And two friends, comfortable in each other's presence, accepting and appreciative of their differences, curious and generous, fall in love with the same woman. Their friendship is strong enough to survive petty jealousies but their rational approach must coalesce with a temperamental vengeful beautiful seductive other, someone created for all to desire but none to possess, as they attempt to recalibrate ancient volatile amorous restrictions, and logically come to terms with that which is scientifically forbidden.
Humble temperaments and a disregard for material goods produce a congenial state of affairs within which archaeology plays a constructive role and time is distended within its seemingly constant particularity.
Only the unanticipated extremes of the one, the refusal to tolerate anything but a complete and unadulterated submission, as they seek to sustain a subjective set of checks and balances, upon which they remain on top, threatens to dissolve things.
Sulphuric acid for the eyes of men who lie. Lips set in stone. Paris and trips to the countryside.
What is left unwritten.
The introduction of permanence disrupts Jules et Jim's carefree aesthetic through the blinding championing of victory.
Solutions chaotically present themselves.
Effects need not be taken into account.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
The Devil's Double
Caligula meets Scarface in Lee Tamahori's The Devil's Double, a sickeningly volatile portrait of Saddam Hussein's lunatic son Uday and the unfortunate subject coerced into functioning as his double(Latif Yahia). Dominic Cooper plays both roles and displays a remarkable tenacity in their execution.
It's a shame they're so difficult to watch.
I have no idea what Uday Hussein was like while living but if the acts he's depicted unleashing in The Devil's Double are even seriously exaggerated he must have been a first rate fucker. The spoiled capricious tyrannical salacious vindictive murderous son of a despot, he never holds back when it comes to satisfying whatever whim crosses his mind, and operates within a mad ethical spectrum wherein he is the insane judge, jury, and executioner. If you should displease him, his forces will destroy you and everyone you love, brutally. Unfettered, energetic, unconditioned jouissance, with unlimited resources at its disposal.
As it pursues its desire.
He needs a double to represent him in public and the humble Latif tries to successfully yield to his will. The two form a tempestuous public/private yin and yang as they carve a place for themselves in their culture's destiny. Love interest Sarrab (Ludivine Sagnier) melodramatically complicates things as she craves them both. Munem (Raad Rawi) tries to maintain a hemorrhaged degree of order as his upright constitution continuously confronts Uday's.
Oddly, Saddam (Philip Quast) isn't presented as a monster and he occasionally attempts to keep Uday in check. Uday's brother is shown in a dimly flattering light as well as he responsibly handles his political affairs.
The film staggeringly balances the two sides of Uday's identity as it attempts to reasonably analyze a maniac while working within his irrational frame. According to Tamahori's portrait, there's little room for ambiguity in the construction of Uday's constitution.
Adolescence meets power and refuses to accept responsibility. Pleasure endures without consequence. A populace rages and weeps. Madness ruins a civilization.
The argument can be made that if reprobates like Uday were given free reign in Iraq to do as they pleased, their elimination represents a victory for liberty. But externally inflicting such liberation on an oppressed people robs them of the catharsis obtained from settling the matter for themselves. It also sets up a dangerous set of circumstances wherein the 'liberators' eventually become the 'oppressors' thereby opening up critical domains which attempt to justify the excesses of the usurped as their authoritarian rule becomes more appealing in the aftermath.
Helping the people's revolutionary goals after they've been set in motion and then departing after the misery has been removed is a different matter.
It's a shame they're so difficult to watch.
I have no idea what Uday Hussein was like while living but if the acts he's depicted unleashing in The Devil's Double are even seriously exaggerated he must have been a first rate fucker. The spoiled capricious tyrannical salacious vindictive murderous son of a despot, he never holds back when it comes to satisfying whatever whim crosses his mind, and operates within a mad ethical spectrum wherein he is the insane judge, jury, and executioner. If you should displease him, his forces will destroy you and everyone you love, brutally. Unfettered, energetic, unconditioned jouissance, with unlimited resources at its disposal.
As it pursues its desire.
He needs a double to represent him in public and the humble Latif tries to successfully yield to his will. The two form a tempestuous public/private yin and yang as they carve a place for themselves in their culture's destiny. Love interest Sarrab (Ludivine Sagnier) melodramatically complicates things as she craves them both. Munem (Raad Rawi) tries to maintain a hemorrhaged degree of order as his upright constitution continuously confronts Uday's.
Oddly, Saddam (Philip Quast) isn't presented as a monster and he occasionally attempts to keep Uday in check. Uday's brother is shown in a dimly flattering light as well as he responsibly handles his political affairs.
The film staggeringly balances the two sides of Uday's identity as it attempts to reasonably analyze a maniac while working within his irrational frame. According to Tamahori's portrait, there's little room for ambiguity in the construction of Uday's constitution.
Adolescence meets power and refuses to accept responsibility. Pleasure endures without consequence. A populace rages and weeps. Madness ruins a civilization.
The argument can be made that if reprobates like Uday were given free reign in Iraq to do as they pleased, their elimination represents a victory for liberty. But externally inflicting such liberation on an oppressed people robs them of the catharsis obtained from settling the matter for themselves. It also sets up a dangerous set of circumstances wherein the 'liberators' eventually become the 'oppressors' thereby opening up critical domains which attempt to justify the excesses of the usurped as their authoritarian rule becomes more appealing in the aftermath.
Helping the people's revolutionary goals after they've been set in motion and then departing after the misery has been removed is a different matter.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Beginners
Percolating a playful, creative, laid back, inquisitive aesthetic, wherein a son convalesces after his father's death thanks to the assistance of a gentle, curious partner, friendly and caring, challenging and supportive, Mike Mills's Beginners evocatively examines freedom through a palliative lens and a spontaneous framework.
Oliver (Ewan MacGregor) didn't know his father was gay until he came out in his seventies after his wife's death. Hal (Christopher Plummer) had enjoyed being married but with his wife's passing decided to openly explore other sides of his personality. Oliver responds with surprise and confusion but due to his open-mind isn't bogged down by bigoted preconceptions. Hal's terminal cancer complicates matters as he refuses to acquiesce to his doctor's corresponding prescriptions.
Oliver remembers these moments along with many from his childhood as he comes to terms with his father's death and falls in love with partner Anna (Mélanie Laurent). The story mimics the thought patterns of a melancholic mind as it searches for an indecipherable stratagem from which to rediscover joy.
As refreshing as Ghost World, Beginners lacks the predetermined bells and whistles that accompany so many polarized narratives and comfortably occupies the middle ground. It doesn't definitively judge, it doesn't segregate, unless the character in question happens to have been consistently segregated and has trouble not definitively judging as a consequence.
Its relaxed pace and sympathetic deliveries mask an unfaltering ingenuity disguised as a lackadaisical reflection.
Oliver (Ewan MacGregor) didn't know his father was gay until he came out in his seventies after his wife's death. Hal (Christopher Plummer) had enjoyed being married but with his wife's passing decided to openly explore other sides of his personality. Oliver responds with surprise and confusion but due to his open-mind isn't bogged down by bigoted preconceptions. Hal's terminal cancer complicates matters as he refuses to acquiesce to his doctor's corresponding prescriptions.
Oliver remembers these moments along with many from his childhood as he comes to terms with his father's death and falls in love with partner Anna (Mélanie Laurent). The story mimics the thought patterns of a melancholic mind as it searches for an indecipherable stratagem from which to rediscover joy.
As refreshing as Ghost World, Beginners lacks the predetermined bells and whistles that accompany so many polarized narratives and comfortably occupies the middle ground. It doesn't definitively judge, it doesn't segregate, unless the character in question happens to have been consistently segregated and has trouble not definitively judging as a consequence.
Its relaxed pace and sympathetic deliveries mask an unfaltering ingenuity disguised as a lackadaisical reflection.
Real Steel
The latest Rockyesque film to hit the big screen is Shawn Levy's Real Steel, a fun and heartwarming story of how a dead-beat dad (Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton) and his feisty son (Dakota Goyo as Max Kenton) forge a strong bond through the power of fighting robots. It isn't the most original narrative although it does creatively work within an established tradition.
And Jackman's love interest Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly) doesn't give up on him even though his reckless ways have proved to be remarkably unprofitable.
Whereas humans were still thought to be at the centre of various cultural dimensions in Rocky's day, in the time of Real Steel technological innovation has usurped their active role. Rather than directly taking part in ridiculous battles which regularly present themselves, proxies abound which can effectively fill in as disaffected combatants. Hence, boxing has been replaced by robot boxing and ex-boxers can continue to make a living boxing if they purchase a robot and expertly learn the subtleties of its dynamic controls.
But can such expertise generate results formidable enough to resiliently defeat the ultimate representative of technological fortitude, Real Steel's Zeus and its mastermind the bumptious Tak Mashido (Karl Yune), without continuing to maintain a multidimensional working person's perspective within the heart of its dynamic cultural trajectory, enhanced by love?
Fortunately it still cannot.
But when robots take over and start making movies for themselves will the human dimension still continue to persevere as the principal factor motivating their legendary decision making?
The answer is potentially fermenting somewhere within communist China.
And Jackman's love interest Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly) doesn't give up on him even though his reckless ways have proved to be remarkably unprofitable.
Whereas humans were still thought to be at the centre of various cultural dimensions in Rocky's day, in the time of Real Steel technological innovation has usurped their active role. Rather than directly taking part in ridiculous battles which regularly present themselves, proxies abound which can effectively fill in as disaffected combatants. Hence, boxing has been replaced by robot boxing and ex-boxers can continue to make a living boxing if they purchase a robot and expertly learn the subtleties of its dynamic controls.
But can such expertise generate results formidable enough to resiliently defeat the ultimate representative of technological fortitude, Real Steel's Zeus and its mastermind the bumptious Tak Mashido (Karl Yune), without continuing to maintain a multidimensional working person's perspective within the heart of its dynamic cultural trajectory, enhanced by love?
Fortunately it still cannot.
But when robots take over and start making movies for themselves will the human dimension still continue to persevere as the principal factor motivating their legendary decision making?
The answer is potentially fermenting somewhere within communist China.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Thing
Wasn't that impressed with Matthijs van Heijningen's remake of John Carpenter's The Thing. Carpenter's version has strong character development, a cohesive skillfully manufactured presence which accentuates the heightened sense of stoic desperation, patient timing which delicately constructs the stifling paranoid aesthetic, a haunting soundtrack which anxiously disrupts any calming sentiments, and convincing special effects which have steadfastly survived the test of time. It's one of the best sci-fi/horror films I've seen, directed by a master working in the prime of his career.
Van Heijningen's Thing works as a mildly entertaining film that pays homage to Carpenter but, like many Friday the 13th movies, focuses too intently on its main characters, leaving little room for the supporting cast to establish itself (thereby failing to intensify the bond between audience and text). None of the performances match that of Kurt Russell's or Keith David's, and apart from some dismissible deviations, the script parallels that from Carpenter's far too closely, and lacks the timing and pacing etc. that enables it to endure.
Rather than remaking the film and revitalizing the narrative's life force, Van Heijningen relies on balances already cultivated in the 1982 instalment, and expects their latent influence to free him from having to intricately reimagine his subject. There are funny scenes where characters stop to ask one another how they are doing while raging fires burn and power dynamics are lampooned as individuals attempt to retain control, even though such attempts challenge the decrees of logic which their scientific pursuits are theoretically supposed to uphold, but it's as if we are expected to deductively relate to specific stock performances whose dynamics are taken for granted rather than being creatively and internally nurtured, which adds a slapdash quality to the affect, and destabilizes its innovative instincts.
There's also the issue of how both films allegorically salute xenophobia but that's another matter.
The 21st-century Thing. Was Carpenter's work crafted during a moment when studios cared about both profit and product and consequently encouraged artistic exploration in the construction of their modes of expression?
Probably not, but Carpenter's movie works on a number of levels that are simply not present in this remake, which seems to have only been distributed to sell tickets.
Carpenter didn't want to sell tickets.
No he did not.
Van Heijningen's Thing works as a mildly entertaining film that pays homage to Carpenter but, like many Friday the 13th movies, focuses too intently on its main characters, leaving little room for the supporting cast to establish itself (thereby failing to intensify the bond between audience and text). None of the performances match that of Kurt Russell's or Keith David's, and apart from some dismissible deviations, the script parallels that from Carpenter's far too closely, and lacks the timing and pacing etc. that enables it to endure.
Rather than remaking the film and revitalizing the narrative's life force, Van Heijningen relies on balances already cultivated in the 1982 instalment, and expects their latent influence to free him from having to intricately reimagine his subject. There are funny scenes where characters stop to ask one another how they are doing while raging fires burn and power dynamics are lampooned as individuals attempt to retain control, even though such attempts challenge the decrees of logic which their scientific pursuits are theoretically supposed to uphold, but it's as if we are expected to deductively relate to specific stock performances whose dynamics are taken for granted rather than being creatively and internally nurtured, which adds a slapdash quality to the affect, and destabilizes its innovative instincts.
There's also the issue of how both films allegorically salute xenophobia but that's another matter.
The 21st-century Thing. Was Carpenter's work crafted during a moment when studios cared about both profit and product and consequently encouraged artistic exploration in the construction of their modes of expression?
Probably not, but Carpenter's movie works on a number of levels that are simply not present in this remake, which seems to have only been distributed to sell tickets.
Carpenter didn't want to sell tickets.
No he did not.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Tsurugidake: Ten no ki (The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones)
Mountains. Climbin' 'em. Exercising precision in their classification. Work rationalized according to stubborn bureaucratic consistencies. An imperial map in the making.
Japan's military has one more mountain to catalogue before said map can be expertly articulated.
All they need is the right person for the job.
Yoshitaro Shibasaki (Tadanobu Asano) has climbed his fair share of mountains but finds the unconquered Mt. Tsurugidake somewhat intimidating. Pressed by his superiors to perform for posterity he overcomes his initial hesitation, with the aid of volumes delicately cared for by his local librarians, and proceeds unabated. At the risk of offending villagers whose religion forbids challenging Mt. Tsurugidake's treacherous peaks, he finds a local guide (Teruyuki Kagawa as Chojiro Uji) and begins his quest. Together they search for a route to the summit, hoping to outwit the adventurous Alpine Club who has declared they will climb the mountain first, thereby hoping to tarnish the military's reputation.
While Yoshitaro and Chojiro explore using equipment crafted by the ingenuity of the Japanese people, the Alpine Club adopts European technologies.
A number of survey stones must be placed at the top of the peaks which surround Mt. Tsurugidake as well, in order for the military's mapmakers to realize their cartographic ambitions.
Towers must also be built around these stones. Time callously ticks past. A team of courageous individuals is assembled. The snow keeps falling.
Daisaku Kimura's Tsurugidake: Ten no ki (The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones) is an epic tale, modestly crafted according to traditional guidelines. An intransigent macho administration makes shortsighted decisions while a group of bold workers heroically carve new ground. Elsewhere lines are crossed but respect is maintained as openminded resiliency takes into account alternative points of view.
In fact, apart from the military administration, respect permeates every aspect of this film and it was comforting to watch as people didn't get bogged down by petty differences for 139 minutes.
The result is a subjective victory for two tenacious teams who refuse to let the pursuit of an intractable ideal disrupt their herculean achievement.
Sticking together. Trying to find a way. Accepting that the realities structuring certain professions are simply larger than life. And continuing to strive onwards even though survival instincts consistently question the logic of your perseverance.
The creation of this film directly corresponds to the endeavours bravely undertaken internally and externally by its cast, a harmonious collaboration firmly sustained between subject and object.
Japan's military has one more mountain to catalogue before said map can be expertly articulated.
All they need is the right person for the job.
Yoshitaro Shibasaki (Tadanobu Asano) has climbed his fair share of mountains but finds the unconquered Mt. Tsurugidake somewhat intimidating. Pressed by his superiors to perform for posterity he overcomes his initial hesitation, with the aid of volumes delicately cared for by his local librarians, and proceeds unabated. At the risk of offending villagers whose religion forbids challenging Mt. Tsurugidake's treacherous peaks, he finds a local guide (Teruyuki Kagawa as Chojiro Uji) and begins his quest. Together they search for a route to the summit, hoping to outwit the adventurous Alpine Club who has declared they will climb the mountain first, thereby hoping to tarnish the military's reputation.
While Yoshitaro and Chojiro explore using equipment crafted by the ingenuity of the Japanese people, the Alpine Club adopts European technologies.
A number of survey stones must be placed at the top of the peaks which surround Mt. Tsurugidake as well, in order for the military's mapmakers to realize their cartographic ambitions.
Towers must also be built around these stones. Time callously ticks past. A team of courageous individuals is assembled. The snow keeps falling.
Daisaku Kimura's Tsurugidake: Ten no ki (The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones) is an epic tale, modestly crafted according to traditional guidelines. An intransigent macho administration makes shortsighted decisions while a group of bold workers heroically carve new ground. Elsewhere lines are crossed but respect is maintained as openminded resiliency takes into account alternative points of view.
In fact, apart from the military administration, respect permeates every aspect of this film and it was comforting to watch as people didn't get bogged down by petty differences for 139 minutes.
The result is a subjective victory for two tenacious teams who refuse to let the pursuit of an intractable ideal disrupt their herculean achievement.
Sticking together. Trying to find a way. Accepting that the realities structuring certain professions are simply larger than life. And continuing to strive onwards even though survival instincts consistently question the logic of your perseverance.
The creation of this film directly corresponds to the endeavours bravely undertaken internally and externally by its cast, a harmonious collaboration firmly sustained between subject and object.
Monday, October 10, 2011
La sacrée
Fertility. Structure. Beer.
Dominic Desjardins's La sacrée has it all, and as its lighthearted romantic-comedic aura ferments, a jovial buzz is effervescently disseminated.
The Franco-Ontarian town of Fort Amiable has seen better days. The economy has yet to rebound from the closure of the local canoe factory and while the local residents remain upbeat, they still hold serious reservations regarding their future.
Enter François Labas (Marc Marans), son of the former canoe factory's owner who is blamed for the undesired closure. He seeks to wed a wealthy cosmetics heiress (Marie Turgeon as Sofia Bronzeman) but must impregnate her before wedding bells can ring. Unfortunately, he's sterile, and broke, and in danger of having his intricate web of devious lies exposed, thereby spoiling his plans for the unforeseen, and leaving him blindly tethered to the unknown.
Can the legendary La sacrée beer, locally brewed by the residents of Fort Amiable in the past and reputed to actively assist in the reproductive process, reinvigorate the lads and facilitate his dreams?
Or will he lose his favourite game and be turned out in the streets with nothing but credit card debt and incomparable charm to sustain him?
As he perseveres.
A picturesque portrait of a resilient conman, La sacrée provides opportunity for the dynamic while distributing limits to their productivity. Presenting a cheerful cast of sprightly characters, examining the marketing potential of the clarified anglicisme, suggesting that love can be truly exciting if and only if it builds upon a volatile foundation, and consistently transitioning from one pristine Northern Ontario scene to another, La sacrée enlivens the traditional struggling small town narrative, while thoroughly making use of the sacrament of confession.
And the supporting cast is given plenty of room to manoeuvre as their innocent hopes reflect a cohesive pastoral communal ideal.
The first feature comedy to be made in Ontario entirely in French.
Dominic Desjardins's La sacrée has it all, and as its lighthearted romantic-comedic aura ferments, a jovial buzz is effervescently disseminated.
The Franco-Ontarian town of Fort Amiable has seen better days. The economy has yet to rebound from the closure of the local canoe factory and while the local residents remain upbeat, they still hold serious reservations regarding their future.
Enter François Labas (Marc Marans), son of the former canoe factory's owner who is blamed for the undesired closure. He seeks to wed a wealthy cosmetics heiress (Marie Turgeon as Sofia Bronzeman) but must impregnate her before wedding bells can ring. Unfortunately, he's sterile, and broke, and in danger of having his intricate web of devious lies exposed, thereby spoiling his plans for the unforeseen, and leaving him blindly tethered to the unknown.
Can the legendary La sacrée beer, locally brewed by the residents of Fort Amiable in the past and reputed to actively assist in the reproductive process, reinvigorate the lads and facilitate his dreams?
Or will he lose his favourite game and be turned out in the streets with nothing but credit card debt and incomparable charm to sustain him?
As he perseveres.
A picturesque portrait of a resilient conman, La sacrée provides opportunity for the dynamic while distributing limits to their productivity. Presenting a cheerful cast of sprightly characters, examining the marketing potential of the clarified anglicisme, suggesting that love can be truly exciting if and only if it builds upon a volatile foundation, and consistently transitioning from one pristine Northern Ontario scene to another, La sacrée enlivens the traditional struggling small town narrative, while thoroughly making use of the sacrament of confession.
And the supporting cast is given plenty of room to manoeuvre as their innocent hopes reflect a cohesive pastoral communal ideal.
The first feature comedy to be made in Ontario entirely in French.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The First Grader
Post-colonial Kenya. A public education system is introduced. Free education for all is announced. The vast majority of new students are children.
But one 84-year old former member of the Mau Mau resistance who fought against the British seeks an education as well. Determined to learn how to read and write in order to have a better understanding of his surrounding worlds, and read for himself what is written in a letter he received from the government, he stubbornly adheres to the rules when his initial attempts to gain access are rebuked, and is eventually given admittance to an overcrowded rural classroom.
Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) becomes a peculiar presence at school but one whom facilitator of learning Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) finds endearing. The administration does not share Jane's sentiments and consistently reminds her that by 'everyone' the government means 'every child' and that they already do not have the resources to teach every child and would be incomprehensibly overwhelmed if every adult sought a free education from grade 1 onwards as well. Their statistical analysis coalesces with the community's jealous censure of Maruge's activities to make life exceedingly difficult for both teacher and learner.
But they endure.
Justin Chadwick's The First Grader is a powerful film that demonstrates the enormous benefits that can result from exceptions, or, in this case, literal applications, when the practical ethical results outweigh the economic forecasts. Obviously with scant resources at their disposal a Department of Education would be unable to educate every illiterate citizen right off the bat, let alone every child, but seeing how only an extremely small percentage of such citizens over the age of 20 would choose to be educated with children, why not make an exception for those who do, instead of blindly upholding a rigid principle?
Taxation is at the heart of the matter and the question of whether or not you want to pay higher taxes in order to ensure your children/relatives/friends/neighbours mature in a dynamic learning environment fully equipped with engaging professionals and resources (the same ones provided for students of private schools) that vigorously nurture and develop their gifts?
Maruge's gifts are nurtured and developed and he has a positive influence on his fellow classmates as well. His struggle to learn functions as a prominent example of someone courageously seeking to receive the same remarkable educational opportunities that many people in Western countries simply take for granted.
But one 84-year old former member of the Mau Mau resistance who fought against the British seeks an education as well. Determined to learn how to read and write in order to have a better understanding of his surrounding worlds, and read for himself what is written in a letter he received from the government, he stubbornly adheres to the rules when his initial attempts to gain access are rebuked, and is eventually given admittance to an overcrowded rural classroom.
Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) becomes a peculiar presence at school but one whom facilitator of learning Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) finds endearing. The administration does not share Jane's sentiments and consistently reminds her that by 'everyone' the government means 'every child' and that they already do not have the resources to teach every child and would be incomprehensibly overwhelmed if every adult sought a free education from grade 1 onwards as well. Their statistical analysis coalesces with the community's jealous censure of Maruge's activities to make life exceedingly difficult for both teacher and learner.
But they endure.
Justin Chadwick's The First Grader is a powerful film that demonstrates the enormous benefits that can result from exceptions, or, in this case, literal applications, when the practical ethical results outweigh the economic forecasts. Obviously with scant resources at their disposal a Department of Education would be unable to educate every illiterate citizen right off the bat, let alone every child, but seeing how only an extremely small percentage of such citizens over the age of 20 would choose to be educated with children, why not make an exception for those who do, instead of blindly upholding a rigid principle?
Taxation is at the heart of the matter and the question of whether or not you want to pay higher taxes in order to ensure your children/relatives/friends/neighbours mature in a dynamic learning environment fully equipped with engaging professionals and resources (the same ones provided for students of private schools) that vigorously nurture and develop their gifts?
Maruge's gifts are nurtured and developed and he has a positive influence on his fellow classmates as well. His struggle to learn functions as a prominent example of someone courageously seeking to receive the same remarkable educational opportunities that many people in Western countries simply take for granted.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Starbuck
Donating sperm for cold hard cash.
The thought's likely crossed every man's mind but for Starbuck's David Wozniak (Patrick Huard) it reappeared again and again until he had earned more than $20,000. Never thinking that his donations were particularly fertile and would eventually be used to father over 500 children, he continued to live his carefree life, working for his father's boucherie while racking up $80,000 in debt with a group of thugs.
But his sperm was used to father 533 children and over 100 of them become curious in regards to the identity of their fecund dad and come searching after discovering the fertility clinic's lack of diversity.
David is somewhat taken aback to discover he has over 500 children but can't help but wonder what his legion of offspring are like. He refuses to admit his identity and they decide to try and discover it through recourse to the law, but as the legal proceedings progress, he begins to anonymously search them out one by one thanks to an envelope of corresponding portfolios with which he is provided before the beginning of the trial.
The children are surprised by the pseudo-guardian angel who keeps appearing in times of need yet take a shine to his adolescent enthusiasm.
The group of thugs to which David owes $80,000 are less beaming and decide to make things more difficult for him and his family as time passes.
His strong and determined yet sweet and loving partner Valerie (Julie Le Breton) also does not find his youthful ethos to be picturesquely scintillating after discovering she's pregnant, and proceeds to intensify his real world pressures all the more.
As a matter of consequence.
The film's hilarious and surprisingly light-hearted considering its subject matter. Emphasizing the importance of working for family if things such as following a schedule or pursuing best practices don't come easily to you, Starbuck also accentuates the benefits of family when it comes to discovering innovative solutions for complicated unanticipated problems, while subtly investigating different generational attitudes towards religion, championing a social framework wherein nurturing is directly proportional to responsibility, highlighting the enormous benefits/debilitating pitfalls of constantly embracing spontaneity, and thoroughly cultivating the value of friendship.
Ken Scott's background portrait of Montréal captures the city's intense dynamic cultural mosaic, presenting scene after scene of enlivening multidimensional detail, while riding a bike or taking a stroll through town.
Cinematography by Pierre Gill.
The thought's likely crossed every man's mind but for Starbuck's David Wozniak (Patrick Huard) it reappeared again and again until he had earned more than $20,000. Never thinking that his donations were particularly fertile and would eventually be used to father over 500 children, he continued to live his carefree life, working for his father's boucherie while racking up $80,000 in debt with a group of thugs.
But his sperm was used to father 533 children and over 100 of them become curious in regards to the identity of their fecund dad and come searching after discovering the fertility clinic's lack of diversity.
David is somewhat taken aback to discover he has over 500 children but can't help but wonder what his legion of offspring are like. He refuses to admit his identity and they decide to try and discover it through recourse to the law, but as the legal proceedings progress, he begins to anonymously search them out one by one thanks to an envelope of corresponding portfolios with which he is provided before the beginning of the trial.
The children are surprised by the pseudo-guardian angel who keeps appearing in times of need yet take a shine to his adolescent enthusiasm.
The group of thugs to which David owes $80,000 are less beaming and decide to make things more difficult for him and his family as time passes.
His strong and determined yet sweet and loving partner Valerie (Julie Le Breton) also does not find his youthful ethos to be picturesquely scintillating after discovering she's pregnant, and proceeds to intensify his real world pressures all the more.
As a matter of consequence.
The film's hilarious and surprisingly light-hearted considering its subject matter. Emphasizing the importance of working for family if things such as following a schedule or pursuing best practices don't come easily to you, Starbuck also accentuates the benefits of family when it comes to discovering innovative solutions for complicated unanticipated problems, while subtly investigating different generational attitudes towards religion, championing a social framework wherein nurturing is directly proportional to responsibility, highlighting the enormous benefits/debilitating pitfalls of constantly embracing spontaneity, and thoroughly cultivating the value of friendship.
Ken Scott's background portrait of Montréal captures the city's intense dynamic cultural mosaic, presenting scene after scene of enlivening multidimensional detail, while riding a bike or taking a stroll through town.
Cinematography by Pierre Gill.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Moneyball
Brad Pitt must have loved Moneyball's script at first glance. He's given the majority of screen-time and only one other actor is provided with the lines to contend a memorable performance. The film's about a baseball general manager's (Pitt as Oakland's Billy Beane) struggles to introduce a new style of management/recruitment/strategizing in order to field a playoff contender with a limited budget, the style being based on sabermetrics, the specialized objective analysis of baseball statistics gathered from actual game-time activities, notably a player's on-base percentage. Pitt lectures, wheels, trades, demotes, admonishes and deals while throwing things around and confidently battling formidable egos. The film effectively demonstrates what it's like to champion the new within a set of firmly established guidelines that have been unquestionably governing the order of things since they were set in place and consequently naturalized through the act of unconscious repetition. Risks must be taken. It all must be laid on the line. A number of unanticipated factors and potential points of diversification must be calmly and patiently ignored/incorporated as their rational characteristics challenge or correspond to the plan in question.
The film's a lot easier to watch if you're a baseball fan whose interested in the trials of an innovative general manager. Lotta baseball goin' on and your response to the predictable trajectories may be more enthusiastic if following a team's condensed unheralded controversial season interests you.
Or maybe it won't, I don't know.
The relationship between Beane and his daughter (Kerris Dorsey as Casey Beane) offers a distraction and adds a familial dimension to his professional predicaments. Apart from his relationship with his daughter, he definitely lives and breathes baseball 24/7 each and every day always. Was impressed with Jonah Hill's reticent yet incisive performance, exemplifying the possibilities which occasionally exist for recent graduates who aren't afraid to challenge the establishment.
The film's a lot easier to watch if you're a baseball fan whose interested in the trials of an innovative general manager. Lotta baseball goin' on and your response to the predictable trajectories may be more enthusiastic if following a team's condensed unheralded controversial season interests you.
Or maybe it won't, I don't know.
The relationship between Beane and his daughter (Kerris Dorsey as Casey Beane) offers a distraction and adds a familial dimension to his professional predicaments. Apart from his relationship with his daughter, he definitely lives and breathes baseball 24/7 each and every day always. Was impressed with Jonah Hill's reticent yet incisive performance, exemplifying the possibilities which occasionally exist for recent graduates who aren't afraid to challenge the establishment.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Tree of Life
Smoothly flowing gently falling slightly billowing lightly floating metaphors, a series of remembered events stitched together through fluid dreamlike sequences, delineating foundations, from which identities are constructed. A father, a mother, a family, a routine. A strict routine, a strict father, a housewife, a code. Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt) unwaveringly sticks to his code whereby his rule is absolute and his every whim, non-negotiable. His wife acquiesces, his children grow, he arrives at work on time, tithes week-in, week-out. A subjective interpretation of a governing structure attempts to supply youth with a disciplined set of ground rules from which a reasonable degree of economic stability can be confidently expected, through the years. No discussion, no questions, just stilted secure repetitious order blindly and diligently recreating itself, again. There's a lot of depth to the scenes in this film and Malick poetically intertwines manifold transitions with incredibly versatile images which in themselves create a byzantine subtext whose hydra-like character challenges the narrative's status quo.
But I don't think it's meant to do this, it seemed more like Malick was supplying as much beauty as he possibly could to suburbia, to a conservative way of life, using a surrealist form to structure his traditional content, with instinct guiding the positioning of his imagery as opposed to planning, whereby Tree of Life develops a naturally secretive grace, as it bids farewell to one dramatization of the North American middle-class.
On the one hand, it elevates patriarchal dispositions to a cantankerously coy precipice, taking content that has been recycled ad nauseum and demonstrating that it can continuously be insightfully replenished if you're willing to put in a little time and effort.
On the other, it eclipses sundry previous manifestations of this particular vision to the point where it seems possible that it's trying to put an end to this storyline once and for all, playing the ultimate winning hand, the graceful capitalist end-game.
Don't mean to be applauding Tree of Life too much. I found the seemingly random quotes which accompany much of the imagery to be irritating (especially since they're supposed to have some sort of ethereal quality) and was happy to comfortably rest my eyes here and there, as Mr. O'Brien and his children had yet another coming of age moment.
It would be a great film to study more closely and definitely leaves the door open for multiple critical accounts which can be situated within various intellectual markets in order to facilitate conceptions of particular ethical viewpoints from which the effects of diverse cultural phenomena can be momentarily diagnosed.
Naturally graceful, or a graceful nature, either way Tree of Life has me examining this dialectic, and has, for me anyway, instilled it with a remarkable life force that I'll find difficult to ignore for some time to come.
This is where film can be different from reading yet just as powerful. In a book like In Search of Lost Time you come across these dialectics constantly to the point where you've been bombarded with so many you suffer from intellectual overload. Sometimes it's nice to take one and use it as a general frame in order to study its vicissitudes specifically, and so on.
But I don't think it's meant to do this, it seemed more like Malick was supplying as much beauty as he possibly could to suburbia, to a conservative way of life, using a surrealist form to structure his traditional content, with instinct guiding the positioning of his imagery as opposed to planning, whereby Tree of Life develops a naturally secretive grace, as it bids farewell to one dramatization of the North American middle-class.
On the one hand, it elevates patriarchal dispositions to a cantankerously coy precipice, taking content that has been recycled ad nauseum and demonstrating that it can continuously be insightfully replenished if you're willing to put in a little time and effort.
On the other, it eclipses sundry previous manifestations of this particular vision to the point where it seems possible that it's trying to put an end to this storyline once and for all, playing the ultimate winning hand, the graceful capitalist end-game.
Don't mean to be applauding Tree of Life too much. I found the seemingly random quotes which accompany much of the imagery to be irritating (especially since they're supposed to have some sort of ethereal quality) and was happy to comfortably rest my eyes here and there, as Mr. O'Brien and his children had yet another coming of age moment.
It would be a great film to study more closely and definitely leaves the door open for multiple critical accounts which can be situated within various intellectual markets in order to facilitate conceptions of particular ethical viewpoints from which the effects of diverse cultural phenomena can be momentarily diagnosed.
Naturally graceful, or a graceful nature, either way Tree of Life has me examining this dialectic, and has, for me anyway, instilled it with a remarkable life force that I'll find difficult to ignore for some time to come.
This is where film can be different from reading yet just as powerful. In a book like In Search of Lost Time you come across these dialectics constantly to the point where you've been bombarded with so many you suffer from intellectual overload. Sometimes it's nice to take one and use it as a general frame in order to study its vicissitudes specifically, and so on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)