Wrong Game ASL movie

Today I watched Wrong Game with friends. If you like thrillers that keep you guessing through several twists and turns, then this movie is for you. But be warned, Wrong Game is SCARY. It would be a perfect film to watch around Halloween or any time of the year you find yourself in the mood for psychological suspense.

The movie starts by showing a children's birthday party game that goes horribly wrong. Many years later ten deaf strangers regain consciousness to find themselves tied up and locked in the basement of a very strange house. They have no memory of being brought there and are wondering what is going on. Soon they discover, each of them had agreed to participate in a game with a $10 million dollar prize. When they review the rules of the game, they discover that in the fine print they have waived all their rights in case of injury and death. The kicker is the group has one hour to play "the game" and only one of them can survive to win.




As with Gerald and Black Sand, two other ASL Films productions I have seen, all is not as it seems. Wrong Game's plot reminded me of the classic Agatha Christie mystery "And Then There Were None" also known as "Ten Little Indians". I'm not going to reveal any more details. You will have to watch for yourself to find out the secret of the game.

I highly recommend this movie to you. The captioned DVD is available for sale through ASL Films Store.

Black Sand ASL Movie

Have you seen the ASL movie Black Sand?

A deaf organization in my area sponsored a showing at a church recently. I was very excited about seeing it after my previous experience watching Gerald. This time I brought along my husband (who is hearing) so I'll share some of his perspective on the film too.

Black Sand is about a group of teenagers visiting Costa Rica and their stay at the home of an older woman who has recently been experiencing strange happenings around her property. For me the premise was reminiscent of Scooby Doo with its gang of young people and a mysterious creature lurking in the shadows. Not to give anything away but there's even an unmasking at the end!

That said, this movie is so much more. Nothing is as it seems. All your assumptions will be overturned before the final scene. If you like a movie with twists and turns, this is the film for you.

The title of the film has its own part to play in the plot twists. I found this interesting quote about black sand (the grainy stuff on the beach, NOT this movie) on a prospector's website:

The topic of black sand comes up in prospecting sometimes more than gold does! And it is very misunderstood. You often read or hear that the presence of black sand in an area means there is gold in the area also. This is not true.

You may want to keep that quote in mind when you see the film!

This movie has no audio. The story is told through ASL with English captions at the bottom for those like me who aren't fluent and those like my husband who don't know any ASL. There are no sound effects described. For my husband it was like seeing any foreign film but for me it was an opportunity to experience deaf culture.

To me the director did an excellent job of building suspense. In one scene there is a power outage and everyone is gathered around a table by candlelight when they notice one of them is missing. In another scene, one of the girls is hiding in a closet peeking through a crack wondering if she is about to be discovered. I thought how much more scarier it was for the deaf characters to have their vision limited in these situations. My husband didn't see it that way. He thought the lack of scary music made it less intense. In fact, he cracked that the soundman for the film should have been fired.

If you've seen the film, let me know your thoughts. If you haven't seen it, you can visit the ASL Films Black Sand website to read a synopsis, view the trailer, and book a showing.

A Little Late to the Julie & Julia Party

This weekend, my husband and I watched the film Julie & Julia. If you haven't seen it yet, this movie is about a young wife named Julie who takes on the challenge of making every recipe, 524 of them in all, from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the space of a year. At her husband's suggestion, she blogs about her experiences, both disasters and successes.

Almost everyone I know has seen this movie and recommended it. I don't know why I waited so long to see it. I guess it was hard for me to imagine Meryl Streep as Julia Child. I'm just old enough to remember Julia Child's first cooking series on TV and to have a fixed idea of what she looked like. But I needn't have worried, Meryl Streep drew me in right from the start of the movie. Of course, I've loved Amy Adams, who plays Julie, since I first saw her in Enchanted.

This movie was utterly relaxing. I found myself enjoying learning about Julia Child before she was "Julia Child" and I'm eager to read the biographical story, My Years in France on which half of the movie was based. I've been to France myself and have memories of their wonderful food. When I was there, I felt as though my stomach were smiling. To share that with my family, last night I made croque monsieur, the only French dish I know how to cook. Don't be too impressed. It's only grilled ham and cheese.


Did you know?

1. Julia Child's first cooking series was the first television program to be captioned for the deaf.
2. The movie Julie & Julia is the first major motion picture based on a blog.

Information obtained from Wikipedia.

Watching a Film in ASL

Tonight I had the unique opportunity of viewing the ASL film Gerald at an event sponsored by a local deaf organization. I had never watched a movie entirely in ASL before. This film was audio free - no sound whatsoever. I found myself liking that aspect a great deal. Whenever I watch a movie that has been captioned with the sound effects included, I am distracted by the fact that I didn't hear the sound mentioned. I will ask anyone watching with me, "Did you hear that noise?" It was a relief not to have that distraction tonight. In fact, I didn't even mentally fill in the sounds either. I just embraced the quiet and felt drawn into the experience of someone profoundly deaf. All the characters in this movie sign. Some speak and naturally I found myself reading their lips. Fortunately for me and any other viewers who are not fluent in ASL, the film is subtitled in English.

The plot was compelling. Imagine that as the son of a single mother all your life you had longed for family connections. Now just when you are about to be married, you discover your mother hasn't told you the truth about your father. Even more pressing is the fact that you have an autistic grandfather who is about to be evicted from his nursing home. Would you be willing to take him into your home and care for him even at the risk of losing your fiancee? That is the dilemma faced by the main character.

I recommend this film highly. You can read a synopsis of Gerald and view its trailer at this website. To read more about the making of the film, specifically the parts played by the principal and middle school students of California School for the Deaf, check out this link, [a PDF document].

Mamma Mia!

I couldn't find a captioned version, so here's what they're saying:

[Music playing throughout.]
Every girl has a dream... "I want the perfect wedding and I want my father to give me away!" Meryl Streep: "Look at my baby! Her whole life ahead of her."
Every family has a secret..."I've read mom's diary and I have three possible fathers." "Oh my God!"
Every wedding has a few surprises. "Which one did you invite?"
Meryl Streep: "ooof". Pierce Brosnan: "You always knew how to make an entrance."
Meryl Streep: "There were three guys around the same time."
"You shady lady!"
Pierce Brosnan: "The last time I saw your mother she said she never wanted to see me again." Pierce Brosnan: "Donna!"
"So who is your dad?" "I don't know!" "It's very Greek!"
Meryl Streep: "Somebody up there has got it in for me. I bet it's my mother."
This July take a trip down the aisle you'll never forget.
Colin Firth: "Is your father here?" "You tell me!"
[all three men together each saying part]:"Sophie! I am your father!"
"What!" "Typical. Wait 20 years for a dad and three come along at once." "I've got three dads coming to my wedding and I have to tell two of them they're surplus. But which two?"
"Are you getting any?" Meryl Streep: "What do you mean?" drill sound.
"I don't care if you slept with hundreds of men." Meryl Streep:"I haven't slept with hundreds of men." Meryl Streep:"You sound like you're having fun already." "Oh, we are." Meryl Streep:"I used to have fun." "Oh, we know." giggle
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I went to see this movie tonight with my girlfriend, Rachel. Oh, did we have fun. Both of us like ABBA music and Colin Firth. We part ways over Pierce Brosnan. I just don't see his attraction (with the exception of the Thomas Crown affair where he was really hot with Rene Russo). When Rachel started oohing and aahing over him, I made pretend retching motions into my empty popcorn container. hee hee.

Rachel and I have talked before about how great it would be to travel to Greece together. Now we want to go and reenact the movie's great musical numbers. Our favorite was "Dancing Queen" where all the women of the village join in singing and dancing and feeling seventeen and desirable again.

As you can tell from the script above, the movie has lots of funny lines. We laughed almost the whole way through. I did tear up during the song "The Winner Takes It All" which Meryl Streep sings to Pierce Brosnan. That song has always gotten to me.

The wedding story has a twist at the end which I don't want to reveal. Maybe you'll see it coming, but I didn't. I left the theatre with a dance in my step and a song in my heart.