I've been easing myself into hibernation as the night fogs in Wagga Wagga begin and the temperature routinely dips below 5 degrees. Here are a few things I've been consuming whilst remaining indoors:
Cutie and the Boxer (Documentary)
I've been slowly working my way through a few of the films from the 2013 Sydney Film Festival program. In the first half hour of Cutie and the Boxer, I reached for my phone to find out whether it was truly a documentary. There were a few moments that were a little too perfect, which made me think it could have been an Exit Through The Gift Shop style doco or loosely scripted.
Here's a brief synopsis from the Sundance Institute:
Zachary Heinzerling’s remarkable debut is an indelible portrait of art, companionship, and the 40-year love story between Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, two Japanese artists who meet and marry in New York in the early 1970s. Surviving decades of hardship, resentment, financial anxiety, thwarted aspirations, and Ushio’s chronic alcoholism, they are a study in artistic symbiosis.
Now 80 years old and finally sober, Ushio is preparing a joint exhibit with Noriko. Ushio’s mixed-media sculptures and “boxing” paintings, infused with chaotic energy, have brought notoriety—but rarely income. Meanwhile, Noriko, emerging from her husband’s shadow, creates intimate comic-styled watercolor and ink drawings that tell the story—a muted empowerment fantasy—of their alter egos, Cutie and Bullie.
I enjoyed this doco and found myself thinking about it for days and weeks afterwards. As a film about a relationship, it was pretty devastating, especially with some of the archival footage that's used in the film and when you are introduced to Ushio's and Noriko's troubled son Alex.
The Great Beauty
I was alerted to this film by Lee Tran Lam, connoisseur of many important things, including food, books, music and films. I have to say, the storyline was very different to what I had expected. The trailer and the odd review I'd read made the main character out to be a party animal, and though the opening scene was (scarily) Baz Luhrmann like, it turned out to be a fairly philosophical film that was also entertaining. It was beautiful to watch, and the music was a lot of fun and ultimately, it left me feeling quite disturbed.
And finally I caught 'The art of stockbroking' on RN Drive the other night, which featured a conversation with Li Cunxin, of Mao's Last Dancer fame who is now the Artistic Director of Queensland Ballet (I really enjoyed his Australian Story episode a few years ago and find his voice so familiar, he has an accent similar to a few of my family members) and Michael Tortoni who runs the Bennetts Lane jazz club in Melbourne. Apparently both men had worked as stockbrokers, which is how the conversation opens but this segment soon became a fairly spirited discussion about the arts in Australia. It made for perfect Monday night listening while I was fixing tea :)
Hot chocolate time now! Hope you're both safe and well.
S
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