My Favorite Songs from music released in 2010
1. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - Arcade Fire
2. known(1) - Autechre
3. What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way) - Wolf Parade
4. Rope & Summit - Junip
5. Anyone's Ghost - The National
6. Madder Red - Yeasayer
7. Airbrushed - Anamanaguchi
8. Ásinn - Amiina
9. Nobody's Perfect - Wolf Parade
10. Window - PVT
07 April 2011
06 April 2011
Full Metal Jacket
Dir. Stanley Kubrick
1987
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Opening with multiple future-marine grunt's heads being sheared, Kubrick establishes his theme of de-humanization by the military machine. Over and over again in the film the individual is de-emphasized and punished. At the end, when all innocence has been lost (symbolically represented by the pre-pubescent girl sniper) all the marines march together, shadows against flame. They whistle the mickey-mouse club theme in unison. Personality burned away until they are perfect copies of one-another.
1987
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Opening with multiple future-marine grunt's heads being sheared, Kubrick establishes his theme of de-humanization by the military machine. Over and over again in the film the individual is de-emphasized and punished. At the end, when all innocence has been lost (symbolically represented by the pre-pubescent girl sniper) all the marines march together, shadows against flame. They whistle the mickey-mouse club theme in unison. Personality burned away until they are perfect copies of one-another.
05 April 2011
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Dir. Werner Herzog
2009
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Water has both a destructive and redemptive quality in Herzog's universe. McDonagh is symbolically baptized at the beginning of the film as he jumps into the water to save a forgotten prisoner. But this is not a baptism of purity; he jumps into the filthy, snake-ridden flood water of the Hurricane Katrina calamity. We watch as McDonagh sinks lower and lower throughout the film. In one of the first post-prologue sequences he chastises a fellow officer for using rough interrogation techniques on an informant. Several days later McDonagh himself deprives an old woman of her oxygen tank to get the information he wants. He sinks deeper and deeper. During the last act, as things miraculously fall into place for him, we are forced to question the veracity of the film. Are these coincidental events real? Are they simply the product of his drug-addled mind? No clue is given in the last shot, but we are reminded both of how far McDonagh has sunk and of his cleansing baptism in the muddy water.
2009
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Water has both a destructive and redemptive quality in Herzog's universe. McDonagh is symbolically baptized at the beginning of the film as he jumps into the water to save a forgotten prisoner. But this is not a baptism of purity; he jumps into the filthy, snake-ridden flood water of the Hurricane Katrina calamity. We watch as McDonagh sinks lower and lower throughout the film. In one of the first post-prologue sequences he chastises a fellow officer for using rough interrogation techniques on an informant. Several days later McDonagh himself deprives an old woman of her oxygen tank to get the information he wants. He sinks deeper and deeper. During the last act, as things miraculously fall into place for him, we are forced to question the veracity of the film. Are these coincidental events real? Are they simply the product of his drug-addled mind? No clue is given in the last shot, but we are reminded both of how far McDonagh has sunk and of his cleansing baptism in the muddy water.
04 April 2011
Stalker
Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
1979
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
In honor of Andrei Tarkovsky's birthday; he would have been 79 today. Images from my favorite of his films.
1979
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
In honor of Andrei Tarkovsky's birthday; he would have been 79 today. Images from my favorite of his films.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)