Starring Jodhi May

Okay. So I've been procrastinating lately, and this article has long been overdue. Waaay too long. Anyway, Jodhi May's 37th birthday was on the 1st or 8th of May, although some sources claim that she was born on the 30th of November 1974.

"Jodie" who? Jodhi May. Most audiences outside the UK might not be familiar with her because she mainly works in England, a serious actress usually seen in period dramas. Some of her films include The Last of the Mohicans, Flashbacks of a Fool, and Tipping the Velvet (if you're a gay woman, you've probably heard of this one).

If there's one actress who could blow you away with a mere glance, it had to be Jodhi. She's one of the few actresses whose eyes exude an intense amount of raw passion. You can see and feel her emotions through her eyes. That's a rare quality in an actor. And Jodhi is indeed one of the rare talents I've seen onscreen.

Here are my top five performance by Miss Jodhi:

1. Tipping the Velvet (2002)

Fave Movie Quotes: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

 

Tommy: Look, I don't know what the hell your point is, but—
Varla: The point is of no return and you've reached it!

Cinematography: Le Havre

LE HAVRE (2011)

Director: Aki Kaurismäki

Cinematographer: Timo Salminen

♪ There's a longing that burns you. You'll have to return to the only life you'll ever know. ♪

Those are the first lines of The Renegades' Matelot, a song that can be heard during the opening credits of Aki Kaurismäki's Le Havre. Kaurismäki's latest film is a minimalist yet compelling portrait of humanity. For me, the song gives the film a sense of melancholy and nostalgia. What makes the film more melancholic is Timo Salminen's irresistible cinematography. Salminen's work is composed of dramatic lighting, which is often accompanied by his elaborate use of silhouettes.

 

Le Havre in blue.

Fave Movie Quotes: The Artist

If you want to be an actress, you need to have something others don't.

- George Valentin

Favorite Movie Moments: The Conformist

Unlike men, women can do a lot of things together without being labeled "gay." We can hold hands, walk arm in arm, dance together, kiss each other on the cheek, sleep on one bed, etc. If I mention all of the things we can do together without society branding us "dykes," you might drown in its bounty.

 

Dominique Sanda and Stefania Sandrelli in Bertolucci's The Conformist.

 (Image source here.)

Delicious and Heartwarming

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Jon Avnet, 1991

"Whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people."

- Ruth 1:16

The '90s cinema was abundant with feminist films; there was Thelma & Louise, Nikita, The Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Fried Green Tomatoes, The River Wild, Bound, G.I. Jane, Jackie Brown, Elizabeth, etc.

Among those films, Fried Green Tomatoes is the one whose approach to feminism I liked the most. It doesn't feature gun-toting women, rather it features everyday women who aren't afraid to speak their mind and assert themselves.

Cinematography: The Skin I Live In

THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cinematographer: José Luis Alcaine

Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In is a twisted tale of madness, obsession, and revenge.

The film features Antonio Banderas in his most sinister role as Dr. Robert Ledgard, an exceptional surgeon haunted by the demise of both his wife and daughter. Dr. Ledgard is currently in the process of finishing the flawless skin. His guinea pig is a mysterious "woman" named Vera Cruz (played by the beautiful Elena Anaya). Vera also has her share of dark past, and wants out of her claustrophobic existence.

Aside from the strange nature of the film and the actors' performances, another thing that stood out for me is José Luis Alcaine's cinematography.

Vera's reflection.

Fave Movie Quotes: Chasing Amy

You know, I didn't just heed what I was taught, men and women should be together, it's the natural way, that kind of thing. I'm not with you because of what family, society, life tried to instill in me from day one. The way the world is, how seldom it is that you meet that one person who just *gets* you - it's so rare. My parents didn't really have it. There were no examples set for me in the world of male-female relationships. And to cut oneself off from finding that person, to immediately halve your options by eliminating the possibility of finding that one person within your own gender, that just seemed stupid to me.

- Alyssa Jones

Beyond the Limits

BOUND
The Wachowskis, 1996

Although The Matrix is not really my cup of tea (it's too sci-fi for my taste), I am convinced that The Wachowski Brothers The Wachowskis have an impressive talent to create flawlessly entertaining, kinetic films. The Wachowskis, comprised of Andy and Larry (who is now called "Lana"), know how to equilibrize different genres in one film; in The Matrix movies, they successfully fused action, romance, sci-fi, and thriller.

Three years before the Wachowskis entered The Matrix, they made their directorial debut with a sexy neo-noir crime thriller called Bound. Stylishly photographed, well acted, and intelligently written, Bound is about two women who go beyond the limits to f*ck over the f*ck-worthy mafia — not in a literal sense, get your head off the gutter! :P

Fave Movie Quotes: Mother Joan of the Angels

All redemption is in love. Love is as strong as death.

- Father Jozef Suryn