Carlos A Torres – Designer & Photographer

Bram Stoker has kept me company for a couple of weeks now and the affiliation is finally over. I picked up Dracula a few weeks back so I could finally read this literary classic of macabre storytelling and was pleasantly surprised that the Coppola film took many liberties but that both pieces of art, as book and film, are actually each worthy in their own merit. The book is told as a series of diaries from all the different characters (the same characters as seen in the film) save for an account from the Count himself. The story is very linear and written in an extremely classical style by Stoker. The book is somewhat anti-climactic, as the film had added drama for support in comparison but it was thoroughly enjoyable. The film centers around the Love Never Dies theme, which is absent from the book. This was obviously added to give the film more dimension than the linearity of the book and in my opinion it worked well to give the film a driving storyline. All in all, kudos to Bram Stoker for his classic and kudos to Francis Ford Coppola for bringing the book to life in a very stylized, modern take on the old Count. Do yourself a favor and read the book and watch the film if you haven’t done so.

Just saw Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones a couple of days ago and the more I think and ponder on it the better the movie gets. This is a film that has no secrets to it. Pretty much everyone that goes to see it knows exactly what this movie is about and what’s going to happen. Credit is then due to the original material and to the filmmakers for weaving a story that even though sounds familiar, ends up being anything but. We’re all conditioned to see certain plot lines occur in movies of this topic but it is in these caveats that we find the difference between this film and others of similar topic. Think What Dreams What May Come, Premonition, The Invisible, all good films but all had the same predictable outcome and the same goal in mind. The Lovely Bones deviates from the norm to surprise us as the story unravels and as the ending arrives. You may not get the answers you’re looking for, you may not get the closure you desire but you’ll definitely get this film for the great story that it is.

I’ve been able to finally catch most of the films (the good ones) that are nominated for awards during this entire awards season. The Academy Award nominations have not been announced but I’m very close to covering all the SAG and Golden Globe nominees. Here are the ones I’ve seen and the ones I’ve yet to and want to see:

SEEN:
The Hurt Locker
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Avatar
Up In The Air
The Lovely Bones
An Education
Brothers
(500) Days of Summer
Precious (Based on the book Push by Sapphire)

YET TO SEE:
The Messenger
The Blind Side

Here’s a list of films you should definitely catch in case you haven’t. These aren’t your mainstream sort of fare but more of the independent variety. Great films, great endings and overall films not to be missed although they’ve been way overlooked. Some of these go back a few years but they need to be seen anyway.

Elephant – 2003
The Jacket – 2005
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – 2004
Donnie Darko – 2001
Sling Blade – 1996
Lost In Translation – 2003
City of God – 2002
Memento – 2000
Pi – 1998
Let The Right One In – 2008

I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I’m an expert in foreign films but I do pay attention to them. It’s been a quiet stretch for Mexican films lately compared to the late 90s, early 2000s when a string of hits came out of the Mexican film industry and out of talented Mexican directors and producers. Those years brought us Amores Perros, Y Tu Mama Tambien, El Crimen Del Padre Amaro, El Espinazo Del Diablo, and it’s from Y Tu Mama Tambien’s Carlos Cuaron that we get the latest revelation from Mexico, Rudo Y Cursi.

Rudo Y Cursi tells the tale of two brothers who hail from very strapped conditions but who are given the keys to fame and fortune through the world of professional soccer. Cuaron blends a simple tale of soccer and life into a tale that spans life’s possibilities, intrigue, elation, downfall and redemption and is able to weave all this while providing humor and superb acting from his cast of characters. Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna are again paired up and once again display the on-screen chemistry that they have always possessed when they have acted together and that have made them international stars. As simple as the story is it still resonates as true-to-life in all its aspects. Just like in soccer, life sometimes grants us glory but it sometimes grants us defeat, it all depends on how we deal with the defeat and how quickly we get up and shake it off. Rudo Y Cursi is now playing in limited release in L.A. and N.Y. and should be expanding to more theaters soon. Check it out if you can.

Rudo Y Cursi Official Website

Anyone who understands or even knows anything about music both understands and knows on what music echelon Joy Division stands on. Joy Division, one of the original punk/new wave bands of the British 70s and one of the most innovative and influential, sadly had a tragic end. As tragic as its end was, it was still the genesis to many bands after that, including Monaco, Electronic, The Other Two and most notably New Order.

Control, a biopic about Ian Curtis and Joy Division tells the story of Joy Division’s rise to fame and the subsequent suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. For all fans of the bands mentioned above, fans of rock, fans of music, you should all definitely check this film out and see what life was like when music actually mattered.

Control – IMDB

I finally caught Twilight in theaters last week. I must say that after reading the book, I was actually very pleasantly surprised. Twilight the book itself is a tad overly “girly-adolescent” and one must read through the gushing for Edward Cullen by the part of Bella but at least the main plot itself is adequately told to be entertaining enough to read all the way through. Twilight the movie is a very cool experience, I liked it as I was sitting there watching it and loved it after I left the movie theater.

I definitely recommend the movie if you don’t feel like reading the book. Thoroughly entertaining and absent of the stereotypical nudity or profanity of any teen movie.