kinolog (odds and ends from past couple of months)
- the only good thing about "pan's labyrinth" was the child-killing monster (reminiscent of blade2 i suppose). at some point the story line reminded me of "mysterious skin" and i wished that the whole setup was more ambiguous (you never know whether the child is making the whole thing up or not). prerequisite - half a bottle of nicaragua rum
- "life of oharu" at the theater - i have very weak stomach for the type of the movies that essentially constitute dragging a baby seal out on the stage and then proceeding to club it to death for two hours to the audience's teary exaltation
- "secret defense" - atmosphere of suspense, doubling-up of characters (or morphing them into each other), use of time and non-factual episodes; a simple story line that through formal/stylistic means grows to be so much more (as usual, it is not at all about just telling the story). pastel colors, space, murkiness, even certain drowsy feel when the reality starts to slip, and the immediate plot becomes not as important
- "volver" - not as garish and vulgar as some of its immediate predecessors, but i still have problems with it - pulp fiction sensationalism that comes across as being told by a prude. there is no seduction - perhaps due to the nonchalant narration, or the obviousness of inversion used to arrive to evil. compare that to "secret defense" mentioned above; also note the mystical undertones (cue in "labyrinth" and "mysterious skin"). disclaimer - watched with half a bottle of panama rum
- "le film avenir" (ruiz) - there has been for 7 years a strange philanthropic secret society. its members, philokinetes, devote their energy and money to studying and promoting a fragment of film [...] the fragment runs only for 23 seconds and is in a loop. thus projected, it can last for hours, days, even years. [...] there is nothing exceptional in it unless - things are never simple - you practice daily what they call enlightened screenings. meaning a deep hypnotic state brought about by over-repetition of the revealing fragment. once you reach this state, you can see, so they say.
- "fidelite" (zulawski) - hysterical, trashy, megalomaniac (but not good enough to be worthy of "carax syndrom" diagnose). sadly, there are a few ideas that could have been interesting if developed properly
- "la vie nouvelle" (grandrieux) - perhaps watching it on a small screen did not do it justice, but its atmosphere was too brittle, too incomplete, too fragmented - failing to become engaging. occasional moments were worthy of mentioning (music, dance, etc), but overall it failed to impress - too many signs scattered around (and perhaps my lack of knowledge of his visual language). i do like the intention - the desire to find a new language, based on image and senses (unlike theatre/literature); perhaps it is more appropriate to view it as videoart, and this is the perspective i am intending to take for his debut movie (http://www.svoboda.org/programs/cicles/cinema/23/07.asp and http://rouge.com.au/1/grandrieux.html courtesy of panarchist)
- "little miss sunshine" - feelgood low-calorie tickling of entertainment glands. liberating dance was lovely
- "les astronautes" (marker, borowczyk) - first random association - "le bunker de la dernière rafale" (now imagine :w: doing an album around that!)
- "colloque de chiens" (ruiz) - in an orgy of random associations i want to bring up marker's "la jetée" (i know, i know...) and with the circular narrative and morphing of characters "secret defense" mentioned above
- "life of oharu" at the theater - i have very weak stomach for the type of the movies that essentially constitute dragging a baby seal out on the stage and then proceeding to club it to death for two hours to the audience's teary exaltation
- "secret defense" - atmosphere of suspense, doubling-up of characters (or morphing them into each other), use of time and non-factual episodes; a simple story line that through formal/stylistic means grows to be so much more (as usual, it is not at all about just telling the story). pastel colors, space, murkiness, even certain drowsy feel when the reality starts to slip, and the immediate plot becomes not as important
- "volver" - not as garish and vulgar as some of its immediate predecessors, but i still have problems with it - pulp fiction sensationalism that comes across as being told by a prude. there is no seduction - perhaps due to the nonchalant narration, or the obviousness of inversion used to arrive to evil. compare that to "secret defense" mentioned above; also note the mystical undertones (cue in "labyrinth" and "mysterious skin"). disclaimer - watched with half a bottle of panama rum
- "le film avenir" (ruiz) - there has been for 7 years a strange philanthropic secret society. its members, philokinetes, devote their energy and money to studying and promoting a fragment of film [...] the fragment runs only for 23 seconds and is in a loop. thus projected, it can last for hours, days, even years. [...] there is nothing exceptional in it unless - things are never simple - you practice daily what they call enlightened screenings. meaning a deep hypnotic state brought about by over-repetition of the revealing fragment. once you reach this state, you can see, so they say.
- "fidelite" (zulawski) - hysterical, trashy, megalomaniac (but not good enough to be worthy of "carax syndrom" diagnose). sadly, there are a few ideas that could have been interesting if developed properly
- "la vie nouvelle" (grandrieux) - perhaps watching it on a small screen did not do it justice, but its atmosphere was too brittle, too incomplete, too fragmented - failing to become engaging. occasional moments were worthy of mentioning (music, dance, etc), but overall it failed to impress - too many signs scattered around (and perhaps my lack of knowledge of his visual language). i do like the intention - the desire to find a new language, based on image and senses (unlike theatre/literature); perhaps it is more appropriate to view it as videoart, and this is the perspective i am intending to take for his debut movie (http://www.svoboda.org/programs/cicles/cinema/23/07.asp and http://rouge.com.au/1/grandrieux.html courtesy of panarchist)
- "little miss sunshine" - feelgood low-calorie tickling of entertainment glands. liberating dance was lovely
- "les astronautes" (marker, borowczyk) - first random association - "le bunker de la dernière rafale" (now imagine :w: doing an album around that!)
- "colloque de chiens" (ruiz) - in an orgy of random associations i want to bring up marker's "la jetée" (i know, i know...) and with the circular narrative and morphing of characters "secret defense" mentioned above