InternationalBoy

http://famousfrenchfilms.com

internationalboy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:57:24 +0000

THERE ‘S ALREADY A DOZEN OF FRENCH FILMS REVIEWED ON MY WEBSITE, THRILLERS, CULT FILMS, COMEDIES, CLASSICS & EARLY CINEMA.

http://famousfrenchfilms.com

FamousFrenchFilms

internationalboy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:14:32 +0000

NEW BLOG SOON

http://famousfrenchfilms.wordpress.com/

The purpose of this blog is to popularize classic French films, notably by translating them into four languages: French – English – Spanish – Italian. The goal is not to review them in great detail but rather to introduce them to a wide audience. Works of art from the greatest French filmakers will be presented. F. Truffaut, J-L Goddard, J. Renoir, C. Chabrol, E. Rohmer, J. Vigo … among others. A few popular films will also be reviewed.

All of the posts follow the same structure: First a synopsis, then an introduction to the director’s filmmaking, after that a reflexion on the main themes and finally my personal opinion. Three pictures are inserted in each post and the official trailer can be found at the bottom.

Articles are not very long; they are composed of three paragraphs each. Filmographies are far from exhaustive, only a few films per director are introduced. The reason being the amount of work is multiplied by translation in 4 languages.

This blog distinguishes itself by the fact that visitors can find articles in their language choosing the one that suits them in the category menu. All posts and translations are written by me so far. Only French is to native level so if you spot any mistake or poor language please kindly report it to me.

By the way I wouldn’t mind someone with good knowledge of German/ Dutch/ Portuguese giving me a hand. A partnership with someone with a greater knowledge of French films would be nice as well.

Again I’m a film enthusiast trying to share my passion for languages and cinema, so please excuse my lack of knowledge in the matter. It’s also the occasion for me to work out if I possess any writing skill that could help me get a culture-based job in the near future.

I admit I don’t know much about French filmmakers at present – I have been watching Hitchcock’s, Fellini’s and Almodovar’s films recently – but this blog is the occasion for me to do some catch-up. So it’s a bit like someone making a blog about a country he plans to go for a year and talking about it to his friends: destination unknown!

>>> Your + & – comments are more than welcome: charlesvsn@gmail.com

Thank you all,

Charles Voisin.

Mr NOBODY, UN FILM DE JACO VAN DORMAEL.

internationalboy — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:47:01 +0000

Mr Noboby est le dernier mortel dans un monde ayant découvert le secret de l’immortalité. À 125 ans il va bientôt rendre l’âme, un journaliste recueille par bribes les souvenirs du vieil homme.

Mais de toutes les vies qui lui sont contées, laquelle est la bonne? Celles qu’il passe auprès de son père ou celles vécues du côté de sa mère? Laquelle d’Anna, Elise et Jeanne a-t-il finalement épousé?

Toutes ces destinées possibles ont été vécues. C’est ici qu’il nous faut mettre la logique du monde réel de côté pour nous perdre dans les conjectures de la philosophie des sciences. En cela le réalisateur belge se rapproche des frères Wachowski qui mettent singulièrement les mêmes questions métaphysiques sur la table. Le monde que nous connaissons est-il régit par un être supérieur? Au fond que savons-nous du temps pourrait-il s’inverser un jour comme le pôle nord et le pôle sud?

On reconnaitra au passage un déisme laïque puisé dans la franc-maçonnerie qui, ponctuellement, nourrit la science-fiction de manière efficace. Mais ici force est de constater qu’il est un peu difficile pour le spectateur de suivre l’univers mental infini de Jaco Van Dormael.

Voilà pour le fond mais qu’en est-il de la forme? Hé bien de ce côté on est pas en reste puisque ce scénario arborescent est servi par un univers visuel extrêmement riche. Jaco a su tirer avantage des moyens matériels mis à sa disposition pour qu’ils bénéficient au mieux à son œuvre. D’autre part cette intrigue complexe et somme toute longue est rendue intelligible par la structure déconstruite du récit.

Par ailleurs la voix off du narrateur nous relate parfois quelques anecdotes qui ne sont pas sans rappeler la manière très française qu’à Jean-Pierre Jeunet de relier le singulier et l’universel. Est assez surprenant par contre le choix pour la version française de doubler des acteurs américains, qui évoluent dans un environnement clairement anglophone, par des voix dont l’accent régional est franchement dérangeant.

En conclusion le dernier long-métrage du réalisateur bruxellois après “le huitième jour” est une réussite relative. Les spectateurs en effet ne pourront que rester perplexes à l’issue de la séance, ne sachant pas que penser d’un film qui les laisse au bord de la route. La réflexion philosophique sur l’infinité des mondes possibles a certes de l’intérêt, mais convient difficilement à une fin de film satisfaisante. Un choix dont certains salueront l’audace et que d’autres déploreront.

Article signé Charles Voisin.

LATEST EXCITING TECH DEVICES

internationalboy — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:10:19 +0000

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is held each January in Las Vegas, it’s a trade show where top companies unveil the next life-changing gadgets to come.

Recently introduced at CES this year was Google’s smartphone Nexus 1 or “gPhone” if you like. Nothing extraordinary here, just a good smartphone which runs very fast, featuring a gorgeous screen and noise cancelling microphones.

This is for the real world. But trade shows get more media attention for prototypes and major announcements. This year “tablet” is the word that stands on everybody’s lips.

Is the “tablet” going to be the next revolutionary gadget? This device, which is only a speculation up to now, has already generated an incredible buzz on the Web fed by all kind of rumours.

<<<<<

Main competitors are well known: Apple and the “iSlate” VS Microsoft and its “Courier”. Go ahead and compare them watching both videos! It ‘s real promising stuff displaying plenty of astounding possibilities. I can’t wait for it!

>>>>>

MY ERASMUS EXPERIENCE

internationalboy — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:22:37 +0000

HOW COMES I SPEAK SO MANY LANGUAGES? WELL ONE DAY I DECIDED TO DROP OUT MY PHILOSOPHY STUDIES AND DO SOMETHING MORE PRACTICAL.

I KNEW LANGUAGES ARE VALUABLE TO GET GOOD JOB OPPORTUNITIES PLUS IT’S A GREAT WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER PEOPLE AND EXPERIENCE LIFE.

1 LANGUAGE, 1 COUNTRY, 1 YEAR WAS THE PLAN. SO I WENT TO “ERASMUS HUBS” LIKE PERUGIA IN ITALY, SALAMANCA IN SPAIN AND CAMBRIDGE IN THE UK AND HAD AN AWESOME TIME THERE.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR OWN ERASMUS EXPERIENCE NOW >>> LEAVE A COMMENT !!!

LOMO PHOTOGRAPHS !

internationalboy — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:35:13 +0000

I JUST HAD MY VERY FIRST LOMO FILM ROLL PROCESSED,

CHECK IT OUT !!!

The 10 golden rules of Lomography

Take your camera everywhere you go
Use it any time – day and night
Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it
Try the shot from the hip
Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible
Don’t think
Be fast
You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film
Afterwards either
Don’t worry about any rules

SPANISH FILMS I LOVE

internationalboy — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:32:25 +0000

First let me introduce you to Pedro Almodovar’s film making. Films made with strong colours and decoration mastery, complex narratives and muffled atmosphere, feminine world and identity change.

Once again the Spanish filmmaker takes us in a journey into the protagonists’ past to find the hidden truth. A past full of secrets and long stories where oblivion has covered the outburst of human passions.

Broken Embraces tells the story of Mateo who became blind after a car crash and his early love Lena whose possessive husband is longing to get revenge. The film is a puzzle which solution the audience has to figure out along with the main characters.

O SOM DO BRASIL

internationalboy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:56:05 +0000

HI GUYS, I’D LIKE TO SHARE SOME PORTUGUESE MUSIC WITH YOU TODAY. BORED OF LISTENING TO THE SAME POP-ROCK MUSIC EVERY SINGLE DAY? WHY NOT TRY CHANGING YOUR MUSICAL TASTES FOR A CHANGE. THIS IS AN INVITE TO A NEW MUSICAL JOURNEY, DESTINATION: B R A S I L.

———————

VANESSA DA MATA HAS COMPOSED A DUET SONG FOR BEN HARPER HIMSELF. THE RESULT IS A UNIQUE & UNFORGETTABLE SONG, BE PREPARED TO SET YOUR COMPUTER TO “REPEAT SONG” FOR ABOUT A MONTH! NOTE: TRY THE REMIX AS WELL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CMqG91Ftf4

HERE ARE A FEW FAMOUS BRASILIAN SONGS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD BEFORE: “MEU CORACAO VAGABONDO”, GAL COSTA; “GAROTA DE IPANEMA”, TOM JOBIM; “MAIS QUE NADA”, SERGIO MERDES; “CORAZON PARTIDO”, IVETE SANGALO Y ALEJANDRO SANZ, “CUCURRUCUCU PALOMA”, CAETANO VELOSO …

LOL JOKES :D

internationalboy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:12:59 +0000

heaven is:
French cook
British police
German mechanic
Italian lover
and the Swiss run everything

hell is:
British cook
German police
French mechanic
Swiss lover
and the Italians run everything

——————————————

Two men walk into a bar, one wearing a cowboy hat and the other wearing a Yankees cap. The guy in the Yankees cap approaches the bartender and make a bet: “I’ll bet you $1,000 that I can put a shot glass at one end of your bar and piss into it from the other end of the bar without spilling a drop.”

The bartender laughs and says, “You’re crazy, but you’re on.”

The man positions a shot glass on one end, walks to the other end and unzips his fly. He then pisses everywhere — all over the walls, over the bar top, all over the bottles of booze, and all over the bartender. The bartender roars with laughter and tells the man to pay up.

The guy in the Yankees cap pays up, laughing and smiling, too.

“What are you smiling at?” asks the bartender. “You just lost $1,000!”

“Well, you see that guy in the cowboy hat over there crying? Before we came in, I bet him $10,000 that I could piss all over your bar, your walls, your liquor AND you, and not only would you not be mad — you would laugh hysterically about it!”

CITY PROFILE => PERUGIA

internationalboy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:14:30 +0000

THREE YEARS AGO I DECIDED TO GO AND LIVE IN ITALY FOR A WHOLE YEAR, PERUGIA IS THE DREAM PLACE FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS WILLING TO LEARN ITALIAN. WHY? BECAUSE IT’S A LOVELY MEDIEVAL CITY WHICH HOST A UNIVERSITY FOR FOREIGNERS, SPECIALLY CREATED TO TEACH ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE TO FOREIGN PEOPLE.

I FELT SO FORTUNATE WHEN I FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS PLACE AND EVEN MORE WHEN I GOT THERE. EVERYONE IS SO OPEN-MINDED, YOU MAKE FRIENDS FOR LIFE IN A SECOND.

“LE SCALETTE” ARE THE STAIRS LOCATED IN THE CITY CENTRE WHERE EVERYONE MEET AT NIGHT BEFORE GOING CLUBBING. EVERYBODY GATHER AND CHAT WITH STRANGERS IN A FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE AND A DRINK OF COURSE.

GETTING TO KNOW ITALIAN FILM HISTORY WAS ONE OF MY HOBBY. I HAVE SEEN COUNTLESS OF FILMS, OLD AND NEW. I WATCHED A LOT OF ITALIAN COMEDY MOVIES LIKE “MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE”, “DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE” OR “I SOLITI IGNOTI”, JUST TO NAME A FEW. PLUS I HAD THE CHANCE TO ENJOY A LOT OF SPAGHETTI WESTERNS AS WELL AS CLASSICS LIKE “THE LEOPARD” OR “BICYCLE THIEFS”.

I REALLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE, I HAVE SPENT ONE OF THE GREATEST YEARS OF MY LIFE THERE AND I STILL LONGING TO MAKE A LIVING THERE ONE DAY.