Reviewing Movies

An injury that caused writhing spasms in my piriformis muscle forced me to spend a few days near the couch. I timidly embraced the return of mobility and suggested a movie to my solo child couped up with me. Plus the weather peaked into the muggy-sphere of awful which is how I found myself at the movie theater on a recent afternoon to see Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). 

My kid, now nine, told me that the story is from the archives of Marvel Comics. I mentioned that the film for me was a mash up of Star Wars (1977) and The Fifth Element (1997) except that the conceptual design felt scattered compared to the stunning sharp visual style of the older films. The child reminded me that the costumes from The Fifth Element were done by the French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier and that Lucas got all his best ideas from Japan and in particular samurais. (Apparently my son does listen to me sometimes.) 

He then wondered if The Fifth Element had been based on a cartoon, "because it has that look you know." Turns out two French comic creators, Jean Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, provided inspiration, drawings, and were hired as production designers for the film. My child notices stuff that I do not.

The work of Jean-Claude Mézières, Valérian and Laureline, also served as inspiration to Star Wars--  the alien bar scene in particular per my Google research.

When a random day's events conspires to get one off the couch, you never know what you'll notice plus I'm thinking that I need to get some old comic books!

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu) & Miyazaki Plans Exit

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu), an epic film that sweeps through earthquake, fire, and dreams, is seen through the thick round bespectacled airplane designer, Jiro Horikoshi. His singleminded devotion to airplanes and love of flying machines dominates his life and dreams against the historical backdrop of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, an economic depression, a tuberculous epidemic, and war in Japan. 

Jiro's story is fueled by dreams, sponge cake, and cigarettes. His dreams are shared with an Italian airplane designer, Caproni (voiced by Stanley Tucci), who notes that though the work is designing airplanes, they are used for war and destruction, but he chooses to stay focused on the beauty of the machines, "Airplanes are not for war or making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams waiting to be swallowed by the sky." Jiro's curmudgeon boss, Kurokawa, (voiced by Martin Short) attempts to counter Jiro's dreaminess. Leaving a meeting with the military brass, Kurokawa says to Jiro, "You weren't even listening!" Jiro's focus is on creating and his response is classic Clint Eastwood, "Nope." 

Work dominates Jiro's life, and yet he is one to pause momentarily for music, to help others, to read poetry, and to take in the beauty of the Japanese countryside. He is not paralyzed by the pain of life or by the knowledge that his flying machines are wanted by the military. Instead he remains steadfast in his efforts to create something original and, to him, beautiful.  In a nod to the economic depression and his military minded customer he knows that he'll need ingenuity to overcome the lack of resources at his disposal from flush rivets to leaving off the guns. My eight year old history buff noted that Jiro's final aircraft was the Zero combat plane used in World War II.

A French poem, "The Graveyard by the Sea" ("Le Cimetière marin") by Paul Valery "The wind is rising!…We must try to live!" ("Le vent se lève!... Il faut tenter de vivre!"), gives the film its title and is at the core the way Jiro deals with obstacles in war, life, and love, it is about living, not regret.

Small doses of humor pepper the story through other characters such as when the Germans complain, "You Japanese copy everything!" Jiro's friend, Honjo (voiced by John Krasinski) quips, "What? Are you afraid we'll improve it?" Still the heart of this Jiro's story is about creating. In a dream sequence Caproni says "Artist are only created for ten years." At the end Caproni returns in another dream to ask him, "Ten years in the sun, did you live them well?"

Jiro's love, Nahoko Satomi (voiced by Emily Blunt) continues the theme of focusing on beauty and the moments at hand instead of the of what they cannot control or have due to the tuberculosis shortening her days. The most poignant scene is voiced by the landlady who stops Jiro's sister from going after Nahoka when she is seen walking away. The landlady (voiced by Jennifer Grey) understands that Nahoka wants Jiro to remember her as she was.

The animation is rich and detailed, the film long. The story's themes are complex and not for children, but for those who can understand the call of beauty and creating art and that the outcome of such work, though it can be used destructively, is born from an inner vision and drive that is without guile. Longing and loss play heavily in the second half of the film. Perhaps writer, director, and animator, Hayao Miyazaki wants us to remember him in a certain way while he still has the energy and will to direct his creativity. The Wind Rises seems a fitting capstone to his career.

"Ten years in the sun, did you live them well?" is a worthy question to ask ourselves.

What I Learned on a Film Set

"Quiet on the set! Scene 19B. Take 5. Action." My kitchen was used as a film set today. Lights, camera, a dog, and beings were everywhere. I underestimated how many bodies would be involved, at least a dozen. There was the director, cameraman, gaffer, sound man, actor, actress, and a whole lot of others who did I don't know what as I was trying to be unobtrusive. 

Our house didn't feel like our house; it felt strange. The sofa and chairs were full of people. Piles of equipment and computers dotted the surfaces and blocked the fireplace. Fluorescent bulbs were installed in all of the light fixtures and were then augmented with additional lights on stands. They even brought a ladder. Still it was cool to see a story in the making, and the crew was very polite.

The director asked, "Kim, do you have a coffee pot we can use?" I chuckled. We use a stove top espresso maker known as a moka pot. I rarely offer to make coffee,  but I did. The director rolled with the pot. The coffee was from someone's thermos. 

I didn't realize they would cook in my kitchen. At lunchtime the crew made tacos, and I found several film students staring at my can opener in an attempt to open a can of beans. I did a demonstration. They murmured appreciatively. 

My daughter and I were holed up in the attic. She had several homework projects to complete. I sorted DVDs into sleeves, a painful chore that I can tolerate only in small doses. She kept going down to help and check on the dog. We ate hummus and pita chips for lunch.

The film will be the director, Michael Greene's thesis project for graduation. He assures me there will be a screening uptown and then it will be released to Vimeo (about May 2014). 

If you should offer your home for a film set, be prepared to be invaded or make yourself scarce. Making art is messy.

Equipment for the film set

Inside Llewyn Davis is a Song

Languid eyes stare out at life as if in disbelief-- life can't really be this bad? Except in a Coen brothers film where if you follow your dreams, crap will dump on you. I thought I was going to the movies to get away from the morose.

The funniest part of the movie was the cat or cats as several were used. 

Get the tunes. Skip the movie unless you're in the pits or the type to be uplifted by someone else's misery.

"... Bluebird by Charles Bukowski. That was a mantra for me. I believe the first line is, 'There's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out, but I'm too tough for him. So I inhale cigarette smoke and pour whiskey on him, and the whores and the bartenders never know that he's in there.' And that's what the music is for Llewyn.That's the only time he shows that little bluebird" 

from NPR interview

Showing Up for Art & Film

I'm impressed at what the College Town Film Festival has brought to Athens-- from the films to the talent, from LA to the UK. What a creative feast!

Julian Doyle teased out the language of translating screenplays and words into films and brought his film Twilight of the Gods. 

Eric Zudak and Mike Petty explained the impetus behind their film Karaoke Man. 

Director, Malcolm Goodwin, and writer, Cameron Fife, told Annie Howell of their adventure in making their first feature film for $45,000, A True Story. 

Last night I asked Carrie Preston, director and producer of That's What She Said, the final film of the festival, about why she was here in Athens. "I want people to see my movie," she replied. The opening scene of Anne Heche brushing her teeth while smoking a cigarette is iconic.

Small towns, like Athens, are lucky to have universities that support the arts. However, whatever art form you enjoy, an audience is a necessity.

Athenians dust off your shoes and get to the Athena tonight at 7pm for the film and for the Q&A afterward with Carrie and Pearl Gluck, visiting film professor at Ohio University.

Show up for the artist, art, and for the creative fuel to which you will give yourself wherever you live!

Carrie Preston brings a touch of Hollywood to Athens, Ohio

The Fugitive Fest & a Film

I rode my bike up a one way street in the rain holding an umbrella while, unbeknownst to me, an armed gunman was lurking at a university housing complex nearby. Upon arrival at home, I crashed into a neighbor's driveway. She kindly came out to check on me. My circa 1970's Triumph bike's brakes don't work so well, wet or dry, add that my feet can't touch the ground when I'm in the saddle and the umbrella in my hand and it's a miracle I survived the day. The gunman was never captured, and it was all over five bucks. The day off was dubbed “The Fugitive Fest” as the bars uptown were, of course, open.

For Christmas my husband gave me a DVD of Shiawase no Pan or The Bread of Happiness, however, due to language restrictions, we couldn't play it on our player. In the end, we decided to buy a player to devote to Japanese language films, and so with its arrival, I could finally watch my Christmas present.. 

The film is set in Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan, a place of great natural beauty. A couple open a cafe and hotel after leaving Tokyo. Through sharing bread, they help the lonely hearts that come their way. It's sad to watch the little girl relive the loss of her mother over a bowl of pumpkin soup, but she gets her father back over another bowl of pumpkin soup and bread. It's all about bread, chestnut bread, potato bread, dried fruit breads, every kind of hot steamy bread. Break off a piece of bread and share it with someone. There is some silliness like the customer's bag that is never opened, like laying drunk in a field of grass crying for yourself, like the plaid suit the postman wears. The small community includes a glass artist that sneaks in her work and break pieces that are flawed. All the while every scene begins or ends with bread. I want the recipe book!

There is a kind of stillness and quietness to the main characters that stayed with me after the viewing. The focus on making bread, on preparing a cup of coffee, on making food was so deliberate and exacting as if there was nothing else. It seems so rare to feel this in life, something to work toward.