Showing posts with label M is for Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M is for Movies. Show all posts
M is for Movies
Felt lucky to watch Poetryby Lee Chang-dong the other day. Its a story about an aging and stylish woman who signs up for poetry class at a time when she is forgetting common nouns. She struggles to write a poem but is stoic about her Grandson's involvement in a tragedy and her diagnosis of Alzheimer's. Its a beautiful film, and a pleasure to watch actress Yun Jung-hee
M is for Movies
After watching The Company of Strangers in the company of Brenna I declared that in a perfect world I would watch this movie everyday for the rest of my life. Much to my surprise, my wish came true, the dreamy film library atNFB.ca features this wonderful film directed by Cynthia Scott in 1990. This semi-documentary/semi-fiction film was created with a loosely written script that retained the plot and guided the storytelling of the women filmed.
The Company of Strangers opens with a bus bumping along a forest-lined road with 7 senior ladies impatiently awaiting their destination, an old cottage of Constance Garneau, who at 88 was the oldest of the bunch. Alas! The bus breaks down and the woman are stranded, they must fend for themselves, faced with a mortal challenge they preserver. Such a fire exists within these ladies even as their candles are burn low.
As the share apples and oranges, they also share insights and reflect on their lives, their real lives these are not actors! You (if you're like me) immediately admire every character, which was a treat because characters who deserve admiration are seldom seen in the mainstream.
Take a little time and watch this movie, and I will guarantee your life will improve!
M is for Movies
After many recommendations, and a coupon to cancel out late charges(which I didn't even have) I rented Das weiße band aka The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke (2009). Set in a small village in Germany, we are given the historical account of strange occurrences that lead to unrest in the village just as Germany was about to open conflict known as WWI.
Haneke was quoted as saying the film is about "the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature."
I assume after watching the film that the origin he is referring to is Repression. The Baron owes the land which most of the villagers must farm for a living, the Priest reigns rights & wrongs over the congregation and his family, the children follow a leader, the teacher and his fiancee must wait a year to get married (by order of his father-in-law-to-be) ,and the Priest's son internalizes his sins only to exude an anxiety that is spotted by his father and corrected by tying his hands to the side of the bed each night .... so many examples of repression.
Innocence is expected of the youth in the village, from their corrupted elders who continually take that innocence away.
The film is heavy with anxiety brought on by the fore-shadowing narration and by the position Haneke puts us in as an audience, the jury, where the guilty are innocent and the innocent are guilty. But we never come to a final verdict we are just happy the film is over.
* I had to include photos of the red carpet opening of the film at Cannes 2009, because I couldn't get over the juxtaposed transformation of the young actors, kids just aren't how they used to be!
M is for Movies
My amazing friend Noah Pink does many amazing things. This past May, his film ZedCrew premiered at the Directors Fortnight at the Cannes film festival. Noah and cinematographer Christopher Porter shot ZedCrew in Zambia with a cast of non-professional actors essentially playing themselves in a hip-hop themed film where three young Zambian men aspire and conspire to be big time rappers in New York City.
I asked Noah to collaborate with this month's M is for Movies post by providing a retrospect of his (and my girlfriend Holly's) experience at Cannes...
In 2007, I bought a pair of Persol sunglasses that cost me 15% of my net worth. To be honest, I have no idea what I was thinking. I don't have a shopping problem, I almost never buy new clothes and I usually stay away from anything priced in Euros. But these glasses, well, they spoke to me. When I brought them home, nobody particularly liked them. Actually, I'd say 'hate' is a proper word in this case. So I had to defend myself, saying 'Imagine we were on the Riviera, driving a '68 Corvette and I was wearing these. Get it?!' Nobody did. After two years, I tried to sell the glasses, but nobody wanted them. I was stumped.
But then this past May, I had the opportunity to prove my Persol theory in flesh, on the Riviera itself! The convertible was replaced by a miniature scooter, but hey, it was enough. Off to Cannes!
In two words, Cannes was overwhelmingly special. It was especially special that we were able to get my lead actor, Alvin Fungo to come up for the screening as well. It was his first time out of Zambia and Cannes was his first impression of Europe and 'The West.' Just like the magazines and movies. Oops.
The festival itself is absolute mayhem. Thousands of journalists, thousands of film people, hoards of spectators and hopefuls. It was an exploding piñata of too many incredible screenings, too many late night parties (yachts? got onto one, though I had to sneak on), too many espressos and way too many producers promising nothing in their everything all day long.
The director's fortnight crew was so nice and accommodating all the way through. They even secured Alvin a couture tuxedo so we could walk the main red carpet the night after my screening. And my screening was pretty darn memorable. I was lucky because a young french film star, Louis Garrel, was screening his 45 minute film next to my own, which meant we could fill a theatre. That was nice. Holly fell in love with Louis, had lunch with him on a rooftop overlooking the croissette, heard stories of Georgio Armani and got Louis' e-mail address, so all in all, I think the trip was a success :)
* Amazing! Thanks Noah! xo
M is for Movies
In June 2007 I watched 11 films by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. I was addicted and it showed; I only wore black (as a tribute to his high contrast black& white films), I delved in deep to my personal human condition and was convinced everyone else was working hard trying to hide theirs, I thought I understood Swedish. I had never experienced a director who portrayed deep personal angst and anxiety as well as he did hope and determination. There is a finite tension in all his films, dramas and comedies, that is artfully enhanced with genius cinematography, dialogue and sound. I was going to Sweden in August 2007 and I was ready for my close-up, on July 30th 2007 , Bergman died.
It must be the season, all I want to do is watch Bergman films again. Trouble is I am too broke to rent the collection available at Video Difference, woe. I was looking for a clip from Wild Strawberries to reference when ....! I discovered some of my favorite Bergman films exist , for free, on the internet! Now I thought I was not one to promote illegal viewing of films via Youtube or other engines, but I feel like these films are very important and not always accessible (I have not seen a Bergman on PEI) so I am promoting and I'm proud!
The three films I've listed here are definitely on my top 5 films by Bergman:
Wild Strawberries was my introductory, it is a revelation story of an old man, Isak, who realizes the cyclical nature of cynicism and comes to terms with his past, present and upcoming death.
In The Seventh Seal one of the main characters is Death, who is invited to play a game of chess with Crusader Antonius Block. The game of chess pauses and resumes throughout the film, Death lets Antonius and his "army" continue to grow but is always waiting in the wings. Antonius, home from the Crusades to be welcomed by a Black Plague, is understandably having an existential crisis and having doubts about God.
Persona is one of the few truly experimental films of Bergman's. You can tell there is freedom in the production of the film and Bergman admits that this work saved him as he didn't care if it made any money. Persona takes a few viewings to grasp, it is magnificent. Two women are stationed in a secluded beach house, one an actress who has voluntarily muted herself , the other her nurse who can't stop talking.
If anyone wants to have coffee and talk Bergman for the rest of our lives please contact me!
Varda found William Faulkner's novel Wild Palms the intellectual basis of her first feature film. The novel was composed of two unrelated stories that alternated chapters, the film follows his literary structure with alternating stories of a young married couple deconstructing their relationship and a fishing village, La Pointe Courte, with its communal anecdotes in hard economic times. By watching these stories interchange, one stark and rigid the other busy and fluid the 'two unrelated things become superimposed in your mind' -Varda. It is a juxtaposition between private lives and social lives which Varda says can never interchange.
Varda wrote the script at the age of 25 with no prior experience in film, and then she decided she was going to direct it. A small inheritance and a loan from her mother made up half the budget, the other half was 'sweat equity' and the film cost 10% of what films in the 1950's did. Everyone worked for free and the people of La Pointe Courte played themselves, which in the end, is my favorite feature. They couldn't afford even basic sound recording equipment so the film was shot and edited without sound, which is an amazing feat, many times they even had to write down what was said for dubbing. Its really a radical film for its time and is captivating today with its beautiful imagery and haunting dialogue of the couple.
Varda's second film follows Cleo, a French Pop singer, between the hours of 5 and 7 (6:30 actually) as she anxiously awaits the results from a biopsy of a stomach tumor. The fortune of Cleo and the film is relieved immediately, with a dissatisfying visit to a fortune teller. We then follow Cleo as her fortune unfolds and disposition gracefully sways from one emotional extreme to the other. When she is grieving in self pity she'll suddenly perk up by looking in the mirror or dancing down stairs, then when she is feeling giddy and light one of her many superstitions will present itself and her bad luck.
The symbolism in this film adds depth to the characters and the situation, the mirrors of self- obsession, dying trees, the blacks and whites. These elements enhance a transition in the character of Cleo that allows the audience to take her seriously and not just at the face value she had taken so much pride in. I've watched this film 8 times in the last year.
Varda's third film is up for interpretation: is it pastoral or satirical? Is it pro nuclear families or open marriages? Is the central character, the husband, a hero who truly knows how to enjoy life or a villain who knows how to ruin lives? And, indeed, what is happiness?
This is a beautiful pastel film filled with love and family and then more love and more family and some Mozart.
Francoise, a young tall dark and handsome carpenter, is happily married to Therese, a dress maker, and mother of two. ( The actors really were married and the children were their own) Then he meets a 'sunflower' Emilie and falls in love with her too and everyone is happy....until...
There are many times when I am dirty, walking somewhere, and a little pissed off and I feel like Mona from Vagabond, and for some reason I like that feeling. Mona is a bitch, harsh, but watch it and you will agree. She gets what she wants from people and never says thank you, of course, it is obvious she doesn't know what she wants, she's wandering aimlessly.
The portrait of Mona is formed by onlookers and people who have had fleeting encounters with her, she is a stranger, she only tells a few her name and always leaves without saying goodbye. The impact she leaves on those she encounters is the most interesting part of the film ( aside from the cinematography) the men deplore her and the women are envious of her. She is dead at the beginning and she dies at the end, and all throughout she is alone.
Thank you Michael for getting me 4 by Agnes Varda for Christmas!
*also he accidently ordered two box sets off the internet so if anyone wants to buy the second set from us just let me know!
