Hard Candy

Grim film with Ellen Page as a 14 yo taking revenge on a pedophile.

Explicit use of strong colours and repeating camera movements. Particularly the visual effect was interesting in the beginning, but it began to slightly wear off after a while.

There was a sudden change in colorisation (enough to make me wonder whether my TV was doing something weird) but it was probably meant to emphasize the change in mood. Should not be necessary.

Was a bit doubtful how believable his suicide in the end (persuaded by her, since his crimes would come out) was, but it was ok.

Interesting.

"Elf Minuten" (Noord Nederlands Toneel)

naar boek van Paulo Coelho

bewerking: Ko van der Bosch

Erg indrukwekkend. Pijnlijk.

Ikigami (2008)

A society injects its children in the age of 6 to 8 years old with a nano-device that in one out of a 1000, explodes when they are between 18 and 24 years old. The selecting process is totally random and its purpose is to force the population to realise the importance and value of life itself. The unfortunate people who will die, are notified 24 hours in advance, during which all their expenses are paid by the government and they can have a wonderful final day with their family and beloved.

The protagonist starts working at the agency that serves people their death notice, and during the course of the film, various situations arise: a simple revenge for humiliation during childhood, a brother, bit of a slum but with a heart of gold, who wants his blind sister to get the cornea of his eyes but has to pull a difficult trick to make sure she doesn't know he will die. A politician, once actively against the procedure but with her "wrong thoughts corrected", actively arguing it is a wonderful way to really enjoy life, until her own son dies. A recently discovered star, singing on television during the last minutes of his life...

The "thought correction" reminds of Orwell's 1984, forcefully changing someone's psyche, though the question remains whether no traces are left...

A wonderful film with gripping moments, for example the scene where the brother, in a happy voice but with tears streaming down his face, tells his sister everything's gonna be well after her surgery. Good score too, though it is nothing fancy or special, it perfectly "suits" the film.

The whole film tends to "feel" very Japanese. This sounds silly, it being a Japanese film and all that, but it really feels like it is made by Japanese for Japanese people. Visually, with many angles and shots that reminded me of anime, story-wise, its pace, its style.

By the way, it was originally a (6-episode?) comic and manga.

Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast Trilogy

Three fantastic books, but the third volume can't compete with the first two. Whether that is due to the fact that it was finished (by using an once-edited transcript sent to the publisher with the author's notes) post mortem or whether its style and story simply does not appeal to me as much as the castle of Gormenghast does, I do not know.

Its style is definitely different from the other two books. Lavish descriptions and comparisons still bloom throughout the story, but they seem less natural, more like a trick. Perhaps that is my fault of reading all three in a row though.

But in general, I loved the story, the characters, the strange atmosphere, the 

"The Doctor (for it was Prunesquallor) showed about as much sign of having a pair of hips as an eel set upon its end, while Irma, in white silk, had gone out of her way, it appeared, to exhibit to their worst advantage (her waist being ridiculously tight) a pair of hips capable of balancing upon their osseous shelves enough bric-a-brac to clutter up a kleptomaniac's cupboard."

"It was as if those faraway days when they were lovers came flooding back, image upon image, shade upon shade, unsolicited, unbidden, each one challenging the strength of the dykes which they had built against one another. For they knew that beyond the dykes heaved the great seas of sentiment on whose bosom they had lost their way."

"He does not listen for an answer, but yawns, his face opening lewly upon regions compared with which nudity becomes a milliner's invention."

The Frivolous Cake

A freckled and frivolous cake there was
That sailed upon a pointless sea,
Or any lugubrious lake there was
In a manner emphatic and free.
How jointlessly, and how jointlessly
The frivolous cake sailed by
On the waves of the ocean that pointlessly
Threw fish to the lilac sky.

Oh, plenty and plenty of hake there was
Of a glory beyond compare,
And every conceivable make there was
Was tossed through the lilac air.

Up the smooth billows and over the crests
Of the cumbersome combers flew
The frivolous cake with a knife in the wake
Of herself and her curranty crew.
Like a swordfish grim it would bounce and skim
(This dinner knife fierce and blue])),
And the frivolous cake was filled to the brim
With the fun of her curranty crew.

Oh, plenty and plenty of hake there was
Of a glory beyond compare -
And every conceivable make there was
Was tossed through the lilac air.

Around the shores of the Elegant Isles
Where the cat-fish bask and purr
And lick their paws with adhesive smiles
And wriggle their fins of fur,
They fly and fly 'neath the lilac sky -
The frivolous cake, and the knife
Who winketh his glamorous indigo eye
In the wake of his future wife.

The crumbs blow free down the pointless sea
To the beat of a cakey heard
And the sensitive steel of the knife can feel
That love is a race apart
In the speed of the lingering light are blown
The crumbs to the hake above,
And the tropical air vibrates to the drone
Of a cake in the throes of love.

Zombieland (2009)

Yes, well, uhm, did I like it?

It's too long ago. Guess it was ok (... or was it)

12 Angry Men (1957)

Don't think I've ever seen it, but now, finally. And indeed it's a wonderful piece.

There were pieces of dialogue, rather repetitions of dialogue, I did not find too believable, but, for example, how they all literally turn their back on the angry old guy, is a wonderful piece of performance.

I tried to focus on dialogue and shots, getting a feeling for the rhythm, how they used shots, close-ups, &etc to tell this story, but I must admit I did follow the story thoroughly and this kept me from focussing on the "meta-side" most of the time.

Wonderful film.

Pirates Of The Caribbean - At World's End (2007)

Yes, it's over the top. Yes, when I'm serious and harsh I should judge this film not worthy of my time, blabla, &etc &etc.

God curse the critics, hell is being their comrade (sorry Sartre).

Sucker for this kind of film. First, because it's over the top, but (most of it) in a good way. They didn't overdo the slapstick comedy as much as the second part, they did stretch and complexify (is that a verb) the storyline too much, yet at least characters -do- something.

Loved the Ennio Morricone tribute when the East Indian Company and the pirates meet.

How can Barbossa steal Jack Sparrow's "9 pieces of 8"-piece when before it was strongly urged that a pirate Muss Pass It On When He Dies?

The weddingscene; over the top, yet..funny. Shoot me.

Don't blabber on about character arcs. You like sex because you want to climax, be honest and face it. Geez.

Wonderful Days (2003)

It's been six years since I've seen this film for the first time, screened at B2 of Cinerama during the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. It still does not cease to amaze me.

First of all, the visuals are simply astonishing. The feeling of depth, space, the details of the textures, they are amazing. One shot, about two-third into the film, of falling rain, simply -must- be 'real', that good.

All in all, there are 'bad details'. Certain quite unbelievable coincedences, a man who disappears under a truck and never is his body seen again. 

But watch the end and you either completely agree or completely disagree: this film and its story, it is not about exact, believable storylines and plots. It is an opera or a Shakespeare play: everybody knows the story, nobody doesn't mind the little tricks they tried to pull off, it doesn't matter. It is -how- they do it, -how- they show and tell the story.

Again and again, amazing.

Paprika

Skipped this one over a couple of times, but I can not remember why. Too chaotic, while life itself was already busy and I wanted something "simple"?

Nevertheless, the story about the ability to enter and change dreams, the kidnapping of this by an evil mind and the subsequent merging of reality and dreams, is well told. Such a story could easily collaps in a chaotic mix of real-vs-dream, and it does happen in the end that you have no idea "where" you are, but all in all, they keep a tight grip on their story and through that, the internal logic.

Some nice visual images, characters interesting enough.

Wandâfuru raifu (Afterlife) (1998)

When people die, they have to find the happiest moment of their life. It will be recreated on film and from that moment on, they "relive" that life forever.

An elegant story and some intriguing moments. Some people find it easy, some people do not want to choose. Almost no-one chooses the moment they originally thought they would choose.

In many ways, the story is told in a simple way. The re-enactments are very simple, very basic, almost to the point that you can't imagine that it looks anywhere near their original experience. But thinking back, that does not matter. It is probably no more than a catalyst that helps them to enter 'heaven'.

One character, a youth, seems almost bitter that there is no good or evil. There simply is 'heaven'. "So everyone comes here?" he asks, "No matter what they've done?" They don't explore moral questions like these much, and personally I think that it would've been interesting. But there are some personal issues involving the people who work there (who turn out to be unable to choose) and one of them, after working there for decades, finally decides upon his moment. He leaves behind a very sad and distraught co-worker but the viewer realises: everyone will find their 'perfect moment', sooner or later.

Every time I watch Japanese (/Asian) films with old characters, I can hardly believe they are actors. Perhaps because physically they really seem so old, perhaps they act simply much better, or in a way foreign enough to me that I simply accept they are 'real'.

Das Leben der Anderen

DDR, 1984. Poet Dreyman becomes the subject of Stasi scrutiny out of personal, old-man's reasons of a high Stasi-officer. "HGW XX/7", the officer sent to listen in to every second of his private life, starts making his own assumptions and decisions.

A truly wonderful film. Characters as you seldom see them. The diversity of HGW XX/7, first bad, then good, then pushed to evil again, finally climbing up towards the Great Good, is amazing. There are few flat characters, and those who are there, minister Bruno Hempf, are there with a reason: they were those charicatures. They didn't have depth, just eye for their own gradual climbing.

Loved it.

Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

I watched "Ocean's 13" because... I didn't want to think. Didn't want to analyse people, their traits, character, ananchronisms. The story, its plot-devices, its story-telling, the originality of characters, the...

oh what the hell. I was tired. I just wanted something easy.

In a way, "Ocean's 13" provided "something easy". And, I noticed I couldn't stop analysing. Now, some of the acting was just plain bad, even, a moment or two, of YYYYYYYYY, someone I'm not used to see in bad acting.

The dialogues, though good at times, were painful at moments.

What they aimed for: people who knew the characters, expected this storyline.

So: keep. people. interested.

No, rather: keep them _curious_. Hint!

Provide difficulties. Provide difficulties even they, with all their smart moves and brain, couldn't foresee. Then, make the viewer feel good: they _did_ foresee it. And they even did it out of the goodness of their heart... (yeah, too bad).

Good vs. Evil, even when Good is not legitimate good. We're talking about Real Good here. Good isn't the law. Good is what you'd like your friends to do when you're in trouble. This film did this well.

Provide arrogance, smoothness, sweet talking and easy action. Provide a world people never entered, but think exist and desperately want to be a part of it.

That's Hollywood. It's all so simple.

I still want something non-analysable. Better switch to Playboy channel.

Misori (1992)

Girl joins fairground after she has lost her parents. She's abused, physically and mentally, until a dwarf joins the troupe and saves her from the malicious freaks of the fairground. They fall in love, marry, and seem to find a happy ending...

But just not yet. The end has a particularly estranged sequence when she runs through a town where her husband was planning to buy some food for the journey. Unknown to her, he is killed by a robber. Her crazy run takes place in a town that seems utterly strange. In the end she suddenly sees him with her old "mates" from the fairground, just laughing at her... Was it all just an illusion? (The dwarf is capable of that.) I couldn't say for sure.

Very simple animation, mostly sounds or small details that move, full-body movements are shown using a few sildes per second, nothing fancy, yet definitely distinct.

Supposed to be a ero-cult, partly manga, film. 

Again I watch something disturbing while in a disturbed mood.

Up! (2009, Pixar)

Wonderful film. Little gem, if only for the first 10 minutes.

They did it again. Though I think that, if it could somehow be compared, "Wall-E" and "Finding Nemo" blew me "more away" (what's the superlative? "... it blewer me away"?), I loved this film. The importance of and love for details, the rough-angled old guy versus soft-rounded youth, the fact that their physical appearance isn't the most realistic one and that it doesn't matter. I'm not sure whether it's brave or simply logical to do so, but it focusses on the story, the scenery, the settings by taking a great leap over the uncanny-valley (ok, this is an outrageous comparison, it actually proves the theory of the uncanny valley, but nevermind, I'm being lyrical here, alright?)

The dogs; I didn't mind their "talking trick" too much, but the fight in the airplanes were slightly overdone. Suddenly they became merely jokes, instead of a okay-ish group of side-characters.

Saw it in "3D" and it worked pretty well. I hope the balloon-guys optimised the collision-detection algorithm, otherwise...

But, those first ten minutes. Ten minutes in which two lifetimes floated across your eyes. They portrayed life down to its simplicity and beauty. Love, loss, hope, dreams, crying and laughing together after those have gone. It was one of the few perfect life-passing-by shots I have ever seen. I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean.

That, and the moment immediatly afterwards, when he screechingly slow lowers himself on the stairs-elevator on the music of Bizet's "Habanera" (Carmen).

I wonder whether my admiration for those first 10 minutes comes from the fact that I could never write such a thing - it was too gentle, too perfect, too ... sad? I could do sad, but not the other two - or whether it simply touched a certain spot just behind my eyes.


first ten minutes: 9.5
rest: 8

9 (2009)

Beautifully crafted dolls, wonderful details. Knitted puppets, bestowed with (a part of) the soul of their creator, struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world from which humanity was wiped out by its own doing.

Moody with the occassional light note. Bit unbelievable coincedence / improbabiliy of events, "suddenly noticing" something, etc. 

Story parallel with the humans who once destroyed themselves.

Produced by Tim Burton. Created by the same team that did "Coraline", so I guess I really do have to see that one as well (its DVD got 5 out of 5 stars recently). Directed by Shane Acker, who did animation on LoTR. 

8.

Moon (2009)

A moodpiece. Lonely man on the moon, fulfilling a 3 year contract, suddenly finds his own clone.. and realises he himself is a clone.

It can't be helped that there are strong reminders of "Do Androids Dream Of Electronic Sheep?" and the like. Is man more than the sum of his memories? This film does not provide an answer. One could argue that, since one of the clones manages to destroy the blocking antennae and escape in a pod to Earth, he is.

But he merely responds to new information, so one could argue that, still, man is nothing more, but.

Music: Clint Mansell. Obviously, it was perfect. Kevin Spacey as the robot. Good voice.

I realised you need reoccurring scenes to establish routine first, only to show something is different later.

To me, the film wasn't too much about existentialism, though there are definitely anchors and pointers to fire up a discussion, it was a classical moodpiece with unity of time, place and character.

A film to ponder about when you walk out of the cinema, to relish its feeling, its mood.

The Cat Piano

http://www.thepra.com.au/Content.aspx?p=117

A wonderful dark jazzy tale of cats and an evil man who snatches them away to create his devilish "cat piano". Narrated by Nick Cave, simple animation with only a few colourtones per scene, it is beautiful.

The animation seemed somewhere between old-fashioned and flash-web, probably produced with tools of the latter by people who really know what they are doing.

Ponyo on a cliff by the sea

The latest from Hayao Miyazaki, studio Ghibli

It's a nice piece, happy, bubbly (literally) but a whole lot more aimed towards children. Or rather, less aimed at adults. The dark undercurrents that were so typical of his other films, are almost completely gone here.

Still, reading through some trivia, one can't help but marvel at the beauty and craftmanship:

• The opening 12 seconds, involving vast schools of fish and undersea creatures, required 1613 pages of conceptual sketches to develop.

Millenium: mannen die vrouwen haten (Män som hatar kvinnor) (2009)

The books are said to (become) a big hit. They're huge. LoTR style.

I must admit I read some reviews, all of them positive, before watching the film, but those didn't spoil it.

Haven't read the books, some of my family have and they considered them ok, but one quote I remember well: the reviewer actually prefers the shortcut the film needs to take to the extensive description of literally every character offered by the book(s).

I wouldn't say I am as lyrical about it as some of the people I've met, but it is definitely a good film. Gripping at moments, a high pace. The style one could describe as typically Scandinavian; cold, winter, bleak colours, but this is also due to the setting of the story.

There is one plot instrumentum that I wasn't too happy with. It becomes obvious that while "sidekick" Lisbeth Salander (she's much more than that, a stronger personality than Mikael Blomkvist, which is part of the whole male vs female discussion that the book/film raise) discovers who the murderer is, he of course is just at the house of the killer. And is caught by him. And yes (no! you groan) she manages to save him at the very last moment.

Yes, go on, give me crap about timing and suspence, but it ruined the fairly realistic tone that was established. This single plot device suddenly turns you around and you see the Hollywood cardboards, the effects, ... 

But that sounds too harsh. I truly liked the film.

Mono - "Hymn to the Immortal Wind" (album)

Where did I get this album from? X-Rated suggestion?

Long, chaotic, running-wild soundscapes. Bit busy to the ears, but not bad.

The songs, for example "Burial At Sea", feel like a 5min bombastic song that has been stretched into 15-20min. It is slow, yet progressively overwhelming.

There are wonderful parts, but a bit too excessive and repeating. At least, while one is supposed to be working.