We watched the film „Mr. Popper's Penguins" (2011) at Multikino in Riga Plaza on the very second day after its Riga premiere - thanks, of course, to the main characters: six gentoo penguins. Mr. Popper unknowingly repeats his parents' pattern, separating from his wife and two children whom he now only sees once a week. But this penguin episode brings the family back together and makes them understand and re-examine their value hierarchy, in which both a successful career and family are measured, as well as each person's selfishness and ability to step back from it.
I was moved by Emilio Estevez's feature film "The Way" (2010), which I watched yesterday - based on the story of a man who has lost his son and walks the Camino de Santiago in his place, from France to the north-western Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, where the relics of St. James rest. The Camino de Santiago is more than 800 km long, to be covered on foot, and it is each person's individual journey of discovery, forgiveness or dedication.
When the news of this remarkable woman and actress's passing made its way around the world's media, it seems no one needed to be told who she had been. Her legend grew alongside the Hollywood film tradition - cat on a hot tin roof, Cleopatra, cowgirl, reveller, and so much more. Here are a few insights from life from Elizabeth Taylor's collection.
Pizzica is an appealing, highly rhythmic, and "catchy" Italian music and dance. I first heard pizzica in the art film Ne Te Retourne Pas (2009), starring two wonderful actresses Monica Bellucci and Sophie Marceau, when the heroine Jeanne, trying to remember her past and find herself, entered an Italian home where a celebration was taking place. Initially the dance was like a flirtation between an unknown man and woman, later transforming into a dance of rivalry between two women. Looking it up online and reading descriptions of the dance, it turns out this short film fragment captured the essence of the dance very well.
It turns out that the American Indians were the first to use popcorn - maize kernels popped by heat - as food. Later this "craze" spread throughout America and made its way to Europe. Since 1912 popcorn has been sold in cinemas and is nowadays an inseparable part of them. Given that popcorn is a grain, it would be a healthy food - much like breakfast cereals - if it weren't salted or artificially sweetened. There is salty, there is sweet, and there is popcorn in a beautifully decorated cone. So let's talk about the last one.
While watching the film "Amaya," one's feelings can be loosely divided into three parts: at first an extraordinarily realistic portrayal of the environment and human relationships, an outlining of the plot and characters; then the subtle, almost imperceptible yet symbolic details characteristic of Eastern culture - rain outside the window reflected in Amaya's face like ceaseless tears, the ticking of a clock that dispassionately counts the moments of a human life, wind chimes set in motion this time by a fan rather than the free mountain wind, and so on; and finally a poignant sense of doom, sadness, satisfaction, pain and love.
A film for connoisseurs, in which an extraordinarily successful combination of visual and sonic imagery is revealed. It draws you in not through any particularly gripping plot, but through music, rhythms and the depiction of subtle feelings. The story exists outside of place and outside of time. This house and these people could be anywhere where they were fated to draw closer and sense a kindred spirit.
Horror films - a genre that thoroughly tickles the nerve endings. At times you want to close your eyes or crawl under the blanket, but then a moment later your gaze is nailed to the television screen again. A paradox - you're scared, but you want to keep watching. So where lies the "salt" of horror films? Why do we enjoy watching them?
I noticed this film during the White Night and the day before yesterday found it online to watch carefully from opening to closing credits. The film fascinated me and made me think - why do people need spoken language, if everything can be expressed through facial expression, gesture, a glance, sound, music and dance? The body does not lie even when the spoken words are pure pretence.
She revealed herself to me as a woman who made her mutilated body an icon and her pain into art. This explains the many self-portraits, most of which were made lying in bed, where she imagined herself torn apart, with her insides laid open, overgrown with grass and vines.
.jpg?w=690&mode=16x9|crop)
