Five Things 1.31.14

In an attempt to post more regularly on my blog and to expand the scope a little,  I am reinstating this feature from way back when  I started this blog (a.ka. the summer of 2012).  I am hoping that this will give me a chance to talk about all the things I am currently obsessed with: what I'm watching, eating, reading, buying (or lusting after), listening to, etc. 

1. True Detective:  Can we just get it over with and declare 2014 the year of McConaughey?  Seriously, with this and his recent film performances he has been on fire and by the end of this year he may be halfway to an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony).   Plus he is killing it on the red carpet this year (no boring tuxedos for him). And he is burning up the screen each week in HBO's new series, True Detective.  On the surface the show is about two very different detectives  (Woody Harrelson is the yin to McConaughey's yang and also doing solid work, but 2014 is not the year of Harrelson.  Sorry, Woody)  trying to solve a grisly murder.
But the show is really about religion, philosophy, gender roles, mental illness and a hell of a lot more.  McConaghuey is electric in flashback and present day as Rust Cohle, a cop who is brilliant but troubled  (that's an understatement) in the past and a f*#$ing crazy person in the present. He is repulsive, unhinged and creepy as hell in the present and smoldering, repressed and creepy as hell in the past but with both versions of Kohle, he maintains a level of magnetism that means you can't take your eyes off of him.  And damn, that man knows how to wear a button down shirt. 

FLAWLESS!

2. Beyoncé  at the Grammy's.  First of all K, don't you dare roll your eyes. Yes, K doesn't get my obsession with Beyonce, but clearly he is a philistine.  On Sunday night, I saw on Twitter that Beyoncé was opening the Grammy's with Jay-Z and I knew I had to watch.  When K tried to talk to me during that amazing few moments, I told him, "I can't believe you would even try to talk to me when I'm watching Beyoncé!".\  Drunk in Love isn't my favorite song on her new album (Partition, Blow and Flawless are better in my opinion) but she looked hot and her voice sounded sick and she showed that you don't need theatrical sets (like K's beloved Katy Perry), backup dancers or crazy costumes.   Obviously she woke up like this. 

3.  This awesome light fixture is just what I think we need for our bedroom!  

4.  Sympathy vs. Empathy:  I have been obsessed with Brene Brown's TED Talk on vulnerability since I heard it on the TED Radio Hour a few months ago.  She has opened my eyes to a way of embracing something I was always (and still am) afraid to be and this video about the power of empathy really made me think about how sometimes I think I'm being empathetic but I'm really just being sympathetic and not opening myself up to connection with another person.  This little video is just a taste of Brene Brown and her wisdom and it inspired me to consciously try to be more empathetic in my life.  I will let you know how it goes! 

5.  Ina Garten's Company Pot Roast.  I have made this amazing dish twice this winter already after having it with my family. I make fun of The Barefoot Contessa for her privilege, her huge house in the Hamptons, her possibly gay husband and her shunts (part shirt, part tent), but really I am terribly jealous of all of them (well, maybe not the shents).  It is the best pot roast I have ever had and actually pretty easy to make.  I think before it warms up we will have to have it at least once more!


Julie

La Femme's Movie Marathon…Hong Kong Films

Its time for another movie marathon with K and our friend S.  It was S's pick this time, and he went with movies from Hong Kong!  The first half of our marathon was a Tony Leung triumvirate featuring Hard Boiled, Chungking Express, and In the Mood for Love.

Hard Boiled (John Woo, 1992):  Hard Boiled begins with a huge set piece in a dumpling house.  All of a sudden, out of nowhere a gunfight is breaking out and our hero, Tequila (Chow Yun Fat), is chasing after some baddies.  The scene is visceral and exciting but I have to be honest... after it, I fully expected to hate this movie.  I have never been a fan of violence for violence's sake no matter how cartoonish and silly it may be.  But, I was surprised to find that I was slowly sucked into this story of two cops, one deeply undercover (Tony Leung, more on him later), the other trying to avenge the death of his partner who is killed in that dumpling house scene and also trying to win back his ex-girlfriend, and their tentative partnership. The truth of this film and is that it is an action film and pretty short on characterization and even plot, but the action scenes are balletic, exciting, and over-the-top.   By the time we get to the so-ridiculous ts is funny shoot out at the hospital (complete with Tequila's girlfriend trying to save all the babies in the nursery and a baby putting out a fire on Tequila's leg with pee), I have to admit that I gave into the fun of the movie.  One can't help but marvel at the acrobatics, choreography, and the insane amount of work it must take to create a blowout like the end of the film.

I can pretty much guarantee California Dreaming is
playing in this scene. 

Chungking Express (Won Kar-wai, 1994):  First, a warning: After watching Wong Kar-wai's film Chungking Express you will have the Mamma's and the Pappa's California Dreaming in your head for approximately the next week, at least.  Kar-wei uses the song almost as a motif throughout the film, an audible cue that at once expresses longing, love, desire, sadness, and everything else in between depending on the moment it is played.  The movie is two stories, both taking place in the tangled concrete of downtown Hong Kong. The first, much shorter section, tells the simple story of a heartbroken man who gives himself one month to get over the break-up of his relationship. After sadly buying pineapple daily with the expiration date of May 1st, the day he will either be reunited with his love or get over her forever, one night, he runs into a mysterious, glamorous woman in a trench coat and sunglasses running from a drug cartel and they spend one enigmatic night together.  This story is told mostly through voiceover and imagery, and Kar-wai keeps the characters far from us, but uses his camera to draw us in.   Suddenly, the film shifts to another, longer story: Officer 633 (Tony Leung) is also going through a breakup, this time with a flight attendant.  Everyday he eats at the same restaurant and is served by the same lovesick waitress, Faye (Faye Wong).  As in so many love stories, he barely notices her until she begins to infiltrate his life in ways he doesn't even know about.  Faye Wong is kind of the original manic pixie dream girl in the film: she's enchanting, offbeat, and utterly natural.  Tony Leung has a natural screen presence, is charming and naively sexy in this role, and his chemistry with Wong is refreshingly easy and sweet. We see their chemistry growing in a way that seems realistic but also completely cinematic.  Wong Kar-wai's use of the camera is lush, romantic, and dream like.  He takes the chaotic setting of the city and transports us to a magical microcosm of a world.  In many ways, this film reminded me of what I love most about French New Wave; it felt alive, surprisingly energetic, and most of all, utterly irresistible.

In the Mood for Love: (Wong Kar-wai, 2000):  Another romantic stunner from Wong Kar-wai. Where Chungking Express was energetic and youthful, In the Mood for Love is elegiac and full of longing.  Plus,  Maggie Cheung has one of the most enviable wardrobes in cinema history (I sense a La Femme's top five!).  Mrs. Chan (the aforementioned, so beautiful it hurts, Maggie Cheung) and Mr. Chow (Tony Leung again, in his best performance yet in this marathon) live in the same apartment building, and are, in fact, next-door neighbors.  They soon discover that their respective partners are having an affair.  Angry and confused, the pair begin to engage in a tentative relationship of their own, at first playacting the beginning of their spouses affair. But as they keep running into each other in their lonely trips to the noodle stall and spending more time together, they, themselves, begin to fall in love.  In the Mood for Love is my favorite kind of romance, one in which the characters barely touch, let alone kiss and yet, you can feel the longing, passion, and lust radiating from them.  Leung gives his best performance I have seen yet, at once confident and full of verve and yet downtrodden over his current circumstances.  But I think Cheung is the real star; you can feel the passion in her performance even though it is very restrained.  I think the slower, languid pace also allows Kar-wai to paint a more complete portrait of these two characters and their burgeoning relationship. Here, the camera moves slower and the frenetic movements in Chungking Express instead become lazy and sensual.  I also love what he does with music in this film, again using the same music again and again, making each time you hear the song more and more meaningful. Also, can someone please give me some of Cheung's gorgeous dresses?  Seriously.

Julie