Back to School

The other night, I went back to the school I was teaching earlier this year. They had their first marching band performance for their parents. There were more people in the stands for this little performance than there are for some entire marching band competitions. Anyway, they were pretty good considering they had just finished learning the show. It was great to see these kids again. A large number of them seemed to be happy to see me, too… they wanted me to come back.

Tonight I caught the movie Hero. It’s a movie about the formation of China, but in a Kurosawa sort of style. It was amazing. Beautiful. Some scenes were even more beautiful than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is the only thing I can compare it to even though the comparison isn’t that great.

Unfortunately most of the people in the theater weren’t prepared for an artistic film… they probably saw Quentin Tarantino’s name (who had nothing to do with the movie) in the preview and expected something a little more gory. Any artistic, intimate, or emotional scene was met with uncomfortable laughter by most of the audience. Ah well. I was really quite moved by the ending, but I get that way with movies.

Most of the images were just stunning, and the use of color—not just the color-themed personal POV in the story-telling aspect, but the general use of color throughout the film—was perfect. There were even a few cliche quick-zooms for effect. And the music? Excellent. Itzhak Perlman and the Japanese KODO Drum Ensemble, even. I will have the soundtrack. (The reviewers over at Amazon don’t seem to know the difference between a cello and a violin…) Oh yes, it will be mine.