Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Stacy ‘Fergie’ Ferguson, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson

The star-studded cast of Nine, a musical loosely based on the stage show that was a hit on Broadway a couple of decades ago.

What you don’t see in the photo is the lead in the film – Daniel Day Lewis, who in this movie portrays a 40-year old Italian director facing a mid-life crisis that is stifling his creativity and leading him into a variety of complicated romantic involvements. The man is basically in crisis over the women in his life: wife, mistress, muse, the whore from his youth and even his mother. (I love you Sophia Loren). These are the very same women who come to his aid in fantasy and reality.

The screenplay, by Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella, is based on Arthur Kopit’s book for the 1982 Tony Award-winning musical of the same name, which was derived from an Italian play by Mario Fratti inspired by Federico Fellini’s autobiographical film 8½. Maury Yeston composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the songs.

From the director who gave us “Chicago”, Rob Marshall, this time gives us the musical film that is “Nine.”

Give me anything that combines film, musical, play, and Federico Fellini and I am definitely in! You don’t even have to mention Marion Cotillard who I am such a fan of.

Click here to read more on the movie on IMDB.

Click here to read what Wikipedia has on the movie.

More importantly, here is the trailer.

Here is a better video, in HD. Embedding of this video is disabled.

And here is one of the posters.

The film is scheduled to be released in the US on December 18, 2009, in New York and Los Angeles and open for wide release on December 25, 2009.

Credits to this site for some lifted information.

Credits to this site for the poster.

Here are some interesting trivia about the film.

Just when I am into vintage-inspired dresses and all these cute little dresses and skirts, I just had to watch (500) Days of Summer – and the result is, I am all gaga. I am all gaga about the film’s theme, all gaga about the soundtrack, all gaga about the production design and cinematography – and definitely, definitely… all gaga about the clothes.

I just wanted to wear everything Summer was wearing. Hahaha!

And I just had to find this article:

‘500 Days Of Summer’: We Got The Inside Scoop On Zooey Deschanel’s Retro-Chic Style

And, if that fan wagon has anything to do with the utterly enchanting wardrobe Zooey Deschanel sports throughout the movie, then you’ve come to the right place! We caught up with the brain’s behind the operation, costume designer Hope Hanafin, for an exclusive interview about dressing Zooey’s hopelessly unromantic Summer — yes, we also noticed that she was always in shades of blue.

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HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: What with was with the color blue when it came to Zooey’s character. That couldn’t have just been a coincidence, right?

HOPE HANAFIN: That was an instruction given to me by the director, Marc Webb. Zooey has the most amazing blue eyes, so he wanted her character to be in blue. So she wears it, but more importantly, nobody else does.

I remember when I used to do little acting stints for some shows in GMA Network. The costume designer had to tell us what color our clothes have to be. Like, “Ogie is wearing dark blue and Iza is wearing peach – so you Extra #1 should wear anything BUT blue and peach and you Extra #2 should wear anything BUT the color Extra #1 is wearing.” So on the very few occasions I watch local tv, I take note of the colors of the clothes each actor onscreen wears and found out that in some shows, nobody paid attention to that. I thought it was supposed to be some rule. Apparently it is not. I have more than once saw a particular scene where three of the actors onscreen (main, minor, extra) characters were all wearing green or black.

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HC: So when you set out to start dressing her for the movie, were you only looking for blue fabrics and accessories?

HF: Absolutely. It was for her eyes, but it was also the romance from a male point of view. Even when you first see her, she has on a white shirt, but still has a blue butterfly. So it tracks all the way through. I just wanted there to be a way to make her stand out… The only other place blue is used is the dance sequence, after Tom’s first night with Summer. The whole world would turn into her, so that’s what everyone is in blue in that scene — the construction workers, the mailmen, the office workers. Everything becomes kind of a reflection of his love for her.

Sooooo… that is why! Hahaha! Oh I just love those little details. Everything around is blue! Even the little bird! So glad it was blue and not pink. If Zooey had violet (or lilac for that matter) eyes, I wouldn’t have minded either. Not even green. Hahaha. Thank God there are no pink eyes! Though I’m not saying I don’t like pink. Actually, pink becomes me.

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HC: Did you go only vintage shopping for her?

HF: A lot of it is vintage, but there’s still plenty that’s not. Though I have great respect for these romantic comedies where secretaries are wearing Prada, I wanted [“500 Days”] to be kind of the anti-“Sex and the City.”

Incidentally, I just saw Sex and the City (The Movie) on HBO a few nights ago. No, I did not see it again. It was the first time I have ever seen the movie. I have never been a fan of the series either. I probably have seen a few episodes here and there but could never follow through with it because I just didn’t get any of the issues. None of it at all, ever. I thought it was very shallow. After seeing the movie, I still think it is shallow. No offense to some of my close friends who loved the show.

So there!

Vintage is all around me these days. These adorable little outfits really make me all giddy.

Can't get enough of them posters

Don’t I just love that little dress!

1. “A Story of Boy Meets Girl” – Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen
2. “Us” – Regina Spektor
3. “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” – The Smiths
4. “Bad Kids” – The Black Lips
5. “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” – The Smiths
6. “There Goes the Fear” – Doves
7. “You Make My Dreams” – Hall & Oates
8. “Sweet Disposition” – The Temper Trap
9. “Quelqu’un m’a dit” – Carla Bruni
10. “Mushaboom” – Feist
11. “Hero” – Regina Spektor
12. “Bookends” – Simon & Garfunkel
13. “Vagabond” – Wolfmother
14. “She’s Got You High” – Mumm-Ra
15. “Here Comes Your Man” – Meaghan Smith
16. “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” – She & Him

Click here to purchase and listen to samples on Amazon.

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Here is the video of an emerging favorite favorite of mine.

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But I like this one more. This has to be my favorite in the soundtrack I suppose. I don’t know where I have first heard it though. I remember sitting there at the movies, listening to this song and thinking, “There’s a familiar song… Where have I heard of that before?” In fact, I googled away but did not find the answer. I even searched for it in my soundtracks but have not found it.

This is not the official video but I like it!

If you want to hear the non-acoustic version, here is the link to that video.

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Going through the (500) Days of Summer Fan blog, I found this one. Great video! Love it!

Music: Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? by She and Him
Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Director: Marc Webb

How many posters can one film have?

Indie is as indie goes and we love them indie films because they do not attempt to make unrealistic endings that are supposed to make us feel good about ourselves. I do not watch movies so I can feel good about myself or my life. Neither do I watch movies so I can (simply) feel good – I have my friends for that. Actually, my movie preference is for ones with sad endings. Someone dies halfway through the film or in the end; or all of them die at the end. That is why I am in love with Chinese films. More than just the breathtakingly beautiful cinematography and awe-inspiring costumes, Chinese films almost never have happy endings. Hoorah!

That being said, I most certainly liked (500) Days of Summer. No one really died halfway through the film or even at the end. At some point in the movie, because of good cinematography, I almost wanted to take architecture myself. The abundance of skirts and oh-la-la dresses made me most definitely love Zooey Deschanel’s costumes. Hats off to the production designer too for the luscious prettiness of Summer’s room.

These days everyone’s talking about this independent film that made its debut at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Film quotes left and right. Links to the trailer and clips of the film here and there. This just means there are a lot of hopeful romantics out there.

What is love really? I do not know. I will never know. Perhaps that is the reason why I loved that film, Love Actually. Both films have the same light atmosphere with deep themes that deserve a lot of contemplation, if so inclined. Love does not have to have one single form nor meaning. Love does not have to fit a description or adhere to a definition. Any definition. Love is just that – love.

Either you love or you do not love. There is no in between.

At the end of the film, I thought, why did Summer break up with Tom again?

Not because they argued a lot.

It’s just that she did not love him. She never said she loved him anyway. She said “I like you”. We all start with liking someone. Love at first sight is still not true for me. Like at first sight yes. Like at first talk yes. Like at first touch yes. Perhaps like at first smell even. But that like has to grow into something more if you are going to pursue a relationship with someone, much more marry.

Summer never went past the “I like you” part. That is also the reason why she can still dance with him when she wanted to, or that she even wanted to dance with him in the first place. That is also the reason why she can and would still like to be friends with Tom. Such is the nature of like.

Tom went the whole nine yards. I totally understood his pain too though. It’s not like I have not been through [almost] the same thing eons (or at least I would like to think so) ago.

So anyway, the soundtrack was superb. So superb it is that I want my hands on one. So superb it is that it deserves a separate post of course.

Yet another poster

Click here for (500) Days of Summer on IMDB.
And click here for more of it on Wikipedia.

Running from place to place, something is bound to happen..

My Lake Celestial

To get to your heart, sometimes my voice becomes fragile
Gentle breeze caresses the eel-shaped ice crack,
Lake Celestial, the enchanted celadon,
Melting in my hands soft as your skin

She spills over my Lake Celestial
Totally filled by you, totally filled by you..

Zhou Yu’s Train

Cast:

Zhou Yu……..   Gong Li
Chen Qing……  Tony Leung Kafai
Zhang Qiang…  Honglei Sun

Direction:  Sun Zhou

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A lover is a mirror
through which you can see yourself more clearly

***

“Some say that love is not about lasting relationships, but about a single moment of togetherness,” says director and co-writer Sun Zhou. “I don’t agree…what I’m saying about love, and our idea of love, is that it accompanies us for life. It grows old with us. It will always be with us. I think what’s important is not who we fall in love with, but whether or not you have that feeling inside your heart, that feeling that excites you and controls your life.”

***

I saw you in a dream
Moving like a pool of swirling bubbles
Formless and inexplicable
You dance gracefully
Slowly consuming me
Consuming the night
Consuming yourself

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“’Zhou Yu’s Train’ is about a woman trying to find herself,” clarifies producer Bill Kong. “It’s less about people in love, and more about this woman trying to discover in herself why she wants these two men. She represents something very modern in China; not just women’s liberation, but about a woman discovering what she could have. She’s strong, but very romantic, and is pursuing that truth in her heart”

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All the love in the world is not enough
To heal our sadness of separation
My tears flow back to themselves
If I disappear
You would hear nothing but silence

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It is the visual possibilities of the train that attracted Sun Zhou to the original novel upon which the film was based. “It plays just a small part in the novel,” he explains, “but this gave me a strong visual image to express the feelings I have about love. It’s like a train – it may not have a final destination, but here are passengers who will get on and off.” Indeed, it is the motif of the train moving back and forth across the countryside that is reflected in the film’s editing and visual style: we uncover Zhou Yu’s two romances as parallel train tracks that will never meet, linked forever by the body of the woman who rides the train between past and present, memory and reality, passion and sadness. “Running from place to place,” Zhou Yu tells us about her travels, “something is bound to happen.”

****

If the moon can be both round and crescent
then a lake can be empty and full
If it’s in your heart then its real. If its not, then it never will be.

***

“For me, film is a place to dream,” concludes Sun Zhou. “Some would think that the character of Zhou Yu is strange, but I think she’s perfectly normal. Perhaps modern day people are peculiar, and Zhou Yu is the normal one. She is loyal to herself, very true from her feelings. There’s a line at the end of the film – ‘Who can be parted from Zhou Yu?’ I believe everything I want to say is in this line. Zhou Yu is love – can we escape from love? Truth is, if we choose to let things happen, then they will. In time, these things even may become the most significant things in your life.”