Paris Je t'aime

...And I love them both, the city and the surprising creation of 18 shortfilms in two hours film. The directors of the film made a awsome job, some of them are quite famous, like Cohen brothers, Alexander Payne, etc. 

Since for the week-end I am leaving my beloved city of Girona and going to Paris once again I wanted to share this movie with you or just remind that it exists. It's always nice to watch it again. The combination of the stories is creative, you don't have time to get bored and of course the incredible streets and cafes of the city of love, you can't miss it!!! 

"Manhattan" by Woody Allen

Manhattan is a 1979 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen about a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl before eventually falling in love with his best friend's mistress. The film opens with a montage of images of Manhattan accompanied by George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

The famous bridge shot was done at 5 am. The bridge had two sets of necklace lights on a timer controlled by the city. When the sun comes up, the bridge lights go off. Willis made arrangements with the city to leave the lights on and he would let them know when they got the shot. Afterwards, they could be turned off. As they started to shoot the scene, one string of bridge lights went out and Allen was forced to use that take.

According to Allen, the idea for Manhattan originated from his love of George Gershwin's music. He was listening to one of the composer's albums of overtures and thought, "this would be a beautiful thing to make ... a movie in black and white ... a romantic movie". Allen has said that Manhattan was "like a mixture of what I was trying to do with Annie Hall and Interiors. He also said that his film deals with the problem of people trying to live a decent existence in an essentially junk-obsessed contemporary culture without selling out, admitting that he himself could conceive of giving away all of "his possessions to charity and living in much more modest circumstances", continuing, "I've rationalized my way out of it so far, but I could conceive of doing it".

Melancholia by Lars von Trier

Lars Von Trier is back with his new film, officially premiered in Cannes 2011.

Described as "A beautiful movie about the end of the world", MELANCHOLIA tells the story of two sisters (Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg), who find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Trier's initial inspiration for the film came from a depressive episode he suffered and the insight that depressives remain calm in stressful situations. The film is a Danish production with international co-producers in Sweden, France, Germany and Italy. Filming took place in Sweden.

Sukhdev Sandhu wrote from Cannes in The Daily Telegraph that the film "at times comes close to being a tragi-comic opera about the end of the world", and that "The apocalypse, when it comes, is so beautifully rendered that the film cements the quality of fairy tale that its palatial setting suggests."

Al Pacino "Scarface"

Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana. A contemporary remake of Howard Hawks' original 1932 film of the same name, the film tells the story of Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who comes to Miami in 1980 as a result of the Mariel Boatlift, and becomes a drug cartel kingpin during the cocaine boom of the 1980s. The movie chronicles his rise to the top of Miami's cocaine empire.

The film is dedicated to Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht, the director and principal screenwriter of the original 1932 film, respectively.

The initial critical response to Scarface was mixed, with the film receiving criticism for its violence and graphic language. The film was widely criticized by the Cuban community in Miami, who objected to various aspects of the film, and the fact Cubans in it were compared with criminals and drug traffickers.

The film has since gathered a cult following and has become an important cultural icon (particularly in the hip hop community), inspiring posters, clothing, and many other references. The film's grainy black and white poster is a popular decoration and is still in production; as a result of its popularity it has been parodied many times.

Julianne Moore in Savage Grace

Savage Grace is a 2007 film directed by Tom Kalin and written by Howard Rodman, based on the book Savage Grace by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson. The story is based on the dysfunctional, allegedly incestuous relationship between heiress and socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland and her son, Antony. Julianne Moore makes an incredible interpretation. She is distant and close to us at the same time, and she transmits her lonelyness and sadness and at the same time keep us wondering about who is she in reality.

Barbara Baekeland's former lover, Sam Green, wrote an article pointing out events in the film that did not match reality. Referring in particular to the scene of Barbara, her son Antony, and Sam having a ménage à trois, he wrote, "it is true that almost 40 years ago I did have an affair with Barbara, but I certainly never slept with her son, and nor did she, to the best of my knowledge. Nor am I bisexual... She started telling people she had had an incestuous relationship with her son as a way of 'curing' him of homosexuality ... But I don't believe she had sex with Tony. I think she simply enjoyed shocking people."

It was an official selection at the 2007 London Film Festival, the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

This Must Be the Place and more Sean Penn

This Must Be the Place is a 2011 drama film directed by Paolo Sorrentino. The film was an Italian majority production with co-producers in France and Ireland. Principal photography began in August 2010. Filming took place in Ireland, Italy, as well as the states of Michigan, New Mexico and New York. The film played in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

The Tree of Life is a 2011 American drama with experimental elements written and directed by Terrence Malick. After decades in development and missed 2009 and 2010 release dates, the film premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews for its technical and artistic merits, but there were also polarizing reactions in response to Malick's directorial style and, in particular, the film's fragmented non-linear narrative.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a 2004 American film, directed by Niells Mueller. It is based on the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Richard Nixon in 1974. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

And those are only some films where Sean Penn makes spending two hours of our day time on watching a movie just amazing.

Netsurfing (.)(.)

Today I found some interesting webs and I want to share them with you, some photography, design, etc. They are pretty cool, so I think you will like them too!

http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/home/

http://www.neromagazine.it/n/

http://yatzer.com/

http://www.parkandcube.com/

Love and kisses, everybody need it, come on it's MONDAY! :)

Saturday/Sunday

In one of Murakami's books it says something like: "...we don't choose our destiny, the destiny choose us". I want to believe that it's not true, that we can always change our life like we want to, it is just the matter of the efford. Why am I the way I am today, what are my memories and who would I be without them, how much my life would change if only one day in my life would be different? Would something be different if I wouldn't meet X but Y instead. Sometimes I think about if I would like to delite some "files" from my brain like if it would be my pc, I wish I could erase some memories, but we can't. The film "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" talks about our mind and our memories, about how would it be if we could erase them. 

Biking with MacKenzie

Those are part of my memories of the last year that I spend in Germany, this memories are so surrealistic now and seem so far away. Tonight I saw four different films at the same time, just changing the channel. "Lions for Lambs" of Robert Redford, "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" of Peter Greenaway, "Delicatessen" of  Jean Pierre Jeunet. My choice is "Delicatessen" and it's great black humour, also fans of Amelie and Mr.Jeunet will like this smart and funny film. If after this one you still want to watch another movie, my second choice would be "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover" in the same surrealistic line that my mood tonight. The film directed by Redford is not bad, but not good either.

Pina Bausch von Wim Wenders

This film was presented at the Berlinale 2011 Festival.  "Pina"is a perfect combination of dance, theater and cinema. It is scened dance and a staged movie, strange and explosive combination that makes your sences work at maximum. I am a big fan of expressing feelings without words and I think nowadays words are overrated. For me this audiovisual production is the best as a combination of movement and sound because it makes you feel the whole 1h39min; it makes you sad and happy, it makes you lonely or in love, but you don't have even a second to be bored. I can't say what I love more than Dance, Theater and Cinema; only the three of them together. And to make a film putting theater and dance inside is hard. It is difficult to accomplish without making the final result a parody, a musical or something in between. But this production is serious, notorious and human performance, where everything is in perfect harmony. If somebody doesn't know who is Pina Bausch it's better if you check it in wikipedia cause I will not have space enough to explain everything about her brilliant career and personality :)

Find some time to enjoy it! 

One day

Today is the hispanity day so since I live in Spain there's no classes and no work for me today. I wanted to watch some easy movie to occupy my day with something that don't let your brain think about serious issues. So I opened my laptop and chose "One day" a film directed by Lone Scherfig, with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. I wouldn't expect that it will be a touching film. I would like to recommend it even knowing that the film critics don't have a good opinion of this film. At the end of the film I remembered that I started the book on which the film is based but i didn't like the book and I only red 20 pages. I should tell you that I watched the film twice, maybe because it reminded me how many times we forget about the only important thing in this life: the people we love and who love us. 


Have a nice evening, hopefully in a nice company!

Welcome cinema and art friends!

Good evening,

Tonight I will introduce myself and the contents I would like to present in this space. I am very interested in visual art; mostly in cinema but also in photography and painting. I will try to recommend you good films, cinema directors, photography curiosities and art expositions my dear fellows.

In this first post I will start with Yasujirō Ozu 小津安二郎 ' a famous japanese film director. For those who never heard about him I would say that he's a classic in cinema world. His movies have a special oriental touch and he shows the intimicy of japanese way of life and family structure. I think a good monday movie would be "Tokyo Story".

Hope you will enjoy it and looking forward for your comments! 

Black Fingers