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Never-stopping Screams: The Silence of the Lambs 

Although you might feel that it’s very out of place to write about this film around the time of new year, please excuse me. I must talk about this classical film as I was just completely blown away while watching it. The Silence of the Lambs (1991), directed by Jonathan Demme, is an American psychological horror film that not only performs a fascinating fright to its audience, also exposes numerous societal issues that today’s U.S. is still undergoing. Sexism, child neglect, abuse of power, lack of support on mental health, a list we can continue for days and nights. 

To call The Silence of the lambs a psychological horror film, it definitely earns its title. The film does not rely on visuals to receive feelings of fear from its audience, instead, the anxiety rises when the unsettling dialogues occur between these two characters. Almost all the conversations between Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) and Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) are really the sources that frightens people up. Every converse they make comes to be the most unexpected with almost endless intelligence competitions at all time. Maybe some did notice, but I never thought the word “covet” that supposedly used in a philosophical kind of conversation, is such an essential term leading to the finding of the killer Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). I feel the need to say that, without the character of Hannibal Lecter, this film wouldn’t have achieved so well with its psychological horror. As a seemingly gentle person, it is hard to imagine Lecter as a criminal if he doesn’t make his first appearance inside of a high-security prison. He seems way too tender to be bloodthirsty, until he becomes invasive with his words, as if trying to bring out all the discomfort within one; the last second he acts polite to Starling, the next he begin saying: “You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube…you're not more than one generation from poor white trash.” Spitting out offensive language while with the same smile on his face–the fear Lecter can bring out indicates his quality as a professional psychiatrist and cannibalistic murderer, as he can always get to the bottom of people’s hearts both psychologically and physically. 

Aside from its great characters, The Silence of the Lambs constantly implies numerous societal problems, especially sexism through shots of the same motif–the direct camera gazing into Starling—suspectful of her worthiness to take on a professional job because of her identity as a woman. Starling has been, throughout the entire film, passively accepting people’s gazes as she is seen not qualified for jobs given to her, not because of her ability. She does not get to participate in an important exchange of information involving Buffalo Bill, as Crawford thinks “sex crime has certain aspects. I’d just as soon discuss in private. You know what I mean?” while looking back at Starling. Then when the doubtful gazes temporarily stops, Starling will have to deal with sexual messages coming from her intelligent male coworkers. 

Sexism is only one of the most discussed topics in The Silence of the Lambs. And the complexity of this film can hardly be expressed with my poor use of language; There are just way too many fruits hiding within it, therefore I won't say no more other than just one more sentence--please watch The Silence of the Lambs.

Thank you for reading this blog

Feel free to find my other works of writing in my personal blogs: 

Blogger: PereCreate

Wordpress: perecreate3.wordpress.com 

tumblr : https://www.tumblr.com/perecreate 

If you are interested in my sketch works, I also have a youtube channel: 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHD9cQXkMiHpvMI7n-bA9kg

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The power of bonds: Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Happy holidays to everyone as we are celebrating the end of 2024. As an absolute obsessor of Satoshi Kon’s films, please allow me to recommend a Christmas comedy movie directed by this amazing Japanese animation professional, as it is also one of my favorite Christmas themed films.

The story of Tokyo Godfathers (2003) focuses on three homeless figures. A middle-aged drunkard, Gin. A teenage runaway, Miyuki. And an ex-drag queen, Hana. Upon finding a baby abandoned inside of a trash station, and under Hana’s insistence, the three embark on a journey to find the baby’s family. Tokyo Godfathers’s plot is rather simple with a clear objective for our main characters; the real fruits within are the depictions of families, which emphasizes the importance of bonds, no matter of their kind or difference. 

After going through Tokyo Godfathers for the second and third time, I slowly realized a common perception bitterly accepted by almost every single one of the characters–the belief that they are a failure of life or their life is full of failures. It was especially easy to recognize such perceptions from our main characters. Gin is constantly in guilt for his betrayal of his wife and daughter because of his gambling habits. Hana always thought she belonged to nowhere and is alone by herself after losing her lover. And Miyuki felt ashamed for hurting her family. But on the other side of the coin, reality isn’t really what they saw as. Gin’s daughter did not blame Gin and forgives his acts, Hana’s foster parent is always willing to welcome her back, and Miyuki’s father never gives up looking for her. Tokyo Godfathers speaks about scenarios that each of us experiences in daily life–the disbelief in ourselves that seems unsolvable. But someone, or something may eventually rescue us out of the dilemma; the day continues on, thankfully. As Satoshi Kon’s one and only comedy animation film, Tokyo Godfathers has the kind of humor that is not intentional to just make you laugh, rather, when the entire story comes together, you smile because of the warmth of humanity that is shown by many of the characters; such warmth, also, eventually becomes the motivation for one to break out of their own griefs. 

Thank you for reading this blog

Feel free to find my other works of writing in my personal blogs: 

Blogger: PereCreate

Wordpress: perecreate3.wordpress.com 

tumblr : https://www.tumblr.com/perecreate 

If you are interested in my sketch works, I also have a youtube channel: 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHD9cQXkMiHpvMI7n-bA9kg

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Bill Cunningham New York (2010)

If I were to name something heartwarming and encouraging in terms of book reading, I would pick Tuesdays With Morrie written by Mitch Albom. But if I were to name it in terms of films, it would undoubtedly be Bill Cunningham New York (2010) directed by Richard Press. 

The story of Bill Cunningham is truly a unique one to tell. Having begun his fashion career at the Carnegie Hall, New York in 1949, Bill came into the field full of passion and preserved his fervency for decades. For years, he lived in daily routine of riding bikes on streets of New York, and constantly seeking for elements of fashion and catching them on camera. When he gets into photographing, food or anything else physical is forgotten. Even money. 

While watching this documentary, I felt more and more respectful to Bill. So careless of the world around him whose goal is only to record fashion itself, as if fashion is the last thing living on earth. Whenever I try to sit down to write my film blogs or homework assignments, I either get hungry or begin wandering my mind somewhere else; I’m easily distracted. The fact that Bill has been the same for half of a century and still liked ripping money checks given to him as paychecks, I really don’t know what to do if not to pay proper respect to such a peculiar and pure man. We can see that Bill’s mind, although inattentive to anything other than fashion, has his own principles. When he worked at Women's Wear Daily, seeing one of his post works was used by his company to make fun of the women models in his photos, Bill was “beyond upset.” He immediately left the job after he experienced that incident as he felt embarrassed for what the models had to go through because of him. Bill’s sense of freedom was the main reason why he deserves full honor. He is really the first person I’ve ever seen that is full of gratitude, modesty and passion. 

Bill, in the end, made me believe the magic of perseverance, kindness and patience. He will perhaps be the only person I think who is unintentional of hurting anybody. And, I hope, that his soul will forever rest in peace with his camera in hand, as he continues to take pictures of art, the fashion that he finds inspiring.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Feel free to find my other works of writing in my personal blogs: 

Blogger: PereCreate

Wordpress: perecreate3.wordpress.com 

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(Spoiler Alert!) Millennium Actress: A Lifelong Pursuit

A lifelong pursuit is perhaps the shortest but precise summary for Millennium Actress. It depicts the life of Chiyoko Fujiwara as a parallel to her acting career, which are somewhat similar to each other with one ultimate goal–to seek someone she wishes to return an item to. A fate that begins in her adolescence, and continues till the end of her life. Film director Satoshi Kon perfectly expresses the feeling of surrealism of Millennium Actress through the form of anime and seamless transitions that blurs Chiyoko’s life into a masterpiece of art that is filled with joy, challenges, sorrow, grief and hopes. It is a story about love, motivation,  self-growth, and a revisit back to Japanese history in the 1900s, where wars and propagandas were forms of normality.

Millennium Actress holds a rather simple plot. However, the art form and storyline is as fruitful as a dish of deliciousness, full of content and satisfying texture. Following the chronological timeline of Millennium Actress, the story's protagonist, Chiyoko Fujiwara is given birth on the day of the Great Kanto earthquake (Tokyo-Yokohama earthquake); a day that also marks the ending of her father’s life. Japan, having suffered from the loss of 140,000 lives and two major cities, enters into a depression state. Only three years after the earthquake, Japan’s emperor of the Taisho era died  in 1926; The country officially welcomed the coming of Showa era and the new emperor Hirohito, whose enthronement rituals were seen as a foreshadowing of chauvinistic nationalism. Large amounts of money were invested into making the enthronement happen, but for Japan at the time, the spending was beyond its low budget; Japan’s economy after the Hirohito’s enthronement worsened. People were more devastated, Japan continued lacking necessary resources, and soon the pre-war era arrived.

During Chiyoko’s youth, she describes the world around her as “a turbulent and dangerous place.” A country that is all in chasing for national benefits and extreme ideologies. Propagandas about war are posted along with posters that emphasize self-sacrifice and devotion for Japan. People whose actions conflict with the trending belief would be seen as traitors–even persecuted to death.

Obedience, perseverance, deindividualize, Chiyoko grows under such an environment where her life is to pursue what the country pursues. Even when the Ginei Studio scout wants to hire Chiyoko as a young actor, he emphasizes the amount of benefits it would produce for her mother nation. While on scout’s side, Chiyoko is able to contribute to Japan as an actor, Chiyoko’s mother is against his idea and thinks that becoming a housewife is the correct way for a woman to dedicate herself for her country; Chiyoko feels hesitant at the same time lost with the two options given to her. She leaves both her mother and the scout in the room with their argument as she goes out for a walk on snowy streets, and throws snowballs onto walls as a release of her emotions. 

The color of red appears obvious and attractive for sights in the snow. The red brick wall, the Japanese flag, the propagandas. Almost everything else is in a tone of black of white, even Chiyoko’s red-pink scarf loses its saturation and gains the color of limestone statues. She is rather alone and depressed. As Chiyoko continues walking down the neighborhood she is pushed by a man from behind, who is in a hurry escaping the pursuit of the Japanese Government. Out of sudden urge, Chiyoko decides to help him. 

The man is placed inside of Chiyoko’s family storage house to avoid being discovered. Only at night times Chiyoko sneaks into the storage house, bandages his injuries, and listens to his stories. The man explains his identity as a painter, as he carries a rectangular shaped canvas covered by a black sheet, and a box of painting tools. He wish, that when peace comes, he is able to finish his painting back in his hometown Hokkaido during its heavy winter. But before such time may come, the man wishes to go to his friends who are currently fighting in Manchuria; he has to leave Chiyoko’s house. He promises Chiyoko that once the turbulence in their country ends, he will invite her to Hokkaido to express his gratitude toward her kindness. Their conversation continues on, and the topic turns to the man’s key necklace. “It is a key that opens something important.” Explained by the man. Upon observing his locked paint box, Chiyoko is completely aware of what the “important thing” the man implies. Still, she makes a promise with the man in giving her a day of time to guess what the key is for. Except she is never able to tell him the answer as the Japanese government eventually discovers traces of the man, and the man has no choice but to take his leave early; he accidentally drops his key while attempting to escape on a train going in the direction of Manchuria. Despite knowing the difficulty for her to meet the man again, Chiyoko still wants to keep their promise. She wears the key that the man dropped and says to the faraway train: “I will go…I will go to you!” Thus Chiyoko’s journey into fulfilling her promise with the man begins. Or should we say, at this point, we are finishing the ending of one of Chiyoko’s films. 

The intriguing part about Millennium Actress is predictably known for its surrealism, as I have touched on a little bit at the beginning of this blog. For audiences who are familiar with Satoshi Kon’s other work of films, such as Paprika and Perfect Blue, the immersion of reality and none-real world are applied by Kon in a way that only anime can reproduce the same stunning effect; the seamlessness of the transitions in Paprika, Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress always leave me speechless, at the same time paying more respect to Kon’s creativity. Back to Millennium Actress, when we perhaps are watching Chiyoko’s story of her life, we are unsure whether or not we are seeing just other cinema films she participates in. Because in both her films and life, she is always pursuing the man, wishing to return his key to him. 

My immature writing on Millennium Actress is, and never will be able to express the fascinating visuals that this film brings us. The parallelity of Chiyoko’s career and life is not only a proof of her determination to find the man again, but that the pursuit of him also means significantly to the building of her own character. As Chiyoko states at the end of the film, maybe the man isn’t what matters on her journey. Because at the end of the day, what she really “likes is the pursuit of him.” 

Thank you for reading this blog.

Feel free to find my other works of writing in my personal blogs: 

Blogger: PereCreate

Wordpress: perecreate3.wordpress.com 

(Spoiler Alert!) Millennium Actress: A LifeLong Pursuit – PereCreate

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2001: A Space Odyssey (no spoilers, purely recommending)

First, a long void of black begins the film, then as the sun, moon, and earth overlaps with one another, an eclipse occurs. This is the intro that brings us to the first chapter of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Dawn of Man.

I sat confused when I began watching this film, and held the same confusion when I finished it. But trust me, it is not because the story plot is intolerably flawed or bad, in fact, it opened a new door of knowledge that dives deep into philosophy and science that just might appear incomprehensible in the beginning (at least for me).

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most classic sci-fi films that defines science fiction with meticulous details that depicts the various evolutions of humanity, technology, and the vastness of the universe. The film stretches its timeline from the beginning of humanity, when our ancestry has not yet reached the biological stage of homo-sapiens, but apes. During that period, our ancestors learns the power of tool-using, and foreshadows the incoming and accelerating human evolutions. From bone to spaceship, we are brought to the year 2001, as it says in the film title. Humanity has achieved much more and beyond mother earth. The creation of high-quality technologies such as long-distance use telephones, spaceships, convenient edibles, and most importantly, artificial intelligence that is capable of being even more advanced than its own creator. Of course, talking about these technologies is not the main purpose of this blog. Rather, I’m intrigued to introduce 2001: A Space Odyssey as a love song for humanity's future, at the same time being a dire warning. Because what destroys humans themselves in the end are their own creation, the artificial intelligence, HAL9000. As “the brain and the nervous system” of a large spaceship under a secret mission, HAL’s final choice for his human companions is rather out of control, and possibly unexpected.

Sorry for being so long gone since my last blog. But Anyhow, I hope this blog writing would interest you to take a look at 2001: A Space Odyssey. >:)

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Evil Does Not Exist: The Ambiguity of “Evilness”

How does one define the meaning of “evil”? It is not in the category of verb or noun. As an adjective word it is ambiguous to use, and forever subjective. Based on various experiences, the definition of “evil” is different and unique for every human being. Let’s pretend a person is robbing a bank because he has no money to aid his family. Some might say that this robber is “evil” because his act disrupts the balance of fair competition in the economy, and is rather violent. But some may say that the robber has a reason for his actions, therefore he is not necessarily evil, but neither is he kind. Evil Does Not Exist is a wave that pushes and encourages us to think relatively to the question of “evilness,” considering the world is not just black and white, but shades of gray. The director Ryusuke Hamaguchi does a perfect job at veiling the deep waters of Evil Does Not Exist. The atmosphere of the film can almost trick you into thinking that it is merely a simple story happening in a rural Japanese village. When the quiet, yet slightly unsettling, opening credit begins playing, it’s already difficult to escape the illusioned tenderness, and the ending is unexpected as if testing the depth of water with two human feet.

Thank you for reading this article

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Inside Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone: the City of Pripyat

One of the most disastrous human failures occurred on a day of 1986–a radiation explosion that was expected before its coming took place in Chernobyl, Ukraine (at the time part of the Soviet Union. Thousands of lives and numerous cities were significantly influenced due to Soviet Union authorities' problematic control of radioactive substances. People died, not knowing they have ingested contaminated air, those who lived suffered permanent damage for the rest of their lifetime. Directed by Volodrmyr Rybas, who is well known for the documentary film, Azure Dust guides its audience to the long desolated exclusion zone of Chernobyl, as it is no longer inhabited, frozen in its own time.

Pripyat, a city in Ukraine two kilometers away from the radiation explosion power plant, was the dream city where young Soviet Union people pursued to take residence in. Carnivals often took place and the neighborhood was friendly, crowded, and eventful. On April 26, 1986, as reactor 4 of the power plant safety drill was misconducted, an enormous amount of radioactive materials exploded into the air, carried by the wind, and into cities including Pripyat (the radioactive material later covered most of Europe as well). After 36 hours of the explosion, Pripyat residents were evacuated without a specific explanation from the Soviet Union Authorities; they were informed to leave the city for just three days to a week for the government to fix the situation. Most people packed little personal belongings, left their pets some food and water, thinking that they’ll be back to their home in a short amount of time. Many began to show fatal sick symptoms after a week, due to the radioactive waste they breathed in during those 36 hours, the living ones weren't in better condition, either. Aside from covering the fact of radioactive material leak, the Soviet Union Authority carried out forced abortion on pregnant women that came into contact with the toxic substances. One of the survivors from Pripyat, Maryna was interviewed in Azure Dust to talk about her experiences with the forced abortion. She replied that she received IV (intravenous injection) that she thought was used to reduce the radioactive waste existing in her belly, however made her five month old baby at the time reacting very strongly. Maryna was later informed that she will be aborting her child with no choice. She decided to leave the hospital immediately with her husband. The next day she found herself wanted by the Soviet Union Authorities. According to The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, “an estimated 100,000-200,000 wanted pregnancies were aborted in Western Europe.”

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine article: https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/jnumed/28/6/933.full.pdf

The tragedies never happened enough, broken families, declining health, irresponsible measures taken by the Soviet Union government, those who lived the days in the nuclear wastes have either vanished, or have no choice but live under the shadow of the traumas and sickeness. Volodymyr Rybas’s Azure Dust depicts the horrifying history of Chernobyl, and the sorrows of victims. Pripyat now lives as a ghost city, the insides of buildings under the accumulated dust and deteriorating ceilings. It is an honor seeing Volodymyr Rybas and his team bringing us the sight of Pripyat today. And that, someday, cities like Pripyat would be able to restore the same joy it once owned forty years ago.

Feel free to check out my film review blog site: perecreate3.wordpress.com

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Paprika: An Explosion of Imagination (Revision)

Dreams, free of all physical forms and logical thought system, is an unpredictable yet imaginative experience that occurs in bits of our lives. The film Paprika released in 2006 is a masterpiece directed by Satoshi Kon, as it jumps back and forth on the boundaries of real and imagined worlds. Following the sight of Paprika, or Dr. Chiba Atsuko (Megumi Hayashibara), we get to witness different dreams of many characters as their minds rip away from reality, and dive deep into a complex conspiracy.

Launched by Dr. Chiba and her colleague Dr. Kosaku Tokita (Toru Furuya), the dream device DC Mini is invented and in development for purposes of dream psychotherapy. DC Mini gives those who are connected to the device the ability to enter one’s dream, which allows the patient and therapist to be in the same dream created by the patient’s subconscious mind. Such a therapy method was introduced in the beginning of the film, when policeman Konakawa and Paprika dives into his dream relative to his pursuit of a criminal.

Interestingly to say, Paprika’s motif on the topic of dream and reality penetrates throughout the entire film; the boundaries of reality and dreams are meant to be the reflection of one’s self, the outer mind and inner mind. Neither can be dismissed.

Let’s observe Chiba Atsuko and Paprika, they originate from the same person, which is Chiba herself. But the way they talk and interact is apparently distinct from each other. Chiba is an attractive woman that speaks stoically. She barely smiles, and tends to distance herself away from everyone else except Tokita. Her dark blue hair is clipped up as she always walks fast like the wind. Ever before the end of the film Chiba stands as the definition of permanence. Same suit, same High heels, same attitude to almost everyone around her. If anyone were to be the “antonym” of Chiba, it would be Paprika. She exhibits an expressive kind of beauty, making her a lovely and friendly woman just from her appearance; the color of her bright red blouse t-shirt makes her someone attractive and a tolerant figure like the sun. But is it really possible to say that they are not the same, and should be judged as two different figures?

Paprika: “Leave that irresponsible fatso!”

Chiba Atsuko: “Why won’t you listen to me? You’re a part of me!”

Paprika: “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re a part of me?”

Here comes the paradox, Paprika and Chiba are different people, but similar enough to call each other the reflection of themselves. Just like what we previously said, Paprika originates from Chiba, nevertheless, Paprika prefers to be identified as herself, and not Chiba. In fact, Paprika never once says that she is part of Chiba, and she sees Chiba as another individual: “If anything happens to Atsuko, use the…” is what Paprika tells Dr. Shima (Hori Katsunosuke) in dream of finding Tokita’s consciousness. Therefore, Chiba and Paprika both sense the difference between them, and does not consider their existence presents because of the other’s presence; they live with their own minds.

The lack of logic is perfectly explained by the imperfect yet powerful imagination of dreams. Which eventually concludes a paradoxical message regarding dream and reality. They stand as two sides, having their pros and cons, and inseparable of one another.

Feel free to check out my personal film blog site: https://perecreate3.wordpress.com/

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Inside Out 2: A Reformation of Self-Identity; a journey of self-growth

I recently went to watch Inside Out 2, its previous movie being one of my favorite. It was quite unforgettable how amazed the little me was after realizing a human mind contains this many cute creatures, and they help sort out your life.

So I immediately went to watch Inside Out 2, not only due to my personal favoritism, but also because of the heartwarming story it tells.

This blog will be a debrief of the first movie for better understanding, and then we’ll further into Inside Out 2 where the storyline connects.

The Inside Out is released in 2015 and directed by Pete Docter. It introduces us to our human protagonist, Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias), and the protagonists that lives inside her mind. In the world of Inside Out, human mind is mainly consisted of five emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). These five emotions are the small creatures that controls a person’s way of thinking and feelings, as one paves through life, The same goes to Riley. Her life is greatly cared by these emotions, as well as the many mind workers that does minor but important tasks in Riley’s head.

Inside Out gives us a sight of Riley’s life as she grows from a baby to the start of her adolescence. Throughout the first movie, Riley and her emotions comprehends the idea that all emotions are neutral feelings and not to be defined as positive or negative. Sadness, who is previously judged as a harmful emotion to Riley has her label taken off as she and Joy experiences a journey outside of the headquarter (emotional responses of Riley is transmitted in headquarter); Joy finally realizes that Sadness is not what Riley doesn’t need, but part of what she needs to be the Riley she is. Joy and Sadness eventually comes back to the headquarter as Riley, too, drops her plan to go back to Minnesota and instead running back home. As Riley is faced by her worried parents, Riley releases her tears as Sadness transfers message from the headquarter for the first time, with no one stopping her to do so. Both Riley and her emotions (or just Riley herself) learns to face and accept their thoughts, and be more open-minded of life.

With a complete debrief on the first film, let’s now talk about Inside Out 2. I have only two words to describe my feeling when I finished the film: Amazement and Appreciation. Inside Out 2 brings us a very significant stage of Riley’s life, or everybody’s life, and that is puberty. Puberty is like waves of high sea tides that constantly knocks you but not really trying to kill you kind of thing. It is a life phase where many begin building their consciousness and become aware of outside influences (such as peers and their social environments). It could be a tough transition growing up, however it is inevitable. So the moment Riley enters puberty, she finds herself facing difficult challenges. Mood swings, body odor, overly-observant of others, wanting for attention and be included in a cool social circle, Riley experiences all of these phenomenons brought by puberty. As for her emotions, Joy and her four friends are waken up in the middle of the night by the puberty alert, The headquarter gets a forced and unfinished reconstruction, and new emotions moves in…a lot of things happens overnight, and Riley’s world is flipped upside-down. I personally really appreciate the perfect depiction of puberty by the Disney Pixar. They did a fantastic job at visualizing such abstract concept with lively character movements of 3D-animation, which makes the scene quite chaotic and adorable at the same time. Once again I owe my compliments to Pixar for the stunning performances of their animations. Back to the film, Anxiety in lead takes control of Riley’s mind and abandons everything Riley previously own that built her first sense of identity, as well as the five old emotions. It’s not hard to understand the core concept of Inside Out 2. It is just like its first movie, to face one’s true self with no judgement. Inside Out 2 is indeed another stage of Riley learning and accepting herself again. However, it is a different experience, and I believe a lot more people sympathize with Riley than they do with the first movie. Inside Out 2 discusses a common phenomenon that most people have or had in their young teenage years. Riley is taken over by anxiety and desperately seeks attention in order to feel secured. I once felt the same way, too.

Inside Out 2 is definitely on my recommendation list right from the moment I finished watching it. A story of comedy, anxiety, sadness, joy, and teenage moments, you won’t regret trying Inside Out 2 you felt good with the first film.

Newest updates of film reviews are in my blog site for anyone interested:

perecreate3.wordpress.com

[perecreate]

Inside Out 2: A Reformation of Self-Identity; a journey of self-growth

I recently went to watch Inside Out 2, its previous movie being one of my favorite. It was quite unforgettable how amazed the little me was after realizing a human mind contains this many cute creatures, and they help sort out your life.

So I immediately went to watch Inside Out 2, not only due to my personal favoritism, but also because of the heartwarming story it tells.

This blog will be a debrief of the first movie for better understanding, and then we’ll further into Inside Out 2 where the storyline connects.

The Inside Out is released in 2015 and directed by Pete Docter. It introduces us to our human protagonist, Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias), and the protagonists that lives inside her mind. In the world of Inside Out, human mind is mainly consisted of five emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). These five emotions are the small creatures that controls a person’s way of thinking and feelings, as one paves through life, The same goes to Riley. Her life is greatly cared by these emotions, as well as the many mind workers that does minor but important tasks in Riley’s head.

Inside Out gives us a sight of Riley’s life as she grows from a baby to the start of her adolescence. Throughout the first movie, Riley and her emotions comprehends the idea that all emotions are neutral feelings and not to be defined as positive or negative. Sadness, who is previously judged as a harmful emotion to Riley has her label taken off as she and Joy experiences a journey outside of the headquarter (emotional responses of Riley is transmitted in headquarter); Joy finally realizes that Sadness is not what Riley doesn’t need, but part of what she needs to be the Riley she is. Joy and Sadness eventually comes back to the headquarter as Riley, too, drops her plan to go back to Minnesota and instead running back home. As Riley is faced by her worried parents, Riley releases her tears as Sadness transfers message from the headquarter for the first time, with no one stopping her to do so. Both Riley and her emotions (or just Riley herself) learns to face and accept their thoughts, and be more open-minded of life.

With a complete debrief on the first film, let’s now talk about Inside Out 2. I have only two words to describe my feeling when I finished the film: Amazement and Appreciation. Inside Out 2 brings us a very significant stage of Riley’s life, or everybody’s life, and that is puberty. Puberty is like waves of high sea tides that constantly knocks you but not really trying to kill you kind of thing. It is a life phase where many begin building their consciousness and become aware of outside influences (such as peers and their social environments). It could be a tough transition growing up, however it is inevitable. So the moment Riley enters puberty, she finds herself facing difficult challenges. Mood swings, body odor, overly-observant of others, wanting for attention and be included in a cool social circle, Riley experiences all of these phenomenons brought by puberty. As for her emotions, Joy and her four friends are waken up in the middle of the night by the puberty alert, The headquarter gets a forced and unfinished reconstruction, and new emotions moves in…a lot of things happens overnight, and Riley’s world is flipped upside-down. I personally really appreciate the perfect depiction of puberty by the Disney Pixar. They did a fantastic job at visualizing such abstract concept with lively character movements of 3D-animation, which makes the scene quite chaotic and adorable at the same time. Once again I owe my compliments to Pixar for the stunning performances of their animations. Back to the film, Anxiety in lead takes control of Riley’s mind and abandons everything Riley previously own that built her first sense of identity, as well as the five old emotions. It’s not hard to understand the core concept of Inside Out 2. It is just like its first movie, to face one’s true self with no judgement. Inside Out 2 is indeed another stage of Riley learning and accepting herself again. However, it is a different experience, and I believe a lot more people sympathize with Riley than they do with the first movie. Inside Out 2 discusses a common phenomenon that most people have or had in their young teenage years. Riley is taken over by anxiety and desperately seeks attention in order to feel secured. I once felt the same way, too.

Inside Out 2 is definitely on my recommendation list right from the moment I finished watching it. A story of comedy, anxiety, sadness, joy, and teenage moments, you won’t regret trying Inside Out 2 you felt good with the first film.

Newest updates of film reviews are in my blog site for anyone interested:

perecreate3.wordpress.com

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Blade Runner: A Redefinition of Humanity

Is one not created by nature, eligible for owning humanity that appears exclusively for living and high-intelligent organisms? Through the eyes of artificial intelligence characters, the film Blade Runner 2019 questions the belonging of identity and consciousness, as man-made lifes begin to perceive, comprehend and respond to their surroundings, just like normal humans do.  

The film Blade Runner is definitely a must-watch sci-fi film even till this day, with its deep character depiction and conflicts, amazing graphics with a unique dystopian world environment.

The final cut version of Blade Runner 2019 released in 1982 is an artistic sci-fi film directed by Ridley Scott, based on the novel “Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick. It takes us into the future world of 2019, 37 years later this film was in making. Human technology has advanced and humanity has found its ways to colonize other planets. Earth, however, has lost its original form. As upper-class citizens leave the earth, the rest of humans struggle to preserve systems of education, laws and orders. Eventually, earth becomes a lawless place to live, with no specific authority in rule. It has also become a planet invisible to sunlight, its only light source coming from the bright electronic screens. 

Under the rapid tech-innovation, Nexus 6 replicants are created as artificial intelligence that physically looks like humans, but supposedly not intrigued by emotions, and to work as off-world slaves. But it didn’t take long for replicants to realize their positions and ability to rebel against their own creators. They soon found their ways (back) on earth and hid among people, intending to avoid pursuit and live a life of their own. Their escape eventually reaches the local police department, and Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is put on a mission as Blade Runner, tasked to retire all replicants on the run. 

Blade Runner’s hypothesis of a broken world tells its audience the similarity between each and every human, which is implied through the human-like creature, the Nexus 6 replicants. It’s an implication of social hierarchy that separates people by various factors, which can deny a person’s identity as an equal human. “Have you ever retired a human by mistake?” Rachael’s (Sean Young) question to Deckard is a real hit to the point; it’s an inquiry to the audience, the society, that has humanity been weakened, and accessible for certain group of people and not to another? 

With a deep message hidden inside, Blade Runner does a fantastic job with its satisfying decor and the creation of a corruptive world. With a hypothetical but realistic world setting, and the support of great music and visuals, I promised you won’t regret watching Blade Runner 2019.

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