So close, so far

The last day of SIFF didn't go smoothly.

11:00am "We shall overcome" @ Pacific Place
Didn't go at all. My car was blocked at church so I had to stay for the Sunday school. Well I guess it's better to attend it though since today is the first day of a thee-week series of a condensed versio of his "prayerful life" class. Today we talked about the "essence of prayer"--which is an "intetion" of being with God. If you're in love with someone, it's just like you want to lean your body to your another half... and this can be difficult, especially when you are in love for ages!

2.15pm "Starfish Hotel" @ Harvard Exit Theater
This movie wasn't the type I like. So dark. So mysterious.
If you happen to see a movie at the Harvard Exit, make sure you don't go to the men's room on the thrid floor. I almost passed out because of the smell... the toilet is a huge one that everyone got to share the same bowl... and they don't have water flush with it so you can imagine how badly the smell can be. To be honest I felt my heart bumping very very fast suddenly and then I felt like falling down... how embarrsed that could be :-)

9.00pm "So close, so far" @ Broadway Performance Hall
Yay! After 10+ phone calls and SMS I found So Gor who was available and was kind enough to pick up my housemate :-) so that I can go watch this movie. It turned out that this was another gem from Iran!
"So close, so far" is a thought-provoking awesome Iranian movie. This movie won the best picture of the 9th Iran Cinema Celebration Awards. It's very very heavy though.

Director Seyed Reza Mirkarimi (Under the Moonlight) is known for his subtle integration of a timeless spirituality into his contemporary Iranian dramas, and in his newest feature he focuses on a lost soul forced to confront his core values in the face of personal tragedy. Mahmoud Alem, a highly successful but self-absorbed neurologist, is shocked to discover that the 18-year-old son he has long neglected is terminally ill. Setting off to locate and reconcile with his child, who has left on an astronomy project in the desert, Alem's travels soon become a journey of self-discovery as he encounters along the way a number of seemingly ordinary people who challenge his very limited view of the world. A rare gem of a film, So Close, So Far is a compelling new vision of Iranian society, with exquisite cinematography that reveals the desert's sweeping grandeur as you have never seen it before.—K. Clement

The father almost died in his car burried by a sand storm... hum, may be I should reconsider whether I should go to Sahara... all alone!