Jun 4, 2017

I watched Life, and Nothing More a few days ago and wanted to allow it to pass over me for a few days. Intended on watching Olive Trees before coming in so I'd post on both at once. Haven't had a chance to watch it though, so here's my thoughts on Life, and later I'll try to watch Olive and the other Koker film and do a fuller writeup after that.

Life, and Nothing More is breathtaking in its simplicity. What may be seen as an overt metaphor is instead realized on a deeply spiritual and philosophical level. Kiarostami gracefully allows the film's landscape to breathe life through the film. He places a camera and allows the passage of time and the passage of movement to be recorded and conveyed through cinema. This is Cinema as life. One could speak on the metaphor of the road as a highway of life or the diversions as the obstacles therein, but what lends power to this otherwise cliche metaphor is how perfectly reflective and austere is Kiarostami's presentation. He lays bare a modest narrative, a few characters, and in doing so he lays bare what we call life... as if to say that anything more would be a perversion of life's essential elegance. This is a beautiful poem.

88/100 - Excellent.

 

Jun 5, 2017

Time to announce this week's choice, but as always, feel free to continue discussion regarding the Kiarostami films.

We gonna get real obscure here with sum rare Ukranian cinema:

Yuri Ilyenko's Swan Lake: The Zone



@FilmAndWhisky @Twan @Charlie Work @Pinhead @coil @Radeem @RobTheDude @King V @Old_Parr @Moon Age

 

Jun 5, 2017

@Charlie Work we need your assistance

 

Jun 5, 2017

Hopefully this works: https://thepiratebay.org/search/Yuri Ilyenko/0/99/0

 

Jun 5, 2017

My first wonder is if The Zone is the same concept as in Roadside Picnic/Tarkovsky's Stalker

 

Jun 5, 2017

Torrent - GoogleDrive

 

Jun 5, 2017

in af

 

Jun 5, 2017

 

Jun 5, 2017

Before we move on, I will say I quite liked Through the Olive Trees. Like Kiarostami's best work, this too blurs the line between reality and fiction and features his characteristic brand of delicate humanism. Each character and, presumably, the actor who plays him/her carries a story of personal tragedy. However, after all of their loss and heartbreak, life nonetheless goes on as they engage with both its struggles and its beauty, all while trying to find something or someone to hold onto.

 

Jun 6, 2017

I'll say it again that more than any other filmmaker, Kiarostami is able to find the beauty in life no matter what hardships there may be; there's such an unwavering optimism to his work that it always lightens up my outlook on life. His death caused me a great deal of pain as I hold him along with Malick as far and away my favorite filmmakers who have inspired me the most in my life and in my work; so I put off rewatching any of his work until this past week as I assumed that it would be too heavy for me to deal with, however, both of these films picked me up and inspired me to live rather than put me down. I think that speaks volumes of what he was able to accomplish in his life, that even after his tragic passing, he is as alive and wise as ever through his work.

 

Jun 7, 2017

Kiarostami and 80's/90's Iranian filmmakers in general(lookin at Kiarostami/Makhmalbahf/Panahi [I know there's much more to explore but they're the only ones I've seen multiple from] etc) more so than any other country or time period (to me) seem to have a real foot in what makes a story human.How their movies truly are cinema of the people and for the people.The power of Kiastromi to expose systems and comment on the functions human nature all while maintaining a gorgeous looking picture is what I think every filmmaker before and after him has tried to achieve with maybe one or two succeeding at his level. Was heartbroken when we lost him because he seemed to have a lot more to say. Forever in my top 5 I would reckon.

Gonna watch the second of the Kiarostami's now and will try to fit in the new film club pick this week!

 

Jun 8, 2017

After a few days, both Olive Trees and Life, and Nothing More sit more strongly with me. They are highly resonating films, like all the Kiarostami films I've seen thus far. It's difficult for me to pick between the two. I think Life, and Nothing More hit me more strongly with its aesthetics and formal design. The long tracking takes in the car which echo the narrative of a journey, the boy through the window heading out to pee, the vast landscapes and feel of simplicity: all are striking in the low-fi, low-bit colour of its mise-en-scene.

But in terms of storytelling and concept, few films offer as much food for thought as Through the Olive Trees. Blurring documentary with fiction on multiple levels, from fictionalizing real events to filming the ongoing happenings to turning reality inwards to film and film outwards to reality, Kiarostami forms a grand tapestry of life and artifice, of reality and illusion. He is the master of weaving film art and realism.

I also think @Vahn is b--- on about how Kiarostami's films inspire you to live rather than put you down. Olive Trees in particular illustrates through its romance the soul's will to persevere.

Life... and Nothing More: 88/100 - Excellent.
Through the Olive Trees: 87/100 - Excellent.

Both could move up to 5 stars with time.

 

Jun 9, 2017

Swan Lake is purely aesthetic. Like I don't rly got any words to summarize my experience other than "d---."

 

Jun 9, 2017

 

Jun 9, 2017

Coogler bout to save Marvel from mediocrity #blessed

 

Jun 9, 2017

Yesss #blessed
I cant wait #teammarvel

 

Jun 9, 2017

This weekend is flex mode

Keef dropped his singing album
Thug dropping his singing album next week

Imma drop my singing film teaser Sunday

 

Jun 9, 2017

word @Vahn Some incredibly visceral aesthetics in this visual tour de force. Gonna come back with thoughts once it settles in a bit.

 

Jun 11, 2017

Hey guys, just wanted to share with you the teaser for my singing film

 

Jun 12, 2017

We're gonna switch gears to Thai cinema for this week.

Anocha Suwichakornpong's Mundane History