After giving away vouchers to the Hawaii International Film Festival during Saturday’s show, I was in a very happy frame of mind, having done my part to share the HIFF love on Playlist International. The music of North Africa and India comprised most of the afternoon’s playlist. Couldn’t wait to get out of the station and head down to the Regal Stadium 18… been looking forward to seeing the Hindi film, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka since reading the synopsis.
If you’re a fan of Bollywood films, this one doesn’t disappoint. The music was fun and upbeat, each scene was swathed in rich colors and texture, and the love story was sweet (unbelievable to my skeptical outlook, but sweet). I’ve never given Indian architecture any thought before but in this film, it featured prominently and deepened my appreciation of Indian culture. Too bad the next showing of Rab Ne Bana was on a Monday afternoon, otherwise I’d have gone back to watch Surinder and Taani’s romance unfold a second time. The soundtrack was very catchy and the first thing I did was to look it up on amazon.com. It’s available, but with only six tracks, I’m still sitting on the fence whether or not to add it to my collection.
HIFF’s Spring Showcase has once again impressed with its wide array of films imported from Japan, Korea, Europe, India, and Israel… there’s no way I can watch them all, but I can wish. I love steeping myself in foreign languages and seeing the world through the lense of a camera. Making time to get away to the cinema allows me to escape from reality for a little while… and I don’t need to dig up my passport to go on these inexpensive getaways.
There are so many things going on, I have yet to share what a great time I had at the Alison Brown concert. I’ll save that for a future post, because right now my gatekeeping skills are calling me away from the computer. Sadly I won’t be going to Wushu: The Young Generation, but I do have tickets to see Gu-Gu the Cat… can’t wait to visit Japan on closing night!
