Reviews

It's hard to encapsulate what Memories of Murder stands for as a movie, but I would say it's a sorrowful, but human experience, portraying various emotional stages throughout a harsh story which we, the audience, are going to live with the protagonists.

Cinematographically mesmerizing, it makes the most out of the scenery of everyday life on rural South Korea. Rain, solitude, quietness, the vastness of the grassland, the depth of a tunnel, all tainted by sepia colored lenses.

In this film Bong Joon-ho proves that he not only is an incredible storyteller, but also master in composition and camera movement. One of the finest examples is the scene where a new body is discovered. Here, the director unfolds the situation with a long take through the grassland, taking us on a trip in the disaster that Detective Park Doo-Man is going through as reporters get into the murder scene, a tractor erases a footprint, police officials falling as they try to get to the place, etc.

One of the biggest achievements resides in its pacing, achieving a subtle and brief change of moods, the film takes its risks with the ludicrous methods of Detective Cho Yong-koo without making the viewer think that some particular scene is out of place. The chase scene inevitably comes to my head as another prove of Bong Joon-ho ability with the camera, as he doesn't abuse any resource, he sneaks it by switching between quick cuts and long takes.

Bong's films are always impregnated with a political background that includes class struggle, heavy bureaucracy, corruption & civil guard brutality. The Host, Mother, Snowpiercer, Okja are clear examples of this and Memories of Murder isn't an exception. South Korean police force is depicted as an inefficient and arrogant law enforcement political arm that isn't capable of accepting the case is beyond their capabilities and these feelings of discomfort and anger caused by the police's negligence are exacerbated by the political scenario South Korea was experiencing.

My final word on this masterpiece is the tunnel scene. It makes the film's final transition from what began as a crime thriller to an exasperating psychological and sorrowful cinematic experience as we grow fond with our desperate protagonist, in what seems to be his last try to see through the eyes of the number one suspect, which ends in a frustrated attempt to solve the case. This takes us to the ending of Memories of Murder, which I will say is one of the most powerful ever seen on film... as detective Park Doo-Man looks straight into the camera, breaking the fourth wall and sorrowfully starring at the audience, looking one last time for those indistinct murderous eyes within the average crowd.

10/10.

The Tree of Life presents an impressionist story of an American Midwestern family in the 1950s, which follows the vital course of the eldest son, Jack O'Brien by his formative growing-up period with his parents, and his two younger brothers, R.L. and Steve through the innocence of childhood until the disappointment of his mature years, in his attempt to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself lost in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning faith.

It is a rumination of life itself in the visage of human existence. A filmic discourse through the origin the universe, the birth and grow of life on Earth, in which an eternal flash-forward of the couple's grown-up son infiltrates surreptitiously in a visual and spiritual epic deeply compromised to resonate with pertinent questions full of intricate profundity.

The film is presented into two differentiated parts, the first one begins with journey through the cosmos, where Malick proposes a tour full of opulent images and admirable beauty. It is an introductory part to what comes next, a way to take us and prepare for the history of the family itself, which is already the second part of the film, and in which we can already notice a clear symbolism of what is relevant.

Malick's unconventional storytelling, poetic conception of the story and permanent use of hand held camera breeds special intimacy featured on past contemplative works like The Thin Red Line. As ambitious as it seems, the film succeeds to reach the viewers most profound sensibilities with powerful and etherial imagery of existence.

The Tree of Life is a remarkable and honest experience that subtly asks a lost soul of the modern world for the meaning of life. It's possibly one the best movies ever made, if not the best, as Terrence Malick proves to possess the key of a room few other directors have opened before, the key to the true nature of film.

10/10

Ghost in the Shell tells the story of Major Kusanagi, a member of Sector 9, a private defense organization of the Japanese government to investigate cybercrime. Most of all members of sector 9 have altered their bodies, and have cybernetic augments. Our protagonist has only his physical human brain, the rest of his body is synthetic, what could be considered an android. Other comrades like Batou have cybernetic eyes, with multiple uses, while almost everyone has intracranial radio implants to be able to speak without using a microphone.

The post-Third World War society that presents us with the world of Ghost in the Shell, combined with the use of this cybernetic improvement technology of the body for all of society, generates a new vision of humanity. These improvements range from simple implants, entire limbs or improvements to productivity. As for example extendable and quick fingers for the secretariat or stronger arms for weight jobs. These improvements generate the concept that human consciousness is "bottled" and refers to it as the "ghost", the spectrum.

The story itself narrates the investigation of a cyber pirate, called the puppeteer, who is wreaking havoc on section 9 and the government, assaulting the bodies and memories of the people. Without going too far into the spoilers, Major Kusanagi, in her quest to know who she is, develops an intellectual fascination for him.

This is the starting point for the reflections that the film proposes later, especially those focused on what defines humanity. Where the barrier between the synthetic, the virtual and the real diffuses. Everything that makes you be you may not be yours.

Kusanagi spends the whole film wondering who she is and, in the end, reborn between angel feathers and symbols of resurrection. We find nihilistic metaphors in the motif of the reflections, where Kusanagi tries to glimpse what the real world is and who she is. The film's own presentation is replete with these symbols. Kusanagi emerging from the water and merging with his reflection. This symbology reflects our inability to perceive what is real. Oshii gets the viewer to interpret the abstract as a possible world that appears as real to our eyes, the world we inhabit. As the puppet master explains to Kusanagi that only she can see him through a crystal, but with his fusion She will be able to see clearly. The crystal and the water, the reflections, are poetic expressions of the idea "we can not know what is real". They are visual symbols of the epistemological nihilism that appears continuously throughout the film...

Ghost in the Shell has left an indelible mark on our cultural history, planting the seed of many ideas in different creators. Perhaps the most important and well-known is Lana and Lilly Wachowski's Matrix, the number lines in green when entering the system, the puppet master can be compared with Agent Smith, with his existentialist reflections, aesthetics and especially the fact of that our minds can be part of a world made entirely of data and consequently stop feeling the "reality" that we supposedly perceive.

It is truly a feature film that is a visual marvel, but the best way to enter into symbiosis with Ghost in the Shell is to watch the film and be predisposed to our mind merging with the delightful images and transport us to another reality.

10/10.

Blade Runner describes a future in which, through genetics, artificial humans are manufactured and called "replicants"; employees in dangerous jobs and slaves in the outer colonies of the Earth. Made by Tyrell Corporation under the motto "more humans than humans" -especially the "Nexus-6" models- not only resembles humans, they are far superior physically.

The replicants were declared illegal on planet Earth after a bloody mutiny occurred on the planet Mars, where they worked as slaves. A special police force, Blade Runners, is in charge of identifying, tracking and killing - or "withdrawing", in terms of the police itself - the fugitive replicants found on Earth. With a group of replicants loose in Los Angeles, Rick Deckard, the best agent that has existed in regard to the recovery and removal of the replicas, is removed from his semi-retirement to use some of "the old magic blade runner".

Ridley Scott fantastic dark cyberpunk style and futuristic design is so well made that accomplished to create a visual vocabulary: neon lights, abandonment, decay, loneliness, obscurity, indifference and alienation are the core of the aesthetics of the film, which will eventually become and serve as a pattern for successive cinematographic works.

The script David Webb Peoples adapted from 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' takes the viewer into a dwelling and philosophical controversy, as it creates doubt and empathy to the so called replicants, primarily as seen in many shots of Rick Deckard hesitating about the true nature of his task.

Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer haunts the attention into the essence of the story. Their characterization throughout infiltrates the different conceptions of life. A saddened soul searching for the meaning of his punished existence and the other, ruminating a task sinking him into a moral void brimming with guilt.

At the end, the movie leaves you wondering about the implications the creation of highly intelligent beings (IA) must have and, if it's worth treating them as machines or they have become so human that the difference is non existent.

"Time... to die".

10/10.

Persona presents Elisabet Vogler, a well-known theatrical actress who, during an Electra performance, is speechless. Entered in a psychiatric hospital, although it is not possible to diagnose any type of disease, it continues without uttering any sound. After different tests, the doctor determines that she is healthy but, to get her out of her silence and practice different therapies, she entrusts her nurse to take her to an idyllic summer home to seek rest...

The film begins with the staging of the entire cinematographic device. That allows us to look outwards (the lens of the projector that light gradually, the film that begins to be rewound to project itself) as well as inside the device. Stating that the enigmatic child seems to represent the viewer (not in vain, his role in the story is not other than to wake up and then decipher, first a book and then the film image of the two faces)...

Ingmar Bergman's responds in a concrete way to the neuroses and the cinematographic challenges of his time. It dwells on philosophical themes which are portrayed in the relationship between the two protagonists.

When it comes communication, although Elisabet barely speaks, her expressions on different scenarios proves that an opinion, story, emotion can be tell without a single word coming out of the mouth. On the other side, we have Alma, a girl whose monologues treat nihilism, abortion, lesbianism, imposed maternity, guilt, insanity, schizophrenia trough not only an a well written and poetic script, but a magnificent direction.

Bergman's beauty and precision with which he handles the dream elements make the cinema of modernity reach completely new possibilities. This characterizes him as the genius he is frequently said to be. Accompanied by the astonishing performance of Bibi Andersson, the movie grants a shocking ride over the human condition.

It's a visually stunning experience to every cinema lover.

10/10.

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

Pre review:

Its writing started in January 1973, "eight hours a day, five days a week", George Lucas said by taking small notes, inventing odd names and assigning them possible characterization... After many drafts, he finally came to a satisfactory conclusion.

Then, Lucas presented Star Wars to the United Artists, but they refused to budget the film, so he went to Universal Pictures, the studio that financed American Graffiti; however, it was rejected, as the film concept was "too strange".

Suddenly, Alan Ladd Jr -head of 20th Century Fox- appeared, a man that trusted in Lucas' genius. And that's how Star Wars became a reality.

The shooting of the movie was full of mishaps, problems with practical effects never done before, a bad first edit of the movie, but that didn't stop George from fulfilling his Space Opera. Due to those setbacks, Fox Studios began to put pressure on Lucas to finish the movie. Finally, the movie was done. On the eve of Star Wars release, 20th Century Fox, George Lucas and his cast and crew braced themselves for the worse. One way or another, May 25, 1977 would be a day they would never forget...

Review:

Star Wars is a modern tale of mythic adventure. It follows the journey and growth of the protagonist: Luke Skywalker. His journey of discovery is set amidst a larger struggle between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance; both parties are embroiled in a civil war. The Empire is comprised of corrupted power within a small group of leaders. These sullied leaders abuse their power over the masses with impunity. It is oppression and repression of the masses. The Empire wants to destroy the hope of the rebellion to ensure the small group of leaders can keep their power...

One of the most important features of the movie are the special effects. The use motion control was even superior to Stanley Kubrick's revolutionary masterpiece: "2001: A Space Odyssey" thanks to the creation of The Dykstraflex, the first digital motion control photography camera system developed for Star Wars on 1976. Along with an incredibly iconographic character and production design, the movie became stylistically unique.

The story and the characters are original and relatable. R2-D2 and C-3PO: the astromech as the optimistic adventurer's desiring to move forward. In direct opposition C-3PO, the protocol droid filled with doubt and reservations. Luke Skywalker, the brave hero, often haunted by doubts and hopes about his future journey. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the wise master and moral guidance of our hero. Han Solo, the rebellious smuggler whose personality represents tenacity. Leia, the damsel "in distress", a fearsome princess and general. Finally, Darth Vader, the most iconic character in the franchise, the merciless tyrant in a black suit, representing evil and final conflict of the journey.

The film score presents an emotional resonance trough a romantic 1930s Hollywood orchestral score that was commissioned for composer John Williams, who succeeded to create a haunting constellation of operatic leitmotifs.

The visual composition is authentic, as Lucas wanted a nostalgic "filtered look" so he kept changing key lights for a "flashing" effect. He used a loose, "nervous" frame, as in newsreels. The dramatic center was displaced, deflecting the eye to background activity, which in later films would include poetically changing weather. This first film gradually turned darker, following a symbolic color scheme where organic brown and warm gold yielded to high-tech black, white, and steely gray." This is authenticity is reflected in it's most iconic shot: the 'Binary Sunset' sequence, which establishes the narrative through-line of the story and the world it takes place in, the main value of the scene lies in how powerfully and economically it develops Luke's character: As the suns begin to slowly sink in the evening sky, he gazes towards the horizon, his sense of longing for something more is palpable. Taking things further, he goes on to squint into the distance as if he could see his new future just out of reach, and for the first time we get to see him not as a kid, but for as a new hope.

Books such as "The hero with a thousand faces" by Joseph Campbell structured the story, The War of Vietnam inspired the battle between the Rebels and the Empire, the lifestyle of buddhist monks characterized the Jedi, real shots of warplanes made the space battles real, Kendo foreshadowed the epic lightsaber duel, Akira Kurosawa's storytelling influenced the focus on minor characters, Fritz Lang's it's iconic protocol droid and John Ford westerns determined it's soul.The fascination with filmmaking and anthropology are the components that allowed Star Wars to be compelling and human, besides being located on a galaxy far, far away.

10/10