Friday, September 10
September 10, 2010 Filed under Weekend
Movie
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Manhattan physician Bill Harford becomes obsessed with the idea of having a fling after his wife admits to sexual fantasies about another man. She later chastises him for not admitting his own fantasies.
Where: China Film Archive, 3 Wenhuiyuan Lu, Xiaoxitian, Haidian District
When: 7 pm
Admission: 20 yuan
Tel: 8229 6153
Nightlife
Boi Akih
The jazz group has been influenced by Indonesian traditional music, Arabic rhythms and West African songs.
Where: Star Live, 3/F Tango, 79 Heping Xi Jie, Dongcheng District
When: 9 pm
Admission: 200 and 280 yuan
Tel: 6402 5080
Exhibition
From the Three Shadows Collection – Works by Rongrong & Inri
Lovers Rongrong and Inri have been painting about youth, passion and harmony in nature since they met in 1999.
Where: Three Shadows Photography Art Center, 155 Caochangdi Village, Chaoyang District
When: Until September 30, daily except Monday, 10 am – 6 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 6432 2663
(By He Jianwei)
Saturday, September 11
September 10, 2010 Filed under Weekend
Exhibition
Instant Again – Yang Hongxun Solo Exhibition
Yang, a photojournalist, captures the details of everyday life through Polaroid.
Where: Qianliang 32 Cafe, 32 Qianliang Hutong, Dongsi Bei Dajie, Dongcheng District
When: Until October 3, daily except Monday, 10 am – 6 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 6404 6297
Movie
The Sea Inside (2004)
Former sailor Ramon Sampedro, a quadriplegic for 28 years, is in a court battle to defend his right to practice euthanasia, with the support of an association that defends freedom of choice.
Where: Broadway Cinematheque, 2/F Building 4, North section of Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), 1 Xiangheyuan Lu, Dongcheng District
When: 2 pm
Admission: 40 yuan, 30 yuan for students
Tel: 8438 8258 ext. 8008
Zhang Huan Studio (2007) and Making of Semele (2009)
Two documentaries about the artist Zhang Huan. The first shows the process behind Zhang’s art, featuring interviews and clips of him at work on his signature sculptures, ash paintings, wood carvings and prints. The second reveals Zhang as director and stage designer of the opera Semele, which was performed in Brussels last year and will be staged in Beijing later this year.
Where: Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), 798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
When: 7 pm
Admission: 15 yuan
Tel: 8459 9269
Nightlife
Backyard Surgeons
The Australian band, which has just released its latest EP, Totally Numb, plays fast, melodic punk rock.
Where: D-22, 242 Chengfu Lu, Haidian District
When: 10 pm
Admission: 40 yuan, 30 yuan for students
Tel: 6265 3177
The Last Chance for Young Love
The band Happy Avenue, formed by journalist Wu Hongfei in 1999, has just released its third album.
Where: Yugongyishan, 3-2 Zhangzizhong Lu, Dongcheng District
When: 8:30 pm
Admission: 40 yuan advance purchase, 60 yuan at the door, 50 yuan for students
Tel: 6404 2711
(By He Jianwei)
Sunday, September 12
September 10, 2010 Filed under Weekend
Exhibition
Sleepless Tonight – Yan Shilin Solo Exhibition
Yan contemplates adulthood through his sculptures of children who look like aliens in another world.
Where: Faurschou Gallery, 798 Art District, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
When: Until October 6, daily except Monday, 11 am – 6 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 5978 9916
Movie
Mon Oncle (My Uncle, 1958)
Monsieur Hulot’s nephew grows up in a house where everything is fully automated. To minimize Hulot’s influence on the boy, his brother-in-law gets Hulot a job at his plastics factory.
Where: French Cultural Center, 1/F Guangcai International Mansion, 18 Gongti Xi Lu, Chaoyang District
When: 3 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 6553 2627
Nightlife
Choir of Young Believers
The music of the Danish band, founded by singer-guitarist Jannis Noya Makrigiannis in 2006, is characterized by dark lyrics, folk melodies and orchestral instrumentation. It was named Best New Act at the 2009 Danish Music Awards.
Where: Mao Livehouse, 111 Gulou Dong Dajie, Dongcheng District
When: 9 pm
Admission: 40 yuan for students, 60 yuan at the door
Tel: 64025080
(By He Jianwei)
Goya award Best film 2001. El Bola. (Pellet)
September 8, 2010 Filed under Yu Shanshan
Event information
Event name:Goya award Best film 2001. El Bola. (Pellet)
Host:Xibanyayu
Event type: Party – Club Party
Location: Jia 1, Gongti Nan Lu, Chaoyang District
Time & Place
Date:September 10, 2010
Time:19:00 – 21:00
Neighbourhood:朝阳区(Chaoyang) District
Event Description
10th and 11th /09/2010
19:00h
Goya award Best film 2001
El Bola. (Pellet)
El Bola is a 12 year old boy raised in a violent and sordid environment. Embarrassed by his family life, he avoids becoming close to classmates. The arrival of a new boy at school changes his attitude towards his classmates, and friendship. The heart of the story is the change in El Bola’s life, at almost all levels, after befriending this new classmate.
Goya award Best film 1998
September 1, 2010 Filed under Yu Shanshan
Event information
Event name:Goya award Best film 1998. La buena estrella.
TheHost:Xibanyayu
Event type: Party – Club Party
Location:北京市朝阳区工体南路甲一号
Time & Place
Date:September 3, 2010
Time:19:00 – 21:00
Neighbourhood:朝阳区(Chaoyang) District
Event Description
3rd and 4th /09/2010
19:00h
Goya award Best film 1998
La buena estrella. (The lucky star)
Marina, a woman with a glass eye, has the bad luck to be the victim of an assault witnessed by Rafael, a goodhearted butcher, who rescues her from her attacker, a man named Daniel. Rafael has physical problems of his own, but the two stay together as a couple. A baby not Rafael’s, for he lost his testicles in an accident is born. Rafael looks forward to raising the child as his own if Marina will consent.
Cineroleum: cinema in a petrol station
August 31, 2010 Filed under howie wang
(Telegraph)
Over the past few years pop up cinemas have gained in popularity. The Cineroleum is one of the latest in home made cinemas
Cineroleum in Clerkenwell, north London
Until six weeks ago, all that existed at 100 Clerkenwell Road, north London were the remains of an abandoned petrol station, a concrete lull on a busy road whose only inhabitants were nocturnal graffiti artists. Since then the space has been radically transformed by 16 young artists and designers into a pop-up cinema.
The aptly named Cineroleum shows classic films four nights a week and has been hand-built from donated and found materials. The screen was rescued from a skip outside the National Theatre and the chairs and main structure were built from cheap scrap-board that would otherwise be thrown away. The aesthetic is based on the realisation that “we could use old industrial materials in a decorative way”, Alice Edgerley, one of the core team behind the project explains.
The Cinema Museum, a treasure trove of cinematic memorabilia, inspired much of the fifties-style design. Silver festoon curtains frame the tiered theatre within, (mostly) managing to protect from rain, wind, and occasional orange flashes from passing lorries.
At the end of each performance the curtains are pulled up to reveal the packed hidden theatre to the street beyond, much to the bemusement of unsuspecting passer bys. The overall impression is a cross between an opulent picture-palace and an American drive-in.
The project began at the beginning of the summer when a group of recent graduates decided they wanted to build something together that would benefit the community. They toured the derelict spaces of London, most of which lie in limbo for a few months before they get turned into flash new flats. Once they found the petrol station they worked on getting licences and sponsorship.
The Cineroleum nods back to a forgotten era of cinema, long before the Vue and the Odeon made every picture-theatre the same. Those getting a long overdue return to the big screen range from silent experiments like Metropolis to American classics like Rebel Without a Cause and Badlands, finally rounding off with The Third Man. Before the main feature, the Cineroleum also shows contemporary short films and documentaries.
The growing popularity of Secret Cinema, the open-air screenings at Somerset House and the riverside amphitheatre The Scoop in south London show that not all of us want to be holed-up inside watching Hollywood epics in 3D specs.
In the past few years low-cost street-side outfits have been gaining popularity. Unusual projects range from Tilda Swinton’s mobile cinema touring the Scottish Highlands, to the Visionaire pop-up at the East End Film Festival and the Portobello Pop-up under the Westway. Perhaps these projects reflect a yearning for a unique shared experience, or maybe it’s just that, at £5 a pop, they’re a lot cheaper than the Vue.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-blog/7971777/Cineroleum-cinema-in-a-petrol-station.html
Friday, August 27
August 27, 2010 Filed under Weekend
Exhibition
Speciosity – Wie Qingji’s Solo Exhibition
Wei’s paintings speak of love and betrayal, envy and happiness, strength and cowardice.
Where: Embassy of the Czech Republic, 2 Ritan Lu, Jianguomen Wai Dajie, Chaoyang District
When: Until September 5, daily, 10 am – 6 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 8532 9500
Movie
Paris (2008)
Pierre, a professional dancer, is stricken with a serious heart ailment. While waiting for a transplant that may or may not save his life, he passes the time by people watching from the balcony of his Paris apartment. It is the city and its inhabitants who now seem to dance before him.
Where: China Film Archive, 3 Wenhuiyuan Lu, Xiaoxitian, Haidian District
When: 7 pm
Admission: 20 yuan
Tel: 8229 6153
Nightlife
Kay Huang’s First
Besides being a songwriter and producer, Taiwanese artist Kay Huang is also a composer of film and television soundtracks, as well as a favorite judge at talent competitions.
Where: The One Club, Building 5, 718 Art and Culture Zone, 19 Ganluyuan, Gaobeidian Bei Lu, Chaoyang District
When: 7:30 pm
Admission: 280 yuan, 380 yuan for VIP
Tel: 5914 8087
(By He Jianwei)
Saturday, August 28
August 27, 2010 Filed under Weekend
Nightlife
Peking Opera – Muke Village and Scold Cao Cao by Rataplan
This drama is being staged by a group that was established to promote Peking Opera today. Its founders are young actors who won first and second prizes at national Peking Opera competitions.
Where: Huguang Guild Hall, 3 Hufang Lu, Xicheng District
When: 7:30 pm
Admission: 80 yuan, 180 yuan, 280 yuan, 380 yuan for VIP
Tel: 400 810 1887
Exhibition
Garden of Pine – Yangjiang Group’s Exhibition
Group members Zheng Guogu, Chen Zaiyan and Sun Qinglin depict social phenomena from the grassroots perspective and challenge mainstream beliefs.
Where: Tang Contemporary Art, 798 Art District, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
When: Until September 30, daily except Monday, 10:30 am – 6 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 6436 1258
Movie
The Legend of 1990 (1998)
It is after World War II and Max, a transplanted American, goes to an English pawnshop to sell his trumpet. The shopkeeper recognizes the tune Max plays for him as one on an unreleased album, restored from shards found in a piano salvaged from a ship that is now slated for demolition. The shopkeeper asks who wrote the piece and Max tells him the story of “1900.”
Where: Lady Book Saloon, 69 Chengfu Lu, Haidian District
When: 7 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 6270 1928
(By He Jianwei)
Sunday, August 29
August 27, 2010 Filed under Weekend
Nightlife
The Rodney Mack Philadelphia Big Brass
Composed of the US’ top brass musicians, Rodney Mack has performed with such groups as New York’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Baltimore Symphony.
Where: Concert Hall of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), 2 Xi Chang’an Jie, Xicheng District
When: 7:30 pm
Admission: 80-380 yuan
Tel: 6655 0000
Exhibition
No Way – Jiang Huajun Solo Exhibition
Jiang’s paintings are meditations and recreations of his surroundings.
Where: PIFO New Art Studio, 798 Art District, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
When: Until September 12, daily except Monday, 10 am – 6 pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 5978 9562
Movie
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Hiroshima My Love, 1959)
The film revolves around the subjects of memory and oblivion. A young Frenchwoman has just spent the night with a Japanese man in Hiroshima, where she came for the filming of a movie about peace. He reminds her of the first man she has loved, a German soldier during World War II.
Where: Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), 798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
When: 7 pm
Admission: 15 yuan, 10 yuan for students
Tel: 8459 9269
(By He Jianwei)
Scott Pilgrim Vs the World
August 27, 2010 Filed under howie wang
(The Guardian)
Michael Cera is the star of the graphic novel series in Edgar Wright’s witty and stylish big-screen transfer. By Peter Bradshaw
A rocking good time … Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim Vs the World.
Edgar Wright takes the ache out of “achingly cool” with his entertaining, hyperactive gamer-geek comedy Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, set in freezing cold Toronto and based on the graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Despite riffing on some apparently emotional themes – male romantic status-anxiety is brought interestingly into parallel with Canada’s cultural cringe to the United States – Wright insists on nothing more than comedy and the spectacle of pastiche, an entertainment of Seinfeldian inconsequence. The movie has been attacked in some quarters for lack of heart, and for an alleged lack of box office nous in pitching to a demographic that favours illegal downloads over ticket-buying. I can only say that where some see shallowness, I saw a witty interplay of surfaces and style.
Our hero is Scott Pilgrim, bassist in the crashingly loud local band Sex Bob-omb and keen player of video games, activities that encompass the sum total of his cultural life. An interest in literature surfaces briefly when he realises that the love of his life has a job making special deliveries for Amazon, and so orders a book – the title of which is irrelevant and unmentioned. Scott is played by Michael Cera, perhaps the most sexually unthreatening male in the history of cinema, with a gentle, moonish face that makes him look like an early-60s Beatle. Scott and his band are not slackers, exactly: Wright shows them industriously rehearsing and worrying about their romantic and musical careers, but they are so utterly unworried about earning a living that they could as well be in college or even high school.
Scott has a love life that, though notionally filled with angst, is actually beyond the wildest dreams of most real-life saddos and geeks. He has been dumped by impossibly glamorous blonde singer Envy Adams (Brie Larson), but now into a platonic rebound relationship with teenage schoolgirl Knives Chau, played by 25-year-old Ellen Wong, to the tetchy disapproval of his sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick). But then he falls for unattainably cool Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who has just moved to Canada from New York – the number she gives him still has the 212 area code. Their forbidden love begins to blossom, but Scott is confronted with a terrible quest: he must do battle with Ramona’s seven evil exes, led by Gideon (Jason Schwartzman), the oleaginous New York record boss who holds the destiny of Sex Bob-omb in his hands and is given to snide solecisms such as “Between you and I”.
The titanic battles between Scott and each vengeful ex are, of course, entirely stylised, sorcery-fantasy contests whose choreography can exist only on a gamer’s computer screen: they are different, in their way, from the martial arts confrontations in, say, Tarantino’s Kill Bill or Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, because they are so unreal and unserious, and always liable to be interrupted and undermined with throwaway gags. Each face-off exists only to facilitate comedy and a continuous fizz of generic pastiche, and even the romance isn’t to be taken too straight. There is one quietly tremendous moment when Scott is whacked hard, and flies through the air away from us, in the direction of the camera’s sightline, holding a roughly static position on screen but dwindling in size to a tiny insect-like figure, before finally crashing into a distant castle. “Surreal” is an overused and misused adjective, and yet applicable here.
The more potent duel is the one Cera always loses: the comedy duel in which he will perpetually be upstaged by the evil competitor. Brandon Routh, a former Superman, plays Ramona’s ex-boyfriend Todd Ingram, who has evil superpowers that are dependent on his fanatical veganism, and for whom dairy products are Kryptonite. The movie is always close to being stolen by Scott’s gay flatmate Wallace (Kieran Culkin), who provides a comic perspective on the lead character. He is prone to crash into the apartment late at night (”Guess who’s drunk?”) and wreak havoc with Scott’s need for privacy. Culkin plays what might be called the “Nick Frost” role: part-pundit, part-intimate.
Scott Pilgrim is an intriguing picture for being so exotic and eccentric, and for aligning itself with the style and structure of a videogame rather than a film: following not conventional narrative arcs, but a series of game-levels and flavouring this sequence, not with the usual dramatic reversals and character-development, but with an open-ended comic shtick. My only reservation is that Wright could have afforded to relax a little more, to take his foot off the pastiche-pedal and give his comedy more breathing space. Having said that, this is an entertaining and distinctive display of technique, an exhilarating demonstration of film-making IQ.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/aug/26/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world-review
