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| 'Shelf Life' 2006 |
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| 'Prosperity & Decay' 2006 |
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| 'Wasted Youth' 2006 |
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| 'Last Days of the Sun' 2007 |
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| 'The Last Chord' 2006 |
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Domestic Vanitas.
James Hopkins Vanitas series, 2006-2008
Friday, 15 November 2013
Kurosawa + Corruption
The Bad Sleep Well, Akira Kurosawa 1960
Ran, Akira Kurosawa 1985
I had a bit of an Asian Cinema Week a little while back as I chewed through the delightful An Autumn Afternoon and the two Red Cliff films. To top off the week I ended with a double Kurosawa bill - The Bad Sleep Well, and his 80s epic Ran.
Although rather different films stylistically, thematically both films investigate greed, corruption and revenge amongst family and business.
The Bad Sleep Well is a suit-and-tie film noir which focuses on the corruption in Japan's post-war corporate society; with Ran highlighting greed, power and revenge in 16th century Japan in a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear.
The opening scene of TBSW's wedding reception (below) is so exquisitely designed and choreographed, Kurosawa capturing the room's scale, dimensions, and large cast of characters effectively on screen.
The (limited) narrative divulged in this opening scene is told informatively through the media in attendance at the wedding reception.
Toshiro Mifune is a stalwart in Kurosawa films with a varied range of character types, never ceasing to fully and effectively embody his characters on screen. He does a stellar job in TBSW to convey the suppressed anger which bubbles beneath, and eventually comes to, the character's surface.
As the film progresses, the audiences knows very little about the major plot, and it's only towards the end that Kurosawa reveals his cards and divulges the intentions and history of the main characters.
The Bad Sleep Well, like Kurosawa's High and Low from 1963, is a captivating suit-and-tie thriller which highlights the corruption of the modern corporate world.
Ran is an epic, what can I say.
The film features several really well-crafted battle scenes, and the characters are all filled with such raw emotion. A standout performance is Mieko Harada as the devious Lady Kaede, her embodiment of this blood-thirsty character is bewildering.
Ran, Akira Kurosawa 1985
I had a bit of an Asian Cinema Week a little while back as I chewed through the delightful An Autumn Afternoon and the two Red Cliff films. To top off the week I ended with a double Kurosawa bill - The Bad Sleep Well, and his 80s epic Ran.
Although rather different films stylistically, thematically both films investigate greed, corruption and revenge amongst family and business.
The Bad Sleep Well is a suit-and-tie film noir which focuses on the corruption in Japan's post-war corporate society; with Ran highlighting greed, power and revenge in 16th century Japan in a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear.
The opening scene of TBSW's wedding reception (below) is so exquisitely designed and choreographed, Kurosawa capturing the room's scale, dimensions, and large cast of characters effectively on screen.
The (limited) narrative divulged in this opening scene is told informatively through the media in attendance at the wedding reception.
Toshiro Mifune is a stalwart in Kurosawa films with a varied range of character types, never ceasing to fully and effectively embody his characters on screen. He does a stellar job in TBSW to convey the suppressed anger which bubbles beneath, and eventually comes to, the character's surface.
As the film progresses, the audiences knows very little about the major plot, and it's only towards the end that Kurosawa reveals his cards and divulges the intentions and history of the main characters.
The Bad Sleep Well, like Kurosawa's High and Low from 1963, is a captivating suit-and-tie thriller which highlights the corruption of the modern corporate world.
Ran is an epic, what can I say.
The film features several really well-crafted battle scenes, and the characters are all filled with such raw emotion. A standout performance is Mieko Harada as the devious Lady Kaede, her embodiment of this blood-thirsty character is bewildering.
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| Check out that facial hair |
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| Don't mess with Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada) |
"The themes of Ran are the evil of humanity, the deadly heritage of warfare, and madness. But in showing all this horror, Kurosawa leaves us one great consolation: the beauty of the art with which he reveals it all." - Michael Wilmington
Friday, 8 November 2013
Brief Encounters of the Loving Kind
Brief Encounter, David Lean 1945
David Lean's Brief Encounter is a powerful film about fidelity, desire, guilt, and hopeless love.
A woman and a man (Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard) have a chance meeting at a train station and gradually fall in love, despite both being happily married with children. Brief Encounter charts the short duration of this intense, passionate, yet restrained love affair.
A definite standout for the film is Celia Johnson's performance, possessing the ability to reveal so much emotion in her eyes. She remarkably portrays the torrid emotions experienced during a loving yet tumultuous relationship which ultimately ends in heartache.
Set primarily on train platforms and in station diners, Lean follows the doomed lovers as they meet on their weekly town outings. Yet these sites of transition are not just a mere setting, their presence used to convey the internal transformation that each character goes through over the course of their affair.
Brief Encounter is a very moving, powerful film that expertly conveys the hypnotic hopefulness of new love, through to the depth and despair of heartache.
Fortunately, throughout November and December the 2013 British Film Festival is featuring special event screenings of the top 5 BFI films, including Brief Encounter, at Palace Cinemas across Australia. A unique chance to witness David Lean's masterpiece on the big screen.
David Lean's Brief Encounter is a powerful film about fidelity, desire, guilt, and hopeless love.
A woman and a man (Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard) have a chance meeting at a train station and gradually fall in love, despite both being happily married with children. Brief Encounter charts the short duration of this intense, passionate, yet restrained love affair.
Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard were paired very effectively, and although the plot covers deeply moving material, the script contains comical moments, particularly from the minor characters.
Brief Encounter is a very moving, powerful film that expertly conveys the hypnotic hopefulness of new love, through to the depth and despair of heartache.
Fortunately, throughout November and December the 2013 British Film Festival is featuring special event screenings of the top 5 BFI films, including Brief Encounter, at Palace Cinemas across Australia. A unique chance to witness David Lean's masterpiece on the big screen.
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