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Films about Film

Right now on Netflix there is an interesting 15 part series documenting the history of film titled The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011) by Mark Cousins.  The series starts at the dawn of film and moves forward through time, giving attention to the impact of film felt throughout the world.  Many film movements are detailed as well as their political, historical, sociological and psychological relevance.  While some of the films referenced are obscure, especially the foreign films from early on, fortunately a number of films discussed are part of the Criterion Collection and readily available for viewing.  My only complaint about the series is that some of the films discussed reveal the ending so there may be some spoilers to some classic films, but ultimately there are so many films discussed that it is likely you will forget the ending by the time you get around to watching any of those films.

Once I finished The Story of Film, I began watching a complimentary documentary with an entirely different focus on the history of film.  Sophie Fiennes' The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012) follows Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek as he discusses a number of films throughout history based on the ideology of the culture and the times.  Zizek is a Marxist and his ideals may not appeal to some for that very reason, but for those with an open mind that are willing to view film and the history of the world in general from a different understanding, this film will prove to have a great deal of insight.  Some of the arguments that Zizek makes for these films appear to be reaching to find a deeper meaning.  I can't imagine that some of the directors of these films were deep down intending to portray the sentiments expressed by Zizek, but his ability to read into some of these films and connect them to events of the time do seem to make a valid connection that perhaps even if done subconsciously, there is a point to be made whether or not the filmmaker intend to.   This subconscious interaction could be blamed on the underlying ideology that Zizek is speaking of and for that reason his arguments should not be discredited.  While it is basically a long commentary with film clips, they do try to mix it up by having him speak while standing in a recreation of the settings for the very films he is discussing, which does make it more entertaining.  For any fan of the cinema, I feel these two documentaries are complimentary and should be viewed while they are still on Netflix.

As a bonus, here is Slavoj Zizek in the Criterion closet.

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A Rose Reborn - Park Chan-wook

Park Chan-wook released a new short film recently commissioned by clothing designer Ermenegildo Zenga.  I have never heard of Zenga clothing and that is because they make $300+ polo shirts, but that absurdity aside, the film is a 20 minute journey across the world with a heartfelt ending.  While it is obviously a commercial, it still has some beautiful angles that Park Chan-wook has become known for and is certainly worth a look for any die hard fan such as myself.  You can watch it here or from the Zenga site here.

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I recently took it upon myself to read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger because it was a book that was never actually required reading while I was in school and I had always heard so much about it.  I finally got around to seeing what all the fuss was about and while I did enjoy it, I was a bit underwhelmed after all the hype.  I like how well it flowed and felt when Holden goes off on tangents it makes the novel feel very relatable and sincere, but knowing nothing about the story other than the prestige carried with it, I expected it to be more story driven and less of a narrative about the interpersonal struggles of a sort of self imposed social alienation.  Another reason I decided to read the book was because I was interested in watching the somewhat controversial documentary Salinger (2013) from Shane Salerno.  The film received a lot of mixed reviews, but considering I knew nothing about Salinger before the film, it was insightful to me.  The film discusses the man and not the novel, intending to show that Salinger is himself Holden and in order to understand Holden you must understand Salinger.  The problem is that he is a very private person and the film details this while at the same time attempting to pry into his life in order to reveal the mystery.  There really isn't much of a mystery though and the film reaches a bit far to try and show him as a complex man that was negligent to his family and ultimately a little crazy in his reaction to fame.  As a result, the film attempts to explain this complex man by citing his military past, his relationship problems, and the success of the novel being used as justification by several murderers.  Ultimately I found it to be an interesting film, but like all documentaries, you have to take it with a grain of salt.  For anyone like me that made it through school without reading the book, I would recommend checking it out, but as for the documentary I would only recommend it if you are an avid fan of his work and even then, it may not be to your liking.

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Really getting into Crystal Castles only to find they broke up earlier this month.  Lame.

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After having watched Edge of Tomorrow (2014) a few months back in theaters, I immediately knew I had to read the book it was based on.  While I loved the film, most people seem to agree that the end was a bit cliche and I figured it had been changed since the book was originally from Japan and probably would not translate well for an international audience.  The book is a quick read and flows very well, but I must admit that the changes made in the film made for a much more exciting story.  It's not just the ending that is different, but a substantial part of the film has nothing to do with the book.  I enjoyed the book, but it is difficult to compare them and say one is better than the other.  If anything should be taken away from knowing both stories, it is an appreciation for the filmmakers in what they were able to accomplish by expanding on the book while maintaining its integrity.  I would recommend watching the film first, but certainly give the book a read.  The book has a different focus which changes the direction of the story, but I feel if they tried to work it into the film while including the changes made, it would feel forced and unnatural, so I am perfectly fine with the changes.  if anything, you get two stories with a similar premise that both have a very interesting, yet alternate resolve.

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Stuck in my head.

Haim - My Song 5

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Finished reading the third volume of the Oldboy manga.  Only 5 to go!

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I recently finished reading Tarantino by Jim Smith, a book that analyzes the films of one of the most famous directors working today.  I have had this book for some time and finally decided to knock it out, meaning that it is now a bit dated and only covers his films through Kill Bill: Vol. 2.  Though I have always been a fan of his films and was aware of many of the things discussed in the book, it did provide some insight on his influences and occasionally would have an interesting interpretation or provide some background concerning the making of his films.  I would certainly recommend this book to those that are not familiar with the director as much as they would like to be, but for those like myself that have read up on the director previously, this book feels as though it is holding back and perhaps justifiably so for the sake of length as there is plenty to discuss for each of his films.  I should also mention that this does not simply cover his directorial features, but films he has written, produced, and collaborated on as well as some acting discussion.  Love him or hate him, this book does an excellent job of detailing the importance of his work and for those that simply wish to write him off as a hack that steals other people's ideas, perhaps this book may place some of those controversies in perspective.  Either way, here are two early videos, one of which I was not aware existed until the reading of this book.

My Best Friend's Birthday (1987)

This is the first film directed by Tarantino which took several years for him to self finance.

This second clip was new to me.  It is a short test for what would eventually become Reservoir Dogs (1992).

I hope you enjoy the clips and make sure to check out the book if you want an introductory to the brilliant mind of Quentin Tarantino.

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Friend & Lover - "Reach Out of the Darkness"

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I just finished reading this book on Napoleon, written by Felix Markham in 1960.  In film school, when I learned that Stanley Kubrick had attempted to create a film based on the life of Napoleon and that he had read 500 books about his life, I was intrigued by this level of dedication.  When I decided to read this book, I was less interested in learning about Napoleon than trying to understand why Kubrick was so fascinated by him.  Sure people are familiar with Napoleon, but how much do they really know about his life and how he changed the world.  Kubrick ultimately was unable to produce his film for a variety of reasons which this article explains in detail, but it appears the script will be produced soon for T.V.  Personally, I was very impressed and saddened by how much I learned from this book, proving that other than a name, I knew very little about such an interesting and important man.  The book does leave some to be desired in that it is written for people that are already familiar with a great deal of Napoleon's life and simply attempts to discuss materials that had recently been discovered during that time.  Despite this, there is a great deal of information detailing his life, and considering how short the book is, if you are weary about dedicating yourself to 1000 pages then this more abridged version should give you an idea of what to expect from other texts available.  I certainly will be looking for a more detailed book about his life and recommend to anyone that has an interest in Stanley Kubrick or history in general, seek out this or any other book about the emperor.

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Just finished reading Haruki Murakami's "1Q84".  It really struck a chord with me and is certainly one of those books that will always remind me about this particular time in my life anytime I come across it in the future.  Well worth a read for those that love surrealism and existentialism. 

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I must have one.  Someone go to Cannes and bring me back a poster!

Marcello Mastroianni in Federico Fellini’s 8½ on the official poster for Cannes 2014, designed by Hervé Chigioni and Gilles Frappier.

8½ played in the Official Selection at Cannes in 1963.

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Year Two

Today marks the second year of my Tumblr account.  Though my posts are few, I like to think that my reviews have shown a great deal of growth from the previous year and I have certainly expanded my own personal knowledge of a number of cultures, as well as viewed a number of great films that hopefully have found some audience due to the writing of these reviews.  I started off strong reviewing a lot of films, but cut down substantially toward the end due to some personal matters and the fact that I have been reading a number of books which is something I have always wanted to do in order to broaden my horizons.  In addition to books, this year I have tried to have a variety of posts from other forms of media as I have watched a number of TV shows, expanding on my new found interest in anime, as well as a number of music clips from various shows and films, and any video games that I may have completed.  Hopefully anyone that comes across this post will take the short time to skim through and read my previous posts and discover something they never knew existed.

This year I have reviewed 102 films through 83 posts, bringing my total to 219 reviews over 203 posts.  The films that made the biggest impression on me were:

"Mulholland Dr."

"The Scent of Green Papaya"

"Betty Blue"

"Sarah's Key"

"Enter the Void"

"Welcome"

"After the Wedding"

and "Valhalla Rising"

Just click on any of the photos to be taken to the review page.  You may notice that Mads Mikkelsen is in two of these films.  Seeing how he is now a star in the series Hannibal, you should probably do yourself a favor and check out his excellent body of work that predates the show.  He is by far my vote for breakout celebrity of the year.

In addition to reviews, I would suggest reading these posts that are very informative and fascinating:

Link to the works of street artist Zilda who creates temporary murals recreating Italian Neo-realist scenes.

Movie Theaters in Ruin

My thoughts on why the Series Finale of "Dexter" did not suck as much as you may think.

Why I believe you should know who Federico Garcia Lorca is.

And finally the complete collection (as far as I could find) of short films and commercials from Wong Kar-Wai.

My most liked and re-blogged posts were:

My thoughts on the series finale of "Dexter" with 30

and the opening theme to "Elfen Lied" with 28.

This year I managed to watch 9 shows from beginning to end, as well as read 7 books and complete 2 video games.

Finally, I managed to gain 26 followers this year, making a total of 44, and I currently follow 28 blogs, up from 20 a year ago.

Of those new blogs, shout out to:

Velotte

Reeladdict

watershades-and-ink

and nogerhl who each post a lot of great stuff worth checking out.

Thanks to anyone that bothers to check out this blog and I really hope if you come across this that you check out my history and appreciate some great works of art that are available to all.  It feels as though I have done so much this past year and I look forward to yet another full of new worlds and cultures to dive into.

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Finished Assassin's Creed 2 today.  Not as tedious as the first game and the story and character of Ezio is much more interesting.  I just hope that it actually leads somewhere after that ending.

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I do not often pay attention to film scores but Alexandre Desplat is a name you should become familiar with.  He has created some amazing work for a variety of films I love and this song "The Angel" used in Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" (2007) has been stuck in my head.

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Finished Reading the second volume of the "Oldboy" Manga.  I just need to purchase them all and read the whole series in a day since it is such a quick read.

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Wong Kar-wai

200th post!

For my 100th post I decided to dedicate it to the lesser known works of Park Chan-wook which can be found here.  I had so much fun that I decided to do it again for my 200th post, but this time I want to focus on the works of Wong Kar-wai.  To start, his films currently available in the U.S. are:

"As Tears Go By" (1988)

"Days of Being Wild" (1990)

"Chungking Express" (1994)

"Ashes of Time" (1994)

"Fallen Angels" (1995)

"Happy Together" (1997)

"In the Mood for Love" (2000)

"2046" (2004)

"Eros" (Segment: The Hand) (2004)

"My Blueberry Nights" (2007)

and "The Grandmaster" (2013)

Wong Kar-wai actually has an extensive list of short films and considering I have reviewed almost every film above on this blog, I am excited to not only post these shorts, but find them as I have not bothered to look for them previously.

To start, we have a commercial short film developed for Japanese fashion designer Takeo Kikuchi titled "wkw/tk/1996@7'55''hk.net" (1996).  The quality of the only copy I could find is dreadful, though there is a second video in better quality that has been edited down to roughly one minute.  I suggest reading the brief Wikipedia article to accompany the short.

Full Video:

Video Edit:

Though an odd and rather violent way to advertise clothing, the style and thematic elements appear to be an extension of "Chungking Express" and "Fallen Angels", glamorizing the fast paced, ultra-violent underground scene that was popular at the time.

Despite the awful quality and not even being listed on IMDB, this next commercial for Motorola has all the flair from his early days.  I'm not even sure what the title of this short is.

The next short "Un matin partout dans le monde" (2000) is part of a collection with other directors used in an advertising campaign for street furnishing company Jean-Claude Decaux group.

Though brief, pay attention to the clock in the background, which is one of the signature images throughout his filmography.

Another commercial, this time for French phone company Orange France; "Dans la ville" (2001) can not be embedded so here is the link where you can watch it.

As part of a special BMW campaign from 2001 to 2002 titled "The Hire", an eight part series of short films was produced starring Clive Owen, including the third segment "The Follow" (2001) directed by Wong Kar-wai.  The segments are not connected save for Clive Owen's involvement and therefore this segment can be previewed out of sequence.

Aside from the narration, this short feels like an outlier in Wong Kar-wai's body of work.  It is missing his signature style and instead looks like any other commercial.  I understand wanting to sell the cars and therefore it can't be as dark and blurred as his films usually are but it in interesting to see him take on a different style.

The next short is again a commercial, this time for Lacoste titled "La rencontre" (2002).  After the previous clip, this is actually a welcome return to form in what could have easily been a collection of scenes from any of his films.

The next short is actually a music video shot for DJ Shadow for the song "Six Days" (2002).

I find it interesting that the video ends with a quote from Bruce Lee, seeing how eleven years later Wong Kar-wai would make a movie about his master Ip Man.

While I am not 100% certain this is the correct clip, it seems likely that this next commercial for Dior's "Capture totale" (2005) is indeed the one directed by Won Kar-wai.

Again for Dior, "Midnight Poison" (2007) is perhaps my favorite of his commercials as it is the most artistic.  Also, there goes that clock again.

This time for Lancome, "Hypnose homme" (2007) is a rather bland re-teaming with Clive Owen in which nothing really happens.

Finally an actual short film, "I Travelled 9000 km To Give It To You" (2007) is part of a collection involving many directors called To Each His Own Cinema that is meant to reflect their feelings toward cinema in 3 minutes.

This next short was actually filmed for Philips' Aurea HD Flat TV but was not a commercial.  "There's Only One Sun" (2007) is a beautiful short visually reminiscent to "2046" and is by far may favorite of this post.

Yet another commercial, this one titled "Mask" (2011) shot for Shu Uemura Cosmetics is not listed on IMDB.

This next short is a commercial for Chivas Regal 25 which is a sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival.  "Deja Vu" (2012) is told in two parts and has two separate videos.

Part 1:

Part 2:

That's all for this special 200th post.  I hope you enjoyed this compilation of Wong Kar-wai's work as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.