Midnight in Paris

If there is one thing that I like about Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen, 2011)  it is the treatment of time. The film plays with time in the sense that the protagonist "travels" to the past for a certain amount of time, every night when a car passes through the same street.

I do like Woody Allen. I find his style very interesting, but he reminds me to the writer Paul Auster, since both are always using the same kind of story again and again and... the reader of viewer find themselves reading or watching a film or a book that has a different title but is, essentially, the same as all their works before. 

Peter's friends

Peter's friends (Kenneth Branagh, 1992)  tells the story of six old friends who first met in England, where the film takes place. They have the first meeting for the first time in years. To let us know how they became friends, the film starts with a flashback of the times they met, when they shared all their life and meant everything for each other.

The main attraction of the film is the appearance of famous faces of the British television: the comedian Stephen Fry and the popular Hugh Laurie.

Then, it goes back to actual times and shows us how time acts. Because time changes everything and it is not fair. All these six friends are now unhappy in some way. They used to be fortunate, but their lifes now seem to be a poor version of what they hoped. Expectations never met reality.

Even more, the special relation seems to have changed. Years have passed and they are not able to rely on each other. They do not feel comfortable sharing their misfortunes with the others. The film is about these changes: before, they understood each other, now they feel judged. 

Is it impossible, then, for a friendship to survive? Only the memories will stay even if the friendship was pure? In the film, a difficult situation will prove if the old friendship is still somewhere in there , hidden, or if it is completely dissapeared now. Who knows if they will face up to it together, as they would have done before..?

The Lion King

When I was a child I used to watch The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994) almost every Sunday. My brother and I sat down on the sofa and just stayed there for 90 minutes. It has been almost 10 years since I last watched The Lion King and now I can say it it is a different movie. 
Well, it's the same movie. It's only that I'm not 7 years old now.
It's still a really nice movie to watch on a Sunday evening.

Mufasa - Simba, let me tell you something my father told me. Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars. Simba - Really?
Mufasa - Yes. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so will I.

Not another teen movie.

Not another teen movie (Joel Gallen, 2001) is a film that needs a very specific spectator. It could be a teenager or adult who had watched the up-to-date American movies at the time as American Beauty and the most popular teen-pics as Grease specially the 90s, as She's all that, 10 things I hate about you , Never been kissed or American Pie and also Tv series as Popular. 

 Reference to American Pie.

 Very similar to Popular.

These are only the ones I have recognised. I am 19 and Spanish, so I am sure there are a lot of references to other teen films I have not watched. 

This is the reason why I think this is a film you can enjoy only if you have a very specific cultural background. If not, the viewer will understand nothing, and will laugh never. What I like of the movie is that it is kind of ironic and criticizes the stale teenpics. 

If you have watched some American movies and want to have fun for an hour and a half, I recommend you Not another teen movie. Not just like one teen movie, but, in some way, like 10 of them.

Beginners

Beginners (Mike Mills, 2010). Why an elderly man who suffers from cancer, his 38-years old son and a 30ish actress are beginners? Are not they supposed to be amateurs in life by now?


Hal Fields (Christopher Plummer) is an elderly man who suffers from cancer. He's gay but he has declared his sexuality just some months ago. 

The narration is very interesting. It takes place in 3 different moments. Hal's childhood, the time when his father knew he had cancer and the actual time. It is curious how Hal sees his world, he expresses it through art, painting.

Like Crazy

Like Crazy (Drake Doremus, 2011) remains me to Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, 2010) in the sense that it tries to convey the reality of a normal relation, avoiding to portray an idealised love. The narration is done through the character's eyes.

It tries to show us how the relation between Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones) grows up. It is not a normal romantic comedy (They meet, they split up, they make it up) but a real story based in the writer's personal experiences.


Love, real love, is different to the one that normally appears in films. It is not only being happy. It is also being jealous, being afraid, having doubts, getting angry with him/her, missing, forgiving.. It is a lot of things, it is not always easy.

It is because of that I love the ending. In real life there are no easy endings either.

Almost famous

The most interesting aspect of Almost famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000) is without any doubt, its soundtrack. The story takes place in the 70s in USA. The Who, Iggy Pop, Deep Purple.. all those bands can be listened in the film.

With regard to the figure of the narrator, it is interesting seeing how his vision of that world changes. The protagonist, William (Patrick Fugit) is just a kid when the film starts. He has totally idealised the rock&roll world. As he grows up he recognises his idols as normal people with their faults and fears. This is disappointing for him, but who is not disappointed as we grow up?

De tu ventana a la mía

De tu ventana a la mía is a beautiful film. Its mise-en-scène, its locations (the Pyrenees), costumes.. everything is delicate, detailed.

The thing I liked the most is the elements in mise-en-scène that connect the three differents times in narration. These 3 different times tell the spectator the story of 3 women who have a lot in common even if they are not really connected (they are not family or friends). They have beautiful dreams in difficult times. As we can see, their dreams do not came true. They feel disappointed and lost, but they continue with their lifes, since they are brave. These elements that connect the narration (the lost wool ball, the cut in their finger..) relate the 3 women and let us know that in some way, they represent the same: Someone who never gives up.

There is an interesting detail: The ages of the 3 protagonist. They are related to the time they live. The young one (about 18) lives in the 10s. The middle one ( about 24) lives in the times of the Spanish Civil War and the older one lives in the Spain of the dictatorship of Franco. 

De tu ventana a la mía  may seem pretencious. It is, but I do not think that is something to care about. It is a good film that I am sure you will enjoy.

A single man

George (Colin Firth) is both main character and narrator in A single man (Tom Ford, 2009). We know it because of his voice explaining his life, but also because the entire movie is sprinkled with memories about his partner, Jim (Matthew Goode), who has recently deceased. These memories are thoughts that he has through the day, and they may seem to be about a previous, completely different life. Losing the loved one is for George the most horrible tragedy, and his life makes no sense now. Some of the flashbacks even appear in a very melancholic black and white.

Colin Firth is a great actor and he makes credible the literature professor who is thinking about commiting suicide.

I  liked narration but I loved mise-en-scène and the use of colour saturation, which are just incredible. Maybe the fact that the director is a also a fashion designer helps in that aspect.

I  strongly recommend it to you.

Penelope

Penelope (Christina Ricci) is the narrator of her own story. Her story seems an old epic one, since a servant of the family cursed the descent, being Penelope the victim.

Mise-en-scène reflects how Penelope sees the city, with innocent eyes, like a magic new world that she has never seen before.

Goodfellas

Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese,1990) is narrated by his protagonist, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) who grews up in a very similar environment that the boy of A Bronx Tale (Robert De Niro, 1993) did and finds being part of the mafia as the best thing he could have.

This narration show a very personal point of view. With the freeze-frames, we realize the narration is taking place time later, and the narrator and protagonist is thinking and reflecting about his story. Later in the film it is Karen Hill (Lorraine Bracco) who narrates her new life. She also does it through photo-montages, we are almost sitting in her living room, having a look at her albums.

In this video you can see some Scorsese's editing techniques with some examples of Goodfellas. 


I really liked the film, I found it interesting and very similar in some ways to A Bronx's tale: the narrator, the protagonist story told since he was a child,or Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983) : drugs, the fall. And, in both of them, the figure of the divine woman who once got, is not so interesting as it was.

Everybody's fine

The thing I liked the most about Everybody's fine (Kirk Jones, 2009) is the personal point-of-view. The story is about a a recently widowed Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) who decides to visit his 4 children in Christmas, since they can not (Or that is what they say) go to visit him. He begins his trip, and each first time he sees one of them, they appear in the screen as a 7 year-old child. I loved this device. It means that he still sees them as if they were children, and in my opinion, that is a very sweet way to let us know that Frank really loves and cares  about his children, even if he may seem cold.

This point-of-view really surprised me, since I am only 19 and I have never really thought about how parents feelabout their children. 

Nevertheless, I do not think the film is a very good one and I found it takes pleasure in the melancholic scenes. The scenes in the train, when Frank is totally alone and disappointed, for example.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Perfume (Tom Tykwer, 2006) is based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Süskind, which is also interesting. 

Acting is perfect. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), born with a superior olfactory sense is a credible character, even if he is extraordinary in all senses.

The thing I liked the most is its mise-en-scéne: the dirty and also the luxurious clothing, the colours, the places where the action takes place. 

Here you have some pictures I have found, I find them really beautiful.

That's how you look to me.

Today is Richard Brautigan's birthday.

This blog is named after the very last sentence of one of his short stories: I was trying to describe you.

If you have some time I strongly recommend you to read some of his poems: http://www.brautigan.net/poetry.html

Enjoy ;)

Adam

Adam (Max Mayer,2009) is named after its main character, a Manhattan engineer who suffers from Asperger’s syndrom. Unexpectedly, one day he meets a woman. He likes her, but his autism affects to the relationship.

As you can see in the picture, a medium focal lenght is used in Adam, maybe to express that there is a lot of distance between Adam (Hugh Dancy) and Beth (Rose Byrne). They want to be closer, but it is not so easy as they would like it to be.

Adam is not a predictable film, and it has some funny and sweet scenes, but I it is just a normal film. Not great.

Blow up

Blow up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) is a film based in the short story "Las babas de diablo", by Julio Cortázar.

Blow up tries to portray the "Swinging London" in the 60s. In the film, all its characters (young people) live a "hedonistic" lifestyle. It can be seen in Thomas' (David Hemmings) job, in the clothes (specially in women's), in the young clowns, the rock concerts, the sex as a simple amusement, drugs..

Thomas, a London photographer, seems to like this kind of life, but he admits he is bored of life in the city. One simple day he takes some photos in a park, and his life changes. He finds something disturbing in that pictures.

Mise-en-scène is really special. Customes, places as the antique shop, Thomas' home or the place where the concert takes place..

The problem in Blow-up is that the viewer does not really know what is happening and what is the purpose of all that. It remains me (up to a point) of Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie, another film in which you do not know which it tries to be conveyed. 
Since I love Cortázar, I suppose (And I hope) the short story is much better than its screen version.

The Departed

The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006) is a crime film that shows both sides of the law. The "goods" and the "bads". I'd recommed its soundtrack. I am sure you have heard it before.

  

Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a cop who is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is a member of the forementioned mob infiltrated in the state police as an informer. This is a film about the opposites side of the same fight.

I think that the film itries to make the viewer identify himself with both of them. 

Personally, I identify myself with Billy Costigan. I do not prefer him just because Leonardo DiCaprio, but also because I can understand his reasons, why he does what he does. This does not happens with Colin Sullivan.

Madolin (Vera Farmiga) knows Colin and Billy. Even more, she feels attracted by both of them. This is a film about both sides of an only conflict, but it also shows how similar both sides may be.

Frank Costello gives a grotesque and extravagant vision to the film.