: They are a gift from God!

SIMON: They're all I've bloody got to eat. Uhm. I say, get off those bushes! Go on! Clear off, the lot of you! Go on!

HARRY: Lord! I am affected by a bald patch.

BLIND MAN: I am healed! The Master has healed me!

BRIAN: I didn't touch him!

BLIND MAN: I was blind, and now I can see! Aargh! (falls into the hole)

FOLLOWERS: A miracle! A miracle! A miracle!

SIMON: Tell them to stop it. I hadn't said a word for eighteen years till he came along.

FOLLOWERS: A miracle! He is the Messiah!

SIMON: Well, he hurt my foot!

FOLLOWERS: Hurt my foot, Lord! Hurt my foot. Hurt mine...

ARTHUR: Hail Messiah!

BRIAN: I'm not the Messiah!

ARTHUR: I say You are, Lord, and I should know. I've followed a few.

FOLLOWERS: Hail Messiah!

BRIAN: I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand?! Honestly!

GIRL: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.

BRIAN: What?! Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah!

FOLLOWERS: He is! He is the Messiah!

BRIAN: Now, fuck off!

[silence]

ARTHUR: How shall we fuck off, O Lord?

BRIAN: Oh, just go away! Leave me alone.

SIMON: You told these people to eat my juniper berries. You break my bloody foot. You break my vow of silence, and then you try and clean up on my juniper bushes!

BRIAN: Oh, lay off!

ARTHUR: This is the Messiah, the Chosen One!

SIMON: No, he's not.

ARTHUR: An unbeliever!

FOLLOWERS: An unbeliever!

ARTHUR: Persecute! Kill the heretic!

FOLLOWERS: Kill the heretic! Kill him! Persecute! Kill!...


Clip 3: A hapless Brian tries to teach his 'followers' some valuable lessons, with hilarious results.



In this clip:

Brian - Graham Chapman
Mandy (Brian's mother) - Terry Jones
Arthur - John Cleese
Youth - Eric Idle

(Brian's mother, Mandy, has just agreed the crowd to allow her son to speak to them for just one minute)

BRIAN: But I don't really want to, Mum...

FOLLOWERS: Brian! Brian! Brian!...

BRIAN: Good morning.

FOLLOWERS: A blessing! A blessing! A blessing!...

BRIAN: No. No, please! Please! Please listen. I've got one or two things to say.

FOLLOWERS: Tell us. Tell us both of them.

BRIAN: Look. You've got it all wrong. You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals!

FOLLOWERS: Yes, we're all individuals!

BRIAN: You're all different!

FOLLOWERS: Yes, we are all different!

DENNIS: I'm not.

ARTHUR: Shhhh.

FOLLOWERS: Shh. Shhhh. Shhh.

BRIAN: You've all got to work it out for yourselves!

FOLLOWERS: Yes! We've got to work it out for ourselves!

BRIAN: Exactly!

FOLLOWERS: Tell us more!

BRIAN: No! That's the point! Don't let anyone tell you what to do! Otherwise-- Ow! No!

MANDY: Come on, Brian. That's enough. That's enough.

FOLLOWERS: Oooooh. That wasn't a minute!

MANDY: Oh, yes, it was.

FOLLOWERS: Oh, no, it wasn't!

MANDY: Now, stop that, and go away!

YOUTH: Excuse me.

MANDY: Yes?

YOUTH: Are you a virgin?

MANDY: I beg your pardon!

YOUTH: Well, if it's not a personal question, are you a virgin?

MANDY: 'If it's not a personal question'? How much more personal can you get? Now, piss off!

YOUTH: She is.

FOLLOWERS: Yeah. Must be. She is. Definitely...


The legacy of Life of Brian? Apart from several spin-offs, the usage of certain punchlines by politicians and being one of the highest grossing movies in both its original release and re-release in 1979 and 2004 respectively... Here's what it left behind...

From Wikipedia...

"The Life of Brian has regularly been cited as a serious contender for this title (Greatest Comedy Film of All Time), and has been named as such in polls conducted by Total Film magazine in 2000, the British TV network Channel 4 in 2006, and The Guardian newspaper in 2007. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as one of the best reviewed comedies, with a 98% approval rating from 44 published reviews.

As well as this, the BFI declared it to be the 28th best British film of all time, in their equivalent of the AFI's original 100 Years...100 Movies list. It was the seventh highest ranking comedy on this list (four of the better placed efforts were classic Ealing films).^[22] Another Channel 4 poll in 2001 named it the 23rd greatest film of all time (the only comedy which came higher on this occasion was Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, which was ranked 5th).^[23]

In addition to this, the line, "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!", spoken by Brian's mother Mandy to the crowd assembled outside her house, has been voted by readers of BOL.com the funniest line in film history.^[24] This poll also featured two of the film's other famous lines ("What have the Romans ever done for us?" and "I'm Brian and so's my wife") in the top 10."

I can't. So thank goodness for DVDs! What would I do without them??

Anyway, some DVDs I have watched recently. Especially since my brother came back from the States, I'm in movie heaven now!

1) St. Elmo's Fire



It's quite an interesting concept about how a group of friends who graduate from college are finding life in the real world too hard to bear. Because of this, young people found themselves clinging on desperately to the freedom and romanticism of college life. I may not share that kind of exhilarating experiences these guys had in college, but who ever had an easy transition from school to work? The cast of young actors who included Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Mare Winningham was rather impressive, and they all shared excellent chemistry with one another. It was as if they really did know one another all through their college days. Unfortunately, Joel Shumacher wasn't able to do adequate justice to the material. The ending, particularly, was promising but turned out too commercialize which is unbefitting a movie with such material.

2) Pretty in Pink



The beautiful and talent Molly Ringwald shines as the lead character in the movie. She was only 17 years old then.

This movie has gone down in history as one of the classic teen movies that easily surpasses today's High School Musical in terms of plot, acting and depth of content. While the cast in High School Musical may only be remembered for their good looks, young actors of Pretty in Pink Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer and Andrew McCarthy simply blew life into their characters. Might be a cliche story, but it is a charming one nevertheless.

3) Soldier's Girl



Nothing more that needs to be said apart from those already said in my review in the previous post.

4) Felicidades



An Argentinian Sundance selection that tells the stories of various people in various situations who somehow or rather had some connection with one another at different points in time. Complicated? Think Crash and you'll get the idea. However, this one is not as dramatic as Crash. Rather, Felicidades tells the mundane stories of ordinary people in ordinary situations - all on Christmas eve ("felicidades" literally means "congratulations" in Spanish and is used on Christmas as a greeting). Boring? I won't lie to you - it was really boring. But just before I got up and switched off the DVD, something caught my attention and by the end of the movie, I couldn't stop thinking about the meaning of it all.

I'll elaborate.

Because you see, I believe what this whole movie is gearing at is the fact that how all of our lives cannot be seperated from one another. Everything we do, however mundane it may be, is bound to affect someone, either directly or indirectly. It's like ripples that have the potential to travel far and wide. Unfortunately, however connected we may be, we are ultimately lonely individuals as we may never know who we have affected and exactly in what manner. Otherwise for most of the times, we simply refuse to know, or we simply don't care, all for the sake of self-preservation.

I don't think I can elaborate further at this point of time. But do watch it if you have the chance. Perhaps you can derive your own meaning to it as well.

Still, I wouldn't be too quick to give it a high rating. It is thought-provoking no doubt, but only for those who had the patience to sit through the whole movie till the end.

5) El Dia Que Me Amen



Adrián Suar and Leticia Brédice play childhood sweethearts in El Dia Que Me Amen (When Somebody Loves Me)

This one looked promising on paper but the outcome kind of disappointed me. I guess I expected a more indept look at childhood trauma and its effects in adulthood, and more insights into depression and other mental health conditions which could have resulted from the trauma, including the individual's journey towards recovery. It seemed like the director tried hard to include some serious message in the movie, but it just didn't deliver. Basically, the whole premise of how these individuals coped with some 'trauma' in their childhood seemed stretched at best, as though not enough research was done in the subject matter. So despite the commendable performances by the leads, this marred the credibility of the story. To be fair, it's a decent movie, but so much more could have been accomplished...

6) Monty Python's - Life of Brian



Two of the Monty Pythons, Eric Idle (left) and the late Graham Chapman (right) are bewildered as they listen to a near-inaudible religious sermon by You-know-who in Life of Brian.

I was told that this is one classic British comedy and it's not hard to see why - this absolute work of genius, from the wonderful comedian group Monty Python, was bold, shocking, tastefully crude and simply hilarious! No wonder Monty Python was considered the Beatles of comedy. Due to its supposed take on the Christian religion, Life of Brian was a controversial movie at the time of its release in 1979 sparking widespread debate, protests and even street demonstrations. But keep an open mind and you'll definitely appreciate the thoughtfulness that has gone into the script. It's a laugh-out funny satire that says a lot about the social psychology of people. All this is demonstrated in the life of "Brian", an ordinary Mummy's boy born at the same time near the manger where Jesus Christ was born, who at some really bizzare twist of events gets mistaken as a Messiah, eventually leading to his own cruxifiction by no fault of his. This movie was also where that iconic song written by Monty Python member Eric Idle, Always Look On The Bright Side of Life, made its debut.

One of my favourite bits in the movie, a wonderful jab at how we as humans really are...



All the Pythons are still going strong in the entertainment industry and are highly respected by many others till today. Sadly though, Graham Chapman, who played the lead role of Brian amongst other smaller roles (all the Pythons took on a variety of roles in all of their movies), passed away at the relatively young age of 48 after a tough battle with spinal and throat cancer. At the end of Chapman's memorial service, Eric Idle led the remaining Pythons and other friends on stage in singing "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" as a final goodbye.

Interestingly, Chapman was a qualified medical doctor who graduated from Cambridge so he conveniently became the on-set doctor for the cast and crew as they endured injuries, fever and heatstroke while filming the movie in Tunisia. In fact, all the Pythons graduated either from Oxford or Cambridge!


The Monty Pythons during the filming of Life of Brian (left) and in the 1980s (right). In the more recent photo, the Pythons, from left to right, were Eric Idle, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam.

7) Pushing Daisies - Season One



The cast of Pushing Daisies pose inside The Pie Hole - Pie-Maker Ned's little pie eatery. From left to right in The Pie Hole, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz, Anna Friel, Lee Pace, Chi McBride and Kristin Chenoweth.

Ahhh... This is one series I don't mind watching over and over. Incredibility likeable characters, interesting and biazzare crime stories, a quirky sense of humor, witty dialogue and a beautiful, surreal backdrop. Of course, a talented cast and crew helps too. Can't wait for season 2 to come out in Singapore!

After reading about Soldier's Girl I couldn't resist the urge to get my hands on a copy to watch it for myself. Since my brother was in the States, I got the movie through him and finally managed to complete it. It was very very engaging indeed.

My sentiments...

As a tele-movie this one frankly is not high in production quality, a fact that director Frank Pierson was also not shy to admit in one of the interviews on the DVD mainly due to the tight budget and timeline given for a televsion production. This was obvious especially in the peripheral storyline where Barry's life in the army was showed. But really, the end product turned out good enough. In fact, if given more time and money, I'm sure this could have easily become a film festival selection. One of the most striking things about this movie is the huge amount of respect the filmmakers have accorded to the characters. Despite all its limitations, this sense of respect was crucial in urging audiences to challenge stereotypes and our beliefs about morality.

There are many invisible groups of people in the world - people who seem to fall through the cracks of the human system and even nature. Most transgenders usually know from an early age that they were born into the wrong body, leaving them in a struggle to reconcile their sexuality and bodily image as they grow into adulthood. I believe it is not easy for these people to come to a decision to finally embrace their sexuality and undergo a grueling surgical process to transform into who they believe they should be. Yet for many of those who had the means and courage to do so, what they faced with was bitter discrimination from so-called "normal" people who seem unable to bear the thought that there exists people who are different from themselves.

This led to the tragic case in 1999, which the movie is based on - Barry Winchell, a US infantry soldier, was brutally murdered by a fellow soldier in the barracks because of his relationship with a male-to-female transgender nightclub performer Calpernia Addams. During the trial for the case, it was then revealed that prior to the murder, Winchell had endured continuous harrassment from his peers and superiors for this love affair with Calpernia. What made it worse was the fact that his superiors adopted an ambivalent attitude towards the harrassment, allowing it to escalate to tragic proportions. This case reopened debate over the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of the US Military.

Nevertheless, despite its politcal implications, the movie was never preachy. And for that, I applaude the filmmakers. What it was, instead, was just a love story between two humans who met and fell happily in love. It was a 3-dimensional look at various facets of the psychology of the 2 individuals who seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Apart from the filmmakers, the young actors who played Calpernia and Winchell are simply outstanding. These roles were nothing short of challenges for all its demands and controversies connected to them, but both Lee Pace (who played Calpernia) and Troy Garity (who played Winchell) played them with such professionalism and to such perfection. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were praised for their roles as homosexual lovers in Brokeback Mountain - now imagine one of them as a transgender in the midst of a series of reconstructive surgeries to fully become a woman.

Despite knowing that these were two male actors on screen, the intitmate scenes that Lee and Troy shared with each other was not at all as awkward as I would imagine. In contrast, these scenes were portrayed with a lot sensitivity that made clear to the audience that this was not a frivolous love affair. Both characters had to grapple with their sense of self-identity as they prepared to embark on a whole new journey as one, facing doubts and criticisms both from their environments and from within. All these were played out beautifully by both Lee and Troy.

One half of the equation - Lee Pace

Lee Pace, in particular, shocked me with his excellent portrayal of the complex character of Calpernia. I heard from reviews that he was good, but you have to watch it for yourself to see just how good it was. Lee's Calpernia was graceful, elegant and beautiful - qualities that shone particularly in the scenes where she retreats from the glitz and glamour of being a performer in a club into her humble home. Without the heavy make-up and fancy dresses, Lee's Calpernia still looked beautiful but had an added vulnerablity to her. Most importantly, Lee played Calpernia as a simply a woman, her feminity emerging from deep within. Her love for Winchell was compounded by the fact that she was still not a 'real' woman. This was portrayed in a brief but brilliant scene when, after being hurt by Winchell's confusion towards the blossoming relationship, Calpernia stood in front of a full-length mirror and gazed at her feminine figure which was marred by her manhood in disgust and devastation.

This was a quote from Lee Pace about how difficult it was making this movie (from Wiki):

"Not even my excellent training at Juilliard prepared me for my first movie role, where I played a transsexual who falls in love with a military guy in Soldier's Girl. Here I was, this 6'3" 190-pound lanky kid from Chickasha, Oklahoma, not knowing how to begin being a woman. So I saw documentaries about transsexuals, I lost twenty-five pounds, and I put on prosthetic boobs and hips to become that character. There were times I'd look in the mirror and wonder 'what am I doing to my life here? My dad is going to kill me!' But the reason I went into acting was to be able to play parts as complicated and important as this one. In playing a transsexual, I got the chance to help change people's perspective about other people and that is a powerful thing. I'm playing a swashbuckling bandit in my next film, but I'll always be proud of Soldier's Girl."

A scene below with Lee Pace as Calpernia. I suppose you could take this as a gauge - if you feel uncomfortable watching this scene (though I assure you it's PG, just in case you're wondering), then perhaps you might want to avoid the movie for now...



And just for constrast's sake, here's a recent clip of Lee Pace, who appeared rather lost in the midst of the star-studded 2008 Emmy Awards, where he received a nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy for Pushing Daisies.

The other half of the equation - Troy Garity

Troy Garity tended to overact, particularly in scenes that required some emotional outbursts. But otherwise, he did a wonderful job with the role of Barry Winchell. Since the scene where he first set eyes upon Calernia, you could easily sense the adoration he had for her in his eyes. Despite the harrassment he endured from the military, he was clearly one contented man in the presence of Calpernia. It was obvious that his attraction towards Calpernia was genuine from the start, but he still had to struggle with both the sexual identities of his own and Calpernia's. There were 2 pivitol intimate scenes after he decided to embrace Calpernia as the one he loved, and each scene was a clear progression of his growing acceptance of the relationship and strong desire to make it all work out. A very challenging role indeed, and despite some shortfallings, Troy certainly did it justice.

Trivia - Troy Garity is in fact Jane Fonda's son!

Unfortunately there is a lack of clips on Youtube from the movie. Nevertheless, this clip below, which includes the clip of Calpernia singing at the lake, shows the slight overacting in the emotional scenes. But at the same time, it shows the tenderness he was capable of towards the woman he loved.



Seriously, how many young actors out there would have been willing to take on roles such as Calpernia and Barry Winchell, especially for something as 'insignificant' as a made-for-TV movie? From the movie, it is clear that both actors committed both heart and soul to their characters no matter how small-budgetted the movie is and no matter how controversial the roles might be in challenging societal norms. This, to me, is professionalism. This is what acting is all about.

Verdict

It is easy to turn this movie into the sort of joke which pokes fun of the characters and the situations only because it makes people uncomfortable watching them. In the same vein, it is also easy to criticize the movie because of it's portrayal of what some have very unkindly called "deviants". But my advice is to keep an open heart and it is not difficult to watch this movie and appreciate the importance of seeing each person as a unique individual as capable as you are to love and be loved.

Soldier's Girl sparked renewed debate of the effects of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, 4 years after the murder occured. It may be a small movie, but it is a powerful one indeed.