In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.
Love on a Real Train is a 1984 single by Tangerine Dream from the soundtrack for the film Risky Business.
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only continuous member until his death in January 2015.
Tangerine Dream are considered one of the pioneers of electronica.
Dances with Wolves is a 1990 American epic Western film starring, directed and produced by Kevin Costner. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 book of the same name by Michael Blake that tells the story of Union Army lieutenant John J. Dunbar (Costner) who travels to the American frontier to find a military post and of his dealings with a group of Lakota.
The film earned favorable reviews from critics and audiences, who praised Costner’s directing, the performances, screenplay, and production values. The film was a massive box office hit, grossing $424.2 million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 1990, and is the highest-grossing film for Orion Pictures. The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards at the 63rd Academy Awards and won seven including Best Picture, Best Director for Costner, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing. The film also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
Memories of Murder (Hangul: 살인의 추억; RR: Salinui chueok) is a 2003 South Korean crime-drama film co-written and directed by Bong Joon-ho. It is based on the true story of Korea’s first serial murders in history, which took place between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.
On 18 September 2019, police announced that Lee Choon Jae had been identified as a suspect in the serial murders. He was identified after DNA from the underwear of one of the victims was matched with his, and subsequent DNA testing linked him to four of the other unsolved serial murders. At the time, he was identified he was already serving a life sentence at a prison in Busan for the rape and murder of his sister-in-law. Lee initially denied any involvement in the serial murders, but on 2 October 2019, police announced that Lee had confessed to killing 15 people, including all 10 victims in the serial murders, which includes a case previously considered to be a copycat crime, and 5 others. In addition to the murders, he also confessed to more than 30 rapes and attempted rapes.
On 15 November 2019, police announced that they had reached a provisional conclusion that Lee was responsible for all 10 serial murders.
Yoon Sang-Yeo, who was convicted of killing the eighth victim and spent 20 years in prison until he was released on parole in 2009, filed for a re-trial of his case on 13 November 2019 following news reports that Lee had confessed to all 10 serial murders. Two days later, police announced that they had reached a provisional conclusion that Lee was responsible for the murder for which Yoon was convicted. Police said Lee’s confession in the eighth murder ‘elaborately and coherently’ described both the scene and the victim. This raised concerns that police had charged an innocent man.
Shiri (Hangul: 쉬리; RR: Swiri) is a 1999 South Korean action film, written and directed by Kang Je-gyu and starring Han Suk Kyu, Yunjin Kim and Song Kang Ho.
Swiri was the first Hollywood-style big-budget blockbuster to be produced in the “new” Korean film industry (i.e. after Korea’s major economic boom in late 1990s).
The movie was released under the name Shiri outside of South Korea; in Korea, the title was spelled Swiri. The name refers to Coreoleuciscus splendidus, a fish found in Korean fresh-water streams. At one point Park has a monologue wherein he describes how the waters from both North and South Korea flow freely together, and how the fish can be found in either water without knowing which it belongs to. This ties into the film’s ambitions to be the first major-release film to directly address the still-thorny issue of Korean reunification.
The total budget of the film was US$8.5 million, at the time the single biggest budget allocated to a Korean movie. Part of the funding was covered by the Korean electronics giant Samsung. The film was a critical and financial success in Korea and broke box office records. Shiri was seen in South Korean cinemas by 6.5 million people, beating the previous record set by Titanic of 4.3 million.
“Clubbed to Death” is a 1995 song by Rob Dougan. It appeared in the 1996 film Clubbed to Death and was given renewed attention in 1999 due to its inclusion in the film The Matrix. It was re-released as a single in 2002 with new remixes.
The short strings introduction is an excerpt from the first movement of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and the piano solo is improvised around Enigma Variations as well. Haven’t listened in a long time and it still gives me chills and reminds me of my younger years.
Our lives are not our own, we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.
Fallen Angels is a 1995 Hong Kong neo-noir crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. It features two intertwined storylines—one tells the story of a hitman wishing to leave the criminal underworld (Leon Lai), the prostitute he starts a relationship with (Karen Mok), and his agent (Michelle Reis), who is infatuated with him. The other story is of a mute ex-convict on the run from the police (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and a mentally unstable woman dumped by her boyfriend (Charlie Yeung). Set in 1995 pre-Handover Hong Kong, Fallen Angels explores the characters’ loneliness, their alienation from the situations around them, and yearning for connections in a hectic city.
Peter William “Pete” Postlethwaite, OBE, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In the Name of the Father in 1993, and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year’s Honours List. He died of pancreatic cancer on 2 January 2011.
In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatāra (Devanagari अवतार, Sanskrit for “descent” [viz., from heaven to earth]) refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth, and is mostly translated into English as “incarnation”, but more accurately as “appearance” or “manifestation”.
The term is most often associated with Vishnu, though it has also come to be associated with other deities. Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten (Daśāvatāra) of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are a primary component of Vaishnavism. An early reference to avatar, and to avatar doctrine, is in the Bhagavad Gita.
In a 2007 interview with Time magazine, director James Cameron was asked about the meaning of the term “Avatar“, to which he replied, “It’s an incarnation of one of the Hindu gods taking a flesh form.” On the specific reason for the choice of blue as the Avatar’s skin color, Cameron said “I just like blue. It’s a good color … plus, there’s a connection to the Hindu deities, which I like conceptually.
This is a true story.
1986 to 1991.
In a small town outside Seoul, over the course of six years 10 women were raped and murdered in a 2km radius. Korean society’s first serial killer took the lives of 10 victims, ranging from a 71 year-old grandmother to a 13 year old schoolgirl.
As time went on, the methods of the killer grew more bold and well-planned. One victim was stabbed 19 times in the chest, while another victim was found with nine pieces of a peach embedded inside her.
Other than the victims, the killer left not a single shred of evidence. Over 3,000 suspects were interrogated. At least 300,000 police took part in the massive investigation. But not a single person was indicted for the crimes.
This is a story about the detectives.
At a time in Korea when a murder investigation only meant grilling those who knew the victim, for these officers everything was a new experience.
There was no profiling mechanism, nor any idea of preserving the crime scene for forensic investigation. Only search and interrogation based on the detectives’ sense of duty and persistence.
In this age of ignorance, two detectives at the bottom of an ill-supported police force, have only themselves to rely on to face this horrific series of events.
The film reminisces about a time of innocence when the inability to comprehend such heinous acts led to unbelievable mishaps and harrowing nightmares.
Another excellent Korean movie.
SCMP
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Private eyes
By Vivienne Chow and David Watkins
Director Wong Kar-wai. Photo: K.Y. Cheng.
THE MASTER OF light and shade he may be – but he’s the master of shades, too. Wong Kar-wai never steps into the public arena without his prescription sunglasses, refusing to take them off even when indoors. With his eyes hidden from view, it’s sometimes impossible to tell where he’s looking, what he’s thinking or whether he’s finished answering a question after one of his customary pauses.
Many rumours have circulated about why Wong hides his eyes. Some say he suffers from a rare disorder and is ultra-sensitive to light – although the sensual, luminous colours of his films would suggest otherwise. Others says it’s vanity – an attempt to look like the chain-smoking characters who populate his movies. Or maybe he simply dislikes being interviewed.
The truth is more down to earth, derived out of a basic need for privacy: they’re his disguise. “I have no problem with the press – I give interviews all the time. Sunglasses are like a uniform for me,” says Wong, smoking his umpteenth cigarette. “I don’t have a name card, so I have glasses. Without these sunglasses, people don’t recognise me. That way I can have more privacy with my family when I don’t wear them. Some people do things in opposite ways.”
Although his films are filled with tragic types suffocated by romantic longing, Wong in person is cheerful, to the point of being playful. And although he imposes a dimmed view of the world on his eyes when facing reporters – as he does on the day he’s at Taikoo’s UA Cinema, promoting his part in Eros, a directorial menage a trois with Steven Soderberg and Michelangelo Antonioni about erotic love – it’s what his eyes see through the camera that the world is clamouring for. Continue reading “Wong Kar-Wai”