Whatever one chooses to do or be may not work out. When it does not, one gets a chance at another life. Most have just one; for most, one is enough. Multiple lives liberate or ruin the individual; they educate the rest.
One can make up in intensity what one lacks in continuity.
22 February 2014
11 February 2014
Idiot's Delight
(Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 8 February 2014)
The play's protagonist is an idea, not any one person. This idea is the absurdity of national allegiance. The Great American Songbook is identified as a viable alternative to the Internationale. Even though this 1936 play has not caught on, its ideals have.
The play's protagonist is an idea, not any one person. This idea is the absurdity of national allegiance. The Great American Songbook is identified as a viable alternative to the Internationale. Even though this 1936 play has not caught on, its ideals have.
6 February 2014
The Groundhog Day (1993)
Boredom invites to think, change, and correct. In film, it is hard to convey boredom engagingly. The film-maker must compromise. The hundred and one-minutes of "The Groundhog Day" are too few to advance the plot while showing the boredom that leads to despair. The sought monotony of the routine might be convincing on repeated viewings.
Andie MacDowell's acting is restrained---perhaps, to make sure that she does not appear to be out of her suitor's league. Nor does Bill Murray steal any scenes (although he tries). The movie is even, timidly light-hearted.
There is only one world, that which one must change.
Andie MacDowell's acting is restrained---perhaps, to make sure that she does not appear to be out of her suitor's league. Nor does Bill Murray steal any scenes (although he tries). The movie is even, timidly light-hearted.
There is only one world, that which one must change.
27 January 2014
Débora First (2010)
In this fictional vignette, three friends design friendship in a series of café conversations.
25 January 2014
Her (2013)
Among the ideals of equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the last is quintessentially American. An American devours any idea that promises a chance of greater happiness. If this idea fails, undaunted, he moves on to another. The pursuit of happiness has installed the taste for perpetual design into America's DNA.
Liberty cultivates tolerance, which encourages social experimentation. A degree of equality ensures that no life that one can usefully learn from is wasted.
"Her" can be watched without sound (or alternatively, without visuals). The movie's representation of the near future is loyal to the original. The improvements are in interior, sartorial, and urban designs; the make-up is subtler; the manners are milder; the age is post-advertising and the better for it. The movie is set in the America whose success has ushered a post-American era.
Individuals waste their time with pets. The time spent with an OS would at least cary the promise of personal growth. As flight simulators make better pilots, OS friends would make one better at interacting with humans. The menial aspects of psychotherapists' and child psychologists' jobs would be outsourceable to machines. When with other humans, humans would devote themselves to the art, not the predicament, of human communication.
The casting and acting are impeccable. Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson develop characters, not personalities. Joaquin Phoenix (Theodore) is careful (and carefully chosen) not to make his character bigger than his intended part. Rooney Mara is skilfully miscast as Theodore's ex-wife.
Liberty cultivates tolerance, which encourages social experimentation. A degree of equality ensures that no life that one can usefully learn from is wasted.
"Her" can be watched without sound (or alternatively, without visuals). The movie's representation of the near future is loyal to the original. The improvements are in interior, sartorial, and urban designs; the make-up is subtler; the manners are milder; the age is post-advertising and the better for it. The movie is set in the America whose success has ushered a post-American era.
Individuals waste their time with pets. The time spent with an OS would at least cary the promise of personal growth. As flight simulators make better pilots, OS friends would make one better at interacting with humans. The menial aspects of psychotherapists' and child psychologists' jobs would be outsourceable to machines. When with other humans, humans would devote themselves to the art, not the predicament, of human communication.
The casting and acting are impeccable. Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson develop characters, not personalities. Joaquin Phoenix (Theodore) is careful (and carefully chosen) not to make his character bigger than his intended part. Rooney Mara is skilfully miscast as Theodore's ex-wife.
6 January 2014
Ирония Судьбы или с Лёгким Паром (1975)
A successful picture requires a classy female lead and a confident male lead, both worthy of imitation, and a happy ending, which teaches to accentuate the positive, thereby helping moderate the side-effects of self-awareness and foresight, inherently human afflictions. "Ирония Судьбы" goes beyond these requirements. Honed onstage, every line, look, and gesture in the movie have been perfected. The acting retains the intimacy of a theatre production without a trace of theatricality.
Sometimes, in a miscalculated bid to appeal to the masses, actors employ a stereotypical vocabulary of facial expressions and body language. The ensuing delivery is as expressive as mass-produced apartment blocks. By contrast, "Ирония Судьбы" has character innovations that have been edifying generations. British theatre is similarly innovative, and so was American cinema in its Golden Age, except it capitalised on franchises (such as Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, and Fred Astaire), which Soviet cinema rarely did, treating each actor as a character actor.
"Ирония Судьбы" is not a comedy. It has a genre to the extent that a life (when crafted carefully) does. In life, comic situations do not befall stand-up comedians. They befall those who seek novelty, which conflates genres.
Both protagonists, Надя (Barbara Brylska) and Женя (Андрей Мягков), fall in love with each other's character, not personality, which, at least by the age of thirty, is largely derivative of character. In cinema, practical considerations dictate that a woman's character be reflected in her looks, unsurpassed for Barbara Brylska.
The picture is about seizing the moment, about friendship, about the supremacy of love, and about the clarity of vision. It is easy to overlook a potential infatuation, but not potential love, which promptly casts the couple in a play written just for them. The right lines spring up naturally (and are perceived as right also naturally).
Sometimes, in a miscalculated bid to appeal to the masses, actors employ a stereotypical vocabulary of facial expressions and body language. The ensuing delivery is as expressive as mass-produced apartment blocks. By contrast, "Ирония Судьбы" has character innovations that have been edifying generations. British theatre is similarly innovative, and so was American cinema in its Golden Age, except it capitalised on franchises (such as Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, and Fred Astaire), which Soviet cinema rarely did, treating each actor as a character actor.
"Ирония Судьбы" is not a comedy. It has a genre to the extent that a life (when crafted carefully) does. In life, comic situations do not befall stand-up comedians. They befall those who seek novelty, which conflates genres.
The picture is about seizing the moment, about friendship, about the supremacy of love, and about the clarity of vision. It is easy to overlook a potential infatuation, but not potential love, which promptly casts the couple in a play written just for them. The right lines spring up naturally (and are perceived as right also naturally).
9 December 2013
"Three Comrades" by Erich Maria Remarque (1936)
Remarque merely sketches his protagonists. Pat is liked by all, but the reader shall not see why. He must do with the author’s assertion that she is. Bobby is shallow and nice—a valid character, but an imperfect narrator. The novel’s true characters are times, not individuals.
War steals and deceives. It breeds fatalism. Individuals refuse to attempt to change their circumstances, and the lack of change discourages them further. Despair settles in.
War untames humans by awakening the thrills of risk-taking. Without the rule of law, such behaviour is destructive. With the rule of law, such behaviour may promote entrepreneurship. In either case, the shortage of individuals willing to invest at a normal return leads to extreme inequality and myopic policies.
Narratives must be happy. Good opportunities present themselves rarely, and so it is important to illustrate how to take advantage of them. Catastrophes and failures do not instruct.
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