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As yours truly’s life seems to become more and more NYC-focused, it was only a matter of time for Like The Cast Of A Fellini Movie to transform to an Anglophone weblog. I have to accentuate strongly the incompleteness of this transition, for I will keep on posting Dutch articles and features from time to time. Nevertheless, it seemed only logical to shift focus to the English-speaking world.
But what am I drivelling about? I have to introduce this blog to new readers, that’s what this post’s meant for.
So welcome, dear reader! lees meer
And Become A Better Person has returned to A Fellini Movie! So cherish these special posts and collect them as if they were to become your personal bible. Well, or something like that.
Bright Star
Jane Campion’s new film Bright Star opened to great public acclaim at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and stars the impeccable Ben Whishaw and the delightful Abbie Cornish as its leads. The story evolves around tragic poet John Keats, who pursued magical but impossible love and died, unfulfilled, but leaving some of the most beautiful and excruciating British poetry.
Just watch the following trailer, which is a haunting and enthralling preview of the film.
Bright Star will be released in Dutch cinemas on Thursday, October 15th, 2009.
John Keats’ Poetry
Though Ode to a Nightingale is possibly Keats’ most well-known work, it is surrounded by a selection of poems that are as masterfully written as Nightingale. What follows are my two favorite Keats poems.
When I have fears that may cease to be (January 31st, 1818)
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;–then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci (original version, 1819)
Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful – a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said -
‘I love thee true’.She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.And there she lulled me asleep
And there I dreamed – Ah! woe betide! -
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried – ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!’I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Today, the Godess of Anglophone cinema has turned 34. The stunningly beautiful and extremely talented actress appears to be even more gifted every time she turns up in a new film. Once, she asked Spielberg: "Can I please be in your next movie?" Steve's reply: "Kate can be in any movie she wants to be in." Happy Birthday, Dear Kate! And give my blessings to Sam!
"Meet me in Montauk." (Kate and Jim in Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004))
“How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d.”
(Eloisa to Abelard, Alexander Pope, 1717)
Door het oog van de naald en de loop van het geweer: “Jesse James”
‘I am an eye. I am a mechanical eye. I, a machine, I am showing you a world, the likes of which only I can see.’
Het is een gevleugelde uitspraak van de legendarische Russische filmmaker Dziga Vertov. In de jaren twintig van de vorige eeuw kwam hij met het begrip Kino Eye op de proppen om de haast magische kracht van de camera te bestempelen. Met de ontwikkeling van de technologie is die camera vandaag de dag geen log bakbeest meer, zoals in Vertovs tijd. Integendeel: camera’s vliegen door sleutelgaten, glijden door hotelgangen, nemen hele films in één doorlopend shot op, en vervormen de wereld naar believen. Op deze blog, en in de Xi, wil ik meerdere keren een relatief onderbelichte film bestuderen om de keuzes en het stempel van de director of photography te achterhalen. Dit keer Andrew Dominiks moderne klassieker (en persoonlijke filmfavoriet) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, met weergaloos camerawerk van de gelauwerde Roger Deakins. lees meer
Still from Andrew Dominik's "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007)
“Get ready, little lady.
Hell
is
coming
to
breakfast.”
(Chief Dan George as Lone Watie in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976))
Er was eens een Deense filmmaker. Zijn naam was Lars. Lars was een ietwat koppige man met een enigszins zwartgallig voorkomen. Gelukkig vond Lars een manier om zijn hersenspinsels tot uiting te laten komen: de film. Lars ging verhalen verzinnen, tragedies, over de ongelukkige lotgevallen van weerloze mensen. Daarmee ging Lars de hele wereld over – althans, voorzover dat met zijn oude vertrouwde camper te bereiken was. Want in een vliegtuig zou niemand Lars ooit krijgen. lees meer
When the days are shorter than the nights: This Fall’s Fantastic Films
Dear reader,
I’m always trying to make people watch good films instead of the brainless Hollywood entertainment and Dutch film fiasco’s that constantly occupy the screens. As you may have noticed, the days are getting shorter, the nights tend to get longer, and the cold sets in. In short: it’s the perfect time to start hiding in the dark of film theatres. But, if you do, you should warm yourself with (any/most of) the following films, made by real film makers with real talent and really good ideas.
I wish you all great cinematic experiences this Fall!
Cheerio,
Yours truly.
1. (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
Dutch release: September 24th.
2. Bright Star (Jane Campion)
Dutch release: October 15th.
3. Moon (Duncan Jones)
Dutch release: October 15th.
