A visionary? Ha, more like visionuda...
Ok, so it has been confirmed based on several silly personality/IQ tests taken in moments of boredom, silliness and one also done in an educational psychology class... all saying that I am a "visionary/ philosopher" and once my moral reasoning was judged (honest to goodness, this was a "real" test done in same ed/psych class) to be on par with religious mystics... or the likes of Ghandi.
Humph. That's bunk. I am no visionary, as I am more likely to lose myself in a paper bag than to lead anyone to a higher state of being. And while I hold myself to highly rigid moral standards, its mostly because I am too afraid of breaking the rules, whose rules? I guess my own, but still.
Now you all want to know what a visionary does with a few free days, right? She watches movies and goes swimming by herself (even when that doesn't make her a very popular person around home). Last four movies watched:
"A Day Without Mexicans" Sergio Arau
Amusing yes? Deep, no. This "mockumentary" is aiming deeper than it reaches, trying to use humor - creating a fictitious scenario in which all Latinos suddenly and mysteriously disappear from California, and California is shrouded in a fog so thick to cut off all communication with the rest of the world. There were silly moments, and it was Eduardo Palomo's last film before untimely death :( but the attempt to educate the public with real factoids was more distracting than anything else, AND the plot failed miserably to interest, no real exploration of what that day without Mexicans would really be like. Oh well, it was still worth the $2.50 rental, I suppose.
"Super-Size Me" Morgan Spurlock
Ok, I am kind of tired of documentaries, and frankly, the book "Fast Food Nation" does a more thorough job of exposing the fast food industry in the US for what it truly is, nonetheless, I felt that this was a "must see". I'm not sure. Lately I feel that everything I see that is "non-fiction" is preaching to the choir... It was obscenely grotesque at times, and what I might say excessively so... No need to watch someone else's laparoscopic stomach stapling procedure, and really, they could have been removing a tumor from his prostate and it would have made me feel equally queasy, and not swayed me in the least. I am not a fast-food eater, snobbily so, perhaps, and yet, Isabella conned me into buying her chicken nuggets at Wendy's the very next day. Of course that is not usual fare, but we were on campus and there is no good food to be had! So instead of starving my child I gave her what she asked for, in spite of the movie. I know it is bad to put evil processed muck into my body, and I usually don't. That said, I think the focus on school food should have been even more accentuated. After four years of cafeteria duty, watching the food that these children shovel almost perfunctorily into their mouths with minimal breathing, it makes you really angry that tax money is spent on food at all. Fries with every meal, and if you were like me, and you left your lunch sitting on the kitchen counter once or twice, requiring food at 10:45 (pavlovian reactions, now I can go until 2-3 without thoughts of food, but those damn bells and the knowing that it is your only chance to eat...), when you ask to replace fries with a salad (these are government subsidized lunches mind you) you can't do it unless they accidentally made salads with only one microscopic slice of tomato instead of two, otherwise you must pay twice as much for your lunch as it is considered "a la carte". What teenager is going to spend twice as much to have a measly salad instead of salty fries? No need to answer that one.
"The United States of Leland" Matthew Ryan Hoge
I don't think that the similarity of the opening (wide pan on an empty streets) recalling "American Beauty" or any of Hal Hartley's early films, was an accident, especially because Kevin Spacey plays a key, if understated role of father and so does my very favorite of Hartley fame Martin Donovan (I liked him better when he was just a little less thick...). The film attempts to examine the other side of teen crime, but not really, it is more like a Holden Caulfield renewed for the violence and school killings of the late 90's. It is the story of a writer, of several writers, and a child philosopher, disaffected, alone. I enjoyed the lack of moralizing, though what should have been better acting felt mostly stiff. The girl, Becky, with her drug problem recalled the scene of the politico's daughter in "Traffic" perhaps another small homage? I don't know, it was a sad theme and a sad movie, it's one interesting offering was the idea that other people's sadness is all around, and that if one allows oneself to feel, the sadness becomes unbearable. I liked that part. I connected with it. I am not sure that I would recommend the film, despite its star-studded cast. Well maybe I would, it made me think about the morality of people, that ultimately we do bad things because we want to, not because something made us do it. I must think on this a bit more. I definitely think the title was just a bit too tangential, even if referring to his states of mind...
"Sous le sable" François Ozon
A husband mysteriously vanishes into the sea and his wife had no idea of his depression. The movie explores her (failure) coping with the loss, playing, like only the French can, (actually it was rather Cortazarian) with multiple possibilities. Is she practicing polyamory with her husband's consent or is she just lost and delusional, imagining him still with her and feeling the guilt of those left behind? It was as if my mental wanderings forced my hand to pluck this off the shelf just to remind me that swimming out into nothingness would be totally unfair to the people I love and would leave behind... Beautiful filming, and acting, but the multiple handed masturbation scene, well, masturbating lightly through a red crinoline dress was definitely a man's aesthetic. I loved the final scene, by the ocean, the woman running as if on an asymptote, always approaching and never arriving. Fade to black. Very French, indeed.
Ah so are you all convinced? I sure as hell am not, but watching movies is so much easier than actually creating something of value, n'est pas?
Humph. That's bunk. I am no visionary, as I am more likely to lose myself in a paper bag than to lead anyone to a higher state of being. And while I hold myself to highly rigid moral standards, its mostly because I am too afraid of breaking the rules, whose rules? I guess my own, but still.
Now you all want to know what a visionary does with a few free days, right? She watches movies and goes swimming by herself (even when that doesn't make her a very popular person around home). Last four movies watched:
"A Day Without Mexicans" Sergio Arau
Amusing yes? Deep, no. This "mockumentary" is aiming deeper than it reaches, trying to use humor - creating a fictitious scenario in which all Latinos suddenly and mysteriously disappear from California, and California is shrouded in a fog so thick to cut off all communication with the rest of the world. There were silly moments, and it was Eduardo Palomo's last film before untimely death :( but the attempt to educate the public with real factoids was more distracting than anything else, AND the plot failed miserably to interest, no real exploration of what that day without Mexicans would really be like. Oh well, it was still worth the $2.50 rental, I suppose.
"Super-Size Me" Morgan Spurlock
Ok, I am kind of tired of documentaries, and frankly, the book "Fast Food Nation" does a more thorough job of exposing the fast food industry in the US for what it truly is, nonetheless, I felt that this was a "must see". I'm not sure. Lately I feel that everything I see that is "non-fiction" is preaching to the choir... It was obscenely grotesque at times, and what I might say excessively so... No need to watch someone else's laparoscopic stomach stapling procedure, and really, they could have been removing a tumor from his prostate and it would have made me feel equally queasy, and not swayed me in the least. I am not a fast-food eater, snobbily so, perhaps, and yet, Isabella conned me into buying her chicken nuggets at Wendy's the very next day. Of course that is not usual fare, but we were on campus and there is no good food to be had! So instead of starving my child I gave her what she asked for, in spite of the movie. I know it is bad to put evil processed muck into my body, and I usually don't. That said, I think the focus on school food should have been even more accentuated. After four years of cafeteria duty, watching the food that these children shovel almost perfunctorily into their mouths with minimal breathing, it makes you really angry that tax money is spent on food at all. Fries with every meal, and if you were like me, and you left your lunch sitting on the kitchen counter once or twice, requiring food at 10:45 (pavlovian reactions, now I can go until 2-3 without thoughts of food, but those damn bells and the knowing that it is your only chance to eat...), when you ask to replace fries with a salad (these are government subsidized lunches mind you) you can't do it unless they accidentally made salads with only one microscopic slice of tomato instead of two, otherwise you must pay twice as much for your lunch as it is considered "a la carte". What teenager is going to spend twice as much to have a measly salad instead of salty fries? No need to answer that one.
"The United States of Leland" Matthew Ryan Hoge
I don't think that the similarity of the opening (wide pan on an empty streets) recalling "American Beauty" or any of Hal Hartley's early films, was an accident, especially because Kevin Spacey plays a key, if understated role of father and so does my very favorite of Hartley fame Martin Donovan (I liked him better when he was just a little less thick...). The film attempts to examine the other side of teen crime, but not really, it is more like a Holden Caulfield renewed for the violence and school killings of the late 90's. It is the story of a writer, of several writers, and a child philosopher, disaffected, alone. I enjoyed the lack of moralizing, though what should have been better acting felt mostly stiff. The girl, Becky, with her drug problem recalled the scene of the politico's daughter in "Traffic" perhaps another small homage? I don't know, it was a sad theme and a sad movie, it's one interesting offering was the idea that other people's sadness is all around, and that if one allows oneself to feel, the sadness becomes unbearable. I liked that part. I connected with it. I am not sure that I would recommend the film, despite its star-studded cast. Well maybe I would, it made me think about the morality of people, that ultimately we do bad things because we want to, not because something made us do it. I must think on this a bit more. I definitely think the title was just a bit too tangential, even if referring to his states of mind...
"Sous le sable" François Ozon
A husband mysteriously vanishes into the sea and his wife had no idea of his depression. The movie explores her (failure) coping with the loss, playing, like only the French can, (actually it was rather Cortazarian) with multiple possibilities. Is she practicing polyamory with her husband's consent or is she just lost and delusional, imagining him still with her and feeling the guilt of those left behind? It was as if my mental wanderings forced my hand to pluck this off the shelf just to remind me that swimming out into nothingness would be totally unfair to the people I love and would leave behind... Beautiful filming, and acting, but the multiple handed masturbation scene, well, masturbating lightly through a red crinoline dress was definitely a man's aesthetic. I loved the final scene, by the ocean, the woman running as if on an asymptote, always approaching and never arriving. Fade to black. Very French, indeed.
Ah so are you all convinced? I sure as hell am not, but watching movies is so much easier than actually creating something of value, n'est pas?
posted by ilana at 6:53 p.m.
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