Morality is never simple, and love is blind
Ahhhh Japan, the lavish land of sushi and techno dreams – and the place of origin for Love Exposure, the shortest 237 minute movie I have ever seen. Equal parts epic drama and romantic comedy, Love Exposure is a haunting twisted poetic journey into the heart and dreams of Yu Tsunoda, who goes through hell and high water in pursuit of his one and only true love, Yoko. All poetry aside, it wouldn’t be real Japanese cinema without a little swordplay and gushing blood, among an interplay of religious confessions and candid panty-porn.
In stark contrast, The End of the Line was a horrible disappointment. The trailer looked great, but the film did not deliver. Preachy authoritarian documentary filmmaking is boring and stupid, as is pretending to be an anti-corporate environmentalist only to shove one’s foot in one’s mouth with blatant self-promoting segments that clearly establish Wal-Mart as one of the film’s sponsors.
On a more indy tip, my [very] short film – Cacao – was shown on the big screen at the Sala Rossa as a part of the M60 festival. This year’s theme was deception and sparked a wide range of responses, the most popular themes being kitty cats, sex, and chocolate. However, as enthralling as it was to see my shots and edits on the big screen, the evening’s most stellar contribution was a 60 second time-lapsed Valentine’s card-making session which ended to reveal a beautifully-constructed heart that opened up to say ‘F*ck You’.
Last but not least, I was blown away by the war film The Hurt Locker. Through a combination of explosive special effects and strategic suspense-building sound design, the film succeeded in tis mission to transport the viewer into the headspace of one whose profession–and obsession–is detonating bombs.