"My God, Perspirex..."

Perspirex.

I was a little angry Saturday morning when my boss told me that we should open the store, inspite of the snow. I wasn't really keen on commuting to the west side: protecting my face from the blowing snow with my girly umbrella, making sure I don't fall into melted snow just before crossing the street and walking through all the black slush. But I grudgingly did become a good employee, though I wasn't expecting much action for the day. After all, people do prefer to stay indoors instead of wandering into an Internet cafe during a snowstorm. I decided that whatever happens, I would watch DVDs at work.

First up was Almodóvar's Talk To Her. I had been entertained by Almodóvar's work before, so I was confident that I wouldn't be disappointed. I was a little worried however because, I've read somewhere (I think it was Ursula) that it was kinda too serious and morbid. Luckily it didn't turn out that way. Perhaps I've become a little dense, but I didn't find it moralizing and philosophizing when it very well could have been. For me it was another fine example of a story told in a very creative and personal way. I found a lot of moments funny actually, despite the fact that the story revolves around two comatose women.

The day however did not progress as I thought it would (meaning: nobody showing up), and I did have to entertain some customers which necessitated pressing the pause button on DVD Player. Actually, we did have a good number of customers, but I was intent on watching my DVDs...

Next was Kurosawa's Rashomon. According to the Netflix sleeve, along with Yojimbo, Rashomon is one of Kurosawa's masterpieces. I immediately wondered: so what happened to Seven Samurai, my favorite film of all time? After watching this, Netflix should hire a new copywriter for their linernotes. Rashomon is great, but Seven Samurai is better. Needless to say this Netflix annoyance did not prevent me from enjoying Rashomon. In fact, I really liked it. The opening sequences were amazing and I just love what Kurosawa has done with the film camera. His composition was consistently impressive throughout. I hope that whenever I become a film director, it is Kurosawa's eye that I would emulate. I remember being "visually impressed" at Kurosawa before while watching Red Beard in the Philippines. The one issue I have with some of Kurosawa's films however is that he usually tries to tell a "very profound message". Rashomon had this, but it was not too in your face like Dreams, which was a total turn off. I think Kurosawa early works, such as this, were truly his best.

And then I went home.

There was one DVD left to watch, and it was Ang Lee's The Hulk. I fast forwarded to the fight scenes in the desert then pressed eject. I was not too disappointed because the Hulk is not one of my favorite comic book characters, but our 200 million dollar lesson is: KISS - keep it simple s***. Mr. Lee wanted to do too much, just simply completely missed the point with the Hulk, or didn't have the guts to tell his producers to come up with a better script, and ended up with a really really bad movie. I thought I liked it the first time I saw it, but it's a piece of crap and we all know it.

Ah yes, perhaps I will direct someday, and then get some mud thrown in my face.