ACMI's Setting the Scene exhibition of film design is now open, until Sunday 19 April 2009.
Hola Mexico Film Festival screens at ACMI from Monday 15 December to Sunday 21 December.
Drifters, Dreamers and Cowboys: Country Music on Film, an ACMI season screens from Saturday 26 December to Sunday 4 January.
ACMI's Focus on William Klein, screens from Thursday 22 January to Sunday 1 February 2009.
As part of ACMI's Australian Perspectives series, the Mad Max trilogy screens over three consecutive Saturdays at ACMI at 4pm on 3, 10 and 17 January. Also, Brian Trenchard-Smith's Kung Fu Killers, which features in Not Quite Hollywood screens on Saturday 27 December.
A newly restored print of Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life screens at ACMI over various dates from Monday 15 December to Tuesday 23 December.
For what it's worth, I'm looking forward to the following cinema releases:
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher, USA) - 26 December
- The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, USA) - 15 January
- The Class (Entre les murs, Laurent Cantet, France) - 22 January
- Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes, USA) - 22 January
- Milk (Gus Van Sant, USA) - 29 January
Lastly, I don't want to let the day pass without honouring the passing of my son Abhi on this day two years ago. I think of him every day, and he is sorely missed. He'd be 19. I intended to write a personal piece about my experiences, which includes some contributing factors to teenage suicide. Ironically, I wrote about this subject (and others) some ten or fifteen years ago and was published in The Age, as a way of dealing with my then anguish and feelings of helplessness. I don't have time to do something today, but watch this space. I often say (and as SBS implies) that everyone has a story to tell, and I'm no exception.Just by chance, as I write these words, my iTunes (which has some 3382 songs, and is on shuffle mode) has randomly selected to play Natalie Merchant's King of May, the song that my partner Zoe requested I read at Abhi's funeral.
Farewell today
Travel on now
Be on your way
Go safely there
And never worry, never care
Beyond this day
Farewell tonight
To all joy and to all the life
Go on, go peacefully
We can't keep your majesty
Be on your way
Make may for the
last king of May
And make a cardboard
crown for him
And make your voices one
Praise the crazy
mother's son, who
loved his life
Farewell today
Travel on now
Be on your way
Can't bear the very
thought that we
That we could keep your majesty
Be on your way
Make way for the
last king of May
And make a hole in
the cloud for him
Raise your voices up
Drink your loving cup
To his long life
To his long life
Make way for the
last king of May
Make a hole in the sky for him
And raise your voices up
Lift your loving cup
To his long life
His long life
And raise your voices up
Lift you loving cup
To his long life
To his long life
His long life
His long life
4 comments:
Why are they screening Kung Fu Killers again? Why don't they actually screen the feature film, instead of the doco?
BTW, I recently grabbed The Man from Hong Kong, which was recently released on DVD. Haven't checked the transfer, but the cover looks pretty.
Damn it, DMK! I get confused between Kung Fu Killers and The Man From Hong Kong. I saw KFK earlier in the year, thinking it was going to be TMFHK, and now I realise it's the same film again! TMFHK is the one I want to see.
From The Devil, Probably:
Young Man: In losing my life, here's what I'd lose! [He takes out a piece of paper from his pocket and begins to read from it] Family planning. Package holidays, cultural, sporting, linguistic. The cultivated man's library. All sports. How to adopt a child. Parent-Teachers Association. Education. Schooling: 0 to 7 years, 7 to 14 years, 14 to 17 years. Preparation for marriage. Military duties. Europe. Decorations (honorary insignia). The single woman. Sickness: paid. Sickness: unpaid. The successful man. Tax benefits for the elderly. Local rates. Rent-purchase. Radio and television rentals. Credit cards. Home repairs. Index-linking. VAT and the consumer... [He crumples the paper up and throws it with disgust into the fireplace.]
Psychiatrist: Loss of appetite often accompanies severe depression.
Young Man: I'm not depressed. I just want the right to be myself. Not to be forced to give up wanting more . . . to replace true desires with false ones based on statistics...
[The pyschiatrist starts on his diagnosis of the young man's condition.]
Psychiatrist: . . . would impede your psychological development and would explain the root of your disgust and your wish to die.
Young Man: But I don't want to die!
Psychiatrist: Of course you do!
Young Man: I hate life. But I hate death, too. I find it appalling.
[The young man further contends:]
". . . if I commit suicide . . . I can't think I'll be condemned for not comprehending the incomprehensible."
I relate to that final bit, GT. I can understand that perspective. I should see that film again. I didn't get it the first time, in the middle of MIFF.
My personal spiritual perspective precludes suicide. I believe life is a continuous journey, that the soul doesn't die, and that suicide is never a solution but rather, a prolonging of a problem. I believe we're here for a reason, to learn. To learn to love, to learn acceptance, of ourselves primarily, and of others. Yeah, sure it can sound soppy New Age bullshit, but it's an intrinsic part of my core beliefs and how I live my life.
The universe has designed as such that the ultimate meaning of everything can never be known for sure. I can't think I'll be condemned for not comprehending the incomprehensible. (Love that line!)
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