OLDBOY [2003]: Oh boy!

A 'that!' post...

As suppose to stylistics, reading Bordwell, Staiger, and Thompson's monumental The Classical Hollywood Cinema, i cannot suck in the significance of Park Chan-Wook's dizzying and perhaps the 'best style' from a Korean filmmaker. His approach is much of Hollywood meets Wong Kar-wai which i cannot stomach in the context of originality and ingenuity. No innovation at all, just a recycled bunch of ideas.

His frames, images below, extols a much mature aesthetics but not fully grown than his other Asian predecessors. Oldboy (2003) has a color palette not much of a high contrast but more normalize than Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together (1997). I can see how much Wong's sense of space has dominated his mise-en-scene. But then Park Chan-Wook attempted to put contemporary devices on framing such as splitting the frames, shooting in wide-angle lens for distortions, staging in depth, deploying long takes, and using handheld camera movements to develop chaos and realism.

There is also a Kafkan element present. Note the illusion of the ants superimposed on the melancholia and alienation of both characters. If i could think clearly, he borrowed some thoughts on Dostoevksy's Note from Underground --- perhaps its parallelism to the imprisonment of Dae Su for fifteen years. This intertextual referencing is perhaps central to Oldboy. The stylize conglomeration of this textual sources made it an insoluble mass of art, definitely not an avant-garde but of mainstream specificity which i did not expect.

However, the thing is, honestly, i am intense in saying that he borrowed some of the montage elements from Chungking Express (1994). The Oldboy use of the calendar-type transition of time has the same function to the ones in Chungking Express. Anyway, i have to let my dissatisfaction simmer down and approach Oldboy in other aspects than this.

But i have to admit, his narrative construction is superb!


Ciaofck!

****

THE LAST EMPEROR [1987]

mise-en-scene pro!

I call Mr. Bernardo Bertolluci's The Last Emperor the most detailed and well-filmed mainstream cinema i have ever seen. His attention to detail and his sense of space is so much of an eye candy. I admire every bit of detail it exudes. The frames are oh so wonderful.

His approach to history is purposeful, declarative and enigmatic. He brought China to my eyes with a whole new vision. It is masterful art of cinema.


Ciaofck!

****

JIZZ IN MY PANTS: My Highest Point of Contemplation!

the 'MY LIFE IN 2:33 MINUTES' post...

An existential awakening.

Being the most boring blogger blogging the most boring films to watch, a.k.a. CONTEMPLATIVE CINEMA (with spatial and temporal tendencies to 'mundane reality'), it came to me, through FLICKHEAD, that 'the essence of my own humanity' is insignificant. Please do kill me with your Shakespearean dagger.

LOL!
***

FREE DOWNLOAD Andrei Rublev [1966] and The Mirror [1975]

super quick post...

[photos from here, here, here, and here]

A smile often leads to contemplation. (whatever Adrian!)

Because I am intensely connected with Andrei Tarkovsky oeuvre, I found out recently that Andrei Rublev, probably Tarkovsky's masterpiece, and The Mirror are viewable on YouTube through birubirFilms's Channel. They also provide download links to a Russian website for the full length film:

Andrei Rublev (download link)

The Mirror (download link)

Ciao for now!

***

I am busy with:

(i made it b&w to add contemplation, after all
university work is much of a contemplation than
entertainment.)

Ciaofck!

***

Saturation of Colors on THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE [1991]

photo post...

Cinematography is at its finest at Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique (1991).


Kieslowski has a different approach to mood. He uses an extensive variety of coloration and filters, sometimes to pull out green hues or to highlight the redness of the red light. Such is depicted by the series of images below and the one on top.


Ciao for now!

***

THE DUST OF TIME [2009]
a new film by Theo Angelopoulus

Trailer of The Dust of Time.

Theo Angelopoulus experiments with time. This premiered at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

****

ANDREI TARKOVSKY: My Weekly Contemplation

snapshot post

[images from here, here and here]

Andrei Tarkovsky.

By reading an auteur study on Tarkovsky, it is, in a way, my method of opening my heart to contemplative cinema. The breadth of Tarkovsky's work is as absorbing as the book entitled Films by Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue by Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie. I borrowed it from the library and i am much willing to make an effort to read it this week with enough enthusiasm to give honor to a director of contemplative cinema.

When one speak of an artist from Russia, i often think of my obsession with Russian writers (see ABOUT ME). Russians, a realization from reading Brothers Karamazov, are fond of contemplation, it seemed as though it is their fundamental way of life, their breather. Though Sergei Eisenstein may not be into long takes, still has contemplative tendencies especially in Battleship Potemkin (1925) due to the startling imagery Eisenstein employed.

Andrei Takovsky has a different approach to contemplation. His images are poetically charge, contrary to other contemplative artists who are obsessed with minimalism and the deconstruction of one's subject into mundane reality. One can look Tarkovsky similar to Kiarostami and Ozu: some few artists whose views in cinema are not only limited to the tenets of filmmaking but also to the concepts beyond this provocative regime. They often have a tendency to employ metaphysical overtones. Such is Kiarostami on The Wind will Carry Us (1999).

Kiarostami and Tarkovsky both has a unique eye for framing. Most of their frames are like visual paintings. In my previous post, Kiarostami identified Five (2003) much like painting. Some other directors have attempted to approach framing as a way of painting. No one cannot deny how the mise-en-scene of Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together (1997) looked much like a painting, or maybe because it appealed that way.

Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son.

In the last scene at Tarkovsky's Solaris, at exactly 3:55 of the video clip below, one can say that this is Rembrandt. This is also observed by a certain youtube commentator mbmsv. Tarkovsky made a tangential appeal, almost a comparative analogy, to The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt. The video below manifests some of the most unforgetable and unique cinematographic techniques in cinema.

Last scene of Solaris.

***

I will visit the local videoteque tomorrow if i have time. I'm adjusting my blogging schedule, trying to fit it in between my hardcore chemical engineering studies, my PSYSC org work, and my UP Sorgogueños officer work (well, i'm glad to announce that i am the incumbent FINANCE OFFICER of the organization, wohoooo! Money come to me!)

***

Penelope waiting for ULYSSES.

I stopped reading ULYSSES! Too bad, i was at Episode 16. I will get back to it when i feel the urge.

***

Ciao!

THE MAN FROM LONDON [2007]; FIVE [2003]

prospective take...

[photos from here, here, and here]

The Trailer

Art is a bottomless pit of possibilities.

There is much to my mind right now. Basically, my thoughts are crowded by the structure of my criticism for Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994), a bunch of film noir podcasts, a reflection on recently concluded 14th French Film Festival in Manila, some scattered thoughts on Alan Clarke and Andrei Tarkovsky, and my intense deep conversations with my conscience on my reflections on contemplative cinema. If there happens to be a primitive root to all this mixed up thoughts, and also if there is an element of derangement, it might have reached the peak after reading HarryTuttle's absorbing and informative article on the AVERAGE SHOT LENGTH (ASL) of contemporary contemplative films.

HarryTuttle's analysis has elevated me to:

(1) Euphoria: A sheer joy of having found Kiarostami's Five (2003) to have the longest average shot length of 14 minutes and 45 second (885 second of continuous shot via a steady camera). Five: Five Long Shots Dedicated to Yasujiro Ozu, the whole title of the film speaks of two subjects of unmistakable greatness: one, the Japanese cinema giant, Ozu, who gave us one of the most unforgettable and remarkable films of all time (i have to say that in high pitch!), Tokyo Story (1953); and two, the use of five long shots. Yes, Abbas Kiarostami filmed this meditative film in five long shots on an average of 14 minutes and 45 seconds and it can be simply broken down below into five images:

Shot One: A washed up piece of wood on the beach at the Caspian Sea

Shot Two: People Chatting up beside the beach, no dialogue still

Shot 3: A shot of dogs frolicking beside the beach

Shot Four: Ducks walking on the beach that moves from left to right of frame

Shot Five: A shot of the moon reflecting on the pond

There is much of a question of why did Kiarostami compose this non-narrative piece of art. The reception of the film to the critics have been favorable:

Robert Davis wrote:

"And you know what? It’s a nice piece of work. It’s the kind of movie that succeeds when you’re willing to let your mind wander the way it does when you watch clouds. Maybe you’ll close your eyes and just listen for a bit. Maybe you’ll nod off. I doubt if Kiarostami would object; he even said once that he enjoys movies that are so calm they make you sleepy but give you something to reflect on later." (here)

Kiarostami doesn't care, he said it outwardly, if the viewer would fall asleep while watching the film because it is made that way. The amount of contemplation rewards the viewer the calmness, i think, one can savor while watching the real waves of the ocean, as Jeff Anderson says. Phase9 have a more descriptive take on the film. Their review says:

"Despite the lack of a story, the films are far more than just pretty pictures: assembled in order, they comprise a kind of abstract or emotional narrative arc, which moves evocatively from separation and solitude to community, from motion to rest, near-silence to sound and song, light to darkness and back to light again, ending on a note of rebirth and regeneration. “An entire world is revealed to us”, Kiarostami says. “It’s a work that approaches poetry, painting. It let me escape from the obligation of narration and of the slavery of mise en scène." (here)

This poetic non-narrative film is my target for the month of June. If there is a possibility to watch this film in the local videoteque of my university, the University of the Philippines, i might as well stop this blog and head off to the UP Film Institute. If i could not access this one, i might consider the option of having a DVD delivered from Amazon.com to my doorstep.

Perhaps the question lingers, for the more or less 50 minutes of dazzling imagery, why did Kiarostami made it?

Video: Why did Kiarostami made this film?

Two essential videos on Five (2003):

A Scene from "Five dedicated to Ozu" [from firouzanFilms, link here]
Kiarostami on Making of Five [from haridasb, link here]




****


(2) Ecstasy: A coalesce of my growing fascination of Bela Tarr's cinema and my intense devotion to Pulp Fiction as neo-noir lead me to another film with the average shot length of 4 minutes and 24 seconds (284-second shot of a roving camera). Bela Tarr's recent feature, The Man from London (2007), achieves an ample amount of contemplation with film noir twist. This absorbing CC (contemporary contemplative) film follows a conventional film noir narrative and techniques, however, the most noticeable innovation that Tarr did was to let the camera movement and duration take it all. The cinematic technique is at its masterful zenith. The low-key lighting, high-contrast images dominated the film and has always been the most significant element of the noir. One can clearly see how much every element have been executed it in this clip:

A clip from The Man from London

This two filmic realizations remains an ache in my heart. I wonder when will i see all these films. I wonder and I am stuck.

***

ELEPHANT (Alan Clarke, 1988)

influences on contemporary contemplative cinema...

[photos from here and here]



Preparatory to my analysis for Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003), I read a well written and focused article by Dan North on Alan Clarke's Elephant (1988) here. I searched youtube for the video or a clip and it was clear enough that this has been the source of Van Sant's contemplative masterpiece.

A clip from Elephant (1988)

On Van Sant's Elephant there is a notion of the extensive use of the steadycam as the primary source of movement. This technique is also noticeable in Alan Clarke's short film. I asked a question, why is this technique appropriate for the analysis, exploration and depiction of violence and mass killings? The thematic of both film revolves around mass violence. This seemed to be propelled in an almost dreamy movement of the camera locked in a moving trolley.

The steady camera - tracking shot approach is central to the stylistics of both films.

However, what are the other alternative options available for the two filmmakers to film both films?



(1) Handheld camera reminiscent of Michael Brault's Les Raquetteurs (1958) and any of Wong Kar-Wai's films.

Michael Brault's Les Raquetteurs (1958)

The object of contemplation will be lost, however, if the directors will pursue this cinematic style. It can be thought that hand-held cameras may depict the theme of violence recurring on both films with much accuracy because it can deploy much of the needed hastiness and immediacy of the gunner shooting a victim. It can also add a lot of psychological positioning as post-compositional effects. This style is common in art house cinemas especially in the independent waves in the 80s. Kurbrick did use a handheld camera when he filmed certain scenes in The Shinning (1980).


(2) A stationary camera on deep space with "Tarr-ian" effect

Deep space in Satantango (1993)

To film violence and to approach it in a realism mode of diegesis one can use the deep space extensively. To apply this approach to filming the themes explored by the two films, one can set a camera in a stationary position, set the lens in deep focus and let the characters move in front of the camera. In a way, the almost real time implementation of the action can create a realistic immediacy to the quality of the images.


The two alternatives are of the extremes of the spectrum of the stylistics of contemplative cinema. When Theo Angelopoulus crafted Eternity and a Day (1998) most of his frame compositions and cinematography were dominated by tracking shots from a long (not duration) shot to a medium shot on a gaily paced from deep focus to shallow focus, this characteristically long shots of Angelopoulus became a recurring technique on his predecessors and one cannot see why Van Sant cannot used this one. However, Van Sant's approach to Elephant was more of a Tarr than an Angelopoulus.

In the light of this filmic realizations, both the Elephant films have been much of an innovation than a recycling of techniques and one cannot discuss one without the other.

***