Yi Yi (DVD)
Focusing on a typical family--parents, two children, and an elderly grandmother--living in a small apartment in Taipei, YI YI (A ONE AND A TWO) is about the patterns of daily life. It includes a wedding, a funeral, a first date, a last date, a birth, and a death. The film follows each member of the Jian family carefully, giving each one equal time, completely developing each character. NJ (Wu Nienjen), the father of the family, struggles with a dead-end job at a technology firm while reexamining his marriage when he meets his high school sweetheart, Sherry (Ke Suyun), after 30 years. NJ`s teenage daughter, Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee), has a selfless demeanor and a naive interest in everything, which diffuses the complexity of her high school life. Her little brother, Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), is an adorable five-year-old troublemaker who`s in love with a pesky girl in his class. And Yang-Yang`s mother, Min-Min (Elaine Jin), grieves for her dying mother (Tang Runyun) while coping with her own middle age in a rapidly maturing family.
Edward Yang, director of 1991`s A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY, presents a careful, direct, meticulously photographed film with YI YI. Brassy shots of Taipei reflected in the windows of a moving car are offset with slow choreographed sequences using the streetlights to narrate little moral tales. Perhaps the most powerful gem in this film is the magical character of Mr. Ota (Issey Ogata), NJ`s Japanese business associate, whose optimistic life perspective will inspire and delight YI YI`s viewers.NR"
Director: Edward Yang
ACTORS: Wu Nienjen, Kelly Lee, Jonathan Chang, Issey Ogata, Elaine Jin
Smithereens, The - Smithereens 10 (DVD)
Compilation of video clips from the tenth album by the New Jersey Band. Includes Blood and Roses, Behind the Wall of Sleep, Blues Before and After, House We Used to Live In, Drown in My Own Tears plus five more.NR"
ACTORS: Smithereens
Pilates Inspired Matwork - Series (VHS)
This collection includes the complete Pilates Inspired Matwork collection. LEVEL 1: The Pilates method of mat-based exercises emphasizes control as the means to achievement. This video will serve as an introduction to this philosophy by preparing your body for the core conditioning it will receive using Pilates inspired exercise. LEVEL 2: This video will build on the essentials learned in Level 1: Foundation to firm and strengthen, without adding bulk. Breathing and concentration are the main emphasis in these exercises. LEVEL 3: This video will continue with the learning from the first two levels but with a mind towards integration into a harmonic sequence of movements aimed at advancing the level of mind-body consciousness and core control.NR"
Wynton Marsalis - Blues and Swing (DVD)
Along with this live concert performance are segments of the trumpeter conducting workshops at the Duke Ellington School of Music in Washington, DC and at Harvard.NR"
ACTORS: Wynton Marsalis
Kodo - Live at the Acropolis (DVD)
The famed Japanese percussion troupe in a PBS-aired concert at the ruins of the Acropolis. Includes interview footage with the performers and with former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.NR"
