Catpaw – diary of an angry cat

No none of the above are connected or in the correct order. It was the only way I could think of to tie together three seperate thoughts bouncing around in my head.

First the observation – bugger, it really is fall isn’t it? The nights have been quite chilly here. I can tell because my trusty weather vane, Cat, is always accurate. He’s been hogging the blankets, a sure sign the weather has begun to cool at night. Plus Bonnie, our scottie dog, has gotten very, very lively. She goes into overdrive with the cool weather. We think her ancestors took a left turn at the north pole on their way from Scotland – the colder it is, the happier she is. In weather that drives huskies indoors, she’s out cavorting in the snow saying “what a bunch of wimps”. Go figure. Now that I’ve depressed everyone – except those readers from warmer climes…

A movie, or rather two. It’s TIFF time. For those not in the know, TIFF stands for the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s that time of year when the nuts start falling from the trees and movie stars are thick on the ground. Most movie folks aren’t bad, it’s the damned photographers that get up my nose. Oh and the occassional “body guard” as well. I figured through the years, the more “body guards” – read big, beefy, useless – a star has, the more bloated the ego is.

I digress. TIFF time is great fun here in Toronto. It’s a chance to see movies from all over the world. Plus a lot of actors, directors – both well known and many new or unknown in this country – are available for the masses to ask questions about their work. Often when a film ends, the director/actors etc come out and field questions from the audience. The questions range from the truly cringeworthy to the well thought out. Either way it can lead to hilarous answers or some insights to the process of movie making. It is through TIFF that I’ve acquired an addiction to Indian and Chinese films. Let me tell you, if you want to see sweeping epics – they know how to make them. I tend to be quite uncritical in many ways. I may not be overly enthused about a movie, but I’m often just happy to get the chance to see the work. In all the years (eep… decades now) I’ve gone to TIFF, there have been only 2 movies I seriously didn’t like. When you sit there and say “oh for god’s sake kill all the characters already so I can leave”, you know you don’t like the movie. So… with no further interuptions… our movies:

Creation, by Jon Amiel was my first one. Good film about Charles Darwin and his family. It’s a snapshot view of the time he was struggling with whether to write his ground breaking book Origins, and the death of his beloved oldest daughter. As of this time, the film had distributors worldwide, with the exception of the US, where the distributors have said it is “too controversial” for American audiences. No… it’s too controversial for a small group of close minded idiots who use faith like a weapon. The rest of the US can handle the film very nicely. It’s a good view of how Darwin’s writings were not easy for him. He struggled with the book, and the theories he was pulling together. Worth viewing.

Mao’s Last Dancer, by Bruce Beresford is visually beautiful and, of course, an excellent story. One promotional blurb said it was “about ballet in China” … er… no … that gives the wrong impression. It’s about 1 ballet dancer, Li Cunxin, who was a product of both Mao’s Cultural Revolution and China’s post-revolution thaw. Li was plucked from a life of grinding poverty in rural China and sent to a special dance school in Bejing at the age of 11. The movie starts there and moves on through to his defection to the US in the eighties. It covers very vividly the pain his decision brought to him and his family. I am not a particular fan of ballet, but boy was I stunned by the dancing. Oh… yes… another movie worth watching.

And now the bird:
Well how about some feathers. I have a book on bird anatomy that I got from the library. I’ve been reading certain sections on feathers, wings and feet to try and come to grips with how they are structured. I’ve given up on how to draw books. They just screw me up or have really vague advise. Anyway… I sat down yesterday and did some sketches of feathers:

From Catpaw’s Art work – birds

Yesterday, I also spent extra time working on this little scarlet tanager. It took nearly 3 hours work, but I’m really rather thrilled with him. I intended to only draw his head and a bit of his chest, but began to feel frisky and did the entire bird.

From Catpaw’s Art work – birds

His feet worked out very well. I’m even impressed. I guess spending all that time drawing bird feet has begun to pay off. I never realised how different birds have such radically different feet. Colour me amazed! The tail feathers aren’t quite right, but I haven’t spent any time working on their structure yet. Give me a few days of just drawing them and I’ll be much better. I’ve been working on smoothing out the feathers as well. My birds have been a bit, er, fluffy and I’ve tried a variety of methods to give them a smoother look, without taking away their distinct features. I finally am getting there. I don’t have time to detail what I’ve done to get the effect, off to another movie in a few minutes so I’ll leave that for another day. So forgive any errors, typos etc. I’ll catch them later today.

So Madonna wants to remake Casablanca and play the role Ingrid Bergman made famous.  She wants to redo this classic in her own image, reset it in Iraq (pardon me but doesn’t this mean it’s no longer Casablanca?) and use the vehicle to ‘relaunch’ her non existent film career. Hee hee … hee heee …. heeee heheeee…. oh damn I just snorted my tea up my nose cause I’m laughing so hard.

News flash Madonna – you are no Ingrid Bergman. You are not in her league, nor do you have her poise, class and acting skill.  To even entertain such a notion reeks of an out of control ego and an arrogance that could fill a room. Casablanca is a classic in every sense of the word. Who will play Humphrey Bogart’s role? Oh forget I asked… I don’t even want to know.

Why not choose a movie more suited to your skills – how about a remake of the Alvin and the Chipmunks – we’ll let you play Alvin if you are really, really good.

Believe it or not, I’m still struggling with the film Nightwatching. I saw it during the Sept. Toronto Film Festival and haven’t decided what I really think about it. Can’t quite make up my mind whether I liked it or loathed it. But after seeing the number of people who have landed on this site looking for a proper review of Nightwatching, I decided I had better write one up.

Its one of those odd films that stays with you, gnawing away.

Visually, the film was a smashing success. Each scene was framed like a Rembrandt painting. This was totally cool! I enjoyed the framing, the colours, the movement. It was an incredible hommage to his work.

But…. oh there is a big but …. I just can’t get past the incredible potty mouth on Rembrandt. Not just Rembrandt, but on all the principles. I am not one of those that believe past generations all spoke in high tones and Shakespearean verse. They spoke just like we do – swearing, slang and contractions. However …. the dialogue was so … so …. potty mouthed! I just can’t get past it. I don’t know anyone who swears as much as this group did!

The dialogue let down the entire film, turning it from a wonderful spectacle to a farce in the wings.  I sat through about 40 minutes of the film trying to figure out who Rembrandt reminded me of. Have you ever watched the BBC series Blackadder? Rembrandt reminded me of Lord Flashheart, a reoccurring blowheart of a character with a foul mouth and bloated ego. For the rest of the film, this is all I could think of. I kept waiting for Edmund Blackadder to slide onto the scene. Kind of ruined the rest of the movie for me.

The film would have been better as a silent offering, with music in the background and no dialogue. Then it would have been fascinating. With the sound it was mundane and a bit boring. I found the script tedious and at times silly.

I’d be hard put to recommend this film to anyone. It was a tremendous letdown because it could have been oh so much better.

Off to work soon. Took the weekend off blogging – I’ll finish the film reviews tonight and tomorrow. Saw some great films on Friday and Saturday. Esp. the Chinese film Exodus. Good laugh during this film.

Anyway, duty calls, sick computers to fix. Morning is a great start – love the customer – I’ll do anything for them. 2 computers, 1 laptop, fax machine, lots of cranky problems with the software, might take me a couple of hours. S’alright, they’ll have a nice espresso and some hungarian snacks ready for me.

Second stop, not so nice, chain smoking annoying person. Kind of balances out the day. But she pays, and doesn’t quibble. If only she would stop smoking!

Later… have to go… subway waits for no cat.

This is big news today? Toronto’s CN Tower is now dwarfed by a building in Dubai. The average Canadian doesn’t care. The newspapers sure seem to – this non event is being covered in all the papers and on the major news networks. To most Torontonians, the Tower is part of the landscape. Not really talked about, it’s just there. Does it really matter that it is no longer the tallest? In life’s scheme it doesn’t matter a bit. More important things are going on around us than some vanity status.

Just what does the CN Tower have to do with movie reviews on this beautiful fall day here in Toronto? Perspective. Here’s a snippet from the Toronto Star:

Toronto wakes up today with a bad case of tower envy. And it’s only going to get worse….CN Tower officials reacted coolly, … Toronto has a history of being second in everything…

More belly button gazing from people with nothing to worry about in their day to day lives. I suggest the feature writer of this silly drivel go see Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame by Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf.

The film starts with a startling clip of the appalling destruction of the ancient Buddhist statues in Bamian, Afghanistan by the Taliban. The film takes place after the Taliban have been driven out, but their poisonous influence lingers.

This is an extraordinary film. The principal cast is made up of children, who are endearing and engaging. It starts innocently enough with a young girl, Baktay’s attempts to purchase a notebook and pencil so she can go to school to learn funny stories. When she manages to acquire her notebook, but no pencil (lipstick will do) off to school she goes. Unfortunately, she encounters local boys playing war – Taliban looking for blasphemers and heathens and American soldiers hunting for terrorists. It is from this point on the movie begins to reflects the harsh reality of life in Afghanistan. Attending school shouldn’t be so dangerous. But it is for many. It is impossible for an overwhelming number of children especially girls. The hatred reflected in the young boys’ faces was startling. I began to wonder if they were playing Taliban or were practising to join them.

Those that would support an all-out campaign against Iran should stop and watch this movie as well. The world isn’t as black and white as the great press would have us believe. Makhmalbaf has strongly condemned not just the Taliban but war and terrorism regardless of who is doing the shooting.

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame stands out this year. I always hate to choose a ‘favourite’. Often there are vastly different reasons for enjoying films, favourite is a hard label to choose. But this one stands out. A keeper for sure. Hope it gets general release.

There is no doubt in my mind director Duddhadev Dasgupta feels a great deal for the forgotten people of Bengal and Calcutta. His portrait of the the inhabitants is both sweet, frank and sad. This film feels much the same as an earlier work, The Wrestlers, which appeared at the Festival in 2000.

Voyeurs is a film about 2 young men who share an apartment in Calcutta. Yasin moves from his village to Calcutta to stay with his friend Dilip, who installs video cameras for a living. Not much work in computers in a small village so Yasin has to move to help support his family. A pretty dancer moves in next door and Dilip falls in love with her, but is helpless when it comes to expressing his emotions. He resorts to secretly installing a video camera so he can watch her. He always turns off the camera before she undresses, he is too innocent, in a way, to allow his voyeurism to go further. Dasgupta doesn’t descend into purient voyeurism – he retains a light touch with his characters, allowing them to be innocent and at times terribly naive.

Interwoven in the story are a number of minor subplots, some of which are quite amusing, one which has deadly serious implications in the greater world of terrorism that rings true in North America and Europe. I can’t tell you much more, or I’ll spoil the film. But my favourite subplot has to do with a group of men carrying furniture on their heads around Calcutta. Curious? Good! Go see Voyeurs.

I have to admit I am an unabashed lover of Indian cinema. I can’t get enough. I even watch some Bollywood films on TV during the weekend. Voyeurs is not a Bollywood film, but it has a beautiful love of Bollywood threaded throughout the plot. The subtitles are well done and the audience will get a full sense of what is going on in the conversations. If you get the chance, see this as well as the Wrestlers.