Top 10 films of 2011

This is a difficult list to conjure up, as I see so may films a year which I have only just started to record. It is invariably the most recent that one remembers, but in no particular order, these were my favourites:

• How I Ended This Summer (Aleksey Popogrebskiy, Russia, 2010)
• In A Better World (Suzanne Biers, Denmark, 2010)
• Goodbye ( Jafar Panahi,  Iran, 2010)
• Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean, Romania, 2010)
• Michael (Markus Scleinzer, Austria, 2011) - top 5 of the year
• Cold Fish (Sion Sono, Japan, 2010) - Top 5!
• One Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)
• Jean Gentil (Laura Amelia Guzman, Israel Cadenas, Dominican Republic, 2010)
• We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lyn Ramsay, UK, 2010)
• The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar, Spain, 2011)

Nearly, all of these were shown at MIFF. I missed a number of films in festivals. One which is Highly Commended is
Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois France, 2010) and Heartbeats (Xavier Dolan, Canada, 2010)
What were your favourite films of 2011?

Almodovars' The Skin I Live In

Suspensful thriller - a Spanish melodrama following Hitchcock's tightly edited dramas. I loved this film. Friends hated it; stating that it was crase, predictable, boring. I, thought it was masterful, complete, funny and deeply humerous. The lead actress reminded me so much of Victoria Abril, and it was fabulous to see Banderas and Marisa Paredes together with Almodovar again.
Deeply muted sets and bleak and complex interiors contrasting with characters. A unique story of transgensis, with a Frankenstinian Banderas frighteningly real.
I highly recommend this return to form of Almodovar, with a brillant soundtrack.
4 out of ****
"Delicious entertainment", Screendaily.com

Microphone

Microphone is a delight, not only as it offers an insight into Egyptian alternative youth cuklture, through hip hop artists and documentary makers, but it is a film within a film, offering layers of meaning. An ambitous production, which could have been edited (close to 120 mins), allows us insight into a modern Egypt, presenting the same universal dilemmas.
Well worth seeing.
Microphone screens again on Saturday 17 December, 7 pm at ACMI.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684913/

What is your preferred work style?

We have all attended training sessions designed to enable team building, bonding and overall 'improvement' in the way we work. Yet, today I attended a training session, run by my new employer; The Royal Children's Hospital Foundation, http://foundation.rch.org.au/ which was useful, enlightening and motivating.

Put simply, we completed a survey about out preferred work style, (i.e. Do you like to talk to people over the phone or prefer to use emails? Do you follow rules? Do you only make a decision when all the facts are available etc.etc) which produced a 'profile' of which we then worked with our polar opposite to determine preferred working methods.

Ultimately, I learnt a lot about myself and others preferred working styles and personalities. I used to think the most important thing I had to do was to listen more, but there is so much more. I also realised that I had made assumptoins about people who I had only worked with for a couple of weeks with limited interaction and only verbal queues and subjective assumpations to guide me.

https://twitter.com/intent/follow?screen_name=RCHFmelb

http://www.facebook.com/RoyalChildrensHospitalFoundation

This was not the Myers Briggs test, but insted work by researchers; C. Magerison and McCann. I intend to read their thoughts on team leaderships and the developing teams.
http://www.tms.com.au/tms07.html

Restless made me Restless

Review of restless by Gus Van Sant

I have never been particuarly fond of the films of Gus Van Sant. I find his often young characters distant, inaccessbile and insipid. The same can not be said of Annabel (played lovingly by Mia Walsowska ), and even Enoch (Henry Hopper) who I was less enamoured by, a quirky character trying a little to hard to be an odd-ball, had some delightful characteristics.

Enoch, a 'funeral crashing drop out' befriends Annabel at a funeral he has crashed. They soon become young lovers exploring love, life and death through small vignettes designed to delight us.

This is a small and endearing film, largely due to the performance of Mia and some lovely cinematograophy.

3.5/5

Dolly as cute as pie

Never tough that I would attend a Dolly Parton concert, given my distinct dislike of bluegrass, "rock a billy" and the like, but did I enjoy this cute as a pie, energectic performance froma  great dame of country adn western.
Over two hours and ten instruments later, Dolly schmoozed a sedate but appreciative audience made up mostly of baby boomers, some gay men and Tom and I! One of my favourite songs growing up was showcased in a set containing, Island in the Steam and Working 9 to 5 that song being:

The outfits were typically rhinestone clad and Dolly's amazingly small waist was on show. One of 12 children, brought up in the Smokey Mountains, Dolly's father was illiterate and was so proud of the career that Dolly carved out for herself. And she is still going strong, all these years later.
Thanks to Tom Bunn for the tickets and the evening of heartfelt and warm songs.

Here you Come Again

Islands in the Stream

Noisette & The Pillar

Oh how I love and recommend the delectable breads of bakery, Noisette in Port Melbourne. Whenever I see this breakfast item on the menu, I cannot resist.
Coffee with fruit toast at The Pillar of Salt this morning, lovely.
A surprisingly comfortable bar seat at the communal table and very good service from staff, that you hardly noticed, meant for a lovely start to an early day, having risen at 5 am.
Coffee 3.75-4/5 - consistent, smooth but not too my liking completely, not enough after taste (I really don't know what I am taking about, but I do know this was not a terrific coffee, but would be happy to try again)

In other news, I wore my silk New Zealand scarf for the first time today and it was so comfortable. I bought this at the Yarraville second hand store, before it was sadily burnt down. I wonder if it will re open, I do hope so.
Thanks to Ms Sylvia Tai of ShopSui http://www.shopsui.com.au/for my outfit today - Totem red cord A line skirt which was soooo comfortable to wear. I remember the days of being a kid in my cords!

And finally, I cannot recommend enough the sugar cane juice with cumquats from Little Saigon in Footscray. I love this market, so many more people to deserve to know about it. Full of asian greens and herbs, tropical fruits and so, so cheap. I can do my entire weeks F&V shopping therre for $6.00
Earlier this year, I did a food walking tour of Footsrcary through the Maribyrnong City Council and learnt all about the vegetables which I could not previously identify.
Check the tours out at