It’s hard to know where to start with a film as rich as A Christmas Tale (trailer), which opens tonight, November 21^st at the Bridge Theater for an exclusive one-week run. It’s under consideration for one of France’s top film honors, the Louis Delluc prize, and no wonder: in two and a half hours that never drag or bore, director Arnaud Desplechin explores every aspect of a crazy dysfunctional family, and takes us on a journey that, for all its length, almost feels a bit too short.

The heart of the story is Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon), whose three adult children have been locked for years into a state of passive-aggressive feuding. Overshadowing their lives is the fate of their oldest child Joseph, who died of leukemia forty years earlier at the age of seven. When Junon develops the same disease — and there is a chance that one of her children may be able to donate marrow to save her life — they all return to the family home to be tested, and for the holidays. Merry Christmas!

It sounds like a depressing film — as Desplechin himself said of it, everything “in the scenario should scare a producer half to death” — but in fact it’s often quite hilarious, and all the tragedy is treated with a light touch that somehow doesn’t trivialize it. But in the end that’s very true to life. Add in the wonderful cast — Mathieu Almaric, Emmanuelle Devos, Hippolyte Girardot, and Chiara Mastroianni (the only actress I can’t stop thinking about and Deneuve’s real-life daughter) — and it’s a film you just can’t miss.

Desplechin visited San Francisco back in October to attend a screening of the film at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now festival. We chatted in his hotel suite; his accommodations delighted him so much that he took us out onto the balcony to share the amazing view he had of downtown and the bay. We enjoyed a rich, wide-ranging discussion about this and his other films, about his process, his opinions about various films ranging from Fanny and Alexander to The Royal Tenenbaums to The Outsiders, his plans to make a film about the birth of hip-hop in France, and why he refuses to think about casting while working on a script — even if, as with the case of Catherine Deneuve in this film, there’s really nobody else who could do the role.

It’s a lengthy interview but well worth your time, if you’d like to get a glimpse into the mind of one of the finest directors working in France today. Full text after the jump.

(more…)

Last night I was walking in my t-shirt along Ocean Beach. Man, it’s like Los Angeles. So not much to post here, except that I wish the Fleishhacker Baths were back. The Beach Chalet was packed- and funny tidbit, the Japanese gentleman sitting next to me who really loved the Jack Johnson cover band, asked if it was safe to wait for the 5-Fulton at 10:30PM. “Will there be a driveby shooting?”

School’s out, summer is around the corner. It’s time to get out there and do some of that stuff you’ve been putting off for months.

Remember January 1st and that list you made?

A) Get handle on finances
B) Go to the gym
C) Take up a new hobby

Well, no one is going to make you hit that gym any harder, but if you want to pick up a new hobby for a price that won’t hurt your finances, you should try the San Francisco Community Music Center!

CMC offers a sliding scale pay rate and even some work exchange for dedicated students. They offer a wide range of music lessons and even have rental equipment available. And if that wasn’t enough, they even offer VERY cheap practice space rental, WITH pianos!

There are two beautiful locations in the city: Richmond district, and the Mission district. Both are large houses, surrounded by gardens and trees. There are MUNI bus lines within a block of both locations.

After a few weeks paying a fraction of the usual cost for music lessons with talented professionals, you can even take part in a concert.

San Francisco Community Music Center

The Green Roof Industry Association has awarded the new Cal Academy of Sciences with an award of excellence for their green roof installation. The new Academy opens on September 27, 2008. The living roof is a key part of the platinum LEED certification the museum has accomplished. From the southeast view the building truly blends in to the landscape. From the west, see picture below, still a sight to behold.

The roof also retains 2 million gallons of rainwater, preventing 70% of the rainwater that falls on the roof from becoming runoff. The water that does run off the roof is collected in basement-level cisterns and reused for roof irrigation. No potable water will be used to irrigate the living roof.

The roof covers an ambitious 197,000 sq. ft. to a depth of 6-7 inches and cost $17 per sq. ft. In conjunction with the building’s other innovative sustainable features, the living roof contributes to many of the anticipated LEED® points, which, when achieved, will make the Academy the world’s largest LEED® Platinum -certified public space

Photo Credit: Peter Kaminski. H/t to Inhabitat.

 Loading …

The first “San Francisco Outside lands Festival” is named for the barren wasteland of the late 1800’s previously covering the Western side of the city. Three days of music are to fill Golden Gate Park’s Polo Fields, Speedway Meadow, and Lindley Meadow from August 22 to 24, 2008.

The festival promises some choice acts, such as: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Radiohead, Primus, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals and many, many more. However, when tickets were first released almost a month ago, the only choice was to buy 1 ticket for the whole event, for a whopping $225.50!

Well, fear not less-than-wealthy concert-goers!

The festival announced yesterday that starting May 1st, at 10am, single day tickets will be available at their website for a less painful $85 each.

Thanks to Mark Pritchard I was at the huge blowout used book sale at Green Apple Books on Clement and 5th! And it’ll go on for months, with new books brought up from the warehouse every week.

We were all elbow to elbow with our necks sideways, concentrating, muttering, calculating prices. The crowd was intense and intent, biting their lips with concentration. At one point I lunged halfway across the room with my hand stuck out and nabbed an old hardback copy of The Country of the Pointed Firs; I think I whimpered with happiness at my luck and then realized that about 10 people were giggling and beaming approval. After about an hour & a giant armload of books & a stiff neck, at the checkout I had only spent 50 bucks.
(more…)

When I’m actually nuts enough to drive down Clement Street in the Inner Richmond, and it’s a lunchtime traffic circus (when is it not a traffic circus?), I now without fail stop by the curiously non-initial capped little Vietnam cafe (309 6th Avenue, between Clement and Geary). Yep, I’ll actually circle around the block a few times on parking space prowl just to grab the super-fresh, flavorful, and very economical home-style Vietnamese dishes.
(more…)

I was waiting at the JCC to get the 43 Masonic, and I got to use my college Russian translation skills to slowly read outloud like a small Russian school child (I wish!). I think it says: Service in Russian with Cantor Peel. It’s not too late: at 6pm is the service, and there’s more tomorrow.

Also want to mention Matt’s post yesterday, and Lauren’s friend translated part of the sign as: “Yom Kippur in wonderful venue in Japantown.”

Good news, folks! Just this afternoon, the mail collection box that vanished has been replaced! After my last update I created a flyer with information on who to contact at SF USPS and gave the flyer to a worker at the Senior Center. She said that the seniors had been calling different numbers and this one contact number would be very helpful.
(more…)

Located near USF at 798 Arguello Boulevard at the corner of McAllister, the bicycle-themed Velo Rouge Cafe is popular with USF students and neighborhood residents. There always seems to be a good mix of people during the day: coeds, professionals, and parents with kids. As expected by the name, a fair amount of bicylclists stop by, locking up their bikes on the bright red bike rack out front. The owner has created a good, comfortable neighborhood cafe that entices the Golden Gate Park-goers, as well. After a few visits on my own, and enjoying the coffee and the espresso drinks, I brought my wife and daugther there on a recent Saturday morning to try their nibbles as well.
(more…)