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Otherwordly Warrior: Miyazaki’s “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”
From the very first scene of Nausicaä we can see that we are in a place of magical beauty. The trees, a windmill and the surroundings are coated in what looks like a spider-web or frozen snow; the flakes are falling around a man riding strange creatures, wearing a mask, looking bird-like. The man breaks […]
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Humanity on a Blacklist: Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb”
Dr. Strangelove, based on the Peter George novel Red Alert is clearly deeply rooted in its own time; shot when Cold War was in its zenith, yet it manages to speak to us. It will speak to us as long as Doomsday Machine in the form of the nuclear arsenal possessed by the major world powers […]
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Discriminatory “Circle of Life” in Disney’s “Lion King”
And all through the house we hear the hyena’s hymns Nick Cave Lion King opens with a song accompanied by beautiful scenery, showing the animals ranging from ants to elephants living in perfect harmony and joy: But the sun rolling high/through the sapphire sky/keeps great and small on the endless round/It’s the circle of […]
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Nick Cave Speaking the Unspeakable in the Stunning Documentary “One More Time with Feeling”
William Faulkner once wrote: Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders. These words, from the novel Light in August, have the quality of a prose poem. Their meaning eludes me, just like the understanding of this documentary eludes me. Its elusion is associated with its nature, the articulation […]
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Tragic Fate of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz: Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now”
Preliminary remarks: There are several different versions of Apocalypse Now, including the theatrical release, the Redux version which is 53 minutes longer than the original and the 259 minutes long “VHS” version, which is now all but lost. This article is based on the Redux version, while the ending of the VHS version will be […]
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“The Lives of Others”: Auschwitz of the Soul
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s expressionism, as it can be seen in his painting “Mountains and Houses In the Snow”, conveys the overstressed colors which are on the verge of puncture. For this article, white and its sublime horror presented in the painting are particularly interesting. The symbolism of this use of white will be present throughout […]
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Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Like Father, Like Son”: Nature or Nurture?
Hirokazu Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son explores the meaning of the proverb in the film’s title and whether it can be the justification and the solution to the tragic choice characters in the film are forced to make. Ryota is a workaholic and a successful businessman, hardly spending time with his family; his wife tells him […]
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Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) “…Nevers Mon Amour”
Hiroshima Mon Amour, directed by Alain Resnais, opens with a close-up of an arm and body amorously entangled. They are in the dark, their bodies are joined and small particles, resembling ashes or sand (as the sands of time), are falling and covering them. They are caressing and soon begin to glow, as they are […]
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Beauty Amidst Decay: Luchino Visconti’s “Death in Venice”
Luchino Visconti’s Death In Venice is an adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novel; it follows Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde), a composer who, due to ill health, comes to Venice. The film explores the encounter of true beauty amidst the decay – Venice is struck down by a plague toward the end of the film. The […]
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Tears at a Noh Play in Yasujirō Ozu’s “Late Spring”
There is a certain sadness that permeates Ozu’s films, of the passing of time and an era; of transience, of a time that will be long gone, but needs to be preserved. This is most particularly true for his so-called “Noriko Trilogy”, which stars Setsuko Hara, Ozu’s muse; Last Spring is a part of the […]
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Vigour of Film Lines 