DVD Review: Together

May 27, 2006

In Mandarin this charming and strong film is He ni zai yi qi and was directed by Kaige Chen. It was released in 2002. We just saw it on our new DVD player after I bought a DVD at the local Blockbuster in Chetumal, Mexico. It promised it was in Ingles with subtitulos en Español (titled El Violinista in Latin America). Someone didn’t know the difference between Chinese and English. It was in Chinese with Spanish subtitles.

That has importance only to introduce some of the strengths of the film and film-maker. It is a wonderfully visual film for another story of a child prodigy(ies) and competitions. This one is not Fame. The photography moves the story as the story moves the pictures.

The characters are strongly drawn and forcefully acted. The plot is not really complex (at least until the twists at the end) but it moves you along. The dialog is well-done and sparse which was appreciated given my slow reading level in Spanish. But the sparseness is real and appropriate.

The story is of a 13 year old violinist of prodigious talent who travels from the Chinese hinterlands to Beijing for a music competition which would catapult him into a different class and change his future. He travels with his father who is a simple, working man trying hard to find the means to advance his son and must travel another road to understand the differences that such advancement will mean to their relationship.

The boy has the adventures of a boy that somehow are the more moving when he changes everyone with whom he comes into contact. There is a young woman he admires/befriends and her dysfunctional love affair, two music professors of widely different styles, the violin he carries and its’ story and, most of all, the shifting of relationships and classes, the unfolding of secrets and a few lessons in love.

Did I make it sound appealing? I hope so. This is a fine, well-seen and well-crafted film that is happy, sad, loving and charming without ever being sappy or clichèd.

See it. Preferably in your native language. 116 minutes. Written by Kaige Chen and Xiao Lu Xue

Asthma Drug Might Help Heart Failure Patients

May 26, 2006

The Baptist Hospital of Miami (Baptist Health Systems of South Florida) newsletter reported recently that Clenbuterol, a asthma medication, might help heart failure patients maintain strength.

Body builders sometimes turn, illicitly, to the asthma medication clenbuterol to build up their muscles. Now, researchers say the medication might also help heart failure patients stay strong without the need for a heart transplant.

The first U.S. study of the medication found it was safe in a small number of study participants with heart failure.

 

Common Painkillers Kill Heart Failure Patients

May 25, 2006

MedicineNet.com reported on a study of the danger of NSAIDS painkillers for people with heart failure, especially older people.

MONDAY, May 22 (HealthDay News) — Common painkillers called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) are associated with a 30 percent increased risk in older patients of first hospital admission for heart failure , a U.K. study reports.

 

Immigrant Foods Threaten America

May 24, 2006

I published today an article on Blogcritics titled “Immigrant Foods Threaten America”. It was to be light and satirical but became too political and cynical. In the end I was not too pleased with it although it remains fun — just as pizza is usually fun. It is also included in Eric Olsen’s compendium, “Blogcritics on Immigration”.

A growing cataract has been making computer work, photography and even reading more tiring and difficult. This may be one of fewer articles on Blogcritics so I would have wished it better.

I also added a comment later from Newsweek today which presented a column by Dr. Dean Ornish on how America needs to export healthy foods. He goes on to write of a study that showed that most immigrants are healthier when they come to America that after they have lived here in spite of their lack of medical resources and affluence in the “old country”. It does not say much for the American diet.