Just How Much Do You Know About Films?

Yeap, that's my question. How much do you think you know about movies? Watching loads of summer action flicks isn't exactly a great representation of  your knowledge. At least that I can say. I picked up this book randomly at Foyles Charing Cross Road couple days ago. As a film buff, I don't just watch movies, I wanna know more about them - history, film movements, styles of directing and so on. This has been a pretty productive summer for me, I've read and read, both fictions and non-fictions. In return, I've learnt loads about random things. When I bought this book, I was really interested in knowing more about artistic styles of Hollywood and European cinemas. I didn't read the description carefully enough, so it surprised me a lot when the book emphasizes more about social and political factors surrounding film production of different periods in particular parts of the world. Nevertheless, a pleasant read and I managed to learn some interesting stuff, from the style differences between the French New Wave (Godard, Truffaut, etc) and the New Italian Cinema (Fellini, Antonioni, etc), more clarity about non-dancing Indian cinema (Ray's movies), certain genres that have become more known in a country than another (Western films are often associated with Hollywood), and so on. I might have known some of them and I read the 400+ pages rather quickly (about 2.5 days). 

I want to write a little bit about my love for movies. How should I put it? Movies are something I've liked since I was young, without much realising how much certain titles have grown on me. I think the turning point was when I watched Schindler's List. That last scene, such a simple scene of people paying respect to Oskar Schindler. I wasn't able to stop crying. Since then, I started questioning myself how some films could be great and some couldn't. I've started going through some famous movie lists (e.g. various AFI, imdb, 1001 movies to watch before you die lists) to get an understanding of what good movies are. Movies have been with me when I was happy and sad. I have written some reviews occasionally, not long ones - short enough for Facebook status updates, and they're mostly on new movies. I truly wish I could learn more about film studies one day. I really wanna be involved in producing movies. I appreciate all kinds of movies although I'm more biased towards drama genre than summer blockbuster kind of things. Art house cinemas are something I support too - you'll be amazed when you watch some independent films and realise how much better they are than movies you often watch in cinemas.

I do wish I can pick up another book about the history of films, preferably one that talks more about different styles. I really wanna learn more about the French New Wave and the New Italian Cinema. I think I've found some good titles, but haven't been to a bookstore to personally check them yet. Maybe I'll write about my findings next time :)

Appreciating Ballet - A Dying Art Form

Being a ballet geek, I really like reading and watching anything about ballets whenever I have the time. I took ballet classes when I was really young, but I was never a big fan until after I've read manga serial called Swan by Kyoko Ariyoshi. I'm really grateful to my mom's friends who bought the first 9 volumes for me on my 8th birthday. I didn't like it then and only tried to read it again when I was 13. I was immediately hooked and asked my dad to drive me to a bookstore to get the remaining volumes. The first ballets I discovered are none other than the three infamous Tchaikovsky's ballets, i.e. Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. Since then, I've learnt more and more through reading biographies and of course, surfing the web. Having previously read Margot Fonteyn: A Life by Meredith Daneman, Nureyev: His Life by Diane Solway and I, Maya by Maya Plisetskaya, I couldn't resist it when I saw Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet at Foyles last week. I just knew I had to buy and read it as soon as possible. It didn't take me long to read, 608 pages in about 3-4 days despite my irregularity. I enjoy Jennifer Homans' writings and the first line of Chapter 1 just describes ballet so beautifully.

"Music and Dancing, not only gives great pleasure but have the honour of depending on Mathematics, for they consist in number and in measure. And to this must be added Painting and Perspective and the use of every elaborate Machines, all of which are necessary for the ornament of Theatres at Ballets and at Comedies. Therefore, whatever the old doctors may say, to employ oneself at all this is to be a Philosopher and a Mathematician." - Charles Sorel 

I'm not a total beginner when it comes to the history of ballet (e.g. I know ballets were not invented, but popularised by the Russian), but this book has taught me a lot more things. The book not only explains ballet in its own world, but also describes the social and political factors surrounding the making of a ballet. For example, the ballets structured during Stalin's period are more realistic than the Imperial Russia's ballets (dominated by fairy-rich themes). Personally, it's also interesting to learn that homosexuality among male dancers is not a personal preference, but a cultural identity - being a homosexual allows male dancers to explore their feminine sides and be more expressive. Diaghilev and Nijinsky were an item before Nijinsky married a Hungarian dancer! I'm aware that John Maynard Keynes, the great Economist that greatly influenced my choice of degrees (naturally, I was more excited than ever when I saw his name), had a Russian ballerina (Lydia Lopokova) as a wife, but I never knew he was so influential within the ballet community in England. Being an avid fan, I know many ballets and  dancers. I even bought some ballet scores, but this book allows me to connect the dots between periods.  For example, La Sylphide and Giselle came before the three Tchaikovsky's ballets, which are predecessors to The Firebird, The Rite of Spring and so on. 

My favourite sections include the development of ballet in Russia, especially the bits about collaboration between Petipa-Ivanov and Tchaikovsky, all the way to the development during Stalin's regime. The Sleeping Beauty is the first great Russian ballet ever choreographed (Tchaikovsky's best scores) and Swan Lake is the most imperfect one out of the three (the only depressing one), yet still very attractive today. Then, the Diaghilev's Ballet Russes section highlights long collaboration with Stravinsky. I had a great time listening to loads of works by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Prokofiev while reading certain chapters. The last chapters about its development in the UK and US are also very interesting. I got to learn more about Robbins and Balanchine. The final section concludes about how ballet as an art form is dying and someone like Balanchine is needed to revive it, based on historical evidence. Unlike paintings or sculptures, ballets cannot be preserved in a still form. Ballet is the first thing I've ever really liked and done plenty of research on - one that I've come to appreciate before films and music in general (I even wished to be a ballerina in my next life when I was much younger). This is why I feel very sad reading such a book as it would be such a waste if the future generation cannot appreciate ballets as we can now. Nevertheless, I had a great time reading and learning the book. It makes me appreciate ballet as an art form even more now.