Now Help Me With the Moor's Head ...?
I just finished watching what I like to call a genre-less film. And not because it is necessarily a bad movie, quite the opposite really, it was a very powerful and overstimulating film from beginning to end. Genre-less on the level of understanding what type of film goer it would most likely sync well with? Sci-Fi? Fantasy? Horror? What if certain films in our lifetime were capable of blending some of these movie elements together and when you reached into the cauldron you pulled out something peculiar and yet mystifying. Something that was meant to be a train wreck but instead came out as art. And that really is all my brain can wrap around when I tried classifying this flick- it was a moment of visual art that obviously made me feel something beyond my regular affect when I started the feature.
A good example of a genre-less film in my books would be something like Children of Men. Emerging from 2006, Children of Men was a British American "classified" sci-fi movie based on the novel written by Alfonso Cuarón in 1992. Even though it is based in the future (the year 2027) it does not utilize many items that a typical sci-fi film would adhere towards. Instead you find multiple elements, as I had mentioned above, with a large assortment ranging from Action/Thriller to Documentary styled perspective and engrossing Philosophical symbology through the "Hero's Journey" comparable to the stylization of Dante's Divine Comedy. Children of Men remains one of my favorite movies of all time not because it's a great Sci-Fi flick. But because it wasn't afraid to go outside of rudimentary filming laws, it decided to be brave and brash by mixing different uses of media, cultural references, and a unique placement of intrusive sound and the timing of music.
But THAT'S NOT THE FILM IN DISCUSSION! No, the movie that I watched this morning was recommended to me through a coworker a few months ago. Only recently did I get an opportunity to rent it, sit down with spare time, and watch it with a clear conscious. The movie was Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Again "classified" as a 2006 Thriller (what was up with 2006 having such kick ass cinematography?!) movie was based on the 1985 novel written by Patrick Süskind. This film is the first in long time to really mess around with my senses while the feature is still going on (Last movie to remotely do that was Apocalypse Now). Not only is is genre-less which I've written about earlier, but it also is oddly stimulating. I won't give very much away, after all I wouldn't want to ruin the individual's experience by filling it in with my own. But I will say that this film made me experience moments of my deepest, darkest, and most plentiful past that I rarely heed a mind cell towards mostly due to me being much older and (possibly) mature. But damn. This film's major focus is the olfactory sense of smell, and wow does it make you smell EVERYTHING that is going on in the movie. Reflecting on my own olfactory's memories from the past eluded some pre-adolescent and embarrassing moments when I learned why the nose is one of the most powerful instruments left for our mind's to digest.
INCREDIBLE. But I digress, Perfume was phenomenal from beginning to end. Had my attention the whole time without distraction or divergence. That isn't to say that I enjoyed every second of it. The film does have its flaws here and there and I wasn't particularly fond of certain spots here and there. But there were all so many powerful moments between the actors, the cinematography is fabulous, the atmosphere very well developed. But definitely not something I'd have on my shelf alongside say Taking Woodstock or Pan's Labyrinth. But definitely something to check out just for curiosity.
On more home life news- today I had the opportunity to sleep in and eat breakfast in my room which I haven't done in centuries. I'm particularly anxious regarding how things will go at my closing-Midnight shift today. I haven't done something like this in seven whole years. I'm concerned whether the night crew will like me. Concerned whether I'll still be able to concentrate on my food orders that will have to be written sometime during those hours. And most importantly I'm concerned about my at home life with my partner. Will they be able to accept me in this arrangement that I've made with my manager? Will they still have an interest in being with me even if I have to work until midnight once or twice a week? It's silly empty worries like these that upgrade themselves into one big anxiety. I'm going to burn some incense and watch some Harlock Saga to put my mind at ease, but wow this is reminding me of college/grad. school all over again when I had to take night courses or ended up commuting on the last Chicago train heading home, wondering how my body will ever adjust to all of this.
A good example of a genre-less film in my books would be something like Children of Men. Emerging from 2006, Children of Men was a British American "classified" sci-fi movie based on the novel written by Alfonso Cuarón in 1992. Even though it is based in the future (the year 2027) it does not utilize many items that a typical sci-fi film would adhere towards. Instead you find multiple elements, as I had mentioned above, with a large assortment ranging from Action/Thriller to Documentary styled perspective and engrossing Philosophical symbology through the "Hero's Journey" comparable to the stylization of Dante's Divine Comedy. Children of Men remains one of my favorite movies of all time not because it's a great Sci-Fi flick. But because it wasn't afraid to go outside of rudimentary filming laws, it decided to be brave and brash by mixing different uses of media, cultural references, and a unique placement of intrusive sound and the timing of music.
But THAT'S NOT THE FILM IN DISCUSSION! No, the movie that I watched this morning was recommended to me through a coworker a few months ago. Only recently did I get an opportunity to rent it, sit down with spare time, and watch it with a clear conscious. The movie was Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Again "classified" as a 2006 Thriller (what was up with 2006 having such kick ass cinematography?!) movie was based on the 1985 novel written by Patrick Süskind. This film is the first in long time to really mess around with my senses while the feature is still going on (Last movie to remotely do that was Apocalypse Now). Not only is is genre-less which I've written about earlier, but it also is oddly stimulating. I won't give very much away, after all I wouldn't want to ruin the individual's experience by filling it in with my own. But I will say that this film made me experience moments of my deepest, darkest, and most plentiful past that I rarely heed a mind cell towards mostly due to me being much older and (possibly) mature. But damn. This film's major focus is the olfactory sense of smell, and wow does it make you smell EVERYTHING that is going on in the movie. Reflecting on my own olfactory's memories from the past eluded some pre-adolescent and embarrassing moments when I learned why the nose is one of the most powerful instruments left for our mind's to digest.
INCREDIBLE. But I digress, Perfume was phenomenal from beginning to end. Had my attention the whole time without distraction or divergence. That isn't to say that I enjoyed every second of it. The film does have its flaws here and there and I wasn't particularly fond of certain spots here and there. But there were all so many powerful moments between the actors, the cinematography is fabulous, the atmosphere very well developed. But definitely not something I'd have on my shelf alongside say Taking Woodstock or Pan's Labyrinth. But definitely something to check out just for curiosity.
On more home life news- today I had the opportunity to sleep in and eat breakfast in my room which I haven't done in centuries. I'm particularly anxious regarding how things will go at my closing-Midnight shift today. I haven't done something like this in seven whole years. I'm concerned whether the night crew will like me. Concerned whether I'll still be able to concentrate on my food orders that will have to be written sometime during those hours. And most importantly I'm concerned about my at home life with my partner. Will they be able to accept me in this arrangement that I've made with my manager? Will they still have an interest in being with me even if I have to work until midnight once or twice a week? It's silly empty worries like these that upgrade themselves into one big anxiety. I'm going to burn some incense and watch some Harlock Saga to put my mind at ease, but wow this is reminding me of college/grad. school all over again when I had to take night courses or ended up commuting on the last Chicago train heading home, wondering how my body will ever adjust to all of this.