Monday, January 26, 2009

Komposition in blau, Oskar Fishchinger, 1935



This is an abstract film in which every motion is in strict synchronization with music, so the description must be read in terms of the overall impression it gives.

Balance - Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein



The setting is on a floating platform where a group of evenly and carefully placed men live. Each man is aware that the platform is not stable and in order not to fall to their deaths, they maintain a careful balance of weight to prevent the platform from tipping too far and cause them all to fall. This reasonably harmonious understanding is lost when one man pulls up a heavy trunk. In the ensuing struggle, balance is lost in more than one sense.
Won the 1989 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Wade Davis: Cultures at the far edge of the world



In response to some of the topics discussed in the previous Herzog post.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Uzak (2002)




http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5923048813949842511

Mahmut, a 40 year old independent photographer, is a "village boy made good" at least professionally in the big city - Istanbul in this case. After his wife leaves him, he falls into an existential crisis. Then comes his cousin Yusuf, who left his native village after a local factory closed down, effectively unemploying over half the local men. He looks to Istanbul for salvation: a job on board a ship sailing abroad, at once exciting and crucial to supporting his family in the desperately poor village. The distance between the two men is apparent at once, and becomes increasingly pronounced. Whereas Mahmut is adusted to big city life and suffers from many of its neuroses, Yusuf is a lonely, excentric country worker with annoying nervous and hygienic habits, and a sick mother back home he must somehow support. This intimate drama was filmed in the director's apartment in Istanbul, using all his furniture, appliances, rooms, car and so on as the film's props. The actor playing Yusuf is actually the director's real-life cousin, and the actor playing Mahmut is an actual friend, a non-professional actor.

Director:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Megamix by Spudd



http://nowisthatmusick.blogspot.com/

Spudd lays down the law.

Werner Herzog - Encounters at the End of the World (2007)



Werner Herzog takes his camera to Antarctica where we meet the odd men and women who have dedicated their lives to furthering the cause of science in treacherous conditions. A scientist studies neutrinos, which are everywhere, yet elusive; he likens them to spirits. A researcher's nighttime performance art includes contorting her body into a luggage bag. A survival guide teaches his students to survive white-out conditions by wearing cartoon-face buckets over their heads. Animal researchers milk mother seals as part of their study. Volcanologists offer advice on what to do when a volcano erupts. A pipefitter shows us the anomaly in his hands that he says are a sign he descended from Atzec royalty. A former Colorado banker drives what he has christened Ivan the Terra Bus. An underwater diver shows his colleagues DVDs of apocalyptic sci-fi films like Them! (1954). And -- though Herzog declares he's not "making another film about penguins" -- we meet a penguin researcher who answers the filmmaker's questions about homosexuality and insanity in his subjects. We also meet an individualist penguin, who breaks away from the other birds to run toward the mountains, facing certain death

Sunday, January 18, 2009

GZA, RZA and Bill Murray - Coffee & Cigarettes



Bill Murray, RZA and GZA from Wutang Clan talk it out in a cafe

Tom Waits & Iggy Pop - Coffee and Cigarettes



A great scene from Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes".

Occupations - Lars Von Trier



Coming to you directly from Mr.Trier's disturbed mind! Lars Von Trier's Short film for Cannes 2007's "Chacun Son Cinéma".