“I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me.”
Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood is finally going to grace cinema screens world wide. The Norwegian Wood film (IMDB) is directed by Anh Hung Tran, stars Babel’s Rinko Kiuchi as Naoko and Ken’ichi Matsuyama as Wanatabe. Can’t lie, nor breathe, I am super excited for this. Murakami is my favourite author (yes, ever), and NW one of my favourite books.
Short trailer huh? It’s such a tease but from such a tiny glimpse, and the film stills, I think justice will be done.
Alongside the eponymous Beatles song (a licensing coup!), the soundtrack will also feature original music written by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood based on a composition called “Dogwood” which he recently wrote for the BBC Concert Orchestra.
I think the use of the word SWOON is totally legitimate on this occasion.
Sofia Coppola’s work is always exquisite, no matter what she turns her hand to. Somewhere is her fourth feature. I’m really looking forward to seeing this film. Show not tell… Did you notice there are only 15 words of dialogue in the trailer?
The song in the background is ‘I’ll Try Anything Once’ by (dreamboat) Julian Casablancas, which is a demo version of ‘You Only Live Once’ by The Strokes.
I have a total soft spot for ridiculous 80’s movies, especially if they are set in THE FUTURE. In this case, the future is a post-apocalyptic year 2017 – Las Vegas is smothered by sand and outlaw is a popular career choice.
Cherry 2000(dir. Steve De Jarnatt, 1988) is so bad it’s incredible. By the looks of it, we’ll be able to take robot wives, enjoy Kartell kitchens and have Larry Fishburne serve as our Glu Glu lawyer.
I love the outfits and interiors of the movie. Camp-tastic. If you’re ever flicking through the outer reaches of your cable subscription and you see this movie playing, stop. It’s well worth watching for the laughs, and a sneak peek at the guns we’ll all be toting in 7 years…
On Friday night I went to the cinema at the Matakana village. We were early, so we visited The Vintry – a wine bar that exclusively sells local wine. Oh, and they sell bottles of apple cider made ‘just up the road’. Yum!
Eventually it was time to enter the Paradiso theater, glasses and strawberry ice-creams in hand. Your eyes tell you no lies; there are over 1000 tangerine and orange blooms covering the ceiling. Cheeky tuis and fantails scale the walls, with a few hardy fellows peering out from the floral sky.
It’s pretty idyllic, with big lazy boy seats at the front and super wide seats for everyone else. The other two theaters are just as gorgeous.
Sticking with our ‘keep it close’ theme, we saw a New Zealand flick. Boy is written, directed and stars Taika Waititi:
It’s hilarious yet rather poignant movie, punctuated with sweet hand-drawn animations. I spent a lot of my childhood at very similar coastal settlement, in the same era. The garage could be my grandmothers, the rituals ring true and yeah, I even slept under the same orange candlewick bedspread. Boy is definitely a film to see if you can.
It’s the tale of a pug, a kitten and the adventures they have. It starts on the farm… but Milo never listens to his mother. Here’s two of my favourite scenes:
Crab Attack
Otis Meets The Fox
Did you know that Milo and Otis is a Japanese made film and was released in English 4 years after the original release? Me neither! Did you know Dudley Moore was the vivacious and hilarious narrator? Not I!
While there has been some controversy over the use of animal actors in the movie, I still love this romp (and have done since I was 5). It’s a good film to watch from bed while hanging out in your pyjamas. Nostalgia rules.
Teen vampire romances and pale faced virgins are all the rage right now. In case you need any more confirmation of this fact, I read an article a little while ago (and checked it just now) that stated there are 69,400,000 google results for vampire. Holy Robert Pattinson. I started to wonder, when did this all start? How did vampires become the ‘it’ folkloric beings?
I haven’t found a truly satisfying answer yet, but I did discover that 25 years before Twilight, True Blood and all the other fangbangers, there was Once Bitten.
In brief; a 400-year-old vampire Countess (Lauren Hutton) needs to drink the blood of a virgin in order to keep her eternal beauty. It seems that all is hopeless, until she bumps into Mark Kendall (a very young Jim Carrey).
Thus begins a classic 80’s teen comedy romp, peppered with leotards and Ray Bans. Highlights for me included the snaky comments of the Countess’s companion Sebastian (played by Cleavon Little, who you’ll remember from Blazing Saddles), and Mark’s pimply hormonal sidekicks. The interiors of the Countess’s house also make a star turn.
Perfect viewing for a lazy Sunday morning when you can’t be bothered to change out of your pyjamas.
