nan | 楠木

There’s a heavy metal festival going on at the nearby 13Club (close to Wudaokou), an underground rock pub of some fame. Not a huge fan of heavy metal myself, but I was nearby, and having nothing better to do, I decided to check it out.

I arrived around close to 11. It was probably the 3rd or 4th band performing that night – I soon realized that each band were only allocated 3 songs – and there would be a total of 30 bands over a week’s performance.

The first band was noisy, but not really inspiring. The lead singer had long hair which he could rock into a spin-wheel of sorts. The music was loud, the bass and drums heavy, and in the small club there was a small pit forming where young over-drunk students smashed into each others’ bodies for fun. A few foreigners, some seriously over-aged for this adolescent stuff I thought, were waving in agreement to the band.

The second band was better, in that their songs were more aggressive in content. There was a fiercely nationalistic song, where they chanted “Changbai Mountain is ours, Diaoyu Island is ours, Taiwan is ours, and Tibet is ours!” For some reason I had a chill down my spine when I saw the students strongly ignited by this song.

Their next song, appropriately titled “八荣八耻”, was even more “offensive” in material. You can check out the lyrics here. There were loud cheers when the climatic line of “以一dang专政为耻”came out. Hmmm, that’s more like the spirit of rock.

Apparently this was the climax of the night, as by the time the next band appeared, most of the crowd had dissipated. And that wasn’t much of a shame, as this band’s music sounded fairly generic, even to my ears, and perhaps not heavy enough for the crowd’s taste. I left before the last band was to perform – not sure if I missed anything interesting.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a bleak adult fairy-tale, and at many times a film too depressing to watch – but that is exactly the strength of the narrative.

Set in General Franco’s Spain towards the end of World War II, the central character of the story is Ofelia, a young girl whose father had died and her mother Carmen remarried to an army captain. The captain, Vidal, is a cruel and somewhat sadistic man (think Ralph Fiennes’ role in Schindler’s List and you get the idea), avowedly loyal to the fascist regime and proud of his duty to crush the rebels. Carmen is pregnant with Vidal’s child (he insists it’s a son), but Vidal is only interested in the birth of the baby and him being present at its birth – and therefore Carmen and Ofelia travel to his outpost at the foot of the hills where the rebels are in hiding.

The film opens with a beautiful scene set in the hilly woods. Carmen and Ofelia’s motorcade stops so that they can catch some fresh air, and Ofelia wanders off to explore the woods. The scene is captured in a bright, warm hue, and everything seems basking in gold. Ofelia encounters a strange insect, who seems to be highly intelligent – this is the beginning of her adventure.

At the army camp, Ofelia is obviously of inferior position – her “father” clearly disapproves of her and her fairy-tale fancies, and her mother is too sick (burdened by the baby and the traveling). Therefore she is free to explore her own fantasies – the insect leads her to a hidden well inside a ancient labyrinth (garden maze) nearby. She meets a faun, who claims that she is a princess, the long lost daughter of the king of the underworld, and he her servant. To regain her princess title and become immortal again, she must complete three tasks.

If my description of the film so far sounds very Harry Potter-ish to you and sounds like a good film for the young, then I should apologize for not being clear. As other scenes early on and these three tasks clearly illustrate, Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark, mature film, and very adult in content. What starts as a warm, dreamy film soon loses the warmth in hue and becomes cold and bleak. Death, violence, fear, greed – these are some of the film’s core themes.

The film develops along two lines of narrative – the real world (clash of the army and the rebels) and Ofelia’s fantasy adventure – which don’t merge until the very end into a shattering tragedy. It is arguable whether Ofelia’s world existed or not – the film seems to leave much evidence to support either claim – and this room for different interpretations gives the film thought-provoking depth.

So what do I think that this film is trying to say? I am in real-life a big optimist, but on this film I’m pessimistic. Ofelia’s escapism, and ultimate tragedy, reveal all the things that are wrong with our world – the lack of compassion, morality and justice. In her adventures, Ofelia can commit a mistake (that of greed) and be given a second chance (an even greater choice to make where she eventually prevails), whereas in real-life she is a victim of endless suffering.

Pan’s Labyrinth, in many ways, invoke similar feelings as that of The Dark Knight. Both films can be considered depressing fables for adults – one a fairy tale, the other a comic adaptation – and both make me cherish life more.

8/10

The Double Life of Veronique, as this film is named in the US, is in body and spirit a woman’s film. That such a feminine film is the work of a male director is in itself no small accomplishment – while I can only try in futile to grasp the myriad emotions flowing , Krzysztof Kieslowski obviously has found a path deep into the soul of our female counterparts.

As a film that tackles existential questions, the plot is not worth mentioning – indeed you can say there is hardly any plot. In a thriller (my typical genre), the same material would be covered in (gasp!) two minutes of over-cutting a la Michael Bay. But to suggest such editing is akin to heresy – because in a film of emotions and philosophical depth, you study every scene and every note, searching for clues to the questions in your own heart. It’s like staring at the sky in a starry night – everyone watches the same, but everyone sees differently.

But alas, I should talk something about this film, otherwise this would make for a very short review. As the title suggests, there is a girl named Veronique, who lives in France. There is also an identical girl, Weronika, living in Poland. Both girls love music, and both girls are not in great physical condition (heart problems). They are always searching, searching for something that they feel is missing in their lives. And in some indescribable way, they can at times sense their connection.

The film explores their inner worlds with great subtlety, and the mood of the film – that slight note of sorrow and amiss – certainly fits with the theme of searching for meaning. The score (of which there are quite a lot of analyses and discussions) is arguably the heart and soul of the film. I would not pretend that I understood all the layers of meanings and metaphors – to do so is similar to trying to understand all the intricacies of a woman’s heart, and that’s something I believe I haven’t succeeded in so far.

There are certain films (like this one) which I must compel myself to watch. They don’t fall into my usual genre interests, and are arguably too touchy-feely for my tastes (hence the hypothetical Michael Bay above), but they do form an important part of film literature, and gives me a broader perspective. Enough said.

7/10

Dial M for Murder is Alfred Hitchcock’s crisp and enjoyable mystery thriller. It’s not as bold and grand as some of Hitchcock’s other works, and almost all the story happens in the confinement of one small apartment, but that’s exactly the beauty of the film.

The plot follows retired tennis star Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), who has discovered his wife’ Margo’s (Grace Kelly) affair with American writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Tony decides to employ an elaborate plot to kill his wife, blackmailing another person to do the act. However, as the writer points out, the perfect plan never works in reality because of the unpredictable things that inevitably happens – and the attempted murderer is killed instead by Margo.

Tony improvises his plan as the police launch an investigation, and Margo is convicted of murder – but then the inspector starts developing other ideas, and of course we know what would happen in the end.

The events are confined to Tony’s apartment, and this restriction gives the film an almost theater-like style. Dialogues drive the film, and it’s very witty and fast exchanges. The film has that classic English style – indeed, Tony’s a true English gentleman in appearance, and it’s very enjoyable to watch him trying to stay cool and maintain his class – even when things start going under.

From the beginning we’re clear of Tony’s intentions, so the mystery in this film is not who did it, but how it will turn out. And in true film noir fashion, everything that can go wrong does go wrong – or so it seems, and there are plenty of twists where you least expected them.

8/10

洋品牌纷纷站出来声明，“在这个特殊时期”不会涨价。这真是民族品牌的悲哀。

前些天，汇源被可乐收购，果然掀起了一波“保护民族品牌”的论战。没想到只是过了这么几天，我们珍惜的民族品牌便给我们上了一课。

其实无论是洋大人还是民族品牌，都是资本家，遵循的都是“唯利是图”的原则。而区别在于，洋大人那里健全的监管制度，以及时间自然赋予的积淀，迫使洋大人们规规矩矩，或者至少要比我们规范许多。而中国，由于没有中立、客观的监管体系，由于众所周知的官商关系，资本家的唯利是图自然会跨越道德底线，去拿人的身家性命作为企业的利润源泉——而这些利润又被外国投资者分享，洋大人们真是英明，杀人不见血。

中国的乳业本来是这几年来的神话，在放了一个又一个像蒙牛这样的火箭之后，终于集体熄火。这次影响到底有多大，隐藏的问题还有多少，恐怕只能参考美国的金融危机——一切皆有可能，制约我们的只有我们的想象力。

在这一严重的事故面前，媒体的集体失声（我只在和讯上看到有专题，中文报道也是外国媒体远多于国内媒体），官方声明的刻意乐观（大部分产品是安全的云云），相关部门的自相矛盾（质检总局说“我们没有检测三聚氰胺的流程”到“去年宠物毒粮事件后抽查了包括奶粉在内的产品均未检测出三聚氰胺”），以及企业的故作无辜状（蒙牛副总裁接受央视采访，对蒙牛出现问题表示“震惊”），让人实在没有信心我们能吸取多少教训，能有多少改变。

回到汇源被收购，我倒是很乐意这样的事情发生——因为这样，全球的可乐股东要为汇源产品负责，汇源有无问题关系到的不仅仅是生命不值钱的中国消费者和中国投资者，有了洋大人的庇护我们也总算有放心的果汁喝了。牛奶看来也还是交给洋大人照看比较好。

悲哀。

The Other Boleyn Girl features a stunning cast and an intriguing story, and based on these merits it’s more than an entertaining picture to spend two hours on.

The cast features Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman as the Boleyn sisters, Mary and Anne. Eric Bana plays King Henry, while in notable supporting roles there are Jim Sturgess (of recent 21 fame) and Kristin Scott Thomas. The story, loosely adapted from the historical novel of the same name, follows the Boleyn family in their pursuit of royalty and power, using none other than the beauty of the sisters as the bait for the king. Their scheming pays off initially, but then jealousy between the sisters, and the over-ambition of Anne (she was determined to be queen) led to their eventual catastrophic downfall.

Natalie Portman, as Anne, gives a commanding performance, and firmly relegates Scarlett Johansson to “the other girl” role, which somewhat ironically should be the central character (the book was written to tell the story of the “other Boleyn girl”, Mary, who historically lived in her famed sister’s shadows). Portman shows agility and intensity, whereas Johansson seemed to be a little out of place – and it must be said she looks much better in modern costumes.

Speaking of costumes, this is a fairly lavish production, and the corruptness of Henry’s court is translated into vivid images on-screen. Bana’s figure especially impresses, and of course the ladies have their fair share of extravagant set pieces.

The narrative flows quite well, though perhaps the story could have been more refined. I felt the pace was somewhat hurried – perhaps too much material has been crammed in. Nonetheless, a fine film to watch.

7/10

两个奥运还没有结束，压了一段时间的三鹿事件终于爆发了。从最开始把责任全盘推给奶农，到如今全行业近乎集体落马，到政府开始革官员的职，奶粉注定要成为地震、奥运之后的08又一关键词。

昨天看凤凰卫视，阮次山尖锐批评了“免检”这一概念——为什么龙头企业就可以免检？免检是给政府省了麻烦，那谁来照顾消费者的利益？我这才意识到，原来“免检”是这样一个有中国特色的概念，而且仔细一想，这分明在经济学上是会激励出掺假的行为的——所以如今的行业危机，可以说制度是难逃其咎的。

奶粉不能吃了。雪糕不能吃了。什么酸酸乳啊乱七八糟的也都集体下水。很难不问，我们究竟可以吃什么。

就在这样的情况下，还有人为政府的危机处理叫好，我只能把这解读为笑话。刚才凤凰的报道，这样的问题似乎2005年就有了。加上去年的美国有毒宠物食品事件，从中国进口的食品中的主角也是这个三聚氰胺，我不能不问，这样拖沓的应对还能叫做危机处理吗？

三鹿这次令人心寒，然而现在的调查方向似乎只是在寻找供应商（奶农）的问题（已正式逮捕两人），对于三鹿及相关部门的失职将如何处理？

新西兰的总理出来做声明，固然是为了为三鹿的股东（新西兰公司）做危机公关，但声明的内容则把矛头直指地方部门的严重失职。这条新闻我最先是在凤凰卫视上看到，大陆的媒体似乎鲜有提及。百度新闻目前可以搜索到两条，其中和讯那条已经打不开。Google上搜到的都是外电以及各种反华网站的报道。

更新：英文博客imagethief有篇从公共角度看此事件的长文；chinasmack转载天涯论坛的文章，有消费者表示早在5月便因产品问题与三鹿纠葛，后被三鹿以几千元收买封口。

I’ve finally started reading again. I’m halfway through Into Thin Air, and I recently finished The Call of the Wild on my iPod. Speaking of which, the iPod ebook apps, such as Stanza and eReader, offers great features and ease of use. The free downloads of tons of classics leave me no excuse but to dig in… And the screen is beautiful to read at bed time with the lights off. Truly a habit changing technology.
Posted from my iPod Touch while in Guomao.

Winner of the 2007 Oscar for best foreign language film, The Lives of Others is an engaging drama about the depressing lack of freedom under the communist regime of East Germany.

The film follows Wiesler, a wiretapping specialist of the National Security, who has been put in charge of surveillance of a high profile writer, Georg Dreyman. Wiesler develops a fascination and genuine admiration for Dreyman’s girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland, who is an accomplished actress. Driven by this admiration, and an awakening of conscience, Wiesler puts himself at risk when he tries to cover up Dreyman’s “anti-state” activities.

This picture is both a chilling thriller and a vivid character study. Wiesler appears at first to be the symbolic worker drone – a middle aged, single man who is absolutely loyal to the state and who is proud of his expertise (surveillance and interrogation). However, under the numbness of his cold face we can observe traces of humanity – the fire in his eyes when he first sees Christa-Maria on stage, the deep thought he elapses into after reading a contraband book taken from Dreyman’s apartment. He starts to care the lovers, trying to steer them clear from harm’s way, and in doing so perhaps he has also rediscovered his own values.

The subtlety of this flow of emotions is what makes this film such an accomplishment. Wiesler has no one to discuss his internal struggles, and as a trained secret agent he hardly lets his true feelings show – but through the slightest of facial expressions and body gestures the message is clearly conveyed. And the bleakness of the social background is not spelt out in big capital letters, so to speak – it is just silently evident, from the lifeless bar where only a few guests drank in dead quiet to the often empty streets and Wiesler’s dreary apartment.

There has been criticism of the film’s plot, mostly at its plausibility. The biggest issue, as I see it, is how Wiesler could have the authority to operate alone – it is certainly much more realistic if he and another agent spied on each other. However, such a setup would have made the plot much more convoluted, and I’m willing to tolerate such a plot of convenience for the sake of the message being delivered.

German films about life in East Germany, as far as I know, are still a relatively new thing. Which is understandable – the wall was still standing just two decades ago, and it’s much more easier and convenient to forget about the unfortunate past and get on with life (after all, the real-life people of such stories are trying to live a new life). The same goes for films about the cultural revolution in China. However, there are so many lessons we can learn from those moments in history that makes the recounting of it (however painful or inconvenient to some as that may be) ultimately well worthwhile.

9/10