Koyaanisqatsi (Life Out of Balance) - Reaction

An experimental film with no actors and no dialog, only images of man-made constructs and nature, all accompanied by music by Philip Glass. The simple music, slightly new age, sounds mostly synthesized and feels modern for the 80s.

At first, I didn't get the hang of the movie. I started to enjoy it more with the sped-up scenes of nature (e.g., clouds) and the man-made scenes: the series of buildings being detonated, and the sped-up recordings of cars driving, people walking, and items being assembled in a factory.

Most people think the movie is strongly pro-environment ("hippie"). Yet, I didn't get that same reaction. I didn't feel as if the world was out of balance. Indeed, I saw parallels between nature and mankind in the visuals of cloud flow, waves, and traffic when played at the appropriate speed. Likewise, one might think dams, with their dramatic differences from one side to the other, would demonstrate the world's imbalance. Yet, I saw the majesty in them. There's a certain appeal to their size, scope, and design.

I felt only two parts may have had a strong political or economic statement behind them: one was the scenes of rubbish and abandoned buildings; the other was the slow motion street scenes, mostly of sad, alienated people. Those two scenes hit hard on the "what are we doing to the earth" front.

Perhaps my general lack of a negative reaction to the contrasts presented was natural--the director says he didn't have strong intentions about how people should react to the film. I felt this neutrality most clearly in images of the sky reflected in the glass windows of skyscrapers. I couldn't determine what message I was supposed get. The director, in describing the film's agnosticism, said the film is about "awesome beauty, terrible beauty, or the beauty of the beast."

In the ultimate scene, a rocket climbs for the heavens. Then it explodes violently. The pieces descend, flaming, like a fallen angel. Interpret it as you will.

Grand Hotel - Reaction

A slow, black and white movie from 1932 about some events that happen in a hotel. The events are almost like separate stories. It's hard to call the movie boring because the characters and situations are interesting, yet somehow the film didn't hold my interest. There's not much forward movement, and no cohesive plot that you can feel propelling the action.

The movie is framed by someone saying nothing ever happen at the Grand Hotel, a statement neither true nor philosophically insightful.

There's a great prologue ("Nothing Ever Happens") in the special features section of DVD. It's too bad it's not part of the movie itself--it has songs and is cut much faster than the movie. (It kept my interest.)

The Housekeeper - Reaction

[Turkey]

A mildly interesting movie profiling women who serve as housekeepers in various parts of Turkey. The movie was audio interviews with the women overlaid onto images of them living and working. It's sad to see the struggle they've had to overcome, whether deadbeat husbands, abusive husbands, raising kids alone, and medical conditions resulting from repetitive stress. They express various levels of amusement with and resentment toward their employers, whether anger at snobby families who won't proffer an invitation to join them at dinner, or befuddlement at women who leave jewelry and money scattered about, and toward the government, which doesn't supply social security or a pension to housekeepers. Although each woman is unique, I found my attention wandering. Perhaps it's because my mind extracted the (sad) similarities in the stories and I got the idea--I didn't need to hear additional depressing information.

Forsaken Paths - Reaction

[Turkey]

A fairly boring twenty-minute film about how a village in Turkey has changed over time: traditions have been abandoned and the young people have left. Narrated by some of people remaining in the village, and one woman who's moved away and misses it.

Kiki's Delivery Service - Reaction

[Japan]

An adorable, quirky, fun Japanese animated film about a thirteen year old witch trying to find her place in the world. She and her witty cat travel together to an unnamed seaside European city; the movie is her coming of age story as she tries to live on her own and overcome her self-doubts. Like other Miyazaki films, it has no antagonist.

The Great Dictator - Reaction

A satire of Germany ("Tomainia") and Hitler ("Hynkel"). The story of a Jewish barber who returns home to Germany in the late 1930s, but, due to amnesia, doesn't know what has happened since WWI.

As a Chaplin movie (indeed, his first speaking one), it's a mildly entertaining film filled with much old-style humor. Chaplin show his great skill as a body actor. Some memorable scenes:

• running around the battlefield. humorous mistakes that can happen in a battle.
• flying upside down.
• German speech. Chaplin improvises hilarious fake German, tossing in words such as schnitzel, sauerkraut, liverwurst, and even banana. The main scene that does this was my favorite scene in the movie.
• the incredibly brief scenes in which Hynkel runs into another room to pose for a painter and sculptor for ten seconds (during which time they paint and sculpt furiously) before rushing back to work.
• the ballet with a balloon of the world. Memorable simply because it's so odd.
• the coin in the pudding scene. The resistance decided to choose who to give the job of assassinating Hynkel, losing his life in the process, by hiding a coin in pudding. This scene is classic, as each person finds a coin in his pudding and tries to hide it, secretly passing it. Great body acting.
• the shaving scene, in which the barber cuts a man's hair in time to Brahm's Hungarian Dance No. 5. Pretty cool.
• the scene in which the barber attempts to escape Germans while his head is in a bucket. Classic, old-style slapstick humor.
• secretary taking oration. Hynkel makes long speeches; she write one word. Hynkel uses a short word; she types for ages.
  * the barber shop seat height contest, as each dictator tries to get in the higher position, the position of implicit power.

The Great Dictator, made in 1940, was controversial in its time because the U.S. wasn't yet involved in WWII and many people weren't that comfortable criticizing German so heavily. The film's message, as exemplified by the passionate, populist political speech at the end which encourages brotherly love, kindness, and humanity for all people, is classic and timeless. The movie also stands out for another reason--one doesn't see modern movies make such strong political statements.

From the movie, I learned Italy and Germany fought over Austria. I wasn't aware of this event from WWII.

Incidentally, I thought the term storm trooper was coined in Star Wars. Nope. Apparently the term originally applied to Nazi soldiers.

Big Night - Reaction

A not bad, often lethargic movie about two Italian brothers who have one last big night in an attempt to save their restaurant. The movie is about the inspired food and about the characters' relationships. Although the situations are melodramatic, there's little dramatic tension; the film is not tightly paced. I particularly enjoyed the twenty minute segment near the end, in which everyone ate and partied, but that may simply be because the characters' energy and excitement (including regarding the food) was infectious. At the end of movie, I was disappointed that many relationships were left unresolved.

While reading reviews later, I realized in some sense it's about art versus commercialization, old country values versus integration, and more. The film doesn't make much, if any, motion to make a statement about these general themes, instead sticking tightly to its particular setting.