tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61248902024-03-24T00:55:28.314+07:00Now. Far.Life as it unfolds on screen. Your monitor screen.Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.comBlogger342125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-76492024277233676222011-02-19T16:51:00.000+07:002011-02-19T16:51:37.258+07:00Cinema and MeCinema & Me
I am writing this note as a boy, a man and a person whose love for cinema remains undying. Until now.
As far as I can recall, my earliest childhood memory always revolves around films and cinema.
I remember my parents often took me to watch latest films of comedy troop Warkop DKI and we had to wait until the "Film Utama" neon sign switched on because I was afraid of the dark! Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-72032312140203985732010-12-30T11:52:00.001+07:002011-01-02T12:17:16.296+07:002010: Indonesian Film Scene in a YearAfter previous editions of annual Indonesian film kaleidoscope were published in The Jakarta Post, this year my take was published in The Jakarta Globe. Different papers, but pretty much similar observation, if not somewhat diminishing in hope. Yes, it was hard enough to start writing about the state of our film scene, as the year 2010 was nothing but bleak clouds looming over our local film Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-12218166390739614472010-12-29T14:28:00.003+07:002011-01-01T21:04:05.299+07:00Top DVDs (Home Viewing) 2010The idea of top DVD list should expand beyond the film itself: technical specifications, special features, packaging, etc. But, living in the country of easy access to pirated stuff, be it on the open black market (5 floors of pirated DVD, anyone?), or virtually through swift access of Internet downloads, the idea of home viewing shifts from exploring a rich content of original DVD to catching upNauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-91132482758889497792010-12-28T16:32:00.001+07:002010-12-29T15:02:21.706+07:00Top Films of 2010: The Top 10The year of living dangerously.
Oh really?
More like the year of living plainly, with variety of world cinema on big screen continues to move at a stagnant pace, thus creating heavy reliance on other sources of entertainment, i.e. pirated DVDs, online downloads and did I just say online downloads?
Despite the minister of information and communication’s effort to block several Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-71815693924991771782010-12-27T05:49:00.000+07:002010-12-27T05:49:35.941+07:00Top Films of 2010: Disappointing FilmsLooking back at 2010, local cinemas continued to offer less variety in their programming. Aiming at squeezing big bucks is understood at the expense of us having to settle with whatever available, as long as we get to see them on big screen. Thus, we have become and grown up by the familiarity of Hollywood plotting. As the Mecca continued churning out their products, we have adjusted our seats toNauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-88054809279350345442010-12-26T07:55:00.001+07:002010-12-26T08:01:48.477+07:00Top Films of 2010: Top Filmgoing ExperienceCatch up with the introduction here.
The year 2010 actually gave me very few options in local filmgoing experience. The lack of variety in terms of cinema I go to and the films themselves made the whole experience almost forgettable, had it not for these following films (arranged by the date of viewing):
1. Duo Kribo (Indonesia, 1977, directed by Eduard Pesta Sirait)
For the past three Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-71390340719837079862010-12-25T21:00:00.000+07:002010-12-25T21:00:11.859+07:00Top Films of 2010: IntroductionLet's get this out of our chest: it wasn't a great year to remember to start this posting with.
The last year of the first decade in the 21st century has given us, at best, average cinematic outputs.
Add that with constant distraction from rampant pirated DVDs, checking out BlackBerry on very annoying too-often basis during film screenings, and other events, 2010 will not go down as the year I Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-53492629609217900842010-08-21T15:24:00.001+07:002010-08-21T15:25:58.798+07:00For AanToday, I lost a childhood friend to the hands of God.
At least, that's what I'd like to believe, for it is beyond my knowledge if God embraces those who come to see Him by hands, arms, or perhaps by other means of power I am not capable in knowing of.
What I am sure of is that my friend is on his way to meet God.
At least that's what I'd like to believe.
It springs from the moment we started Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-42794507722127188692010-03-11T15:15:00.008+07:002010-03-16T17:30:57.718+07:00It's Good to be BackAfter a very long hiatus, I've decided to come back blog again.
Having made writing one of possible means to support myself financially, I didn't realize how far I was removed from the joy of writing nonsense about things I like most, without the burden of pleasing editors and meeting deadlines.
However, the said experience will reflect nonetheless in future entries.
That is another way of Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-65219350334580379972010-01-16T20:12:00.002+07:002010-04-03T20:50:28.522+07:003 IdiotsAs much as I have enjoyed watching Bollywood films all my life, never before that the enjoyment is brought to a new height like what 3 Idiots has brought.
The biggest Bollywood hit of all time, so far, turns out to be a pleasing work with the right dose of heart, and firm assurance of its own standpoint. The issue of education being a stepping stone to wealth and prosperity rather than Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-48928230595536771912010-01-08T19:32:00.007+07:002010-04-03T20:54:21.508+07:00Not Quite Hollywood
The last time I connected Australia and genre film was a few years ago, when I watched Picnic at Hanging Rock, an eerie coming-of-age horror that brought Peter Weir to global fame.
Little did I know that there had been many exploitation films happening in Down Under way before that, and even Picnic did not actually start the revolution. It came on the last remaining years of the genre's Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-38572869982711687732010-01-07T11:28:00.002+07:002010-04-03T18:41:38.821+07:00Sherlock Holmes
Is there anything that Robert Downey, Jr. cannot pull off with his mischievous smile and gorgeous stare? (Even before I finished the question, my mind immediately thought of Chaplin and Gingerbread Man. And to some extent, Tropic Thunder.)
This is a man whose career built from his charisma. Put him together with George Clooney, the world will melt immediately.
It does not take us that Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-50431125925238693492010-01-06T03:06:00.001+07:002010-04-03T04:15:45.504+07:00The Princess and The FrogOne enters the cinema to watch the first hand-drawn animation from Disney in years with caution: will it be as enchanting as Disney's old classics?
After all, the past few years we have seen Disney relenting itself to Pixar, the master of both storytelling and envelope-pushing state-of-the-art visual sophistication.
Thus, the reason why we anxiously anticipate The Princess and the Frog is Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-54776139005700730012010-01-05T03:27:00.001+07:002010-04-03T03:57:47.590+07:00How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
While the title reads like a self-help book for depressed souls, the film barely scratched the core of its intended nail-biting satire.
Based on a memoir of the same title by Toby Young, the film points out the price of an underground journalism soul in becoming a part of exclusive show business elites. Albeit the cover-ups, we can easily point out real-life references to the media, the people Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-63294348516015016852009-12-30T04:19:00.001+07:002010-04-03T18:42:01.173+07:00A Jubilant Decade of Indonesian Film
Around ten years ago, the words “Indonesian film awakening” served merely as a jargon with no clear horizon on the sights.
Cut to the present time, the seemingly larger-than-life statement above has turned into reality.
(3 Hari Untuk Selamanya, photo courtesy of Kineforum)
Seeing one Indonesian film title played in two cinema halls (or what we have known as Cineplex) out of five or six Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-43936472230187246522009-12-28T09:53:00.002+07:002010-04-03T18:42:01.173+07:00No Year-End Review ... not in a newspaper, at least.
Traditionally, as a few of you may have noticed, I write about year-end review of Indonesian film in The Jakarta Post.At least I have done that for the past three years in a row: 2006, 2007, 2008.
Little did I realize that we actually were on the end of the first decade of a new millennium (still baffled me: shouldn't it end at the end of 2010?), thus the angle for the usual year-end reviewNauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-40521727764770147342009-01-08T17:57:00.000+07:002010-04-04T18:31:21.813+07:00Eagle Awards 2008Eagle Awards is an annual documentary film competition held by Metro TV.
Targeting amateur to semi-pro documentary filmmakers, I find the program interesting as it aims to bring up the unseen lives of Indonesia and its residents.
Each year selected projects were chosen to be developed under guidance of professional documentary/feature filmmakers, and the projects, usually the chosen ones are up Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-291196375482761532008-07-16T21:07:00.000+07:002010-04-04T18:31:21.813+07:00Is Big Screen Equal to Big Ads?Earlier last week, I wrote a piece on the excessive product placement in local cinema.
One particular film, Best Friend?, irked me greatly for going where no (local) film has gone before: displaying full-fledged sponsored products as the essential part of the film's main poster!
Now how desperate can a production company be in allowing such to happen? How aggressive a company does its Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-70864896717950416102008-02-06T17:10:00.000+07:002010-03-10T17:55:59.896+07:00This is OSCAR! He is 80!Dear Grandpa,How are you? Enjoying yourself being polished and showered in gold? Has the cold weather been good to you? I'm sure you can handle the weather, considering how much you like to show up in your birthday suit all the time.Bad weather aside, I can only be amazed at your endurance in surviving assassination attempts, wars, and so many historical events throughout decades. You've always Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-25040272914394486062007-11-18T01:43:00.000+07:002010-03-10T18:05:41.221+07:00the key is 'assumption'i thought, i knew what i had to do.i thought, since i've been here before, i knew what would lie ahead.i thought, everything would repeat.i thought, everything worked out fine.i thought, i could manage everything.but i kept saying "i thought", because the idea stayed on this tiny little brain of mine.and for once, i've never been this greatly worried before.pray us luck.wish us well.for once, theNauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-17250212902512897142007-06-30T18:43:00.044+07:002010-04-03T19:15:13.103+07:00On the Road with Riri Riza
My interview with Riri Riza to promote his latest film 3 Hari Untuk Selamanya (3 Days to Forever).
We did the interview in a cafe in Menara Imperium. I did the arrangement with Miles Films' publicist, Imelda Achsaningtias. The film's producer, Mira Lesmana, was also present, although she left the two of us engaging in quite a lengthy conversation about road trip, film, his own life journey, Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-22074918018342178492007-05-21T05:03:00.000+07:002010-03-10T18:05:41.222+07:00Somewhere.Nothing quite prepares you of feelings experienced in every trip, no mater howw often you've taken similar trips before. Each trip is something new, and each trip has its own memory one should not attempt to compare.But have you taken a trip where your imagination is best left intact, even after you've completed a trip?Have you ever taken a trip where your mind still lingers, playing what-if Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-68804212721975813992007-03-12T16:44:00.001+07:002010-03-11T20:12:21.838+07:00How do we react to changes that we undertake?There are many ways, and all of them lead into two big classification: either we accept them, or we reject them.Looking back, I can say that I have no regret at all.Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-59224301191300375262007-02-28T14:58:00.000+07:002010-03-10T17:58:10.598+07:00Post-Oscar Toothache.Reflecting any pains that Leonardo DiCaprio (might) endure(d) while filming The Departed, particularly in the scene where Jack Nicholson punches Leo's gripped arm, it is politically incorrect that I almost shared the same pains upon knowing that the film in the spotlight won this year's Oscar for Best Picture.While the film is a highly watchable flick, I wonder if this signals the decline of Nauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6124890.post-89827440348209265812007-02-23T14:44:00.000+07:002010-03-10T17:55:59.897+07:00Let's Bet! (for Oscar, that is) -- Part 3Not much time left, so here's a continuous quickie:BEST DIRECTORI thought The Departed is an exceptional film, something like an oasis for Martin Scorsese after his successive dry spells in "The Aviator" and "Gangs of New York". But look at his classics, "Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", and even "The Age of Innocence" (the latter being my personal favorite). As refreshing as an oasisNauval Yazidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03720754392179108910noreply@blogger.com1