Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen

Before the beginning.

Once a year I hope for, but don’t expect, a movie to lift me away and envelop me. You may think it’s sad that I only expect one movie a year to do this to me, but I’m not talking about simple enjoyment, because I enjoy many movies. I’m talking about that feeling, a change that you perceive in the world when you’ve stepped out of the theatre. The movie continues on as you drive down the street or walk up the sidewalk. There’s something intangible or heightened. That’s how I felt after walking out of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.

“Catfish” and “I’m Still Here” – where reality and fiction blurr

A real documentary about faux people...

...a faux documentary about real people?

The last two films I saw were films that while watching started as one thing and turned out to be completely different. A large part of this is because of the expectations I had when going in. I had more preconceived notions about these two films than I have had about any other film I’ve seen. Partly due to the way pop culture has guided my thinking as a whole these past couple years…not even I am safe from the undertow.

Both Catfish and I’m Still Here deal with reality; the false reality created by the world of technology and media, and they utilize their mediums skillfully to keep the audience a little uncertain as to how real the events unfolding actually are. I knew very little about what these films actually were when going in to see them. I had not read that the filmmakers of I’m Still Here came out that it was a hoax until after seeing it. I still don’t know how real or not Catfish is; my guess is its truly a documentary. It doesn’t matter to me in either instance.

Thoughts From a Dying Hand Vol. 1: via an update

My skin is on fire, slowly numbing. I want the pain. If all the feeling goes away, then what will I be? Will I die then? There’s so much I want to say, to so many people as I lay here. To call one would mean disregarding the others. So, I choose a facebook update to say the things I need to say. Hopefully you’ll all see this. All the people it’s meant for.

A Movie in Prose. “Night and Day”, Based on the Korean translation: August is 12 days Scenes 4-5

Here is the name of station and link to the website of the logo that lingers in the top right hand corner of the movie while I watch it: CH CVG.

If you’re just stumbling across this. It is scenes 4 and 5 of my putting into prose the entire Korean film “Night and Day” using the Engrish translation provided on the DVD I purchased in Chinatown, Los Angeles. Please check out Chapters 1-3 to get yourself up to speed.

August is 12 days…think about it…

“Ink”

How could you not think this was an animated film?

Not long ago outside the Laemmle 5 Theatre on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, I remember seeing an intriguing poster. It had figures with foreboding, glowing eyes across the top, and a man in a ragged cloak leaning over to a child. The title was simple, Ink. It seemed like the kind of film a lover of “Akira”, “Dark City” or “Bladerunner” would enjoy. It also looked like an animated film, which I love. So it stuck.

Night And Day: the translation Scenes 1-3

Berlin International Film Festival Contender 2007

I was bored. I put in a Korean film that’s been sitting on my shelf. I buy movies from Chinatown on occasion just to keep some flavor and unpredictability in my life. I’m currently watching a film called “Night and Day”. It was apparently an entry into the Berlin International Film Festival. Good for it. My DVD does not do the film justice, but it is a piece of art unto itself. In the top right hand corner is a logo “CH CHG”. I will impart the story to you through simple prose of what I’m seeing,  with the help of the translated subtitles, so you can experience what I’m experiencing.

A few points as you continue. I am adding punctuation that does not appear in the subtitles and all the capitalization is done in the subtitles. There are times in which the character speaks in English and the subtitles continue to translate them in staggeringly different English.