idonthaveacoolname

Since I have been planning my Rome trip I have been taking care to learn some phrases in Italian and the history of the places in Rome that I will be photographing! I am having lots of fun and I haven’t even gotten there yet! It is really great waking up each morning and seeing Rome on CBC since the Conclave has begun.

At the suggestion of my friend Carla, tonight’s movie is from 2011 called We Have a Pope. Carla, one of my co-workers, has been very helpful with my trip, contacting her family who is in Rome to find the best situated B&B. I’ll be staying on Via Serpentine, right in the heart of where I want to be!

Back to the film. From wikipedia: We Have a Pope is a 2011 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Nanni Moretti. Its original title is Habemus Papam, the Latin phrase used upon the announcement of a new pope. The film stars Michel Piccoli as a cardinal who, against his wishes, is elected pope. Moretti co-stars as a psychiatrist who is called in to help the pope overcome his panic. The film premiered in Italy in April 2011 and played in competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival.

Update: Wow. I really enjoyed this movie! Traditional Italian character drama that I thought was going to be the story of the Conclave and the decision making à la 12 Angry Men. But then the film took some rather light hearted, humorous jabs at Vatican bureaucracy. In the end, this movie is less a comedy and more of a reflexive, dramatic, piece where you truly dig deep into Piccoli’s character and his dreams to be a stage actor. His intense emotions regarding the expectations that he and others have placed on him in the central conflict in a movie that could have been written as a play. The film is political (it is Italian cinema, after all) addressing gender issues within the Church quite strongly with the juxtaposition of the gentrified male Cardinals and the young vivacious mothers who provide the guidance and perspective to the new Pope. The Christ parallel also comes in rather bluntly when it is announced that the Pope has really been really absent for three days from his apartment (renting a hotel room and living with a troupe of actors) prior to his return but, except for some of these peculiarities (like volleyball? maybe I just don’t get the inside humour), the film is certainly worth an evening.

See the trailer in HD here.

Oh… and see Tristan, I don’t just watch Japanese samurai films!

Another Takashi Miike film, this time from 2011. Ichimei, is a remake of the 1962 Kobayashi film. This isn’t really a samurai film, it is closer to kaidan, a ghost story.

I just finished the movie and what an experience! The cinematography is spectacular as is the story and characters. Miike does not disappoint!

Following the Battle of Sekigahara and the consolidation of the Tokugawa Shogunate at the beginning of the 17th century, there were many samurai that became masterless ronin. This is the story of two such ronin.

Hanshiro enters the courtyard of the powerful Ie clan asking to commit ritual suicide. Suspecting that this is merely a bluff, Kageyu, the head retainer of the house, tells Hanshiro of the tale of Motome, a young warrior who previously had asked the same. Calling Motome’s bluff, the House forces Motome to commit suicide with a dull wooden short blade. This is a sad story.

But Hanshiro has a secret. Hanshiro is a great samurai and is at the House of Ie to regain his honour, and the honour of his household, including his dead son in law, Motome (told you it was sad). What comes next is incredible sword fighting in a beautiful setting. The cinematography from Nobuyasu Kita is first rate, placing this film on a par with the beautiful films of Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) or Stanley Kubrick (2001). Arguably without Kazuo Miyagawa, Kurosawa’s Roshomon would not have been a masterpiece. Or without the brilliant Vittorio Storaro, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now would not be the epic that is turned out to be. Miike is great, with Nobuyasu Kita, this film is brilliant!

I could go on but I’ll leave you with this: this film will haunt you, this film will disturb you, and this film will make love to your eyes.

See the trailer in HD here.