The Fountain (2006)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

This film was surprisingly great. I was very happy to watch this film last night.
I read a couple of this director's interviews and would like to share some lines that I liked. (http://twitchfilm.net/archives/008224.html)


The Fountain is dealing with all these huge issues. It's asking those same questions that all people have been asking since the beginning of time. Why are we here? What is life? What is death? What happens when you die? Can you love? What is love? Can you love forever? Those are the big questions and no one can answer them. There are no answers. There are just ideas that we can think about and talk about. That's what The Fountain is for me: those late night conversations you had with your college room mates where you basically sat around and talked about what is consciousness? What is existence? That's, for me, what the exercise of the film was about, it was to explore these big questions and to explore the big questions I think everyone has to come into it and start thinking about how they answer those questions for themselves.

I've been thinking lately that I "understand" that I'll die one day but am not sure how eagerly I'm accepting my death. I'm 24 years old now and am where I can still "run" without having many things attached to me. I'd like to keep running until a day comes that I'm willing to slow down.

Thanks

Shin

Lars with the Real Girl (2007)

Directed by Craig Gillespie

Before starting the comment on the film... I had a car accident yesterday. This is the second time this year. Fortunately, I was safe in both times. I hope there'll be no more accidents... Well, this incident actually made me think of this film deeper than I expected. Here is the director's interview.
<http://www.beliefnet.com/story/225/story_22539_1.html>

"Craig Gillespie: The movie deals with the innate goodness of people, and in life I find that’s actually more true than not. People genuinely want to help each other and do right by each other."

I had been feeling this lack of appreciation in my mind. I've realized that it's usually a bad sign when I'm in that state of mind. I haven't quite figured out how to get out of the mental state without causing some hard experience like this car accident... What I need to remember is this simple truth. "I am what i am because there are people who have supported me tremendous amount and guided me with great care. So, be grateful and don't take them for granted."

"Ryan Gosling: I think they (people in town) do it (accepting Bianca to their community) for themselves too. I don't think they do it just for Lars. I say that because I saw her effect on myself, and on everybody on the crew. She(Bianca)'s interesting. She asks you to look at yourself, to be creative, to develop a relationship with yourself that you haven't developed. It forces you to be intimate with yourself. Everybody gets something out of their relationship with her."

"CG: The way we approached this movie... it was never just a doll. It was always a serious relationship that Lars was going through with a woman. Everything we worked on, all his motivation that he had in every scene, was his relationship with Bianca."

"RG: I said to Craig, "How are you going to shoot her?" He said, "I'm going to treat her as though she has a nudity clause in her contract." He meant it, and he did that. He required that everybody treat her like an actress. She got magazines between takes. She had her own trailer, they changed her in her trailer. She came on set and she was treated like any other actor."

I was also able to feel her through the film. (It was similar to the volleyball from "Cast Away" They became more than a thing.)
The film and the car accident reminded me of the importance of having appreciations on my family, friends, and things I'm surrounded by. I'm grateful to what I have been given and thankful to my family, friends, and people who I've spent time with in my life.
Hopefully, this appreciation will last long.

Thanks

Shin

Into the Wild (2007)

Directed by Sean Penn

I'm very glad that I saw this film. Here is a part that spoke to me from the director's interview on Into the Wild
http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_13001.html

"The bottom line is that this thing that I was tracking, in response to his question, was neither objective nor subjective, it was just the wrong paradigm for me. The idea was it's a hunger from deep inside that is touched when somebody - this will that I talk about -- and you can apply it to everything that's happening in the world, you can apply it - let's forget about getting into global politics, just the movies.
You know, I'm so dissatisfied. It’s like good movie, bad movie, I almost don't care. I just want to feel that the person who made it did and then that'll tell me enough. I'll get exhilarated about life better from seeing that movie on that basis alone. [...] And that doesn't mean that I'm going to tell anybody to like that I did it or not like that I did it, or anything else, or that it works or doesn't work every time somebody does do it. I'm proud of the whole thing. It's the way that I wanted to tell it, but for sure we've got to find out what's on the other side of these walls, and that's what he did."

I thought the urge to make something real and the "rawness" captured in this film were beautiful and also essential to live as an artist. I hope I'll be able to capture the rawness and presence of human beings in my work.

The Hours (2002)

Directed by Stephen Daldry

It took an entire film for me to realize that Virginia Woolf was Nicole Kidman... Anyway, here are the sections that I picked from the director's interview. The interview is great.
http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,898195,00.html

"I suppose that at its core it's about the very difficult choices people have to make in order to make their lives possible. So often those choices are put into cliche or a sentimental mode that tries to make it easier for us to have happiness. The cost of that happiness or the cost of the choices are never explored. The cost of the choices that, it seems to me, these incredibly courageous women make, felt very truthful."

I actually saw "The Hours" and "Cast Away" back to back. These two films which dealt with similar themes in a way made me think of what is the price I'm paying to seek a successful life (whatever the "successes" are). I wonder... Well, I guess I'll find out in the future.

Thanks

Shin

Cast Away (2000)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Before going to the director's interview, I'd like to introduce a book "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. So far, this is the best book I've read this year. In this book, the author mentions a Hedgehog Concept as one of the key factors for trasforming a good company to a great company.

A Hedgehog Concept is "a simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles."

Three Circles are

1. What you can be the best in the world at.
(and, equally important, what you cannot be the bet in the world at)

2. What drives your economic engine.
(cash flow per X in the social sector)

3. What you are deeply passionate about.
(The idea here is not to stimulate passion but to DISCOVER what
makes you passionate.)

I've been very curious about what make a difference between great filmmakers and good filmmakers. So, I'd like to try to apply these three circle to Robert Zemeckis. (I won't be able to fill all circles...)

1. I wasn't able to find the exact phrase of what he thinks he can be
best at.

"If I just keep making movies that I want to see, and that I think somebody else wants to see -- and those are the two questions that I ask myself, because I don't want to be suicidal. [...] if the answer to those two questions is, "yes" then you may as well make the movie."

2. N/A

3. I certainly found this one.

"I won an Academy award when I was 44 years old, but I paid for it with my 20s. That decade of my life from film school till 30 was nothing but work, nothing but absolute, driving work. I had no money. I had no life. I was just devouring movies and writing screen plays. I look at my good friends who are my same age and they're not as successful as I am, but I look back and I think, "They were living very exciting lives as bachelors in their 20s. They were pulling down some pretty good money." But they weren't driven and obsessed with becoming film directors."

"Hard working pays off at the end" may sound too common... For those, I'd like to end this note with a comment of Carl Reichardt, CEO of Wells Fargo at the time of transition.

"What we did was so simple, and we kept it simple. It was so straightforward and obvious that it sounds almost ridiculous to talk about it."

Interivew from http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/zem0int-1

Thanks

Shin

Across the Universe (2007)

Directed by Julie Taymor

I waited for this film to come out for a long time...
The film was great. I was interested in this director's theatrical background because I felt the film was very tehatrical. So here her interview goes. In the interview, she talks about the benefits of film and theater.

"I knew that whatever I did (for creating the Lion King) had to be totally theatrical, because I couldn't compete with film. One of the reasons I love to jump back and forth between mediums is that film does allow me to be more literal. I can go to the real place. I can go to the Coliseum, and I don't have to fake it. I can go to an Eskimo snowfield if I want to have snow; I don't need to do chicken feathers falling out of a plate. [...] What theater does best is to be abstract and not to do literal reality. You watch this water -- but it's just silk (with blue lines)-- disappear through a hole. Theater is far superior to film in poetry, in abstract poetry."

It is always fascinating to see films that play with visual images that provoke certain emotions and feelings in audience because, for those films, the director's focus is more on "how" to tell a story rather than "what" to. I think...

Thanks

Shin

Gosford Park (2001)

Directed by Robert Altman

I think this film is one of the best films I saw this summer. I read the interview on this film and would like to share some of it.
http://www.iofilm.co.uk/feats/interviews/r/robert_altman.shtml

"It was a genre(murder mystery, class satire) I had never done before and that's all I look for every time. I'm not a very creative person coming up with ideas, I don't care much about stories in films. I look at films more like paintings and I look for a genre that the audience knows and will be kind of comfortable with, "Oh, I know what this kind of thing is" and then I just like to give it a little turn."

I wonder the other filmmakers that I admire also look at films as painting...

Thanks

Shin

Born into Brothels (2004)

Directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman

The documentary was wonderful. I read some of her interviews on this film but I'm more fascinated with the ongoing project "Kids with Cameras" that Zana Briski has founded.

"Kids with Cameras" http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/home/

Here is one of the projects that they're working on.

"Kids with Cameras has a plan to help more children like those portrayed in Born into Brothels. With your help, we will build Hope House (Asha Niwas), a nurturing home where up to 150 children from Calcutta's red light district can come to live, learn, and grow. The children who live in Hope House will receive a free, first-rate education through high school, courtesy of the Buntain Foundation, which owns and operates 80 schools in India. The Buntain Foundation will also manage and staff the home."

They're aiming to make $750,000 for the purchase of land and construction of the home and have made $500,000 so far.

I think it's really fascinating to see the potential of filmmaking and the film that can lead into another project which is tied to the real world.

Thanks

Shin

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Directed by David Yates

I couldn't wait for the DVD... The film was worth of watching in theatre.

I read the director's interview (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33125) and let me take some of the lines from the interview that I enjoyed.

"When I was preparing the film, I had all sorts of ideas that touched upon that kind of line between the real world and the magical world. Back when I was growing up you would always create these imaginative worlds. You just did. That’s what’s beautiful about Jo (Rowling)’s books is she takes you into this world where you can see this fine line between."

John Carney (a director of "Once") was also talking about the "world." His was not a magical world though... (Please check a previous note on "Once")

"I believe once you get the script right, the next biggest challenge is to make sure that you really feel there’s an emotional truth and an emotional reality to it. You could be defending some great kingdom from whoever (they were talking about the Lord of the rings), but you’ve got to believe it matters to that person you’re seeing on the screen."

"Sekai-Kan" is a Japanese word, and it means "a view of the world."
We see the world based on our experiences and memories.
I haven't read the books yet but I've been enjoying the world of "Harry Potter," and that's something that only this series can offer to the audiences. So, I'll probably go back to a theatre for the sixth and seventh because I want to feel this magical world.

Maybe in the end, what matters is that artists share this different view of the world with their audiences. What do you think?

Once (2006)

Directed by John Carney

It was great. I really love directors who can capture a space between people in film. (A story exists because there is more than one person in the world.) Anyway, I read the director's interview and would like to share some parts that I enjoyed.
http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12026.html

" How do I create a world where it’s okay to watch 8 songs? How do you approach that? Rule #1 was be really authentic and never have playback. If the guitar has a string missing, you should hear that that’s missing. If the piano looks rickety and wrecked, it should sound that way. The most authentic thing should be in the performances and that’s why I ended up getting non-actors to do it as well. Singers who are professional, these guys, because nobody’s going to present those songs in quite as real or authentic a way as the people who wrote them."

The world is defined by people who live in the environment and vice versa... One thing that I really enjoy by editing a documentary is to study the complexity of people's lives. It's real, and it's amazing. (I don't know how to describe this yet... Sorry.)

Thanks.

Ratatouille (2007)

Directed by Brad Bird

I really wanted to see this film and finally got to see it. Here are some of the comments from Brad Bird's interview that I enjoyed.
(http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12342.html)

"if we’re going to capture Paris, we aren’t trying to perfectly reproduce the actual Paris; we’re trying to reproduce the feeling of being in Paris. When we do movement for characters, we’re trying to give the impression of a character, rather than perfectly mimicking reality. So that’s our goal, to give the feeling of being under water in "Nemo” or in a kitchen in a 5-star restaurant in "Ratatouille.”

When I edit a documentary, I depend on the memory of feelings that I had from choreogaraphers and dancers who I filmed. In the editing process, I ask myself "is this the person who I met?" and if not, I keep looking for a missing piece in order to fill the gap. It's not the easy process but I think that's been the most exciting thing so far becasue I get to learn the layers of a person and come close to the core of who he/she is.

I still need to use interviews in order to build a story but someday I hope I can make one without any interviews.

Thanks

Shin

Paris, Je T'Aime (2006)

Directed by Olivier Assayas
Frédéric Auburtin
Emmanuel Benbihy
Gurinder Chadha
Sylvain Chomet
Ethan Coen
Joel Coen
Isabel Coixet
Wes Craven
Alfonso Cuarón
Gérard Depardieu
Christopher Doyle
Richard LaGravenese
Vincenzo Natali
Alexander Payne
Bruno Podalydès
Walter Salles
Oliver Schmitz
Nobuhiro Suwa
Daniela Thomas
Tom Tykwer
Gus Van Sant

No interviews for this one... Just so many directors...

The film was fun. I wish I could watch this with film school friends... My favorites were "Tuileries", "Le Marais" ,and "14ème Arrondissement."

Thanks

Amadeus (1984) Director's Cut

Directed by Milos Forman

One of my favorite films of all the time. It's just so wonderfully done... and it shows how much he likes people.
Well, I found his interview on BBC radio <http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterview/forman_transcript.shtml> The interview's about forty minutes long and is amazing!! I'm going to summarize some of the things that I enjoyed from the interview and write them down.

- A interviewer asks Milos Forman if there is any different way he makes films in the U.S. than in Czeck. Milos answers "I want to believe there is not but actually there is. Knowledge of the language is different... I realized one thing. I can't function anymore as a screen writer... I don't have this nuance of the language (in terms of crafting the characterization of the people by the way they talk.) So the only change I made of is that I turn to adapt materials which are originally written by English speaking writers.

One of the reasons that I decided to make documentaries was that I felt that I wouldn't be able to write or capture the nuance of people from this culture which makes what they are. I didn't grow up in this culture so in a way I feel like I'm an anthropologist or a psychologyst who chooses to use film as a medium instead of writing a paper. :)

The next one is where Milos Forman talks about what a director is.

- "A director is a little bit of everything. Good director is the director who chooses these professional people who are better than he is... It's a strange profession."

I'd love to have this experience in the future. I did have a taste of this a little bit for my thesis but now I pretty much do everything. It's actually an amazing learning experience for me at this moment so I'd like to continue this for a while.

Thank you.

Away from Her (2006)

Directed by Sarah Polley

This is a very rich and beautiful film. I really enjoyed the actors' faces that the director was able to capture in this film. It's playing at Miracle 5 now so please check it out if you like watching subtleties of human gestures or expressions.

I'd like to share the director's thoughts from her interview on NPR
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9912464>

"I mean I think what was so compelling to me about the story (the film is based on a short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro) was that it was this incredibly intricate portrait or exploration into the nature of unconditional love and what is to mean to give up yourself in a way that will not be acknowledged."

It is a huge theme to talk about but I think it is something important to think of in life. I think...

Freedom Writers (2007)

Directed by Richard LaGravenese

It was great film to watch for many reasons.

The director talks about a teacher in his interview.
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=18153
I really enjoyed the part of the interview so please let me share it with you.

"you only need one teacher to see you and to make you feel reflected, they can see who you are and what you can do. I remember having this professor at NYU, he was a mythology teacher, we had lunch one day and he said, "You know there may not be a place for you in this world, so you have to make one, there may not be a place waiting for you." At the time it freaked me out, but then after thinking about it I said, "Alright, that's the way it has to be, some people are born to have a place and just move right into where they're supposed to be and some people have to make a space for themselves."

I've been thinking of what I can do with the skills I've learned in film school in order to support a sustanable growth of living things. In future, I'd like to make a "space" in this world to make that happen and I believe that it's worth of dreaming.

Thanks.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

I don't know how many times I've seen this film. Well, I still cry when I see it. This film reminds me of people who've cried for me and who I've cried for. They are the ones who helped me grow in phisically, mentally, and spiritually. It's nice to remember that because whatever I'm doing now, I wouldn't be able to do it without their supports.
It's almost five years ago but I still remember that my sister was crying on the phone when I called home from Tokyo on the day I left for the U.S. She didn't cry in front of me at the air port but my mother told me that she started crying right after my plane left... There are so many stories like this one, especially after I came to the U.S. Some of them are sweeter than others but they are all great memories, and this film unlocks these memories and brings them back to me with many feelings. I guess that's why I love this film.

Thanks.

2046 (2004)

Directed by Kar Wai Wong

I'm little drunk as I'm writing this note so please bear with my writing. This is the second time that I saw this film and I really liked it this time. It really felt like I was watching a dance piece. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,702196-2,00.html Let me take some lines from this interview that I thought was really interesting.

"If you want to make a film with an actor or actress, there must be something that attracts you. I'm trying to exploit that quality, which they might not even be aware of. So I normally don't ask actresses to play other people. It's just: 'Be you.' [...] They (actors) don't know the whole story, but they know their story. Zhang Ziyi, because she knows she's going to play a ballroom dancer in the '60s, has to be given a lot of homework. I have to give her all of these films from the period, so she can understand the gestures, the actions. And also I give her all the costumes, because she has to get those manners down. Gong Li's character is a gambler, so Li headed down to Macau incognito to watch gamblers at work. She's very serious. She needs to have a lot of preparation. Faye Wong, she doesn't need to do that because we've worked [together] before, and she always tries to make herself very relaxed."

We all wear human bodies as our costume in this life. It's amazing to see how each person moves differently, and how the movements tell you so much about who they are. I filmed AXIS, a mixability dance company, for three week. It was a wonderful experience to be able to see their process. When they stood on stage, I felt like I was witnessing "life" more than a "dance" because the boundary between the living space and stage for them is less than for normal dancers. Anyway, it is essential to have good techniques for any artists but I don't want to surrender to it. I want to talk about "life" and see who the artist is through his or her art work. The AXIS will be coming back to FSU in next Februrary for Seven day of opening night. So, pleaes go and see their performance if you're interested. Thank you.

I hope the sentences make sense... Thanks again.

Shakespeare in love (1998)

Directed by John Madden

The projects that I've been working on really makes me think of how important it is to know the intention that artists put in their works. Of course, it is necessary for an art work to exist its own, but having knowledge of "why" the artist does what he or she does gives me a different perspective of how to see the work.

http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_12.17.98/film/shakes17.html
In this interview, the director talks a little bit about what Shakespeare is meant to him.

"Shakespeare is a very big deal indeed to me -- I've taught him, I've acted in his plays -- and I think we do him a great disservice by keeping him restricted to the rare air of classrooms and 'real' theatres. In his own time he wrote brilliantly and effortlessly for the entire social spectrum, and we need to reclaim that, to let movie audiences, now one of the largest audiences around, experience first-hand the intoxication of his language, the depth and accuracy of his characterization. [...] Contrary to popular opinion, Shakespeare is neither earnest nor boring. And neither -- if I've done my job -- is this film."

I'll end this note with a few quotes from Romen and Juliet. Thanks.

- "Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow"

- "My only love sprung from my only hate; too early unknown and known too late."

Singin' in the rain (1952)

Directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly

I just finished filmming a residency with AXIS. Hopefully, I'll have more time to watch films next week... I found an interview with Stanley Donen on NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1150720 In this interview, the director talks about the transition between a normal dialogue to a singing part and explains the techniques that he used in order to make the transition smooth. So, please check it out when you have time. Thanks.

Leben der Anderen, Das (Eng: Lives of Others) (2006)

Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

This film grabbed my heart. It's still showing at Miracle 5. Please go and watch it if you're still in Tallahassee.

For this one, I'm going to put the lists of interviews. They are all excellent interviews.

http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=3826
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=160117
http://cineuropa.org/ffocusinterview.aspx?lang=en&documentID=69041&treeID=1288
http://www.greencine.com/central/node/48?page=0%2C1
http://www.indiewire.com/people/2007/02/people_florian.html

He hasn't announced his next film yet. I'll be very happy if he directs the last Harry Potter film... Thanks.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Directed by Mike Newell

I've made it. The film was good. I haven't read the book yet but I felt the film was a summary of what happens in 760 page book. There were parts that I needed to try to fill the gap between each scene in order to feel the sense of characters. However, I have no idea how to narrow 760 page book into a 2 hour film. Fortunately, I found an interview that the director talks about the process of how he managed to make it into one film.

"And so they(Warner Bros.) said to me, if you can see a way in which your conviction, your storytelling convictions can survive the impact of 760 pages then it's worth us having a conversation, but if you can't see a way of cutting the material down to single film length - then you've just got to be straight with us and we'll move on.
So I read it and what I saw - this was the big, big come-on for me - was that I could see that there was, to my eye, an absolutely classical thriller at the base of this which was like North by Northwest. It has a hero, Cary Grant - or Harry Potter who at the beginning of the story knows absolutely nothing except some weird stuff begins to happen...But of course the audience knows that James Mason is behind all this - or Ralph Fiennes. Then the progress of the film is a matter of the hero finding out just how bad a jam he is in, and only just managing to avoid it. [...] I said, I can only make this if you will agree that what we're making is a thriller and we will ruthlessly take out stuff that doesn't go to that, to that way of telling the story."
(http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/goblet1.php)

Maybe I should watch it again now... One thing I noticed as a difference between previous directors and him by going through the interviews is that I didn't find Mike Newell talking about J.K. Rowling. (Let me know if you find a source that he talks about her because I'd like to read it.) Thanks.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón

The film (Harry Potter) was wonderful.
I saw "Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth)" a few days ago. The violence in the film was disturbing. In his interview for Harry Potter, Chris Columbus talks about the importance of drawing a line between being scary and being disturbing. He thinks that people like to be scared but not to be disturbed. It was great to see what he meant by the interview by watching Pan's Labyrinth.

Anyway, going back to Alfonso Cuarón. The film was great, and his interview was good. http://www.horror.com/php/article-473-1.html I recommend you to read it when you have time. In the interview, he talks about the usage of "close-up." Now you see why I enjoyed the interview.

"Unfortunately the close-ups in contemporary Hollywood cinema they lost their strengths as close-ups. Now the cinema, most of cinema is a cinema of close-ups. And it becomes such a generic grammar, I’m talking in terms of grammar, you know film grammar. I’ve been more into trying to observe from a more of a distance a character with their surroundings and allow, pretty much, allow that openness to convey as much as possible. But it has not to do with close-ups but the rhythm of cuts, most of contemporary cinema is one cut after each half-a-second. Here, I’m very curious to see how much can you hold visual information. [...] In Harry Potter we don’t have that many close-ups, you go and point to a close-up when it’s relevant to go there or in most of the cases you are going to have a close-up it’s because the camera is going very wide eventually finds that close-up. But it’s not only about close-ups, it’s about what we call coverage. Most of cinema nowadays, it’s about shooting a lot and then figuring it out in the cutting room rather than seeing your film in the head and just seeing what is in your head and not shoot but what you have already envisioned."

I hope this interview excites you as much as it did to me. Thanks.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Directed by Chris Columbus

Amazing. I thought it would be very helpful for me to see all four Harry Potter films at one time. However, I gave up when I finished the second one which was also directed by Chris Columbus. I was fascinated with the characters and the world in the film and how he managed to create the environment.

"When I sat down with Jo (J.K. Rowling), we immediately clicked. [...] And I just explained to her what I wanted to do. I told her what my vision was for the movie, how I saw it, how I wanted to cast it. [...] my desire was to remain faithful to the story, the characters and the integrity of those characters. After about 45 minutes she said, 'Yea, that's exactly the same type of movie I want to make.' It was a great meeting because I realized that I had found a solid collaborator. And it was important because she knows this world better than anyone else."

This is about the same topic but from different interview.

"The key was really the intensive work with Jo Rowling. [...] she was just so open in terms of information. ... I think for every novel she’s written, she has another novel’s worth of information about the characters and their past, all this great information for me, for the actors, for the production designers. So, keeping her involved was key to me, just to keep the books alive. ... [Screenwriter] Steve Kloves, David Heyman ... and myself are really [such] truly obsessive fans about the book that we wanted to protect it for the fans. We wanted all the people who love the books to feel like they were experiencing [the book] ... as much as you can give [that to] them in a film."

He's also directed "home alone" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" (I didn't know that...), and this actually fascinated me a lot because I remember watching these movies when I was kid.

"It's always about the search for a family or the redefining of who your family is [...] I guess it's the fact that sometimes you play on your biggest fear. My biggest fear in my life would be to lose my family. So I've always been drawn to that theme. I mean, it's odd. I never really talked or thought about it much, but if you look at the films I've done, particularly the films I'm really most happy with, and even the films that weren't that successful, I think there is a thematic link. Most of them are about someone potentially losing their family."

I hope I can finish the rest of H.P. by this weekend.

Lola rennt/ Run Lola Run (Eng) (1998)

Directed by Tom Tykwer

Wow. Good one. Please read this interview> http://www.projecta.net/tykwer.htm I think it is pretty good and I highly recommend it. In this interview, the director talks about time in film.

"I believe that time itself can be ruled in films generally. You can just do everything you like. You can stretch time. Usually what film does is to tell a whole life in ninety minutes, or one week in ninety minutes. Events that take a much longer time you squeeze into ninety minutes.
So I thought it would be interesting, especially in Lola, to stretch time out and tell twenty minutes in one and a half hours and see what happens then. You stretch it out and suddenly you see all these little spaces in between, you can look into small channels in this stretched time period. Which allowed me to follow different lines of the story, to say "What's this person doing by the way?" or "What's happening to that one?". And then you just follow this life for a moment. [...] I really wanted to take this idea to the absolute max. Lola is also very much a film about the possibilities of time manipulations and speed changes in film generally. I think you can't tell a life faster than we did. That's even faster than any Hong Kong film (laughs)."

I think time can be manipulated in any kinds of art form that require editorial process. So, I wonder what can be a unique relationship between time and film. If you have thoughts, let me know. Thanks.

Cold Mountain (2003)

Directed by Anthony Minghella

It's been a while since my last note. I have been pretty busy working on a couple of projects. Anyway, the film was excellent.he also made "The English Patient" which was one of my favorite films for a long time. I read an interview about Cold Mountain. The site is
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_11_33/ai_111114552/pg_6 It was pretty interesting, and I'm going to take a nice story from the interview.

"There was a very interesting thing that happened when I was writing the screenplay for Cold Mountain and exploring the close of the film, which I knew needed to involve nature's cycle of life and death and seeding and growing, but which I couldn't find a way to dramatize. I write in a small house I have in the country, which is surrounded by farmland, and over the Easter holidays I had some American friends staying with me who came in on the morning of Easter Sunday, absolutely horrified because they said that at dawn they'd seen some pagan ritual in the fields in which a farmer had skinned a dead lamb and dressed another lamb in its skin. I said I didn't think they'd be killing lambs in the fields and skinning them, but I went over to the farm and asked what had happened; they told me that one of the lambs had died in the night, and that since they have three or four lambs whose mothers had rejected them, they put the skin of the dead lamb on one of the rejected ones hoping to fool the mother into feeding it. And it did, and the lamb was going to survive. That seemed to be a wonderful paradigm of what the film should be about, really, which is the need for renewal and the joy of survival."

I've been filming Monica, a choreographic fellow for a week. Her piece begins from she and Anna, another dancer stand still on a table. (I uploaded the photos of them a couple of days ago)
Monica was inspired by one of Ron Mueck's works that she saw in Brooklyn museum. (http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ron_mueck/) I asked her why she wanted to imitate the pose of the figure. And, she said, "I wanted to feel what it's like to be her (the old woman) and imagine what she sees and feels." Monica recently lost her last grandmother and feels that she lost the connection to the generation that her grandmother belonged. She thought it would be important for her to make a piece related to "aging" and "death."
I've been watching her process for this piece, and am very curious about where she will go with the subject she has chosen.
It is so amazing to be able to come close to an artist and see what's happening inside her brain and mind. Thanks.

Forrest Gump (1994)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

I think I was still in fifth or sixth grade when I first saw this film. I remember watching the film with my family one night and being proud of renting a film that both of my parents enjoyed watching although I didn't quite understand the meaning of the story at that time. Of course, I pretended that I also liked the film and understood the story... I saw this film a couple more times since then.

When I watched the film this time, I was fascinated with the music. So, I read an interview about Alan Silvestri, a composer of this film. And, in the interview, he talks about what his dream project will be like.

"I've now done ten movies with Bob Zemeckis. One of the things involved in a dream project for me is having a tremendous level of love, support, and trust from the director. I always view the composer as an actor in the film - they need to be directed, they need an environment created around them that allows them to do their creative work. They also need the support. They need all of that in order to go hang it out there. Because like any other performer, if it is threatening, if it is tenuous, they will do what everyone does in that situation, which is play it safe. I think that is a component of the dream project - having that kind of tremendous communication and support from the director.
I think another aspect is to have a director of the capability as someone like Bob who through their artistry can go ahead and create a standard that one feels a calling to measure up to. [...] I always liked working with Bob to being on a relay race, where you're the last guy to go. Here it is - here's Cast Away. Here's Gump. Bob Zemeckis runs his lap, breaks the world record. Tom Hanks runs his lap, breaks the world record. And then they hand you the baton. It's like, "We're done, pal, you gotta take the stick around the course now." You absolutely feel some kind of moral imperative to dig and search for the best you can possibly do. So that is part of the dream project."

He also talks about his approach to films that he works on.

"I've thought about it (what it is to be a film composer) , and I see myself as a filmmaker first, who happens to write music. So what I really love about this is I love working with a story and using music as an instrument to tell the story. [...] I always try to look for what the film needs, and then I do the storytelling aspect that has a musical component through the music. The better the story, the better it is told, the more of a dream project it is for me on that level."

I've recently been thinking about a collaboration in art. Music & moving visual images. What a great way to collaborate. Thanks.

Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

I wonder what I would've felt if I saw this film when I was younger...
I enjoyed watching a character Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) in the film. So, I read an interview about Jude Law. In the interview, he talks about how he prepared for his role.

"I kept saying, "This is really hard to prepare for--what should I be reading? What should I be doing?" [...] I kept calling him (Steven Spielberg), saying, "What am I meant to be thinking about?" and he kept saying, "Stick to the movement, think of the movement." I had to teach my body to think about every move. While studying dance, I became obsessed with Bob Fosse and films like All That Jazz [1979] and Cabaret [1972]. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire; they were kind of my study points. [...] When you step back and watch people, you realize that we use every single body part. Movement, dance--I find it genius because it's ultimate expression, really."

I've been filming Yanira, a visiting choreographer at FSU, and one of the things she's done is to take a scene from "Elephant" (directed by Gus Van Sant) and put it into her piece. She and her dancers watched the scene and learned the movements. Movements such as crying, walking, and comforting. It was fascinating to watch it because I never saw a film as media to study human movements although that's something I spent time on for my projects. I remember telling actors, "it feels natural" or "it looks right to me" based on how they moved, walked, or stood. I'm curious about what I'll find if I pay more attention to movements in a film. Thanks.

Blade Runner (1982)

Directed by Ridley Scott

What a fine film! It was so incredible to feel the world from this film. I had a similar feeling that I get from watching "good" Japanese Animations. I used to watch a lot of Japanese animation and comics. I spent a few hours reading comics and magazines at convinence stores three or four times a week. Good times. Maybe, I should go back and read more comics when I go home next time.

Anyway, I read some of his interviews and found a couple of fun and meaningful stuff.

First interview is
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/825641.stm
In this site, he talks about whether Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a replicant or not. It's fun article to read if you don't know the answer yet.

The second interview is
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_2_31/ai_69757507/pg_1
This one covers more broad topics. There's a part that he talks about genre.
"what you come to realize is that nothing matters more than characters and story. Creating a "genre" world, whether it's a sci-fi or period epic, is relatively easy once you've got that figured that out."

Then, interviewer asks him how to create the world.

"it's dressing, but dressing I love to do, because I'm good at it. I sit there and think about what life would be like for a Roman general in 175 A.D. What's it like to be standing in a coliseum, about to confront 5,000 people who think you're a barbarian? Once you've really felt it, you can start to melt it down into textures and smells--and a lot of dirt! Then you mix the dirt with the emotion."

I wonder what he felt from the life of the replicants when he made the film. What do you think? Thanks.

Barton Fink (1991)

Directed by Joel Coen

There was a scene where Barton sits by the sea when a pelican dives into the frame and drops into the water in front of him. It was very nice. It would be very different with or without it. I read an interview about "Bartn Fink." In the interview, Joel Coen talks about birds.

"We have an uncanny ability to make birds do what we want them to do. In Blood Simple there's a shot from the bumper of a car and it's going up this road and a huge flock of birds takes off at the perfect moment and crosses (the car's trajectory). And then a second later, their shadows sweep across the road."

A happy accident makes a film something more than we intended. And, we say, "yeah, it was intentional." Hahaha. Thanks.

Paul Taylor Dance Company!

It was the first time for me to see Paul Taylor's dance piece, and it was amazing. I couldn't fall asleep until 2 or 3 AM because my brain was so stimulated by the visual images of the dance piece, and I couldn't stop thinking of the random ideas coming up to my mind. Here is the list of the pieces from last night performance.

DANTE VARIATIONS

SUNSET

PROMETHEAN FIRE

It was so beautiful. Gorgeous. I'm so graetful that I saw it. Thanks.

Big Fish (2003)

Directed by Tim Burton

It was very fun movie to watch! I don't know why, but for some reason, one scene toward the end reminded me of Fellini. I don't know why. Anyway, I became curious about him and read some of his interviews. I found some words that I really liked, and here it goes.

"The place and the mood and the feel of it is very important, it's treated as another character in the piece and it's very nice when you're able to look at an image and goes inside as opposed to just thinking about it. Those are the films that stay with me."

Cool...

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

It was an amazing film, but what did I watch? I don't know... He made the film in 1968...

The Departed (2006)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Ummmm....... I've been thinking about this film since last night....

Chicago (2002)

Directed by Rob Marshall
This is the second time I've seen this film. Before watching this film again this time, I saw Chicago, a play and read the screenplay. The film was amazing, and I have no idea how this director pulled the idea from the play. So, I looked up his name online and found his interview on Memoirs of Geisha. (He also directed this film, amazing visual images again!) This is the website that you can read the interview. www.darkhorizons.com/news0

5/geisha1.php I hope you'll enjoy.

P.S. He talks about "Singin' in the rain" in the interview, and it's one of my favorite.

Braveheart (1995)

Directed by Mel Gibson
Last night, Shane and Ben were going to watch the Braveheart at film school when I got there. They didn't know I also picked the same title for that night. It was hilarious. We were gonna watch the same film from all the films... Anyway, the film was great. The story line was amazingly simple, but it worked. It works so well that makes me wonder. The characters were so simplified, either good or bad, love or hate, live or die,..... But, it doesn't matter because the film was emotionally engaging whether I liked it or not... Controling the audiences' emotion throughout the film might be the key becaues that's what this film did so succesfully...

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Directed by Ang Lee
This is the second time watching this film. This time, I read the screenplay beforehand. The screenplay of this film was amazing. I think it was the first time for me to be moved by reading a screenplay.
Two things that I want to write down for me to remember about this film. Fiirst, the music. I thought the music was a great marriage to this picture. The composer's name is Gustavo Santaolalla. He has also worked on Amores perros & Babel. (From IMDB) I haven't seen them yet, but I heard they are good.
Second, the gorgeous sceneries. A number of sheep, the mountain, the snow, the rain... It's not common to be able to "feel" the wind and its smell through the images in film. It was wonderful.

Prestige (2006)

Directed by Christopher Nolan.
I wonder if I can use the story struction of this kind of film for a documentary. It'll be great to learn how much information will need to be shown in which point of the story in order to mislead the audiences. Then, when to reveal the truth to have the most impact in the story and how? I don't know...

Miller's Crossing (1990)

I saw Miller's Crossing, Coen brothers film, last night. It's amazing how they create their own unique world in the film. I was fascinated by the music, characters, and the rhythm of the film. Their films always make me feel that I'm watching a film, and I think that's very important.