Everyone has a world of his own to conquer. It is impossible to sacrifice one's own world in order to make others happy. Instead, one must discover and inhabit the world of one's own first. Only then, one can become a good host to others.
This motion picture draws on a commonly exploited theme, a conflict between a stupid man and a sensitive woman. The conflict does strike one as being a little exaggerated, but then, perhaps, suburban people do indeed come in such a variety. The players overact, but Kate Winslet keeps this overacting within the bounds of decency. Even though at moments, when in arguments, she appears a little uncomfortable, this is consistent with the awkwardness of her character's situation.
Given the portrayed lack of understanding between Leonardo DiCaprio's and Kate Winslet's characters, one wonders whether the couple were doomed regardless of their location, be it a city or suburbia. Since suburbia is a catalyst, not the principal ingredient, of the couple's conflict, the impact of the conflict as a critique of suburbia is diminished. Nonetheless, the inability of Kate Winselet's character to adapt to suburban life and the bordering-on-the-grotesque portrayal of the neighbourhood's inhabitants succeed at capturing the atmosphere of the "hopeless emptiness of life here."
30 January 2009
23 January 2009
Last Chance Harvey (2008)
People often fail to recognise the arbitrariness of the reference points against which they measure their decisions. Reassessing the status quo, however, may lead to the realisation that inaction is a gamble whereas action offers a safe return, not the other way around.
Typically, an action, with its outcome uncertain, can lead to disappointment and regret, but so can inaction. Therefore, one is encouraged to act and thereby be alive. And if one is in a city, one just might act not alone.
Typically, an action, with its outcome uncertain, can lead to disappointment and regret, but so can inaction. Therefore, one is encouraged to act and thereby be alive. And if one is in a city, one just might act not alone.
15 January 2009
Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
The lives of others fascinate, especially if one has no life of one's own. If poverty deprives one of the ability to fashion one's own life, one is prepared to pay dearly for being an extra in someone's else B movie, in the hope that the movie comes true.
28 December 2008
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)
There is more to humanity than the people around you. There are people who are wise but dead, yet alive in books and films. There are those who are wise but distant, yet approachable in their art. There are amicable strangers. In order to feel alive, one must not neglect any of these people.
Life distributes enough hardship; this hardship should not be amplified by self-punishment. One way to try to focus on one's long-term goals is to focus on trying to make other people---those whose goals are aligned with one's own goals---happier. It is convenient, though not necessary, that these other people exist.
Life distributes enough hardship; this hardship should not be amplified by self-punishment. One way to try to focus on one's long-term goals is to focus on trying to make other people---those whose goals are aligned with one's own goals---happier. It is convenient, though not necessary, that these other people exist.
24 December 2008
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
This Frank Capra's picture illustrates the view of the world according to which (i) one should act in accord with one's desires and in spite of the prevailing social norms, and (ii) if studied carefully, one's ultimate desires---those that grant most satisfaction---will consist in being attentive and kind to others.
Was George Bailey's happiness derived from the sacrifice of his youth's aspirations in order to promote the well-being of his neighbours? No. Had George Bailey travelled the world, he would have come back to Bedford Falls. Otherwise he would not have stayed there in the first place. Hence, the movie does not promote self-sacrifice. The movie advocates doing whatever one thinks is right for himself, and this is what George Bailey did. And what happens to be right for oneself, is typically also generous with respect to others.
The movie underscores that in choosing a spouse (or a friend, or a companion) one acknowledges the direction in which one would like to go, and one acquires an inspiration and a stimulus to persevere moving in that direction. Yet it is better to travel without a compass than with a faulty compass. George Bailey was fortunate. Mary shares George's integrity and is beautiful. They do not make them like this anymore.
Was George Bailey's happiness derived from the sacrifice of his youth's aspirations in order to promote the well-being of his neighbours? No. Had George Bailey travelled the world, he would have come back to Bedford Falls. Otherwise he would not have stayed there in the first place. Hence, the movie does not promote self-sacrifice. The movie advocates doing whatever one thinks is right for himself, and this is what George Bailey did. And what happens to be right for oneself, is typically also generous with respect to others.
The movie underscores that in choosing a spouse (or a friend, or a companion) one acknowledges the direction in which one would like to go, and one acquires an inspiration and a stimulus to persevere moving in that direction. Yet it is better to travel without a compass than with a faulty compass. George Bailey was fortunate. Mary shares George's integrity and is beautiful. They do not make them like this anymore.
12 December 2008
Destry Rides Again (1939)
This is a B-movie that could have been an A-movie if made eight years earlier, pre-code, with Marlene Dietrich's acting in earnest a little more complex and a little less jaded part. The grotesqueness of the characters in the perceived Wild West deprives the movie of its subtlety and hence power. Even though James Stewart is doing a good job, he is given too little work to excell.
As for subtlety, therein lies the great challenge of art. On the one hand, the work should be sufficiently stylised in order to highlight the problem that it addresses. On the other hand, the work must have enough fine detail in order for the problem thus defined to be non-trivial and the insight emerging from the work to be non-negligible.
As for subtlety, therein lies the great challenge of art. On the one hand, the work should be sufficiently stylised in order to highlight the problem that it addresses. On the other hand, the work must have enough fine detail in order for the problem thus defined to be non-trivial and the insight emerging from the work to be non-negligible.
28 November 2008
Nutcracker
(Rochester City Ballet, 28 November 2008)
The beginning of the end of Hollywood musicals (and a glorious beginning of the end at that) was in the 1950s. Musical productions about staging musical productions with thrice the number of musical numbers of a 1930s movie were all the vogue. The audiences coveted musical extravaganza, and it was delivered, sometimes at a cost in terms of the richness of the plot---broadly construed. The Nutcracker displays the symptoms of a deceased genre. It is a variety show in the second act and much grimacing in the first act.
Excellent dancing, in principle, will compensate for and possibly even obliterate the shortcomings of a dead genre. Ballet dancing is difficult and careers are short. Everyone can tell if dancing is good or bad. And some of it was indeed good this evening. Yet one cannot help but to wish for the excellent, even though this means to wish for the nearly impossible.
The beginning of the end of Hollywood musicals (and a glorious beginning of the end at that) was in the 1950s. Musical productions about staging musical productions with thrice the number of musical numbers of a 1930s movie were all the vogue. The audiences coveted musical extravaganza, and it was delivered, sometimes at a cost in terms of the richness of the plot---broadly construed. The Nutcracker displays the symptoms of a deceased genre. It is a variety show in the second act and much grimacing in the first act.
Excellent dancing, in principle, will compensate for and possibly even obliterate the shortcomings of a dead genre. Ballet dancing is difficult and careers are short. Everyone can tell if dancing is good or bad. And some of it was indeed good this evening. Yet one cannot help but to wish for the excellent, even though this means to wish for the nearly impossible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
