Author Archives: Dennis

The Crow

The Crow [1994]

Director: Alex Proyas
Actor: Brandon LeeDavid Patrick KellyMichael WincottErnie Hudson

This movie is pretty old, and doesn’t need a review. Anyone who claims to be a movie-buff and hasn’t seen it yet should go and stand in a corner and be thoroughly ashamed of himself. Instead, this post is a praise.

In short, this movie is about a man, who, together with his girlfriend, gets killed by thugs the night before they are to be wed, as a result of them spearheading a fight against a forced tenant relocation plan for their building. The thugs, ordered by the local crime lord, are to put a scare in them, but things get out of hand, and both die.

The man comes back to life, one year later, to take his revenge on the killers. Not only does he come back to life, but he seems to be invulnerable and he has some super-natural abilities to help him on his way. Guided by a crow, his link to the realm of the dead, and the source of his super-natural powers, he makes his way through a nightmarish urban setting in search of the killers.

This movie simply oozes atmosphere. With a relatively low budget, but with an incredibly sense of underlying urban horror, simply superb lighting and excellent cinematography, this movie has long-since been in top three of my favourite movie-list.

I’m going to have to channel Cazmonster: This movie has so much cool it hurts.

Frida

Frida [2002]

Director: Julie Taymor
Actor: Salma HayekAlfred MolinaAntonio BanderasAshley JuddEdward Norton

The story is a biography of the life of Frida Khalo, a Mexican artist who, at a very young age gets injured in an accident. Shortly thereafter he career as a political activist and painter takes off, when she meets her future husband Diego Rivera, an artist, the leader of the communist party, and big-time womaniser. They fall in love and get married, which is the beginning of a long and stormy relationship, which fuels Frida’s artistic talent as much as her injury and her life of constant physical pain fueled her talent.

From her accident, to her trips abroad, through her entire relationship, right past her stormy affair with Leon Trotsky, to the moment when her body has completely given up on her.

I found the movie to be…plain, but not in a bad way. The special affects were sober, added a lot of feeling to the movie by bringing the artistic aspect come to life by shooting some of the scenes in a surrealistic way. The acting was superb. From Ms. Hayek’s excellent performance in which she obviously put a lot of work in, to Mr. Molina’s role, to Mr. Norton’s small, but fitting part as a Rockefeller…to the long forgotten dude who played Q on Star Trek as Russian dissident Leon Trotsky.

20070412

So I visited my father yesterday, and he’s completely yellow, due to the fact that his liver died on him. There are some more complications regarding his galbladder, but all in all it’s not looking good. They haven’t decided a course of action yet, but they should by the end of the week. When I came in he was a little bitter and down about things, but I quickly figured out why; someone was coming to put an IV in his arm, which isn’t so easy with my father. He was nervous and reacted a little bit grumpy. By the time that was over and done with, and we got to talk a little he loosened up. By the time I said goodbye we had been joking and laughing and everything was Kool and the Gang.

I talked to Eva about things on the way back, and apparently, she had discussed things with her mother. The conclusion was that while some of my burden was self-inflicted, I had a disproportionate amount of it to bear, and that it’s always something. I never really looked at it that way, but I guess I have been hit by a spell of bad luck for as long as I can remember. Not that I’m not happy, and that I don’t thrive, and achieve goals, and laugh, and have fantastic friends, but there’s always some sort of hardship to endure. I wonder how it has changed me. I know that I’m a little more stoic than I probably should be, but I wonder what I would look like if I had an easier life. Probably less compassionate, I would say. My compassion has grown a lot over the last fifteen years or so.

I think that throughout the ordeal (for lack of a better word) of both my parents falling ill, I think my stoicism has helped me deal with the immediate things quite well. But it has also prevented me from processing the implications of what is happening, and the consequences of the very real chance of a not-so-happy-ending. I think I’m still in the infamous denial phase, though I’m not acting like nothing’s going on. I’m reading up and arranging for euthanasia declarations because both my parents have very well-defined wishes regarding that. (It’s best to get it out of the way. It can only prevent hassle when the time comes.) But I’m doing all of this on borrowed time. My stoicism takes a lot of effort, and my energy to keep it up is finite. Once it depleted I’ll be forced to deal with things on a more emotional level. I’ll have to play catch-up, doing all the processing that I should’ve done earlier, and I won’t have the mental fortitude to do that, since I already spent all my energy remaining pragmatic and stoic.

So one of three things could happen. A) I could turn out to be lucky, and everything will be alright, and I won’t have to deal with anything. This option has my preference. B) I will turn out to be stronger than I think I am, dealing very well either through stoicism or supreme emotional maturity. Yeah right. Or C) I will fall apart for a little while. I’m not really looking forward to that.

So far so good, however. Chin up.