Sunday December 14, 2014
Kaieteur News
Page 47
Afghanistan’s BRUCE LEE Chris Rock dons three hats ‘reincarnation’ becomes Web hit for latest film, 'TOP FIVE'
From the ruins of a bombed-out palace above Kabul, a young Afghan man bearing a striking resemblance to kung fu legend Bruce Lee is high-kicking his way to Internet fame, aiming to show another side to his war-weary nation. Videos and photos of Abbas Alizada, 20, posted on the Facebook page “Bruce Hazara” show him performing back flips and striking Lee’s famous poses. They blazed through Afghanistan’s small Internet community this week, part of a publicity burst he hopes will catapult him to broader fame. “I want to be a champion in my country and a Hollywood star,” Alizada said at Kabul’s desolate Darulaman palace, where he trains twice a week, swirling nunchakus and sporting a Lee-like bowl haircut. At a workout at the palace, adorned with photos of thousands of civilian war victims as part of a protest exhibition, Alizada showed off his wiry physique, doing push-ups on his fingertips and sparring with a partner. Two assistants dabbed his brow and fixed his hair for the cameras. Alizada is from a poor family of 10 children. His parents could not afford the fees at an academy of Wushu, a Chinese mixed martial art, but the trainer took him under his wing. Darulaman palace, built in the 1920s by King Amanullah Khan, was damaged by decades of fighting for control of the capital. It is now a ruin pocked by artillery craters and bullet holes, overlooking an as-yet-unfinished national parliament building. “The destruction here makes me sad, but it also inspires me,” said Alizada, who refused to be filmed in one room where the walls were daubed with graffiti reading “death to Americans”.
Actors Chris Rock (R) and Rosario Dawson pose for a portrait while promoting their new film ‘’Top Five’’ in New York.
Snowden film ‘CitizenFour’ wins top documentary award “CitizenFour,” filmmaker Laura Poitras’s documentary about National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, was given the top award for best feature by the International Documentary Association on Friday. The IDA award for “CitizenFour” follows the film’s best documentary win at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards this week. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award last month and is among 15 films advancing in the Oscars best documentary race. “CitizenFour” gives a flyon-the-wall account of Snowden’s tense days in a Hong Kong hotel and encounters with journalists as newspapers published details of NSA programs that gathered data from the Internet activities and phone records of millions of Americans and dozens of world leaders. U.S. filmmaker Poitras shared a Pulitzer Prize this year for her role in publicizing the Snowden documents. She was awarded IDA’s Courage Under Fire award last year for her “conspicuous
Director Laura Poitras of the best feature award nominee ‘Citizenfour’ poses at the International Documentary Association’s 2014 IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles December 5, 2014. bravery in the pursuit of truth.” The IDA, a 30-year-old non-profit organization that aims to support documentary films and culture, also bestowed honors on veteran actor-filmmaker and Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford, who was given the career achievement award. Cable network Show
time’s “Time of Death” was named best limited series, while best short documentary went to HBO Films’ “Tashi and the Monk,” about a Buddhist monk and his 5year-old charge Tashi. Last year ’s IDA best feature winner, Jehane Noujaim’s “The Square,” was nominated for an Oscar this year, losing out to “20 Feet From Stardom.”
In his latest film, “Top Five,” comedian Chris Rock takes the reins as a triplethreat director, writer and star, but once he assembled a cast of comic talent Rock said he was happy to just let them do what they do best. “The way I look at it is, it’s my movie, but it’s your part,” said Rock, referring to comic heavyweights Cedric the Entertainer, Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan and JB Smoove. They provide the edgy, satirical film, which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, with much of its controlled comic chaos. Other comedians turn up in small bits playing themselves. “I wanted everybody to shine. That’s what they’re there for, that’s why they’re stars,” said Rock. “I’ve done movies where I was too much in love with my own words.” In “Top Five,” Rock plays troubled comic Andre Allen, who yearns to be taken seriously. Several years into recovery, he has forged a
career with a series of “Hammy the Bear” movies — in which he wears a bear suit. While promoting his foray into “serious cinema,” an absurdly earnest tale of a Haitian slave uprising entitled “Uprize!”, Allen is trailed by a journalist played by Rosario Dawson for a profile piece. Unlike his cast of comic heavyweights, Rock recalled having “to beg her to be in the movie. I couldn’t even get a meeting — with my friend.” “Oh come on, that’s not true,” Dawson laughed, explaining that she had just come off of seven or eight films back-to-back, and was feeling burnt out. But she said it was a remarkable experience. Shot in New York City, “Top Five” takes place in the course of a
single day. While some might say he is playing a variation on himself, Rock, 49, said the character is drawn from legendary black comics ranging from Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker to Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx. And, as with his standup, he drew from real life. “It is just a movie,” Rock said, repeating a line from the film. “But — people that think are always going to make things that make you think,” he added. “When you go into something saying ‘I got something to say!’, it always sucks. I learned that in standup, just tell the joke. You’re smart, and at the end of this people will take something smart out of it.”