With Jane Birkin’s passing, France loses both an icon and one of its greatest enigmas. To focus on France is not to diminish the fact that Birkin’s death will be mourned around the world. Alongside Brigitte Bardot, Françoise Hardy and Catherine Deneuve, Birkin was one of the last surviving 1960s femmes who sparked global interest in French culture.
Except that Birkin wasn’t French. She was born in London and clung to her English accent all her life. Birkin was perfectly fluent, but cultivated a faux-naïf way of speaking her adopted language that reinforced her persona as the eternal child. For the French, it was all part of her singular charm, established decades earlier… and which she sometimes struggled to escape.
As partner and muse to Svengali-like songwriting genius Serge Gainsbourg, Birkin posed for the cover of his “Histoire de Melody Nelson” album, wearing only a red wig and open-waisted blue jeans,...
Except that Birkin wasn’t French. She was born in London and clung to her English accent all her life. Birkin was perfectly fluent, but cultivated a faux-naïf way of speaking her adopted language that reinforced her persona as the eternal child. For the French, it was all part of her singular charm, established decades earlier… and which she sometimes struggled to escape.
As partner and muse to Svengali-like songwriting genius Serge Gainsbourg, Birkin posed for the cover of his “Histoire de Melody Nelson” album, wearing only a red wig and open-waisted blue jeans,...
- 7/16/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Jane Birkin, the iconic British-born actress, singer and model who became a chart-topping artist in France with her collaborations with then-partner Serge Gainsbourg, has died at the age of 76.
Birkin’s death was announced Sunday by the French culture ministry, which said Birkin was found dead at her Paris home. No cause of death was provided. Birkin recently canceled concerts due to unspecified health reasons; in recent years, she also suffered a stroke and battled leukemia.
French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted Sunday, “Because she embodied freedom, because she sang the...
Birkin’s death was announced Sunday by the French culture ministry, which said Birkin was found dead at her Paris home. No cause of death was provided. Birkin recently canceled concerts due to unspecified health reasons; in recent years, she also suffered a stroke and battled leukemia.
French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted Sunday, “Because she embodied freedom, because she sang the...
- 7/16/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
"I've heard that you're quite the fighter." Well Go USA has revealed a new official US trailer for another new Ip Man movie - this one called Ip Man: The Awakening. It already opened in China & Hong Kong last year, and is available to watch on streaming from the Hi-Yah! service right now in the US. This one stars a new Ip Man - actor Miu Tse. While visiting Hong Kong, the young Master Ip intervenes in a kidnapping attempt, unintentionally igniting a turf war with a ruthless human trafficking ring. In retaliation, the gang kidnaps one of Ip Man's close friends, leaving him with no choice but to challenge the group's notoriously brutal boxing champion head-on. The cast also includes Guanying Chen, Hua Qi Long, Zhao Yu Xuan, and Hao Yan Fei. This definitely doesn't look like it has the same filmmaking artistry as the last few Ip...
- 5/20/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
InterviewNeeta speaks about why she decided to do the film, even putting her education on hold.Cris Two bats were kept on either side of her. She had to stretch; it was an exercise to improve her flexibility. But then, the master kept changing the place of one bat further, which meant she had to stretch more and more. It was painful and Neeta Pillai cried out loud. But it never occurred to her to stop the training, or even to slow it down. Even when the master said she was ready, Neeta asked if she could train some more. Nearly a year of hard training later, Neeta Pillai was still a nervous wreck on the first day of shooting for her new film The Kung Fu Master. Neeta had jumped on the offer that came from director Abrid Shine, who brought her to the film industry through Poomaram, which...
- 1/27/2020
- by Cris
- The News Minute
ReviewNeeta Pillai, who plays one of the lead roles, not only performs her stunts well but also says her lines naturally, a quality most of the other actors lack in the film.Cris It is a little surprising that a movie that has quite a few novelties has released as quietly as The Kung Fu Master did. A full length martial arts film, a woman fighter as one of the leads – these are not features you come across in a Malayalam film very often, or at all. Yet for some reason director Abrid Shine did not make a lot of noise about his well-prepared cast or the release of a Kung Fu film in Malayalam. Perhaps he didn’t want to after the much delayed release of his last film Poomaram despite early promos and song releases. The Kung Fu Master, a revenge action film, coming a day after another revenge drama Shylock,...
- 1/24/2020
- by Cris
- The News Minute
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