name	Babel
director	Alejandro González Iñárritu
producer	Steve GolinJon KilikAlejandro González Iñárritu
writer	Guillermo Arriaga
based on	An idea by Guillermo Arriaga & Alejandro González Iñárritu
starring	Brad PittCate BlanchettGael García BernalAdriana BarrazaRinko KikuchiKōji YakushoElle FanningNathan GambleMohamed Akhzam
music	Gustavo Santaolalla
cinematography	Rodrigo Prieto
editing	Douglas CriseStephen Mirrione
studio	Central FilmsMedia Rights Capital
distributor	Paramount VantageParamount Pictures
released
runtime	143 minutes
country
language	EnglishSpanishArabicFrenchJapaneseJapanese Sign LanguageBerber
budget	$25 million
gross	$135,330,182 }}

''Babel'' is a 2006 international drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga, starring an ensemble cast. The multi-narrative drama completes Iñárritu's ''Death Trilogy'', following ''Amores perros'' and ''21 Grams''.

The film portrays multiple stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico and the United States. It was an international co-production among companies based in France, Mexico and the US. The film was first screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was later shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Zagreb Film Festival. It opened in selected cities in the United States on October 27, 2006, and went into wide release on November 10, 2006. On January 15, 2007, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture — Drama. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and two nominations for Best Supporting Actress and won for Best Original Score.

Plot

''Babel'' focuses on four interrelated sets of situations and characters, and many events are revealed out of sequence. The following plot summary has been simplified, and thus does not reflect the exact sequence of the events on screen.

Morocco

In a remote desert location in southern Morocco, Abdullah, a goatherder, buys a high-powered .270 Winchester M70 rifle and a box of ammunition from his neighbor Hassan Ibrahim to shoot the jackals that have been preying on his goats. Abdullah gives the rifle to his two young sons, Yussef and Ahmed (played by local non-professional actors Boubker Ait El Caid and Said Tarchini), and sends them out to tend the herd. The film has already established that there is a degree of competitiveness between the two brothers. The older is critical of the younger for spying on his sister while she changes her clothes (the film shows that she is aware of his presence). Competing between themselves and doubtful of the rifle's purported three-kilometer range, they decide to test it out, aiming first at rocks, a moving car on a highway below, and then at a bus carrying Western tourists on the same highway traveling in the opposite direction to the car. Yussef's bullet hits the bus, critically wounding Susan Jones (Cate Blanchett), an American woman from San Diego who is traveling with her husband Richard Jones (Brad Pitt) on vacation. The two boys realize what has happened and flee the scene, hiding the rifle in the hills that night.

Glimpses of television news programs reveal that the US government holds the shooting to be a terrorist act and is pressuring the Moroccan government to apprehend the culprits. Having traced the rifle back to Hassan, the Moroccan police descend quickly on his house and roughly question him and his wife until they reveal that the rifle was given to him by a Japanese man, and then sold to Abdullah. The two boys see the police on the road and confess to their father what they have done. (They believe at the time that the American woman has died of her wounds.) The three flee from their house, retrieving the rifle as they go. The police corner them on the rocky slope of a hill and open fire. After his brother is hit in the leg, Yussef returns fire, striking one police officer in the shoulder. The police continue shooting, eventually hitting Ahmed in the back, possibly fatally injuring him. As his father rages with grief, Yussef eventually surrenders and confesses to all the crimes, begging clemency for his family and medical assistance for his brother. The police take him into custody. The family's fate is unresolved.

The movie's first plot is interspersed with scenes of Richard and Susan. They came on vacation in Morocco to get away from things and mend their own marital woes. The death of their infant third child to SIDS has strained their marriage significantly as they struggle to communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame. When Susan is shot on the tour bus, Richard orders the bus driver to the nearest village with a doctor (the village is named Tazarine in the film). There a local veterinarian sews up the wound to stem the loss of blood. The other tourists wait for some time, but they eventually demand to leave, fearing the heat and worried that they may be the target of further attacks. Since Susan cannot travel by bus in her condition, Richard threatens the tour group to wait for the ambulance, which never arrives, and eventually the bus leaves without them while Richard is on the phone. The couple remains behind with the bus's tour guide, Anwar, still waiting for transport to a hospital (having contacted the US embassy using the village's only phone). Political issues between the US and Morocco prevent quick help, but a helicopter comes at last. After five days in the hospital, Susan recovers and is sent home.

Japan

Simultaneously, the movie tells the story of Chieko Wataya (Rinko Kikuchi), a rebellious, deaf Japanese teenage girl, traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother. She is bitter towards her father, Yasujiro Wataya (Kōji Yakusho) and boys her age, and is sexually frustrated. She starts exhibiting sexually provocative behavior, partly in response to dismissive comments from a member of her volleyball team. While out with friends, Chieko finds a teenage boy attractive, and following an unsuccessful attempt at socialising, takes off her panties and exposes herself in an act combining flirtation and contempt. Chieko eventually encounters two police detectives who question her about her father. She finds one of the detectives, Kenji Mamiya (Satoshi Nikaido), attractive. She invites Mamiya back to the apartment she shares with her father. Wrongly supposing that the detectives are investigating her father's involvement in her mother's suicide, she explains to Mamiya that her father was asleep when her mother jumped off the balcony and that she witnessed this herself. It turns out the detectives are, in fact, investigating a hunting trip Yasujiro took in Morocco. Yasujiro is an avid hunter and during a trip in Morocco he gave his rifle, as a gift, to his very skilled hunting guide, Hassan, who at the beginning of the film sold the rifle to Abdullah.

Soon after learning this, Chieko reveals her real motive in inviting Mamiya to her home. She approaches him nude and attempts to seduce him. He resists her approaches but comforts her as she bursts into tears. Before he leaves, Chieko writes him a note, indicating that she does not want him to read it until he is gone. Leaving, the detective crosses paths with Yasujiro and explains the situation with the rifle. Yasujiro replies that he did indeed give it as a gift; there was no black market involvement. About to depart, Mamiya offers condolences for the wife's suicide. Yasujiro, though, is confused by the mention of a balcony and angrily replies that "My wife shot herself in the head. Chieko was the first to find the body. I've explained this to the police many times." Chieko is leaning on the balcony (still nude) when her father enters the apartment. After leaving, the detective stops at a bar to read Chieko's note. Within the film, the note's contents are never revealed.

United States/Mexico

A third subplot takes place in the Americas where Richard and Susan's Mexican nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza) tends their twin children in their California home while they are in Morocco. When Richard and Susan are detained because of Susan's injury, Amelia is forced to take care of the children longer than planned and becomes worried that she will miss her son's wedding. Unable to secure any other help to care for them, she decides to take them with her to the wedding in a rural community near Tijuana, Mexico, rather than miss it. Her nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) offers to take her and the twins to the wedding. They cross the border uneventfully and the children are soon confronted by the Mexican culture and street scene. The revelry of the wedding extends well into the evening, but rather than staying the night in Mexico with the children, Amelia decides to drive back to the States with Santiago. He has been drinking heavily and the border guards become suspicious of his behavior. Amelia has passports for all four travelers, but no letter of consent from the children's parents allowing her to take them out of the United States. Intoxicated, Santiago trespasses the border. He soon abandons Amelia and the children in the desert, attempting to lead off the police (his final fate is not revealed). Stranded without food and water, Amelia and the children are forced to spend the night in the desert. Realizing that they will all die if she cannot get help, Amelia leaves the children behind to find someone, ordering them not to move. She eventually finds a U.S. Border Patrol officer. After placing Amelia under arrest, she and the officer travel back to where she had left the children, but they are not there. Amelia is taken back to a Border Patrol station, where she is eventually informed that the children have been found and that their father, Richard, while very furious and outraged, has agreed not to press charges. However, she must be deported from the US where she has been working illegally. Her protests that she had been in the US for 16 years and has looked after the children (whom she refers to as "her children") for the duration of their lives do not secure lenient treatment. Near the end of the movie, the audience sees her meeting her son on the Mexican side of the Tijuana crossing, still in the red dress she wore for the wedding, now torn and dirty from her night in the desert.

At the end of the movie, a phone conversation between Amelia and Richard is repeated from Richard's end of the phone. This is the original phone call at the beginning of Amelia's story. In this conversation it can be heard that he is allowing Amelia to go to her son's wedding because Susan's sister will be able to watch the twins. It is not until the next morning on another phone call they learn that Susan's sister cannot take care of them and thus Amelia is forced to take the children with her.

Themes

In each of the interlinked stories we see parents' relationships with their children, and courtships, weddings and married relationships. Within this there is also a clear investigation of human sexuality, with the activities of Chieko in Japan, but also the voyeuristic activity that secretly links Yussef and his sister (which parallels Chieko's self-exposure). There is also a pervading sense of the underlying violence or aggression that can be detected in each of the four societies (counting USA and Mexico separately). These parallels contribute to building a content/message of human connectivity, and the inherent incalculable causality of individual actions.

As the title suggests, there is also a theme of language, specifically language barriers. The husband and wife go to Morocco in part because they have difficulty talking to each other. Chieko feels isolated by her deafness, especially in regards to the rave and music. The other Japanese teens are disdainful of her at first due to her deafness. The Americans have trouble communicating to the Moroccans when trying to get help. The American Embassy has trouble negotiating with the Moroccans as well to get a helicopter. The film is filled with silent understandings and verbal misunderstandings that defy the characters attempt at communication. Thus any analysis of this film without discussion of the titular theme is incomplete.

Cast

;Morocco

Brad Pitt as Richard Jones

Cate Blanchett as Susan Jones

Mohamed Akhzam as Anwar

Peter Wight as Tom

Harriet Walter as Lilly

Michael Maloney as James

Driss Roukhe as Alarid

Boubker Ait El Caid as Yussef

Said Tarchani as Ahmed

Mustapha Rachidi as Abdullah

Abdelkader Bara as Hassan

Wahiba Sahmi as Zohra

Robert Fyfe as Tourist Number 14

;Mexico/United States

Adriana Barraza as Amelia

Gael García Bernal as Santiago

Elle Fanning as Debbie Jones

Nathan Gamble as Mike Jones

Clifton Collins Jr. as Police Officer at Mexican border.

Michael Pena as Officer John

;Japan

Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko Wataya

Kōji Yakusho as Yasujiro Wataya

Satoshi Nikaido as Detective Kenji Mamiya

Yuko Murata as Mitsu

Shigemitsu Ogi as Dentist Chieko attempts to seduce.

Production

''Babel''s ultimate $25 million budget came from an array of different sources and investors anchored with Paramount Vantage, which changed its name from Paramount Classics, with ''Babel'' as its premiere production and inaugural motion picture.

Actress Adriana Barraza, who plays the role of Amelia, is a two-time survivor of minor heart attacks. She nonetheless carried co-actress Elle Fanning around in the hot desert of Southern California during the summer for two days during filming of those particular desert scenes. The whole of the desert scenes were said to have taken five days to shoot.

;Filming locations

Ibaraki, Japan

Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

El Carrizo, Mexico

Sonora, Mexico

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Taguenzalt, Morocco – a Berber village in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, built into the rocky gorges of the Draa Valley.

San Diego, California, USA

San Ysidro, California, USA

Drumheller, Alberta, Canada

Authorship controversy

Following completion of principal photography on ''Babel'', director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga had a falling out. The dispute centered on the authorship of their previous film, ''21 Grams''. Arriaga argued that cinema is a collaborative medium, and that both he and González Iñárritu are thus the authors of the films they have worked on together. González Iñárritu claimed sole credit as the ''auteur'' of those same films, minimizing Arriaga's contribution to the pictures. As a result of this controversy, González Iñárritu banned Arriaga from attending the 2006 Cannes Film Festival screening of ''Babel'', an act for which the director was very severely criticized.

Health hazard

It was reported that during the Japanese premiere of the movie, numerous people became sick after watching the scene involving Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi dancing in a club with flashing strobe lights. Since the incident, theaters nationwide posted notices saying that ''Babel'' contains scenes with strong effects and that some viewers felt sick after seeing them.

Music

The film's original score and songs were composed and produced by Gustavo Santaolalla.

The soundtrack album won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (lost to the score of ''The Painted Veil'').

The closing scene of the film features Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Bibo no Aozora." Sakamoto has previously won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award for his scores for ''Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence'', ''The Sheltering Sky'', and ''The Last Emperor''.

Release

Box office performance

Released in seven theaters on October 27, 2006, and then released nationwide in 1,251 theaters on November 10, 2006, ''Babel'' has earned as of March 6, 2007, $34,302,937 in North America, and $101,027,166 in the rest of the world as of March 4, 2007, for a worldwide box office total of $135,330,003.

Compared to his other films, ''Babel'' has surpassed González Iñárritu's ''21 Grams'' for North American box office, as well as that film's $60 million worldwide box office gross .

Box Office Mojo commented on America's initially poor reception for ''Babel'', when the film first expanded beyond targeted communities ("wide release"). "''Babel'' didn't translate in wide release, grabbing $5.6 million at 1,251 locations." Box Office Mojo observed that America's interest in political morality plays like ''Babel'', ''Syriana'' and ''Crash'' has declined, despite the biggest box office stars.

As of March 6, 2007, with nearly $114 million box office gross worldwide, ''Babel'' had already outgrossed ''Crash'', ''Syriana'', ''The Constant Gardener'' and ''Magnolia''. It has already earned more than four and a half times its estimated production budget of $25 million.

But according to Variety, this film didn't make money for Paramount Vantage.

Reception

Critical response

''Babel'' has received positive reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 69% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 193 reviews, with an average score of 6.7/10, making the film a "Certified Fresh" on the website's rating system. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 69, based on 38 reviews, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews".

Home media

On February 20 and May 21, 2007, ''Babel'' was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment in the United States and the United Kingdom. The only special feature was the theatrical trailer and various other movie previews. In July 2007, Paramount announced they were releasing the film as a two-disc special edition DVD in September 2007. The second disc contains a 90 minute 'making of'. ''Babel'' has also been released on the high-definition formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

On its first week of release on DVD in North America (February 19–25, 2007), ''Babel'' debuted #1 in DVD/Home Video Rentals. Total gross rentals for the week, were estimated at $8.73 million. In the first week of DVD sales, ''Babel'' sold 721,000 units, gathering revenue of $12,253,000. As of the latest figures, 1,795,000 units have been sold, translating to 1,795,000 in revenue.

Accolades

! Award	! Category	! Recipient	! Won
rowspan="7"	Best Director	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Editing	Douglas CriseStephen Mirrione
Best Original Score	Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Screenplay - Original	Guillermo Arriaga
Best Supporting Actress	Adriana Barraza
Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
	Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
rowspan="7"	Best Cinematography	Rodrigo Prieto
Best Director	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Editing	Douglas CriseStephen Mirrione
Best Film Music	Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Screenplay - Original	Guillermo Arriaga
rowspan="7"
Best Composer	Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Supporting Actress	Adriana Barraza
Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
Best Writer	Guillermo Arriaga
rowspan="4"		Alejandro González Iñárritu
Technical Grand Prize	Stephen Mirrione(for the editing)
colspan="2"
César Awards	Best Foreign Film	Alejandro González Iñárritu
rowspan="9"	Best Cinematography	Rodrigo Prieto
Best Director	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Original Score	Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Promising Performer	Rinko Kikuchi
Best Screenplay - Original	Guillermo Arriaga
Best Supporting Actor	Brad Pitt
Best Supporting Actress	Adriana Barraza
Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
	Outstanding Directorial Achievement	Alejandro González Iñárritu
rowspan="7"	Best Director	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Original Score	Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Screenplay	Guillermo Arriaga
Best Supporting Actor	Brad Pitt
Best Supporting Actress	Adriana Barraza
Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
	Outstanding Directing in a Film/TV Movie	Alejandro González Iñárritu
rowspan="2"
	Best Breakthrough Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
rowspan="9"	Best Breakthrough Performance	Rinko Kikuchi
Best Cinematography	Rodrigo Prieto
Best Director	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Editing	Douglas CriseStephen Mirrione
Best Original Score	Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Screenplay - Original	Guillermo Arriaga
Best Supporting Actress	Adriana Barraza
Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
	Motion Picture Producer of the Year	Alejandro González IñárrituSteve GolinJon Kilik
rowspan="2"
Best Score	Gustavo Santaolalla
	Best Supporting Actress	Adriana Barraza
Sant Jordi Awards	Best Foreign Film	Alejandro González Iñárritu
rowspan="8"	Best Director	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Editing	Stephen MirrioneDouglas Crise
Best Original Score	Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Screenplay - Original	Guillermo ArriagaAlejandro González Iñárritu
Best Supporting Actor	Brad Pitt
Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
rowspan="3"
Best Supporting Actress	Adriana Barraza
Best Supporting Actress	Rinko Kikuchi
	Best Screenplay - Original	Guillermo Arriaga
César Awards 2007
	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor Age Ten or Younger	Nathan Gamble
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress Age Ten or Younger	Elle Fanning

See also

Hyperlink cinema – the film style of using multiple inter-connected story lines.

References

External links

Category:2006 films Category:2000s drama films Category:American drama films Category:English-language films Category:Spanish-language films Category:Arabic-language films Category:French-language films Category:Japanese-language films Category:Japanese Sign Language films Category:Berber-language films Category:Films directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu Category:Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners Category:Films set in California Category:Films set in Japan Category:Films set in Mexico Category:Films set in Morocco Category:Films shot anamorphically Category:Films shot in Morocco Category:Films shot in multiple formats Category:Films shot in Super 16 Category:Foreign films shot in Japan Category:Summit Entertainment films Category:Paramount Vantage films Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Anthology films

ar:بابل (فيلم) az:Babil (film, 2006) ca:Babel (pel·lícula) cs:Babel (film) cy:Babel (ffilm) da:Babel (film) de:Babel (Film) et:Paabel (film) es:Babel (película) eo:Babel fa:بابل (فیلم) fr:Babel (film, 2006) gl:Babel (filme) ko:바벨 (영화) hy:Բաբելոն (ֆիլմ) hi:बैबल (फिल्म) hr:Babel id:Babel (film) it:Babel (film) he:בבל (סרט) lt:Babelis (2006 m. filmas) hu:Babel (film) nl:Babel (film) ja:バベル (映画) no:Babel (film) pl:Babel (film 2006) pt:Babel (filme) ro:Babel (film) ru:Вавилон (фильм) sr:Вавилон (филм) sh:Babel (film) fi:Babel (elokuva) sv:Babel (film) ta:பாபெல் (திரைப்படம்) th:อาชญากรรม / ความหวัง / การสูญเสีย tr:Babil (film) uk:Вавилон (фільм) zh:火線交錯

Name	Nichole Nordeman
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Nichole Ellyse Nordeman
Birth date	January 03, 1972
Origin	Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano
Genre	CCM, pop, rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1997–present
Label	Sparrow
Website	}}

Nichole Ellyse Nordeman (born January 3, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian singer–songwriter.

Biography

Nordeman was raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she played the piano in church. She got her start when she entered a Gospel Music Association (GMA) contest in Los Angeles, California and was noticed by a music producer.

She has won multiple GMA Dove Awards, including two awards for Female Vocalist of the Year. Her best-known songs include "Why", "This Mystery", "Holy", "Legacy", "Brave", and "What If". She also sang a song on the soundtrack ''Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia'', called "I Will Believe."

Nordeman wrote an editorial column for CCM Magazine called "Loose Ends . . . Confessions of an Unfinished Faith." She recorded the album ''Brave'' after giving birth to her son Charlie. Nordeman released the greatest hits album ''Recollection: The Best of Nichole Nordeman'' on March 6, 2007 featuring two new songs: "Sunrise" and "Finally Free".

Her song, "Real To Me" was featured on the PlayStation 2 game ''Thrillville''.

Her song "Crimson" on the album ''Brave'' is composed of original lyrics written by Nordeman sung over a Chopin piano prelude.

Nordeman made a cameo in the movie Tribulation. A continuation of the popular Apocalypse movie series.

Her song "Hold On (Love Will Find You)" was recorded by Paul Brandt for his album ''Risk'', released in 2007.

Nordeman co-wrote the song "Forever Now" with American singer-songwriter David Wilcox. "Forever Now" is on Wilcox's ''Airstream'' album, released in the US on February 26, 2008.

She also wrote and recorded the song "Beautiful for Me" for the VeggieTales movie entitled: "Sweetpea Beauty", released summer of 2010.

In 2011, Nordeman was approached to create a concept album for Zondervon's ''The Story'' campaign, in which churches nationwide go through nearly the entire Bible in one school year, realizing the overarching story that affects everyone. Nordeman accepted and wrote 17 songs written from a first person perspective of characters of the Bible and applying them to today. This collection, called (Music Inspired by) The Story, featured 24 popular contemporary Christian music artists and debuted at No. 11 on Billboard's Hot Christian Albums chart in September 2011.

Discography

1998: ''Wide Eyed''

2000: ''This Mystery''

2002: ''Woven & Spun''

2003: ''Live at the Door''

2005: ''Brave''

2007: ''Recollection: The Best of Nichole Nordeman''

2008: ''Two For One: Wide Eyed/Brave''

2009: ''Nichole Nordeman: The Ultimate Collection''

;Singles

2003: "Legacy" / "This Mystery" (CD Single)

2010: "Beautiful For Me" / "Veggie Tale's Sweetpea Beauty" (CD Single)

;Other Releases

1999: ''Heaven & Earth: A Tapestry of Worship'' (Jennifer Knapp, Nichole Nordeman, Michelle Tumes, Rebecca St. James, Margaret Becker)

2011: ''(Music Inspired by) The Story'' (all songs written by Nordeman and Bernie Herms featuring Nordeman, Matthew West, Leigh Nash, Natalie Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Francesca Battistelli, Chris Tomlin, Bart Millard, Michael Tait, Blanca Callahan, Lecrae, Dan Haseltine, Matt Hammitt, Mac Powell, Mark Hall, Megan Garrett, Peter Furler, Todd Smith (Selah), Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Brandon Heath, Amy Grant, Jeremy Camp, and Mandisa)

Awards

Nordeman has been nominated for two Dove Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year in the years 2006 and 2007.

Personal life

Nordeman is married to Errol Ingram. The couple have two children, Charlie Thomas Ingram, born in July 2003, and Paige Bennett Ingram, born in November, 2008.

References

External links

Category:1972 births Category:People from Colorado Springs, Colorado Category:American Christians Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American pop singers Category:American female singers Category:Christian religion-related songwriters Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Texas Category:American performers of Christian music

Georg Kajanus (Georg Johan Tjegodiev [or Tchegodaieff] Kajanus; born 9 February 1946) is a Norwegian composer and pop musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of the British pop group, Sailor.

Early years

Kajanus was born in Trondheim, Norway, to Prince Pavel [also Paulo] Tjegodiev of Russia and Johanna Kajanus, a French/Finnish sculptress, bronze medal winner for sculpture at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937), and granddaughter of Robert Kajanus, the Finnish composer, conductor, champion of Sibelius and founder of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the brother of the late actress and film-maker Eva Norvind and the uncle to Mexican theater and television actress, Nailea Norvind.

Kajanus moved with his mother and sister to Paris at the age of twelve where he studied music and classical guitar, as well as attending the Cité Universitaire’s flying school. The family then relocated to Montreal, Canada, where Kajanus worked as a stained-glass window designer.

Early musical career

Kajanus was a member of UK-based folk rock band Eclection, who released a self-titled album in 1968 and wrote Cliff Richard's single "Flying Machine" (1971).

Kajanus and Phil Pickett, who been acquainted for some time, collaborated on an album, ''Hi Ho Silver!'' (1972), as Kajanus/Pickett. Deciding to form a group, tentatively named KP Packet, Kajanus and Pickett enlisted drummer and percussionist Grant Serpell (Affinity), and keyboard player and guitarist Henry Marsh (Gringo). In 1973, the foursome made their first recordings in a small studio in North London. Most of this material was not released at the time, but three demos are featured in Sailor's ''Buried Treasure'' 2CD box set (2006).

Sailor

Kajanus had developed a musical theater concept, ''Red Light Review'', based on his memories of being a young man in places like Pigalle in Paris's red-light district. Encouraged by Grant Serpell to rework this material as pop songs, Kajanus devised the concept for Sailor.

Sailor signed to Epic Records-CBS Records and between 1974 and 1978 released five albums with Kajanus: ''Sailor'', ''Trouble'', ''The Third Step'', ''Checkpoint'' (without Pickett) and ''Hideaway''. Kajanus was the lead singer, guitarist and, for the first three albums, the sole songwriter for the band, penning its two major hits, "A Glass of Champagne" and "Girls, Girls, Girls".

Kajanus then left Sailor, leaving Pickett as the creative force behind their next album, ''Dressed for Drowning''.

DATA and afterwards

Kajanus then left Sailor in 1978 to experiment with electronic music, forming DATA with Frankie and Phil Boulter. The classical-oriented title track of DATA’s first album, ''Opera Electronica'', was the theme music to the short film, ''Towers of Babel'' (1981). DATA then followed with two more studio albums, ''2-TiME'' (1983) and ''Elegant Machinery'' (1985).

Shortly after DATA disbanded, Kajanus formed And the Mamluks with Henry Marsh. They recorded only four songs, with two being released on a Razormaid! anthology on vinyl, ''Razormaid: The Epilogue: Back to Basics'' (1985). Kajanus and Marsh also collaborated on the soundtrack for the British TV series, ''The Kid'' (1986), starring actor/singer Steve Fairnie.

He worked with the Japanese composer and musician Shigeru Umebayashi, co-writing and producing songs for his album, ''Ume'' (1988).

Sailor again

In 1989, Kajanus reunited with Henry Marsh and Phil Pickett to write and record some new material. This was not released at the time, but three songs are featured in Sailor's ''Buried Treasure'' 2CD box set (2006).

Kajanus, Marsh, Pickett and Grant Serpell reformed Sailor in 1990. The group recorded two albums, ''Sailor'' (1991) and ''Street Lamp'' (1992), with Kajanus once again writing and arranging all the material. They achieved further chart success in continental Europe with singles such as "La Cumbia" and "The Secretary".

Noir

In the late nineties, Kajanus formed the "poetic-techno" duo Noir with Tim Dry (previously of Tik and Tok). Noir’s single "Walking" was used extensively in the 1997 Channel 4 television series, ''Feast'', an avant-garde culinary program directed by TV food maestro David Pritchard. ''Feast'' was hosted by Noir and also starred French TV chef Jean Christophe Novelli.

Noir's album, ''Strange Desire'', recorded in 1995, was eventually released on Angel Air Records in 2007.

Other projects

Kajanus composed the soundtracks for two documentaries directed by German filmmaker Monika Treut: ''Didn't Do It for Love'' (1997) and the award-winning ''Gendernauts'' (1999).

In 2008, Kajanus began working with Roberto Trippini and Barbie Wilde on a new version of the ''Sailor'' musical - an update of his original ''Red Light Review'' concept - which he describes as "a bittersweet musical about two people searching for love in the ruins of post-War Marseille".

Kajanus's other current musical project is ''People Industry'', which he describes as "an exuberant, musical exploration of the human journey."

References

External links

Georg Kajanus Web Site

''Sailor: A Musical in Development''

''People Industry''

Sailor Club

Kajanus videos at youtube.com

Georg Kajanus at Myspace

Category:1946 births Category:Norwegian composers Category:Living people Category:Norwegian songwriters Category:Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Norwegian people of Russian descent Category:Norwegian people of Finnish descent Category:Norwegian people of French descent

sv:Georg Kajanus

name	Rinko Kikuchi(菊地 凛子 ''Kikuchi Rinko'')
birth name	Yuriko Kikuchi
birth date	January 06, 1981
birth place	Hadano, Japan
occupation	Actress
yearsactive	1999–present
website	http://www.anore.co.jp/artist/actor/rinko/index.html }}

, born , January 6, 1981, is a Japanese actress. Kikuchi is the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years. She is currently Japan's only living female Academy Award nominee in acting categories. The only other nominee was Miyoshi Umeki, who won the Best Supporting Actress award in 1957 for ''Sayonara''.

Life and career

Kikuchi was born in Minamigaoka, Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture. She debuted in 1999 under her birth name, Yuriko Kikuchi, with the Kaneto Shindo-directed film . Soon after, in 2001, she starred in the acclaimed Kazuyoshi Komuri-directed film , which was featured across several international film festivals, including the Rotterdam Film Festival. In 2004, she appeared in the critically acclaimed Katsuhito Ishii-directed film , which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2006, she appeared in the critically acclaimed Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed film ''Babel'', where she played Chieko Wataya, a deaf-mute teenage girl, in a role for which she was critically acclaimed and nominated for numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won several, such as the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Female Performance (tying with Jennifer Hudson) and the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough. Kikuchi is also the fifth actress in Academy Award history to be nominated for an award for a role in which she does not speak a word. (The others were Jane Wyman, Patty Duke, Holly Hunter, and Samantha Morton). Kikuchi has appeared in two Mamoru Oshii movies: 2008's ''The Sky Crawlers'' and ''Assault Girls'' (2009).

Her emotionally intense role in ''Babel'' has led to her being noticed by many international directors, such as Rian Johnson, auteur director of ''Brick''. She starred in his second film, 2009's ''The Brothers Bloom'', which was her first fully English-language feature. Though she plays a main character, she only speaks three words in the film; her character is said to only know three words of English.

She was mentioned in an episode of the TV show ''Robot Chicken'' on the Adult Swim network in a parody of the popular movie-themed Lego play sets.

In March 2011 she was named to the Keanu Reeves-led cast of ''47 Ronin'', the first English-language adaptation of the Chushingura legend, Japan's most famous tale of samurai loyalty and revenge.

Filmography

''Hachigatsu no Maboroshi'' ''Jyunanasai'' ''Tagatameni'' ''Zukan ni Nottenai Mushi'' ''Map of the Sounds of Tokyo'' ''Shanghai (2010 film) ''47 Ronin (2012 film) ''Pacific Rim (film)

Year	! Title	! Director	! Notes
1999	''Will to Live''	Kaneto Shindo
rowspan="2"	2000	''By Player''	Kaneto Shindo
''Akai Shibafu''	Mieko Umeuchi
rowspan="3"	2001	''Paradice''	Tatsuya Moriyama
''Sora no Ana''	Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
''DRUG''	Hiroshi Sugawara
2002	|	Kosuke Suzuki
2003	|	Hoka Kinoshita
rowspan="5"	2004	''Tori''	Tadanobu Asano
''The Taste of Tea	Cha no Aji''	Katsuhito Ishii
''69 (film)	69 sixty nine''	Sang-il Lee
''Survive Style 5+''	Gen Sekiguchi, Taku Tada
''Riyū''	Nobuhiko Obayashi
2005	|	Taro Hyugaji
rowspan="3"	2006	''Nice no Mori: The First Contact''	Katsuhito Ishii, Shunichiro Miki, Hajime Ishimine (ANIKI)
''Warau Michael''	Issei Oda
''Babel (film)	Babel''	Alejandro González Iñárritu
2007	|	Satoshi Miki
rowspan="2"	2008	''The Brothers Bloom''	Rian Johnson
''The Sky Crawlers (film)	The Sky Crawlers''	Mamoru Oshii
rowspan="3"	2009	|	Isabel Coixet
''Sideways''	Cellin Gluck
''Assault Girls''	Mamoru Oshii
rowspan="2"	2010	Shanghai'' ||	Mikael Håfström	uncredited
''Norwegian Wood (film)	Norwegian Wood''	Tran Anh Hung
2012	47 Ronin''||	Carl Rinsch
2013	Pacific Rim''||	Guillermo del Toro

Television

Year	! Title	! Channel
rowspan="2"	1999	''Bakayaro! Special 2''
Kawaii dakeja Dame kashira''	TV Asahi>ANB
2001	''Chura-san''
2002
rowspan="2"	2003	''Uchu ni Ichiban Chikai basho''
''Ai to Shihonshugi''	WOWOW
2004	''Ryu''	WOWOW
2009-10		Fuji TV
2010	''Moteki''	TV Tokyo

Awards and nominations

! Year	! Group	! Award	! Result	! Film
		Breakthrough Award		rowspan="13"
Best Ensemble Cast
National Board of Review	Best Breakthrough Performance - Female
Austin Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress
Most Promising Performer
	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
rowspan="2"	Best Breakthrough Performance
Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globes
Academy Awards
2009	Chlotrudis Awards			''The Brothers Bloom''
2011	Asian Film Awards

References

Bibliography

Morris, Jerome C. "Exposed! Interview with Riko Kikuchi", in ''Asian Cult Cinema'', #55.

External links

Rinko Kikuchi Style

Category:1981 births Category:Japanese female models Category:Japanese film actors Category:Japanese stage actors Category:Japanese television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Kanagawa Prefecture

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