A Beautiful Mind

72/100 (135 min, 2001)
Plot: After a brilliant but asocial mathematician accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn to the nightmarish.
Director: Ron Howard
Writers: Akiva Goldsman, Sylvia Nasar (book)
Stars: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly

The mysterious equations of life

"I need to believe, that something extraordinary is possible."

"A Beautiful Mind", Academy Award winner for Best Picture was also named one of "The 20 Most Overrated Movies Of All Time" by Premiere magazine - that situation actually represents the true nature of the film - it has amazing moments only to have completely mediocre, bland and unnecessary scenes following them. I always considered the movie to be very overpraised,  but there are parts of the film that are truly able to move the audience - mostly because of wonderful performances and gripping story the movie is based on. Still, I will always find the fact that "A Beautiful Mind" won over "Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring" and "Moulin Rouge!" to be one of the Academy's worst mistakes.

Inspired by life of John Nash, the movie tells a story of brilliant mathematician who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Nash is a typical shy outsider - very focused and fascinated by his work, mocked by others who are jealous of his brilliance and suspect he will achieve great things. During one of the lectures he gives on University he meets Alicia, beautiful girl who reaches out to him. Two of them fall in love and seemingly everything is looking good for Nash, who by then made progress in developing his revolutionary game theory. But soon Alicia and John will come to face life altering difficulties.

From Hell

73/100 (122 min, 2001)
Plot: In Victorian Era London, a troubled clairvoyant police detective investigates the murders by Jack The Ripper.
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Writers: Alan Moore (graphic novel), Eddie Campbell (graphic novel)
Stars: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham and Ian Holm

Only the Legend Will Survive

Jack the Ripper is perhaps the most famous murderer in the history. Oddly enough, there aren't many good movies made about him and "From Hell" is an exception for that rule - although Jack Ripper is a supporting character in the film and the movie is quite far from being a masterpiece, it has an unique ambiance and gives the audience inside look behind the crimes of the legendary criminal.

"From Hell" takes its title from the famous letter sent to the police, probably by the Jack Ripper himself, which was contained in the small box along with half of human kidney. The letter was signed "From hell". The movie is an adaptation of Alan Moore's comic book of the same title - it is quite disappointing, though, that so many changes were made to the source material - fortunately, much like "American Psycho", what "From Hell" lacks in substance, makes up for in style, often suggesting things that we don't see on screen with a shot or a line of dialogue.

Amelie

(122 min, 2001)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Guillaume Laurant (scenario), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (scenario)
Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz and Rufus

The pursuit of happiness

It is 18 June 2010, 13:59:35
In this very second, somewhere, A fly reacts to something it sees and changes direction in 30 milliseconds
A cat purrs at 26 cycles per second, the same as an idling diesel engine
At least 100,000 different chemical reactions occur in your brain
Every person has nearly 400,000 radioactive atoms disintegrating into other atoms in his or her body
Between four and five people are born
And other two people die
Somebody is falling in love.
Someone else makes other person miserable
And someone brings joy to the world.

Amelie Poulain is a waitress in Montmartre. She is 23 years old, lives alone with her cat and she visits her widowed father often. And that's her life – little, sheltered, ordinary. Except is any life ordinary?
One day, the day princess Diana dies, in the day of great sadness and tragedy, Amelie accidentally finds a box filled with childhood souvenirs of a little boy. In this one moment outside world ceases to exist for Amelie, all that matters is that box and Amelie's plan to bring it back to its owner.

When Amelie returns the box to the man, of course still remaining invisible, she is convinced that this is what she has to do. The man, Dominic Bretodeau, remembers everything when he opens that little box – his childhood, all the good and bad memories, which because of the time passing by now turned into nostalgia. All the years, all the moments hit him and convince him to live his life the best he can, as long as he is alive. In the ending scenes we see him reunited with his daughter and grandson. None of that would have happened if it wasn't for Amelie.

Mulholland Dr.

(147 min, 2001)
Director: David Lynch
Writer: David Lynch
Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Justin Theroux 

Dream a little dream of me...

A lucid dream is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that he or she is dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, he or she can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.*

(spoilers)

Dreams are elusive. We often forget what they were about, we have difficulties remembering even the tiniest details. For a filmaker to present the dream universe with sound, music and cinematography is enough of a chalange, but to do that with plot structure and the construction of entire story, to show the logic of a dream by using dialogues, objects and symbols - that's a true craft and the most beautiful of arts. I've only saw three movies in my life that achieved that - Cameron Crowe's „Vanilla Sky” and Ingmar Bergman's „Wild Strawberries”. Third one is David Lynch's „Mulholland Drive”.

I often read about the movie before I see it. Before watching MD I've read almost everything I could find about it – I knew that David Lynch's films require massive preparation before watching them. And „Mulholland Drive” is one of very few movies that loses absolutely nothing once you know the plot, the ending, all the twist and turns. Because seeing it unravel on a screen is such a unique, fascinating expierience that even tough the movie was horribly disturbing, even scaring, I will come back to it many times.

The story is incredibly simple – Diane Selwyn' lover Camilla leaves her and annouces her engagement to a movie director. Both Diane and Camilla are actresses, Diane being unsuccesful one. Diane feels manipulated and brokenhearted and she hires a hitman to kill Camilla. She goes to sleep – her dream lasts for first 4/5 of the movie. After she wakes up she sees a blue key, a sign from the hitmen that Camilla has been killed. Diane, consumed by her guilt kills herself.

Ghost World

(111 min, 2001)
Director: Terry Zwigoff
Writers: Daniel Clowes (comic book), Daniel Clowes
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson

 

“Some people are ok, mostly I just feel like poisoning everybody. “

There is a list of films I have to see before I die, just because I want to find out what all the fuss is about. “Ghost World” was on that list until yesterday, but I finally managed to watch it. I saw some interesting photos from it, I noticed how excellent reviews were and that it has Scarlett Johansson in it. I also noticed it is labeled as “comedy” on imdb and I could use some laughter right now. Boy, did I end up disappointed.

Set in the summer after graduation, Enid (Thora Birch from “American Beauty” )and Rebecca (Johansson) are both outsiders in a world slowly being engulfed by fake 50's diners and Starbucks. Enid must attend an art class to officially graduate high school as Rebecca gets a job. When the two play a mean joke on a much older, geeky record collector (the one and only Steve Buscemi), Enid finds a fellow soul and begins to discover the complexities of becoming an adult in the modern world.

Don't get me wrong – the movie is funny. But it's not my kind of humor – I don't like dry humor and when I type “don't like” I'm using big euphemism. I could never fall in love with Wes Anderson's movies because of that and it's because of the same reason I can't like “Ghost World”. For me, if dry humor is involved there should be a huge warning on DVD box.

However, the movie has very smart and original script and creates fantastic, complex characters. It's also something I'm sure most of us relate too – we had best friend in high school and we promised to her/him nothing will change, but as our lives go on we slowly drift apart from each other. It's inevitable, it's the way it is. It's also only after high school that our life, just ours and nobody else's, begins. We are often lost, confused, scared, doing stupid things – just like Enid. The movie shows us three kinds of people – Enid, who isn't sure what she wants, except for the fact she wants to be different but doesn't know she's an opportunist, Rebecca, who despite being a social outsider does all the things she is supposed to do – graduates from college, finds a job, looks for her own apartament and Seymour who never really grew up and only now starts too.

Enid is a main heroine of the story and Birch does an amazing job – the girl could be described as pathetic easily – she is fake conformist and opportunist. She lies to everybody, makes immature, stupid jokes, has no respect for anyone and anything. But that's just a horrible exterior – inside she is so helplessly lost, confused about every single thing in her world – her future, her friend, Seymour, her family, everyone around her. She is like a little kid – jealous about Seymour's girlfriend when they are just friends, careless about her actions and promises she makes. But comparing to all the other people, who don't even try to fight the fact that is obvious – how big of losers they are - she is kinda brave, in her own, flawed way.

Buscemi is very good as Seymour and it is a performance hailed by many as one of his best. He creates a memorable character, one you feel sorry for from the very beginning – the kind of man who you would never date but you wish someone will. He's a lot like Enid, lost, although living in his own reality, deeply unhappy and staying alive only because of this world he created for himself. “You think it's healthy to obsessively collect things? You can't relate to other people, so you fill your life with stuff... I'm just like all these other collector losers.” - Seymour's problem is actually that barely anyone can relate to him, he is stuck in the world of parties with guys like him, without girlfriends, meaningful jobs, were every day is exactly like previous one. In Enid he finds a true soul mate, but given that she is still in the process of evolving and growing up, it's only temporary.

Rebecca's character is not very well developed, except for the fact she is genuinely sad that she and Enid are drifting apart. Their friendship worked out in high school were two of them stood against entire world, but now in adult life, the little problems don't matter anymore and when responsibility is necessary there is no time for silly games.

The movie is based on graphic novel and it's the first film to be nominated for Oscar for adapted screenplay based on such work. The script is witty, funny and interesting, but the movie was a bit too pretentious and boring for me. Especially the ending – it's so far out and weird for the sake of being weird, I was disgusted. The movie should have ended when Enid leaves the hospital and says bye to Rebecca.

The film is definitely not worthy of the praise it is getting, except for the script and the performances. If you are not a fan of dry humor it will most likely bore you. But it's still worth watching because there aren't many movies like this, subtle and very sympathetic towards its characters.

63/100

Vanilla Sky

(136 min, 2001)
Director: Cameron Crowe
Writers: Alejandro Amenábar (film "Abre Los Ojos"), Mateo Gil (film "Abre Los Ojos")
Stars: Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz and Cameron Diaz

From Dreamland with Love

Vanilla Sky is one of those movies that I can watch over and over again, because I think that they are perfect. I wouldn't change a single thing in this film. It depicts life as it is – the issue of love, death, dreams, friendship, work, money, sanity. It is a complete look into a person's personality. And it is the only movie where the character acts in a way that I cannot understand. It is so noble and brave, that even I, raging case of a romantic wouldn't jump off that damn roof in the end. I would stay with the person I love, living immortal life. Who cares if that's not real? What is real anyways?

The movie's prologue is amazing – If I were to choose the best prologue in the history of the cinema that would be it. Tom Cruise's character wakes up, gets to his car and drives. The is no one in the streets. Nobody, Anywhere. He gets to Times Square. It is empty. He gets out and runs. Completely Alone. That scene gets into your head – it is both incredible and frightening.

Vanilla Sky is one of those movies that have a twist – except here the twist is something that actually fits the story. For 1/3 the viewer thinks it's something like 'Fatal attraction'. But then the movie takes a dramatic turn – there are many clues to read the story right, except nobody actually looks for them whilst watching 'cause what we see is so absorbing.

When David is arrested, the plaque on his photo lineup reads "W85N 494 T85 4R51M 253OM5 1 N978TM1R5?" Some elementary code-breaking reveals "WHEN DID THE DREAM BECOME A NIGHTMARE?". There are two other coded messages (mentioned on Crowe's commentary) on the 3D X-Ray of David Aames' skull. To the lower left of the skull it reads "4ON0TW1K589MUP" = "Do not wake him up." To the lower right there is the message, "PL: 51S1NT 4R51MS", or "Pleasant Dreams".

The movie's construction is very complicated – we jump between present and past, between characters, reality and dreams. The timing is perfect and the narration doesn't let the viewer get lost in the complicated story.

And the story is – David Aames is young, successful, he has more money than God, he has great friend, pretty girlfriend, tons of people addicted to him in different ways. He has resources, looks, power. And then he meets a girl. I always believed in perfect love – that you just meet a person and you know that this is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. I never believed in this whole 'only hormones and chemicals' version of things. I strongly insist that there is magic in love. That is why I related to characters – David meets Sofia, incredible woman and he falls in love. They spent a night together, talking, laughing, drawing pictures of each other. He gets out, knowing the true feeling of love and happiness and he gets into his insane girlfriend's car...
That is where the turn occurs. And then another. And then...yet another.

The story depicts many things but the way it depicts love is stunning. David met Sofia only 3 times in real life – one of those times wasn't even pleasant. But it was enough for him to decide that she is the one. He forsake reality, he forsake life to be with her in a perfect illusion. It took him 150 years of dreaming to let go. And maybe he only let go because Sofia said to him „I'll see you in another life, when we are both cats”?

Because in the end of the movie we find out David is in deed dreaming. After the accident his face was disfigured and his body and his life were in pieces. He froze himself and dreamed. The whole notion is fascinating to me and I think the creators depicted how human subconscious and dreaming work very well. I experienced lucid dreaming many times, so the whole thing wasn't so complicated to me as it may be to other people. The idea of using that concept as an entertainment and actually interfere with person's mind whilst he or she is dreaming is not so far-off. I think it is actually a very near future.

The ending where David says goodbye to Sofia and chooses life over dream is amazing. He jumps off the roof and his entire life (and dreams) flash before his eyes. I am still on the fence when it comes to the last shot of the film, where we see David's eye opening and someone's voice saying “Relax, David, open your eyes”. That ending brings a lot of hope and it proves the whole dream concept of the movie. If the film ended with David seeing the ground getting closer and closer that would open the new possibility of actual conspiracy theory occurring in the plot or the moment of his death – perhaps the entire last 2/3 of the film were David's dream when he was in coma after which he died? That would definitely be depressing and even more powerful than the actual ending. I have not seen 'Abre Los Ojos' – the movie Vanilla Sky is the remake of, so I cannot compare those two.

The sequence leading up to the ending – with the presentation of whole dreaming-entertainment concept by Tilda Swinton's character (Tilda always makes an unforgettable appearance) and David's and Tech Support's conversation in elevator is exceptional – We get to see Sofia again and we get to see her reaction to the fact someone chose death, chose illusion, because he couldn't live without her. Powerful, very moving and as I imagine, incredibly scaring to heroine.
I was puzzled about one thing – why did David get into Julie's car? “Consequences, David. They are little things” says Tech Support - “but there is nothing bigger”. If David hadn't get in her car he could have lived happily with Sophia. But he was treating Julie like a plaything and she was in love with him. I relate to her character – perhaps her love was even as big as David's love to Sophia – after all she also gave up her life for it. Sure, she was psychotic and deeply disturbed, but it was that love that pushed her over the edge. And it was David's actions that caused the tragedy, not hers. She was like ticking bomb and he was joggling her.
I don't like Tom Cruise on personal level - I never actually met the guy, but I have difficulty with people who believe that one man died for all of their sins 2000 years ago, so you can only imagine what I think of people whose religious beliefs claim all their suffering is due to aliens and bad spirits living in them. But he is a very good actor – he brought to life one of my favorite book characters Lestat, from 'the vampire chronicles' and he was perfectly cast here. He is very plausible as rich, spoiled guy who gets everything he wants. He gets into his character easily and the viewer sympathizes with him.

The latest film I saw with Penelope Cruz in it was 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' and I still carry her performance from that one lovingly in my memory. It was interesting to see her in a role so much different from Maria Elena. Sofia Serrano is one of Cameron Crowe's incredible, life-changing women, who stumbles upon main character's way. She is incredibly joyful, fascinating and lively– she loves life and takes it as it is. She's not specifically great match for character – she's great match for everyone. Too bad we only get to see Sofia through David's eyes. It was a little unclear to me why she was so freaked out by David after his accident. He was disfigured, granted, but still if she was such a kind, gentle person and if she genuinely cared for him, she wouldn't act so cold towards him. She simply wouldn't care about his looks – I know Kirsten Dunst's character from 'Elizabethtown' and Penny Lane from „Almost Famous” wouldn't.

It is really fascinating to me that every single time main character has stalking, crazy woman being insanely in love with him that woman is blonde. What is up with that? We all remember Glenn Close boiling the bunny. Now we have Cameron Diaz – Cruise and Cruz are really good but Diaz is great. She is in deed psychotic – totally unpredictable, dangerous, yet very sad and alone. Her character has moved me and Diaz should get more praise for her work in the film. The little things she does built her performance – that's a rare art. Too bad that actress chooses mind-numbingly bad movies lately.

The music in the film is truly tremendous – Cameron Crowe's movies always have wonderful selection of songs but this one is outstanding – there are even 10-15 seconds melody pieces from various songs inserted in scenes. I am thrilled that Crowe used Radiohead's songs which fit the movie perfectly (Everything in Its Right Place in the beginning and I Might Be Wrong during the scene with Tech Support and David in the restaurant), but the best choice is Sigur Ros's The Nothing Song played in the final scene – that is not only beautiful choice for that particular scene, that is the only choice I could think of and something that combined with amazing imagery of the scene stays with you, long after seeing the movie. Notably 'Ladies and Gentelmen we are floating in space” brought tears to my eyes and original compositions by Crowe's wife, Nancy Wilson are wonderful too.

The movie has unusually huge amount of cuts – Crowe does it a lot. For example -in the scene were David talks to his shrink we see him, then we see quick cut to Sofia and then we see David again only to get a quick shot of Sofia again. I love this technique – it makes the movie more complex, more whole, it helps the director create totally separate universe for each movie.

I really believe that immortality, actual eternal life is something that's going to be obtained by science soon. I think in few centuries the aging process will be stopped and then reversed and the only cause of human's death will be trauma. Later on the scientists will be probably able to actually give life to the deceased. Maybe even during our lives this all will be discovered, who knows.
The concept of cryonics is already well known, but nobody was unfrozen and alive, at least in my understanding. But how great would it be to actually sleep for century or more, dream a perfect life and then wake up in the world filled with new possibilities, nobody has even dreamed of the day you were frozen? My biggest regret is that I was born too early and the thought that one day people will be able to live forever is very annoying and frustrating to me.

But maybe REAL love, even the one that dies along with two people experiencing it, is even more important. But I don't see, even far into the future, the formula for happy, amazing love. In this I see more than human mind can explain.

97/100