Film Talk // Back to black

There's a noticeable trend happening in the movies lately. Ever since The Artist won the Best Picture Oscar back in 2012 it reminded audiences around the world how exciting and beautifully cinematic it is to shoot films in black and white.

Spring Breakers // Flashing Lights

Spring Breakers

Directed by Harmony Korine

Starring Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Korine, Ashley Benson and James Franco

This review contains spoilers

First, I'm going to try and describe the film in one paragraph. I'm not going to summarise what happens because you can probably do that in one sentence. I'm going to describe it by what the experience of watching it was like because the film is essentially an experience. The kind that is hard to forget.

Film Talk // A ticket for one please

I just got back from seeing an incredible play called Midsummer and I went alone. 

Film Talk // The allure of the flawed man

The first time we see Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire we see it behind Blanche. Once she sets her eyes upon him we notice an undeniable sense of fear but also a flicker of animalistic attraction. Being the prim and proper condescending canary bird that she is, she quickly suppresses this unexpected desire for such a common man.

Then he takes his jacket off.

We see that tiny flicker come back to life, and as quickly as it came, it is extinguished.

Let me just say I did not share this same push-pull inner conflict Blanche had towards Stanley.

My attraction started with a flicker. Then it burst into flames. And it continued that way throughout the entire film, only slightly stifled by that brief drunken rage he unleashed on poor Stella.

Of course, that irresistibly mesmerizing STEEEELLLLLAAAAA scene played right after that and I was back on track.

He looked like a poor, dampened lamb. So very cute and sincerely sorry. I use the term sincerely with hesitation because I’m not entirely sure if he was sorry -domestic violence is unforgivable anyway - but let’s not deny the powerful attraction of a man with a ripped t-shirt. There is something so attractive about someone who is evidently flawed.

Stella said it herself. The first night in their home after their wedding, he smashed all the light bulbs with the heel of her slippers. “You didn’t run, or scream?”, Blanche asks her. “Actually, I was thrilled by it”, Stella replies back.

Now that we’re talking about flawed men, let’s not forget Paul Newman from A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He is undoubtedly sexiest alcoholic in film history. Like Stanley, he too is extremely troubled.

And the poor little thing is hopping around with his broken leg, you just want to help him.

I imagine myself coming face to face with him and smelling the stench of his alcoholic breath. Quickly forgetting about it half a second later just by glancing at his exquisite Mediterranean sea-blue eyes.

*sigh*

P.S. I just read through this blog post and it is overloaded with sexual innuendos that I did not even intend. Sorry.

Image Credits: Marlon Brando, Paul Newmam, This is a repost from my previous blog, FILM MUSIC ART

Film Talk // California dreaming

In Wong Kar-Wai's film Chungking Express, he explores ideas of love and the passing of time. While most films are made in about a year, Wong produced Chungking Express in two months. He had spare time because of production delays for another film so he decided to make another one while he waited. The short production time produced an interesting sense of youthful impulse. Free from premeditated planning, Wong produced a film that exudes a kind of liberating force - one that completed scripts and pre-production can easily spoil.

This spontaneity recalls the same of-the-moment feeling that Godard's film Breathless had. Both directors just picked up a camera and shot enigmatic and attractive young actors with a bare script to guide them. The end results in two of the most compelling and unexpectedly insightful films about life, love, time and people.

Even two of the female leads are so similar. Both have pixie haircuts, a feminine symbol of self-assurance, and both possess this undefined way of enthralling and mesmerising the audience and the men they attract.

Watch this clip of Faye Wong dancing to California Dreamin'. Don't you see a bit of Jean Seberg in there?

This is a repost from my previous blog, FILM MUSIC ART

Film Talk // That was a great film. It had no plot.

I don't usually quote people in here but I just had to post this one by one of my favourite directors. He says he doesn't like to engage in telling stories. Obviously as a filmmaker this is inevitable. No matter how bare the plot is or how very little happens in a film - if anything at all - it will still produce some remnant of a story. I think what he means is he doesn't try to tell a story first. It's not his primary objective when making a film. 

You hear it all the time: story comes first. In some films, yes, but in the best ones, no. For me, film as a medium has a transformative power that goes beyond merely telling a story or portraying a character. Other mediums do this well, if not better. I've walked out a number of times from a cinema thinking that that film would have worked better as a novel. Or I would love to see that character on a stage production.

What film does best is this: its makers capture life and the world through the lens. The audience sits down and watches it, bringing their own experiences, frustrations and pleasures of their life and their world. Then as the film passes through our eyes and ears it changes a little part of ourselves and our perceptions.

Through the combination of image and sound, we walk out with our moods changed. Whether for better or for worse, it doesn't matter. My favourite films have always been the ones that are more concerned about setting a particular atmosphere, either through the 'look' of the film, the editing and even to something small like how the film is paced. The tone of the film must always come first. Story and character can follow after but if the tone is off, the entire film falls apart. All the good films have a certain tone or mood that can leave us feeling angry, sad, jovial, confused, etc.

The bad ones leave us feeling indifferent. 

This is a repost from my previous blog, FILM MUSIC ART

Film Talk // Little White Lies

Look what came in the mail today! This is Issue 36 of Little White Lies. Yes, I know Issue 37 is already out but it takes forever to send a magazine from London all the way to Down Under. I love the films of Pedro Almodovar and I'm glad the very first issue I'm going to be reading is focused on his new film The Skin I Live In.

I have a thing for magazines with beautiful matte pages that feel more like you're holding a book than a magazine. Who likes glossy pages anyway? Not me.

On a side note, I've noticed that my blog has evolved and has turned more visually orientated so I've decided to create a Flickr account to accompany this blog.

Click here for Flickr. Add me as a contact/friend!

Make sure you catch up with the latest movie releases and enjoy your favourite movies again at lovefilm.com. Visit the site today and take advantage of a free trial when you sign up!

All images are owned by me and cannot be reused without my permission

Film Talk // Criterion Haul

My last Barnes and Noble box full of Criterions arrived yesterday and it's time to show you my full haul!

Unfortunately, I'm currently in assignment mode for uni and I've only been able to watch a couple but my favourites so far are Onibaba (a creepy, atmospheric Japanese film that looks incredible in glorious black and white) and Bicycle Thieves (one of the most important films from the Italian neorealist movement).

Images are all owned by me and cannot be reused without permission. This is a repost from my previous blog FILM MUSIC ART