Cinema as poetry
13 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film Tags: atmosphere, cinema, gus van sant, long takes, poetry, Tarkovsky
so I’ve been meaning to do this for some time, and I’ve never really managed to do it, because I always postpone it (yes I wish I could provide a better excuse but not) but I came across this video-blog sometime ago, which is dedicated to the most memorable poetic sequences in the history of cinema, so here is some of my favourite ones;
PARANOID PARK by Gus Van Sant
so I think my first one will be the sequence in Paranoid Park, where time seems to be stopped by the sound of guilt and water running down.
YOU, THE LIVING by Roy Anderson
and this is my second favourite one, as the moment goes by and it’s more revealing to the point where you see a house moving on rails. It’s the perfect one with the musical encore as well.
SOLARIS by Andrei Tarkovsky
I can’t never leave Tarkovsky behind, but it’s not because this film is possibly one of the rarest sci-fi films ever made, however, the emphasis of an eternal love of a man for his wife makes this film so overwhelmingly good. At times, you feel like you’ve been transported out of this world with the great emphasis on human emotions; the the situation itself is so uncanny, but it all works out to create a compelling story
THE NEW WORLD by Terence Malick
ok, so maybe, I shouldn’t really include this one here as it’s already stated it’s a final scene, but it’s so beautiful!
It’s been ages, since I’ve touched this, but thought Woho Malick won Cannes!!!
24 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film, Film and culture Tags: Cannes, comeback, Malick, Pitt, The tree of life
and so I’ll start, I have so many things to say about this journey of experiments in the path of life. First from actually checking everyday the festival updates of Cannes and obviously working in an internship with my collaborator, it’s so much fun really!!
But perhaps the only reason why I’ve decided to post something, it’s because I can’t wait for the Tree of Life to be released in the UK. I’m so excited and so happy that through years of perfecting his craft, Malick won the Palme D’Or and I know this film is going to be absolutely groundbreaking!!
Biutiful: a metaphysical tale of existence
15 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film Tags: Barcelona, immigration, Inarritu, Javier Bardem, magical realism, Oscar nominations 2011
Javier Bardem in his Oscar nominated role as Uxbal
Biutiful is the first Iñárritu’s film in his native language since his acclaimed Amores Perros in 2000. The film is the story of a man on the road to salvation in an inevitable decline. The film was shot in Barcelona Spain between October 2008 and February 2009 and took around three years to be developed.
The protagonist Uxbal is flawlessly portrayed by Javier Bardem as a dreadful hero; a father who struggles to reconcile with the crumbling reality of fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality in the underworld of the renowned Spanish city in an unavoidable destiny.
Biutiful is perfectly crafted in the portrayal of reality with its camera work (mostly handheld). The film creates an insightful journey of questioning oneself with current affairs of the twentieth first century and our own existence as human beings. Iñárritu’s film is quite social as it deals with themes rarely portrayed in cinema; the underworld of immigrant life in one of the most important cities in Spain. Biutiful is a film created around the limitations of society as it shows the human spirit in the act of survival of harmony and joy despite the social constraints. The film follows Inarritu’s tradition of showing the ways our existence is shaped by the consequences of our actions and that after all the goodness of human soul is still present through our contact with those who are near to us.
Even though Uxbal is a good man and a loving father, he also sustains a number of illegal rackets, but in principle he is a good man. However, his fate seems to have chosen quite a different course for him as where our common belief of chance or luck is meant to be. Iñarritu’s way of presenting us the character’s reality is quite exceptional in that it doesn’t disrupt our viewing yet it takes us places where reality merge with a parallel one in an inevitable journey to redemption. The film is emotional, yet there is no much dialogue; images speak for themselves, despite all coming from abnormal situations.
Biutiful appears to be instilled in the tradition of magical realism, particularly in the way superstition appears to be present in the film as well as the stories passed between generations and the search of an underworld to define existence lived in the material world. The film offers us with optimism as Iñárritu declared in the press conference at Cannes 2010 that “Although darkness is everywhere in the film, Biutiful gives us hope. Uxbal’s character is full of brightness as he teaches us on his journey to redemption to love”.
Biutiful is insightful and true in its power of depicting human actions. The film does not offer much in depth of character, but it is powerful in its own meaning. The Mexican director does give clues that maintain the audience’s interest in the discovery of the beauty of our own existence in this world.
The Red Shoes (1948)
25 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film Tags: 2010, Aronofsky, ballet, Black Swan, nominations, The red shoes
I thought, I should recommend you something with all the Black Swan’s frenzy of the moment; The Red Shoes. Aronofsky himself has stated that he’s drawn inspiration from Powell’s The Red Shoes to create Black Swan. Some say that Black Swan resembles The Red Shoes on acid, as Aronofsky’s film takes the idea of giving one’s all for art to a morbid extreme.
However, I still think , there is something really creepy and fascinating about the Powell’s film.
Blue Valentine: the rollercoaster of life bringing John Cassavetes to mind.
25 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film Tags: Blue Valentine, Francois Ozon, Michelle Williams, nominations, Ryan Gosling, you and me
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams
Perhaps Derek Cianfrance is a disciple of the likes of Francois Ozon. This was my first impression when I read the outline of Blue Valentine, as it clearly reminded me one of my favourite films: 5×2 (2004). Blue Valentine differs from the events portrayed in Ozon’s piece as the American film captures the essence of a film narrative through the emotional heft coming from both the individual characters of the film and the relationship of marriage itself. In other words Blue Valentine’s performances carry the film forward.
The film is reminiscent of the handheld camera used in the films of John Cassavettes, which had the purpose to enhance a closer look of realism. Blue Valentine then is self-referential as it deals with the realistic depiction of the transitory feeling of love. It may sound like an undesirable ordeal to experience in the cinema, but what makes Blue Valentine so refreshing and rewarding is the brave and earnest insight it provides into dysfunctional marriages — which, sadly enough, seem all too constant nowadays — and the wicked face of love that Hollywood typically shuns. Rather ironically, this is a face that Hollywood itself helped carve with its maudlin chick-flick chisel. The constrained present in the film is then contrasted as the pendulum swings back to the early days, the enchantment and romance — accompanied by music by Grizzly Bear — brews ardently. It’s difficult to believe that the characters’ two sides represent the same people.
The music and the depiction of a story that develops in a small town conveys the idea of the film as being rooted in an Americana tale of existence. Ryan Gosling is perfect as an eternal romantic and I think, in this sense, the character creates more sympathy towards the audience than the-shy- but- feisty Cindy does. Perhaps, this is because the film is written from a male perspective (yes, I know I’m putting Gender Studies here).
Both shot on 16 mm and the red, Blue Valentine is the treasure meticulously carved by his master. After all the effort of 12 years made by Cianfrance, has proved to be a worth watching masterpiece.
For the meantime, I’ll leave you guys with the trailer of Ozon’s 5×2.
Sofia Coppola and her tales of solitude
04 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film, Film and culture, Film Festivals Tags: Elle Fanning, Sofia Coppola, Somehwere, Venice Film Festival
Elle Fanning in Somewhere (2010)
A wide long shot shows a car going in no direction, the landscape is vast and the framing is perfectly aligned with what you are about to see for the next 120 minutes: a tale of sparkly emptiness. This emptiness is depicted since the opening scene of the empty and hot desert in Somewhere. These great images come from the winning film Sofia Coppola’s hands at the 2010 Venice film festival.
The film is really interesting in terms of portraying the banality of celebrity life. What is more captivating is that the story in the film does not strive for a change as we can all expect. The main character goes through a process of transformation. However, this does not happen completely, and this is where the fascination of the film lies. Coppola has an ability to capture isolation and emptiness to the extent that it resonates in the viewer’s mind. Somewhere is similar to Lost in Translation, although the latter is more concisely structured. It seems that the theme of isolation and loneliness is a persistent theme in the director’s work. Life goes slow, and I think, this device is used to transmit the unbearable and encapsulating experience of being alone in a world built only on the surface.
Maria Antoinette, visually rich and yet all this conveys the emptiness of a crumbling inner world.
“Slow means nothing worth showing deserves to be accelerated, shortened or dropped just to make something else appear more exciting or important”.
It is in this framework,that Coppola creates the basis for her tales of isolation, it can be either a woman lost (both inside and outside) in Tokyo, a queen isolated in her world and an actor, whose life seems to be great to the eyes of others, but to her is just a puddle of emptiness.
Somewhere is worth watching and beautifully shot, as it seems to be a critique of it’s own oeuvre. Elle Fanning is incredibly good with her acting as a witty and down-to-earth 14 year old girl.
I waited to see this film for about six months and it did not disappoint me!
argh Torture!!!!!
04 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film Tags: blockbuster, boredom, george lucas, quentin tarantino, steven spielberg, torture, uma thurman
aw god, writing about George Lucas and Steven Spielberg is making me really nauseous. This is such a punishment for me. I thought it would be more of a challenge, because it was like writing about your enemies, about things that you really hate and are very against. But why do I keep doing this to myself? Good and bad thing is that in my attempt to write about such figures, I’ve seen Kill Bill (both I and II) and now I’m thinking about all the references and that gosh I love Tarantino, it took me long to admit it! he’s the greatest cinephile of commercialized cinema, and think that’s what I love about it, more than the gore and the pastiche and everything else. Well again contradicting myself.
Kill Bill II
ok, now I have to go back to my my self torturing!
RIP Tony Curtis
30 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Film, Film and culture Tags: Film, tony curtis
so another one goes away. RIP Tony Curtis.
Walking through the forests…
22 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Film and culture, travel Tags: corn fields, denmark, Film, north sea, scandinavia, travel, winter
Transported me back to those films that remind you nature and the empty sea with no one around. The sound of silence and the sea waves of the North sea and getting your spirit out while you scream in the middle of the cold beach. Being in the countryside in Denmark, brought me back to memories of past years; when I used to walk miles and miles in some kind of empty space. It was a perfect location to shoot a film where silence is the main protagonist, walking for miles and miles and running through the woods while raining turned up to be so relieving that it even made me think that I was inside a film story set in an Scandinavian Forest!!!
Another big one leaves the film world. RIP Claude Chabrol
13 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Film, Film and culture Tags: Cinemateque, Claude Chabrol, Erick Rohmer, French Cinema, French new wave, Godard
Chabrol always wanted to be the less serious one, out of all the French New Wave filmmakers
