Sunday, May 31, 2009
Princes et Princesses
A good animation is always refreshing. And an animation is open to many different means of creation. Today we usually watch these grand, mostly CGI productions coming out of Disney or Pixar who are always entertaining and yet, not always exactly thought provoking. It is the little budget productions again, which are the most inspiring, and French Princes et Princesses is certainly one of them, not only for its visually stimulation silhouette technique but also for its naive fairytales.
The 2000 Princes et Princesses consists of six stories, by Michel Ocelot and is a continuation of three former animations shown French TV in 1992 as Les Contes de la Nuit. In this movie version, all six animations are presented as the scenarios created by a young girl, a young boy and an old man. They have computers to search for materials they need, they have brilliantly creative machines to prepare their costumes, and the girl and the boy are the actors of all six animations. The stories are of different centuries and of different cultures; from the ancient Egypt to Japanese traditions. The first one, La Princesse des Diamants is the story of a beautiful enchanted princess who stands still as a statue. The only way to free her is to find all the diamonds of her necklace which has fallen apart on the grass and then to remake the necklace, saving one diamond to be given to the dragon in front of the princess so that it lets one to pass, and all is to be done within the limited time of the sand glass she is holding. It is an original story by Ocelot.
The second one, an Egyptian tale, named Le Garçon des Figues, is the story of a young boy who lives on a fig tree. Each one morning, when one of the figs miraculously ripes, he takes the delicious fig to the queen as a gift and is awarded by her. However this awarding does not please a malicious royal steward, who would do anything to turn the whole thing upside down.
La Sorciere, the third story, is again an original story by Ocelot. It is set in Europe, in Medieval Age, and is about a princess to be saved from the fortress of an evil sorceress. Following that, we go to Japan, and the fourth story, named Le Manteau de la Vieille Dame, tells us the story of an old japanese lady and a thief who wants to steal her expensive coat. However, the old lady has tricks of her own, which will make the thief's plans harder.
La Reine Cruelle et Le Montreur de Fabulo is about a cruel queen living in the year 3000, who kills all the candidates lined up to marry her with her mega-radar. However, the owner of a strange whistling creature whose voice the queen loved a lot challenges her so that if she can't find and kill him in 24 hours, he will have the right to marry her. It is soon understood that the queen's cruelty only stems from her loneliness, and we are to find out whether he will win the challenge or not. The sixth and the last story, Prince et Princess, is set in a French rococo garden. A young prince and his love, a young princess exchange their words of love with each other and start kissing, only to find out that by each kiss, one of them will turn to a different animal. The question is, will they ever get back to normal, and when ?
The silhouette animation style of the movie is extremely simple and yet, charming, showing that for an animation to be impressive, a clever idea and an elegant style is more than enough. The stories are short and their subjects are timeless, familiar to any audience of any era. Watching this movie would be very well spent 60 minutes, which will change your whole idea about animations.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Jardins en Automne
What is one left in life, without an ambition to follow, expensive dresses to wear or a grand house with lots of servants around ?
Friends ? Flirts ? Perhaps a little drink accompanied by some beautiful music ? Thus, the simple pleasures in life ? You may find it absurd, in a total materialistic world, where we are dragged to our jobs, forgetting when the last time we had a nice drink and laughter with our friends, however, Vincent, the main character of Jardins en Automne, certainly does remember what it was to live lighthearted, accompanied by Boccherini's Minuet as the background music.
Vincent, a minister - of probably agriculture, it is not exactly mentioned - who looks tired of his responsibilities and mostly ridiculous political obligations, is forced to resign one day, because of immense protests against his regulations, by the people-public he has long forgotten the existence of. Following that, he is left by his wife, who certainly likes an expensive living. All alone, even without a place to live and penniless, he goes back to live in his family apartment, occupied now by Africans. Little by little, he finds his old friends and his old flames, makes new flames and takes back his apartment. All the people we see around him are living these lives where there is non-stop drinking, painting and thus, pure joy. There are a few worrying occasions from time to time, mais c'est pas grave.
Iosseliani, the Georgian-French director who also has a role himself as Arnaud, one of Vincent's friends, shows us the life we think as if lasting forever may turn upside down all of a sudden, and one should not take it all too serious. Iosseliani may have a Georgian origin, but a long time spent in France certainly influenced him and he has absorbed all there is to French culture. The movie is at first a little hard to watch, as the characters are not introduced to us in details and the dialogues do not give much of a hint. It is as if the director has been only watching those lives, just as we do, nonetheless, after 10-20 minutes, you calm down and start enjoying the scenes, more and more as Vincent calms down himself. Surprisingly, Vincent's aging mother is played by the actor Michel Piccoli and he does a brilliantly funny job as Marie. There is an endless drinking going on, so much that you may get drunk just watching it, and yet, our good old characters, they all amazingly endure that (I, personally, am not sure if I could).
Iosseliani has not made any movies after Jardins en Automne, since 2006, and this last movie of him was only shown in a few festivals in the world. I do recommend it to be seen and to be purely enjoyed, after all, even if we envy them, it is most certain that many of us would not dare to leave those that make today's world running. Yet, from time to time, just sit back and take a glass of wine, while listening to Boccherini...
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
When I was a little girl, my mother used to tell me all about the musicals she loved watching in her youth, with her mother; stories where Gene Kelly was singing, Fred Astaire dancing, orchestra playing while Esther Williams was swimming. The Big Band era of the jazz scene was portrayed in almost every movie coming out of Hollywood. And the most unforgettable scene of Gilda is certainly Rita Hayworth seductively dancing and half-stripping while singing Put The Bame On Mame.
So where do French hold a place in that era among the musicals? I am not an expert on the history of movies, and partially because of my mother's stories, partially due to the Hollywood's glamour on the subject, I missed that place for a long while; a long while until I saw Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. And when I did, I realized that I had been familiar with a part of this movie for even a longer time; I had known Michel Legrand's music and had certainly heard of the famous I Will Wait For You.
The plot of the movie is not a very original one for us today's generation, a 17-year old young woman, Geneviève lives and works with her mother in their shop where they sell umbrellas (parapluies), and she is in love with Guy, a young man of 20 working in a service depot. While Geneviève's mother is very much against the idea of her daughter getting married to that man, at this such young age, she also has some financial problems and a handsome Parisian jeweler Roland Cassard helps her, falling in love with her beautiful daughter at the same time. Geneviève and Guy's love is put to a test as Guy is called to army to do his military service which would take for about two years. The night before he leaves, they go to Guy's apartment where he lives with his aunt Élise, they make love and two months later she finds out that she is pregnant. Worried about her relationship getting emotionally distant as the physical distance with her lover remains the same, she finally gives up and agrees to marry Cassard, who is willing to help her raise the child as his own and thus, gains her respect. After a while, Guy returns home with a leg injury, he rushes to Geneviève and her mother's shop, only to find out that she got married and they all left the town to live in Paris. Depressed by this news and then the death of his aunt, he finally finds comfort in Madeleine's love. The movie then passes to a future time of couple of years, Guy and his wife Madeleine own a gas station, living happily with their son. On Christmas eve, a car stops by at the station and to his surprise, it's Geneviève and her daughter. Shocked to see each other, they exchange a few sentences as they have been like two strangers forever, and Geneviève takes her leave, while Madeleine comes with their son François and movie ends with the happy family playing together.
LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG CLIP CHANSON DENEUVE FILM DEMY F
Uploaded by kirivalse - See the latest featured music videos.
This is certainly a heartbreaking story. It may not be a groundbreaking art piece, however, it is nonetheless a classic; it is the first French musical in colour, the film dialogue is all sung as recitative and it was nominated for several oscars. The events that occur in the film sometimes look absurd or pointless, especially in today's point of view, as a woman myself, but it sure must be evaluated according to its own period. The song I Will Wait For You has since been covered by many artists of different eras, from Nana Mouskouri to Cher, and here is another cover from French jazz musician Stephane Grapelli:
My mother does not like those movies anymore. She says that they were stupid fairytales and unreal at all levels, and one must face the reality even in the movies. This is sad really, for these movies are the most unforgettable icons of an era and of a generation. So, in addition to her stories, I am now building my own memories of movies, and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is, for me, one of the 'must see's, even if you do not like musicals, or heartbreaking love stories, at least for the young and flawlessly and innocently beautiful Catherine Deneuve.
So where do French hold a place in that era among the musicals? I am not an expert on the history of movies, and partially because of my mother's stories, partially due to the Hollywood's glamour on the subject, I missed that place for a long while; a long while until I saw Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. And when I did, I realized that I had been familiar with a part of this movie for even a longer time; I had known Michel Legrand's music and had certainly heard of the famous I Will Wait For You.
The plot of the movie is not a very original one for us today's generation, a 17-year old young woman, Geneviève lives and works with her mother in their shop where they sell umbrellas (parapluies), and she is in love with Guy, a young man of 20 working in a service depot. While Geneviève's mother is very much against the idea of her daughter getting married to that man, at this such young age, she also has some financial problems and a handsome Parisian jeweler Roland Cassard helps her, falling in love with her beautiful daughter at the same time. Geneviève and Guy's love is put to a test as Guy is called to army to do his military service which would take for about two years. The night before he leaves, they go to Guy's apartment where he lives with his aunt Élise, they make love and two months later she finds out that she is pregnant. Worried about her relationship getting emotionally distant as the physical distance with her lover remains the same, she finally gives up and agrees to marry Cassard, who is willing to help her raise the child as his own and thus, gains her respect. After a while, Guy returns home with a leg injury, he rushes to Geneviève and her mother's shop, only to find out that she got married and they all left the town to live in Paris. Depressed by this news and then the death of his aunt, he finally finds comfort in Madeleine's love. The movie then passes to a future time of couple of years, Guy and his wife Madeleine own a gas station, living happily with their son. On Christmas eve, a car stops by at the station and to his surprise, it's Geneviève and her daughter. Shocked to see each other, they exchange a few sentences as they have been like two strangers forever, and Geneviève takes her leave, while Madeleine comes with their son François and movie ends with the happy family playing together.
LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG CLIP CHANSON DENEUVE FILM DEMY F
Uploaded by kirivalse - See the latest featured music videos.
This is certainly a heartbreaking story. It may not be a groundbreaking art piece, however, it is nonetheless a classic; it is the first French musical in colour, the film dialogue is all sung as recitative and it was nominated for several oscars. The events that occur in the film sometimes look absurd or pointless, especially in today's point of view, as a woman myself, but it sure must be evaluated according to its own period. The song I Will Wait For You has since been covered by many artists of different eras, from Nana Mouskouri to Cher, and here is another cover from French jazz musician Stephane Grapelli:
My mother does not like those movies anymore. She says that they were stupid fairytales and unreal at all levels, and one must face the reality even in the movies. This is sad really, for these movies are the most unforgettable icons of an era and of a generation. So, in addition to her stories, I am now building my own memories of movies, and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is, for me, one of the 'must see's, even if you do not like musicals, or heartbreaking love stories, at least for the young and flawlessly and innocently beautiful Catherine Deneuve.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok
I like romantic comedies. They are like fairytales that one can never face with in a normal, routine life. There is always more or less epic and eternal love that you dream of having in your life one day. Maybe in real life you get a chance of a love like that, but most probably you will miss it; well, at least I did.
I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok is a romantic comedy too, in a sense. Yes, there is love, not in a legendary kind of way, but rather a sweet one. It sure has many elements of comedy either, yet all in all, this is never a classic romantic comedy that we are used to. How can it not be unusual, after all the director, Chan-wook Park is known for his movies with a brutal subject matter each, Vengeance Triology.
Young-goon, a young schizophrenic woman, is sent to a mental institution after she seems to have tried to commit suicide in her work, where in fact she tries to charge herself believing that she is a cyborg. Talking to lights and believing that she has a mission to kill the white 'uns, meaning the doctors and staff, in order to take the revenge of her equally schizophrenic grandmother, she starts living in the institution withdrawing herself from the other patients and refusing to eat. After a while, Il-sun, a young male patient who has been hospitalized because of his anti-social behaviour and again schizophrenia catches her attention; Il-sun is famous in the hospital for stealing people's souls, which is exactly what Young-goon needs in order to achieve her goal of revenge. She asks Il-sun to steal her sympathy which prevents her from killing people, and when he accepts the challenge and starts observing her, he slowly falls for her. Little by little, he takes care of her, and even in an incredibly creative way, he convinces her start to eat; and for a young man who happens to be anti-social, even to the extent of being hospitalized, this is an enormous intimacy.
Visually, the movie is like a cartoon for the use of beautiful, bold colours and even the characters themselves. You can not get enough of the hospital's environment, or the stories of the other patients. They all seem to have problems with themselves and with each other, and yet they also care for each other in a way, more or less aware of what is going on around. As for our sweet couple, here is a love that looks like from another world in the eyes of us, normal people, however one can not help but wish to have such a perception of love and intimacy. One of the viewers comment on the film on a website, filimadami.com, as:
If I were to be allowed only a couple of movies in my whole life, I would have wanted this movie to be one of them..
and dare I say, likewise.
Funny, as I am writing this post, I am eating noodles with chopsticks..
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Les Joyeux Bouchers by Boris Vian
I had heard this song first time a few years back in a compilation album - Jazz a Saint-Germain, performed by Catherine Ringer and The Renegade Brass Band. Incredibly impressed - both by the music and the lyrics - I had quickly made a search about the song and found out that it had been actually Boris Vian's music.
As many people know, Vian was the author of great novels such as L'Écume des jours (Foam of the Daze) or L'Herbe Rouge, however he also had a very impressive career as a musician, singer and trumpet player. The latter may be a clue as to how the song could reflect such a strong family of brass instruments, especially in Ringer's version, without being too heavy. He was especially a pivotal figure in French music scene, for he had shaped the transition between the literary realist music of the postwar and the rock and roll following that, with a less serious textual body.
The song, Les Joyeux Bouchers (meaning The Happy Butchers), calls into question the eating of meat along with militarism, and he does not allow any compromise, constantly repeating Faut que ça saigne - meaning let it bleed, literally.
So, for those who might wonder about Catherine Ringer's amazing version of the song, comes the following:
C'est le tango des bouchers de la Villette
C'est le tango des tueurs des abattoirs
Venez cueillir la fraise et l'amourette
Et boire du sang avant qu'il soit tout noir
Faut que ça saigne
Faut que les gens aient à bouffer
Faut que les gros puissent se goinfrer
Faut que les petits puissent engraisser
Faut que ça saigne
Faut que les mandataires aux halles
Puissent s'en fourrer plein la dalle
Du filet à huit cents balles
Faut que ça saigne
Faut que les peaux se fassent tanner
Faut que les pieds se fassent panner
Que les tête aillent mariner
Faut que ça saigne
Faut avaler de la barbaque
Pour être bien gras quand on claque
Et nourrir des vers comaques
Faut que ça saigne
Bien fort!
C'est le tango des joyeux militaires
Des gais vainqueurs de partout et d'ailleurs
C'est le tango des fameux va-t'en guerre
C'est le tango de tous les fossoyeurs
Faut que ça saigne
Appuie sur la baïonnette
Faut que ça rentre ou bien que ça pète
Sinon t'auras une grosse tête
Faut que ça saigne
Démolis-en quelques-uns
Tant pis si c'est des cousins
Fais-leur sortir le raisin
Faut que ça saigne
Si c'est pas toi qui les crèves
Les copains prendront la relève
Et tu joueras la Vie brève
Faut que ça saigne
Demain ça sera ton tour
Demain ça sera ton jour
Plus de bonhomme et plus d'amour
Tiens! voilà du boudin! voilà du boudin!
Voilà du boudin!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Tejút
A movie can simply be said to tell a story with a combination of many, many photographs. Well, Fliegauf's Tejút is certainly an exception to that too general idea; it feels like there are 10 different photographs telling 10 different stories (only 1 for each).
Tejút is a 2007 movie by Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf. It is kind of an ambient movie. Fliegauf is also a sound and set designer, and apparently, this is what made this movie so impressive. This is a highly experimental movie and Fliegauf states that he was not expecting any awards at all, however, Tejút received top 3 awards in Hungarian Film Week and 1 Golden Leopard. It is truly one of the most mind stimulating movies in the last few years, and definitely is groundbreaking.
The 10 different stories are presented to us from the view of a still camera, with precise compositions, shooting all the objects - including humans - from a certain distance. This turns the normal conversational movie telling into a blend of environment sounds with people murmuring, groaning, whispering and thus, even people become kind of an object. Moreover, about the actors, well, you cannot actually tell if who you are watching is an actor/actress or not; you only see a reality and these may have been some actual events' accidentally caught perfect shots, for the fact that the facial and therefore emotional expressions are not captured from this distance. Yet, this kind of an experience is not poor at all, for every single frame makes you feel the cold, the moist, the wind, the day and the night, as well as loyalty, love, disgust, anger and all in all, curiosity.
While the 10 stories and places are not linked to each other, the whole movie passes through a 24-hour time span. However beautiful and interesting the scenes may be, it takes a while to get used to watching the film; first 1 or 2 stories you simply look at without comprehension of what to expect, then you learn how to watch the movie. As well as the cinematography, the sounds are extremely well-refined, and you pass through a psychedelic perception from seeing to hearing in 75 minutes, realizing that a movie need not be telling us it all in order to be called a movie.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Subway: Luc Besson's Best !
First of all, yes in advance, the drummer who is definitely 80s in style is Jean Reno and the bassist is Eric Serra himself. Reno looks amazing.
Subway is a 1985 French film by Luc Besson, starring Christophe(r) Lambert and Isabelle Adjani (Besson himself has a small part as one of the subway drivers for about a minute). It is a simple, exciting, non-commercial movie full of eccentric characters and, for me, by far, is Besson's best.
Fred (the blond Lambert) is a safe bomber, who stole some important papers from Helena's house in a party, blackmailing her afterwards. He is chased by Helena's husbands mafia-like men, and later, by police certainly. However a thief and a bomber he may be, he has other ambitions in life, such as creating his own music band or as falling in love with Helena. Helena, on the other hand, is about to go mad in her gilded cage life and is intrigued by this man. While Fred starts living in the underground world of Paris Metro, he meets interesting characters, such as The Roller Skater and The Florist, who are mostly petty criminals.
The film's style, both character and graphics based, is promising, however, I believe it does not promise his Leon coming, but rather The Fifth Element. While as a story, Leon has always been stronger, the latter was Besson's visual dance, with heavy colours and costumes, influenced by the time it was shot, very fashionable but maybe a little too fashionable at some points. Subway, on the other hand, tells a more seductive story, and is the simpler-in-vision version of The Fifth Element, with characters that would look from outer space as much, to some of the audience knowing nothing about life on the streets (or under the streets for this one particularly). Looking at the poster below, do not think as if it is a remake of Star Wars, no, the fluorescent lamp that Lambert is holding represents the difference of the underground world, where the light is artificial but the characters are not.
Subway is a 1985 French film by Luc Besson, starring Christophe(r) Lambert and Isabelle Adjani (Besson himself has a small part as one of the subway drivers for about a minute). It is a simple, exciting, non-commercial movie full of eccentric characters and, for me, by far, is Besson's best.
Fred (the blond Lambert) is a safe bomber, who stole some important papers from Helena's house in a party, blackmailing her afterwards. He is chased by Helena's husbands mafia-like men, and later, by police certainly. However a thief and a bomber he may be, he has other ambitions in life, such as creating his own music band or as falling in love with Helena. Helena, on the other hand, is about to go mad in her gilded cage life and is intrigued by this man. While Fred starts living in the underground world of Paris Metro, he meets interesting characters, such as The Roller Skater and The Florist, who are mostly petty criminals.
The film's style, both character and graphics based, is promising, however, I believe it does not promise his Leon coming, but rather The Fifth Element. While as a story, Leon has always been stronger, the latter was Besson's visual dance, with heavy colours and costumes, influenced by the time it was shot, very fashionable but maybe a little too fashionable at some points. Subway, on the other hand, tells a more seductive story, and is the simpler-in-vision version of The Fifth Element, with characters that would look from outer space as much, to some of the audience knowing nothing about life on the streets (or under the streets for this one particularly). Looking at the poster below, do not think as if it is a remake of Star Wars, no, the fluorescent lamp that Lambert is holding represents the difference of the underground world, where the light is artificial but the characters are not.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Life After People: Welcome to Earth. Population 0.
Welcome to Earth. Population: 0. LIFE AFTER PEOPLE
Uploaded by HistoryChannel - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.
Life after people is a television documentary film, seeking the answer to a rather creepy question: what would happen if humans suddenly vanished from the surface of the earth? With an audience of 5.4 million viewers, it is the most watched program ever on History Channel. The film examines the gradual disintegration of the urban civilization in a time span of 10,000 years after the sudden vanishing of the humans, by interviews with scientists and engineers, CGI dramatizations and a very close example from today's world, city of Pripyat after human evacuation because of Chernobyl disaster. It does not speculate about why and how this human disappearance may happen and it does not mention the fate of radioactive wastes and some of the materials (and artifacts) people use in modern urban civilisations, such as plastic, ceramic, glass and styrofoam.
So, suddenly earth's human population runs down to 0. Now, this is, at the first few minutes of the film is an idea hard to get used to and extremely surreal. This is briefly explained such as many species have passed from the surface of the world for millions of years, and they faced an apocalyptic extinction at some point of their lives, so the same may happen to humans as well; and yet it is very likely that this extinction may be caused by humans themselves, though they are the most self-destroying species ever to live on earth.
The first impact happens on electricity. Within 48 hours the whole lights in the world go out and for the first time since the finding of the fire by humans, the image of the earth from outside becomes so dark. In the first 10 days, nuclear power plants shut down, many parts of the New York subway is flooded and food in the markets, at homes etc gets rotten. In 6 months' time, small forms of wildlife such as coyotes who live in the periphery of civilization, begin to come downtown, while home dogs try to get used to life outside. It is said that the first few months will be extremely harsh on our dear cute dogs, since they are not used to living out in the wild. Those smaller ones which are very precious breedings in today's world, such as bulldog or pekingese will not have so much of a luck at that point, compared to the medium sized dogs. Eventually, some of the dogs that could pass this first few harsh months will be accepted to wolf packs and breed with them. Cats, rats/mice, seagulls, cockroaches etc who are also very dependent on humans to get their food in today's world will be just fine too, after a period. As well as the richening of the animal life on the earth, life in the seas and oceans will be as rich as how it used to be before the human intervention.
While animals find a way to live perfectly without us around, plants start invading the urban areas as well. Thinking that where there is the civilizations' artifacts today, there used to be fields, forests, streams etc, one need not be genius that nature will come back to those places to take back what she had before. First, grass coming out of the cracks in streets, buildings etc will appear and within 1,000 years the cities will be unrecognizable lying under the wild flora. During this nature invasion, the buildings, bridges, concrete structures etc, except for maybe the pyramids in Egypt and the Great Wall of China, will collapse without human maintenance due to corrosion, invasive plant life and ground water. So, in 10,000 years, nothing will remain from humanity, and it will be as if we had never existed.
It is disappointing to realize that us, modern humans, have not succeeded finding materials as enduring as those that the ancient civilizations used. However, this disappointment does not result from the idea of leaving something behind. Human-like species ever to develop again on the surface of the earth, making researches and thinking about our long gone civilization is very unlikely, the scientists believe, though while nature tends to evolve in a more intelligent way, the humans' development to think has been a bit of luck during the stages of evolution, almost like a mutation even. What is disappointing is looking around in today's world, looking at humans, and seeing how immodest they are, thinking that they are the owners of the world and that they have brought all elements of nature to its knees, while in reality humans are the ones that are dependant and that life will go on, even perfectly, without humans' disturbance.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Okuribito
I have been planning to watch this movie for the past few months, not because it is the winner of Best Foreign Language Film award of this year's academy awards, but because it is the winner of the award, and, japanese.
Daigo is a cellist in an orchestra in Tokyo. The orchestra is disbanded one day and he loses his job, resulting in a (in my opinion) brave decision to quit playing and moving to his hometown with his wife. There in Yamagata, he quickly finds a job; a job he first mistakes as a travel agency because of how the ad sounds like (assisting departures), only to quickly find out that it is about encoffinment. Being desperate, he accepts the job, and his journey to a world which most people hate or feel disgust begins, so does his journey to a deep insight to the concept of life and death, along with us the audience.
One of the things that I liked most about the characters is how Daigo's wife, Mika, accepts Daigo's profession finally through the end, seeing how he performs it in an almost a complete trance, yet fully in control; with something he does not have while playing cello with orchestra. I believe that from that point on, she respects him and his job not just because this is what is expected from her as a wife. Furthermore, the depiction of transformation that death itself causes on those who are left behind is again deeply impressive and touching. One other thing that I liked is the depiction of the need to eat as the necessity to survive; it is almost as if as long as you see the characters are eating (which is shown a lot especially in the first half of the movie), you know that you are in the living zone. The more they all get hold of the idea of death, the less they are shown eating, meaning their ideas of death has evolved to a whole different - and more positive - spiritual level.
I like the japanese. I like the traditions of the japanese. I like watching these traditions smoothly dispersed in today's modern life style. The ever dutiful and respectable wife, the boss himself, certainly the whole ritual.. are all so very japanese, not in an epic or exaggerated way, but rather such as the everyday life routine. It is funny and touching at the same time; I cried non-stop for the last 15 minutes of the movie, however, it is certainly not a tear jerker, because you absolutely love the characters and because you really feel like you know them. Yet, even if you spend the last minutes sobbing, it is nonetheless hopeful, leaving you at the end extremely peaceful.
I believe that the movie is written "awards" all over it, well-directed, well-acted and beautifully framed. Without a doubt, it is one of the best movies that I have seen for a long long while. And oh my, Ryoko Hirosue has not changed at all in 8 years since the movie Wasabi!
One more thing, for those who sees that blowfish milt which look disgusting but certainly is sensational: http://www.welcome-moldova.com/articles/fugu.shtml
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Blackadder
Brilliant! That is the best (rather British) word I can use to describe this series of the 80's.
I was in high school when Blackadder was shown on BBC Prime and I had just learned english; me and my best friend, we were watching MTV - newly introduced to Turkey back then - and BBC Prime most of the time. The thing is, I loved BBC so much that I even got up earlier than I should have some days just to catch up with some documentaries.
Yet it was hard for me at first to understand it all, even if I had caught all the sentences, I would not be able to get the British humour. But I kept on watching nonetheless. And by the mid-second season, I had gotten hold of it all; the following season was even better, and that happens to be my favourite also. I do not remember why now, but I missed some of the last season, Blackadder Goes Forth, and that season I have rather vaguely in my memories.
Blackadder is the family name of the 4-seasons series' anti-hero Edmund Blackadder. British comedian Rowan Atkinson stars as Blackadder; now I never liked anything other than this that Mr. Atkinson (or else should I call him Mr. Bean?) had ever done, nevertheless, I admit that as for Edmund Blackadder, I can not think of anyone else and he was absolutely amazing (oh yes, British, ermm, brilliant!). Besides Blackadder, the other main character in the show is Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick, played - equally amazingly - by Tony Robinson. Each season is set in a different historical period and the other characters change more or less in each season; among them are Tim McInnerny as Lord Percy Percy (season 2), Miranda Richardson as Quenn Elizabeth I (season 2), Stephen Fry as Lord Melchett (season 2) and Hugh Laurie as the ever-unforgettable Prince Regent (season 3). If you are familiar with British cast, you can guess how impressive the series was.
While in the first season, the Blackadder character is quite unintelligent, he gradually becomes smarter in each generation as his social status decreases (from prince, to lord, to royal butler, to finally a regular army captain), however, the common point of all Blackadder generations is sarcasm, cunning and opportunism, regardless of their surroundings.
Despite him being selfish, cynical and cunning at all levels in his life and throughout generations, in today's point of view, Blackadder also represents the (almost) modern voice, puncturing the pretensions and stupidity of those around him and revealing the ludicrous and insane follies of the history (such as witch-hunts in medieval religion scene).
Blackadder was ranked as the 20th Best Show of All Time by Empire Magazine and I believe it is a must to see, if you are in for some British humour.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
In The Electric Mist
In the Electric Mist (2009) Trailer
Uploaded by lidystopia - Full seasons and entire episodes online.
Now, I know that prejudice is no good, but what can I say, I do feel so when it comes to Tommy Lee Jones. The only time I liked watching him was the movie "The Client". He may be a good actor, I just can't stand his style. However, this time I saw that the director was Bertrand Tavernier and it was to be shown in the Istanbul Film Festival last month, so I decided to give it a shot; let's see how a Hollywood mystery looks like from the point of (an acclaimed) French director. And the result is: What??!!
First of all, I admit that I did not read the book it was adapted from, In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead by James Lee Burke, well, I did not read any of Burke's books, so I am not familiar with his style at all. And I must also admit that mystery movies do not always tempt me, especially those of Hollywood's. So the whole story would be revealed to me by the movie only (well I read the reviews of how good an adaption it was, from the readers of the book itself).
The movie is about Dave Robicheaux, a detective in a small town in the US, and apparently this is the main character of a series of books by Burke (another one from the series, Heaven's Prisoners, had also been adapted in 1996 so I read, starring Alec Baldwin, thank god I did not see that one, Baldwin is even more annoying). Detective Robicheaux is on an investigation about the brutal murder of a young woman. While the investigation is going on, he meets a young (and famous) actor and his - equally famous - actress girlfriend who are in town to shoot a movie about Civil War. The actor, Elrod Sykes, talks to him about some dreamy visions he had while shooting the movie; while someone else might have thought that he talks nonsense, Robicheaux becomes seriously interested and this leads him to suspect that his investigation is somehow linked to another murder which took place about 40 years ago, of a black man trying to escape prison, which he witnessed as a young boy. And so it follows;
..In the middle of the investigation, another young woman's body is discovered.
..Robicheaux keeps on the investigation of all three murders
..He sees visions of General John Bell Hood of the Confederate soldiers back from the Civil War, and somehow finds peace and wisdom in his friendship.
..After a series of weakly linked events, he finds out who the murderer is.
..The movie ends even more freakish, which would be too much of a spoiler to write here...
Certainly, the concept of mystery involves symbols throughout the story and a little bit of suspense in the end. However the series of events in this movie seems to connect to each other all too abruptly, the characters' developments are weak, and this surely weakens the whole chain. I seriously did not get how Robicheaux and the General have become so strongly connected and I did not see any sincere change in Robicheaux along with this - certainly bizarre and of huge importance - encounter, apart from him only 'talking' about this change. There are sub-plots such as how different a black man's murder by a white man would be perceived, back 40 years ago, or as the drinking problem of the young Elrod Sykes and Robicheaux's concern for his actress girlfriend, the development of a trust bond between Robicheaux and the FBI agent sent to the town (oh yes, there is also FBI involved but I had no idea how to mention that!) etc.. Yet, all of these sub-plots which normally nourishes the big picture somehow occur while we are chained to the insignificant details as if everything was happening in another movie, and what we are left with are only the consequences of these relations.
All in all, I say the first 40-50 minutes are promising, but that is all the movie will give you..
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Ince burun - The Northermost Point in Turkey
Today, after a beautiful lunch by the sea, I went to Ince burun in the afternoon. That was not the plan at first, the plan was just to conquer, by car, some very well known places near Sinop (such as Akliman and Hamsilos). The problem was that, I had seen those places so many times, it is always beautiful to go there but there I had it, I wanted to see something new this time! So, after a little bit of discussion about where to go, and when I was just convinced that my father had enough in the driver seat and that we were going home, I saw the sign: Ince burun.
Ok, I have been there before, yet again. But only once. And dad does not remember this. So, off we go!
Ince burun is the northermost point of Turkey. There is apparently one lighthouse and two cows there, that's all. But the-view-is-amazing. Even though it was extremely hot in the city, almost as if it were a summer day, there in Ince burun, by the wild sea, it was still winter! I started sneezing, shivering, feeling dizzy.. No, I am not a nature freak and it is obvious, but, it was nice..Going there, we passed by I guess over 100 different shades of green. It was refreshing and calm. Ince burun, however, is wild, the waves reach up to where the lighthouse is, in the winter time, they say.
This wild and pure beauty and the wilderness of sea is about to be destroyed, any time now. On that small bay in that picture right-hand side, a nuclear power plant is planned to be built, the first one in Turkey. Local people are fighting, with all their power, against that plan, but I fear that it will soon be decided to the disadvantage of this struggle. What happens next, we can not know, but the feeling of isolation and peace, in harmony with the sound of wild waves, will sure be destroyed forever. And yet, at any cost, people need to be heard and not to be ignored, while they are the ones that will be living next to that energy they fear of.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Les Mondes Engloutis (or Spartakus and The Sun Beneath The Sea)
I was very very young when this animation was on TV, 7 or 8 years old I guess. It did not look like any other animation I had seen before and I had no idea what the plot was, though I always somehow caught it up on the screen by luck, thanks to its marvellous generique music. All that I remembered ever was that music, some strange looking characters related to a fictional planet, matryoshka doll-like children, a robot-like large vehicle and funny and clumsy pirates. These small bits and pieces of images could never add up to a story on my mind and yet I was always curious about what it was about, without even knowing the original name of the animation, and translating the turkish name of the show to english, which happens to be "lost worlds", never returned any result.
About 20 years later, I finally found it and today I watched the very first two episodes. I had all this time thought that despite this obsessive search of the animation, I would be somehow disappointed had I ever watched it as an adult, and that maybe I should not ruin those childhood memories, should only listen to its music from time to time, but no, today I was convinced that it has one of the strongest stories ever to exist in an animation, a mainstream animatıon even. And the characterizations are absolutely unique.
"Ever since the time of the Great Cataclysm, the Arkadians have lived deep in the center of the earth. They believed they were the only survivors of this great devastation. Their civilization thrived under the power of their sun, the Shagma... until it began to fail. In desperation, the children of Arkadia broke the law and entered the forbidden Archives searching for a solution. What they discovered gave them hope. Anxiously, they used their special powers and created a messenger to the people above. They named her Arkana..."
So the story basically starts as above, Arkana is later joined by Bob and Rebecca, two children from the surface world, Bic and Bac, a pair of Arkadian pangolins, and Spartacus, a wanderer who vows to help Arkana, and so does their journey to find the long lost and forgotten secrets of the city of Arkadia and its sun Shagma begins.
***
Certainly the way to the nostalgia does not consist of one single image from the past, as you move along, you remember those alike. And how can I write about childhood animation obsessions without mentioning Clementine? It was certainly different from and much more remembered than Les Mondes Engloutis, but the animation style, the impact of music and the impact of images are the similarities between these two French animations of the year 1985.
And just to touch the hearts of those who wanted to fly on that goose, or was imitating japanese while listening to the generique song, or wondered how to land softly on a cloud that looked like a giant pillow, comes the following:
It was a time when we believed that everything would be great, that we would be always together and happy, and yes, I miss it.
L'Aventure C'est L'Aventure
Ok, I must say that I made a mistake while watching this movie. All along, from the beginning 'till the end, I asked myself why the director, Claude Lelouch, kept on making films on groups of men, such as three (plus one) friends in Vincent, François, Paul...et Les Autres, or as these five crooks jumping from one "l'aventure" to the other. But no, the answer is, the other movie was Claude "Sautet"s !
And yet, throughout the whole movie, I kind of compared those two groups. First of all, Vincent, François, Paul.. and the others were no criminals, as far as I remember they had decent jobs (though one of them had some serious financial problems.. it's been a few years back since I've seen the movie by the way), they had good times (and bad times) in their lives, they had a certain intellectual level and no matter what, they tried to seek comfort and support among themselves, as what close friends would do.. But the five crooks we have in this movie are extremely ignorant, stupid, without any ideals at all, and the only driving force in their lives is "money money money" (and so is the movie called in US).
Without a doubt, Lelouch criticizes here the time and situation of post '68, in a rather funny way. The main characters are extremely silly at times and yet in the end, we witness the stupidity of nations and people trying to have ideals, idealizing the most visible faults. That can be the only (or maybe the strongest) explanation I can give to the chain of events starting with these guys' decision of changing their "career" from bank robberies to celebrity kidnapping and, in the end, to political misdemeanours.
Tha film's soundtrack is certainly one that deserves mentioning; this is one of Lelouch's 28 collaborations with the composer Francis Lai. I did expect at least one song by Jacques Brel, who acts as one of the five gangs, and whom I dreamed as if he were to crack suddenly and start singing but no, you will see him only acting...
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The Celluloid Closet
..Not all girls are raving bloody lesbians you know!
..That is a misfortune that I am perfectly well aware of.
In a hundred years of movies, homosexuality has only rarely been depicted on the screen. When it did appear, it was there as something to laugh at or something to pity or even something to fear... Hollywood, that great maker of myths, taught straight people what to think about gay people, and gay people what to think about themselves. Noone escaped its influence.
The Celluloid Closet is a 1995 documentary movie based on the book of the same name written by Vito Russo. Russo had made a highly detailed, years of research of how gay people are portrayed in movie history, especially in Hollywood, and he is also one of the first people to persuade gay and straight people to examine the role that popular culture plays in shaping our attitudes about sexual orientation and gender identity. The film contains scenes from over 100 movies, most of which are highly mainstream, and there are also interviews with writers, screenwriters and actors, such as Arthur Laurents, Susie Bright, Gore Vidal, Tom Hanks and Whoopi Goldberg.
It is interesting to see so many hidden codes of homosexuality inside those very well known films, which had to be kept in Hollywood's "closet" because of the "clean" society's take on homosexuality. I had seen some of those movies, but I had not picked up on the characters' preferance of sexuality, and neither did many other people, because the filmmakers had to deliberately hide these referances in between the lines, and yet, everyone in Hollywood knew who was gay and what those scenes were about.
The role and identity given to the gay characters in the movies changed as did the society. While Chaplin had kissed a woman who was thought to be a man by the other characters in the movie "Behind The Screen" in 1916 and while one of the earliest examples of the movies, "Dickson Experimental Film 1895" had shown two men dancing to a light opera piece for 17 seconds, it...was a time when men were free to express tenderness on the screen. But as the world grew more aware of homosexuality, male-to-male affection would be seen as an incriminating act. And so came the sissies, the effeminate male characters in the movies, often skinny and with little moustache, who were neither gay nor straight, but were-in-between, making the women in the movie to be seen more womanly and the other men to be seen more manly. And these men were always a standard laughing point no matter what, as Arthur Laurents describes, "they were cliche and I thought they were disgusting..never understood what people were laughing at.."
By 1934, because of the increasing sexual scenes in the movies, whether heterosexual or homosexual, came the long period of censorship, where the hidden lines of homosexuality always found its place in a great deal of the very well known movies, among which there is the love shared many years before the movie's period between the characters played by Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd in Ben Hur (without Heston knowing this hidden history of the characters throughout the shooting of the film), Brick Pollitt's unnamed loyalty (or love) to his "friend" Skipper in the Cat On A Hot Tin Roof or 15-year-old Plato's attraction to legendary Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause. This censored time had passed by hiding or showing dull relationships between two sexes such as bunch of Doris Day movies (in one of which, Pillow Talk, her partner in the movie, Rock Hudson, plays a straight man imitating a gay man, while in real life, Hudson was gay).
When this period passes, when the gay persona in the movies seem to publicly appear by breaking the rules, the end that was decided for the character was death by either suicide or a "rightful" murder, because "they were sick, there was something wrong with them, and being gay was not something good people talked about". It would take almost three decades for the homosexuality to come up "clean", "tender" and "normal" in Hollywood, and it would have to pass by tragedies, monstrous characters or pity, which, rightfully, do not satisfy the gay audiences, even today. A movie which involves a serious character analysis related to a gay man may take the oscar statue home with that character, but at the end of the day, he is a poor guy who died of AIDS and we feel sorry for him; and yet, we still do not ask, where is the gay hero who is healthy and alive ?
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Georges Schwizgebel
I came across the works by Georges Schwizgebel while having a look at another blog.
Schwizgebel is a Swiss animation film director, using mostly painting on cellulose; he has also used paint-on-glass animation* technique in 2 of his movies, L'Hommes sans ombre and Retouches.
In - most of - his animations you quickly get the impact of strong brush strokes, often used in maximum economy, to express the subject of animation. The transitions between scenes are flawlessly interwoven and the movements and story-telling are always in accordance with the music playing, at some point giving you the impression as if you have been watching animated notes. One would not be wrong to say that every single scene is a mastered painting itself, making the whole list of Schwizgebel's works an art movement itself within the history.
Taken from 5th International Animation Film Festival in Ljubljana, a retrospective view to his works will be:
Le Vol D'Icare
A pointillist musical illustration of the tale of Icarus wishing to imitate the birds right up to burning his wings close to the sun.
Perspectives
The putting into perspective of a person walking.
Hors-Jeu
Description of a game in which one of the two teams changes the rules to its advantage.
Le Ravissement de Frank N. Stein
The slow construction of an image, to a rhythm of footsteps, ends with the meeting of the monster and his fiancée. Using a subjective vision, the viewer is literally in the
position of the monster and crosses several rooms filled with objects and beings along the line of progression until emerging into the face of the loved one who lets off a cry of horror.
78 Tours
A subjective camera and a fixed framing alternate to an accordion waltz which triggers a short story recalling the passing of time. The entire film is based on the graphic notion of circles and rings.
Nakounine
A bicycle trip through the streets of Shanghai between winter and summer, from the suburbs to the city centre.
Le Sujet du Tableau
Thanks to the painter brushing his portrait, an old man rediscovers his youth. This is an adaptation of the myth of Faust, the character being guided, manipulated by the devilish painter.
La Course a L'Abime
At an average cycle of six seconds, an animated painting illustrates a fragment of an opera.
L'Annee du Daim
The tragic destiny of a young deer deceived by appearances. The visual, very illustrative and polished film is inspired by the atmospheres of the 4 seasons corresponding to the 4 musical movements. The film is made up not solely of painted cellulose but also of pastel animations on glass paper.
Zig Zag
A zigzag journey inspired by the drawings of Rodolphe Töpffer.
Fugue
A person dozing in a hotel room allows himself to be invaded by memories which form an escape expressed in drawings. The film is one of the most complex by Georges Schwizgebel.
La Jeune Fille et Les Nuages
The story of Cinderella is modernised. Cinderella dreams of clouds and ends up fleeing by plane with her Prince Charming.
L'Homme Sans Ombre
A man exchanges his shadow for richness. Disillusioned, he has to be content with seven-league boots.
Jeu
From the detailed account announcing the beginning to the rigid appearance of the word END, Jeu provokes a magnificent vertigo with its uninterrupted running, full of surprises. A furious race towards final immobilisation, like a metaphor of modern restlessness, the illustration of a world resting on a succession of forms which become distorted to deceive the senses again and again in a pirouetting and playful choreography.
Retouches
Between a wave’s rhythm and the breath of a young woman in her sleep, some animated paintings go on modifying each other.
* Paint-on-glass animation is a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow-drying oil-paints on sheets of glass.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi
Having read only one book by him, Love in a blue time, I had begun to feel enthusiasm for Kureishi's work, and Intimacy happened to be the second choice.
The book is narrated by Jay, a middle-aged writer, who is about to leave his wife and two young sons and the whole book is a reflection of his struggling thoughts about his marriage, his affairs in-between and his love for his sons, in the last 24-hour before he simply takes his bag and leaves.
It is hard for me to have a comparative comment about this work as to other works by him, though the only one I have read other than this was a collection of stories and the style was almost like this one but with more striking moments where you suddenly became dazed. Rather than waking your senses up by modern soçiological analytic lines that would illuminate a whole new generation, such as 'I'm a professional businessman, not a professional Pakistani' in My Beautiful Laundrette*, throughout this one you are left aching, distressed and lonely in a way, along with Jay himself. It is an unbearably sad story and it is also interesting that Kureishi himself had left his wife and two young sons, prior to writing this book.
Intimacy is a hard feeling to establish and often the outcome of this trial is a feeling of entrapment if you are absorbed within you and your own selfish thoughts. And that is exactly how I perceive Jay.
There are mixed reviews about the book and I often came across rather negative ones such as Kenan Malik's;
Intimacy is a small book, and not just because it is but 118 pages long. Kureishi's is a circumscribed universe, claustrophobic and inward looking and lacking any larger vision.
however, for me, one terrible paradoxical line in the middle of the book, you don't stop loving someone just because you hate them, shows the whole confusion he is left with.
* Same line used in the movie version, where I got it.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
It was the year 2002 when I first had an attempt to watch the movie, in 21. Istanbul Film Festival. I did not know much about Glenn Gould, nor had I ever listened to him playing, I guess the name of the movie and a little bit of information on the festival's booklet were what had captured my attention. Even though I had the tickets, I could not go and see it, can't remember why now.. Years later, last night, I finally watched it, this time knowing who Glenn Gould was, having listened to his incredible music for the past few years and knowing his passion of Bach and his eccentric personality.
The film, as can be understood from its title, consists of 32 short parts, in a somewhat more or less chronological order, consisting of re-creations of scenes in the artist's life with magnificient acting by Irish-Canadian actor Colm Feore and interviews with the protagonist's friends and acquaintances. The "32" parts refers to 32 parts of Bach's 'Goldberg Variations'.
François Girard, the director, states that;
...As Gould was such a complex character, the biggest problem was to find a way to look at his work and deal with his visions. The film is built of fragments, each one trying to capture an aspect of Gould. There is no way of putting Gould in one box. The film gives the viewer 32 impressions of him. I didn't want to reduce him to one dimension...
Starting and ending with scenes resembling his search for solitude, I believe the movie captures a great deal of the artist. I can not say that it is an instructive documentary; yet, it is like a ceremony to celebrate having had such an artist, in a rather humble way.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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