It's been a week of foreign movies. Last night, Matt and K and I saw 2046, wkw's new movie. It was good, although it did drag in parts, but on the whole, a beautiful picture. Tony Leung was great, reminiscent of Bogey. The whole thing had sort of a J.D. Salinger meets Philip K. Dick feel to it.
The night before K and I went to see Caterina in the Big City, which is sort of like mean Girls, if Mean Girls dealt with Fascism, Communisim, and feelings of impotence and frustration.
And then Wednesday, K and Dan and I went to see Howl's Moving Castle at one of my favorite theaters in LA (well, South Pasadena), the Rialto. I just wish Landmark would give it the Vista treatment and remove every other row of seats and do a little restoration (if only you could sit in the balcony). Howl's was good, better than any Disney movie in the last ten years. But it's hard not to judge every Miyazaki movie against Spirited Away and Porco Rosso, my two favorites. I've been a bit Miyazaki crazy in the last couple weeks, buying Porco and Nausicaa on DVD. The man is a singular talent, and I say that never having seen Totoro or his Lupin III movie.
Switching gears, today I'm going to see David Byrne and the Arcade Fire in what my buddy Santiago and I just decided is the LA concert of the summer, if not the year. Everyone I know is going to be there, which makes me glad we're taking the metro to Hollywood and Highland and walking up.
All this, and sometime this week I'm going to find the time to see Land of the Dead. Life (or undeath) is good.