Warm

What can be better than an great book and a good movie during these long cold nights..? Keep warm!

In Pursuit Of Passions

photo from google

So I watched 'Julie and Julia' today for the first time - what an amazingly positive film about people pursuing their passions! Really great stuff - I can't stop smiling. No, I really can't :). So here is a smily picture for you too today.


image by Arek

P.S. And I will cook something really delicious tomorrow :)

Ёлки 2 :)

This is officially my favourite comedy of 2011 :) Totally brilliant! :D



Sorry - Russian only, I hope it will be translated into English soon.

I Would Watch This Right Now :)

image via Tumblr

Indie movie of the day!

“Etienne!” is about a moustached boy, Richard, who takes his hamster (Etienne) on a road trip after finding out that the hamster has terminal cancer so that he may live his final days to the fullest. How great is this? :)

The Limits Of Control

Very visual, with every single image thoroughly thought through, extremely vivid and implicit. I loved every single minute of this movie. For me this is a very good example of form taking over the content, which does not happen all that often in modern cinematography. I'd say this movie is a MUST see.









images via Google

Les Amours Imaginaires

Watched tonight in the movies my first French Canadian film. A naïve overdose of cigarettes, vintage clothes, narcissism, numerous pop-cultural references and allusions to other directors. Loved the sensuality and bits of good music though. Not a bad start for a director who is 21, but wouldn't watch it again.

A Single Man

I haven't seen anything this good for a very long time.

...Breathtaking.

I'm Bored... So Reading a Lot And Watching Movies...

Can you fall in love with a book? Apparently I can. I have just read and re-read 'The Dreamers' (yes, I do have time for that now during my sick-leave...)

And 'La Teta Asustada'.. - watch it for the sake of quechua, Peruvian scenery and reality, Latin American twist - and oh, yeah - all those awful unbelievable weddings!!

Images via god knows where

ESCAPISM

While my leg still hurts, I try to distract myself from it.... So I have just finished reading this book and can really recommend it to those interested in Indian culture and reality.



This movie is an interesting attempt at showing various aspects of la vie parisienne. Probably not as brilliant as 'Paris' by Cedric Clapisch, but is a take of 20+ different directors expressing their love for the 'city of light' - totally worth watching..


Images via Google

The Dreamers

Image by Google

There are movies which can absorb you from their first minutes, sometimes by too many coincidences with your own life, by the mood they set (however elusive and hard to define it might be at times), sometimes by the pure beauty of the images. The Dreamers is one of those films for me...

Undoubtedly the shots of The Dreamers are very impressive. As in other films by Bertolucci, practically every shot could be cut out and studied hours at an end for its elegance.


Image by Google

But more important are of course the views put into the eyes of the film's main characters (living in 1968), who seem to live within the movies they love, playing with their favourite lines and imitating the protagonists.... The cast brings the vividness, beauty and tension into every scene of the movie, making it really hot. Ignoring the political chaos taking place in the streets, they surrender to their own experiences, developing their views on life, to the wild discoveries, to the game between friendship and love, pleasure and suffering. Eventually this game clashes with reality like it happens in real life and I think this is what makes the movie and its ending very particular... Needless to say the soundtrack is also great.. (You are listening to it now :)


Video via Sapo


Image by Refinery 29

Something About Us

I love this movie. It is so real.



...and that final whisper...hmmm...


Images by Google


Video via You Tube

Little Ashes

Image by Google

If I'm going to be anything more than average, if anyone's going to remember me, then I need to go further in everything: in art, in life, in everything they think is real: morality, immorality, good, bad... I, we, have to smash that to pieces, we have to go beyond that, we have to be brave. No limits...
Salvador Dalí

I think this movie isn't for everyone. It's deeply emotional and dramatic, telling a complex and emotional story about Frederico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dalí during their young years at the university when they embarked on conquering the world... It's about feelings, thoughts and passion experienced by the main characters - and their relationship during their university years (background of the plot).

This is an independent non-commercial motion picture which had extremely limited distribution, in only a small number of countries. It will never become too popular as it is totally different from movies with multi-million budgets, special effects and all the pop-culture... Movies like "Little Ashes" always stay beyond wide public attention, but honestly, it is better this way :)


Image by Google


Image by Google


Image by Google

"Cenicitas" (eng. 'little ashes') is the painting which inspired the movie title.


Image by Google

As Time Goes By

I never imagined that it would still be possible to watch this movie in a movie theatre... yet now it is found in the cinemas here in Poland and I very much enjoyed it...


Video via You Tube

Tim Burton's Alice

Tim Burton is famed for his dark, whimsical movies with some beautiful fetish-inspired costumes. My personal favourite of his big movie list is the Gothic but naive Edward Scissorhands. I'm also quite looking forward to his new 'Alice in Wonderland' interpretation, which is due to be released in 2010. Expectations from the movie must be quite high - at least mine are, because a book so brilliantly written needs a brilliant movie.

It's fascinating how in Burton's movies costumes take almost the central position in every character creation. Just like some of the characters from Alice-to be:


Image by Google

Image by Google


Image by Google


Image by Google

The pictures hint at an elegant, richly textured fantasy world that honors Lewis Carroll’s 19th-century fairy tale while incorporating bits of Burton’s trademark weirdness (check the grimacing flowers in the pictures below).


Image by Disney


Image by Disney


Image by Disney


Image by Disney

The images are drawn from the world of Alice in Wonderland, as re-imagined by one of the world’s most visually arresting directors.


Image by Disney


Image by Disney


Image by Disney

In Another Life...

Not sure how about you but the opening of this movie makes my hair stand on ends... and the Spanish words are so absorbing, gripping, captivating...
Watching 'El Laberinto Del Fauno' you will discover a world of fairy tales which existed before it was commercialized and divided into pink and blue... A dangerous world, where nothing is as it seems and every step is a possible death – a cruel place which may leave even adults shivering under the covers, part in terror, part in wonder...



A long time ago,
in the Underground Realm,
where there are no lies or pain,
there lived a princess who dreamt
of the human world.
She dreamt of blue skies,
soft breeze and sunshine.
One day,
eluding her keepers,
the princess escaped.
Once outside...
the bright sun blinded her
and erased her memory.
She forgot who she was
and where she came from.
Her body suffered cold, sickness and pain.
And eventually she died.
However, her father, the king,
always knew that the Princess' soul
would return,
perhaps in another body,
in another place, at another time.
He would wait for her,
until he drew his last breath,
until the world stopped turning.

Let Them Eat Cake

Image by Google

This movie's forte are the visuals and auditory elements evoking a powerful image of 18th-century Versailles. And the effect lingers in your head long after you've watched it. I was stunned by the intensely lush visual feast the film offers: the pomp and circumstance of ritualized and regimented 18th-century Versailles.

Image by Google

The private world of Marie-Antoinette, depicted through a sequence of fast-moving images of champagne-guzzling, beautifully-decorated cake-eating, and the fancy shoe buying. Some people may scoff at this 21st century world transposed to an earlier time. But as the center of the world in 18th-century Europe, Marie-Antoinette's "secret Versailles" would certainly have been as "hip" as this, and Sofia Coppola has found effective means through sound and image by which to make this poshness accessible.

Image by Google

For those who love to see more than read here comes the video of one of the most colourful parts of the movie and a reflection of the 18th century times slightly transposed to our modern realia:

Video via You Tube

ABcDefGHiJKlmNOpqRSTUvWXyZ.

I was taking a break from blogging. This period allowed for more time for myself, without the distraction of the internet. It was sort of time for contemplation. And I had no idea when I will be back...

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and for dropping by in spite of the lack of updates. I have decided to change the way I blog. Where are you will become more visual - with more images and videos, less text (at least text written by me), less explanation, almost no answers... I hope it to serve its initial purpose of being only a collection of things worth seeing, living, thinking of, admiring and getting excited about...

Survive Style 5+

Image by Google

Survive Style 5+ is one of the movies which has impressed me recently and definitely the movie very hard to forget! It's completely safe to say that this Japanese movie is unlike anything you have ever seen before. If you haven't watched it - expect exaggerated bizarre randomness of the plot. One could say that the movie sways between quiet meditation and frenzied madness. It also has a great sense of humour - more subtle and different from the typical Hollywood one-line jokes...

Image by Google

However, what I loved most about this film is its striking visuals. The movie has a lot of style! The modernistic design of Asano's house is absolutely mesmerizing. Each room in his mansion holds a decor that resembles Dali's surrealism, and the lavish set design during the Christmas celebration is breathtaking. The Christmas scene develops slowly but watch it till the end - you won't regret it.

Video via You Tube

And here is another piece of visual fiesta from the movie:

Video via You Tube

I could really watch this movie again and again to rediscover and admire its stunning details. I hope you will like it as well!

What is Paris For You?

Élise: [in French] You're all alone here? What do you do all day?
Pierre: [in French] Watch other people live. Wonder who they are, where they go... They become heroes of my little stories.

Image by Google

The movie Paris is a wonderfully complex study of both the city and its people on several very well chosen story threads interwoven with each other. The director - Cedric Klapisch has done something marvelous here - a bittersweet film full of ideas and humanity, yet one that somehow enables us to engage with and care for so many complex characters without ever having to resort to stereotypes. It's a great achievement – and a glorious movie about the city to which many of us return in our dreams - Paris.

Images by Google, Collage by Olga

Klapisch wisely elects to concentrate on building strong characters. He succeeds in creating simple, believable story lines for them. So what's the real link between them? They are fallible, restless, tentative, longing... in other words, they are human. It is interesting that the movie ends much like it began. A lot is left unresolved, much like real life. No Hollywood ending here but I could certainly have followed those characters for another good couple of hours...

A great movie has to have a great soundtrack - and Paris is not an exception. Many pieces of music from the movie are combined in its trailer - enjoy!


Video via You Tube

and the fun part :):

Video via You Tube

Paris is quite an extraordinary tale that deserves a far wider audience than it is likely to get. Overall the film is a shining example of what makes French cinema one of the best in the world. This is definitely a movie to watch over and over again.

I'm Talking Quietly Not To Wake Myself Up...

Image by Google

One of the coasters I mentioned in my previous post was inspired by a movie - most likely the best and the most visionary movie I have ever seen. The Science Of Sleep is filled with so much bright and vibrant imagery and eye-candy - it is difficult to take your eyes away!

Image by Google

The movie uses a lot of Spin Art and crafted objects (think back to the days of your school carnival). The scenes range from absurd (a spider type-writer, one second time machine), to the grand (an entire card board city) and the beautiful (a cloth horse back ride to the boat on a cellophane sea). The film develops its full potential where it arrives to such an incredible moment where we have little idea whether we are in a dream or in reality - it is seamless!

Image by Google

The dialogue is in French, English, and Spanish, each constantly interweaving with each other, much like the realities of the film do and then there comes a point in the film where you stop realizing the language of the film is constantly changing. Here is one of the many pieces I like from the film:

Video via You Tube

The movie has a great website - which is - as the movie itself - a great piece of art work. The site is like the main character's dream world - the paint layers upon itself and the colours stretch and mix together. As for the music - the soundtrack is on the website, just listen to this :):

Video via You Tube