Filmi Girl: In Love With Summertime.

Song of the Day (Xenophobic edition): Carmensita

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:11:22 GMT

Are there words to express the loathing I have for this video? Yes - Thank you, Onion AV CLUB:

Well, at least Urban Outfitters will have a new song to play on loop at all of their locations now, because that's exactly what this song sounds like: background music for a retail chain that specializes in faux-vintage t-shirts.

Natalie Portman, I know you think that you are smart because you went to Harvard. However, I don't know how you got through four years without running into a single person who could tell you that dressing up in blackface and mocking Hindu gods is not okay. Also, sweetie, that video is NOTHING like actual Bollywood. Mmm...'kay?

*sigh* I suppose there will always be that segment of the population who feels that not speaking English simply hilarious.

Song (Promo) of the Day: Khuda Jaane

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:45:35 GMT

The music for Bachna ae Haseeno has been released! I think this song is really pretty (and Ranbir isn't looking so bad, either!)

While I don't think this movie is going to be meaningful in any way, it does look like it's going to be fun to watch.

Aishwarya Rai

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:08:19 GMT

True story: I have a Devdas shopping bag. When I was out at the grocery store this weekend, an Indian woman rang up my groceries and commented on it.

"Do you like Bollywood?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Who is your favorite actor?"

"Working now? Akshay Kumar."

"Really? I was hoping you weren't going to say Abhishek Bachchan."

"How come? Don't you like him?"

"He is just so arrogant! And Aishwarya is even worse. She's an embarrassment to Indian women. Did you see her on Letterman a few years ago?"

"No."

"Well, she makes us all look stupid."

I didn't have anything to say to that. Of course, I had to come home and immediately youtube Aishwarya on Letterman. I suppose this is where different cultural perspectives come in. While Aishwarya certainly doesn't come across as a genius, she doesn't seem stupid to me at all. More striking is Letterman's paternalistic attitude, as if her career as an actress doesn't count because he has never heard of her or her movies before.

Still, I did hear Aish and Abhi on the BBC's Love Bollywood a few weeks ago talking about Sakaar Raj (and has anyone seen RGV's Contract? I heard it's FLOPPED.) and they did sound very arrogant and full of themselves. Where is the line between confidence and entitlement? Between being a great artist and one who proclaims that he or she is a great artist? Can any celebrity children raised in the bubble of entitlement become great artists?

The Dark Knight: Spoiler-free Write-up!

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:25:43 GMT

Yesterday, I went to see The Dark Knight with my sister and her boyfriend. The first thing my sister and I said to each other after the lights went up was, "I bet George Bush thinks that he's Batman." At which point, my sister's boyfriend told us that we thought about George Bush too much. How can we help it? Living in D.C. makes one a lot more aware of the inner workings of national politics than one would be otherwise.

Before I go to spoiler town, I want to tell everyone to believe the hype - Heath Ledger is AMAZING! Okay, so I almost cried the first time he appears on screen, but you swiftly forget that he has passed away as the power of his performance takes over. Every time he appeared on screen, I couldn't take my eyes away and every time he left I kept waiting for him to come back. The Joker is seriously demented in a wonderful way. Ledger's performance makes me even more upset that The Powers That Be didn't debrief him of his role and allowed the Joker's demons to become Heath's. The human mind is a lot more elastic than we'd all like to believe, and I'm sure that actors' minds are more changable than most - especially when they go in for method acting, which Heath did, I'm pretty sure. (We all remember the Stanford Prison Experiment, right?)

*sigh*

Along with my rest home for troubled starlets, I'm going to open a therapy unit for actors who play crazy people to prevent them from turning to drugs.

That said, I have two problems with The Dark Knight. One is my problem with most superhero films: the female characters are non-existant or helpless or both. Maggie Gyllenhaal did her best with a part that was nothing more than Something For Batman And Two-Face To Care About. She doesn't have a reason to exist outside of that.

And aside from the lack of women in Gotham City, the other thing I really didn't like was the equating of The Joker's random violence with terrorism. Like it or not, terrorists usually have a straightforward political purpose. It may not be a purpose we agree with and the tactics they use certainly are not something I agree with, but terrorists do not create violence for the sake of violence. They have political objectives. The Joker wants to reveal the facade of normality we live in. Existential terrorism is not a threat we face today. If you want to draw a parallel between some of the left-wing terror groups of the mid to late 1960s and the Joker, I'd have less of a problem with that, however, I doubt Hollywood thinks "Baader-Meinhoff" when it thinks "Terrorist."

So, yes, please everyone go see The Dark Knight for Heath Ledger's amazing performance even if you don't much care for superhero films. The special effects are used sparingly and for good purpose; they don't overwhelm. There is no real romance ~~except between Batman and Harvey Dent~~, but I didn't mind the lack of it. And then you, too, can turn and say to your movie-going buddy, "Wow. I bet George Bush thinks that he's Batman."

Giniro no Season (or I love Eita!)

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:42:39 GMT

Yes, I love Eita. I also love winter sports movies. Imagine my delight when I found that Eita had made a movie where he plays a champion skiier! Giniro no Season does not disappoint on either front. Eita plays Shiroyama Gin (which using my super-translation skills means White Mountain Silver. Nice.) Gin is a ski bum and lives with his two dopey friends and they make a living scamming tourists.

So, when sweet and beautiful Nanami who has never seen snow before comes to town for her skiing wedding ceremony, you know that she will definitely be scammed by Gin! Of course!

After rescuing her after she slides down a bank of snow (for a price), he offers to give her skiing lessons for her wedding (for a steeper price).

They get to have some cute skiing lesson scenes. She's really terrible. ~~Eita~~The snow chapel is so pretty, though.

She actually begins to find him kind of interesting. She sees all the pictures of him in his former life as a ski champion, who was tragically cut down in his prime when he fell during a big jump! OH NO! Now he has a scar on his leg (and an even bigger one in his heart.) Here's where things get a little more interesting.

It's time for the big wedding ceremony, but Eita and his friends have accidentally blown up the snow chapel! OH NO! So, now, the snow chapel people start to call everyone to tell them the wedding is canceled, but guess what? The "fiance" who was supposed to be following Nanami to the town in a few days, is dead - and has been dead for 6 months.

Nanami disappears. Where could she have gone? All of a sudden, Eita, who just thought she was an easy mark, all of sudden realizes that she's a lot more damaged than he thought she was. *sniff*

She tries to commit suicide by freezing to death up at the snow chapel, but Eita parachutes in (literally) and sets up a snow cave to rescue her! YAY! He tells her that even a stupid goal is better than no goal at all - *filmi_girl is inspired* - and she calls him on his bluff. Why doesn't he go back to racing? Hmmm?

Then things get kind of romancey and after Nanami decides that her goal is ski without falling down and she does! Eita is so inspired that he goes and signs himself up for the big race that is (conveniently) happening tomorrow.

And then we get that unique Japanese spin on the time-honored sports movie. Gin enters the race and unlike in a Western film where he would triumphantly win, he falls in the exact same way that he did 5 years previously! I was so shocked! The big triumph is not that he wins, it's that he tries and he does get up and finish the race on his own two feet. YAY! EITA!

While Giniro no Season will never replace The Cutting Edge as my favorite winter sports movie of all time, it's certainly a worthy entry into the genre.

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer: Why didn't I watch this sooner?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:13:14 GMT

It's hot out and I'm feeling both lazy AND cranky and have felt that way since I got up this morning. In a sour mood, the last thing I felt like was a sparkly Rishi Kapoor in masala-fest Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin, which has been sitting and waiting for me to watch it all week. I watched about 15 minutes and knew I wasn't in the right mood to enjoy things like a belt stuffed full of diamonds and a henchman with a beard who is not Mac Mohan. So, instead, I remembered Mr. and Mrs. Iyer sitting in a pile of DVDs borrowed from dangermousie and put it in expecting nothing - just something slow moving for my slow moving brain.

Wow.

Konkona Sen Sharma is Mrs. Iyer, a woman traveling home to Calcutta with her baby after a visit to her parent's house. Her family is high caste and very traditional. When her parents drop her off at the bus station, they ask an aquaintence, a young man ("Raja" played by super-handsome Rahul Bose) to watch out for her on the journey. Raja agrees as he is a wild life photographer and Konkona's father is a big wig on the forest board or something.

Raja is a bachelor and has little patience for babies and the time and effort they require. He does what he can to help Mrs. Iyer, but he really is annoyed. They settle in for the bus ride and we get a long and lovely stretch of character developement of all the people on the bus. The camera settles on everyone. These are the kinds of scenes we don't find in Western film anymore. Nobody has the patience. They are handled beautifully here, though, conveying the sense that happens on any long trip where you become familiar with the other people on the bus or plane.

The action picks up when the bus travels through an area rife with religious violence. A group of Hindus is running about looking for Muslims to kill. Well, "Raja" turns out to be Muslim! Mrs. Iyer is shocked at first, but when push comes to shove, she lends him her name to save his life and the rebels pass him over as Mr. Iyer. That act ties them together. Before this, I think he would have been happy to ditch them as soon as he could, but taking the name of her husband, he is more responsible. For one thing, all the people on the bus now think they are married. How could he leave her after that?

Due to the violence there is a curfew and they are unable to the leave the area. Instead, they end up bunking together in a forrest hut and all of Mrs. Iyer's frustrations with the situations rise to the surface as anger directed at Raja. He eats meat! He smokes! He wants to sleep in her room! She feels sorry after a nice rest and goes to apologize. He graciously accepts and his heart melts. From then on, they fall more and more into their roles as Mr. and Mrs. Iyer until he has to send her back home to Calcutta.

Their last train ride is so sweet and sad. She has him tell her about where he's going next and asks if he's going to be alone. He says, "Unless you come with me." And she looks so sad. My heart broke. Of course, she cannot join him and at the end he has to give up her name and take his own back.

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is slow-moving, for sure, but in an enjoyable way. The film is built of little moments. The opening act that takes place on the bus was so well done. Everything unfolds in a leisurely way making sure that we familiarized ourselves with the characters so that we would care about what happened to them. The little moments of quiet when Raja would go out and take pictures were also nice. And, of course, the growing relationship between Konkona and Rahul captured in small bits - the stories they make up for themselves told to strangers and then retold to each other.

While most of what I'd read about the film before seeing it focused on Mrs. Iyer learning that Muslims are People Too (TM), which is one of the reasons I wasn't too anxious to watch as that theme has been done and done again, I was surprised at the growth in Rahul's character. We see Raja go from a bachelor who finds babies and women a bother to a man who willingly and genuinely acts as a husband and goes out of his way to care for Mrs. Iyer and her son. There is one scene in particular where some of the thugs are chasing after a man in the woods and Rahul seems ready to get in between them to try and stop them from killing somebody else, but instead he stays to protect Konkona and her baby and finds that he's worth more helping Konkona fend off nightmares and fear than in throwing his life away doing something "heroic."

So, while Mrs. Iyer does, in fact, learn that You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover (TM), what interested me more was her love story - and no, not just because she had great chemistry with Rahul. We learn enough backstory to assume that her match with Mr. Iyer was not a love match. She finished her degree and her parents got her married and now she lives with her in-laws. She has a son, but not much love in her life. Maybe she thought love was not for people like her or that it was only something in the movies (I feel like this, too - life, please send me Rahul Bose. Thank you.) To watch her blossom with passion and love is really remarkable and I don't have to tell you that Konkona Sen Sharma has big, expressive eyes and uses them to great effect here.

The end was bittersweet. I like to think that Mrs. Iyer didn't let her emotional awakening to go waste and went on to do something in the world. Maybe she decides to teach or write. I feel more sorry for Raja, who must go off alone. I wonder what happened with him. Did he forget her? Did she awaken his heart enough for him to get married and start his own family?

I wish I had more screencaps to share, but I was too lazy (IT'S SO HOT) to go back and take them.

Puzzle: Episodes 8-10 (Finale)

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:13:21 GMT

Puzzle was a masterpiece of comic blocking. (Just look at this! Hilarious!) The mysteries often made no sense to me because they were heavily dependent on kanji-play and I have a reading vocabulary of only about 25 kanji. Still, my OT4 and the comic blocking and editing had me enjoying each and every episode.

Episode takes place at the mansion of a mystery writer who is hosting a party for a "select" number of guests. If one of these guests can find where he has hidden his new manuscript, they win the publishing rights! Of course sensei is thrilled! The highlight walk-on character of the week was one of the party guests - an actor who played the Poet Detective in the drama version of the mystery writer's stories. So. Funny.

Sensei sweet-talking the gym teacher! He's so clueless.

Receiving her due respect as a teacher...

This is what I'm talking about! Genius comic blocking! (Those 3 girls will never win the hearts of the dopey 3 boys!)

"We need to be in height order at all times!"

A moment of peace only lasts so long before sensei comes charging in with a new plan to get treasure!

Episode 9 has the OT4 off at (another) village festival. This one was a little creepier as it opens with a bit of a supernatural twist. We flashback to 20 years ago when a young girl comes across the body of her dead best friend and standing above the body.... A DEMON! (Well, a kid in a demon mask.) Now, sensei and her boys are here to solve the riddles the town elder left behind to find an old treasure he left when the town had to be emptied because of plague a long time ago.

Imamura-kun has the same expression when lusting after a large dessert or after his appropriate-gendered counterpart!

Kitty knows all!

Episode 9 wasn't that great. Episode 10 more than makes up for it. The OT4 gets an invite to a top-secret island to find some pirate treasure! This episode has everything - the mocking of sensei's bad English, fun with kanji, sneaking around, treasure lust!

"She found out about our mystery...AGAIN!"

But who is the mystery woman?

Shizuka-chan from Hanadan! Hi!

Cover up! Cover up!

Shizuka-chan will kill you with a gun! (I like this actress!)

And things end with the OT4 running off into the sunset! (No, really, they literaly run off into the distance as the credit roll.)

So, that's it for my mystery show. There aren't any mystery shows this season are there? Or detective shows? Ah, well... I'll have to make do with Code Blue-o, unless someone wants to recommend me something else!

I'm going to talk about Hollywood. No! Don't stop me...!

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:42:56 GMT

Yes, I (me) am going out dancing. I haven't been in months and I'll probably be really awkward, but who cares! I cannot sit at home tonight - it's too hot.

And if me leaving my house wasn't exciting enough, here is the promo for High School Musical 3!!

I cannot wait for this. fivil, I wished you lived close by because I am going to see this in the theatres and I doubt anyone I know locally will want to come with me. (It's cool, guys.)

Also, how great is Dr. Horrible?! You guys, I cannot believe that I'm actually buying into a NPH/Felicia OTP. (Although, Nathan Fillion is made of awesome. Is he taken? Hmm?)

So sweet! How could this possibly end badly for them... oh wait! It's Joss. Killer of beloved characters and wrecker of OTPs... of course it's going to end badly.

When does Dollhouse start?

Maou: Episode 2

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:13:24 GMT

After the fun times in last week's episode of Maou where Toma-chan's father's lawyer was killed because Ohno incited a guy to violence and then fell in "love" with the blank-slate of a psychic librarian, we get another installment of more of the same!

This week, we get Ohno inciting a lady to violence against Toma-chan's loanshark friend! Of course, it plays out like Ohno is after Toma-chan's father (which he is, just not this episode), so we (and Toma-chan) get all confused!

Basically, Ohno is evil. Yes, he's had some personal tragedies, but bad things happen to good people all the time and they don't take horrible revenge. The sad part about Ohno is that in his revenge he's creating orphans and broken families just like his was. With all the faux-Christian metaphysics being thrown about, we seem to have missed the crucial bit about forgiveness. While Ohno is being evil, Toma-chan gives good reaction -a mirror to reflect all of Ohno's evil work!

The other pieces in our puzzle are the relationship between Toma-chan and his father. Why do they have such a bad relationship? I don't know. The father seems rather disdainful of Toma-chan's police career. I'm sure he'll regret it when he is brutally slaughtered at some point in a future episode.

If Toma-chan is a mirror, Psychic Librarian is a blank-slate. What does she want? I don't know. She kind of has a crush on Ohno. She grew up in an orphanage. I don't get any reading at all from her. She's certainly not angsting over her powers like her counterpart in Mawang, however.

What Psychic Librarian is good for is confusing our poor Toma-chan! Oh, Toma-chan! I hope you fall hard for her. That would make me happy.

Toma-chan vs. His Father and Toma-chan vs. Ohno: obviously we see where this is going. Who will win? (I suspect me.)

"I will continue to give you hints about where things are going but you will ignore them and also not suspect me."

*scoffs while ignoring hint and also not suspecting Ohno*

And a huge round of applause for the writers who made me feel really sorry for the big loanshark guy over just two episodes! I actually cared that he died. *sniff* I think Ohno needs some lessons from O.P. Ralhan - Crime is separate from Criminals. The big lug was trying to turn his life around! (Just like Toma-chan did!)

And, so, in the end, we have frantic Toma-chan who is never at rest and never thinks through anything set up against a guy who doesn't do anything except think about revenge. It's a fun contrast to watch Toma-chan dance to Ohno's plot machinations!

Also, guys, this faux-Christian stuff is killing me! I love it! It's the reverse of something like the "Chinese" culture in Big Trouble in Little China. I must detail it further at a later time when I am not late for work.

Code Blue: Episode 2 (Dr. Yamapi saves the day!)

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:47:10 GMT

Dr. Yamapi! Why are you looking so angsty? Maybe it's because we're back for another episode of Code Blue: Who Can Ride In The Doctor Heli?

In this weeks installment, Dr. Yamapi is cranky because he let an old lady go home when he shouldn't have because there was an exciting surgery going on and the old lady was boring.

Why so sad, Pi-chan-sensei?

Dang, yo! You let the blood clot from the other time move into her brain! Oh no! Now you will have to glance at her angstily for the rest of the episode.

Don't worry, Shiraishi-sensei, Dr. Yamapi will be back on the Doctor Heli soon enough.

Meanwhile, Dr. Erika Toda is having problems of her own. Dr. Erika has this problem of too much confidence! She overstates her abilities to get on the Doctor Heli!

She doesn't have much respect for people who never make waves.

All that boasting gets her in trouble when she freezes up trying to help a pregnant lady! OH NO! WHO IS GOING TO DELIVER THE BABY?!

That's right! Dr. Yamapi, after his exciting adventures with on-site amputation last week, delivers a baby on-site this week!! YAY!

So while Dr. Erika learns a valuable lesson about not bragging, Shiraishi-sensei has difficulties with standing up for herself. She has book smarts but is unsure of herself in practical situations.

Shiraishi's big moment comes when she asks the nurse what to do about a patient who they suspect was beaten by her boyfriend(!). The nurse totally lets loose about how Shiraishi needs to just make a decision already and stop relying on other people's advice. Poor Shiraishi! I hope she makes it! (Also, her patient's story is pretty hilarious - she had body dismorphic disorder and made her boyfriend punch her in the nose to "get rid of it.")

And finally, the pipsqueak doctor with the pockmarked skin! What happens to him?

He has adventures with Bra Man!

And so begins a long career of doing whatever people tell him to!

Most importantly, Dr. Yamapi learns that doctoring is about more than exciting on-site amputations and sometimes, you have to deal with boring old ladies who whine at you.

"That lady is so boring! Maybe I can take my pen and join Team Medical Dragon..."

"Fine! I'll learn a lesson, but I'm promptly forgetting it in time for next week's episode."

I have to admit that my biggest joy in watching Code Blue is the Lure of the Doctor Heli! Watching the four doctors-in-training compete to ride around on a helicoptor is hilarious! Also, I love watching Dr. Yamapi do stuff. (Now, if only he would fix that awful hair-do. Can't we have the Kurosagi hair back? Onegaishimasu!)

Bandhe Haath: Double Your Amitabh and Square your Boredom!

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:16:48 GMT

I know it's not fair, but I'm laying the blame for the epic dullness of Bandhe Haath right at the (stylish) shoes of the Big B.

"Why?" You may well be asking. "Why blame the Big B? And aren't you scared that he will post a detailed rebuttal on his blog now that he is so taken with the Internet?"

Ha! I welcome any behind-the-scenes information Mr. B has to share. Until then, let me spell out the crimes of Bandhe Haath:

* Too much use of the voice-over = internal monologue convention. I can live with a little voice-over. I always appreciate the voice-over reading of a letter, for instance, so that the words are translated for those of us who cannot read. I also enjoy opening narration, so we don't have to waste too much time in setting up the plot. What I cannot stand is Wonder Years-style voice-over every scene where nobody is talking.

Here's an example where Bandhe Haath falls flat in this way:

Criminal!Amitabh meets a dying Non-Criminal!Amitabh. Now, I was all ready to appreciate some delicious head/frying pan message where Criminal!Amitabh gets to try and KILL HIMSELF by killing the other guy and just taking his place - but the freaking voice-over spells out the head/frying pan message in real words! Don't do that! It's annoying! How more obvious could the message be that you need to voice-over it?!

* Amitabh tries his best smouldering Dharmendra impression and ends up just looking kind of constipated.

The Big B of 1973 does not do contrite. He does ANGRY. So, his attempt at a character who should have been similar to Dharmendra in Phool aur Patthar or Rajendra in Gehra Daag is more like Akshaye Khanna in Taal (i.e. BORING and kind of creepy).

* Boring!Amitabh also is responsible for his chemistry-free interactions with Mumtaz. How could that possibly happen when your leading lady looks like this?

Mumtaz tries her best (bless her heart) but she never pulls any reaction out of Amitabh.

Things aren't all bad however, along with the DO I KILL MYSELF plot, there was also Tun Tun as a cranky and obnoxious teenager!

And Mumtaz's fantastic jewelry!

I'm going to be honest and admit that I couldn't finish this, even the music is boring. And my last O.P. Ralhan film... why didn't he direct?! Hmm? This could have been so good. Ah, well, I'm going to go start my letter writing campaign for a DVD release of Pyaas.

Song of the Day: Talli Main Talli Ho Gayi

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:57:09 GMT

From Ugly aur Pagli, which looks like it could a fun movie! (Of course it also be terrible...) Mallika seems to have found her niche in comedic roles, which is great, since there aren't too many female comedians in Bollywood at the moment.

I also have to mention that both songs I'm obsessed with this week come from a woman named Hard Kaur, a U.K. based rapper.

Has anyone heard her album? Is it worth picking up?

kohligs.blogspot.com has a little write up on her life, which is kind of interesting:

While growing up, she never imagined she would perform hip hop. The image of a salwar-kameez clad girl with a flower in her hair ruled Hard Kaur's imagination. Life is not a bed of roses, she learnt quickly. Her mother, after being kicked out of her in-law's place, refused to take things lying down. She moved to a cold England after her husband's death in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms in India.

How I spend my free time...

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:46:07 GMT

What? I like to cross-stitch. I can't decide what I want to go in the lower right corner. Rainbow? Kitten? The options are endless!

In other news, I enjoyed this article on the problems in the world of professional ice skating far too much. Then again, I'm a sucker for anything ice skating related - like Pride and The Cutting Edge. I'm also working on an essay about Jewel Thief that I've started and re-started about 3 or 4 times as my focus changes. Right now, I think I've got it settled on duality and doubles in Jewel Thief and leave off my ramblings about song picturizations and dadamoni's typical characterization for another time.

Maybe it's the steamy hot weather here in Washington, DC, but I've been on a reading kick like I haven't been in a while. I finished Tipping the Velvet last night. I did not like it as much as Fingersmith. Velvet suffered from what I think were probably first novel mistakes. Waters seemed to want to show off every single bit of research that she had done about the time period, which got to be overwhelming. Also, by the end, I really hated the sainted Florence, who didn't seem to have any character beyond PERFECT WOMAN. I've just started Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist about a young woman who works as a chemist in Edinborough during the 1930s in an alternate reality where Napolean won at Waterloo! It's very good so far. I'm also working my way through The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman which is more a wonderful synopsis of classical history and the beginnings of Christianity than a discussion on the loss of logic in Europe during the Middle Ages.

That means that I have waiting for me the rest of stupid Bandhe Haath featuring a bored Amitabh and Tun Tun as a petulant teenager (!), episodes 9 and 10 of Iljimae, and I'm waiting on subs for episodes 2 of both Code Blue and Maou.

I'm also crossing my fingers that Love Story 2050 will be gone from my local theatre and the exciting Mission Istanbul (EVIL! SUNIEL!) taking its place.

To sequel or remake?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:26:56 GMT

There's a nice, little summary up of some past and recent Bollywood remakes at the Hindustan Times.

Excuse me. But a cult movie is best left re-treaded. Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag put a seal on that. Doing it again is second-hand and they just can’t match the original. The solitary counterpoint to that is of course Mehboob Khan’s Aurat being turned into the classic Mother India.

Some credit may also be given to Pradeep Sarkar whose Parineeta did live up, to a degree, to the original by Bimal Roy. As for the others, frankly Farhan Akhtar’s new age Don wasn’t bad. But J P Dutta’s Umrao Jaan was. Victoria No 203 redone by Anant Mahadevan is not worth mentioning.

I tend to dislike remakes for one reason: they are usually poorly thought-out, as if the fact that a film is a remake is a chance to ignore story in favor of star quality and improved visuals. Wanting to place Aishwarya Rai in Rehka's bangles in Umrao Jaan is not a good reason to remake Umrao Jaan. If instead of retreading the material without adding anything new, why not go back to the story and find something new to emphasize? See what could appeal to a new generation and concentrate on making a new film instead of spending piles of money to make a copy of a film that was made 30 years ago - image quality deteriorates with each photocopy...

As for the upcoming remakes - well Karz is being remade as Karzzz.

Urmila is playing Simi Garewal's role as the femme fatale and Himesh is taking up Rishi's silver-sequined role as "Monty." I know Urmila is great choice - Himesh I'm not sure of. What I'm really afraid for is the story. Karz, for all that it is about a rock star, actually spends very little time with the glitz and glamour of the life of a rock star. If you remember, most of the film takes place in Simi's old mansion and in Monty's mother's cottage, and Pran's back-water bar. Rishi's Monty didn't care for all the glitz and was glad to escape it all. Will an updated Monty in the new, more materialistic Bollywood be the same? Or will the new Monty drag the village girl into his glittery world instead?

If I had been consulted, as I obviously should have, here's what I hope for the upcoming Karzzzz:

* Part of the charm of the original for me was that pre-death Monty and post-death Monty are played by different actors. Let's keep it like that!

* Let's put more emphasis on how Monty might actually be crazy. I enjoyed how Bhool Bhuliyaa played with the concept of mental illness contrasting with traditional beliefs and that theme would work really well in an updated Karzzzz, as well, especially if Monty was played by two actors (see above point).

* Sorry, Pran, but there isn't room for an Uncle Kabira to take a large role in modern Bollywood. We'll streamline your part and maybe even sweet talk Rishi into playing it! Wouldn't he love that?! He already has the beard and it would hilarious to see Rishi just come from jail and ready to beat up any thug who touched his niece.

* A better role for Tina is absolutely necessary, she was just eye candy in Karz, but the modern woman deserves more screen time. Maybe Tina could be a trainee doctor or something... like Rani in Saathiya! And Monty could meet her the same way - visiting a family friend who works in the kitchen at his manager's house - but she'll be on her way home from studying medicine in Mumbai rather than a high school girl. Then when he tracks her down, she can play Scully to his Mulder and think that he actually is going mad!

* Finally, let's keep the wonderful tension between the older lady and Monty! Simi and Rishi had a nice chemistry and I'm crossing my fingers that Himesh and Urmila have the same.

Somehow, I just know they wouldn't have taken my advice, especially since Ravi and Monty are both going to be played by Himesh.

Fingersmith (2005): Not as good as the book, but still lovely

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:27:43 GMT

Oh, Fingersmith! The BBC mini-series was not as good as the book for a few reasons, but I enjoyed it anyways. I wouldn't recommend watching until after you've read the book, however, because one of the problems of the mini was the lack of characterization of all the characters except Susan and Maud. While I certainly appreciated all the attention lavished on their various dresssing and undressing rituals, the plot suffered for it. The other problem that makes the Fingersmith mini kind of mediocre are the many poor choices in blocking and/or editing. It seemed like every single shot was an over the shoulder at one character and then flipped to be over the shoulder of the other. When we did see two faces in the same shot, half the time one actor's back would be to the other! As a viewer, I should not be made aware of things like this.

That said, I really enjoyed the performances of the leads: Sally Hawkins as Susan and Elaine Cassidy as Maud.

In the novel, Maud describes herself as a book on a shelf, marked with her uncle's bookplate - her uncle being a sever Mr. Cassaubon type - just like every other volume. Cassidy does not play her quite as anal and neurotic as she comes across in the novel. We do get a sense of her underdeveloped humanity, however, with the white gloves she constantly wears.

I got the feeling that she welcomes Richard Rivers into her life because he gives her something else to think about besides bullying her lady's maid and playing secretary for her uncle. When he brings Susan, Maud is already a little off balance with ideas and plots, but still very constrained. Susan's wonderful, unaware ways of moving and speaking really facinate Maud. In the novel, Maud describes Susan walking across the carpet without regard to the pattern of squares and diagonals on it. With that small description, we see Maud as someone who does care and probably counts the tiles when she walks.

And of course, both women get caught up in the plot, trying to con one another. Giving me my favorite narrative of "Con Artist Ends Up Conning Her Own Heart" not once, but twice over! Win!

The ending is a bit rushed, but I didn't mind as that was the weakest part of the novel, anyways. Poor Imelda Staunton finally gets to do a little acting as Mrs. Sucksby towards the end, which is always fun to watch.

And now, the pretty:

The most enjoyable part of the film, by far, was the delightful 19th century costumes and the festishizing of both the clothes and the ritual dressing and undressing.

Undressing mistress...

The ladies in a lovely tangle of limbs and nightdresses and curls...

Seduction with erotic unbuttoning of gloves...

It's difficult to do up mistress's gown when she wants to stare into your eyes...

Mistress takes just as much pleasure in dressing up Susan...

And making sure Susan looks nice...

It makes the bleakness of the mental hospital that much worse...

Along with the steamy romance, Fingersmith has a couple of interesting things to play with: the Victorian idea of ladies being ruined with too much reading - Maud can read and Susan cannot - and just how things are complicated when everybody takes the word of a gentleman over the word of a lady. The latter plays well in the mini, as it is rather shocking to hear the men of authority just flat out refuse to believe Susan when she tries to tell them the truth. And finally, reunited over the literature Maud was "ruined" with...

Song of the Day: Yeh Kaun Aaj Aaya

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:28:10 GMT

From Bandhe Haath, which is turning out to not be quite as good as some of O.P. Ralhan's other works, although Mumtaz is deliciously plump and wonderful. Maybe part of the problem is that Ralhan didn't direct this one or perhaps Amitabh doesn't have it within him to capture the earnestness/angst over being good person yet being a criminal of a Dharmendra (Phool aur Patthar) or a Rajendra (Gehra Daag) or a Zeenat (Paapi) which make Ralhan's other films work so well. Amitabh in this era was more angry than contrite.

Song of the Day: Aag lage aaj kal de fashion nu

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:35:57 GMT

Taken from Haal-e-dil, a film directed by Ajay Devgan and (thankfully it would seem) did not receive an international release.

According to a couple of reviews I read, the story seems to be DDLJ-lite, but sluttier.

This song, however, is extremely catchy. I'm quite taken with it, although I can't figure out if the lyrics are telling me to burn up current fashion because I need to find my own style or to 'burn up' fashion by being super-hot.

Also, the costumes on the dancing girls are terrible! Who let them wear that?! (Ajay, I'm looking at you here... female dancers don't need to look slutty. It's not a requirement.)

Lastly, my posts will be light this weekend as I'm staying with my mother. Coming up next week: Episode 2 of Code Blue, the last O.P. Ralhan movie I could get my hands on as I think Pyaas has not been released to DVD: Baande Haath, more Nodame Cantabile, and I'm going to try to get to the first episodes of My Sweet City.

See you tomorrow!

Maou: Episode 1

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:10:44 GMT

I was a little hesitant to check out Maou. Not because I was in love with the original Korean Mawang, like dangermousie, but because when I think "Ohno" I think this:

And this:

And this:

Also, dangermousie, I figured out where I knew that kid from Mukodono from - he's Arashi's Aiba! (What? I like Arashi.)

So, you can understand that icy, cold lawyer + Arashi's Ohno = major short circuit in my brain. That said, I just couldn't stay away....

I was a little surprised to see Ohno looking like this. He's emotionless! (Although, I like to imagine that he's thinking about somebody stealing Nino away to get that expression.) And I can refer to him as EVIL LAWYER without hesitation. He's a different EVIL LAWYER from Joo Ji Hoon, but I think it works.

(Hi, Toma-chan!!!!!)

In contrast to the icy, calm coldness and directed purpose of EVIL LAWYER is the frantic, wildness of GOOD COP. I love that Toma-chan's face is never still. Also, he's always running places. He's a just a big ball of nerves and emotions with no appropriate outlet.

GOOD COP receives a Tarot Card of Doom in the mail.

In an interesting narrative choice on the part of the writers, we, the audience, already know who the criminal is and we have a pretty good idea of why EVIL LAWYER is doing what he's doing. I seem to recall not having any clue why EVIL LAWYER was up to no good even though I managed to get to episode 7 or 8 of Mawang. I like knowing the motive - although, I hope this is just a dummy motive and we'll be getting more information later.

PSYCHIC LIBRARIAN is introduced. She's kind of crushing on EVIL LAWYER. In another change from what I remember of Mawang, they've taken away her deaf mother and made her a lot less emo. I approve. Now, PSYCHIC LIBRARIAN is not crushed under the weight of her powers and also, she's an orphan raised in a church-run orphanage.

(Ohno likes church even though he's EVIL.)

EVIL LAWYER is stalking PSYCHIC LIBRARIAN for some reason. I'm not sure why. Maybe he knows that she has powers of some sort.

The first murder happens - faciliated by EVIL LAWYER - and the Cop Boss takes GOOD COP to visit PSYCHIC LIBRARIAN to have her "read" the tarot card connected with the victim. Toma-chan is worried, bless him. The victim was his laywer or his father's lawyer or something.

Well, EVIL LAWYER is the accused criminal's lawyer! Take that, Toma-chan, who is revealed to be EVIL LAWYER's ultimate victim. We get this great series of cut shots when the two meet. I love that we see each from a variety of angles, which seems to be showing that we all have more than one side - maybe we show the world just one face, but there is another.

Super-freaked by everything that's happening, GOOD COP takes the tarot card he received in the mail to be "read" by the PSYCHIC LIBRARIAN. She says, "No way! You didn't believe me the first time!"

"But it's different now that I could be the one who is killed!!!"

She's swayed by his high level of emotion... although I don't approve of his desire to get revenge. I'm not big on revenge in fiction.

Toma-chan and the PSYCHIC LIBRARIAN are too cute! She can't get a good "read" on the card, however. Toma-chan will just have to wait a few episodes to find out who sent it.

EVIL LAWYER is getting roughed up by the episode's murder victim's son and the irony of a man taking revenge for another man's revenge on his father is strongly hitting home how pointless the idea of REVENGE is and how this can only end in tragedy.

Toma-chan is forced to relive what I'm assuming is a bad memory of a mistake he made years ago...

...when he killed Ohno's brother....

...and he's really sorry! He's made a living as a cop! He's trying to catch all the bad guys!! HE'S SORRY!

It's funny watching Maou along with Iljimae considering the leads' revenge-driven lives. My sympathies lie with the secondary male leads in both, despite the mistakes they've made. Perhaps because in both cases, they have taken some responsibility for attoning for the mistakes instead of taking revenge and making life more miserable for everyone.

I'm definitely going to be watching more Maou!

Nodame Cantabile: Episodes 3 & 4

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:11:01 GMT

I know, Eita, my dear. The S-Oke can't start without it's concert master! Episodes 3 and 4 bring more entertaining Eita and Tamaki slashy goodness. Nodame amuses me, but Tamaki-kun's annoyance at her amuses me even more. *glee*

Episode 3 has Tamaki-kun dealing with the contra-bass player who is always running late. It turns out that she's poor and has to work to earn money to pay for school so she never has time to practice. Tamaki-kun, being a pragmatic sort of guy, tells her that she should quit school so that she can have time to practice. Eita doesn't think that's right. He stands up to Tamaki-kun and tells him that "A person like you wouldn't understand..." So very true, Eita!

Tamaki-kun feels guilty and goes to see the contra-bass player at home to apologize...of course Eita is waiting for him outside the contra-bassist's house! He knew Tamaki-kun would show up!

Eita makes S-Oke t-shirts to celebrate the new "Special Orchestra" unity!

Episode 4 has Tamaki-kun trying to beat the S-Oke into submission. He wants them to do exactly as he tells them and is frustrated with their lack of response to his dictatorial style.

Also, Tamaki-kun has a hard time brooding when Nodame seems to have moved into his apartment. (This screencap makes me laugh so hard and totally sums up their relationship!)

While Tamaki-kun is trying to force them to behave like perfect robots, Eita is playing loose and easy with his beloved rock and roll style. Neither one understands where the other is coming from and they clash and bicker and fight.

Eita reads up on how to be a concert master. He wants to do a good job and impress Tamaki-kun.

But Tamaki-kun has been distracted by the EVIL KOTATSU! YES! He has not yet given into Eita's rock and roll stylings because he is too busy lounging in the kotatsu and watching innane anime movies with Nodame.

Eita puts his new book learning to good use by trying to be Tamaki-kun's ~~Gay~~Raydar.

Aw! Leave him alone, Tamaki-kun! Eita's just trying to be a ~~Gay~~Raydar.

~~Gay~~Raydar plan fails..... Tamaki-kun is so fickle. Do you want a devoted concert master or don't you?!

(So pretty...*is distracted*) Eita gets a new plan! Lend Tamaki-kun a hand! Yes, the S-Oke will practice and follow the score exactly like little robots because that is what Tamaki-kun wants.

Eita gets to literally lend a hand when Tamaki-kun is felled by some food poisoning from Nodame's cooking.

(Classic Breakthrough Discovery in the Shower scene!) "Do I really want an orchestra of robots? I could just program the score into Digital Performer and get the same results...hmmm... ~~I wonder if Eita likes me?~~"

Tamaki-kun eats humble-pie at the next practice. He apologizes for making them into robots and says that he'll be counting on Eita.

And they can do the "Rock Thing!" Woo! Let's rock some Beethoven's 7th!

*smoulder*

*wink*

*squishes boys*

And in conclusion:

*Luvs!*

Song of the Day: Tumko piya dil diya

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:11:41 GMT

I've become mildly obsessed with this song picturization from Shikari - a film I cannot find any information on except that it's from 1963 and stars Helen, Ragini, Ajit, and Tun Tun. I want this movie!

Helen topped billed + set full of giant lotuses + Tun Tun = Happy filmi_girl!

This is such a lovely duet - Ragini is a good match for Helen.

Love Story 2050: My improved version!

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:28:35 GMT

From about 30 seconds after leaving the theatre after viewing Love Story 2050, I've been trying to figure out how I could have made it a better film. I was very enthusiastic about the premise - boy goes to the future and falls in love - and I hope that the failure of execution of Love Story 2050 won't kill off the Bollywood sci-fi genre.

My original thoughts are here and a hilarious 1-star review from rediff.

Here is my re-working of the film:

Filmi Girl ki Love Story 2050

Mumbai, Present Day: We meet our hero (who can still be played by Harman Baweja) Karan in his study. He is the son of a wealthy technology tycoon and is ignored by his father (who can still be played by Boman Irani), who is more interested in making money than in keeping family connections. Karan's mother and grandparents died years ago and he has no siblings. As a result of his upbringing, Karan is isolated from reality, cold, reserved, and fastidious in his day to day life. He spends a lot of time working on obscure mathmatical and physics problems in his study - very theoretical stuff. He's very interested in the concept of time and we keeps to very tight schedule. The opening could show him going through a precise routine of waking up at 6am, prayers, breakfast, etc. all at the same time every day.

Karan's father is after him to join the family business, but Karan resists. His father forces him to attend a stuffy business cocktail party, which is where we meet Karan's father's #1 business rival (played by somebody like Shabana Azmi), a woman who has a cheerful and pleasent exterior but inside is a shrewd, cruel woman. The audience gets to see her be very mean to a servant and she is a little too interested in Karan. Karan manages to escape out to the city and wanders at random, having left his car back at the party. He stumbles across a large crowd and is swept up into what seems to be a motor-bike race. He spots a vivacious and spunky woman (who should be played by Kareena Kapoor) and while attempting to move a bit closer to her, he is pushed to the front of the crowd and realizes that she is racing! We get one (1 only) race sequence and get to see the mystery girl kick butt and win the race, but she takes some very risky moves. It should be obvious that she is unsafe even if she wins - which she does. He doesn't meet her, but picks up her something - would a watch be too cheezy? her dupatta? her helmet? He has something of hers.

Karan is in big trouble with his father, but he doesn't care because he is invigorated by this mystery woman. The next day he tries to find her. He looks and looks. After giving up, he spots her on a public bus. He has to run to catch the bus - emphasizing how he has loosened his tight standards of behavior. He makes it and meets her. Caught up in the rush from chasing and catching the bus, he asks her on a date. She is amused and says "Yes".

Mystery Girl, whose name is Sana, finds Karan kind of awkward but charming. She likes getting him to loosen up a bit and do exciting things in the world and not just live in his head all the time. He starts applying this new feeling to his work and begins to tinker with devices to work out his previously in theory only physics designs. We find out that Sana is poor, comes from a broken home, but has a loving granny. They fall very much in love and Karan gets up the courage to ask her to marry him. She says "No!" *DOOM* Sana is too much of a free spirit to want to settle down and she has the memory of the broken home hanging over her head. She runs away.

Karan is sad and puts ALL of his energy into his tinkering. Sana is sad and after talking with her granny, she changes her mind and decides to say "Yes!" She text messages Karan to tell him that she wants to meet and has something to say. Karan is all excited and arrives LATE because he wants to look good. Sana sees him approaching from across the street. She dashes out into traffic to meet him and is hit by a truck and dies.

Deep in grief, Karan once again locks himself in his room to play with his time devices. Unbeknownst to him, however, Evil Business Rival Lady - that we met at the party at the beginning - has been doing some industrial sabotage and has had a lackey short circuit a wire or mess something up in some other way in Karan's lab. The heavens are as upset as Karan and in the middle of huge storm, with the crossed wire, Karan tries to time travel back 1 day to make sure that he is early to meet Sana and instead sends himself into the future with a huge explosion!

Mumbai 2050: Karan wakes up to find himself someplace unfamiliar until he looks around and realizes that he is the ruins of his lab. He stumbles around the poor section of Mumbai trying to figure things out. He learns that he is in the year 2050 and goes to the library to figure out what happened to his father - to see if he could get help that way. He learns that his father lost everything after Karan's "death" in the explosion. His business rival bought out the company and his father donated what was left of his money to an ashram and spent the rest of his days in prayer and repentence. Karan tracks down the ashram and one of the wise men there figures out who he is and offers help to get Karan back to his own time - insert some stuff about cycle of life and how there is a window of time where Karan can cycle back to his own time but they need to figure out what happened first.

First stop in figuring out the explosion is Karan gets a job as a janitor in Business Rival's company thinking that maybe he can access her files or something. Instead, he finds out that Business Rival is still alive and looks exactly the same as she did in the past - the result of massive plastic surgery - and has a granddaughter that she likes to claim is her "daughter - a granddaughter who looks exactly like Sana! *SHOCK*

Sana-a-like is nothing like Sana. She is cold and she's afraid of her grandmother. She is also a singer - a superstar! She puts on a show onstage but shuts down emotionally afterwards. Sana-a-like meets Karan when she's hosting an amatuer singers show. He sneaks on to meet her - confusing her with Sana - and sings a song that Sana loves. Maybe a rehash of a song from the first half. Sana-a-like becomes interested in him. She falls in love with him, but he is still holding a torch for his Sana.

Then we can get to some of the actual Love Story 2050 where people around Sana-a-like tell her that Karan is crazy and then Business Rival figures out what is really going on and wants to kidnap Karan to make him tell her about time travel - she wants to time travel to the past thinking that it will make her young again. Etc. etc.

What it comes down to is that the holy man at the ashram and Karan with the help of some documents stolen by Sana figure out how to send him back, but he realizes that time travel is not as easy as punching in a number and ending up at a certain time and place. There are rules and cycles and he can't go back and save Sana. It is impossible. Karan must then choose whether he wants to stay in the future with the Sana-a-like who loves him or to travel back to the past and be a good son and save his father from years of suffering.

What does he pick?!!!! Of course he picks the past. He travels back and greets his father, who is weeping over the body of his son.

YAY! *sniff* THE END!

Well? Who wants to see my film?

10 ka Dum and Salman's blog!

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:26:28 GMT

Please enjoy viewing Aamir on Salman's game show Dus Ka Dum. Salman praises Aamir's professionalism and Aamir praises Salman's style. How sweet! (I love my Khans...!) I think Aamir's next film is Ghajini which has a plot set-up similar to Memento and Sallu's next is either Hello... which takes place over one evening at a call center or God Tussi Great Ho (FINALLY).

And thank you The Bollywood Fan for alerting me to the fact that Salman has a blog!

From Salman's Blog:

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Day 26 - 10 Ka Dum
I find it disturbing also that some film makers want to make only what is called ‘dollar cinema’ … with no consideration for audiences living in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. They ignore the rupee paying rural audience. This only betrays their ignorance about human beings. I am glad that there is no such misgiving in the minds of the makers of television programmes. And the good part is that television reaches a far far larger audience. While, it is not possible for me to acknowledge everybody individually, I wish to thank all those people who have liked Dus ka Dum, and continue to enjoy it irrespective of whether they live in India or abroad. The nice part is that no matter where they live it makes me feel I live in their heart and that is such a wonderful feeling. Thank you feels so small a word to say…

I like knowing that despite his great style that Salman has more going inside his brain than what to wear next. How sad it would be if popular Hindi film split into two categories - those for rural audiences and those for the wealthy and NRI audiences...

Song (Promo) of the Day: Mission Istanbul

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:16:14 GMT

Mission Istanbul is coming out either this weekend or next depending on where one lives. The plot has something to do with Suniel Shetty being a total bad-ass (I approve) and Zayed Khan running a TV station in Istanbul and getting mixed up in a terrorist plot.

Abhi is going to do a cameo and the imdb credits list a George W. Bush impersonator. Take from that what you will.

From the previews, Mission Istanbul looks like a fun movie, if one lacking in lady charactors who do more than wait to be rescued or hang around and provide "inspiration" for the heroes to get down to macho taking care of business. When will movie-makers figure out that having strong female characters in action movies is a good thing? For one thing, strong female charactors bring in viewers like me who loved Bipasha's tough cop and Aishwarya's dopey thief in Dhoom 2.

Still, I'll go see Mission Istanbul if it comes to my local theatre, if only to "admire" (by which I mean drool over) Suniel Shetty in his EVIL avatar.

Nodame Cantabile: Episodes 1 and 2

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:53:10 GMT

In between waiting for subs for Iljimae and the handful of airing shows that I'm following, I decided to finally watch Nodame Cantabile. It's been recommended to me before, but I never had any interest until tatterpunk mentioned that the OTP is Eita/Tamaki Hiroshi. Why didn't anyone mention that before?! Hmmm?! Nodame Cantabile is so cute and funny!

First of all, the interactions between Nodame and Tamaki-kun are hilarious. He's so pompous and she's...well.... she's slovenly, not that bright, a spastic, a glutton, and a talented pianist.

He treats her like a naughty pet and it is so funny! I could watch Tamaki-kun be outraged at her slovenly habits all day long.

Yes, I love Eita. Sure, he's kind of odd-looking, with that beaky nose and his frizzy hair and his gangly limbs, but I find him extremely compelling. Plus, in Nodame, he is only going to live for rock until he meets a certain conductor-wannabe...

Eita keeps trying to prove that he is good and Tamaki-kun keeps shooting him down with extreme arrogance! I love it!

Oh! The woe! Eita might enjoy classical if only stupid Tamaki-kun would give him a chance!

Hee! Keep bragging Tamaki-kun! This whole exchange was hilarious. Tamaki-kun keeps turning every annecdote about himself into a chance to brag about his abilities! I was laughing so hard at all of Eita's annoyed expressions.

And finally, a small measure of understanding as they share a duet on stage. Tamaki-kun is "directing" Eita and will continue to do so for the rest of the series, I am hoping. Yes.

Along with the excellent Eita/Tamaki-kun slashy goodness, I'm also enjoying the nice classical score. They picked some great pieces to use. Has anyone read the manga and is it as good as the drama? Anyone?

Song of the Day: Milo Na Milo

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:41:12 GMT

I know what you're thinking: "Gosh, filmi_girl, I'm so tempted by your description of the second half of Love Story 2050 that I think I just might go to the theatre to see it..."

To which I have to reply: "DON"T DO IT! Instead, watch this highly entertaining dance sequence from the second half of the film over and over until you can get the movie on DVD."

Papa Baweja does not linger as longingly on his son the way Papa Roshan does, but it's still an entertaining item number.