'There Will Be Blood' and some fangirling
We went to see There Will Be Blood last night, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview and whoa! It was a searing portrait of one of the most misanthropic, utterly-disconnected-from-humanity characters I've ever seen. It was brilliantly acted (Daniel Day-Lewis is AMAZING) and beautifully filmed...but somehow I didn't love it as much as No Country for Old Men. But despite that, it's still a dark monster of a film.
Some points:
1. The film features an incredible intro sequence that lasts for probably ten minutes sans any dialogue and is really powerful for the combination of images and eerie music.
2. The film's score is FANTASTIC. Its function was much like another character in the film, and it vitally stood out - I think it's impossible to see this film and not feel the huge power that the music plays on the landscape and action taking place on screen - it doesn't just enhance the mood or provide a backdrop - it IS a landscape.
3. I was fascinated by how Daniel Plainview was so inhuman - he didn't seem to have any comprehension of humanity, of people - they were merely cogs in his machine, things to be used or to be stomped out of existence, and yet, he tells Henry "I can't do this alone." He needed to have a partner in order to feel like he had a grip, and that partner had to be "family" but the reality is that neither of the two partners he chose - first his son, and then his brother - were actually his family, and as such he could obliterate them all too easily, too.
Also, related to this is the fact that at the end there is a glimpse that perhaps Daniel wasn't as awful as he thought he was, or maybe he was able to lapse into moments of humanity. After he disowns H.W., we see a short bit of Daniel being affectionate and horsing around with the child H.W., and it's so unbearably normal and human. Which Daniel is anything but.
KAT-TUN
+ Thanks to mixmin199 for the 'Lips' b-sides. I am crazy about "Love," and not so much about "Message for You." I'm never a fan of vocoder-like effects, and it's just so...light and pop. *shrug* "Love" is fantastic, however.
+ This week's cartoon: KAT-TUN was adorably fun, and I went a teeensy bit cap happy. I know this is entirely unnecessary for you guys, who have already seen and flailed, but sometimes I need to memorialize such things for myself. Sorry, only Kame this time.
Some points:
1. The film features an incredible intro sequence that lasts for probably ten minutes sans any dialogue and is really powerful for the combination of images and eerie music.
2. The film's score is FANTASTIC. Its function was much like another character in the film, and it vitally stood out - I think it's impossible to see this film and not feel the huge power that the music plays on the landscape and action taking place on screen - it doesn't just enhance the mood or provide a backdrop - it IS a landscape.
3. I was fascinated by how Daniel Plainview was so inhuman - he didn't seem to have any comprehension of humanity, of people - they were merely cogs in his machine, things to be used or to be stomped out of existence, and yet, he tells Henry "I can't do this alone." He needed to have a partner in order to feel like he had a grip, and that partner had to be "family" but the reality is that neither of the two partners he chose - first his son, and then his brother - were actually his family, and as such he could obliterate them all too easily, too.
Also, related to this is the fact that at the end there is a glimpse that perhaps Daniel wasn't as awful as he thought he was, or maybe he was able to lapse into moments of humanity. After he disowns H.W., we see a short bit of Daniel being affectionate and horsing around with the child H.W., and it's so unbearably normal and human. Which Daniel is anything but.
KAT-TUN
+ Thanks to mixmin199 for the 'Lips' b-sides. I am crazy about "Love," and not so much about "Message for You." I'm never a fan of vocoder-like effects, and it's just so...light and pop. *shrug* "Love" is fantastic, however.
+ This week's cartoon: KAT-TUN was adorably fun, and I went a teeensy bit cap happy. I know this is entirely unnecessary for you guys, who have already seen and flailed, but sometimes I need to memorialize such things for myself. Sorry, only Kame this time.