Misterios de Lisboa

 I had never seen anything by prolific Chilean director Raúl Ruiz so I watched Misterios de Lisboa, a four and a half hour film based on a nineteenth-century Portuguese novel. It is set during the time of Napoleon and is a chain of stories about paternity, love and betrayal among the nobility. A good chunk of the dialogue was in French, which felt transparent compared to my very limited understanding of the Portuguese. Each segment was connected to the next by a character whose story was told as a flashback; indeed, the entire film is a series of acts of storytelling. Since I have been binge-watching series, it didn't feel like a long movie but like a short series. All of the men were very beautiful. Léa Seydoux has an appearance as a minor character. I should try to hunt down his film based on Proust's Le temps retrouvé.

Diego Rivera mural at SFMOMA

 The huge Diego Rivera mural that has been at City College for all these years has been moved to the SFMOMA for three years. It's free to go and see it and I plan to go soon. Meanwhile, I watched a lecture by Will Maynez about its history and conservation, and discovered this web site which has keys to explanations of the figures on each of its panels, and links to a lot of other information, including curriculum plans and a very recent NBC documentary about the process of moving this massive piece of art. Because of the pandemic I missed the huge Frida Kahlo show that was held at the De Young Museum last year--broke my heart!--but apparently a big Rivera painting show is slated for SFMOMA next year.  

Here is a similar talk Will Maynez did for the SF Public Library just prior to this project of conservatorship and moving of the mural:

Uncle Vanya

 Theater class was on Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. My mother is a fan of this Russian production. I find Checkhov grim and sad despite all the dark humor.

Turn: Washington's Spies

I just finished season four (the last season) of a show that was on AMC and is now on Netflix, Turn: Washington's Spies. It's about real events in the Revolutionary War, and a real spy ring that gathered intelligence for the Continental Army under George Washington. As detailed in this blog, the show does take liberties with events and characters--one of the spies is a woman names Anna Strong who is depicted as having been the lover of Abraham Woodhull, her childhood friend and one of the spies, and later she is the love interest of the British Major in charge of the town Setauket on Long Island. In real life, she was happily married and the mother of children, and not involved in any romances while she carried out her spying activities. And the ranger captain Simcoe, who is portrayed as a sociopath, was apparently not at all the bloodthirsty villain he is in the series. The true storyline that culminates in the events of season three is the story of Benedict Arnold's treachery in collaboration with British spymaster John André, who was captured and hanged when he was caught aiding Arnold's defection.

I've been enjoying the show and this list of topics on the spycurious blog provide lots of info on costumes as well as historical context.

Shang Chi and the Ten Rings

My Asian/Asian-American cinema meet-up group decided to see Shang Chi and the Ten Rings at the theater with dinner to follow. It was a change from the zoom meetings we'd been having for the past year. I only knew two of the eight people who showed up, and sat at the dinner table with them and another person they knew while the other four shared a different table. We went to a fancy udon restaurant in Japantown; I'm not the biggest fan of udon but my dish was good and I enjoyed the experience. I was able to take the bus back from Geary and Fillmore, just a block away, so it all worked out well. Favorite parts of the movie: the relationship with Akwafina's character Katie and our hero, and the whole fight sequence on the 1 California bus. Someone is going to make a video about how true the bus's route was. I wish I could go back and just watch to see if they respected the geography of the city. I also enjoyed Meng'er Zhang as Shang Chi's sister with the "bad bitch bob."

This is just the first half of the fight, before the guy with the sword-arm shows up and it turns into a bus scene from Speed:

  

I became extremely fond of Simu Liu from Kim's Convenience, and I am really enjoying seeing him be interviewed with the cast for the film:

Ibsen's Ghosts

For theater class we are reading Ibsen's 1881 play Ghosts, a terrible story of social hypocrisy, secrets and lies. A wife once tried to flee her philandering husband but was persuaded to return by a pastor in the name of duty. From that decision stems a life of lies. She calls herself a coward for not having the courage to leave or to ever tell her son of his father's behavior. Off stage we have the completion of an orphanage in the husband's name. The pastor, back to be her business partner in this venture, persuades her not to insure it because this might bring him criticism. She also had helped cover up her husband's illegitimate child, Regine, whose mother was a maid in the household who then left to marry a local carpenter. Now her son Oswald has returned, and is trying to seduce his half-sister Regine. He reveals his illness, probably syphilis, and it is suggested that he inherited from his father (medically this would only have been possible if the father infected the mother who passed it on to her baby). The pastor accidentally burns down the orphanage building but gets the carpenter to agree to cover it up. In the end Oswald tells his mother that he wants a woman--if not Regine, then her--to help him end his life when his illness becomes too debilitating. The end of the play is left open on the question of whether or not his mother will carry out his wish for euthanasia. The action of the play is all dialogue of revelations and choices made in the name of morality but clearly vitiated by double standards and hypocrisy. The sins of the father are visited on the child, the ghosts of rigid beliefs return even after people sacrifice happiness in the name of duty. The play scandalized in its day, and our discussion about choices for staging the production were about how to convey the rhythm of Ibsen's series of revelations.

L'Agence

The English title for the French show L'Agence is "Parisian Agency: Exclusive Properties." It's a reality TV show about a family that deals in super-luxurious real estate from Paris. They live in an Art Deco house that belonged to André Malraux. Olivier and Sandrine Kretz have four sons; the youngest is still in school but the other three all work for the family business from home. We get to see the interiors of some fabulous properties, ranging from a castle outside Paris to a variety of swanky apartments with terraces, views of "monuments" like the Eiffel Tower, and dressing rooms as big as the bedroom, called "le dressing." We meet some of their clients, but also get to see them hold a wedding for son Martin and Eve the mother of their two children, a surprise 60th birthday party for Olivier, a kite-surfing expedition, and their reactions to the news the Martin and Eve have decided to go live for a year in Lisbon so that Eve can pursue a project as an architect. The show is as much about the family itself as about their business. I enjoyed the guided tours of the luxury homes, and hearing French. It remains to be seen if they will film another season, but I gather the show was a hit in France.