200 Movies // One to Ten

No. 1 // The Iron Lady

Dir. Phyllida Lloyd

SYNOPSIS 

A biopic of Margaret 
Thatcher, the woman who 
changed British politics,
told in flashbacks.


I wasn't watching Meryl Streep play Thatcher. I was watching Thatcher. Unfortunately, the film doesn't quite support this stellar performance as well as it should. The entire structure of the film was annoying, the way it moves back and forth felt too jittery and restless for me. The ending is ridiculous and left a sour sentimental aftertaste instead of the complex piquancy that a biopic of a controversial political figure should inspire.

No. 2 // Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul

SYNOPSIS
A dream-like journey
into the heart, soul
and mind of Thailand

Imagine yourself taking a nap on a hammock in the middle of the quiet, Thai countryside. As you enter your mid-afternoon dream you realise you're still in the same place. There are monkey ghosts in the distance with red eyes and you follow them. You're tour guide is Haruki Murakami and he narrates your journey as you follow these strange creatures and you discover the mysteries of life and beyond, of myths and local fables, and of ghosts and strange entities. When you decide to see this film, don't expect a story but instead, expect to fall into a hypnotic dream. One that will leave you scratching your head once the credits roll.

No. 3 // Meek's Cutoff

Dir. Kelly Reichardt


SYNOPSIS
Set in Oregon in 1845,
a group of settlers find
themselves stranded in
the middle of the desert

This is one of those films I did not enjoy watching but I take full responsibility for my lack of pleasure. This is a well-made, well-acted, well-thought out film. Maybe I was just not in the right mood or I was not in the right mindset. It felt like I was watching a classic I couldn't decrypt just yet. This is going on my re-watch pile.

No. 4 // Badlands

Dir. Terrence Malick


SYNOPSIS
A story of two people
on a killing spree seen
 through the beautiful gaze
of Malick


Kit and Holly are confusing people. What they say and do does not make any sense but somehow Malick makes us fall in love with them all the same. It might be the golden hour light that they are constantly bathed in or it may be because despite the unforgivable crimes they commit together they both project a sense of childishness. One half the innocence, the other half the rebellion. 

No. 5 // Waiting...
Dir. Rob McKittrick

SYNOPSIS
Multiple coming-of-age
stories from the young
employees of a restaurant


A chance to turn off the brain after those first four films. The ensemble worked well together and I like anything with Anna Faris in it. If you have ever worked at a restaurant or anywhere customer service is involved a lot of the things here, though at times may feel cliched, will still feel hilariously familiar. Additionally, this film gives a very valuable lesson: don't mess with the people who handle your food.

No. 6 // Page One: Inside The New York Times
Dir. Andrew Rossi


SYNOPSIS
Documentary about the New 
York Time's response
to the 'death of the
newspaper'


When I told people I was studying journalism their first response is always: why? Newspapers are dying. Newspapers aren't dying. The physical object maybe but journalism and news reporting will always exist. It's just at a moment of transition right now. Page One is a timely documentary about this moment of transition. The conflict between traditional and new media. It was interesting but there wasn't all that much I got from it. The people they followed around and interviewed weren't very interesting either and I think that's the biggest downfall of a documentary.

No. 7 // Snowtown
Dir. Justin Kurzel


SYNOPSIS
Australian film about the
real life 'bodies in the 
barrel' murders


This Australian film felt like a slightly less intelligent Animal Kingdom. Snowtown is based on the real life 'bodies in the barrel' murders that occurred in Adelaide. While the scenes were clearly designed to shock and provoke, I felt nothing. Probably because the film felt unkind, like it was just there to make me feel bad. 

No. 8 // Kramer vs Kramer
Dir. Robert Benton


SYNOPSIS

A just divorced man must learn 

to care for his son on his own, 

and then must fight in court 

to keep custody of him

The french toast scene at the end of the film broke my heart a little bit. It was like watching the end of a lovely ritual between two people. It was only one out of many beautifully rendered scenes in the film. It's amazing how the writers, actors and director were able to create subtle nuances in dialogue to show little details about their characters and how that offers us a glimpse into the gradations of their relationships.

No. 9 // The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Dir. David Fincher


SYNOPSIS
A young hacker and a
journalist solve a 40-
year old murder mystery


I love what Ignatiy from Ebert Presents says about David Fincher's films. That he's interested in process and how one thing leads to another and leads to another. Think of the process of Facebook's creation in The Social Network and how that leads to lawsuits and broken friendships. How in Zodiac the processes of crime investigation and news reporting culminate to one man's obsession with finding the truth. Here in Dragon Tattoo we get a glimpse into the process of research and uncovering secrets. This may all sound boring but Fincher who is  well-known for his style he makes all these processes: programming, investigations, news reporting, and researching, seem really cool and cinematic. 

No. 10 // The Descendants
Dir. Alexander Payne


SYNOPSIS
A father struggles to
look after his family
after his wife goes into
a coma


At the beginning of the film I felt most of the characters were portrayed in a stereotypical, banal way but each one of them have this really beautiful transformation and it was like someone turned on a light. They all became real. George Clooney was great but Shailene Woodley was a standout. I am still holding a grudge towards the Academy for not nominating her. 


Links:


About the 200 Movies Challenge


Films I've seen so far








Images edited by me from screenshots of the film

Ginger

Coloured my hair and it turned out ginger at first. Like Ron Weasley ginger (now it's dark brown). To celebrate this funny mishap, I'm wearing ginger pants. 

(Shirt from Jack London, Pants from Cheap Monday, Boots from Superdry and Watch from Fossil)

All images are owned by me

Monkey Magic

Probably the most satisfying meal I've had for a long time. Every time a dish was gobbled up I had this really inappropriate urge to lick the plates clean. Yes, I'm classy. And no I did not.

 I've also been experimenting with editing techniques on Photoshop to give my photos have a certain mood. Mood. I feel like I use this word a lot here.

All images are owned by me

50 Books // Jane Eyre // # 3

Reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre makes me yearn for a time when people spoke to each other with such grace and elegance coupled with an intensity of passion that is intermittently laced with the words they speak. It doesn't matter whether they are being cruel or nice or loving. Their utterance between one another never fail to express a potent emotion. Romantic passages like this:

"I sometimes have a queer

feeling with regard to you

- especially when you are near

me, as now: it is as if I

had a string somewhere under

my left ribs, tightly and

inextricably knotted to a

similar string situated in the

corresponding quarter of your

little frame. And if that

boisterous channel, and two

hundred miles or so of land

come broad between us, I am

afraid that cord of communion

will be snapt and then I've

a nervous notion I should take

to bleeding inwardly."

SWOONGASM.

I really like how it's in equal parts violent, romantic and dark. The entire novel feels like this with its gothic, romantic mood. It was perfectly balanced. Less gothic and dark and it would have been too sickly sweet to me.


The other thing I love most about this novel is the central heart, brain, soul and lung of this story: Jane Eyre herself, of course. Right after I finished the book, I posted this on my Tumblr:

"Just finished this last night, or rather, early morning at 4am.

I am in love with Jane Eyre. Not just the book itself but also the character. She is fiercely independent, burning with passion, highly intelligent, unpretentiously artistic and utters some of the sharpest, wittiest lines in literary history. 

The final half of the book gave me multiple heart aches from pure excitement, heartbreak and overwhelming happiness. 

This goes on my list of books I would recommend to anyone.

There are multiple film adaptations of this book. Please don’t use those as excuses to not read this. The book will always be better. Always."

I'll just leave it at that. 

I write on the books I read and I revisit those notes to write these posts. But for this one, every single time I open the book, as if by magic, I find myself re-reading parts of the novel. And I end up getting nothing done. That really shows how powerful Ms. Bronte's novel is. How it can just draw you in, and ask you to bring its story and its characters back to life. This is the kind of book when it is inappropriate to put the words 'The End' at the end because it just doesn't. Its traces will linger with you long after that final page is read and the book shut.

Links:

About the 50 Books Challenge

Goodreads account

List of the books I've read so far

Image was edited by me from this original source.

The Gentlemen // 3 favourite looks from Menswear Fall/Winter 2012

Armani

The gentleman with an air of mystery

and reserved quietness.

Favourite pieces: headscarves and shawls.

Burberry

The gentleman who is polite

and with character.

Favourite pieces: cropped jackets over the suit and spiked gloves.

Costume National

The young gentleman with

grown-up taste.

Favourite pieces: textured sweaters and jackets

Dolce and Gabbana

The gentleman artist who

works at home and isn't

afraid of extravagance.

Favourite pieces: drop crotch pants and embroidered shirts and jackets

Etro

The free-spirited gentleman who is

also sartorially inclined.

Favourite pieces: patterned ties and feathered cardigans

Jil Sander

The gentleman with a sharp

attitude who is hiding

a softer, quirkier side.

Favourite pieces: animal sweaters and leather jackets

Marni

The thinking gentleman with

impeccable taste.

Favourite pieces: leather gloves and tote.

Prada

The gentleman.

Favourite pieces: striped trench coats and tailored jackets.

(Yes, that's Gary Oldman)

All images are from style.com

Inner apocalypse and preteniousness // Melancholia

Melancholia is split into two parts titled with the names of the two protagonists, 'Justine' and 'Claire'. Justine is played by Kirsten Dunst, Claire by Charlotte Gainsbourg. Justine is depression, Claire is anxiety.

When the threat of Melancholia (an approaching planet that once hid behind the sun and may or may not collide with Earth) heightens, Justine reacts to the situation with interminable indifference while Claire responds with suffocating anxiety. 

Von Trier uses an impending apocalypse as a way to explain what depression and an anxiety disorder really feels like. Personally, I've had bouts of anxiety attacks and moments of depression and still continue to experience these. Despite referrals to therapists, I've put off seeing them (yes, I'm in THAT stage). I haven't come across a film that accurately portrays what anxiety and depression does to a person's internal and emotional state.

That intense suffocating feeling that Claire experiences during Melancholia's approach towards Earth, as if gravity itself is trying to wring the air out of your lungs, is a mental and emotional trauma that is painfully familiar for me.

Justine's persistent and frightening indifference towards the end of the world, as well as her own wedding is depicted by Kirsten Dunst in the most powerful and believable way. The hollowness of the eyes that seem to be staring at nothing and everything. The darkness that can cloud over you at any moment and the recklessness and impulsive behaviours that come about in a desperate search to keep the dark clouds at bay. The frank cruelty towards other people that seem to come out of nowhere. The mood swings. The excessive introspection that leads you to the point of self-loathing and the consequent detachment from friends and loved ones. All of these are conveyed so brilliantly and accurately in this film. 

Some found the film to be too lengthy and others deemed it as dull arthouse trash. I can see why some people would perceive it this way. If the film was constructed in the same way but instead focused on a different subject matter altogether and if the characters did not have depression or anxiety I would have probably found it very dull as well. But since the film deeply affected me in a very personal way, I did not mind its length or its slow pacing. In fact I much preferred it that way since it gave me time to assess what I just saw. 

Some found some scenes gratuitous, like an ultra slow motion shot of a horse collapsing to the ground, but I argue that these seemingly random images are not just there because of their visual beauty but are there to reinforce a certain kind of mood. Von Trier created an atmosphere to represent what it would probably feel like if the entire planet knew and are restlessly waiting for the end of everything - a combination of hushed hopelessness and violent tremors of our defeated planet. The ground shaking music of Wagner as the tremors and the isolated country house as the collective hush of our planet. 

Again, I can fully understand why people would dislike this film because of the mood, or its length or because of its dreary subject matter. What I don't understand are the people who call the film pretentious.

Pretentious is a word used to describe this film in many reviews I've read. In all honesty, I'm quite irritated having this adjective used as a go-to word to sneer at creative works that strive to be ambitious, daring or beautiful. I find it sad when writers, specifically critics, use this word. It is cop-out criticism. It is lazy because it is too definitive and delimits the opportunity for further discussion which is what art, and subsequently, criticism is really there to do - promote discussion. 

Any work of art that is brave, unconventional and new can be called pretentious and those that who do can get away with it. This is because films like Melancholia require a certain degree of pretentiousness. Any work that takes a risk need to be christened with self-importance that it initially does not deserve. If this wasn't so then the artist will never have the impetus that eventually leads to the art's creation.

What is creativity but considering what is in one's head important enough that the artist indulges himself by bringing it into the world. If artists did not give their work greater importance than what it deserves then we will only be left with art that is subpar, lacklustre and dangerously unambitious. 

I'm just grateful that von Trier was pretentious enough that he was able to make this film. 

Images are edited by me from various screenshots from the film. Note: The film is not black and white.

200 Movies Challenge

So, since I'm already doing the 50 books challenge this year, I thought hmm...might as well throw my entire social life away and also ambitiously undertake a movies challenge as well. 

Picking a number was hard but since I already see over a hundred movies in a given year, I thought I'll go with the number 200. That's 3.8 movies a week, so I would have to see about 3 to 4 movies a week. 

I'm going to be upgrading my Quickflix account and renewing my cinema club memberships so hurray! 

For every ten movies I see I will write up a post with thoughts and a mini review about each film along with a black and white film strip that I'll make for each movie. Because black and white film strips are cool.

Wish me luck.


Links:


Blog posts


List of the movies I have seen so far

Image was edited by me. Original image here.