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.