concealed by a veil

I've been meaning to write something about The Painted Veil for several weeks now, but never got around to it. It's an extremely beautiful and well-crafted period piece, but moves periodically with a sullen slowness. Clocking in at two hours, it's not a movie that you should watch if you're exhausted. Overall, it's a very good adaptation of the book, and shot with a beautiful, overarching simplicity.

The acting was very good on all fronts. In addition to the superb job done by the two leads, the Chinese peasants seemed real. Naomi Watts is an extremely beautiful and versatile actress. This love story is really about her and how she transforms from a simple and shallow person into a noble and admirable woman. Ed Norton is also commendable in his role, although you get the feeling that he's better off playing parts where his character can express an overabundance of emotion rather than turning it all inwards, as he does here.

As a movie, it gets Asian culture right (Edward Norton did major in Asian History at Yale). Nature is as crucial to this story as any of the main characters. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the lush greenery and mist covered mountain tops took up too much screen time. The movie clearly tries to capture the Eastern way of thought that humans should blend and be at peace with nature.

The movie is adapted from Somerset Maugham's tight and dry book with a heavy psychological bent. To me, there are three scenes that are virtuoso in their scope. The first is Walter bringing his wife to a cholera infested town with the intention of killing them both painfully as revenge for her philandering ways. The second is the husband and wife purposely eating uncooked salad in the disease-stricken town in an effort to prove their indifference to each other and proving who has more balls. The last is the good doctor purposely committing suicide (via self-injection with the cholera virus) so that his pregnant wife would leave and go back to Shanghai. It's pure genius and so twisted because these people are normal, but they are capable of doing such monstrous things to each other.

The Painted Veil refers to how little we know one another and ourselves because we're forced to don a veil that society thrusts upon us. Some people survive very well in this environment (they're assholes), but most people live sad and broken lives, never understanding each other. It's only when the weight of society is lifted from Walter and Kitty do they realize their true selves (mostly Kitty) and each other. The story is bleak indictment on society but uplifting about the true nature of people if only they can see themselves clearly. Kitty's transformation is so wonderful because we see society Kitty completely broken down, then the new Kitty being built from nothing at all. It's quite impressive.

The book itself was much more stark and complicated. There were no romantic scenes in a boat or anything of the sort. In fact, reform is much harder for Kitty in the book. She's still not completely free from society after she returns to civilization post Walter's death. Kitty falls a bit into a limbo between her old frivolous and inane life and the new, more purposeful life that she has created. In the end, she has to escape from society again in order not to lose the self that she so painstakingly created.

turkish food

I'm a huge fan of well-prepared breakfasts. Although I love the American style breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast or pancakes, orange juice, etc, etc., it has none of the balance and airiness of the Turkish breakfast. This morning, I went to a brunch, and it was absolutely amazing. Rich omlettes with cheese and dill, sliced tomatoes, sourdough bread, bagels, jam, honey, butter, two types of cheese, sliced strawberries, apples, and pears, tea, grapefruit juice, orange juice, Turkish coffee, Turkish delight, and small dishes of dried apricots and walnuts (the last two might have been for decoration).

In Turkey, breakfasts consisted of pastries, toast, butter, olives, tomatoes, string cheese, fresh feta cheese, jams, and tea (of course!). It was just the perfect combination. I can't describe the taste of tomatoes, olives, and fresh cheese all at once. Quite delectable. I loved the fresh feta cheese. It's unsalted and lacks the strong, pungent taste of crumbly feta here in the US. One of my life goals is to serve a Turkish breakfast at least once. Being a typical American, I think it's too intricate to serve to myself or even two more people, but it's really dining at its best: healthy and delicious.

I do think that Turkish food is one of the top three cuisines in the world. It's prepared extraordinarily well and dazzles in its subtlety. It doesn't overly rely on spice or strange parts of strange animals to create a well-balanced and wholesome taste. The food is subtle. The one weed that I'm not too fond of is dill, which is used liberally in Turkish food. For me, the taste is very pungent and too earthy.

Kofte, or seasoned lamb meatballs, are quite amazing. The taste is richer than doner, or meat sliced from the turning spit. In general, the stuffed peppers and stuffed eggplant are quite sensational, although the fish is merely ordinary (I supposed I'm used to Chinese-style prepared fish). I was surprised to find Manti, or the equivalent (99% equivalent) of Chinese dumplings in Turkey, although it is eaten with yogurt.

Besides breakfast, my favorite Turkish food is dessert. We'll skip past the baklava (which is excellent but is generally not bad in the US) and get to the Turkish delight. I don't know what's in these little squares, but they're amazing. The taste is quite unlike anything else I've tasted. Next up is a concoction of slices of bread dripped in a honey mixture. It's so sweet and soft and pure heaven when eaten with fresh clotted cream. Also, stuffed and baked quince is delightful with ice cream. The cookies are generally excellent, as are dried cubes of almond powder that fall into pieces at the slightest touch (similar to a Chinese candy). There's so much more I can say about Turkish food, but this is a good stopping point...unless I want to start gnawing on my arm.

kings and schmucks

Having seen James McAvoy for the first time in Atonement, I had to watch The Last King of Scotland (No, I have no interest in seeing him as a man-goat in The Chronicles of Narnia). He's the most phenomenal young (under thirty to early thirties) male actor I've seen to date. The great thing about his characters is that I can't make them out. In Atonement, he played the earnest young man with hidden inclinations who quickly becomes disillusioned by fate (i.e. prison and war). Unlike James Bond, which is an extreme example, James McAvoy doesn't give the impression that he's a hero, good, bad, neurotic, dark, nor all of the other types that we see so often. His characters' genius rises from their complexity and refusal to be typecast. They're not real in that I could just see Robbie walking down the street (if I were living in Britain 70 years ago), but real in an emotional sense.

The one thing that is consistent in both movies is his laugh. He contemplates something for a few seconds, then bursts forth with this laugh as if he's been holding it in all the while. Other than that, there are few similarities between his devastated Robbie and loose, amoral Nicholas in The Last King of Scotland. This movie absolutely had no heroes at all. Nicholas, as the weak and selfish doctor who enjoys women, cars, and privilege, is very far from all of that. When I was watching the movie, I just wanted to hit him over the head...sleeping with married women doesn't come with a get out of jail free card, especially in war-torn Uganda under brutal dictatorial rule. However, I still found it hard to dislike the good doctor, despite the fact that he had very few redeeming qualities.

James McAvoy's characters are intensely emotional, and he plays the man-child very convincingly (perhaps because he's very young). He's intriguing because you don't really see what's going on behind those big eyes and charming smile until he goes manic depressive (Atonement), or goes through some hysterical emotional torture (The Last King of Scotland). I just want to figure his characters or his method out, and I'm getting nowhere. It's frustrating, but amazing to watch.

The real story of The Last King of Scotland is Forest Whitaker's virtuoso performance, which earned him an extremely well-deserved academy award. His performance was so realistic that he could have been the real Idi Amin. Kerry Washington also did a good job as the disgraced third wife, as did Simon McBurney as the distasteful foreign officer.

The film was clearly made with quite a lot of care, with a solid story (Based on a work of fiction and history) and actual filming in Uganda to give a sense of the people and conflicts there. It was clear that most of the extras were natives, and the entire movie blended the documentary and the movie very well. We really see the contrast between the natives living in the villages and the clean streets and tall white buildings of Kampala. On the one hand, we see Kampala and think of it as an achievement, and oasis in the desert of rural backwardness. On the other hand, it's something else that we shoved onto the African people, along with European politics and gimmicks. Wouldn't the people be better living simply as they have been for thousands of years in their small villages? Are coups, corruption, and military dictatorship separable from clean water, modern hospitals, and adequate living conditions (for a small percentage of the population)? I think not.