EvilNinjaX

Two things: 1. Darren Aronofsky is attached as the director. 2. The project was put into turnaround at Universal and has not yet been picked up by another studio. It's not yet a "done deal" though with these two big names attached (and with CAA selling it) it should most likely get picked up. Other than that, it sounds like it's going to use the NYCB as a backdrop and not focus too much on it. I'd think it's more a Thriller that just happens to take place in NYC... with a charcter who happens to be a dancer. -goro-

DEPARTURES (Okuribito) Japan 2008 is a must-see. Very beautiful, gently, touching, honest film. Best film I've seen in the last couple of years. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1069238/

Thanks for mentioning it, LiLing. I haven’t seen that one for years but I remember it as a terrific movie. Too bad it’s hard to purchase these days. Quite a list, EvilNinjaX. A lot of intriguing titles. Mon Meilleure Ami sounds good – I’m a big fan of Auteuil. btw, i notice that the HANA AND ALICE ballet scene clip is on youtube. If you search for "hana and alice the solo dance" you should get it. It's the pinnacle of that plot line and is quite beautiful. The entire movie really touches your heart (as Iwai Shunji is wont to do). Based on a series of COMMERCIALS, of all things. Now i want to pull out my DVD and watch it again... -goro-

Thanks for mentioning it, LiLing. I haven’t seen that one for years but I remember it as a terrific movie. Too bad it’s hard to purchase these days. Quite a list, EvilNinjaX. A lot of intriguing titles. Mon Meilleure Ami sounds good – I’m a big fan of Auteuil. Apparently Mon Meilleure Ami is going to be remade in the US. I weep. Also OLD BOY is being remade in the US by Spielberg/Will Smith. And the My Sassy Girl and A Tale of Two Sisters remakes were absolutely terrible. best to seek out the originals. I just watched THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD last night. Very... interesting. What's with the Asian westerns these days? Sukiyaki Western Django being the other notable one. They're both good and fun and TGTBatW was very enjoyable with a killer cast, but it doesn't actually have that "western" vibe... although, maybe that's why it was so cool. -goro-

IIRC this has been available in the UK for a while as a double bill (DVD) with Violette et Mr. B. Nice to have it released in teh US R1, though. -goro-

To those of you for whom the violence and portrayal of Indian urban slums was too much, please do not read the book. The books is must more grisly than the movie and almost every chapter in the first half deals with child molestation in some fashion. It is a solid read (and fills in alot of those blanks left in the movie; note that the dollar value of the question skips about 5 questions) but the movie does excise much of the more disturbing elements.

I just recently watched the Japanese movie THE LAST PRINCESS which is a big budget, summer blockbuster-esque remake of the classic Kurosawa film HIDDEN FORTRESS. While it's not great and has notable problems (or at least definciencies) it's surprisingly watchable for a Kurosawa remake. At its heart, it's a different movie with the same plot. Somewhat recent other movies: THE CHASER (Korea) is my favorite movie of the past several years. Unbelievable and not surprisng that Leonardo DiCaprio has picked up the remake rights. SECRET SUNSHINE was an absolute masterpiece by master director Lee Chang-dong. At first blush, it's a child kidnapping movie, but it very quickly grows past that and becomes much much more. DACHIMAWA LEE is from CRYING FIST Director Ryo Seung-wan and while not as amazing as CRYING FIST (one of my favorites) it's quite enjoyable. RED CLIFF 1 and 2 is interesting and far above John WOo's output in the US but not nearly a return to form. SAYONARA ANATA is a curious little film. FUndamentally it's yet another body-switch movie and the first half of the movie is pretty much what you'd expect, elevated by the wonderful performacnes by the two young leads. It grows into a much more fervent and powerful film in the second half and ther was a moment that did send a chill down my spine (in pathos not fear). I JUST DIDN'T DO IT is from SHALL WE DANSU director Suo Masayuki and is a very interesting film pointedly taking a jab at the Japanese judicial system. Really interesting and very frustrating! MAY 18TH is about the Kwangju massacre. I didn't know veyr much about the incident (except that it happened) prior to the movie. Afterwards, those days are etched into my mind. DIps a bit far into the melodrama/heartstring-puling at times, but for the most part works quite well. BRONSON: Wow. Watching it, i felt almost physically reaction; the film is really that powerful. Hopefully this will get a US release. A MAN WHO WAS SUPERMAN is an ok film that wins because it has its heart so firmly in place. The two leads are so charismatic and so perfectly in tuen with the roles that you can't help but be won over. Feels like the US film MICHAEL or K_PAX. Very touching and appropos ending. THE VALET is pretty obvious comedy but works so well b/c it doesn't dissolve into the same old cliches and the principals are likable! This is in contrast to US comedies (seemingly) where the main characters are just dislikable jerks. Gad Elmaleh is just tone-perfect. PRICELESS with Audrey Tautou is one of the better rom-coms of the year (well of the year it was made which was a cuple of years ago)! When it begins, you have a very good sense of how this is going to work out: golddigging girl with the heart of gold, poor bartender at the hotel, girl mistakes guy for a rich guy, comedy ensues! Well, yes, but no, b/c the writers are ahead of you; it begins with that, reveals the truth very early and the proceeds to become a very sharp, humorous film. Gad Elmaleh and Audrey Tautou can charm even the most hardened hearts,i think. MON MEILLEURE AMI - I'll watch anything that Patrice Leconte directs and if it stars Daniel AUteuil, all thebetter. While the US trailers made it seem like it's a comedy, it certainly is not and is very effective in exploring friendships and particularly man-man friendship (dare we even say, "Love"?). Some legacy titles that you might not have seen: Lee Chang-dong ouevre: (must see) PEPPERMINT CANDY GREEN FISH OASIS Iwai Shunji ouevre: Love Letter Swallowtail Butterfly Hana and Alice (which has perhaps one of the most beautiful ballet moments in film) April Story Fireworks Picnic All About Lily CHou-Chou Undo Kitano: Hana-bi Sontatine Kikujiro no Natsu Kids Return A Scene at the Sea (where the principals are mute and deaf!) Kim Ki-duk SPring Summer Fall Winter SPring Again 3-Iron Samaritan Girl (aka Samaria) Time Breath Dream My Sassy Girl (Korean not the US Remake) My Little Bride ...ING (which includes clips from Ferri's Giselle b/c it's the lead girls FAVORITE ballet) Be With You - one of the most beautiful, tender love stories i've ever seen, based on the book of the same name. The Last Present - Made me think of Gift of the Magi well, that's all for now. -goro-

Yes, but of course, you pay for that speed from Amazon/FedEx. I think it's normally about 4800JPY? I always order my J-DVDs in groups of 7-10 to save on that shipping, but it is really nice to get the DVDs in a couple of days. I think the quality of the video is adequate, but is a bit disappointing. The colors are muted, the image is soft (even for a SD-DVD). On theplus side, the bitrate is very high and so artifacts are minimal. I havent' watched all of it, but watched parts here adn there, i am not bothered too much by camera work and editing. I DO like the packaging. This is what is called "Value adding"! The book format with inset DVD is very nice and makes a really nice bookshelf presentation. At the same time i bought the first of the new "series" of DVDBooks with the Makhalina/Zelensky Swan Lake. It is also quite nice to have and i am end up with a few of the following ones, though i'mnot sure about double-dipping.. Fortunatley i did not already have this Kirov Swan Lake R1 DVD. -goro-

http://www.chanelstravinsky.com/ There's no trailer yet, but some beautiful still images. I'm looking forward to this... -goro-

I thought that "Dance Sport" is an actual term that is used in conjunction with Ballroom Dancing and using it in conjunction with ballet would seem a malapropism. and i think wikipedia agrees with me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancesport -goro-

Lots of good info already. Let me add a bit. I use Adobe Production Suite CS2, which is primarily Premiere for Nonlinear video editing, Encore for DVD authoring, Photoshop for menu creation and i really love it. Although the price may be prohibitive ($1k educational if you're in uni). Adobe does, however, provide a free 30 day eval, so if you want to get a feel and play with it, you can go to adobe.com, register, and download the full version that expires in 30 days. To edit VOBs in Premiere, you have to rename to .MPG or .MPEG, b/c Premier doesn't recognize .VOB extension, although it does actually recognize the contained format. *shrug* Also note that typically .VOBs are about 1GB in size and that Premiere has to Index it and conform it for use. If you import several at a time, the app can become totally unresponsive while it is processing to the point where it may appear that the app has locked up. Editing the segments into component vids in Premiere and then authoring in the Encore is ideal. You then have great control over chapters, menus, action that occurs after particular actions (eg., when a vid segment ends, you can set to go to particular menu or to play another video segment). CS2 (and now CS4) as a package allows you to use Photoshop to do photoediting and then using that image as a menu. You can also create the stylilzed buttons etc in Photoshop and assign the regions that are the buttons, the button order, etc. I'm so spoiled that whenever i do even the most simple video clipping i turn to Premiere. HTH HAND -goro-

A few Japanese fables that immediately come to mind: TAKETORI MONOGATARI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter "There have been suggestions that The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is related to the tale of Swan Lake[citation needed]. This probably is due to Kaguya-hime wearing the hagoromo (羽衣 "feather robe") when she ascends to her homeland. But the hagoromo figures more famously in a group of tales known as the hagoromo densetsu (in one example recorded in the Ohmi-no-kuni Fudo ki tells of a man who instructs his dog to steal the hagoromo of eight heavenly maidens while they were bathing, forcing one of them to become his bride). And the latter is remarkably similar to the tale of how Völundr the Smith and his brothers wedded the swan-maidens." MOMOTARO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momotaro "Momotarō left his parents for an island called Onigashima to destroy the marauding oni (demons or ogres) that dwelt there. En route, Momotarō met and befriended a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest. At the island, Momotarō and his animal friends penetrated the demons' fort and beat the demons' leader, Ura, as well as his army, into surrendering. Momotarō returned home with his new friends, and his family lived comfortably from then on." KINTARO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintarō "His animal friends served him as messengers and mounts, and some legends say that he even learned to speak their language. Several tales tell of Kintarō's adventures, fighting monsters and demons, beating bears in sumo wrestling, and helping the local woodcutters fell trees" also, THE LITTLE MERMAID or the latest incarnation: GAKE NO UE NO PONYO a few Ghibli films: TOTORO and MAJO NO TAKYUBIN (KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE) -goro-

Wow. That trailer looks excellent and I'm anxious to see both the documentary and the ballet company! Send me a link to buy and i'll preorder right now! Best, -goro-

after a brief goooooogle... Here's a youtube link which is a slideshow of images, from the book and from events surrounding the book. and this looks to be the official site: (in french) - and now i notice that it's also in translated in english. http://www.nicolasleriche-lelivre.com/ and here's the amazon link to buy: http://www.amazon.fr/Nicolas-Riche-Anne-De...8841&sr=8-1 it's an interesting project and has some beautiful pictures (and some not-so-beautiful...). -goro-

Recently, i was home in Abq; i like to have a few blank cards on hand just in case and there are a few places that always seem to carry interesting cards. Well, one of them had a line of NYCB blank cards that were just beautiful. I looked up the company and they have quite a few and i'm eagerly trying to find more of them. They do quite a few different kinds of cards, but here's a link to the NYCB ones they have. http://valentinemarketing.co.uk/nycityballet.html Thought people here might be interested. -goro-

Google is currently hosting digitized images (photos) from LIFE magazines archives. AND they are in the process of digitizing ALL of LIFE magazines images (photos + etchings). http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/lif...-on-google.html "...We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos..." The collection naturally contains many MANY ballet photos: http://images.google.com/images?q=ballet&q=source:life http://images.google.com/images?q=ballerin...p;q=source:life http://images.google.com/images?q=villella&q=source:life http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...G=Search+Images http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...G=Search+Images http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...G=Search+Images wow. just wow. and excitingly, apparently all these photos are available for purchase. -goro-

Here's NYT review of a performance called TOGETHER, dateline is sept 29, 1988. -goro- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...nyt&emc=rss

Until recent years, the Auroras I've seen have all done doubles four times, and it never occurred to me that anything was missing. This past season, one of the Auroras I saw attempted triples with approximately the same result you describe here. It certainly didn't work from the standpoint of musicality. Of course, that isn't enough to deter me from buying it. IIRC, in the Makarova Ballerina series, Elisabeth Platel does the varitaion with single, double, triple, quadruple. Correct me if i'm wrong. When i saw Royal ballet in San Antonio last year, i'm pretty sure Tamara Rojo did at least 1--and perhaps 2--quadruples. I seem to remember double, triple, quad, quad. I believe all the others did doubles. -goro-

Does anyone want this DVD? I somehow managed to accidentally order TWO (2) of them which came today and certainly don't have need for the other one. It's R0 PAL and if you're in the US and want this, I'll pay the shipping if you just pay me what i paid for it 21Eur (~$33US). btw, admins, if this is a poor place for me to put this post, link where it should be. thx -goro-

Maybe this is for another thread - but it's certainly worth considering now prices are lower. But, also consider that many dvd players are actually able to become multi-region; search for your make and model and 'multiregion' - because many companies make just one model, presest to whatever region, and just don't shout about the fact that it can be 'tweaked' to other regions or 'region 0'. May be worth a look. Also, I believe (though may be wrong) that Blu Ray is 'all region', and so the future is Blue. They are also 'backward compatible' with DVD, so it might be worth investigating how that works! Oppo makes an excellent DVD player (video quality is amazingly good for the price point) and has a remote region hack. I have 2. It also does PAL 2 NTSC conversion, which is nice if you want to get those UK dvds. WRT BluRay, you're ALMOST correct. HD-DVD did NOT have any region coding, but BluRay does; however, BlurAy is not as restrictive as DVD is. For instance, US and Japan are same region, but UK is not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Region_codes Region code Area A Americas; East and Southeast Asia; U.S. territories; Bermuda. B Africa, Europe, Oceania; Middle East; Kingdom of the Netherlands; British overseas territories, French territories; Greenland. C Central and South Asia; Mongolia, Russia, and People's Republic of China. Also before jumping onto the Bluray bandwagon quite yet, notice that there is ONE (1) Ballet bluray disc; it is Midsummer Night's Dream by PNB and MSRP is $46 (amazon price is $32) http://www.amazon.com/Mendelssohn-Midsumme...5666&sr=8-3 -goro-

Thank you so very much, Marga. Quite excellent references for the Cecchetti Method! -goro-

One of my ballet teachers asked me if i knew of any reference books/video on the Cecchetti style. I don't know of any (Bournonville and Vaganova are readily available, but i don't really see any in Cecchetti). So i thought i would ask here if anyone had a direction to point me. thx -goro-

Is this the one with the botched lift at the end as shown in the Royal Ballet's documentary? -goro-

... and if there are any Russian speakers (or Japanese readers) who want to help me do a subtitle track for these dvds, lmk... -goro-

I recently received a fairly large shipment of ballet DVDs, including: LOPATKINA variations VISHNEVA variations Stars of the 21st Century Nina Ananiashvili One Moment in My Life Soloist of the Paris Opera Ballet Agnes Letestu Regards sur une Etoile and the Czar's Box of: Lopatkina Vishneva Zakharova Ruzimatov Makhalina Zelensky Asylmuratova + Zaklinsky i haven't been able to watch all of them yet (natch). I have watched the Lopatkina and Vishneva variations discs and they are quite good. I couldn't understand any of the lengthy dialogue bits, but my Russian friend watched them and liked them. She said that she always thought that Lopatkina was the more thoughtful and intellectual of the two and the discs bore that out. Where Lopatkina explains the motivatoin behind the character as she is doing the La Bayadere variation, how she might be given to moments of losing control, etc... Vishneva counters with fairly banal notes like "always close into 5th position when you do the en dedant pirouette here... and then ..." I'm trying to free my schedule up a bit so she and i can watch it together and give me the play-by-play (so to speak). Stars of the 21st C has some absolutely gorgeous dancers and dancing, unfortunatley this is an example of the worst possible camera work and editing possible. FOr the most part, the dancing it totally ruined with extrmeme close ups of faces and the like. I am so disappointed. The Soloists of the Paris Opera Ballet is an aggregation of two previously exisitng VHS videos. The highlight (for me) is the Sylvie Guillem + Legris Grand Pas Classique. The Nina documentary is quite interesting, though again i can't understand anything! Some cute footage of her as a little girl ice skating. Quite a bit of the video here is also subject ot poor camerawork. There are some sequenecs where she is in class and instead of seeing ANY of the combinations, we get a couple of minutes of Nina's facial expressions closeup. -goro-