“He was a ritual tea smoker and very puritanical about junk the way some teaheads are. He claimed tea put him in touch with supra blue gravitational fields. He had ideas on every subject: what kind of underwear was healthy, when to drink water and how to wipe your ass. He had a shiny red face and great spreading smooth nose, little red eyes that lit up when he looked at a chick and went out when he looked at anything else. His shoulders were very broad and suggested deformity. He acted as if other men didn’t exist, conveying his restaurant and store orders to male personnel through a female intermediary. And no Man ever blighted his blighted secret place.”
“I deplore brutality,” he said. “It’s not efficient. On the other hand, prolonged mistreatment, short of physical violence, gives rise, when skillfully applied, to anxiety and a feeling of special guilt. A few rules or rather guiding principles are to be borne in mind. The subject must not realize that the mistreatment is a deliberate attack of an anti-human enemy on his personal identity. He must be made to feel that he deserves any treatment he receives because there is something (never specified) horribly wrong with him.”
“I made the round with him once for kicks. You know how old people lose all shame about eating, and it makes you puke to watch them? Old junkies are the same about junk. They gibber and squeal at the sight of it. The spit hangs off their chin, and their stomach rumbles and all their guts grind in peristalsis while they cook up, dissolving the body’s decent skin, you expect any moment a great blob of protoplasm will flop right out and surround the junk. Really disgust you to see it.”
Jessea Lu is a freediving champion who arrived in the United States from China on a student visa not knowing anyone nor having much money. Through rigorous training and great drive she became a freediving champion quite remarkable for both a woman and an Asian.
Freediving champion I am not but I have done my fair share of snorkeling and spearfishing the latter being a type of freediving. Freediving relies on the breath as opposed to tanks supplying oxygen for scuba divers. Freediving competitions involve diving to depths and then returning without having passed out. No crowds are in the stand as this is primarily a individual sport supported by coaching and safety teams.
If you are expecting a rah rah flag waving and uplifting story you will not find it in “7 Beats per Minute”. Lu is a champion and we can applaud her efforts but the documentary goes further and gets messy. Lu did not have a happy childhood. In fact it was miserable and it left great gaping scars which catch up with her and temporarily derail her. In this misery and loneliness freediving was a temporary emotional salve.
In 2018 while attempting record dive at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas Lu reached record depth but passed out before returning to the surface. Revived she survived noting this as an out of body experience with so much attention and care being shown to her she felt the experience a remedy for her broken soul. I suppose she felt part of a loving family unlike her childhood where at one point at 6 years of age her mother said she would be better dead than alive. This need to be in a caring family caused tension between Lu and filmmaker Yuqi Kang a boundary Kang felt uncomfortable with.
Lu realized her past demons were impeding her performances and she reached out to her verbally abusive mother receiving a rather weak apology which Lu took as a “huge reward”.
Moral of the story? Success in sport and life requires emotional balance. Misery may propel you to excellence initially but once that excellence is reached that broken soul you have may catch up with you.
And Lu has a PHD in pharmacology.
Tremendous underwater photography and soundtrack.
The documentary is a co-production between The National Film Board of Canada and Intuitive Pictures.
“Styopa Likodeyev no longer has to talk on the phone at the Variety. After being discharged from the clinic where he spent eight days, Styopa was transferred to Rostov, where he was appointed manager of a large speciality foods store. Rumor has it that he has sworn off port completely and drinks only vodka steeped in black currants, which has greatly improved his health. They say he has become taciturn and avoids women.”
Mikhail Bulgakov, “The Master and Margarita”, 1966.
We encounter Cooper (Daniel Dorr) prior to the opening credits rolling. Is he a murderer of his fiancé Emily (Hope Lauren)? We are in high suspense throughout the movie waiting for confirmation Cooper sliced up Emily and for what reason.
Cooper has been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) some labeling his OCD as Pure O. Pure O, according to OCD UK is a variety of OCD subject to standard OCD treatment. Pure O includes seeking constant assurances from loved ones, avoidance of particular objects, places and people that trigger obsessive thoughts. Cooper is referred to a self-help group of sufferers of OCD. OCD is not simply repetition of behaviour like washing hands or picking the face but can include compulsive thoughts such as pedophilia, starting fires, terminal illness, suicide, rituals and hit and run OCD. Through participants in Cooper’s self help group we are educated as to some of the various forms of OCD and how it effects sufferers, their families and the community.
Nice to know but at times the first half of the film strikes one as an educational video for psychiatry students almost like a documentary with actors.
Matters become more dramatic in the second half of the film with some heart wrenching and emotional moments including terminal illness, death, abortion and substance abuse.
Cooper works as a rehab counsellor in Malibu and one is tempted to draw similarities between substance abuse and OCD. Not to simplify matters but is addiction a physical damaging OCD?
That knife to the throat scene is almost unbearable to watch! Shiver me timbers!
If you want to learn more about OCD particularly if you think you or family or friend has it you’ll want to watch this film otherwise it is an interesting but not compelling watch.
I suppose writer and director Dillon Tucker somewhat accurately sums up the film by saying, “’Pure O is a semi-autobiographical account of my life around the time I was diagnosed with OCD while working as a counselor at a drug and alcohol rehab. It is a true ensemble piece that shows how mental health affects not only the sufferer, but also the loved ones who surround them. This film is a story about the power of human connection and how vulnerability is the greatest form of courage.”
There will be a digital release of the film on 12April2024 in Canada, United States and the United Kingdom.
I rated the 2020 Herdade do Sobroso from Portugal an 89. What fate will I assign to the 2021?
The 2021 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), Aragonez (30%), Alicante Bouschet (30%) and Syrah (20%). The grapes were handpicked and aged in 500 litre French oak barrels for 6 months.
Aroma: Creamy blackberry.
Palate: Blackberry, cassis, fig and smoked meat. A short spicy finish. Minimal tannins with beautifully integrated oak. Some very timid acidity…thank goodness.
Personality: I am fairly representative of the wines of Alentejo. Unlike my Douro brethren, insistent upon indigenous grapes, we here in Alentejo are very fond of Alicante Bouschet and Syrah in our red blends. I am simple and straightforward.
Food Match: In Portugal with a wickedly rich Franchesina or failing that in North America a platter of medium fatty smoked meat, kosher pickle and fries.
Cellarbility: Ready for consumption now but will happily hang around like a puppy at your heels until 2025-year end.
Price: $20 CDN (Ontario).
RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Roger Voss 88.
(Herdade do Sobroso 2021, D.O.C. Alentejo, Herdade do Sobroso, Vidigueira, Portugal, 750 mL, 14.5%).
Clocking in around two and a half hours this French film is long but fascinating and not readily understood with one viewing.
I am tempted to state it could be a great love story of a couple spanning three lifetimes but that is shattered Nagasaki style in the dying seconds of the movie. Alternatively, and perhaps too easily, it could be labelled as an “Alice in Wonderland”/”The Matrix” fantasy fuelled by that blue pill. Or it could be a warning on the dangers posed to humanity by artificial intelligence. I am leaning towards it being a combination of all three with healthy doses of mysticism and symbolism thrown in for good measure. My thoughts may be irrefutable as I watched the film twice! With the clarity of the double watch I may have understood the film much better but some of the mysticism and possible symbolism are not as mysterious as they initially were.
The film commences with Gabrielle Monnier (Léa Seydoux) a thirtyish pianist in 1901 Paris meeting Louis Lewanski (George Mackay). They meet again in 2014 and 2044 not consciously knowing they have met before. In 1901 they perished together by drowning. In 2014 Gabrielle may have died at the hands of Louis. In 2044 no one dies other than Gabrielle’s love for Louis. In the 1901 segment the wardrobe and cinematography is outstanding. Equally impressive are Seydoux and Mackay.
Gabrielle is haunted by premonitions of catastrophe and in all three time periods her premonition is correct. Through DNA purification in 2044 catastrophes and anxieties can be eliminated 99.3 % of the time. Gabrielle resists DNA purification initially frightened she will lose all feelings but is told by AI this is not the case as she will just feel them more “serenely”. You will have emotions but they will not bother you.
Gabrielle agrees to undergo DNA purification but it fails for reasons that will became apparent. Will it be equally apparent what The Beast is? Guess freely as there are so many here you can’t go wrong.
Very trippy. This is a type of film you best watch at least twice. The first watch is a WTF watch! A “La Grande Bouffe” feast for the eyes and mind.
Directed by Betrand Bonello.
Canadian theatrical release on 19April2024 in Toronto and Vancouver.
I had finished watching and reviewing an upcoming film “Pure O”. In this American film the protagonist battles with OCD including obsessing on hacking up his fiancé and being terminally ill with cancer somewhat heavier than Glenn Gould’s obsessive handwashing. “Pure O” will be released digitally on 12April2024 in North America and the United Kingdom.
After watching this emotionally charged film my mind was depleted and don’t say that is always the case! So I watched some fluff that was a cross between Jaws and Scott Pilgrim. The movie was “Sharknado” (2013). Yes, a tornado heads up from Mexico and hits Los Angeles bringing Noah’s rain and in the whirl of the tornado sharks were caught up and fell into Los Angeles gobbling up humans, tearing limbs apart and you get the picture. And it was a dreadful film replete with BAD…acting, writing, editing and credibility.
So how can I review this wine with a clear head other than saying it is a wine that dumps blackberries all over my hometown of Toronto. Thery are mutant blackberries mind you and very dangerous causing traffic “jams” and squirting blackberry juice over the populace and murdering all who have professed a love of raspberry jam!
Sorry this is what “Sharknado” has done to me.
Aroma: Open the wine and rich blackberry permeates the room. Plenty of blueberry and black cherry acting as the rearguard.
Palate: Blackberry attack from the glass and not the sky! The blueberries conquer the long finish. The acidity though is just a bit too “vibrant” for me.
Personality: I am yet another Malbec from Argentina so hopefully you aren’t bored with me. It has been raining Argentinian Malbec at a tornadic rate for years but skirt your impatience and give me a try.
Food Match: Given this wine’s “vibrant acidity” I think swim away from the remora of beef that attaches to Malbec and pair with a Swiss Chard Lasagna chock full of mushrooms and no meat.
Cellarbility: Given the “vibrant acidity” I would steer clear of ageing. Drink now.
“No scenes, no scenes.” retorted Azazello with a grimace. “You should put yourself in my position. Smacking some bureaucrat in the puss, booting out some old geezer, shooting someone, or anything along those lines, that’s my real speciality, but talking with a woman in love-no thanks.”
Mikhail Bulgakov, “The Master and Margarita”, 1966.
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