Random Thoughts

I found this on Vimeo. Finding films from South Sudan isn’t easy, and this is more of an American experimental/documentary short than South Sudanese (that’s a word, right?) film. But it’s shot in South Sodan, so

I liked the film: It’s inventive and affecting, but I also wonder what the people who appeared in it would think about it. It seems like they might be assuming that they’re appearing in a straight-up documentary, and instead it’s a … I’m not sure what. Exploitative experiment? A personal psycho-drama? Just farting around?

The film-maker is talented, though.

Ten Minutes is Two Hours. Patrick Kennelly. 2013. South Sudan.

Kerkede

• hibuscus flowers
• sugar
• rum

Soak 1 part of hibiscus flowers in 2 parts of room temperature water for three hours. Add six more parts of water and 1 part sugar (or according to taste). Pour into an ice-filled glass and add rum to taste. Stir until cold.

I added the rum to the recipe.

The cold-brewed hibiscus certainly gives it a smoother taste than the other hibiscus drinks I’ve been concocting from this region.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

I found this documentary on Amazon, and it’s really more of a British film than an Omaranian (that’s a word, right) film. But

It’s a straight-up propaganda film about scrappy, idealistic British mercenaries (and soldiers? the film is vague on that point) protecting Oman (and thereby, the rest of the world) from the spread of evil, eeeeevil Communism.

It’s not very effective as propaganda goes, I think, because it’s so ham-fisted: The only voices we hear are British. I mean, literally.

Operation Oman. Tristan Ofield. 2014. Oman.

Mint Lemonade

• lemon juice
• simple suryp
• water
• mint leaves
• rum

Run everything through a blender with ice. Pour into a glass.

(The original recipe was without the rum.)

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

I guess this is more of an Iranian film than a Tajikistani (that’s a word, right?) film, but

And, wow! What an unexpected delight! An honest-to-goodness avant garde film! Yay! If I had known that this was an Iranian film, this wouldn’t have come as such a surprise, seeing as Iran is really the cultural power house of the region.

I don’t know whether the actors are purposefully stiff or whether they’re just not, er, actors, but the stilted quality lends a further sheen to the strange proceedings. Very Bressonesque.

But to be honest, most of the film I was going “Don’t fuck it up! Don’t start making ‘sense’!” And it almost made it all the way; deliciously obscure. If it had only stopped before the very last scene, which was hokey in all the wrong ways.

But it’s otherwise riveting.

The Silence. Mohsen Makhmalbaf. 1998. Tajikistan.

Boulder Tangerine Bourbon Sour

• 24 parts bourbon
• 8 parts lemon tea
• 8 parts simple syrup
• 1 part lime juice
• 3 parts lemon juice

Shake with ice. Pour into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with a cherry and a slice of orange.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

I got this on DVD, but it turned out to only have French subtitles. *sigh* But Netflix had it streaming with English subtitles, so the Ipod to the rescue again.

This is the first Netflix film in this blog series: It occurred to me that they might have a larger library of films co-produced by European countries than Amazon, and that seems to be the case. The video quality isn’t bad: Not as artifactey as some Amazon videos are, but it’s sometimes kinda choppy? I’d prefer to watch from Bluray or DVD, as always…

I guess this film is more French than Qatari (that’s a word, right?), but

The actors here are wonderful, the characters are fun and unexpected, the cinematography is beautiful, the plot is loopy and exciting. There are a few scenes that I don’t quite buy (like in the school or the “are you scared?” scene), but it’s compulsively watchable.

The robbery/dance premiere edit climax thing is really, really bad. And even though I teared up at the ending, I loathed the “ironic” manipulative moral twist ending. But still, if you make an edit of this film that ends at the train station:

Divines. Houda Benyamina. 2016. Qatar.

Official Bullfrog Cocktail

• 1 part gin
• 1 part tequila
• 1 part vodka
• 1 part white rum
• 1 part blue curaçao
• 1 part Red Bull

Pour everything (except the Red Bull) into an ice-filled glass and stir until cold. Top off with the Red Bull and stir briefly.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

This is high melodrama with long-suffering, noble women and harsh, evil men. The actors are highly variable and the cinematigraphy isn’t very exciting, but somehow it still works. It’s fascinatingly odd in parts and rather gripping.

And it’s funny, too, in-between the drama.

A Bahraini Tale. Bassam Al-Thawadi. 2006. Bahrain.

M E Cafe Latte Cocktail

• 3 whole cardamom seeds
• 45 ml dark rum
• 45 ml Madeira
• 5 ml simple syrup
• 1 whole egg

Muddle the cardamom seeds in a shaker. Add the remaining ingredients and shake. Add ice, shake more, and double strain into a tulip glass. Garnish with some cardamom seeds.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.