+/-

09/29/2008

Positive:
1. My college essay writing process for St.Edward's is going well. I wrote a hunk of my paper in 15 or so minutes and it's not half bad or cheesy.
2. I've been applying for jobs at all of the local movie rental places. Hopefully one will call me back for an interview soon. *knock on wood

Negative:
1. Passive aggressive text messages? I will admit to having sent them when angry but man, are they annoying. Never again.
2. I did not get to watch Tokyo Story today like I had planned. I was distracted.

4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days

1980's era Romania had the lowest living standards in the entire Eastern Bloc. For a lack of a better word, it was a shithole. My father was a student in Bulgaria in the 80's. In '85 (two years before the setting of this film) he took a train to Berlin, it passed through Romania. As it stopped, the locals noting that it was an international train climbed aboard and began begging for food, cigarettes. Every passenger on the train was warned that they were somewhere dangerous. As I watch 4 Months that scenario is with me. I can't help but parallel what I see to Bulgarian society. The bathrooms, the living quarters, I've seen them before. It's so familiar, it's eerie. It's as if this is all happening in the neighborhood where I grew up.

The plots follows roommates Otilia and Gabita as they navigate to get an abortion for Gabita. Since aborting the fetus could lead to charges of manslaughter and 5-10 in jail. The leads have to go through a sketchy deal to hire a repulsive man to do the operation. The character of Mr. Bebe is so real. He's negative and rude and pessimistic. Wouldn't you be the same way if you were in this shithole? The actress who plays Otilia gives a great performance and makes the sense of urgency palpable. This film is difficult. It's still. It's cramped. It's suffocating. It's urgent. And mostly, brilliant. A standard for real time flicks and a story being told through dialogue. It doesn't rely on any flashy effects, the camera hardly moves.

During the final scene, the two leads eat a meal and the camera is close enough to capture them both. They are trapped in a secret together and you, the viewer, are too.

milk at st. anna

I just caught the trailer for Milk. Oooh, it looks so promising, just these two minutes make it clear that Sean Penn is fabulous as the openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk. Filmspotting did their 5 most anticipated movies for fall '08 recently, and from their choices, Milk is my numero uno. Great cast (James Franco, Sean Penn, Diego Luna and Josh Brolin) + fabulous director (Gus van Sant) = Success!



+ Joseph Gorden-Levitt is stellar
- I don't care much for war movies
+ I've been impressed with earlier Spike Lee offerings (25th Hour, Crooklyn)
- Mixed reviews/no particularly striking acceptance in said reviews

Meh, pros and cons even out. I'm not opposed, I'll check this out.

watchmen

A copy of Alan Moore's Wathcmen arrived in the mail today. The back cover's bent slightly, no big, it's still readable.



The trailer for the movie adaptation looks promising. However, I have no idea about what to expect, my knowledge of Watchmen is comparable to my knowledge of rare spider species. Maybe the next few days will change that.