So…

Hey guys dunno if youve noticed, but haven’t been posting for quite a bit. Well, the long and short of it, i’ve moved to asdflyssghjk.blogspot.com
Soo ya know 🙂 check that out will ya? 🙂

the grand budapest hotel- 2013

i’ve watched this movie so many times, i can sing you the instrumental soundtrack.

i shit you not.

even typing out the words “the grand budapest hotel” launches me into an impromptu interpretation of the part where zero talks about his life began and the scene shifts to him walking in (the camera panning forward from above), m gustave (el voldy) talking about what a lobby boy is, l’air de panache, gustave’s sermon, deputy kovacs, mendl’s and agatha (mainly that last bit actually). i may have gone overboard with the details there but. lawdy lawd, i love this movie so much. it’s insane. the music is incredible, monsieur desplat.

irrelevantly, gustave is also a large crocodile from Burundi who ate people. just food for thought.

anyway this movie, as is most of wes anderson’s work actually, is incredibly aesthetically pleasing. the way he composes each frame, the colours (photochrom-like), the ostentatious-over the top decorations, the attention to detail, the costumes (the red trim on the gustave’s deep purple coat), how the camera moves and pans in vehicles and etc., the perfectly measured and constant spacings between characters as they move throughout the frames, the symmetry (an anal retentive’s wet dream), even the way he changes the aspect-ratio to signify different time periods. it’s incredible.

his style is just so unique and awe-evoking. just thinking about what must go on in his head is … *makes indecipherable sounds. he’s so creative and eccentric.

just so you know, most of the wide shot scenery scenes, and scenes of the exterior of buildings are actually of hand crafted miniatures and hand painted backgrounds.

internally screaming

HAH! TAKE THAT.

it’s not just the aesthetics too, it’s also his script, the way the characters are, how they’re introduced, how they deliver their lines. it’s awkward, definitely. but it’s awkward in a way that it’s also endearing, hilarious, and gosh, i don’t know. check it out and have a look at it yourself. the dialogue is incredibly witty, humorous, and enough to justify second, third, and fourth viewings (as if the aesthetics weren’t enough).

 

“Rudeness is merely the expression of fear. People fear they won’t get what they want. The most dreadful and unattractive person only needs to be loved, and they will open up like a flower. I’m reminded of a verse: ‘The painter’s brush touched the inchoate face with ends of nimble bristles.”

 

“The plot thickens, as they say. Why, by the way? Is it a soup metaphor?”

the casting itself is phwoar (yes, i’ve resorted to typing out sounds). i think it’s incredible, how he ridiculously gives well-known actors (willem dafoe, jason schwartzman, saorise ronan, adrian brody, owen wilson, jude law, bill murray, tilda swinton, jeff goldblum, edward norton, etc.) all these supporting roles (which sounds insane, actually) and yet, it comes off so well. each of them are memorable.

come with me. i can’t put it into words but i feel it.

did he just throw my cat out of the window?

.. granting you free and unmolested travel

you’re not getting ‘boy with apple’, you goddamn little fruit

why blonde?

we’re moving into a standard double on the third floor.

zero: is he flirting with you? agatha: yes.

there are glimpses of decency in this slaughterhouse that we used to call humanity, and what we aim to provide in our simple, humble, dignified… oh, fuck it.

don’t you know? don’t you recognise him?

out of all his films though, this has got to be my all time favourite.

#1 the grand budapest hotel

#2 the royal tenenbaums

#3 fantastic mr. fox (although i have mixed feelings about this one and have to go read the book again)

#4 the darjeeling limited

in a single word, wes anderson, his work, it’s just bizarre (the best kind of it).

i love how the film embodies how stories are so easily influenced by things, people. a single encounter with a person can create a work of art. it also shows us what time does to things; how some of the old magic and wonder is replaced as time passes, both sad and beautiful at the same. it reminds us of the immortalizing quality of stories and words.

so many things go on in the film, it’s so fast paced. it’s completely ridiculous. and yet, somehow, it all just fits. that’s anderson for you. the guns, the fast moving sequences, the chases, the emotions when zero talks about agatha and gustave, gustave eating alone in his room. it may seem superficial at first but when you really listen and look at what’s going on in the film. there are so many layers to it. the character gustave for instance. there are constant referrals to his bisexuality/homosexuality, and yet, it’s done in a way that it is so blatant and yet subtle. and no matter what, you can’t help but to love his character. everything about him, the deep purple, the liberal perfuming, everything. i honestly would like to see a homophobe’s reaction to this film. because i feel it is impossible to dislike this character.

i feel like gustave’s character embodies the idea that everyone has their flaws, they may be insecure, vain, prey on the insecurities of older women etc., but that does not mean they’re ugly people, dead inside, or that they’re any less worthy or anything. it just means that’s part of who they are. that’s just the way the world is. you just have to learn to accept that and move on, and try to be the best you can. and, i find that to be very real (i’m not articulating it properly, as per usual. but i hope you get what i mean).

ironically, the film itself is pretty far removed from reality, like the scene where zero and gustave sled after willem dafoe’s character. it looks completely unreal, a lack of real-world logic, like gravity or chaos theory. (for good reason, it was shot using clay models) but it’s beautiful all the same. i love it more for this, in fact. it’s like baz luhrman’s style in a way… although somehow that (baz luhrman, i mean) doesn’t work for me so much.

i know i’ve said this enough, but i really an running out of adjectives. it was incredible.

i’ve been trying to call out a favourite part of the film, but really that feels almost impossible. the entire film is just *indecipherable noises

i have a newfound respect for lord voldy. i honestly could not recognise him. the way he played gustave… he belonged there. i can’t ever see him as lord voldeypants anymore. he will always be M. Gustave H., the famed concierge of the establishment known as the grand budapest. he was the same as his disciples; rich, insecure, vain, superficial, blonde, needy. why blonde? because they all were.

that’s a wrap! (see what i did there? *dorky laughter)

finally, because if you haven’t seen it yet, you’d need this.

and this

i’m sorry, i tried to do a review, but i’ve just realised this was basically me screaming incoherently about how much i love the film. 

just watch it.

BAM. productivity! *bows

a hand is a container

only that its contents, can be anything. daily objects, subjectively priceless memorabilia, the traces of warmth left behind by another.

my take on this

psychopharmacokinesthesia

bow chicka wow wow

ethics down. objective was good, essay floored me. not like i didn’t have my points, i did. but when i had to write them down. .. thaaat didn’t go so well.

so now, we pray.

and get back to studying, because no one spends 1 hour eating 5 slices of pizza.

psychopharmacology tomorrow at 1100 hours. pray my brain can handle the chemicals.

ethical nosediving

procrastination nation. rocks. dead giant coral jellyfish. busan. arguments about the german word “ich”. hug revelations. jimjilbang hotel. 170813

on another note, i’ve got my ethics exam tomorrow. so that’s going to be “fun”. i’ve spent almost the whole day rolling on my bed trying to avoid studying but. well i don’t want to fail. so we’re going to have to do something about that.

alright, i’m off then.

i’m only human

because, obviously, exam times are when ideas and motivations to do anything (everything except the obvious, ie; studying) is at its peak. so, i’m going to try this again.

My laziness has pretty much prevented me from posting anything substantial here (blogposts, movie reviews and etcetera). so i’m going to try to do what i’ve been doing on my grid on vsco this whole time.
..along with hopefully, actual blog entries about things.

back to the point. i’m going to post photos with captions and dates from when they were taken. and try to describe it in several short bursts, whatever the picture reminded me of. I was going to go for 10 words, as that seemed like a pretty rounded number. but, i’ve been failing. so it’s just going to be a short paragraph of adjectives and some objects/actions etc. alright.

i’ll hashtag them with …. well ok, i’m boring so, #photography

 

Shibusa n. (渋さ)

Beauty that is simple, subtle and unobtrusive. Something or someone whose beauty grows with each look. That, which leads others to draw the beauty of it to the surface. That, which makes an artist of the viewer. Intricacy within simplicity, a paradox. The devil’s in the details.

 

So, i’ve decided to do a thing. let’s hope this continues.

 

 

It seems a little sad,

to leave it like this. hmmm.

“Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” – Paradise Cinema (1988)

i love their relationship

As a film about films, obviously one of the most prominent ideas was the role of film and how it’s changed. In the movie, film is first depicted as a huge event, a luxury shared by all the townsfolk. It’s also a place where things happen, where some parts of their lives are changed, like the guy who found love for example.

xeno [n.] the smallest measurable unit of human connection, typically exchanged between passing strangers- a flirtatious glance, sympathetic nod, a shared laugh about some odd coincidence- moments that are fleeting and random but still contain powerful emotional nutrients that can alleviate the symptom of feeling alone -the dictionary of obscure sorrows

I know it’s not a real word ish, but i love it and that’s what makes it real, check it out some time it’s really cool. And it embodies my feelings about this part of the movie (as it does with life in general) really well, to me at least. Anyway, back to the analysis. With the whole internet streaming and DVDs and etc., it’s kinda hard to think that at some point, film was actually this big. That people would actually go to the point to get their boats just to watch a movie. It seems tedious, but a lot more magical, and a lot more of a shared moment. In the movie, film is the one unifying thing where people who disagree, people of different classes and etc. congregate to one spot to celebrate the same thing. Thinking about it in relation to my own life.. Film is more like a perfunctory form of comfort, I mean yes, I love movies, the escapism and emotions etc. Compared to then though, a lot of the meaning is quite nonexistant.

this one really amazed me, and made me a little sad.

Overall, I really liked how Tornatore depicted the role of cinema. He depicts not only love and progress but also class differences and religion within the cinema. The class difference is clearly shown by the levels at which the people are seated (quite literally), the top level for the higher class while the bottom for the lower. One character sits on the top tier and just spits on those at the bottom (VERY LITERALLY). This is first met with moans of disagreement and later, as cinema changes, so do the people, and he is greeted with something nasty to the face.

The cinema played a huge role in changing the society,most apparent, when the cinema is bought over and censoring ceases. It was exaggerated (i hope haha) but there was a lot of masturbating and lets not forget the two people having sex. Oh, and the prostitute.

As for religion, the embodiment of religion in the form of the priest was very interesting. In a way, it felt as though Tornatore was mocking religion a little as the priest is this comical bumbling character who is easily duped and etc. I guess in a way this showed how little religion meant to Toto in the film.. like there are other things that are important, not just one’s religion. When the priest arrives too late to say goodbye, it’s as though religion didn’t matter that much to Toto and he was okay leaving it. I could be wrong though. But this brings me to that scene as a whole. From that alone, it’s very apparent who’s important to Toto, not his family (although to a certain degree, of course) but Alfredo. It was the longest and most heartwarming. It’s sad that his relationship with his mother and sister is almost nil though.

In a way, Alfredo was living vicariously through Toto, keeping track of his successes and etc. Giving him advice… in relation to Erikson’s stages, Alfredo is no doubt depicted in both the final two, Generativity vs Stagnation and Ego Integrity vs Despair. He nurtures Toto, making his life better (especially when his somewhat abusive mother comes into view), giving him advice to “make sure” Toto lives a better life than he did. Based on the theory, it’s possible that he did this because he needed to achieve feelings of usefulness and meaning in his life, to leave a mark. Keeping all Toto’s achievements and etc. on the other hand is evidence of the latter stage, where it is important to feel a sense of fulfillment and wisdom. I feel the film depicted these stages quite well actually, very accurate.

Alfredo’s advice and realisations

About the advice Alfredo gives Toto, the whole not looking back and etc. It’s well-meaning , but a little off. I feel the director wants to highlight this. For instance, the quote about the thread breaking. At the end of the movie, it’s only partially true. Some things change, some don’t. This is shown quite literally when Toto’s mother stops knitting and greets him . Her knitting unravels, the thread follows her  but it never breaks. Not everything changes, the past should not be completely forgotten. Maybe Alfredo realises this and that’s why he splices the scenes together and presents it to Toto at his death. Not only a promise, but also a realisation that while one must move forwards, it is important not to forget the past as well. I read something somewhere “the present only makes sense when looked through eyes of the past”.

Toto and Alfredo, I feel, were the human manifestations of cinema (sounds really ridiculous as I’m typing this). Toto, obviously, the new cinema (OH! MAYBE THAT’S WHY IT’S TITLED NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO. IT’S BECAUSE IT’S ABOUT NEW CINEMA AKA TOTO. OH THAT WOULD BE COOL. sorry, sudden eureka! moment :B) learns everything and adapts what he’s learnt from Alfredo (old cinema). I’m going to stick by this idea, IT’S SO OBVIOUS NOW. I mean, come on, the cinema is demolished right at Alfredo’s death. It’s really beautiful, even thinking about it this way, both form of cinema’s act and learn from each other.

One of the sad parts of this was the fact that with all Alfredo’s guiding and etc. Toto still doesn’t really have a very satisfied life. He has all the material things, but as Dr Goh said, his life is somewhat empty, lacking in love and losing meaning? That may be taking it a little far though. But that’s how it sort of is with change and such, especially modernisation (Eat, Drink, Man, Woman/Dances With Wolves). As time passes, people become inherently more demanding and also unhappy with the new lifestyle. Although everyone starts out yearning for a more sophisticated way of life (which ironically is what the movies brought) they begin to feel less satisfied and crave for simpler times, looking for harmony and deeper meaning.

this part. gosh.

When we first see Toto in the city, the atmosphere is a little bleak, like he’s lost some of this meaning in life. He had followed Alfredo’s advice to the T, went off, did what he loved and never looked back. He was successful, something that probably might have eluded him if he had stayed (we are affirmed when Toto looks at all the faces of the patrons of the cinema, who have aged but remained more or less the same). That’s probably true, but he also missed out on solid relationships and love..  But upon setting foot back in his village, watching the roll of spliced together scenes of individuals embracing (all the censored parts of film he has been promised), it’s become clear for him again. His passion, love, and his meaning in life. That was really beautiful, and a perfect scene really. To me the director is trying to say that different things are important to different people and that human connection and success are serious commitments that require sacrifices, but also that each are no less than the other.

To me, the film overall is simply “ok” but there are so many notable instances in the films that on their own evoke a lot of emotion. I’ve mentioned most of my favourites already but there’s one more. Alfredo showing Toto “magic”(using a mirror), how the director showed this part was simply magical. Letting the camera follow the path of the projection until it ended up on the wall of a building far away. I loved that. On the topic of change, another interesting thing is how romance and gender roles have changed since then. Back then, the role of women was a lot closer to nice things to be procured (this is putting it crudely), the main part of their lives consisting of mainly effort directed to pleasing men. This is quite annoyingly obvious in the film where almost all female characters are supplementary. They’re just there to move the story along, defined by their relationship to the men in the film (but I do realise it’s period accurate so…). Back to the point, it’s really quite amazing how things have changed, like the gender roles, equality and whatnot. But to me, the most intriguing part is how romance has changed.

It’s very stereotypically romantic and all, but at this point,they had barely interacted and knew almost nothing about each other, which makes it seem purely based on superficial attraction (at least it seemed like it). In movies it’s sort of different because the characters in this case are “meant for each other”, but in real life?

On the romance side, i think i actually blame the internet and media in general, a little bit. Hear me out. Because of all the readily available information and etc, we become more aware of things and in a way much more self-conscious and question everything we do. This is good i guess, because it does mean we’re taking a lot more into consideration. But in a way, it makes it harder, and I kind of feel for guys a little bit. A lot of us are very guarded nowadays, we fear being hurt or hurting others. I would describe the current trend as anxious-avoidant. Also, a lot of romantic lines (usually about attractiveness) have now been dubbed creepy. From one point, it makes it seem as though its solely based on looks which sounds horrible, but from another point, it’s a way to get closer and to find out more about a person. Because the first thing we may see about a person, is actually their looks. Still, brings about a lot of awkward uncomfortableness and etc. During romantic parts in films in general, the ones we’ve watched in class (there happen to be quite a lot), my friend would always groan and cover her eyes and express distaste for it. It’s all very strange. She’s done that for literally every single romantic gesture in all the films we’ve watched. Wish I could explain it better, but I hope you sort of get what I mean.

this was by far my favourite.

Also, gosh, the soundtrack! It’s so amazing watching all this films and realising these were the origins of the music scores I listened to. Music plays such a huge role in evoking and tying emotions to the film honestly. And maybe it was just me, but I do think part of the nostalgia I felt from the film was mainly because of the soundtrack. – Melodramatic music like this actually has been found to increase likability of characters and also confidence in the character’s thoughts. In a way, this sounds very manipulative, the idea that we may think a film is good or like a certain character just because of the influence of the soundtrack. hmmm, food for thought – My mom, an avid fan of Josh Groban (I swear, she would marry him if she could) always played his cover of the main theme of the movie (the opera sing-y versions of course). Like before with Chariots of Fire, I never realised these songs actually came from movies. It’s really cool witnessing it in its origins, the contexts they were meant for.

so cheeky

I think I was most taken by the young Toto’s (Salvatore Cascio) parts. His acting was so loveable and felt quite real. I did not really like the middle part of the movie. The romance parts somehow totally evaded me, so cheesy and just made me shiver, which brings me again to the perplexing thought of how perspectives on romance have changed (at least for me?.. or collectivistic conservative cultures). I watched a short film by WongFu recently on youtube (they’re really good, I’m sure you know) about how grand romantic gestures and stalking are basically the same thing, the only thing setting them apart: attraction. Seems kind of sad really. Such a fitting ending to the screenings in film class, a film about films. And now, our own screenings yikes! It’s childish and I am aware that “Fine” is the Italian version of “Fin” and “The End”, but it’s still hilarious when it pops up on screen. It’s as though the screen is mad at all of us and just wants to end the conversation with one final word of disapproval

“FINE”.

now, some images of the film that have been recoloured. Just because they are very much visually pleasing. Recolouring and colour grading seems so magical to me honestly, it completely changes the tone of the film (i use the word completely in a very lightly here). It’s incredible, like some sort of art form. it has to be. I will learn how to do this one day.

I’m sorry it got so long. I got very carried away. :I

Anyway, thanks for everything guys 🙂 you guys have been super helpful and everything and really fun to work with, learn from etc. 🙂 Had an awesome time. Hope you guys did too.

“La vita e bella”- Life is Beautiful (1997)

This may honestly be one of my favourite films to date, and also the only Italian film I’ve ever watched. For some reason, the whole holocaust thing seemed confined to just one area (yes, ignorance mmhmm) and I had never imagined it in any other context, much less in Italy.

I have so many feelings about this film, I’m having trouble articulating them into actual coherent sentences. It’s just mind-blowing really, how good it is.

Although at first, Guido seems like a very silly and ridiculous character, somewhat brushing off all the warning signs of the upcoming holocaust with humour. Everything that happens almost seem like unrealistic coincidences, and while they are to some effect, it is portrayed in a way where we realise he actually picks up on all these small details and mould them so they fit his insanely positive and dreamlike ideas of reality, with his quick wit and stubbornness. We see that he’s actually someone with a lot of foresight and also someone who has found a deeper meaning in life and is determined to live out his life according to that.

We expect his optimism to fade when he’s in the concentration camp, maybe this story is about how one must face the harsh realities of life. It doesn’t. Instead he tries even harder.

earlier

in the concentration camp

The enthusiasm never fades, only grows. This can be interpreted in two ways, one that he is completely disillusioned and prefers to live solely in his world where magical coincidences happen, or two, that he is an incredibly resilient father and husband who maintains his facades for the sake of his son. The latter brings me to the subject of protecting innocence (but we’ll get to that later). Obviously, I prefer the second. It’s not that he doesn’t realise the situation he’s in and is ignorant of it, it’s just that he realises the importance of other things, like to satisfy his meaning in life in relation to his wife and son… and another thing, for love. (ngawsshhhhhh <3) We see this time and time again where he shapes situations into something better for his wife and child, displaying great bravery as well. For instance, when he was a waiter at the camp, he noticed a gramophone and started broadcasting a song for his wife, even though she may not hear it, even though he may be caught and punished.

the last thing he does for his son

We see this to a greater effect in relation to Giosue (Joshua) his son. He creates crazy elaborate alternate realities for his son to shield him from the horrors of the current situations, twisting the concentration camp horrors into a game where the winner gets a tank. While this may be bad in the long run, one can understand why he would do so, although the lengths he goes to is a little insane sometimes. For some reason, maybe evolutionary or just out of love, people are inclined to go to great lengths to protect the innocence of children. In this case, he hides his own fears, masking it with an overdone sense of joy for his child.

However, there are instances where despite this, I feel, Giosue does know something is up. It’s not really obvious but we do see a sort of realisation in his eyes, but his love and admiration for his dad helped him go with it. Despite the corniness, it’s amazing what love can make people do. This made the scene where the tank coincidentally appeared more impactful. It’s like, a final thing that Guido could not have in any way planned.

his faith in his dad is restored in its fullness blah

I read this study once which was interesting, about how just thinking about childhood, good or bad, invokes the idea of innocence and promotes prosocial behaviour (ok, it’s quite unrelated to this, but it’s really an interesting study ahaha).

It almost seems like he doesn’t realise the gravity of his situation as he looks almost deliriously happy while he’s in the camp. But he does, and these are one of the instances where we actually see his facade drop. We watch as he realises what happening, like when he first sets foot into the camp room and etc. his facade drops and we see the real person. As many others will probably say, it’s quite amazing how such a dark event can be portrayed alongside such humour and comedy. It’s even more amazing that he manages to do so without making a mockery of the event and while the humour is present throughout, we still see the darkness the holocaust brings (subtly, but isn’t that always lovely? :D) For instance, even through the lightness of the first half, we see hints of the eventual holocaust, such as the facism perpetuated by shop owners, the green horse, the math questions in school.

educating the children about superiority and fascism

But we see Guido sort of fighting the system, trying to educate the kids in a fascist classroom using his humour, showing us his political stance right from the start. In a way that makes him look silly, and yet he’s not. He speaks the truth, about superiority in a way young kids can understand, and it is there we realise he’s actually much more than just a ridiculous person. He’s actually well aware of the happenings, but chooses not to focus on them in their negativity.

*insert bad word here*

“Fat, fat, ugly, ugly, all yellow in reality.

If you ask me what I am, I answer ‘quan, quan, quan’.

Walking along, I go ‘poo poo’.

What am I? Tell me true.”

Guido’s reaction to that riddle is just… heartbreaking and one can imagine why. In a time where he has to lie to his son on a daily basis, making the holocaust seem like an amazing reality, this doctor has the audacity to come to him asking for his help, even saying “help me, I can’t sleep at night because of this”. Ughhhh. The triviality of the doctor’s “problems”, if it can even be called that, is just infuriating. Although the doctor does nothing overtly terrible, he treats everyone sort of with respect etc., his acceptance/ ignorance to whatever is happening to the Jews at that time/ his absence of guilt is just…. The doctor’s character to me symbolises how the holocaust is perpetuated by people. Some actively participate (cognitive dissonance yadda yadda) but a large majority of good seeming people… they simply stood by and accepted the happenings. This actually reminded me of the mayor’s suicide in Mississippi Burning, anyone who lets these things happen is just as guilty as the facists who pull the trigger.

Although this instance is enough to explain Guido’s expression of sad realisation and disbelief, there’s actually more to it. The answer to the riddle (by a Nazi) is actually, yeah, “a Jew”. And now, it makes sense, the yellow, the degrading description ( also, ‘quan’ is spelt as ‘coin’ in italian, referring to money).

Silence is the most powerful cry,

is it really? I don’t know.

they were safe