Culture Break: Philip Glass: Koyaanisqatsi, Part I

This is some of my favorite Philip Glass, who is one of my favorite composers (as in about 36 albums stored in my media player). From the description at YouTube:

Koyaanisqatsi, also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance, is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means 'crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living', and the film implies that modern humanity is living in such a way. The film is the first in the Qatsi trilogy of films: it is followed by Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology. Koyaanisqatsi is the best known of the trilogy and is considered a cult film.

I have a dim memory of having seen the film many years ago, but don't ask me for any details. Although now I'm intrigued, and may look up the whole trilogy.

This Week at Green Man Review

It's spring (finally), and there's lots of goodies, as usual:

It’s Spring, Beatrix Potter’s Garden, Time Travel, Candy, Jazz, and more

So off you go, and enjoy!

Review: Harold Zwart: Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

I have to confess, I went to see Mortal Instruments: City of Bones simply because I had seen a big display at my second favorite theater. It opened at my favorite theater (close, cheap), so I went. I liked it well enough that when I ran across the DVD at the right price, I bought it.

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) is having a birthday. To celebrate, she goes out with her best friend, Simon (Robert Sheehan) to a poetry reading. As an antidote, she insists that they stop at a club afterward – because she saw a symbol on its sign that just like the symbol she’s been drawing. Strangely enough, no one else can see it. And somehow, she and Simon don’t really fit in, which becomes fairly obvious when she witnesses a murder that no one else sees – not even Simon. When she comes home one day to discover the apartment she shares with her mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey) a sea of wreckage and said mother missing, she doesn’t quite know what to do, especially when she’s attacked by a pair of thugs and rescued in the nick of time by – the man who committed the murder she witnessed, Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower). From the fact that she can see him, he surmises that she is not a “mundane” – that is, human. She’s a Shadow Hunter, from a long line of Shadow Hunters, and she holds a secret that everyone is after – the whereabouts of a Chalice that enables the Shadow Hunters to survive. The problem is, she has no idea what it is or where it is. And it’s essential that it be found: the Shadow Hunters protect the world from demons, and without Shadow Hunters . . . well, you can guess.

Basically, this is a classic coming of age story – Clary first of all has to learn what she is and what she can do, and then how to do it. Add in werewolves, led by her mother’s sort-of boyfriend, Luke (Aidan Turner), and a mad Shadow Hunter, Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who claims to be not only Clary’s father, but Jace’s, assorted demons, and the Portal, which can transport a Shadow Hunter to anywhere he or she can visualize clearly, and you have the makings of an engaging and action-packed adventure story on top of it.

And it works. I went into this one cold – not only was I not a fan of the books, I wasn’t even aware that they existed – so I was saved from premonitions of another Twilight. I admit, I was not riveted by Collins’ performance on first viewing – flashbacks to Kristen Stewart in Snow White and the Huntsman – but after seeing it a second time, I chalk that up to the meds my doctor has me on. I would have liked a bit more clarity in her growth into her powers, but I suspect the script is more than a little responsible for that – there’s doesn’t seem to be a lot of room for subtext here, which is a shame, because it affects all the characters. Bower is engaging as Jace, but somehow remote, whilte Sheehan is more than appealing as Simon, in good part because he’s really the only one who lets us into his head.

The effects are persuasive, and although the pacing is given to fits and starts, the acting is capable enough to carry it as an action/adventure quasi-horror flick.

And yet, it’s not that strong a film, largely because of that lack of subtext: the story’s engaging, the visuals are sometimes riveting, the characters are sympathetic, but when it was all over, I just said, “Well, that was nice” and went on to the next activity. It doesn’t really have the depth to stick with you.

Rated PG-13, running time 130 minutes.

(Constantin Film, Unique Features, Mister Smith Entertainment, Mr. Smith Productions, 2013)

Review: Tite Kubo, Hideki Tachibana: Bleach Movie 1: Memories of Nobody

Tite Kubo's Bleach, an action-packed supernatural adventure, has been a phenomenally successful manga series (approaching 40 volumes in English) and anime TV series (275 episodes). (The irony here is that when Kubo first offered it to a publisher, it was rejected.) Four feature films have been developed from the series. Memories of Nobody is the first.

The basic situation for the series is that fifteen-year-old Ichigo Kurosaki (his first name means "strawberry," for his red hair) has always been able to see ghosts. This has now made him a target for a kind of wandering spirit known as a "Hollow" -- souls that cannot enter the Soul Society and so wander the earth, feeding off the souls of the newly dead -- and the living. He encounters Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper whose job is to destroy Hollows and to send other souls on their way to the Soul Society. When a Hollow attacks Ichigo's home, Rukia is forced to try to give him some of her power to help fight it off; unfortunately, she winds up giving him all of her power, making him a Substitute Soul Reaper. After they defeat the Hollow, Rukia has to lay low until her power regenerates. But Ichigo is still a Soul Reaper -- and a very powerful one.

Memories of Nobody begins with a strange build-up of spiritual energy. Suddenly, Ichigo and Rukia are beset by "Blanks," souls with no memories. They are hard pressed until the advent of Senna, a Soul Reaper who manages to make short work of the Blanks. The only problem is, the Soul Society has never heard of Senna. And there's a crisis on the rise: the World of the Living and the Soul Society are being drawn together by a strange current generated in the Valley of Screams, which appears when Blanks reach, as it were, a critical mass. There's a plot involved, by a clan that was banished from the Soul Society a thousand years before, and Senna is a central part of it.

Where to start? The story is tight and engaging, with lots of action. The final battle between the Soul Reapers and the Dark Clan is great fun. I especially liked the way the Soul Reapers and their opponents aren't particularly bound by the laws of gravity -- there's something about a mid-air sword fight that's really appealing.

The animation is excellent. It's obvious the crew were able to take the time and care to create a fluent and seamless visual experience. Character designs are also wonderful -- the characterizations are strongly individual and fully realized, and faces and body language are very expressive. Settings and backgrounds are complete without being obtrusive, and beautifully rendered. From the standpoint of creative design, this one is top notch.

Which leads me to the character of Ichigo, on whom the whole story hinges. He's a remarkable young man, a saint with attitude, confrontational, idealistic, and with a streak of compassion a mile wide. Senna, likewise, is a very appealing character, a scatterbrained teenage girl whose memories are not all her own. In fact, the characters as a group are well-rounded personalities, including those Soul Reapers and Ichigo's school friends who make brief appearances. Even the villain, Ganryu, shows signs of humanity. They're all more than cartoons.

And I've got to mention Kon. Kon is a modified soul who takes over Ichigo's body when he is in Soul Reaper mode. (Remember, Soul Reapers are spiritual warriors and don't necessarily have physical bodies.) In between times, he occupies a stuffed bear. He's also one of the main sources of comedy -- he and Ichigo don't get along all that well, and their confrontations are pretty funny.

My one gripe is that this is a two-disc set, and the second disc is completely taken up with "special features," which are mostly storyboards and various trailers. The featurette on the making of the film, though, will be very helpful to those who are not familiar with the series. It contains commentaries by many of those involved in the production, including some of the actors from the English dub, explaining the background. (As always, I watched with Japanese dialogue and English subtitles. I just prefer it that way.) There is also a very helpful booklet that outlines the story and introduces the characters. I just wish they had put the featurette on the same disc as the movie and offered it at half the price.

This is an original story based on the characters and situations in the series. I have the advantage of having at least started the manga series, and I've watched the first few episodes of the TV anime, so I wasn't completely lost. I don't think I'd necessarily recommend coming into it cold, unless you're prepared to take a lot on faith. But you can always watch the featurette and read the booklet to get up to speed. I loved it -- I'll probably revisit it periodically.

(Viz Media, 2006)

Review: Jean Cocteau/Philip Glass: La Belle et la Bête

I first saw Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête many years ago on the big screen and was completely enchanted. And recently a friend loaned me a copy of Philip Glass' opera of the same title, which Glass composed to be performed with the film, and which I enjoyed thoroughly. When I had an opportunity to get a DVD that included both, I pounced. (The joke is that I finally bought a DVD that wasn't in Japanese -- it's in French.)

La Belle et la Bête is Cocteau's adaptation of the fairy tale by Mme. Leprince de Beaumont, about a young woman, Belle, who goes to live with the Beast to save her father, who stumbled onto the Beast's domain on his way home from an unsuccessful trip to salvage his business. Remembering his youngest daughter's only request, he plucks a rose and his fate is sealed: he must die or send his daughter to live with the Beast in his place. (His two older daughters, mercenary monsters both, asked for jewels and brocades.) He returns home and tells his story, and Belle, filled with guilt that her modest request had endangered her father's life, sneaks away on the Beast's enchanted horse.

The film is, to put it quite simply, magical. There's an element of surreality here that, it occurs to me, is basic to fairy tales. The white stallion with his sparkly mane, the doors that magically open, those are pretty standard. The bare arms that serve dinner and that hold candelabra that light themselves, and the sculptured heads that come to life, those are a little out of the ordinary, as is the sort of fuzzy boundary between inside and outside in many of the sets, most particularly Belle's bedroom at the Beast's mansion.

Visually, this one's scrumptious. I've always been fond of black-and-white as a visual medium, and this is just beautiful, with rich shadows, finely detailed highlights, and beautifully modeled grays. It's also full of wonderful tableaux and solo shots that are masterfully composed. This is the restored version released in 2003 by Criterion Collection, and they did a bang-up job: it's clean, smooth, and a joy to look at.

Both Josette Day as Belle and and Jean Marais as the Beast bring the characters to life (although the acting style is, in some places, rather broader than we're used to these days, but it's a fairy tale, after all), and it's Belle's growing acceptance and finally love of the Beast that is the core of the story. It's very well done, subtle and circumspect.

I elected to watch with Philip Glass' opera as the soundtrack, rather than the original with Georges Auric's score (which, on sampling a few bits, has also been beautifully restored). I have to say, the experience is even more magical than I remember the original film. Although the synchronization is not perfect, it's pretty close, and the music itself reflects the fairy tale quality of the story. If you're expecting the Philip Glass of serial minimalism and driving, repetitive phrases that sound like Balinese gamelan, be reassured: this is not that. Yes, the rhythms are there, but not obtrusive, and Glass has tied them to the action of the film. This is Glass from the mid-1990s, much freer and more engaging than the Glass of the mid-1970s.

The set comes with a wealth of features and extras, including a booklet (which I think one must necessarily designate as "lavishly illustrated") with the full film credits, an essay by Cocteau, an excerpt from Francis Steegmuller's biography of Cocteau, the original story, and notes on the restoration. (Strangely enough, the booklet doesn't discuss Glass' opera at all.) The disc itself includes commentaries by Arthur Knight and Sir Christopher Frayling; interviews with Henri Alekan, director of photography, and Hagop Arakelian, the makeup artist; the original trailer and the restoration trailer; a documentary on the restoration, "Screening at the Majestic," the theater where Cocteau viewed the rushes, including reminiscences from Alekan, Marais, and Mila Parely ("Felicie") at the locations used for the film, with narration from Cocteau's diaries. You can view the film either with the original soundtrack or the opera, and depending on your decision, you have the option of the movie subtitles, the opera subtitles, or no subtitles. (It's sort of amazing how much you can pack into one DVD.)

Yes, this is absolutely highly recommended with no reservations whatsoever.

(Criterion Collection, 2003)

This Week at Green Man Review

Something autumnal, a couple of heads-up for Halloween, and just regular good stuff.

Somehow, there's no extended headline this week, so just pop on over and see for yourself what's up.

Review: J. J. Abrams: Star Trek: Into Darkness

The last Star Trek movie I was was, aptly enough, The Wrath of Khan. (I suppose that's a spoiler. Live with it.) Let me say right off the bat that Star Trek: Into Darkness is not that, and Benedict Cumberbatch is not Ricardo Montalban.

One man, John Harrison by name, has declared war on Star Fleet. It goes without saying that "John Harrison" is not his real name, and it turns out that he has, at least in his own mind, good reasons. Who he is and what his reasons are provide the basis of the story, as Capt. James T. Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise start off in pursuit, armed with 72 specially modified torpedoes. Their orders are simple: find him (he happens to be on the Klingon homeworld) and eliminate him. It's not going to be easy to pull this off: the likelihood of open war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation is all too high if they're discovered.

And don't think that possibility hasn't occurred to more than one person.

It's hard to know where to start with this one. I haven't been following the various Star Trek spin-offs on TV, or the films, so I'm just going to take this as a stand-alone, pretty much, except where it butts up against memory. (And yes, I realize this is a sequel, and I have since laid hands on the first one in this series, which I may review at some point.)

Let's start with the bones of the thing. The script is admirable, tight and focused, and the subplots are kept firmly under control. And we have preparation for the revelations (and hoo, boy! are there ever revelations!) and the reversals (plenty of those, too), not blatant, but they're there. One never gets the feeling that the writers reached into their handy-dandy bag of plot twists to keep the story going.

There's a good balance to the mood and tone, enough so that the funny parts are funny, the poignant parts grab at you, and the edge-of-the-seat parts keep you right where they want you.

Which brings us to the cast. Stellar. This is a younger Enterprise crew, and there's less of that "professional cool" I remember from the early TV series and films. Chris Pine's Kirk is not William Shatner's Kirk -- more openly headstrong, more openly rebellious, and equally stubborn, with a heavy dose of idealism. The same goes for Zachary Quinto's Spock -- yes, it's Spock, but not the Spock I remember. Anton Yelchin as Chekhov made quite an impression: he's young, he finds himself thrown into a situation in which he's barely treading water, and it's all there, the insecurity, the determination, the panic, the overriding need to handle it. And I have to mention Benedict Cumberbatch, who is a major reason I wanted to see this one. (I think I'm turning into a groupie.) Spoiler alert, although I don't know that I'm giving anything away here: Cumberbatch's Khan is not Montalban's Khan. Cumberbatch doesn't bother with bluster, and he's really, really scary: he's a portrait of cold purpose fueled by deep anger, driven past the point where questions of honor and fair play might matter.

Director J. J. Abrams has kept this one on course. There are a couple of scenes that could have been tighter, where the momentum falters, but only by a little: the film grabs you and holds you from the earliest scenes, clues are apparent without being blatant, the emotional continuity is coherent and believable. It's a beautifully constructed film, and it's to Abrams' credit that no single element rean away with it.

Random Observations:

I suppose the casting directors took into account the physical resemblances between this cast and the original cast. It's there -- Pine looks more and more like Shatner as the film progresses, Quinto bears an even stronger resemblance to Nimoy (who makes a guest appearance), even to the timbre of the voice, and Karl Urban could actually be a younger DeForest Kelley.

There is an intensely emotional scene between Spock and Kirk that is the culmination of the relationship we've seen throughout the film. I don't know that I'd call it "homoerotic" particularly -- I think that misses the point. It struck me as a comment on the human capacity for love (and remember, Spock is half human), with the conclusion that the boundaries of love are marked mainly by social conventions.

A thought on Star Trek: Those who follow science fiction have generally thrown up their hands at its various translations to film and television. Those adaptations often wound up being formulaic, trite, and not very imaginative, and all too often missed the most important thing: science fiction has always been a literature of ideas, of explorations starting with the question "What if. . . ?" Gene Roddenberry managed the substance, posing sometimes difficult questions in the context of space opera, not usually considered the most profound of sub-genres. It works.

(Paramount Picture, Skydance, Bad Robot, 2013) PG-13, 2 hr. 12 min.

What's New At Green Man Review

Yes, we're still here, and there's a new edition today:

John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Imagine film, Mint juleps, First chapter of an Emma Bull novel, Leonard Bernstein, Aretha Franklin, Peter Beagle on chocolate and other end of summer matters

Leonard Bernstein was born a hundred years ago yesterday, and, if I remember correctly, today is Aretha Freanklin's funeral.

Click through to see what all this is like in real life.

This Week at Green Man Review

Interesting stuff, and it's not Turkish. (Not that there's anything wrong with being Turkish, but enough is enough.)

Weezer’s rendition of Toto’s ‘Africa’, two by Jane Lindskold, Anthony Bourdain, Alastair Reynolds’ The Prefect, an impressive TBR pile, WF organic dark chocolate, Skara Brae’s only album, Folkmanis’ American Kestrel puppet and other matters

There's more.

Weezer does a pretty good cover of "Africa"; that's one of those songs that for some reason always gets to me. (Yes, of course I have the Toto album in my libary. What did you expect?)

At any rate, check it out.

What's New at Green Man Review

Yep, it's Sunday again, and there are goodies a Green Man Review, as always:

Disposable fountain pens, Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu, two chocolate goodies, Space Opera and other matters

Lots of Space Opera. Very good Space Opera. So check it out.

It's Earth Day

No, I don't have anything special planned for today, but then for me, just about any day is Earth Day. However, I ran across this essay by Dennis Hartley at Hullabaloo, the lead-in to his weekly film column, this time about "eco-flicks". He starts by discussing the iconic "Earthrise" photo taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Maj. William A. Anders:

He then goes on to note Trump's war on planet Earth:

Yes, that is a “pretty place down there.” Be a shame if anything happened to it:

The Trump administration’s tumultuous first year has brought a flurry of changes—both realized and anticipated—to U.S. environmental policy. Many of the actions roll back Obama-era policies that aimed to curb climate change and limit environmental pollution, while others threaten to limit federal funding for science and the environment.

It’s a lot to keep track of, so National Geographic will be maintaining an abbreviated timeline of the Trump administration’s environmental actions and policy changes, as well as reactions to them. We will update this article periodically as news develops.

Needless to say, many “updates” follow that intro (the most recent one is from April 6, and there will be more to come). Bookmark the link, if you dare (sick bag on standby).

I'm not going to go into detail on that, except to note that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been busy gutting every regulation that might help to make the planet livable -- when he's not flying off to Morocco first-class to lobby the Moroccan government on natural gas (and since when was that part of the EPA's portfoio?).

And do check out his film recommendations -- they look pretty interesting.

It's Sunday Again

And that means new reviews at Green Man Review:

The Cultured Cook, Frouds, Joseph Campbell, Complaint Choirs, Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, Vivaldi’s ‘Spring’ from The Four Seasons and other matters

You absolutely must read the Joseph Campbell review -- it's the result of much sweat and (almost) tears. And of course, the other stuff is interesting, too.

What's New at Green Man Review

Lots and lots of goodies this week. Just a sample:

Willow Wilson’s Cairo, Chinese magic, a first from the Archives, Frigg’s Frost on Fiddles, gamelan complete with dancer, and Other Matters

Lots of books this week, and the "other matters" are really worth checking out. So do it.

This Week at Green Man Review

Another week, and more goodies for you. Lots of goodies, in fact:

’De Herinacio: On the hedgehog’, Don’t Talk About It by Australian expat Ruby Boot, live Irish Music from De Dannan & Skara Brae, Hobos, Mary-Sues, Live from Here replaces Prairie Home Companion and other matters. . . .

May other matters -- like chocolate! Scoot on over and take a look.

Bummer

The Oscar nominations are out, and although Call Me By Your Name made the list for Best Picture and Best Actor (Chalamet certainly deserves it), I was really expecting Armie Hammer to get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In my opinion (and it's not an opinion founded in ignorance -- I've been an actor, I know what's involved) he deserved a nomination, at least. He really gave a subtle, elliptical and compelling performance -- the kind of performance that leaves you wanting to know more about this person.

Full disclosure: I haven't seen any of the other films, but from all reports, Call Me By Your Name is facing stiff competition. Given the way the politics of the Academy seem to run, I'm expecting it to be shut out -- a "gay" film, Moonlight, won last year.

The full list is at Variety.

Christmas Eve at Green Man Review

You didn't think we'd skip this one, did you? Just to show you what's in store:

Vonnie attends The Revels, Chocolate (of course), A “Must-See” Movie, A Klezmer Nutcracker for Chanukah, Kage at Christmas, A Crow Girls Christmas, Winter Music by the Horslips, A Kinrowan Estate Tradition, Iceland’s Yule Lads and other matters

And as you might have guessed, the "must see" movie is Call Me By Your Name. (I think I've finally finished revising it.)

Click on over for the full treat.

Call Me By Your Name

After many trials and tribulations (well, OK, two trials and maybe one tribulation) I finally managed to see it this afternoon. It had the same effect as Brokeback Mountain, but for entirely different reasons.

I think I've gotten too accustomed to action/adventure superhero movies -- I'm used to "film as comic book" rather than "film as art form." Because this film is definitely a work of art, and of a very high caliber.

Random thoughts, in no particular order:

Armie Hammer wears the role of Oliver so naturally that you forget he's an actor. That's as it should be, but I, being the hardened veteran of viewing for review that I am, had really forgotten what it's like to see an actor doing what actors are supposed to be doing: making me believe he's that character on the screen.

It's Timothée Chalamet's film. Elio, the seventeen-year-old who falls in love with Oliver, is the focus, and Chalamet delivers -- he's alternately self-assured, awkward, angry, and very much in love in the way only a teenager can be.

It's a poem. So much happens in between and around the words and the action that there's no other way to describe it. It builds a kind of resonance that doesn't really hit home until the final scene, which runs into the closing titles, and is nothing more than Elio's face as he's staring into the fire. Wham.

It's a beautifully, subtly constructed film. The magic is in the details on this one (well, give or take the truly stellar performances), and director Luca Guadagnino put it together in the only way it could work.

It didn't really hit me until I was on my way home, and all of a sudden I was sitting on the bus thinking "Holy shit!" And I can tell I really, really liked it because I'm totally hyper right now.

I'll be seeing it again, and I suspect that the minute it's out on DVD, it will enter my collection.

Go see it.

Coming Attractions: Avengers: Infinity War

Looks like Thanos finally makes his move:

Apparently Captain America's beard is getting the major buzz. It also looks like there are all sorts of new characters from Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther.

In theaters, we are told, May 4, 2018.

Coming Attractions: Love, Simon

Due out in March:

New gay film Love, Simon has released its first trailer – and it promises a rollercoaster of emotions.

The young adult dramedy, which is set to come out in March next year, tracks Simon, a 17-year-old high school student who has not come out to any of his friends and family.

Based on Becky Albertalli’s book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, the blockbuster will see Simon – played by US actor Nick Robinson – come of age as he comes out.

Some of the reactions:

There are more at the link.

And the trailer is very well done -- one of the few that doesn't turn me off to the film.



Sunday at Green Man Review

To offer a break from Trump's latest Twitter melt-down, there are reviews at Green Man Review, and guess what: It's all about Halloween, one way or another. So click on through and enjoy.