Seen a movie: Arrival
For starters, I had to check the title again and again, and it kept slipping me. I still don’t know what makes Nowy początek (New Beginning) a better choice than Arrival according to Polish distributor, but okay…
I'm afraid spoilers are unavoidable, if I'm going to put here more than two pics and hundred words. Admittedly, they aren't very clear. Mostly because the whole entry isn't very clear. :]
I watched it for three reasons, which is a lot, come to think of it. First, I like 'contact' stories, though not without reservations, and though it tends to be a difficult love. Second, I recognized one actor. Yay me...
And third, considering the movie's theme, this one photo looked so incredibly stupid that I just had to see how they were going to justify that. XD
As I said, I like contact stories, for musings on the aspects of 'other' and taking apart mechanisms of communication. Problem is, if they aim at less explosive and more intellectual sort, they tend to slide down into oh-so-mystic-and-vague, which in turn I tend to be allergic to. :] I was quite anxious about what I was going to suffer through this time... Thankfully, it kept me interested to the end, though still a little annoyed once in a while. On one hand, they did aim more at intellectual than flashy, and one of my favorite scenes was Louise explaining a question’s structure from the functional point of view and how understanding of its parts depends on perception and mentality. On the other hand, it felt confusing and tedious at times. The movie didn't avoid the mystic-wannabe-artistic plague - it has a somewhat detached atmosphere (which only partially comes from most of the action being set in deserted countryside), and it mostly takes a personal, subjective perspective. Which makes things quite confusing, considering this perspective belongs to Louise with her messed up timelines... It didn't help that some 80% of the photos was underlit, out of focus, in close ups, or everything at once. What’s even the point of giving the protagonist a luxurious design house if you’re not going to show it clearly?
The whole linguistic aspect was the best part of the movie to me, in spite of how obviously culled it had to be to fit in, but the other two sci-fi ingredients I found rather disappointing. Aliens were dragged out straight from the golden age of monsters from the outer space, and time paradoxes... actually I don't think this movie even noticed the inevitability of time paradoxes in such plot. Unless it implies the fate as determined and fixed thing, and everyone, aliens including, can do nothing but play their role? If so, at least Ian doesn't believe it when hating Louise's choice - there's no choices in determined fate after all (though maybe she hoped it's not determined, too?). In any case, it was unfair as hell of her to leave him out of decision...
As for justification of the stupid photo... There isn't one, not really. Apparently it was “no clue where to start, so might as well...”, and I could grudgingly accept it, but still, you want to cut down on variables when introducing ideas, and that's why introducing script starting from half-assed squiggles is bad idea even when your students already have an idea of writing, and you know they can even see in the first place. Same applies to speaking to them - I'm aware that gasping like a fish out of water somehow has become Art of Serious Acting nowadays, but mumbling under your breath words you intend to distinguish and clearly present is... not a clear presentation, what it is. Then again, there was a mention that aliens got complex things better than basic ones, so maybe that could work. :P Still, Louise didn't know it at that time.
Besides, how could they tell one heptapod from another? How did they even know each of them took always the same place on respectively the right and left, and that they weren't new specimens every time? And vice versa, when checking if the aliens have the idea of individuality: “I'm Louise, this is Ian”. Fine, but how do you know you don't look the same to them, out of suits or not? All in all, a lot of cutting conceptual corners here.
And speaking of paradoxes, they retrospectively make confusing one thing that seemed clear at first. At which point in the main timeline does Louise actually start getting her visions? This is one of those movies you need to see more than once, preferably immediately, but I don't really feel like it...
(Also, I'm disgusted with myself, because frankly, this post is a mess, and I have no idea what you're going to get of it, but the harder I think about this movie, the more uncertain about details I am, so I just want to throw it off my head and move on.)
~*~
Btw, for some reason trailers have stayed with me almost as much as the movie I'd come for this time. One American, three Polish. One basically sold me on its movie, two almost did, and one noted as “avoid at any cost!!!”.
# “Rogue One”. I didn't give a damn about TFA, and wasn't going to give half a damn about this one, but trailer made me sort of start to, because of 1. characters, and 2. relatively low level of Force babble, which was always my least favorite part, when I used to be a fan.
# A movie about Michalina Wisłocka, which seemed somehow warm in a funny way. And wonder of wonders, is actually well written at least in places, tehee! ^^
(angrily, to a self-satisfied apparatchik) “Where are you from?”
“Warsaw”
“From vagina, you are.” (to another one) “And you weren't found in cabbage either!”
# A movie about a prison convoy. Janusz Gajos keeps being a sure firm, as I see. And Tomasz Ziętek looks surprisingly pretty in this, though his character seems unmarred by a thought, so I'm not exactly falling in love...
# A newest Polish rom-com, quality as usual, that is only a little less romantic and funny than a gynecological examination, and a little more plastic and awkward than a disposable fork...
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You can comment also in Disqus, here.
It's okay to comment in whatever language fits you best, as long as I get it. Don't mind the entry's language.
Można komentować w języku, który najbardziej ci odpowiada, o ile go zrozumiem. Nie przejmuj się językiem notki.
I'm afraid spoilers are unavoidable, if I'm going to put here more than two pics and hundred words. Admittedly, they aren't very clear. Mostly because the whole entry isn't very clear. :]
I watched it for three reasons, which is a lot, come to think of it. First, I like 'contact' stories, though not without reservations, and though it tends to be a difficult love. Second, I recognized one actor. Yay me...
And third, considering the movie's theme, this one photo looked so incredibly stupid that I just had to see how they were going to justify that. XD
As I said, I like contact stories, for musings on the aspects of 'other' and taking apart mechanisms of communication. Problem is, if they aim at less explosive and more intellectual sort, they tend to slide down into oh-so-mystic-and-vague, which in turn I tend to be allergic to. :] I was quite anxious about what I was going to suffer through this time... Thankfully, it kept me interested to the end, though still a little annoyed once in a while. On one hand, they did aim more at intellectual than flashy, and one of my favorite scenes was Louise explaining a question’s structure from the functional point of view and how understanding of its parts depends on perception and mentality. On the other hand, it felt confusing and tedious at times. The movie didn't avoid the mystic-wannabe-artistic plague - it has a somewhat detached atmosphere (which only partially comes from most of the action being set in deserted countryside), and it mostly takes a personal, subjective perspective. Which makes things quite confusing, considering this perspective belongs to Louise with her messed up timelines... It didn't help that some 80% of the photos was underlit, out of focus, in close ups, or everything at once. What’s even the point of giving the protagonist a luxurious design house if you’re not going to show it clearly?
The whole linguistic aspect was the best part of the movie to me, in spite of how obviously culled it had to be to fit in, but the other two sci-fi ingredients I found rather disappointing. Aliens were dragged out straight from the golden age of monsters from the outer space, and time paradoxes... actually I don't think this movie even noticed the inevitability of time paradoxes in such plot. Unless it implies the fate as determined and fixed thing, and everyone, aliens including, can do nothing but play their role? If so, at least Ian doesn't believe it when hating Louise's choice - there's no choices in determined fate after all (though maybe she hoped it's not determined, too?). In any case, it was unfair as hell of her to leave him out of decision...
As for justification of the stupid photo... There isn't one, not really. Apparently it was “no clue where to start, so might as well...”, and I could grudgingly accept it, but still, you want to cut down on variables when introducing ideas, and that's why introducing script starting from half-assed squiggles is bad idea even when your students already have an idea of writing, and you know they can even see in the first place. Same applies to speaking to them - I'm aware that gasping like a fish out of water somehow has become Art of Serious Acting nowadays, but mumbling under your breath words you intend to distinguish and clearly present is... not a clear presentation, what it is. Then again, there was a mention that aliens got complex things better than basic ones, so maybe that could work. :P Still, Louise didn't know it at that time.
Besides, how could they tell one heptapod from another? How did they even know each of them took always the same place on respectively the right and left, and that they weren't new specimens every time? And vice versa, when checking if the aliens have the idea of individuality: “I'm Louise, this is Ian”. Fine, but how do you know you don't look the same to them, out of suits or not? All in all, a lot of cutting conceptual corners here.
And speaking of paradoxes, they retrospectively make confusing one thing that seemed clear at first. At which point in the main timeline does Louise actually start getting her visions? This is one of those movies you need to see more than once, preferably immediately, but I don't really feel like it...
(Also, I'm disgusted with myself, because frankly, this post is a mess, and I have no idea what you're going to get of it, but the harder I think about this movie, the more uncertain about details I am, so I just want to throw it off my head and move on.)
~*~
Btw, for some reason trailers have stayed with me almost as much as the movie I'd come for this time. One American, three Polish. One basically sold me on its movie, two almost did, and one noted as “avoid at any cost!!!”.
# “Rogue One”. I didn't give a damn about TFA, and wasn't going to give half a damn about this one, but trailer made me sort of start to, because of 1. characters, and 2. relatively low level of Force babble, which was always my least favorite part, when I used to be a fan.
# A movie about Michalina Wisłocka, which seemed somehow warm in a funny way. And wonder of wonders, is actually well written at least in places, tehee! ^^
(angrily, to a self-satisfied apparatchik) “Where are you from?”
“Warsaw”
“From vagina, you are.” (to another one) “And you weren't found in cabbage either!”
# A movie about a prison convoy. Janusz Gajos keeps being a sure firm, as I see. And Tomasz Ziętek looks surprisingly pretty in this, though his character seems unmarred by a thought, so I'm not exactly falling in love...
# A newest Polish rom-com, quality as usual, that is only a little less romantic and funny than a gynecological examination, and a little more plastic and awkward than a disposable fork...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can comment also in Disqus, here.
It's okay to comment in whatever language fits you best, as long as I get it. Don't mind the entry's language.
Można komentować w języku, który najbardziej ci odpowiada, o ile go zrozumiem. Nie przejmuj się językiem notki.