Hello friends and friendzies,
Long time no chunk! I hope you are well and feeling spring-ish. Here at MHIAI headquarters (aka. my basement) I’m neck-deep in editing, which bring me to my first announcement:
videochunks are on a vacation for a hot minute while I focus on, you know, making the movie. But I’ll pop in and annoy you with blogs and comments sporadically, and maybe even some drafts of scenes that I need some advice on. Stay tooned! And now a couple of quick updates, and then onto the serious business at hand.
We’ve got pins! These totally rockin’ 1" pins were printed by our pals at
VGKids in Ypsilanti, Michigan. If you want some of these pins for you and your friends to wear like a badge of honor, email me and I’ll send you a bunch: myheartisanidiot@gmail.com.
Alex Steed at
TRACE Magazine wrote a nice piece about this project. You can download the entire issue from
their site, and the MHIAI part is on page 12. The whole magazine is great, so check it out!
Another film involving Davy Rothbart’s curious existence is currently in the making: Easier With Practice, written and directed by Kyle Alvarez. Kyle is chronicling the progress of the film online for all to see, and it looks great so far. Definitely check this out at the film’s
website and
MySpace pages.
I, David Meiklejohn, have
my own gosh-darned video website! It’s basically a video portfolio to use once this project ends and I’m desperately searching for a job. But it’s also got many of the videos I’ve done in the past few years on it, so peep those when you get bored at work, yeah!
Oh, and I got my hair did the other day. Now I have boyish looks to match my childish sense of humor. Hello, synchronicity.
And now that serious business I mentioned: I want to write someone a love letter. But first, let me set the scene.
My life these days is pretty steady. I usually wake up late in the morning and jump right into editing for a few hours. Most afternoons I like to take a walk and get some sunlight, maybe run to Village Corner for soy yogurt and mango juice. Then it’s back to the basement for more editing. At some point, maybe around 10 or 11pm, I start getting antsy, so I watch a film to clear my head. Afterwards I usually edit for an hour or two, then curl up in bed with
whatever book I’m reading and fall asleep with the light on.
Rinse and repeat. These are the days of my life.
And so I’ve become very dependent on this ritual of watching a film every night. I fiend for it. For me, watching a film every night is like a 9-to-5er hitting the gym mid-day. It’s how I tone my creative muscles, brush the dust off my brain, keep inspired and motivated to be a better filmmaker.
Lately I had a streak of watching the films of Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai. His films kill and thrill me. If you’re deep in love or heartbroken or bitter or on the prowl… Well, if you’ve ever experienced any form of romantic love, you could find yourself in a character from one of Wong’s films. Watching all of these films has definitely influenced my editing style, and I’m curious to see if that will be apparent when the finished film is ready.
Wong’s got a new film coming out this year called My Blueberry Nights, starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Norah Jones, and Rachel Weisz, among others. It’s his first film in English, and it will probably introduce his work to a wider American audience, which is so exciting. The more people who see his films, the more people I can talk to about them and gush over how amazing they are. Huzzah!
Well I thought I’d collect some clips of Wong’s films through YouTube and share them here in this video-blog-mixtape-love-letter. These are no substitute for watching the full films, but maybe they’ll intrigue you. And after you watch one of his films, get in touch with me so we can geek out together, okay?
FALLEN ANGELS (1995)
This was the first Wong Kar-Wai film I ever saw. I love it for its pacing, its poetry, its violence, and its tenderness. This trailer is a good example of a common technique Wong uses: re-recording popular songs for the soundtrack, in this case the Massive Attack song "Karmacoma." The trailer’s pretty violent, be warned!
This scene does the same thing with the song "Only You" originally recorded by Yaz. What a sweet song, and a sweet motorcycle too!
This is a longer clip that shows off Wong’s use of voiceover, quick cut editing, and shaky handheld camerawork that actually looks good. The gorgeous Michelle Reis and Leon Lai look pretty good too. I watched this film with my friend Paul, and at the end of this scene he yelled, "Well shit, did he have to kill all of them?!"
CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994)
Wong Kar-Wai made Chungking Express during a two-month break from editing his epic samurai drama Ashes of Time. Originally, Fallen Angels was supposed to be part of this film, but was eventually turned into its own separate film. This trailer has "that guy" doing some over-the-top voiceover, and a version of "Dreams" by The Cranberries, as sung by Faye Wong, who stars in the film (she’s the one with the short choppy hair).
This scene doesn’t have subtitles, but you don’t really need them to understand what’s going on. And besides, words would distract you from the hotness of Tony Leung and Faye Wong, who have been scientifically proven to be the most attractive people to have ever lived. Can’t argue with science.
After his lover leaves him on April 1st, Takeshi Kaneshiro’s character decides to eat a can of pineapple every day until his birthday on May 1st, hoping that his lover will return to him before then. In this scene, it’s April 30th, and he desperately searches for one last can of pineapple with the right expiration date in order to keep his hopes alive.
I love this scene. Earlier in the film, Faye Wong snuck into Tony Leung’s apartment and switched the labels on his cans of sardines, pasted a random photograph on his mirror, swapped his bathroom mug, and other such Amelie-ish shenanigans. This causes Tony Leung to start, um, talking to his belongings. I can relate!
HAPPY TOGETHER (1997)
Wow, who hasn’t been in a relationship like the one in this film? Brutal passion, neediness, jealousy, separation, self-destruction, make-up sex, all told through the relationship of two Chinese men living in self-imposed exile in Argentina. No subtitles on this trailer, but the images speak clearly enough.
Another trailer, a bit longer here, with a wider variety of shots. So good.
Although short, this scene mos def makes my top five favorite dance sequences, along with Band of Outsiders, Pulp Fiction, Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, and Dirty Dancing (natch!). Might just be the hottest minute of Chinese cinema I’ve ever seen.
DAYS OF BEING WILD (1991)
This film was listed as number three on the top 100 Chinese films of all time. And that’s no lie! This film was the first full-length collaboration between Wong Kar-Wai and cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who shot all of the films I mentioned above.
Oh dang, I forgot about this dance scene! This one’s prolly in the top twelve, maybe even top eight. I know I’ve danced like that in front of my mirror a few hundred times. Great Lakes, Great Times.
AS TEARS GO BY (1988)
This was the first feature film Wong Kar-Wai directed. A more action-based story about a smooth gangster trying to keep his loud-mouthed brother out of trouble. Couldn’t find a good trailer, but here’s an awesome scene made awesomer by the cover of Berlin’s "Take My Breath Away". No subtitles, but do you really need them for a makeout scene? Oh, and I think they’re cousins through marriage, which is awkward for me, but apparently a-okay with them. Go for it!
The films above are the ones I watched most recently, but here are the trailers for In The Mood For Love and 2046, which are both fantastic, and also My Blueberry Nights, which should come out this year sometime.
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000)
2046 (2004)
MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS (2008)
If you made it this far, call me so we can geek out about movies, snork! (551) 221.1359
Xoxoxo,
David.