Here and There

by Andrea Rademan


The Year May Be Ending But Not The Good Times And The Chance To Do Good
The faded pastel marquee was an eyesore when Little Tokyo’s Linda Lee Theater closed three decades ago but, on December 7, when the lights go on again at 251 S. Main St. the historic Japanese theater will open as THE IMAGINASIAN CENTER, the city’s only theater dedicated to screening Asian Pacific American films. Craig Hodgetts, FAIA, and Hsin-Ming Fung, AIA, of Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture (Egyptian Theater, new Hollywood Bowl, Craft and Folk Art Museum, etc), designed stadium seating, a VIP Lounge, a pan-Asian café, a live stage and karaoke/meeting rooms. J. Edward Lee, President and COO of ImaginAsian Entertainment, envisions “a platform to connect with Asian cultures, creating a place to relax, gather with friends and family, and watch first-run Asian films, and special events.”


If you think that’s thrilling wait till you see MIDNIGHT EAGLE, the inaugural feature, a gripping adventure story. Headliner Takao Osawa is a photographer who witnesses the crash of a U.S. bomber aircraft nicknamed “Midnight Eagle” and becomes involved in an international hunt for its secret pay load - a warhead that threatens to wipe out Japan’s entire population. His love interest is played by TV/film star, Yuko Takeuchi. Hiroshi Tamaki shot to fame in the hit TV dramas, Hyoheki and Nodame Cantabile. Director Izuru Narushima’s 2004 directorial debut, “The Hunter and the Hunted”, earned him the Best New Director Award at the Yokohama Film Festival. Yasuo Hasegawa and Kenzaburo Iida collaborated on the screenplay and Hideo Yamamoto (“Ring 2”, “The Grudge”, “Audition”, “Fireworks”) did the amazing cinematography. “Harumatsu Ibuki” Bank Band, lyrics and performance by Kazutoshi Sakurai, with music by Takeshi Kobayashi. Based on the eponymous novel by Tetsuo Takashima, this is the first Japanese mountain film since Yasuzo Masumura’s “The Precipice” in 1958. The Ministry of Defense, the Ground Self Defense Forces and the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces participated in the first such collaboration in the history of Japanese film.

Now Playing:
HOLLY, directed by Guy Moshe, stars Ron Livingston, newcomer Thuy Nguyen, Virginie Ledoyen, Udo Kier and Chris Penn, in one of his final film performances. Livingston plays Patrick, an American card shark and dealer of stolen artifacts who has been ‘comfortably numb’ in Cambodia for years. When he encounters Holly (Nguyen), a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl who has been sold into sexual slavery by her impoverished family, he embarks on a frantic search to bring her to safety. Shot in Cambodia, many scenes are in actual brothels in the notorious red light district of Phnom Penh. The film’s producers founded the RedLight Children Campaign, a worldwide grassroots initiative generating conscious concern and inspiring immediate action against child sexploitation. Produced by Guy Jacobson and Adi Ezroni and written by Jacobson and Guy Moshe.

BEOWULF is a teen movie/adult adventure epic/video game pack loosely based on an Old English epic poem. The main characters, Ray Winstone (Beowulf), Anthony Hopkins (Hrothgar), John Malkovich (Unferth), Robin Wright Penn (Wealthow), Brendan Gleeson (Wiglaf), Crispin Glover (Grendel), Alison Lohman (Ursula) and Angelina Jolie (Grendel’s mother) were created with performance capture, meaning their expressions and movements are mapped onto a computer-generated model. Director Robert Zemeckis used the same technique in “The Polar Express.” The over-the-top dialogue and flamboyant battles had my co-critic, Karel (and Roger Ebert), in stitches. Written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary; director of photography, Robert Presley; senior visual effects supervisor, Jerome Chen. It’s being shown on flat screens and in REAL D state-of-the-art technology.

In HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE, director Doris Dorrie (Men, Naked) follows Zen priest and cooking teacher, Edward Espe Brown, author of the landmark The Tassajara Bread Book and one of the founders of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, into the kitchens of Austria’s Scheibbs Buddhist Center, the San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara Mountain Center. Wearing a “Born Again Buddhist” T-shirt, and tossing aside bits of wisdom such as, “The food will taste better when the cook is joyful,” he teaches his disciples the guiding principles of Zen Buddhism passed down by his mentor, Suzuki Roshi, ie, “when you wash the rice, wash the rice, when you cut the carrots, cut the carrots, when you stir the soup, stir the soup.” At one point a homeless woman who lives off dumpster diving coaxes the soundman to help her pull down a fig-laden tree branch that is beyond her reach. It’s a vignette that illustrates the principle of taking care of oneself and others.

DVD: WHY HAS BODHI-DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST? In a remote mountain monastery above a bustling city, an elderly Zen master, his conflicted young apprentice, and an orphaned boy, live a life of quiet contemplation. The old master, nearing his end, wishes to make the ceremony of his death his final lesson to his apprentice, who is struggling to come to terms with the worldly life he left behind. Meanwhile the young boy has his own awakening to mortality as he attempts to nurse a bird he thoughtlessly injured with a stone. The title of the film is a Zen koan — a paradox meant to aid meditation. The film is a cinematic gem and a meditation on the cyclical nature of existence. It does not explain Zen Buddhism so much as illuminate the mysteries of life that lie behind it. The DIRECTOR’S DELUXE EDITION DVD, with never-before-seen footage, was edited by hand over seven years by director Bae Yong-kyun. (www.milestonefilms.com; $29.95 plus shipping).

Shot in Singapore, CAGES is a heartwarming story about a single mother who comes face-to-face with her estranged father (Mako Iwamatsu) after 20 years of silence. Finding common ground in her blind son (played by visually-impaired Singaporean actor Dickson Tan), the two learn to forgive each other for the sins of their past. The late pioneering actor, Mako, was brought up in Japan by his grandparents while his parents were studying in New York and joined them when they were granted US citizenship. He studied architecture before joining the US Army in the early 1950s and became passionate about acting while performing in military shows. He became a naturalized American in 1956. After his Army service, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. The Sand Pebbles, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, was his first film. His other movies include The Ugly Dachsund (1966), The Green Hornet (1974), An Eye For An Eye (1981), Seven Years In Tibet (1997), Bulletproof Monk (2003) and Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005). Mako and a group of artists founded East West Players in 1965 and launched their maiden production of Rashomon in a church basement. Eventually they moved into a 99-seat theater in Silverlake, and finally to the nationally-acclaimed 240-seat David Henry Hwang Theater. Written and directed by Graham Streeter and seen by about 20 million viewers in 24 Asian countries, CAGES is the first film in Asia to have its TV rights purchased by the Hallmark Channel.

Through Feb. 11, 2008. Pop artist TAKASHI MURAKAMI’s recreation of the Wonder Festival comic convention held annually in Tokyo marks the reopening of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., 213-621-1741. The artist is best known for his collaboration with designer Marc Jacobs on the famous Louis Vuitton luggage anime-style designs. Rapper Kanye West had Murakami illustrate the cover for his latest CD and he loaned his talent to the film, Dharma. Whether you consider his “Oval Buddha” aluminum and steel sculpture a serious juxtaposition of religious iconography with pop-culture or kitsch design that belongs on a T-shirt, there’s no doubting his influence on modern art.

Laga Travel Bags are handmade by survivors of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. Each artisan memorizes the traditional patterns and imbues them with their individual stamp. Struggling with having lost jobs, family members and the only home they ever knew, they are rebuilding their lives... one handbag at a time. When former tsunami Relief Coordinator for Saddleback Church, Roy Van Broekhuizen, and his wife, Louise, brought back some of the handbags and sold them at a home party. LAGA DESIGNS INTERNATIONAL, INC. was born. They still sell these stunning purses via home parties, as well as at retail boutiques and trade shows. Van Broekhuizen himself came to the US as an immigrant in 1961 and he says, “America has given me much and this is a small way of giving back.” Info: 888-LAGA-BAG or www.laga-handbags.com . His younger brother, Rene, also helps feed the world. He is the Regional Chef of McCormick & Schmick Restaurants.

Chef Kimmy Tang has sold MICHELIA NOUVELLE BISTRO (8738 W. Third St. LA; 310-276-8288) and its closing is imminent. As a token of appreciation, anyone lucky enough to get there in time will be treated to a glass of wine when they order her special farewell menu for just $30 (seared scallop; Vietnamese style beef in vine leaves; fruit salad; and choice of Yin-Yang shrimp, soft shell crab, stuffed Cornish game hen, Vietnamese style BBQ short ribs, or a special vegan menu. Aside from her loyal fan base here, she’s been written up abroad and is fielding offers to write a cookbook, franchise, and even open a restaurant and cooking school in China. After a much-needed sojourn in Singapore with her mom, she will be scouting a new location here in early 2008. Meanwhile, you can still buy her bottled sauces at Surfas in Culver City.

LATIN-ASIAN FUSION? After a trip to Hong Kong, JOE BRAVO, (www.joebravo.net) an innovative Los Angeles artist who creates paintings using tortillas as his canvases, opened a new show at KGB Studio & Gallery (www.kgbla.com). Has Japan just made its first mark on Mexico? New York’s La Palapa’s East Village and West Village restaurants are serving boxed dinners called MEXICO IN A “BENTO.”

And so to bed: After a few too many restless nights, a trio of women introduced DREAMERZ, an all-natural sleep beverage dietary supplement. The dairy-based beverage, to be drunk hot or cold, comes in Chocolate S’nores (milk chocolate), Vanilla Van Winkle (French vanilla) and Crème de la REM (dark chocolate mint). The makers claim that the clinically proven ingredients in Dreamerz include a patented, low dose (0.3mg) of melatonin, a naturally occurring “sleep” regulating hormone and Lactium®, hydrolyzed casein, a supplement derived from milk, clinically proven to aid in stress reduction and relaxation. We tried it one night and slept peacefully with no hangover. Available in stores and online at www.DreamerzFoods.com .


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