Foot and Fire

I was looking for a movie to watch on Netflix when I stumbled on this Korean thriller. I was surprised that I liked the film for many reasons. I have not read the webtoon to which the movie was based and I couldn't tell if the movie is a faithful rendition or has some special addition to it.  First, I was pleased that there's no unnecessary comedy the K dramas are known for.  Second, I was surprised that the director was from the movie Train to Busan, a highly successful zombie film which I think just a so-so when you assess it visually and when it comes to character exposures in the story. (To digress, I now recalled that I also liked the Peninsula as the standalone sequel to the Train to Busan). The actors are well-chosen for their roles. The Pastor, the detective and the ex-convict, the triad of the movie are all fit for their roles. The visual cues are all necessary and useful given the 2 hours limitation of a film. The film has tied the loose ends so that the ...

    This magical realism short film, Let The Beast Rise , is engaging and the director drove his point home in the last few minutes of the film. I thought it was just some ordinary film but the ending is one interesting topic for left-over popcorns and soda one prepare for a full-length film.  Of course, the location is interesting, from cornfields to rain forest. The actors are natural too. The shots are definitely visually appealing. The unfolding of the story, not rushed despite the time constraint. With lots of convenience the technology now affords filmmakers, a good film I think comes down into the message it tries to convey, stir or challenge!!!! Who is the beast in the story? Tree-huggers, environmentalist, conservationist, and nature-lover should watch this. If I have a lecture on environment or film appreciation, I will want this to be part of the critique.   Message me when you get to see the film and let's discuss. And I will edit this blog whe...

    I managed to finish watching one short and two full-length films over the weekend though my wifi connection is so erratic (Hello PLDT!). The featured films are for free via the myfrenchfestival.com. One just needs to create an account with the site and films can be rented and viewed for free via many platforms if one is in the Philippines. I have one month to enjoy all the french films with subtitles.   I watched The Braves and I was happy that it is finally a good film to recommend to others. It is about the friendship of two young women and their dream to become actresses. They are young, so full of life, and ambitions and they were on their road to their dream when a tragedy struck. This is a story of friendship, and sisterhood.    I just could not relate a bit why the play featured in the film is about an immigrant in New York. It could be much more interesting if it features an immigrant in France. Maybe, the play is just the parallel of the two ...

     I was invited to give a little talk in relation to the Women's Month Celebration. I was done with my short message when I couldn't get off my mind the film On the Basis of Sex. I wish I can be given another opportunity to give a small talk on women because that would be about my recommended films. Well, why wait? I'm sharing to you here now, my list.    The Joy Luck Club (1993) based on a novel The Joy Luck Club was getting the cultural conversation started 25 years prior to the recent Crazy Rich Asian. A contemporary drama that starred all Asian women in its principal roles, this film explores the relationships between and among four mothers and their daughters. I saw the film only recently but I read the book by Amy Tan when I was still in college. There is much lesson on politics among women to reflect on even on the family setting alone.   The Color Purple (1985) based on a novel Alice Walker's epic novel is made into film by director Ste...

BIG NIGHT (1996) is what I had been looking for: a balance visual exposures of the food and the story. Everyone will love Italian brothers Primo and Secondo who have deep respect for Italian cooking but in crisis as there seems to be a need to compromise it for the business side of it. They need to prepare a dinner party for a guest who will help make their restaurant a success and their American dream come true. There are two scenes that sent me burstinf with laughter. At the beginning, Primo refuses to make the order of the woman. She ordered seafood risotto then she was looking for the seafoods, then she asked whether her order comes with a sides of Spaghetti. Primo explained that they don't go together and so she order spaghetti with meatballs. Primo explained that sometimes the spaghetti wants to be left alone, and the man suggested she order meatballs. Secondo relayed the starchy orders and Primo declined and shouted, she's a criminal. I laughed hard. I ...

10.10.20 TODAY, I GOT Rauram or vietnamese coriander, dill, chives, genovese basil, oregano.  TOMORROW, Rauram will be in a Pho Bo, dill in my tuna sandwich, chives in eggroll, basil in toast, oregano in my olive oil. Hope nothing changes after I sleep. 🤣🤣🤣 10.11.20 10.11.20 PHOTO DIARY of how my garden picks turned out today. Oregano-infused sunflower oil, attempted Pho Bo for the vietnamese coriander, egg roll with chives (no photo), tuna-dill mayo sandwich,  basil is still in the fridge.  THE STORY: Here's our Pho Bo to make you feel that we are in Vietnam, or somewhere just beside Vietnam. The boy shouted that the soup has "tyangaw" while sis chewed the rauram leaves accidentally and grimaced. Oh I liked the peppery and lemony taste of that, i said.  Conclusion after his two bowls: Tita G, it's just batchoy so we never reached Vietnam. I said, well, we may have just reached the Ninoy Aquino Int'l Airport afterall with this one. I smiled, thinkin...

Sweet Bean (2015) is a Japanese film that is a joy to watch as it slowly unfolds before us. I miss this kind of pacing and I thank Director Naomi Kawase for directing it so well that I found one Japanese film that is so filling, not only visually but also story-wise. Of course, it is an intended pun because An is the soul, the sweet bean filling, of the dorayaki, a spongy pancake. This movie invites us to see possibilties beyond our limitations and do our best in our life through the friendship of a teenager with inconsiderate mother, a middle age man who hates Dorayaki and an old woman who makes the perfect An. Almost every scene is a poetry in motion for me. *** Eat Drink Man Woman Eat Drink Man Woman is a 1994 Ang Lee film that gave us a visual treat of some chinese cooking as backdrop to a story that delights us with all the twist. But as much as I loved the long exposure of kitchen techniques at the start, I doubly loved the scene where the father and daughter had fina...

Babette's Feast (1987) is a classic Danish film featuring French dishes after a long wait for that feast to happen. I was not able to snap some lines I liked ( just quoting as I remembered): "No artist is poor." "I will leave forever and will not return. I learned that in this world, there are things that are impossible" he spoke of pursuing his love  Then 25 years after, the man returned and on his way asked "Will the rows of all victories in the past become a sum of defeat now?" While eating in the feast, he declared that we make choices, we risk, we fear but in the end our choices is unimportant because grace is infinite, unconditional." "Righteousness and bliss shall kiss each other." Before leaving again, he said "You are with me every day, I hope you know that, and you will be with me for the rest of my waking hours." In this film, one sees that food can be a vehicle for renewing relationship, asse...

AS NINTH POST FOR THE #foodflixflex which my friends and I will be doing this September to celebrate food and cinema, I present you my monstrous  QUARTER POUND BURGER with cucumber, lettuce, onion and two cheeses that left everyone full and satisfied that I think they won't be salivating for it for the time being when they would see it in the screen. When I decided to make a real beefy burger, I had the Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 1 & 2 in mind because they are the movies of my nephews when they were still younger.  But while I was contemplating of writing about it, Anthony Bourdain kept entering my mind, maybe because he's a New Yorker and burger for me means American. Well, given the life story of Bourdain, I sure love that he's prolific as a writer given the number of his books, and as travel-host of many food series. But like my craving for burger which is just once in a blue moon, I liked some episodes of his travel shows but I could n...

AS SEVENTH POST FOR THE #foodflixflex which my friends and I will be doing this September to celebrate food and cinema, I present you my Duck in Rose Petal Sauce (turned out to be more like Duck with Macadamia Sauce) which is inspired by Laura Esquivel's magical realism novel and the 1992 movie version of it which was very faithful to the book both entitled, Like water for chocolate. I always have a slip of the tongue when saying the title. I say, Like hot water for chocolate. Maybe because this book is about deep longing, true love, hindered desires. So I imagine that Tita melts like chocolate because Pedro is the hot water.     On the March entry, Tita received a bouquet of roses from Pedro to congratulate her on her first year as ranch cook. The roses which were pink became red when Tita clasped it and her blood mixed in the petals. A chemical reaction began without her knowing. Tita felt she has to do something special abou...

The Time Traveler’s Wife By Audrey Niffenegger 2003, debut novel I saw this movie (2009) a long time ago and wanted to read the book right away. The story line is so compelling that I wanted to deeply connect with the book from which the movie was based. It appears that this was the debut novel of the author, and I admired her writing more for a very good start. I have not yet checked whether she has other titles under her name. I am so drunken by the no-fuss storytelling of a raw love story tested by instability, time and faith. I love how the author used the storytelling through the eyes of the two main characters, Clare and Henry. It was a complete love story from childhood up to old age of Clare. I love the poems sprinkled along the way as I read. I love how science was used in order not to make this one a magical realism. I love the rawness of the language employed by the author. She made me feel that these two people are in love like other humans, only challenged b...

Delicacy David Foenikos Novel, originally in French 250 pages Why did I pick this up? First, the title is intriguing. Second, the cover says it was made into a film starring Audrey Tautou. Third, it's something new to me, a modern fiction novel translated from French to English. Fourth, it's sold in a bargain price. Fifth, I am in my element to read a fiction. My verdict? I like the fast-paced writing style of the writer (He has 115 chapters for 250 pages, no wonder) . He introduced me to the characters like introducing them in a speeddating: only fast and essential facts are needed. Although the delicacy of the characters were not understood immediately in the book until one reaches two-thirds of it, one cannot stop but delight in the development of the story. It started with a serious note: marriage bliss of Natalie which was abruptly ended by death of her husband Francois and her mourning. Then the story continued with one mysterious ac...