Must See >> The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Speaking of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (see two posts down), if you haven't seen it, you really must.  It's so incredibly beautiful and moving.  It was directed by Julian Schnabel, who once said that with his art, he's "aiming for an emotional state, a state that people can literally walk into and be engulfed."  This film certainly had that effect on me.

I like that the trailer doesn't give too much away, so I won't either.  I think it better allows you to be completely absorbed into the "emotional state" Schnabel describes.  

And as a film with a heavy emphasis on story-telling (narration by the main character is a large component), I liked that I was lead into the narrative without any preconceptions.  Remember how when you watched the Princess Bride when you were little, you hated when they would break the story and go back to the grandfather and grandson at bedtime, because you were so into the story? This film evoked that same feeling of total immersion into a story.

It also won best director at Cannes, was nominated for four Oscars, and appeared on over twenty top-10 lists of 2007.  So if the little heart-strings argument above didn't get you, I hope the critical acclaim will...

PS-- Don't give up if at the beginning you think it's super slow.  It picks up.

Must See >> Martin Scorsese for Bleu de Chanel

What happens when you give Scorsese only 1 minute to tell a story?

It comes out just like a Scorsese-- a man trying to find himself, flashing camera bulbs and shutter sounds, an opening sequence pulled from another point in the story's timeline, Rolling Stones, etc. The only thing missing is violence, but you wouldn't necessarily want that in a cologne ad.  Pretty fantastic little film.

Speaking of short films, have you noticed the trend of fashion houses hiring big name directors to shoot "short films" rather than "commercials" these days?  I like it!  I'd much rather watch a little short than a traditional ad!

The GANT film wasn't a big name director, but it did definitely have this short film feel.  If you missed it, catch it here.

PS - I'm mad for the painted patterned floors at 0:30.  Aren't they amazing??

Revisiting >> Fantastic Mr. Fox

Finally saw Fantastic Mr. Fox!  And it did not disappoint.  Think of the brilliance and detail of Wes Anderson's directing style mixed with the wit and nostalgia of Roald Dahl's writing, plus the charm of stop-motion animation, and you can imagine what a wonderful film this results in.

So anyway, now that I've seen it, I went back and watched these making-of videos again.  The one at top I've already posted once, but I think it's worth watching again.  I'm just amazed at the detail and intricacy of how all the sets, props, and characters were created, shot, and animated.

There's no way you can watch these and not want to see the film.

Does this convince you Wes Anderson is a genius or what?

Stop-motion animation!  Amazing!  24 stills for every second of film!  Also, they way they recorded the voices is pretty impressive... usually for animation work, actors just sit in a studio and read the lines... not for a Wes Anderson film!

They photographed every piece of furniture in Dahl's house and created a miniature of it!

Ok now I want to watch it all over again.

Must See >> Sophia Coppola's new movie

Looks like she's done it again, and I can already tell the soundtrack is going to be awesome.  

I love this woman.

Soy Cuba - "I am Cuba" - 1964

I just discovered the film Soy Cuba, from 1964...  I'm sure any film buff already knows of it, but for me it was such a treasure to find!

The film has a really interesting history.  It was filmed in 1964, after the Cuban Revolution, and the resulting US isolation, when Cuban filmmakers had starting reaching out to Soviet companies to help them produce their films.  It was directed by a Georgian, Mikhail Kalatozov, and attempts to show Cuba at the time from four different perspectives-- luxury, poverty, vagrancy, and revolution. 

At the time of its release, it was rejected both by Cubans and Soviets, for different reasons, and went unknown outside of those countries.  It wasn't until 1995, when a Cuban co-director of the Telluride had it screened, that it was re-discovered. 

It then garnered the interest of both Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, who both realized its incredible cinematographic merit and decided to lend their names to its re-release.  Beyond its plot (which is not its strong suit or even its main focus), and its propagandistic nature, its hard to deny the amazing visual qualities of the film, which have influenced many famous American movies.

(Most directly, the scene above, which goes from a rooftop beauty pageant down to a hotel pool and then underwater in the pool, was used in Boogie Nights, but many other films have borrowed more loosely from Soy Cuba.)

One of the main things the film is noted for is the use of long tracking shots-- which were done with a handheld camera.  In the clips at above, the camera goes up or down entire stories of buildings simply by being handed off from one crew member to another-- no cranes or anything mechanical involved to create these incredibly long takes.  Pretty amazing.

In the shot above, which follows a funeral procession, the camera goes up four stories and then in through the window of a cigar factory and back out again.  The effect of leaving behind the coffin as the focal point and smoothly transitioning into a setting so iconically Cuban is pretty awesome.  Unfortunately the only clip of it I found doesn't have the original music, but it's still pretty amazing visually.

(The scene above isn't that noteworthy, I just really loved the song, and the panning of all the women at the bar.  The second half, with the Russian overdubbing, gets really weird though.)

I was so spellbound by the visuals in this incredible (even if totally biased and/or cliche) look at Cuba, from the very first moments of the clip at top, that I just had to share... check them out when you have a minute to soak it up.  I feel like I just time-traveled back to 1960s Cuba.

Buy the re-release of Soy Cuba / I am Cuba here.