New York, I Love You!

New York, the city that never sleeps.

          “New York, I Love You” is a movie about eleven short stories and each story is directed by different directors, and some of them are the world’s most-respected directors. Each of the directors have their own way and style to direct their story. There are different love stories in this movie that happened surrounding in one of the most loved cities in the world, New York. From this kind of movie combination, people can truly feel and understand the life in New York from another different perspective. 

          There are a lot of famous film stars took part in this movie, among them are Bradley Cooper, Anton Yelchin, Chris cooper, Shu Qi and so on. The chosen characters are the ones who make the story more interesting and more attractive. 

Love story of old couple

     One of the part that I loved the most in this movie is the old couple, Abe and Mitzie which played by Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman. I loved how this love story is different with others, loving the way this old couple who keep bickering and quarrelling with each other all the time. However, from their conversation I am able to feel how deep is their love for each other throughout their whole life. One of scene that impacts me the most is when they are walking towards the seaside enjoying the view along the way and how the old lady laid her head on her husband's shoulder at the end of the street. How romantic is that. 

Shu Qi with the painter

          The next scene that captures my attention is the pair of a painter and a chinese herbalist, which played by Ugur Yucel and Shu Qi. I admit that one of the reasons that I love this part of the short film is because of the attractiveness of Shu Qi. She really is a beautiful girl with charming smile. Back to the story, the painter wants to sketch a portrait for her and asks her to look for him whenever she changed her mind because she refused to become the model of the painter when he first approach her. Shu Qi found out that the painter has already passed away when she decided to change her mind. From this part, I learned that we should live our life without regrets because time waits for no one, we should live with no excuses and love with no regrets.

Natalie Portman in this movie.

          Inversely, one of the stories that I dislike in this movie will be the relationship between Rifka Malone and Mansuhkhbai, which played by Irrfan Khan and Natalie Portman. Both of them came from a different world that are far apart. Mansuhkhbai is a Jain Indian diamond trader while Rifka is a jewish woman who is about to get married. At the end of the story, Mansukhbai kisses Rifka’s head when she removed her wig. I wasn't able to get what the director is trying to say in this part.

New York, I Love You!

          Although this movie consists up to 10 different short stories, but “New York, I Love You” was overall a nice movie that brings me warm feelings and showed me the beautiful part of this lovely city.

The Overture

The Overture

This movie won a lot of awards in Thailand in 2004. They include: 

2004 Thailand National Film Association Awards

2004 Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards

2004 Star Entertainment Award

The Overture Poster

          The movie starts with the childhood life of Sorn. The scene shows him following a butterfly which then stops at a Thai instrument called ranat-ek. This part shows a destiny of Sorn and his music life.

Ranak-ek

          Sorn has a brother who is a gifted classical musician. However, this directly causes his rivalry with other musicians. And that leads to his brother’s death. His death becomes the saddest thing to his family and because of that, Sorn is not allowed to play the ranat-ek anymore. However, the passion of him doesn’t stop him from playing the ranat-ek. Without his father's notice, he keeps practicing the instrument in the jungle every night.

Sorn is playing ranat-ek

          Because of his talent with the instrument and also a monk’s advice, his father decides to let him keep learning. Time flies and Sorn grows up. He becomes arrogant and even misses his practice very often. His father wants him to learn not to be too self-satisfied. Therefore, in one ensemble, his father asks him to play another instrument called Kong-wong instead of the ranat-ek. When their team is playing, the judge starts to realize that Sorn is not the one who is playing the ranat-ek and asks the band to start all over again. Sorn becomes the one who plays on the ranat-ek this time. Obviously, his skills are much more better than other players. 

Sorn falls in love with the girl.

          The scene cuts to another day. In a village, a music team is setting up for the performance. Sorn replaces the ranat-ek player's position. On the other side across the courtyard, another ranat-ek player who is dressed in black becomes the competitor to Sorn. The background music and the video effects help enhance the fierceness of the performer. From that day, Sorn loses his confidence and he wants to be like him.

          He starts to give up on himself. However, he is sent to the palace for more proper  music training. That is when he meets a pretty girl. What a typical scene! Falling flowers with a pretty girl’s charming smile. He starts to fall in love with the girl. At the same time, an older man who names Master Tian is sent to teach him. The way that Master Tien teaches is a bit strict to him. There are even a few days when Sorn runs away from the palace and hides in his hometown. 

          After that, Sorn goes back to the palace again. Here comes the time for the kingdom’s musical competition. Sorn meets again the performer who is dressed in black. This time, finally Sorn overcomes the fierceness of his rival and finally wins. The music that they play almost killed me but I really admire their skills and how they play ranat-ek.

Sorn is the only player who plays on rant-ek in the competition.

The fierce looking of the performer who dressed black.

          This movie adds in some old times which show that Sorn (played as an old man by Adul Dulyarat) as a respected teacher. Sadly, this movie ends up with Sorn’s death after he plays the ranak-ek. I am really glad that the last performance of Sorn before he dies is not stopped by the dictator who sets the rule of forbidding traditional Thai Music, dance or even theatre. It is touching that when the moment Sorn goes against the rule and plays the ranat-ek, every one who hears it comes out from their house and listen to it.

Close up of Sorn playing ranat-ek.

Movie review of Brave

Brave

Family Trees of Royal Family

          The story starts with some scenes of Merida’s childhood life. Merida is a princess of Dun Broch. Her father, King Fergus, gives a bow to her as her birthday present. From this, it shows audience that Merida is different from other princesses in other fairy tales. 

Fergus, the king, is teaching her how to use the bow.

          Since that is the first time she plays archery, she loses it and as she is going to pick it back, she sees will-o’-the wisps in real. From that moment, she starts to believe in magic. After that, a giant bear Mor’du suddenly appears in front of them and attacks them. This becomes the reason why her father loses his leg. 

Three little brother of princess Merida.

          The story then cuts to a few years later. Merida has three brothers, named Hamish, Hubert, and Harris who are very naughty and they can do whatever they want. Inversely, the whole life of Merida as a princess is planned out. There are some quick scene show what a princess should do and should not do. For example, a princess does not doodle, does not chortle, does not raise her voice, does not stuff her gob, and does not put her weapon on the table. However, there is one day that she doesn’t have to be a princess. It shows how happy she is compared to those days where she needs to train to be a proper princess in the castle. She rides on the horse and starts shooting with her bow.

The archery games.

          The story plot becomes more exciting when the queen mentions about suitors and marriage during dinner time. According to the rules of Dun Broch, the three princes from other kingdoms need to take part in the archery games to prove their strength and win the princess' heart. However, during the games, the princess embarrasses them. The queen becomes very angry of Merida's actions and they have a argument in the castle. As a result, Merida tears the tapestry of their family portrait while the queen throws her favorite bow into the fire. 

She spoilt the tapestry of her mother.

          This becomes the main reason why the princess decides to leave the castle. Because of the queen's rash action, Merida becomes very hurt and saddened by it. As she rides deep into the forest, she meets once again the wisps that she met when she was a small girl. Suddenly I realized that was why the directors included the opening scene of her first witness of the wisps. The scene then cuts off to the princess following the wisps step by step. The wisps then lead her to a humble woodcarver who is actually a witch. Thus, she requests a spell that would change her mother's mindset on her marriage. The witch then gives her a cake in return.

Like a boss pose.

          Surprisingly, a bite of the cake changes her mother into a bear! I love every reaction of the queen after she changes into a bear, especially when she keeps worrying about someone seeing her naked body although she doesn’t realize that her body is actually covered in fur. And I love Merida’s three little brothers as well; they are really cute! I still remember that the  moment when Merida needs their help to escape from the castle, they request for more than 3 weeks' dessert. At the end, they make the deal as one year's desserts. Omg, I really love their facial expression, like a boss!

          The story continues by Merida's second visit back to the witch’s cottage with her mother, but the witch is off to Wickerman Festival in Stornoway. From the message that the witch leaves for them, they find out that her mother’s spell will be permanent by second sunrise. The only clue that they get is “Fate be changed, look inside, mend the bond, torn by pride”. 

          Among all, my favorite part of this movie is when her mother starts to realize and become more understanding of her daughter. Instead of having poisonous nightshade berries and water with worms as breakfast, Merisa leads her mother to the riverside and she shows her mother how she catches fishes from the river by using her bow. Her mother feels proud of her skills and claps for her. Princess Merida says some words that her mother has taught her earlier: “A princess should not own weapons” and “How do you know you don’t like it if you won’t try it?” That is really funny and cute! Merida and her mother really enjoy the happy moment of catching fishes. So warm! 

Happy moment of the princess and her mother who turned into a bear.

          After that they follow the wisps again and accidentally find out that the same spell had happened before in the ancient kingdom. No doubt, the prince turns into a real bear permanently. Knowing this, they quickly returned to the castle because the finally know the secret to change her mother back which is to stitch the tapestry back. At the same time, the three clans are forcing the king to make the decision who will marry with her daughter in the castle. Merida’s perfect speech changes their mindset and finally calms down their emotions. From the speech, her mother feels the changes of her daughter as well. I was quite touched by it! In my opinion, I think although the spell turns her mother into a bear, but it really changes both of their fate. 

          In short, although I can’t really remember the details of happy ending, I do enjoy this animation very much. Love it!

Movie review of Merong Mahawangsa

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa is also known as The Malay Chronicles Bloodlines. Prior to watching the movie, I really thought that it is a very old one. Much to my surprise, the film itself does have fairly well editing and CGI effects. However, after doing some research on it, it turns out that this movie was actually produced in Malaysia and was released back in 2011. 

      In short, this movie lies on a backdrop of ancient Malay, Roman and Chinese civilizations. It tells the tale of the journey of Merong Mahawangsa escorting a Roman prince to wed a beautiful Chinese princess during the 2nd century. Featuring an international cast, The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines combines elements of romance and adventure, coupled with a strong dose of hand-to-hand combat & martial arts. (Dr Shireen M Hashim) 

In the movie, the character that catches my attention the most is the Chinese princess named Meng Li Hua. She was acted by Jing Lusi. 

Jing Lusi.

This is how she looks like in the movie.

I can still remember some parts of the movie that she was in, especially the introduction of the princess during her floral bath. There was a conservation between her and her handmaiden, Ying Ying. She said: "I do not want be a prisoner, like that metal bird in the emperor's room." From the conversation, it shows that she was not willing to be married to the Roman prince and that her feeling of wanting to be free was so strong. She realized that once she becomes married to the prince, she will lose all her hopes of fulfilling her dreams.

On the night that the Roman prince arrived, she tried to run away with the help of her handmaiden. Ying Ying used a jar of fireflies to guide their way. Along the way, the Roman prince, who has been following them quietly, suddenly stopped them. At that moment, the jar dropped and the fireflies flew away. Just like that, the Roman prince was charmed by the princess' beauty from the fireflies' glow. To be honest, this scene is actually quite predictable as in other romance movies. So for me, I found it to be quite funny.  

The prince later guided them into the forest. Ying Ying continued to pretend to be the princess but when they all finally reached the waterfalls, the Roman prince realized that Ying Ying was the fake and requested to stay with the real princess alone. They started to fall in love with each other after knowing that their desire for freedom were the same.


From some parts that I remember, she really left a strong impression on me. The characteristic that I like most is the way she speaks that is unlike any other traditional princess. She sounded and carried herself more independently than other typical princesses. She had her own opinion and plans for her future. As I mentioned before, she wanted to be free so badly and refused to stay in any castle in any country. Moreover, she was clever and intelligent. One example was when she got caught by the Garudas. As soon as she knew about her captor's weakness, which was the necklace that hung around his neck, she tried to get it by luring him with her feminism. In the end, she succeeded in getting the necklace without his notice. So I really admire the bravery and wisdom that she possessed. Last but not least, she was a kind and friendly lady. Even though she was a princess, she still treated her handmaiden like her own sister. For example, when Ying Ying was bathing her, they even discussed how the western prince would look like. The way they talked was just like best friends- very soft and seemingly without any distinct classification between them. That’s why among all the characters, I love the Han princess' characteristics the most.



References:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1784670/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl