Baklava

I have always blamed the movies produced in the US for their lack of realism. And on the contrary, I have been praising European production for its depiction of events and people as they are. A recent conversation with a friend on Skype prompted me to reconsider my stance on liberalism in European cinema after discovering a coming-of-age film called Baklava. I did my research, and was amazed by the things I found. The film was produced in Bulgaria and among other things shows the reality there – the corrupt politics related to the mafia, the bought media ( both TV and newspapers ), the horrible conditions in a Bulgarian home for children. Due to these factors, the film was banned in the country where it was produced – the government’s political influence over the media led to the prohibition of its release on their territory. However, Baklava was shown on several festivals in US, UK and Netherlands and received raving reviews from the audience – it is currently called ” The Most Wanted Bulgarian film ” and is gaining popularity day by day .

I haven`t seen the film, which is why I am going to quote its plot summary published at IMDB:

“A country in the heart of the Peninsula. Two brothers, separated by the timelessness of the Transition. A collage of an end neighborhood with a slew of funny characters, child’s fantasies and dark dreams – a quest through the intimate secrets of Bulgaria. Djore is 26, dresses in black, listens to drum & bass and does graffiti. Kotze is 9, wears a silver chain, steals, fights and loves pop-folk. Despite their differences, the brothers hit the road in search of a buried treasure, which their grandmother had willed to them. On the way they will encounter unbelievable adventures, unexpected characters and undiscovered truths.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9ShUQNvwwA

The film`s page at IMDB

An article about the film in Sofia Echo

Oscar Pinta

Continuing the review of short movies I selected an Australian one as the 5th to be featured at theskykid.com. The name of the film is Oscar Pinta and it was directed by Joanna Quintanilla – who at the time was a University student. What initially attracted me to the film was its weird summary :

“A young boy takes a photograph of a stranger and is slowly consumed by the man’s soul.”

I am fond of street photography myself and having read the above description my impatience to see the film was quite understandable. Thankfully I found it posted on YouTube. I saw it and ended up liking it. It is a 5 minutes short done quite professionally, especially in terms of cinematography. The camera work and the visuals used in the film create a unique atmosphere in the film which even some full-featured films failed to achieve. I would also like to mention Michael Kotaridis who played the boy in the film as after seeing the film I have quite a high opinion of his acting talent. The film has almost half a million views on youtube and most of the comments there indicate that people are quite fond of it – and the best way to know your opinion about Oscar Pinta is to leave me a comment after seeing it.

Last Stand (2003)

” The history written in books and newspapers isn`t always the history written in the hearts of those who lived it “

Last stand is an American short movie which admittingly surprised me with the quality of its production. The film tells the touching story of the unlikely friendship between a wounded cavalry soldier and a young Lakota boy . Last stand is a visually rich film – the dialogue is minimum and instead Gabe Torres ( the film`s director ) relied heavily on the skills of the the two leading actors Jason London and Joseph Saul. Their facial expressions are nothing short of example of a brilliant acting. An excellent camerawork and attention to details ( such as the costumes and the history events concerned ) add an extra value to this short film.

Last Stand was a special movie to me. Partly because I studied US history in the US – but at the same time my teacher was honest enough to state that what is in the textbook has been changed several times throughout the years and what he was teaching was different than what we learned as a student himself. Sadly the history has the tendency to repeat itself – I like most boys have always been found of the native Americans – and think that the world would have been a better place shall they were allowed to live by their own rules , following their own traditions. Instead someone decides that his way of leaving in the correct one , that his nation is the bearer of civilization and every one else could be called “savage” and treated as such.

I recommend highly the short film Last Stand. If you get a chance to see this, don’t miss out !

2 Minutter/ 2 Minutes

Can you hold your breath ?

I selected a more “uplifting title” as a 3rd entry in the short movies review series at theskykid.com. The name of the film is “2 minutes ” and it relies stringy on its cinematography and excellent musical shore. There is no spoken dialogue – but the director ( Jacob Tschernia) decided to use a lot of close up camera shots and attention focusing techniques .

On first watch the film`s plot seems rather simple – a boy is trying to brake his own record , holding his breath under the water in a white bathtub. But it doesn`t takes long for the viewer to sense that something more is going on…for example although in the film we see another boy ( both boys are played by Mark Emil Schwarz- just like Feddie Highmore did 2 roles in Spiderweek chronicles ) – its existance is rather doubtful – so one may think if that`s two separate characters he is seeing or one is a projection of the other .

At the end of my short review of the short film 2 Minutes I would like to quote its official description on the DFI website:

“The best way to find out who you are is to test your own limits – to do the utmost of your ability.”

Room for troughts – now you have it – and if you see the film don`t forget to leave me comments with your impressions from it.

2 Minutter is distributed by the Danish film institute and you can see its official page on their web site .

Killing the spot

Killing the spot is the second short movie in the series of movie reviews planned to appear at my blog. Just like El Balancín de Iván the film I choosed came from Spain . Killing the spot is based on the comic counterpart Fernando de Felipe, in the album “Utopia & Marketing”. Its first scene have the typical gore horror feeling which prepares your senses to what you are about to see in the next minutes .

Interview behind the prison bars and flashbacks are the methods of filming in the film. I did not like it – it was too dark for my taste – and the only reason for it to me mentioned at theskykid.com is that it illustrates how a unhealthy upbringing could affect the physiological development of a young person- to such extremes that a monster could be born.

Pork cans. Dolls. Bowling. And plastic. Everything is a nonsense, but at the same time are the elements linked to the mind of the killer, Bill. His psychiatrist, Dr. Basil tries to analyse these elements to understand the reasons that led to the killings .

The film is available at youtube , but the scenes in it are shocking and not reccomendable for anyone younger than 12 . That is why I decided not to embed the film in my blog -and if you are interested – consider yourself as warned and search for them. Of course any comments you may have on the short film or my take on it are welcomed .

El Balancín de Iván(2002)

This is the first of the series of short movies I am going to review at theskykid.com. The films I have in mind are around 30 – which guarantees that you will have something to look for in the near future .

I picked the Spanish drama ” El Balancín de Iván ” as a first film to review. What immediately got me in it was the cinematography and the excellent use of lighting and shadow effects .

The atmosphere in the film felt nostalgic and doomed and the director succeeded to translate the emotions of his characters to the viewers . The film concentrates on the life of a family in Argentina during the dictatorship in that country.

A woman walking on deserted streets recalls her own childhood- her parents and the games she used to play with her little brother. The news on the TV and the newspapers articles are the means by which the recent political development spread. The father is absent , and while the children are playing – their model is looking worryingly trough the window. In the next few scenes we observe the most important scenes in the film – trough which the director illustrates the attempts of the parents to keep their children away from worries and troughts about a possible disaster.

This has also been portrayed in other films and one could probably wonder if that is the best way to act – when you have children and there is a danger around – would you try to pretend that the life goes normal or would you let them know what worries you ? There might be various answer to that question and may be El Balancín de Iván would shape your way of thinking in favour of one of them.

The film autobiographical , set on real events and quite intense – I think that you would end up enjoying its 20 minutes . The film was directed by Exodus Productions and received numerous awards at festivals and competitions all over the world .

One advice before you see the film :

Pay attention to the language, mostly to the advice given from Ivan’s father before jumping on the balance beam…

“No hay más miedo que el que se siente cuando ya no sientes ná”

Technical Data:
Director: Darío Stegmayer Director
Actores: Juan Diego Botto Actors
María Botto
Ernesto Alterio
Malena Alterio
Year:
2003
Country:
Spain

http://youtu.be/cwH8U2yEPxA

Boys Air Choir

It had been a while since I wrote a music related post – and yet music has a special place in my life – especially songs as magical and angelic as the ones of the Boys Air Choir. The choir itself was formed in a rather non traditional way back in 1996 . A careful selection process was launched amongst the most popular UK Cathedral and College choirs – seven vocalists were selected to be members of Boys Air Choir. In 2007 they released their first album “Requiem ” – which gained good popularity and fame especially in Japan where the Choir seemingly had a large following . It has always been interesting to me how the people in Japan really seem to appreciate treble and classical music – more than any other nation – judging from my own observations . No wonder then why Boys Air Choir as well as many other well known choirs such as Vienna Boys Choir and Libera loved touring in Japan.

Connor Burrowes was the lead soloist in the choir. He is often referred as to the best treble soloist in recording history. Because of his unique vocal talents – a lot of the music of Boys Air Choir seems focused on his performances – which some people find annoyng – but I found rather intriguing. It all comes down to personal taste – yes some of the magic of the choir music is the blending of voices – but I have always had an affinity to solo performances and they were always the favorite parts of the concerts I have attended in person – that is why I am rather found of the way the music of Boys Air Choir is arranged .

I would like to quote Michael Grainge who in his review of ” Requiem ” – used a statement written on the fold out of the album :

“”Like crystal, shining in the sun, like tears falling from your eyes – the voice of this boy will make you believe that life is forever”

I think that the statement is a very well written description of the magic brought by the treble music performers . Again in Amazon.com , I found another interesting mentioning in the review of Michael McShurley – he states that the musical concept of Boys Air Choir is similar to the one if Libera : ” sacred works are given a slightly non-standard setting, but still quite acceptable to this classical listener who loves sacred music while at the same time being accessible to non-classical listeners. ” There are different views on the rightfulness of that approach – some argue that the classic music should be permormed in the way it was writen / intended – yet I would rather support the oposite view . Now you won`t be surprised why ” Vienna Boys Choir Goes Pop ” is my favorite album of Vienna Boys Choir – even if I know that many people would say that as it clearly departs from the classical tradition – it should not even be considered treble ….to each his own.

Jacquot de Nantes

With time I came to appreciate the French cinema. This is true especially when it comes into producing rite of passage films as the French directors seem to follow an unique methodology and let the story develop and flow as the life of the characters on screen . The result is more often than not well told stories – and the one in Jacquot de Nantes was not an exception. I was lucky enough to see this film in one of the local cinemas today -and as one Bank and the French cultural institute were sponsoring the projection I got to see it for free.

The flick feels melancholic and sentimental – like a biographical film – but the more correct term for it would be a film portrait as focuses on the adolescence years of the french new new cinematographer Jacques Demy – while the film itself is like his memorial directed by his life Agnes Varda. She described her film as ” “a voyage into childhood, into all childhoods … ” and produced a film which fans of the coming of age genre as well as those who have an interest into the cinema are unlikely to miss out .

The film felt a bit confusing at times as Agnes Varda used a mixture of black and white scenes – which were supposedly transition from the past to present . The movie also mixed short extract from the films of Jacques Demy , completed with voice overs and a documentary like interview with him contribute to the unique cinematography of the film. At times it even felt like a musical – as everyone seem to be singing – in times or war or peace , having a dinner by the table or repairing a car. Most of the songs would be familar to you – as they seem to be classic French chansons – I myself was able to recognize of them which also is included into the soundtrack of another excellent french movie ” Toto the Hero “.

Jacquot de Nantes is a movie about a boy who finds an inspiration in his life – the cinema and decides to devote his life to art. He is a boy with rich imagination which is being greatly influenced by the puppet shows he attended as a kid. His childhood story is portrayed well on screen – as Philippe Maron who played the the role of the young Jacquot did an excellent job – looking adorable and passionate just as his characters must have been. One thing that I noticed when the prerolled credits rolled was the Jacquot was played at different ages by three actors – all of which did a great job – only I was most impressed by the acting of Philippe Maron – which is I am spotting his name in the review. For the boy was not easy to follow his passion towards the cinema as his father who works as mechanic thinks that his son would be better of doing some manual labor . But Jacquot doesn`t give up and dreams of the day in which he would be send to an art school in Paris .

I have read some reviews of the film on its IMDB page – and it seems that some people think that one would be better of if he knows something about Jacques Demy and his work in order to be able to enjoy the movie. I was not familiar with his work – but enjoyed it greatly nevertheless . That is why I would like to recommend it – as I am sure you won`t be dissapointed when seeing it.

httpv://youtu.be/LvASXM6lr-k

Straalen McCallum

New : An exclusive interview with Straalen McCallum for TheSkyKid.com

Hello there fellow readers, let me introduce myself. My name is Tony. I am a fellow blogger and acquaintance of SkyKid, and he has been so kind as to include me in the great privilige of being on and posting in his blog. I hope that what I write can be something all of you can enjoy, and I am open to whatever comments you have!

Straalen McCallum, a 10 year old Australian boy and rather unkown singer in some cases, has a voice that to me is nothing short of grand. Starting out when he was just about 5 years old and singing “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” around the house, his parents urged him to carry on and develop his musical talent. Citing David Clayton Thomas as his “hero”, he continued to sing in school and at the request of his teachers at school assemblies.

Loving to sing anything, but especially “anything like cool jazz and soul,” he followed through with the admonition of his supportive parents and took lessons from a woman he calls “the world’s best singer,” Venetta Fields.

He sees himself as the next Robbie Williams, and his advice to all those who aspire to become singing superstars is to “know exactly what it is you really want and do everything you can to make it happen.”

For a fuller interview, please visit my music blog at http://www.asightuntomysoul.blogspot.com/

I am very impressed with this wonderful young man, and see a bright future for him. What are your thoughts?

You can find him and another video entitled “Beyond the Sea” on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/goldstray1

An updated article is available : The Next Megastar: Straalen McCallum

Cutting Edge – Boys Alone (2002)

Yesterday while I was wondering what film shall I watch, I stumbled upon a documentary in my collection for a while – yet I have not seen it. The name of that documentary is ” Cutting edge – Boys Alone ” – and it is based on a social experiment which consisted of letting nine boys aged 10 and 11 spend 5 days alone in a house – with no rules or adult supervision. It is not hard to see where the producers got the idea – William Golding`s novel: ” Lord of the flies,” and the so popular reality show nowadays are the two things that come to mind.

The documentary’s production quality is average as the crew was visible at times, and the editing could have been done a bit better. However, I envision that the movie would be of interest to people interested in the social sphere of psychology – even if it only confirms the well-known saying, ” Boys will be boys.” It is rather interesting observing the youngster’s different personalities and how they influence their behaviour and attitude towards the other participants in the experiment. I myself immediately started wondering with whom I could associate best – and in my case, I think that George will be most similar to me as he was rather introverted – but not completely.

In the end – as one could probably expect, the boys split into groups, and almost all equipment and toys in the house were broken. To summarize, ” Cutting edge – Boys alone ” is a good documentary – but I doubt that anyone could learn a new and surprising thing from it about human nature. Watching the film based on Golding`s novel would probably be a more enjoyable and useful experience for you.

If you manage to see the documentary – don`t hesitate to leave me a comment with your own impressions of it.

Varde (2008)

Lately, I have noticed a trend of excellent short films produced in Norway and/or other Scandinavian countries. I already wrote for two of them – “ Iver ” and ” Benny`s Gym,” and now you are going to have another title to look for – the Norwegian film ” Varde.” A short description of the film would be ” What friendship is and what it isn`t. ” The film shares a similar mood with “Benny`s gym ” due to the moral dilemmas which the main protagonists had to face. For its 16 minutes, Varde is guaranteed to keep you glued to the screen, which only indicates what an excellent job did its director – Hanne Larsen.

Varde can be classified as both a dark film on adolescence and a twisted coming of age flick, which ensures that most of you will be moved by it. The film won the first award at the 2008 Palm Springs International Festival in the Best Live Action Short Over 15 Minutes category.

More information about the film is found on its official page on the Norwegian Film Institute website.

Lost Boys: A Novel by Orson Scott Card

The following review is based on the audio version of the novel Lost Boys. I assume that it follows the novel`s plot – which is why it can be considered a review of the book itself.

Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card was a very intriguing novel. When I first picked it up – I expected that the author would tell some coming of age tale – probably because of the book’s title. However, this turned out not to be the case, as I found out in the first hour of listening to the audio recording. By then, I was sucked by the story and the characters in it – so the fact that it was not what I expected did not really matter.

Somehow it felt like the whole novel is preparing us for its ending – which by all means is one of the most intriguing endings of a story I have read or heard of. In fact, I was so moved by it – that I could not stop thinking of what actually happened – and how the author skillfully leads the readers of his novel to different conclusions, yet developing the story in such a way that one is to remain surprised, amazed and overflown with emotions at the end.

Most of the story in the book focuses on a Mormon family dealing with real life. Step Flether, his pregnant wife DeAnne, and their three children move to Steuben, North Carolina. There Step gets a job as a ” manual writer ” in a software company while DeAnne looks after the kids. Their oldest child- the 8-year old Stevie, is having troubles at school, which far exceeded the usual “new kid” syndrome. Affected by that and maybe something else, Stevie starts imagining fictitious playmates to spend his free time with. His parents worry a lot about those unreal friends of Stevie and attempt to help and understand him.

I honestly think that writing more about this book will not be beneficial to my review – as if you can read / or listen to Lost Boys like I was doing it ( without having really an idea what it is about ) – you would definitely experience the book and the story in it just as the author intended. In the meantime, you would also learn many things about parenting, religion, and humans’ nature – things that would make you think more than once. The excellent character development throughout the story is another plus making this book a good read.

I strongly recommend it.

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