Cycling Chronicles: Landscapes the Boy Saw (2004) #1

Scenery of Ozu: Posters and Signs

Curious about Ozu's works are all those posters, lightning commercials, chimneys and "empty shots" he put between the scenes like stickers to put up together his perfectly balanced masterpieces.

対談 黒澤明ｖｓ北野武 part3

対談 黒澤明ｖｓ北野武 part2

I love both of them. So different in their style, but "natural-born-directors". Genius in their own way...

対談 黒澤明ｖｓ北野武 part1

in english translation will follow. Interesting match of two of the biggest name of japanese cinema.

The Darjeeling Limited

movie info:
This Adventure-Comedy was released on September 29th, 2007, filmed in India, directed by Wes Anderson and stars Amara Karan, Camilla Rutherford, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman.

Honestly, I have been waiting to see this movie for a long time, not that I had huge expectations , but exactly opposite, I guess because I wanted to be surprised by Wes Anderson. The movie did surprised me very pleasantly but however I had a feeling that the movie is not finished. This assumption has nothing to do with the ending, the film ends just on time before it become adventure movie in search for runaway mother . The story is simple almost archetypical- spiritual journey in unknown land, the purpose here goes one layer deeper and include the story about the mother(Anjelica Huston) who become a nun in the Himalayas.Its interesting that the journey take place in India. Besides the colorful and picturesque scenery that the country have to offer there is another element that is attached to the place itself. First, India is "the mysterious old world" , mysterious as the human heart or life itself. The other thing is the "Mother-India" slogan associated with the country. I was very surprised by the role of the mother in the movie played by Anjelica Huston(she was shortly said -amazing here, as usual). She is not portrayed as archetypical mother one would expect to see. With short white hair, white nun's cloths resembling an angel and with dark black crayon make up on her eyes gaining a demonic depth, she gives -love, hugs, breakfast, advices....and she leaves...freeing her kids to give them a chance to go back on the road (life) and experience the true spiritual journey(love, joy, sadness, loss...) . The train here is a metaphor of that life, once you get of the train (go out from the society or the role you are playing) you are in the jungle, in the place of uncertainty and hence that is the place where you have the unique chance to find yourself. "Catching the train" in the beginning sequence is very significant I think (When "the businessman" (Bill Murrey) is over run by Adrien Brody), what is it was opposite... probably all the movie would be different. The journey is important here because they(the brothers) are together . They connect and learn how to trust each-other and most important have real fate (the feather thing) .

The movie is greatly inspired by the movie "River" (Jean Renoir) which was screened to Anderson by Scorcese, and the movie of the great indian director Satyajit Ray(he is even listed in the credits).
Visually the movie is very beautiful - colorful & stylish. I really like slow motion in cinema, especially here I enjoyed the slow motion in the scene just before the funeral of the small boy who drowned. The brothers goes out from the cottage, there is music, slow motion and flesh back to the father's funeral day before one year in New York. I really loved that scene.It added so much meaning to the whole movie. The scenario is written along with Sofia Coppola's older brother Roman Coppola (director of the highly under-appreciated "CQ"), Schwartzman and Anderson, over the course of two years, in various locales banged out a script about three estranged brothers who try and reconnect after the death of their father via a spiritual journey. I found the sense of humor(due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray)and the dialog brilliant enough to become cult one.
The 13 minutes movie "The CHEVALIER Hotel" is a story for itself. Very stylish, nostalgic bit Wong Karwai like rememberable 13 minutes with rememberable NAtali Portman nude scene and the dialog that goes something like this:


Natalie: How long are you here?
Schwartzman:I don't know.
Natali: More then a week..?
Schwartzman:More than a week.
Natali: More then a month?
Schwartzman:More then a month.
Natalie: Did you slept with someone else?
Schwartzman:No. And you?
Natali(pause): No.
Schwartzman:That was a long pause.(pause) But I guess it doesn't matter.
Natali: It doesn't . (kissing) Whatever happens I don't wanna lose you as a friend"
Schwartzman:" I can promise you, I will never be your friend. "

Honestly, I wish to see a movie about the "more then a month" stay in the CHEVALIER hotel in Paris and the love consequences further between the two...

Breath

" Breath opens unremarkably. Jang Jin is on death row and attempts suicide by sharpening a toothbrush and stabbing himself with it. (He's played by Chen Chang, the sexy outlaw suitor to Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) The incident makes the evening TV news.
One another amazing Kim Ki Duk!! I just wish that the film was longer and the story and characters developed even more and deeper. The plot have a lot of potential to become something like "Secret Sunshine" does, but unfortunately "Breath" doesn't reach the that depth. The director's sensibility is one in a million and I am really looking forward to see his future works, as he is master of the senses and visuals now, I really expect that he reaches the depth that deserves his talent. I must admit that the cast for the main roles is amazing, especialy the taiwanese Chen Chang win my hear with his minimalist in-depth acting.
This is very balanced movie, composed like a architectural masterpiece , there is nothing too much in this movie. However, I wish that Kim left more space for irrational wandering of the viewer.

Speaking to reporters Sat Kim Ki-duk said: "The film highlights the lack of communication in Korean society. I have difficulties with that and I wanted to show a different type of cinematic image and to express the inexpressible even if it seems impossible"
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Yeon's husband is having an affair. He tells her to get out and meet people instead of staying at home making sculptures. On an impulse, she goes to visit Jang Jin. On a subsequent visit, she decorates the visiting room with blown-up pictures of spring, fills the area with artificial flowers, and sings to him. She wears a summer dress even though it is mid-winter. Yeon's poetry of life has a profound effect on Jang Jin. They fall passionately in love. But trouble brews from Jang Jin's jealous cellmates and Yeon's violent husband.

When Breath started, I admit I found it less than engaging. But suddenly these scenes that Yeon constructs for Jang Jin explode with a powerful emotional force. Have you ever been on one of those simulator machines where you step in and it starts moving about, replicating sensations that match the screen in front of you? It's that sudden. One second you are watching an ordinary prison drama, interspersed with inconsequential domestic stuff. Then Wham! You are suddenly catapulted, knocked sideways, jolted out of your seat. And that, of course, is a pale reflection of the effect we realise it must be having on Jang Jin. We start living for these intense (yet emotionally draining) moments in the film, just as Jang Jin does.

Throughout precisely architectured cinematography, Ki-duk Kim weaves a poetry of life and death. "We are already crazy inmates on death row. Until we can breathe no more." Contrasts between the two protagonists' lives outside the meeting room and what goes on inside are mirrored in verbal contrasts where one person will speak and the other stays mute. Breathing in and breathing out. Locked in a passionate kiss. Or holding one's breath underwater."