Some films from AAIFF '09

thanks to michelle for commenting and following my endless ramblings :) here are the 3 films that i managed to catch at the festival:

• white on rice - dir. david boyle, released in USA
  "40-year-old Jimmy is growing up, or at least he's getting older. While mooching the upper bunk of his ten-year-old nephew's bed, he enjoys the never-ending generosity of his sister Aiko, and dodges the wrath of his impatient brother-in-law Tak. He thinks that if only he could get married all his problems would be solved. But when he falls head over heels for Tak's niece things only go from bad to worse." - from imdb.com.
  
  - i liked this one a lot. it has the clever writing and feel of away we go with a mr.bean-esque protagonist who gets into so much trouble that you just can't help but love and hate him at the same time. not to mention bob, the dry-humored, wise-beyond-his-years young boy (very much like olive from little miss sunshine) who is really more grown up than any of the adults in the film. you are bound to laugh out loud, tear up a little and take a piece of this family along.
  

• pastry - dir. risky liu, released in hong kong
  "The youngest in a long line of daughters traces the story of her life through the weddings of her sisters. As each member of the family comes to terms with her own womanhood, a simple egg tart becomes the anchor of their experiences and emotions." - from asianinny.com
  
  - if you understand cantonese, can read chinese subtitles or don't mind reading english subtitles (although i don't know how well they translate), check this one out. it definitely has the hong kong cinematic feel, but the genuine innocence and candid charm of the protagonist bring an indie spin to the film and draw the audience into some serious familial and social issues through a humorous narrative. if you love egg tarts or have an equivalent pastry in your culture, you'll also appreciate the symbolism of food in this film.

• fruit fly - dir. h.p. mendoza, released in USA
  "Filipina performance artist Bethesda moves into an art commune to search for her long missing biological mother. Along the way, she comes to realize that she just might be a fairy princess, fag hag, fruit fly." - from imdb.com
  
  - although this is a musical, the characters rarely break into song for no apparent reason. i found that the songs were well-written and purposeful - constantly moving the story forward. this is definitely a coming-of-age story about self-discovery, friendship, family and hope. mendoza introduced the film as being more asian and gayer than his first film, colma: the musical, but i actually didn't find that many references to race as opposed to sexuality. regardless, i think this film is really about people and life, with awesome shots of san francisco and some very catchy tunes. the singing is average and the recording can be more polished, but you will walk away feeling young, rejuvenated and hopeful about what the future may hold.

other films that i didn't watch but were well-received and recommended at the festival:

• formosa betrayed - dir. adam kane, starring james van der beek
• whatever it takes - dir. christopher wong
  
• children of invention - dir. tze chun
• li tong - dir. nian liu

there were also a ton of other films at the festival, so check them out here! these films are making their way around the festival circuits, so see if they are playing at a local theater near you :) support indie films!

AAIFF '09

wow, what a week! again, i really have to say, this nyc adventure never ceases to keep me on my toes. i started off the week with a sigh of relief that our series of visitors has come to a pause (don't get me wrong, i love visitors - refer to earlier posts) and that i can get back to a more regulated schedule of running, reading, studying and job searching. then, out of the blue on monday, i got a call for an interview for an internship at a post-production house that cuts movie trailers. long story short, i started to intern last week (the schedule is twice a week), and although i've only gotten a light taste of what the job entails, i'm already liking the place, the people and the projects a lot :)

anyway, this post is really about AAIFF '09 (the asian american international festival '09). check it out here. my plan was supposed to volunteer for the festival thursday through sunday, but the start of the internship changed up the plan a little bit, so i only got to volunteer yesterday and today. what a fun experience it was! the volunteers' responsibilities are pretty basic - guide the flow of traffic, direct guests and festival attendees to the theater, take tickets, answer questions, etc. the perks of volunteering are many fold - one being that we get to watch the films themselves. i wish i could have seen more films than i did, but the ones that i watched were all pretty great.

it is really wonderful to see that these films are addressing so many facets of the asian american and/or asian immigrant experience. i remember growing up in the bay area, and never really identifying with being "asian" as a group of people because with so many asians in california, it is only natural to be more specific about what kind of asian one is. however, when i went to college in the midwest, suddenly black hair and yellow skin became the ethnicity of asian, and for the first time, i had to learn to see that someone may not see any differences between the different asian cultures and that being 'asian' is a possible identity in the american society. that, of course, took a lot of getting used to (especially with the joint lifestyle changes that going to college half way across the country brought). then i got so used to being called asian and seeing the asian american studies major at school that when i watched these films about the asian american experience, it was so refreshing to see writers and directors narrate such distinct and unique stories of what it means to be asian or asian american.

asians come from so many different parts of the world that i can never say that i fully identify with what it means to be anything besides a first generation, taiwanese american who was born in the philippines, lived in taiwan and moved to the states at the age of 10. i think that it is so important and crucial to make sure that these unique experiences are shared; that we never forget the differences in the asian cultures. yes it is true that the reason we do dub ourselves as 'asian americans' is to give power to a group of minorities, and that that power comes from joining together and fighting for equality and recognition. i do believe in the power in numbers, but i also believe that what makes this 'asian american' minority group powerful is the different histories, cultures, traditions and experiences that our ancestors, we and future generations bring to the table.

the asian american (or in my case, chinese/taiwanese american) experience will always be evolving. what it means to be an asian immigrant is completely different from what it means to be a second generation asian american - there will never be one identity to latch onto. yet, i think that is the beauty of it all. it is the ability to keep an open mind about our cultures and heritage and to want to learn more about each other. evolution means redefinition, and i see this perpetual force to redefine ourselves as constant growth.

Perks

currently reading the perks of being a wallflower. not quite sure why i haven't gotten my hands on this book earlier, but i'm really glad flo owns a copy of it because it's just a lovely book. perhaps charlie's letters would have meant something different to me if i had read them back in high school or perhaps if i did read them before, i can extract something more from the stories now than i would have then. either way, i want to share this passage because it reminds me of some recent conversations with friends:

"It's like when you are excited about a girl and you see a couple holding hands, and you feel so happy for them. And other times you see the same couple, and they make you so mad. And all you want is to always feel happy for them because you know that if you do, then it means that you're happy, too."

let's be honest, at this stage in our twenty-something lives, the topic of relationships and love hardly ever escape the center of conversations. as i embarked on what some friends have called a "gutsy and ballsy" decision to move to nyc, i was really just starting to figure out how i want my life to be like and to explore new experiences. yet, there are a handful of young, twenty-somethings who are ready to settle down and get married/have settled down and gotten married. part of me cannot fully comprehend how they can already know what they want in life since they're so young while another part of me wonders whether the problem is me - maybe i should already know or want that lifestyle; maybe i need to figure my shit out soon before the train leaves the station. how can someone my age already have two kids while i don't even know where i'm going to be living come september?

i'm never one to get on a track in life, yet i'm not a complete risk-taker either. i calculate my gains and losses before jumping into something new, and this move to nyc was probably one of the biggest decisions i've made for myself, tittering on a mountain of uncertainties. in a weird, comforting way though, i think i'm okay with the mysteries that life may bring as of now. anyway, just some rainy day ramblings. life sure is like a box of chocolates.

HP!

i watched harry potter (finally!) last night with veyom and floria. i think this one is my favorite so far. although i did feel like it was a little long and slow at parts (ginny weasley, seriously??), the film looked great and did a good job for the big potter fans as well as people who are less familiar with the series. the characters are much more defined and developed now (luna lovegood, anyone? hilarious!), so their interactions in the film more closely reflect their relationships in the books. i won't go into details because i'm sure most have read critic's reviews. all i can say is that i'm totally excited to re-read the last book and cannot wait for the final movie!

let me leave you with this:

Greg Behrendt!

comedy show #3:

hilarious comedian, co-author of He's Just Not That Into You, and consultant on Sex and the City performed last night at comix. he was so funny that i don't think i stopped laughing for an hour straight. what was hilarious about the way he spoke was that his stories were really well constructed with a first act intro, second act build-up, climax, and conclusion. i think it has to do with his background as a writer. unlike other comedians who may be a bit all over the place with their jokes and ending jokes with one-liners, greg tells his stories, makes references to previous stories, and ties his entire act together.

here's a PG13-rated clip of him. there are more hilarious clips on youtube that are more vulgar and risque (look up "greg behrendt animal noises"). enjoy!

Old friends are the best friends

our friends from high school - shabbie, victor and shabbie's cousin, megan, are visiting us this week. we pretty much all grew up together from middle school (some even from earlier in elementary school), and have been friends through our awkward phases, silly high school drama, four years of college in different parts of the country, and post-college/quarter-life crisis until now. with these friends, we can just pick up where we left off any time and have a ton of fun doing absolutely nothing.

we were at a pub in chelsea last night when shabbie spotted a cute guy in black on the other end of the bar. granted it was dark in the room and the guy was at least 50 ft away with about twenty people in our line of vision, but we were on our second drink and he was pretty to look at. somehow looking turned into giggling, which then lead to shabbie and floria walking across the bar to talk to him. victor and i applauded their bravery, but were disappointed when they sat down at a table next to him instead of actually going over to talk to him and his friends. by now, vic and i thought maybe flo and shabs just need a little encouragement, so we called the bartender over, asked her what the guy in black at the other end of the bar had been drinking all night, ordered a vodka lemonade, sent it over to him and said it was from "the girl in grey" (did i mention floria was wearing a grey dress?). needless to say, a series of messily-scribbled napkin notes were passed back and forth (the bartender must have thought we were in middle school), laughter ensued, more drinks were consumed, and at last! "the girl in grey" and her friend, shabbie, went over to talk to "the cute guy in black" and his friends.

if we were living in a sitcom, the story would have ended with floria and shabbie having witty conversations with the two guys across the bar and a possible date or at least a potential friendship would have developed. but of course with our luck, the guys across the bar barely spoke any english, were out-of-towners from norway, and were not very good charades players.

it was fun, nonetheless, and quite hilarious for vic and me to witness, although i think i'm no longer on top of flo's list of wing women.

Arriverderci

by a stroke of fate, i sat next to a man named giovanni on the ride back to the city from the film shoot last monday. he grew up and went to school in florence, lived in rome for quite some time, and moved to nyc last september to work in costume and set designing. we grabbed a beer after we got into the city, and it was just really nice to talk to someone who is so open to sharing his life's stories - in a funny, sweet, very italian kind of way. we stumbled across the subject of learning foreign languages, and he said that he had been meaning to learn chinese for quite some time; he had learned some very basic cantonese from someone in chinatown, but was interested in learning mandarin. long story short, we arranged to meet yesterday so that i can teach him some beginner chinese and he will, in turn, teach me some beginner italian.

we spent about two hours learning and teaching at a coffee shop. it was the first time i taught chinese to someone whose native language is not english, and bottom line - it was just a ball of fun! giovanni's ear for pronunciation was surprisingly really good, and very quickly was able to pick up on various patterns and combination of words and phrases . then, it was my turn to learn italian, and i just LOVED the pronunciation and accents in the language. at first, i was a little embarrassed and nervous about accenting in italian because i didn't want to sound like i was stereotyping the italian accent (come on, we've all done it at italian restaurants at some point in time). but giovanni's encouraging and jovial nature put me at ease very quickly, and i guess there's a reason why the stereotypical italian accent exists ;)

we gave each other simple homework and review tasks, and hopefully we'll be meeting up at least once a week for the next month. i titled this entry "arriverderci" because giovanni explained that italians say arriverderci to mean good-bye, but the word breaks down to mean "to see us again" - just like what "zaijian" means in mandarin! it's just so exciting to learn a new language and culture :)