bruce's newest favorite movie: oldboy (2003)
there are times when your best weapons are a hammer, a smile, and a complete disregard for death. oldboy, a korean film directed by chan wook park (sympathy for mr. vengeance), is difficult to compartmentalize. part action, part thriller, with a little bit of romance and a lot of heart, it is at once bleakly funny and tragically poetic.
choi min-sik stars at dae-su, a businessman who gets a little too drunk on his daughter’s birthday and gets arrested for disorderly conduct. after making bail, he is mysteriously imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years in what appears to be a cheap motel room that boasts as it’s only decoration a macabre poster of a man’s face with the caption “laugh, and the world laughs with you. weep, and you weep alone.” after being unexpectedly and unceremoniously released on the spot he was taken, dae-su sets out with vengeance in mind, despite the fact that he has no idea who had taken him, or why.
with the help of mi-do (hye-jeong kang), a sushi waitress with a heart of gold and bizarre notions of romance, and no joo-hwan (dae-han ji), an old school friend who runs an internet café, he finds out the “who,” but is informed that he only has five days to figure out the “why.” if he doesn’t make that deadline, everyone he loves will be killed. what follows is a journey through the labyrinth of truth, rumors and lies, which dae-su must sift through and match up with his own slowly and painfully returning memories.
choi min-sik is so stunning in his transformation from an innocuous everyman to a bringer of death that at times it’s hard to reconcile that these two characters are played by the same man. his performance is filled with such rage and despair that you weep when he smiles, and shout with joy when he kills. with nods to kafka and hitchcock, chan wook park has crafted a script that embraces the surreal and reminds you that such things are possible, if only in our darkest nightmares. the resolution is hard to take, but ultimately it doesn’t matter if you agree, as long as you understand.
oldboy is possibly the best film i’ve seen all year. it won’t be to everyone’s liking, as the fight scenes, as well as the tender moments, are brutally violent in their separate ways. but if you can stomach some hammer bashing and a particularly harsh descent into madness and love, this is the flick for you. enjoy.
bruce's newest favorite music: bare bones (aporia)
once in a great while you run across a band that defies labels. some friends of mine discovered this dilemma while trying to promote their band the jive roster. one of the definitions they came up with was “nerd groove-rock,” which i thought captured their sound perfectly. they, however, realized that it’s hard as hell to sell yourself that way, and continued their quest for marketability.
by turns rowdy and subdued, aporia’s latest release bare bones is such an album. constantly catching you off guard, aporia amps things up and then takes it easy with the very next breath. by turns defiant and yearning, complex and straight-up, silly and so so serious, this band creates a fresh and vibrant vibe lacking in many major releases these days.
emily mills (vocals & percussion) reminds me of billie holliday with her smooth delivery and rich timbre, even on the high notes. with an enviable range and haunting phrasing, mills hooks up an i.v. of emotion and mainlines it straight into you. justin woodward (vocals & guitar) picks and strums deftly, creating some of the catchiest hooks i’ve heard in a long time. delicate and passionate at the same time, he strings you along so well that you delight in how tangled up in the melody you’ve become. moritz burnard (bass & shamona) rounds out the trio with thumping, tripping bass lines that drive the energy on the fast songs and enhance the mood of the slow ones. funky and full of attitude, he brings the groove to your doorstep and dares you to let him in.
standouts among the song list are meantime, a layered look at limbo; bare bones, an arpeggio of adoration; inside out, the story of a perfect and perilous night; and easy, a dark look at desire. the whole album is incredible, though, turning and twisting it’s way into your heart. after the first listen, i accepted the inevitable and just pushed “repeat all.”
damn you, aporia, for making such fine music. may you have all the gigs you can handle.
check out aporia.agog.net for more info.
bruce's newest favorite book: american gods (2001)
neil gaiman is perhaps best known for his series of the sandman graphic novels; twisted and touching tales accompanied by killer artwork. previous books include smoke and mirrors and neverwhere, but it is american gods that found me first. i liked the title, basically, and the blurb intrigued me.
even so, i was unprepared for the story of shadow, a convicted criminal who spends his time in the joint practicing coin tricks and keeping his head down, biding his time ‘til he’s out and back with his wife, laura. he’s an unassuming man, sorry for what he’s done and wanting nothing more than to get home and begin work for his friend at a gym. a day before he’s released, he learns that laura has died in a car accident. the plane ride to her funeral is stormy, turbulent, and shadow finds himself sitting next to a man who calls himself mr. wednesday. he seems to know all about shadow, and offers him a job. doing what, exactly, shadow’s not too sure, but he accepts, and his journey into the real storm begins.
i don’t want to give to much away, in case you’re tempted to give it a read, but i can tell you that a majority of it is set in wisconsin, that gaiman is an exceptional writer who has crafted some of the most interesting characters i’ve ever come across, and that i now know the difference between newly dead, mostly dead, and all the way dead. it looks like a daunting prospect at 588 pages in length, but for the discerning reader, it’s well worth the time and effort. i read the last 200 pages at a straight clip, and wanted more when i turned the last page. checking out gaiman’s website today, i see that he’s just published a companion book, called anansi boys. ah, sweet sequel. the god-wars have just begun.
bruce's newest favorite word: incarnadine
pronunciation: in-'kär-n&-"dIn, -"dEn, -d&n
function: adjective
etymology: middle french incarnadin, from old italian incarnadino, from incarnato flesh-colored, from late latin incarnatus
1 : having the pinkish color of flesh
2 : RED; especially BLOODRED
bruce's newest favorite useless fact:
humans are the only species on earth that have face-to-face sex.
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