Blind Spot Fixed: Apocalypse Now

Choosing 12 films out of the hundreds of 'must-sees', 'masterpieces' and 'classics' that waited like blank sheets of paper for me to put my stamp of opinion on was a difficult task in itself. The fortunate person I am, the first film I chose proved even more difficulties. The main one: there exist two versions of it, the shorter one being 'only' 153 minutes long. Still, the 200+ minutes 'Redux' (what does that word even mean) cut might be much better than the original one, think of Blade Runner. Luckily, my helpful blogathon host Ryan McNeil immediately responded with the wise recommendation of the shorter cut - apart from the expected 'You're in for a treat', which he knew because everyone except me has seen these films already. In I went then, used to the 90-110 minute features I have stuffed myself with this whole past month. And you know, I've come to realize that watching movies is quite similar to doing sports - you've got to alternate. Now I do ballet, so 'Don't just do the allegro and ignore the adagio' would be my personal interpretation of the lesson that the Apocalypse Now experience taught me. I guess it translates to 'Don't forget to build up your muscles when training for a marathon'. 

Apocalypse Now is not just a long film - it's  a long war film. Happy times. War films need to be long, seems to be the general consensus. I don't think so, actually, I think war films can work perfectly fine with a running time below 2h. But indeed, Apocalypse Now is a movie that needs room to unfold itself in order to build up its eerie and disturbing atmosphere. Surprisingly, the plot isn't that important - nor are its holes. Basically, it's about great actors delivering great performances in an impossible environment, framed in the most fascinating way you can imagine (Oscar nod: deserved). If you really *have* to have a synopsis though; half-crazy Captain Willard (Michael Charlie Martin Sheen) is sent on a secret mission to exterminate Colonel Kurtz's (Marlon Brando) insane reign over a group of insane people near the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. The film currently ranks #1 at the website moviemistakes.com and deservedly so. You can't expect anything else from a cut-down from more than 200h worth of filmed material, filmed in 16 months though. Famous production history? I didn't know S about this film's production history. However, it was one of the most interesting things I read since researching Blade Runner.

My Heroes: Ellen "Get-away-from-her-you-bitch" Ripley

A Bechdel test rating for movies has just been approved by the Swedish government, I finally have the chance the catch a screening of the hyped sci-fi epos Gravity tonight and Halloween is just around the corner - what better to write about these days than one of the coolest female characters that has ever kicked cinematic asses, first appearing in 1979s groundbreaking sci-fi/ horror flick Alien?

Watching The Star Wars Trilogy - For the First Time in My Life

Yes, it's me. The only person who hadn't seen Star Wars... until a few days ago! I have had the trilogy in the back of my head for years, but simply couldn't get over my idea of sci-fi not being "my piece of cake". In fact, I had been very fascinated by Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, so I don't know why the hell I couldn't accept that sci-fi was indeed one of the thickest layers in my piece of cake. But prejudice isn't easy to overcome, and I had to wait for the right kind of Doctor to arrive until I finally got it.

1001 Movies: Heart-shaped sunglasses, greasy hair and suntanned gladiator's legs

#183, a re-watch and #184

Choosing Kubrick's version of Lolita to celebrate the new year cinematically proved to be a perfectly wonderful choice. Provoking as well, to watch the story of an adult falling in love with a 14-year old in the year I'm going to turn into an adult (expectedly). My journey in 1001+ movies continued with a reunion and revision of my thoughts on one of the most-loved musicals ever (Grease), and yesterday's historic trip to slave revolts in ancient Rome (Spartacus) had me forced to finally write about these three movies (as one of my new year's resolutions was to write about each of the book's movies I'd watch).

Lolita (1962)

„[KUBRICK] MANAGES TO DELIVER A PICTURE EXACTLY AS EROTIC, ABSURD, OBSESSIVE, ERUDITE, AND LOW-COMIC AS THE BOOK.“            

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

Emma Watson playing Sam in

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

playing Susan Sarandon playing Janet in

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

So, what is this post all about? That's a good question.

I think what made me write the above and find the above picture was a vague feeling of "I need to write about a great movie". And I honestly think that The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of the best movies I've ever seen. As usually, those are the movies I find it hardest to write about (coughDrivecough).

Why do I mention Perks again here, then? Obviously, as those who have seen the movie know, there is a strong connection between the two movies, as the gang from Perks are big fans of Rocky Horror and make a kind of show of the movie. And without Perks, I'd probably never have seen Rocky Horror... or I guess I would, but not that soon.

Another connection between the two are the soundtracks. What lingered with me after both movies were the songs, the melodies that made my heart jump and dance with joy. Bowie's "Heroes", The Smiths's "Asleep", and that one special line; "Don't dream it, be it". 

I often find myself day-dreaming about it, ironically. Although I don't think it's about not-dreaming, but about doing what you want, not what others want - like Janet and Brad, who are probably just what their parents and society wants them to be in the beginning. 

The message therefore also resembles that of Perks in many ways - don't dream it, be it. Be what you want to be. If you want to be a dreamer, be it, if you want to write, write, if you want to be gay, be gay.

So, two paragraphs and I think I've written all there is to write. But perhaps there's nothing more to be written. Perhaps all you can do is to get out (of here) and just watch the movies. 

Kind of "Just do it". (Another of my favourite mottos).

Current Treasures: The perfectly magical realism of Woody and Haruki

Left: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Right: The Purple Rose of Cairo by Woody 

„We think it's only natural to get rice pudding after we put rice pudding mix in the microwave and the bell rings, but to me that's just a presumption. I would be kind of relieved if, every once in a while, after you put rice pudding mix in the microwave and it rang and you opened the top, you got macaroni gratin. I suppose I'd be shocked, of course, but I don't know, I think I'd be kind of relieved too. Or at least I think I wouldn't be so upset, because that would feel, in some ways, a whole lot more real.“

This is one of my favourite quotes from Haruki Murakami's masterpiece The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. It is in many ways essential to the book, reflecting on our society's view on reality and wrapping up the mysticism of the whole story. You could also go as far as saying it's the essence of the book, but then again... there is something about the way the main character cooks spaghetti.

Fabulous Filmic Fashion Friday: LITTLE BIG MAN

Fabulous Filmic Fashion Friday is back after the summer break, again with something totally different from what we've featured here before. Before I talk about the fashion of LITTLE BIG MAN, I would like to let you know that I might not be able to post this feature each week, mostly because not every film I see is much fashionably interesting, and also because it takes a lot of time. You can expect me to post every second week at least though.

The costumes of this 1970 western movie were designed by the distinguished film costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, also famous for films like The Sound of Music and the original True Grit. The story that takes place in the different worlds of the American Indians and that of the first settlers, delivers a great opportunity for creative and varied design - also because of the main character's changing lifestyle - and Jeakins fully utilises this potential. 

Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Voyage au bout du monde

YEAR: 1976; DIRECTOR: Philippe Cousteau, Jacques-Yves Cousteau

With this review of Voyage to the Edge of the World, my Cousteau Mini Blogathon comes to an end. It was out of a spontaneous mood that I started this little project, knowing that it would catch little interest among my readers as Cousteau with his 4-5 films isn't exactly a man of the cinema (although he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature two times). 

I'm still glad to see that there was a handful of people that read my posts, and maybe it's not too much to hope for that someone got inspired to watch some Cousteau film. 

World Without Sun remaining my true favourite of the three movies I watched and reviewed for this event, I did enjoy Voyage to the Edge of the World. It was the most conventional documentary of the three, with a special 70s flair to it. Something about the lighting. 

Being accustomed with J. Cousteau's voice-over from the first two movies, it was an interesting alternation to be listening to his son Philippe during the underwater sequences of this movie. Clearly, Jacques himself has grown much older since the 12 years older World Without Sun, which is why he didn't participate in the diving this time. It was amazing to see what the Arctic sea looks like under the surface, regardless of the fact that we've seen it before many times. The feeling that we are the first to see these intriguing shots, and the scientists' enthusiasm just really comes across. Like, "whaaat, the iceberg is actually 7 times larger under the surface?!".

I just love it when films are able to capture me like that. And that without really proving or discovering anything - quite an accomplishment for a nature documentary. 

What Voyage to the Edge of the World did was show things, and show a few people's love for those things. As well as their fear. But no risk no fun, right? I'm pretty sure this was the mantra of the people who made this. Climbing a giant sphinx-formed iceberg and diving into its grottos is near to suicide. But when you get the best and never before seen shots of more than 1000 year old chunks of ice, forming a complex tunnel system, that's pretty much worth it, I guess.

And although Voyage to the Edge of the World neither had a title as catching, nor an ending sentence as inspiring (though it was quite great) as the ones of Cousteau's previous films, it still lingers with me. 

Adding up to the knowledge I have gained from the previous three nights.

The final frame

How I Fell In Love With the Bollywood 70's (Kabhi Kabhie Review)

Confused by the wide range of opinions on "Action Replayy" (this happened about a lot of other 2010 fillms, too), which was a film I thought would freshen up my curiosity for the world of the Bollywood 70's, I decided to jump into the cold water for real. I watched the two classics "Don" and "Sholay", an experience you can read about here... And as I found out, that I actually liked them, I watched "Kabhi Kabhie". You are the first ones to hear about this experience, too. Okay, I don't know anyone Bollywood-interested personally, so it's obvious, that you're the first ones.

KABHI KABHIE - LOVE IS LIFE (1976)

Director: Yash Chopra
Authors: Pamela Chopra, Sagar Sarhadi
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Raakhee Gulzar, Shashi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Rishi Kapoor

Plot: The young poet Amit is in love with Pooja, but Pooja's parents arrange her marriage with architect Vijay. About 20 years after, the two meet again, and the next generation has to fight for their love.








Written the 15th of January 2011

This DVD has been laying around in my cupboard for almost one year now, courting for my favour with many other films. As I've mentioned previously, I've been quite lazy concerning old films. I could never pull myself together and watch those old classics, apart from "Mughal-E-Azam". Why, I don't even know the answer to that myself. Maybe because... old films are just something else, you need to yourself in the postition of the time and can't except a film that would have been made the same way today. However, I've already seen two old films since the beginning of the year, including this one. I do like it. It's not like I never watch old films (I've especially seen many Danish ones), but the list of Indian ones still leaves room for improvement (okay, the English and German ones too). Per contra to the other two films I've seen (remind: Sholay and Don), "Kabhi Kabhie" is no born-and-bred cult film idolized by everyone, but it is definitely a special film. Firstly, it starts quite unusual, very calm and quiet. We are introduced to the love story of Amit and Pooja, peppered with sweet dialogues and lots of poetry. Then we see a wedding song, in which, at the beginning, only Pooja appears - by the way, it is very well-filmed. The bridegoom arrives, he pulls up his veil, and... shock: It's not Amit! Amit(abh), who has put a spell on us from the very beginning, with all his poetry. Something, that not many actors succeed in, during the first few minutes of a film. Even less actors would succeed in actually allegorizing the, now on principle hated, bridegoom in a sympathetic way. Kudos to Shashi Kapoor, who I experienced for the first time (though his laugh reminded me of the bad guy in Sholay). I also liked Raakhee from the very first moment I saw her, she looks very healthy and beams down a motherly warmth. The chemistry is right, between her and Amitabh, as well as between her and Shashi... Effectively, in the second half, Shashi and Raakhee seem to be the couple having most fun together. Vicky and Pinky, played by Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, are also a cute couple, while I instantly liked Rishi, but had to get used to Neetu at the beginning. Talking about getting used to something: I'm shocked by realizing, how much I've gotten used to the ideals of beauty we have nowadays, though I never thought about it this way. I realized it, when I thought, that Neetu and Raakhee were kind of... chubby. But then my alarm bells rang, thank god! My mind is so manipulated by all those human clothes rails, which are dominating our media.

Amit and Pooja

Talking about clothes rails: Amitabh wears some really cute, cuddly sweaters, that I absolutely want to own... (Beth wrote a post on this, but I can't find it right now). Back to the review. I really liked the camera setting of this film, it was whether too brash, nor too boring. Just at two moments, it seemed unprofessional too me, because they used the "shifting-between-to-faces-1000-times" technique. Otherwise, the scene changes were quite good, mostly rather subtle, but sometimes also with the good old impact.

Funny was, that Amit didn't look like his father at all, in contrast to Vicky, whose father was played by his real-life uncle. In addition, I liked the scene, where Vicky's father tries to catch Pinky's mother, and the two fiancés look at each other and vanish silently. Yes, the film has humor, why else should Vicky ask his horse: "Eritéz mon ami, yaar?"?

Actually, there was just one thing annoying me: Sweety, alias Naseem. She was just disruptive and beyond all bearing. By the way, I just IMDB-ed her, and this was the only film she acted in. Good decision!

"Kabhi Kabhie" is indeed quite long, but I've gotten used to that now, that's just how it is with old films. Though also many new films suffer from this - if they're poor. Because this is the secret advise for a long film, that's able to entertain: It has to be interesting. To the makers of "Shakti", "Sehar" etc. - remember this.

Rating: 7.2

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.