omegaruth

I didn’t really know what to expect when I chose to watch the 2011 Lars Von Trier film, Melancholia. From the opening credits,it was obvious that the cinematography would be a trippy experience, but what I didn’t know is that there would be depth to the story that could’ve easily stood without the painterly editing job. Like it’s name the film focuses on a family suffering from the disease Melancholia, also known as depression.

Kirsten Dunst play one of the main characters of the film, Justine. The movie starts with Justine and her fiance’ making their way to their wedding, an occasion that you would think is cause for great happiness and celebration. Upon arriving at the location of the ceremony and reception, we see that it is anything but. Justine suffers from what appears to be major clinical depression, and is struggling with a down cycle while trying to entertain her and her fiance’s family at the wedding. This would be a daunting task by itself, but we see that it is made even more difficult by the fact that she seems surrounded by people of a most despicable character, most of whom are her family. None of it proves to be very therapeutic for her as she sinks further into a downward spiral throughout the night.

Justine’s sister, Claire, would seem to have it all. She is married to a prominent and wealthy astrophysicist, and has a handsome young son, living in a remarkable home. Claire,however, suffers from extreme control issues and anxiety. She is worried not only with the burden of caring for her sister while she is in the throws of depression, but also dealing with he anxiety about an impending celestial event. The event is the passing of the planet melancholia, which is invisible to earth a majority of the time,due to the fact that it’s orbit keeps it on the opposite side of the sun. She is not convinced by her husband that the world will survive the event and her anxiety drives her to the brink of insanity.

The film actually does a great job of dealing with mental illness, showing that no one is immune and that seemingly high functioning members of society can be brought low by the disease. I was actually captivated by the actors and actresses portrayal of family life when one or more members are dealing with mental illness.

This documentary was really a difficult watch for me. It chronicles the 2003 intifada in the Israeli occupied Gaza strip through the lives of it’s Palestinian inhabitants and the lens of director James Miller, who was killed on the last day of filming the project. It is no secret that there have been tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians beginning with the creation of the state of Israel, carved from Palestinian homelands in 1948. There have been many peace treaties, which are always broken by a violent act perpetrated by one side or another. The glaring fact is that though the Palestinians are committed to fighting to regain sovereignty of their lands, their fight is futile against the military might of the western backed Zionist government of Israel.

In this documentary, Miller and his crew not only address the adults who are jailed and killed during the uprisings, but the children who are equally affected. The children are in a sense robbed of their childhood through repeated exposure to extreme acts of violence. They are murdered during the conflicts just as the adults are, and from a young age have already been instilled with blood feuds, that will ultimately be perpetuated as and if they grow, until a solution is reached to bring lasting peace between the two groups. Even if you are bothered by graphic violence, it is worth a look, to see what is like in country from the Palestinian point of view.

Silliness, that’s the first thing that pops into my mind when thinking about this film. However that would belie the inherent message that the movie is trying to relay, “Don’t Panic”. The story is about an unassuming man from a nondescript area in the U.K.,named Arthur, and his friend Ford. Arthur awakens to find that his life has been turned upside down due to te fact that his home must be demolished in order to make way for an expressway bypass. As if this news wasn’t startling enough,his friend Ford arrives just as Arthur is being threatened by the construction crew,to deliver even heavier news. Arthur learns that not only do Aliens exist, but that Ford is one of them.

Ford also explains to Arthur that they must leave the planet immediately, due to the fact that Earth’s destruction is imminent (as in the next 12 min.) As Arthur and Ford share a last drink on Earth, Arthur telles of a lost love,and thus introduces the two remaining main characters of the movie. They make their escape by Hitching a ride on the alien construction vessel and galactic hijinx ensues,as they bound from planet to planet in search of “The Question”. This question is to be paired with the answer 42 to reveal the true meaning of life.

As campy as it might sound the story does go to great lengths to make the point that the meaning of life is different for everyone, and that we all (all beings in the Multiverse) search for that meaning. Arthur finally realize that the meaning of (His)life is to love the one who got away(and whom he found again in space), and thus all is once again put right with the world and the galaxy.

This was a very interesting watch. This documentary chronicles the struggles of getting your film a satisfactory rating, that will not ruin your domestic box office draw. In the United States, directors and filmmakers must submit their projects to the governing body for review, The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) in order to receive a rating that is supposed to guide the public on who should be allowed to view your movie, based upon the movie’s content.The thing is,that the MPAA is not comprised of film industry professionals. In fact, the governing body is a secret panel made up of “average parents”, who are all but hand picked by the association’s Czar,Jack Valenti (1966-2004).

The film makers in the story struggle with the fact that under the direction of Valenti, the association appeared to be arbitrarily handing out ratings that weren’t necessarily tied to content, but more so to political leanings and moral values of the raters involved. The were several instances pointed out in the film where it was illustrated that the MPAA had been very heavy handed when rating films that depicted homosexuality and women’s sexuality in general. The films receive their ratings based on an apparent checklist the counts the type and amount of curse words, violence and how it’s depicted,sexuality and whether or not it is considered acceptable by the Raters of the MPAA. The MPAA is also accused of being unreasonably harsh in it’s dealings with independent film makers as well.

I can’t say that I am completely set on whether or not I would even like to make films, but after seeing this one I can say that I am NOT interested in dealing with the American system of rating and would probably look to release internationally.

So, I finally got around to watching the 2006 film by Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labryinth. It was set in a civil war in spain during WWII, 1944 to be exact. The movie revolved around a young girl,Ofelia, and her pregnant mother who had just moved to the countryside to be with her mother’s new husband. The Husband turns out to be quite the horrid character. He is a Captain in the Spanish fascist army,and has an extremely controlling demeanor as well as a propensity for violence. Ofelia immediately senses that this is not the man that her mother should be with as well as the fact that this is not the place that they should be, especially at this particular time. While the adult characters in the film are preoccupied with the cloak and dagger struggle between the fascists and communists, Ofelia discovers intrigue of her own. 

Ofelia discover a Labryinth on the grounds that inhabited by Pan(there was no easy way to stomach the obviousness of that fact). Pan appears to be a mythical creature,who is ancient and half deity, half animal (Goat or Ram,I think) who describes himself as a faun. He informs Ofelia that she is actually not human, but a princess from the underworld. He explains that her true father, the king, longs for her to return, but that she must complete 3 tasks before the next full moon, to ensure that her soul has not become fully human. She goes about her tasks, and in the end is able to return to her place as the princess of the underworld. Shedoes, however, pay a steep price for her return. Ofelia must be killed in order to return to the underworld.

The movie is definitely visually stunning. I like the use of color tone and contrast to display the duality between the storylines of child wonderment and adult struggle. While the captain’s storyline is represented as dark and drab, Ofelia’s adventures are bright and colorful. I did however gather that the only way that Ofelia could escape the cruel reality of her life in the captain’s world, was to lose her life altogether. It struck me as a story of pure escapism.