loving annabelle

loving annabelle

2006

Directed: Katherine Brooks

Written: Katherine Brooks (with Olivia Bohnhoff and Karen Klopfenstein)

Every year on the queer festival curcuit one film inevitably creates more buzz than any other. For the 2006/07 season that film was Loving Annabelle.

It's easy to see where the buzz has come from, and where the limited production budget went. This film is gorgeous. Cinematographer Cynthia Pusheck (whose bio is truly impressive) has shot a film that I can only describe as lush. There's not a single sharp edge in this dreamy, ethereal project. Unfortunately, that's also part of the problem.

Loving Annabelle is OK, but not great. Despite its provocative subject matter, there's something oddly sedate about the film. I expected more passion, much more angst (considering the life-altering decisions that these characters are making), and more painful conundrums.

It goes like this. Annabelle (Erin Kelly), is the rebellious daughter of a powerful female Senator. She's been kicked out of her second high school and has been dumped by her mother in a small, exclusive Catholic boarding school. She might look the part, with her constant smirk, hunched up shoulders, streaked hair and relentless smoking, but Annabelle is not your average rebellious student.

Annabelle meets Simone (Diane Gaidry), a beautiful and troubled English teacher. Simone has had a tragic affair in her past, with a girl she grew up with. She's lived a stunted existence, dating a man she does not love and teaching at her old childhood school to stay close to the memories of the woman she lost. She responds to Annabelle instinctively, but her adult maturity warns her that doing anything about her feelings would be inexcusably wrong.

Annabelle is sexually aggressive, and clued in to Simone's tragedy as no-one has ever been before. Regardless of how mature she seems though, Annabelle still reacts like an impetuous teenager, which is the only thing standing between Simone and disaster. However, Annabelle knows Simone can't resist her forever.

Erin Kelly's performance is the only thing holding this all together. The film relies on Annabelle's believeability, and even though sometimes I think her dialogue left much to be desired, she's got an excellent physical presence onscreen. There's a raw sexuality about her that I can see would be difficult to resist, and the sex scene, once we get to it, is visceral and sexy.

If only they hadn't felt the need to shave off all the rough edges, this could have been brilliant. A few more risks should have been taken, with the script, the cinematography and the direction. There needs to be less lingering and more movement. More should have been made of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the boarding school setting, to really make us feel how trapped Simone feels, how she's unable to breathe until Annabelle comes along to throw open a few windows. This film is so full of "could have been" that it's downright frustrating.

Back in 1998, Brooks and Karen Klopfenstein released an underrated film called Outtakes which was a sweet, funny look at two women trying to make a film who against all odds end up making both a film and a relationship work. I loved it because it was so real. Loving Annabelle is another competent contribution to her growing body of work, but despite being prettier, isn't nearly as emotionally honest as that previous film.

Fingersmith

fingersmith

2005

Directed: Aisling Walsh

Written: Peter Ransley 

Sarah Waters is having a fabulous run when it comes to having her books adapted for the screen. First came the lavish production of Tipping the Velvet which exactly captured the spirit of the book, even if the filmmakers chose to cut a few corners with some characters and changed the ending. Now we have Fingersmith, the second BBC production of a Sarah Waters novel. While I'm not quite as willing to wax rhapsodic about this production as I was about Tipping the Velvet, it was a solid, engaging story with few things worth griping about.

As with all films that involve intrigue of some kind, to outline too much of the plot is to do both the film and the audience a disservice. In broad terms, Fingersmith follows the story of Sue Trinder (Sally Hawkins) and Maud Lilly (Elaine Cassidy), two young women whose pasts are intertwined in ways they could not possibly imagine and who are caught up in a scheme twenty years in the making. At the behest of a con man named "Gentleman" (Rupert Evans), and with the encouragement of her foster-mother Mrs Sucksby (Imelda Staunton), Sue agrees to help in a plan to rob Maud; a young, wealthy girl who lives at the country estate of Briar.

According to Gentleman, Maud Lilly, who lives alone with her eccentric uncle, is due to come into her inheritance of forty thousand pounds when she marries. However, Mr Lilly keeps her so locked up and isolated as to negate the possibility of that ever happening. Gentleman proposes to pose as Mr Richard Rivers, a suitor for Maud and an employee of her uncle, while Sue poses as Maud's maid. Her role in the con is to help convince the naive, impressionable Maud that she is in love and ought to run away and marry Rivers. After that has happened, Rivers will have Maud locked up in an asylum and take her cash for himself. Sue's share in the booty will be three thousand pounds.

Of course, if the scheme went exactly as planned there would be no story. Things start to go desperately awry when Sue and Maud begin to develop feelings for one another. The unravelling of the con and the unveiling of the characters' different motivations forms the bulk of the plot.

Fingersmith must have been an extremely difficult tale to adapt, considering the backpedalling, twists and turns the plot takes in the novel. The first episode of the mini-series takes its time to unveil the growing feelings between the two girls and concentrates solely on telling the first third of the novel in exquisite detail. Unfortunately this left the other two-thirds of the book -- the part of the novel that contains most of the action, plot twists and revelations -- to be told in just one episode. The langorous pace of episode one makes the second episode feel rushed and out of synch with the first.

I'm not certain that anyone watching without the benefit of having read the novel would feel the same, but I was also disappointed at the lack of development of the minor characters. I think this is where the Tipping the Velvet adaptation shone, because even the smallest of the characters introduced were all three dimensional. The inhabitants of Lant Street (Mrs Sucksby's house) were not at all colourful, nor did we really get to see much of the sanctimonious inner-workings of the inhabitants of Briar, or the devilish inmates at the madhouse.

I understand that the story concentrates on the main characters by necessity, but with so little attempt at exploring their surroundings and the characters within them, the settings the two girls existed in weren't as alive and vibrant as I feel they ought to have been. Ignorance will be bliss for people who have not read the novel, but I can't help feeling a bit cheated, especially since the barking mad inhabitants of the asylum (including the staff and doctors!) afforded such a wonderful opportunity for further character development.

While there is no doubt that Maud and Sue were perfectly cast (the chemistry between the two girls was nothing short of electric), they could have used a bit more imagination with the casting of Gentleman. For such a pivotal role, I really didn't think Rupert Evans had what it takes. It requires a great amount of subtlety and finesse to play a good con man, but Evans seemed to respond to every situation with the same overly-affected, sour expression.

Where Fingersmith excels though is in breaking down the story into its smaller elements; exploring the nature of love, guilt, yearning, greed and passion. How thin is the line between love and hate? What crimes are beyond forgiveness? This adaptation also succeeds in getting right to the emotional heart of the story. This will satisfy incurable romantics and lovers of tortured love stories everywhere. Not a single opportunity was missed to drive home the lingering effect their brief love affair had on the two girls. The strength of that memory powers all their thoughts and actions for the remainder of the film; much more so than any anger or thirst for vengeance.

Sarah Waters has been single-handedly responsible for reclaiming the Victorian era for lesbians, and I applaud the BBC for not compromising on her vision. I love the grittiness, and the nuance-perfect performance by Elaine Cassidy as Maud is worth the price of the DVD alone. The scene from Maud's wedding night is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful; such a desperate plea for comfort is remarkably at odds with her otherwise restrained demeanour. The scene reveals so much in an instant about what is going on beneath the surface, and in the end, reading what is going on beneath the surface, the con within the con, is really what the story is all about.

Linda Bergkvist

"What advanced me the most with my digital work was when I figured out that I could try all of the things that I was far too shy to do on traditional canvas."

She is an award-winning artist from Sweden whose digital paintings have been featured widely including Master and Excellence awrds in the EXPOSE series.Linda is also co-author of d'artiste Digital Painting where along with three other artists she delves into her own style and techniques in the way she approaches her art.Linda is as much a storyteller as an artist with an evocatinv illustration style featuring mystical settings and stnning characters.Though she studied English with the intention of becoming a teacher,Linda cut her studies short to work as an illustrator.Linda now spends her time as a comic book colorist,a part-time theacher of Photoshop at a local university,and as a freelancer.

你

眼看2008年也快到尾声了；

看着朋友们带来的你的消息，觉得你似乎又长大了些，懂事了些；

突然意识到，有一年多没见了，这是我们认识以来分开时间最长的一次，

曾经以为我终于能将你丢到一边了，可是丢是丢了，却总还是在心的某个角落，是我使的劲儿还不够大吗？呵呵，是吧。

曾经以为我又重新找到了爱，可是爱是爱了，却是那么的短暂，你总会出现在天枰的那一端且高高在上，是我太偏心了吗？呵呵，是吧。

曾经以为再次见到你的时候会不知所措，可是，虽然只是透过镜头看到的你，还是会让我情不自禁的笑出声来，是那种从心里甜出来的喜悦......（天啊，是幸福的感觉，对，没错，还是你，还是只有你能给我的感觉。）

所以，我这依然是爱吧，是正在爱的，对吗？

OH MY LOVELY JENNIFER!!!

世界各地的fans为Jennifer准备的礼物

一件在世界各地走了5个月的shirt，集合世界各地fans对她的爱与支持：

心形的路线～～～～～～

更可爱的是Jennifer，她穿上了这件可爱的充满创意的衬衫来表达对fans的感谢，oh my lovely Jennifer。

害羞的Jennifer。

完全完全完全可爱的Jennifer。

草稿纸

完全是上课时候无聊的产物～～～～～

跟旁边的韩国人没法用语言交流，所以就.....hahaha

老照片

今天老妈整理以前的照片，顺便发了两张给我，20多年前的照片... ...
那时的奶奶好年轻，爸爸好瘦，妈妈原来那么漂亮的啊，比我漂亮多了......
突然一时感慨，鼻子有点酸：
多好的一个家庭，究竟是毁在妈妈的手里，还是毁在我的手里了？想象不出当年老妈对于我出卖了她是种什么样的心情，可那时我才12岁啊；有时候也会想，现在是对那时行为的惩罚吗？曾经看到一句话这么说：无论你多么努力的要改变命运，可是在临死前的那刹，你才会终于明白原来这一切还是早已注定了的。小学6年级的我，改变了我自己的命运，人生观，爱情观，所有的一切。

照片里的妈妈笑的很好看，爸爸笑的很自然，奶奶也很上相，而我是那么的无忧无虑，被幸福包围着...
如今，幸福 的感觉离开我很久了...

回忆对我来说，还是件很讨厌的事情，以后还是少回忆些吧。