Late Night Post #17 : Bad movie

    Last night I was in the mood to watch a new science fiction movie so I prowled the net in search for something. I am eagerly expecting the new Stargate trilogy announced but until then (God knows when that will happen) my appetite needed to be appeased. Found something starring Nicolas Cage but being and admirer I was expecting something at least moderately good.

[Utopian Dystopia] - The Running Man [1987 / USA]

     After economic collapse, the world finds itself divided. The movie adopts the idea that when the ruling class attains power it will concentrate strictly upon itself.
     Control of the population is not accomplished directly as in "1984" and the world isn't, at a technological level, as different from its own past as it was the case in "Brave New World". Unlike "Equilibrium" in the case of this movie, control is exerted through emotions and it's mainly about entertainment. Everything about the past is censored. This element of censorship, of controlling information, is at the base of all books and movies that address such themes.
     "The Running Man" is mainly about a television show that has the subject of sending a number of inmates through a natural and urban labyrinth where they finally face certain death at one point or another. A series of heroes gained popularity and I'm not talking about the actual competitors, the executioners all have some sort of a superhero aesthetics, each bolstering a particular superpower.
   

Movie : Tsar/Царь [Rusia : 2009]

The starting point of the movie is the consecration of Philip II as bishop and his enthronement as Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia. Director Pavel Lungin preferred to follow the relationship between two opposing sides, the Saint and the Tsar. Doing so we only witness three years of history with nothing to explain why Ivan the Terrible earned this name.

The situation of the country is not particularly well recreated in the sense that there is not much depth involved excepting the Ivan - Philip development. Other than that, Lungin remained fairly close to historical accounts.

Overall the movie is a masterpiece of Slavic cinematography and I highly recommend you make the time to watch it, the acting is excellent.

Pyotr Mamonov as Ivan the Terrible 

Oleg Yankovskiy as Metropolitanate Philip

Movie - Shaolin [ China, 2011 ]

In a time when China was in turmoil because of internal power struggles and external interests were at the door, waiting to grab a piece of the magnificent wealth the empire had to offer, a warlord is forced to choose a new path. No one road to enlightenment is the same, this movie shows that even if the last moments of life are near, one still has the option to reject evil if one has the power to wish it.

Title: Shaolin
Country: China
Year: 2014
Directed by: Benny Chan
Cast: Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Jackie Chan

Брат (Brother) [Russia / 1997]

Sergey Bodrov Jr. (1971–2002) plays the role of a young man named Danila Bagrov with a predisposition for lawlessness but nonetheless possessing a degree of morality somewhat superior to most of the people he comes in contact with. He sets out to find his brother in Leningrad, a man which according to his mother is "her only hope" but in truth is a local gangster and killer. Apparently, their father was a thief who eventually died in prison. Not the kind of movie that will stir many laughs or philosophical discussions but it will make you addicted to the atmosphere (aided by a wonderful soundtrack by Nautilus Pompilius) if you have an interest for this kind of cinema. The director is Aleksey Balabanov.

You can see the full movie below (with English subtitles) brought to you by TheMakiNau through Youtube.

Movie

Music

As a bonus for my readers I have posted bellow a song from the soundtrack by Nautilus Pompilius. Zver (Beast):


Lyrics:

я смотpю в темноту я вижу огни это где-то в степи полыхает пожаp я вижу огни вижу пламя костpов это значит где-то здесь скpывается звеpь я гнался за ним столько лет столько зим я нашел его здесь в этой степи слышу вой под собой вижу слезы в глазах это значит что звеpь почувствовал стpах я смотpю в темноту я вижу огни это значит что звеpь почувствовал стpах он я знаю не спит слишком сильная боль все гоpит все кипит пылает огонь я даже знаю как болит у звеpя в гpуди он pевет он хpипит мне знаком этот кpик я кpужу в темноте там где слышиться смех это значит что тепеpь звеpю конец я не буду ждать утpа чтоб не видеть как он пpобудившись ото снастанет дpугим я не буду ждать утpа чтоб не тpатить больше сил смотpи на звезду - она тепеpь твоя искpы тают в ночи звезды светят в пути я лечу и мне гpустно в этой степи он уже кpепко спит слишком сладкая боль не гоpит не гоpит утихает огонь когда утpо взойдет он с последней звездой поднимется в путь полетит вслед за мной когда утpо взошло успокоилась ночь не гpозила ничем лишь отпpавилась пpочь он еще кpепко спал когда слабая дpожь мелькнула в гpуди с неба вылился дождь

I look into the darkness, I see lights. It is a fire blazing somewhere in the steppe. I see lights, I see flames of bonfires. This means that here hides a beast. I chased him for so many years. I have found him here, in this steppe. I hear him howl, I see tears in his eyes. This means that the beast feels fear. I look into the darkness, I see lights, This means that somewhere here hides the beast. I know he is not sleeping, the pain is too strong, Everything is burning and boiling inside, the fire is burning. I even know how it hurts in the beast's chest, He roars, he croaks, I know this cry. I'm circling in the darkness, where laughter is heard, This means that it's all over for the beast now. I will not wait for the morning, not to see how he, Waking from sleep, becomes different. I will not wait for the morning, not to waste energy, Look at the star - it is now yours. Sparks are melting into the night, the stars are shining on the way, I'm flying, and I feel sad in this steppe. He is fast asleep already - the pain is too sweet, The fire is not burning anymore, it is dying down. When the morning comes, with the last star He will rise to go, will fly following me. When the morning came, the night calmed down, It did not threaten with anything, just went away. He was still fast asleep, when a slight shiver Flashed across his chest, the sky poured rain. Translation: kovideo.net

The Rum Diary

In a very vintage and alcohol vapor filled atmosphere of 60's Puerto Rico, an unsuccessful writer sets out to try to become somewhat successful by joining a rag tag band of journalists at a local daily newspaper. I found the first fifteen minutes abounding with clichés and characters drowned in their own self pity, guides to a world on the brink of collapse. Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) is the writer in question and he will experience all sides of the island, from a five star hotel to prison, from flirting with the fiancée of a big shot to visiting a hermaphrodite witch doctor.

Leaving all the eccentricities aside, this movie deals with a fundamental (and growing) problem, the divide between the rich and the poor and how these two worlds rarely meet, separated by fences and guards or by fear and ignorance. When they indeed meet it's all very "Nitzschean", the powerful rule the weak, sometimes the powerful are the ones with the money, sometimes not.

A great movie overall, you need to see it.


I find this trailer not very representative but we have to make do with what we have.

Directed by Bruce Robinson ; Based on "The Rum Diary" by Hunter S. Thompson ; Starring: Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribis ; Year: 2011

Equilibrium [Utopian Dystopia]

In the previous article of this series we talked about the book "Brave New World" and its relationship with the real world, now we will talk about Equilibrium, a fascistic world in which feelings have been declared illegal.

While Aldous Huxley imagined a world in which humans have only superficial emotions, in Equilibrium emotions are, as I said earlier, completely eliminated. In order to achieve such a thing people use a drug, much like the "funvax" proposed to the Pentagon which would, if used, significantly diminish the "religious" fervor of people exposed to the genetic mutation.

We will see that emotions are usually a target in most "dystopic utopias", the reason being that strong feelings make people unpredictable and encourage in them creativity, the need for justice, the need to "feel" the world. On the other hand, they are also the reason why some people do destructive things because, if uncontrolled, emotions can cloud the judgment.

Going through Prometheus

Let's start with the name, Prometheus is a god credited with the creation of man from clay and for giving fire to humans and by this, defying Zeus. As a consequence he was bound to a rock and an eagle ate his liver every day, while every night his liver grew back, this of course, until Hercules saved him. On the other hand humanity also had to pay for their disobedience to Zeus, and they managed to do that successfully with Pandora (she released all the evils of mankind), the first woman made of clay (it seems that prior to this there were no women on Earth). If we start from this summarized story and throw in 120 million dollars we may even end up with something interesting. The movie Prometheus is nothing like this and I dare to say that only the name and the intro can hint to mythology.

We have a team of scientists on a quest to find the ones who created us and the discovery of a series of drawings around the world helps them to create a map towards a planet where, supposedly, we are invited to go. You know it by now, Ridley Scott didn't make a philosophical work of art here, but it is nonetheless a good movie, I have seen it in IMAX format and maybe in simple 2D format I wouldn't have decided to write something longer than a paragraph. One of the researchers has a cross on a necklace around her neck, yet she believed we were created not by God, but by some extraterrestrial race, as opposed to "three centuries" of Darwinism, as how a fellow team mate puts it. Interesting how they choose to put faith in there. The subject of people finding the reason for why we have been created is fascinating, the way in which it was put on film is only visualy captivating with no spiritual and intellectual challenges for the viewer. 

Movies made in Hollywood and usually by big companies are excellent in their appearance but lack depth. In conclusion a nice film, but not a great one. I even felt it was made just to pave the road for the sequel where hopefully Ridely Scott will put more effort into it.

Starting from 9th Company

The "9th Company" is a 2005 Russian-Ukrainian-Finnish movie about the Soviet-Afghan war and more exactly based on the battle of Hill 3234 in 1988. The main reason I recommend this movie is to promote Russian cinema with works that have what it takes to withstand the attacks of the Hollywood entertainment industry. Russia has to create high quality commercial films in order to compete. This type of art is a huge propaganda tool, American culture is so widespread in part because of commercial movies, not artistic ones, where the hero lights a Marlboro cigarette with the American flag waving in the background and the maiden just saved from the hands of evil is holding tight to the hero's sweaty, beefy hand. Such scenes, as idiotic as they are, repeated in various forms in various movies become hardwired in our brains.

9th Company is not this kind of a movie, it is simply an action/war production  intended to ride the wave of the American invasion of Afghanistan and make some cash. It is nonetheless a good thing to watch, for someone like me who lives in a country where movies are almost all the time of American origin, seeing something in another language is a treat by itself, especially when you are talking about movies with little to no artistic expectations. I am however disappointed of one thing, director Fyodor Bondarchuk could of made a better job in making the movie more Russian, if you change the language with English you won't feel any difference and in fact if it would of been in English I wouldn't have wasted ten minutes writing a review.

There are nonetheless many good Russian movies, but not good enough (to break this marketing wall that favors Hollywood) and not that many and just as I hate monopoly in politics and economy, so I hate monopoly in art and culture. Russia has a long history and enormous possibilities to create unique things, why recycle something made on the other side of the Atlantic, or Pacific... nobody would be interested. Is it enough to rely on the image of the Russian drunk that looks like he went to prison for arms or drug trafficking? I think not, at least not in the case of the largest country on Earth with an unbelievable spirituality.

Trailer: