Here's the trailer for the forthcoming Lars Von Trier film, Melancholia, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst. Somehow this looks impossibly even more beautiful than Antichrist.
Showing posts with label Lars Von Trier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lars Von Trier. Show all posts
Friday, April 8, 2011
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Mirror Images
I love when films collide. You always wonder if it is just chance, or rather great minds thinking alike. Sometimes it is the image, but other times it is the feeling or theme that unites two seemingly different films. What got me thinking about this was a comparison I read about certain scenes of Lars Von Trier's Antichrist and the films of Tarkovsky (who that film was dedicated to).
Most of the images below share a visual, but also something more. For example, the shots of Ingrid Bergman and Ebru Ceylan are not all that similar upon first glance- yet the reason I included both were because their characters are both surrounded by historic ruins (Pompeii and Ishakpasa) while they were dealing with their own crumbling relationships. This idea was also echoed in Wong Kar-Wai's brilliant In The Mood For Love during the final scenes at Angkor Wat.
The images of Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall and Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullman are hauntingly similar, even more so when you realize that both films deal with two women becoming one (or three, depending on how you look at it).
Jules Et Jim and Bande À Part. I don't like to repeat things on this blog, but in this case, how could I not? Total freedom and endless youth. It doesn't get any better than this.
The stills from La Dolce Vita and Lost In Translation are remarkable because of what we can't hear or understand: the disconnect, the unfinished, and the fact that both endings make you wonder how they really end.
I could keep analyzing these all day. If you've seen the films of the first two images below (Ordet & Stellet Licht), the similarities should be pretty obvious. If you haven't, I don't want to ruin what is one of the most remarkable sisterhoods in all of cinema.
Ordet Vs. Stellet Licht
Francesco, Guillare Di Dio Vs. Ordet
Jungfrukällan Vs. Offret
Viaggio In Italia Vs. Iklimler
3 Women Vs. Persona
Offret Vs. Das Weisse Band
Jules Et Jim Vs. Bande À Part
La Dolce Vita Vs. Lost In Translation
Most of the images below share a visual, but also something more. For example, the shots of Ingrid Bergman and Ebru Ceylan are not all that similar upon first glance- yet the reason I included both were because their characters are both surrounded by historic ruins (Pompeii and Ishakpasa) while they were dealing with their own crumbling relationships. This idea was also echoed in Wong Kar-Wai's brilliant In The Mood For Love during the final scenes at Angkor Wat.
The images of Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall and Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullman are hauntingly similar, even more so when you realize that both films deal with two women becoming one (or three, depending on how you look at it).
Jules Et Jim and Bande À Part. I don't like to repeat things on this blog, but in this case, how could I not? Total freedom and endless youth. It doesn't get any better than this.
The stills from La Dolce Vita and Lost In Translation are remarkable because of what we can't hear or understand: the disconnect, the unfinished, and the fact that both endings make you wonder how they really end.
I could keep analyzing these all day. If you've seen the films of the first two images below (Ordet & Stellet Licht), the similarities should be pretty obvious. If you haven't, I don't want to ruin what is one of the most remarkable sisterhoods in all of cinema.
Sources From Top To Bottom:
Ordet Vs. Stellet Licht
Francesco, Guillare Di Dio Vs. Ordet
Jungfrukällan Vs. Offret
Viaggio In Italia Vs. Iklimler
3 Women Vs. Persona
Offret Vs. Das Weisse Band
Jules Et Jim Vs. Bande À Part
La Dolce Vita Vs. Lost In Translation
Monday, June 14, 2010
Once In A Lifetime
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
The other day I was catching up on Roger Ebert's always entertaining blog, when I came across something that I've been thinking about ever since. In the first of his Cannes updates, he wrote, "Fifty years ago, the Palme d'Or winner at Cannes was Fellini's La Dolce Vita. More every year I realize that it was the film of my lifetime."
There is something so haunting about these two sentences to me. But also something so dramatic, so stately, and so poetic. Aside from the way in which he said it, let's think for a minute about what he said. The film of my lifetime. This is what I have been thinking about off and on (a/k/a nonstop) ever since I read it.
What is the film of my lifetime? What is the film of yours?
I still don't have the answer. Maybe because there are many I haven't seen or because they haven't been made yet. Or maybe because I tend to change my mind so much about things like this (but who doesn't?). Or maybe because a lot of the films I would immediately want to list are not from my lifetime. I would want to say Last Year At Marienbad for its endless and inexplicable mysteries. Or A Time To Live And A Time To Die for being entirely flawless and showing us what life is really like. Or Fanny And Alexander because it is that one film that you want to jump straight through the screen and live inside of. Or One From The Heart (this blog's namesake), for its impossibly gigantic and unmatched neon sense of magic, romance, and big dreams. Or Red Desert for its sad factories, overt modernity, and industrial beauty. Or Ordet because there is nothing more pure in all of cinema.
But my lifetime?
There are certainly a handful of films that come to mind that excited me or changed me or made me forget about everything else. The more I think about it, I'm pretty sure Roger was not referring to his favorite film or even what he considers the greatest. I think what he means are those films that come along and leave their mark on you, that stay with you for hours, days, months.. even years after seeing them. Films on such a grand scale that do nothing short of take your breath away, make you forget who you are, or where you came from. Those that change everything: erasing the past, obscuring the present, and igniting the future. With that being said, here are ten that come to mind.. from my lifetime.
ANTICHRIST, dir. Lars Von Trier, 2009
สัตว์ประหลาด (TROPICAL MALADY), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002
WERCKMEISTER HARMÓNIÁK, dir. Béla Tarr, 2000
ÜÇ MAYMUN, dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008
SHIRIN, dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 2008
YI YI: A ONE AND A TWO, dir. Edward Yang, 2000
LOST IN TRANSLATION, dir. Sofia Coppola, 2003
STELLET LICHT, dir. Carlos Reygadas, 2007
طعم گيلاس (TASTE OF CHERRY), dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1997
花樣年華 (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), dir. Wong Kar-Wai, 2000
The other day I was catching up on Roger Ebert's always entertaining blog, when I came across something that I've been thinking about ever since. In the first of his Cannes updates, he wrote, "Fifty years ago, the Palme d'Or winner at Cannes was Fellini's La Dolce Vita. More every year I realize that it was the film of my lifetime."
There is something so haunting about these two sentences to me. But also something so dramatic, so stately, and so poetic. Aside from the way in which he said it, let's think for a minute about what he said. The film of my lifetime. This is what I have been thinking about off and on (a/k/a nonstop) ever since I read it.
What is the film of my lifetime? What is the film of yours?
I still don't have the answer. Maybe because there are many I haven't seen or because they haven't been made yet. Or maybe because I tend to change my mind so much about things like this (but who doesn't?). Or maybe because a lot of the films I would immediately want to list are not from my lifetime. I would want to say Last Year At Marienbad for its endless and inexplicable mysteries. Or A Time To Live And A Time To Die for being entirely flawless and showing us what life is really like. Or Fanny And Alexander because it is that one film that you want to jump straight through the screen and live inside of. Or One From The Heart (this blog's namesake), for its impossibly gigantic and unmatched neon sense of magic, romance, and big dreams. Or Red Desert for its sad factories, overt modernity, and industrial beauty. Or Ordet because there is nothing more pure in all of cinema.
But my lifetime?
There are certainly a handful of films that come to mind that excited me or changed me or made me forget about everything else. The more I think about it, I'm pretty sure Roger was not referring to his favorite film or even what he considers the greatest. I think what he means are those films that come along and leave their mark on you, that stay with you for hours, days, months.. even years after seeing them. Films on such a grand scale that do nothing short of take your breath away, make you forget who you are, or where you came from. Those that change everything: erasing the past, obscuring the present, and igniting the future. With that being said, here are ten that come to mind.. from my lifetime.
ANTICHRIST, dir. Lars Von Trier, 2009
สัตว์ประหลาด (TROPICAL MALADY), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002
WERCKMEISTER HARMÓNIÁK, dir. Béla Tarr, 2000
ÜÇ MAYMUN, dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008
SHIRIN, dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 2008
YI YI: A ONE AND A TWO, dir. Edward Yang, 2000
LOST IN TRANSLATION, dir. Sofia Coppola, 2003
STELLET LICHT, dir. Carlos Reygadas, 2007
طعم گيلاس (TASTE OF CHERRY), dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1997
花樣年華 (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), dir. Wong Kar-Wai, 2000
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Goodbye MMIX
GOODBYE MMIX
1. ANTICHRIST - What else is there to say? The most intense movie since Saló and the most beautifully personal thing I've ever seen. This is movie-making as it's meant to be: fantastical, transportative, haunting, poetic, unnerving, and unlike anything real life has to offer.
2. IRM - Better than I could have even hoped.. I still play 5:55 all the time, but this is the sound of freedom and loving who you are and what you've been given, all done in a way that only Charlotte can.
3. ISABELLE HUPPERT, PRESIDENT OF THE JURY - I fell so hard for this woman this year, its not even funny. As President of the Jury at Cannes this year she was so regal, so elegant, and truly has the presence of no other. Easily the best actress we've ever had. Simply devastating.
4. SECRETARY OF THE STATE HILLARY CLINTON - Of course she's doing a great job like we all knew she would. This is a woman made of stone, an inspiration beyond compare: tireless, selfless, and determined. I still hang on her every word and melt every time I see her on the news or in the paper in some faraway place just doing her thing.
5. BAND OF OUTSIDERS - The obsession carried over from last year.. The overdyed oxfords still take my breath away.
6. BELLA SWAN - This was in many ways the year of Twilight for me. A little late, but I finally caught on. New Moon anticipation was crazy, and it was so worth the wait. The books are lovely; Bella and Edward are truly one of the all-time great love stories.
7. LIMA, PERU - Coastal, foggy, colorful, restorative, and so far away..
8. NIGHTY NIGHT - Julia Davis as Jill Tyrell is my favorite character in the history of all characters.
9. BON IVER - His song from Twilight and my trip back to WI were what finally sealed the deal for me on this guy. Lately he sings me to sleep.. there really are no better songwriters around today.
10. VIVIANNE'S MIDDLE EAST FOOD - For giving me something to look forward to every Thursday and still making the best meal I've ever had.
