Saturday 6 February 2016

The Big Short, Mia madre and the state of movies in general.

I don't need to do a  review of The Big Short you've already read them, its a fine movie. And that is exactly my issue, its a fine movie, nothing more. Amusing, yes,but Oscar worthy ? NO. The actors seam to be having fun good for them so are we, but all I honestly see is Ryan Gosling in a wig. As someone who was very young when the economical crash happened it helped me visualise it, so I learnt something. But I kind of felt like they were trying to hard to be the "clever movie", not to debauch because that would be too similar to the Wolf of Wall Street, but  instead the "clever" movie. If this is nominated for best picture well then that is just ... depressing. I know the Oscar has never been a serious award ceremony, more like a self congratulating party, but at least last year we had Boyhood ( which unfairly lost to the pretentious and meaningless Birdman). Boyhood felt like a proper movie, The Big Short more like a TV movie. I honestly don't think that movies are dying, I just think that there are too many, and most of them are terrible, so we have the impression that there aren't any good left. They're just harder to find.
If you want to see a great movie which I honestly believe to be a master piece, watch Mia Madre by Nanni Moretti . If there was one last movie to watch it would be this one, because it is about the death of cinema. One can either watch the movie as a emotional drama about two sibling letting go of their mother or that the mother is cinema itself. Watching the movie while knowing about the allegory is like watching it  with a new pair of eyes. I honestly see it as the conclusion of the Dolce Vita, after the Americanisation of Italy, Europe, here is the result...Watch it and really pay attention to the little details that make watching a film so much more worth while ( Why can't we see Rome properly ? What does the american represent as an actor and the role he is playing ? ) Oh and last thing if you love food, Japan and Crying the watch Sweet Red Bean Paste by Naomi Kawase, just a heartbreaking movie that will also make you hungry.


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A room of one's own ... While reading Virginia Woolf's essay I realised that I was lucky to be able to write freely and that I was not taking advantage of it...So that is what I am going to do ... Write. And I mustn't be ashamed or worry  if the writing is any good because I honestly doubt that any one will ever read this blog. I am just expressing myself because I can.

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Quick note: This is actually quite good,even though I was not that impressed by The waves . Her prose is astounding,no one can deny that, but I was never emotionally engaged with the characters, I never believed that they could be real. However  A room of one's own is much more fluid, I feel as though I am listening to her talk, as thought I were in her head. She has also persuaded me to read more Jane Austen, who's work I had always enjoyed but had never given much thought.