The World's End: A Poetic Meditation

Glory to the crude!

All praise to the crass!

The very gentle capers

When passed through our nature

Becomes crap!

Sans humus we are not human.

May the lowly be raised!

Omnipotence to chaos!

Sentimentally Joyful: About Time

On his 21st birthday, Tim is told by his dad that all the men in their family can travel through time. They can't go into the future... they can just go back to times and places where they have already been. But they can change things. They could use this power to make a lot of money, or to read books. Tim decides to use this power to get a girlfriend.

A deeply sentimental movie... actually a completely joyful movie about life. This isn't primarily a romantic comedy, but a series of lessons about living life. There is no major conflict here, no immense tragedies. Just a series of everyday events packed in peanuts of laughter and smiles. 

No, it's not penetrating, nor is it important. Rather, it is a film that makes you glad to be alive. 

And makes you want to call your dad.

Castaway on the Moon: A Meditation

Castaway on the Moon is a Korean “romantic” comedy of the most quirky nature. At the beginning it has some uncomfortable similarities to the film Cast Away, and I wondered if it would be a satire of that film.  But apart from a few jokes, it quickly moves ahead with it's own unique storyline. It is always fun to watch, and often laugh-out-loud hilarious.  But it also has a very serious side that isn’t to be seen on the surface.  In watching the film, it strikes me to be an example of what I see every day in our homeless community.

Homelessness isn’t a failure on a person’s part.  It is rather the place where a tragedy and a person’s weakness meets and they are unable to keep up the appearances of a “normal” life.  It is a surrender to a simpler, more foundational life, where the needs are simpler, and one hands one’s life over to fate. 

What makes homelessness a terrible crisis is the attitude toward the homeless in society.  That they are in some way criminals because they have been unable to get housing.  That they are dangerous, scary people, who need to be kept away from our children and our neighborhoods.  That they are disgusting, and their techniques of survival are reproachful.  That they must be doing things that are unseemly and unacceptable.

This is why the homeless are, to a degree, isolated.  And this is the worst of the experience.  To be homeless is to not have anyone to support you, to care for you. 

Everyone talks about the causes of homelessness, as if addiction and mental illness are the main issues for all homeless.  The main issue is the lack of a support network.  There is no one to grant help when help is needed.  This initial separation between the homeless and the “normal” world is exasperated when the homeless person becomes adept at being alone and surviving through unconventional ways.  They become more unique and so more alone.

Of course, everyone says, there’s nothing wrong with being unique.  But none of us believe it.  To be unique is to be someone that we are happy to have somewhere else.  But in our family, in our neighborhood, in our community, we want people to follow our standards.  And those who don’t do that… well, they can go somewhere else.

And so the homeless do.  They are pushed “somewhere else” and “somewhere else” and “somewhere else” until there is no place for them to live.  No place to be.

Until someone comes and says, “I don’t care how different you are.  I don’t care if you aren’t like everyone else.  I don’t care if you are irritating and even a problem sometimes.  I want you to be a part of my community.  I want you to be in my neighborhood.  I want you to be part of my family.”

And then healing, for all of us, can begin.

If you’d like to know more about our community and family of the homeless in Portland, OR, please check out our website: www.NowhereToLayHisHead.org

Castaway on the Moon is available in the U.S. on Netflix Instant.

Is True Love Worth It? (The Princess Bride)

81. The Princess Bride (1987)

“Sonny, True Love is the greatest thing, in the world-except for a nice MLT – mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich— where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe…” -Miracle Max

Not once in the midst of the Princess Bride, do we get a definition of True Love.  Nor do we see it in action, unless True Love is found in uncontrollable passionate kissing.

But we see the consequences of True Love.

Let’s just take Westley for example (spoilers ahead for both of you who haven’t yet watched the film).  For the sake of True Love,  he leaves the only home he knows, is attacked by Rodents of Unusual Size, drinks poison, becomes a pirate,  climbs a cliff, defeats a master swordsman, defeats the brute squad while paralyzed, and dies. 

You know, I don’t think that The Princess Bride is the best advertisement for True Love.  Seems to me that this nebulous idea causes an untold amount of suffering. 

Yet, oddly enough, like Fred Savage, I am strangely attracted by this odd mystery.  After all, if someone is so willing to suffer for something I do not understand, perhaps I too would like to hear more about those kissing parts.  There’s got to be something to it.

The Princess Bride is based on a novel by William Goldman where he recounts his rediscovery of the fictional S. Morgenstern classic The Princess Bride, which was primarily a political satire, but Goldman re-edited it so only the "good parts" were left.  If you loved the movie, you'll love the book just as much.

How Do You Respond When A Spirit Asks You If You Are a God? (Ghostbusters, 1984)

      #97--Ghostbusters (1984)      

Dealing with spirits is tricky business.  There are the low-level ghosts, who can be… slimy.  Then there high level gods, who can decimate large populations.   Tricky, very tricky. 

Especially tricky for scientists.  Even pseudo-scientists.  When you are trained to be skeptical, to doubt, to question everything, it may seem that you might never actually get around to dealing with real, live (so to speak) spirits.   When you finally do connect to spirits, proper etiquette might be lacking.  Not because you don’t want to be polite, but because you just haven’t had the experience.

So when Ray is approached by a spirit and asked, “Are you a god?” He answered simply and honestly, to the best of his knowledge, in the negative.  How was he to know that it was the wrong response?  That such honesty might actually get him and his companions killed?  Or at least mortally wounded.  Peter corrected Ray’s error: “Ray, when someone asks you if you are a god, you say YES!”  

Obviously, such an answer must come from studying the classics.  Alexander said “yes”.  Augustus said “yes”.  Titus said “yes.”  Perhaps we should all learn from their example.  Peter thinks so.

Of course, there’s that niggling little aspect of blasphemy.  When Herod Antipas said “yes” to such a seemingly basic question, he was eaten from the inside out by worms.  Perhaps this should be given more consideration.

How Far Can the Mystical Powers of Kung Fu be Stretched? (Kung Fu Hustle, 2004)

#98-- Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Stephen Chow has been making martial arts comedies for many years.  They all have the same style, take a hokey, but typical, Hong Kong plot and add various physical and verbal jokes, giving us the right to openly laugh at the films we have wanted to for so long.  Chow has not only improved as a director, but also as an actor, making films like Forbidden City Cop that has some good dramatic scenes as well as some decent comedy.

Kung Fu Hustle is Chow’s masterpiece.

A gang of criminals come to attack an apartment building and Stephen Chow is first an ineffective criminal and then a master defender.  But the plot can be tossed aside.  The brilliance is in the style.  This film could just as well be called Flying Coyote, Hidden Road Runner.   It has all the fun and majesty of the flying martial arts movies, with a Looney Tunes sensibility and the finesse of Roger Rabbit with a sledgehammer.

This is physical comedy at its best, where every master is a citizen of Toontown and any non-master had better clear out of the way.  It is so over the top, so ridiculous that if you are going to watch you have to just go along for the ride and enjoy every silly moment.

Absolutely No Theme To This Group of Reviews

I've just started listening to Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews and am impress how many reviews they can punch out in such a short period of time.  I do this myself, but not as entertainingly as them.  Still, let's talk about the films I've seen this last week:

Do all the situps you want-- the film won't get tighter

Limitless (2011)
Lots of irritating edits, a meandering plot that doesn't go anywhere and the moral seems to be that if you're the smartest person in the universe, you can become rich, powerful and eff off anyone you want. Still some nice tension, sometimes. Mostly forgettable.  3/5

Kidman and Eckhart looking delightfully normal

Rabbit Hole (2010)
Amazing performances.  I don't think I've ever seen Kidman or Eckhart has ever given more realistic performances.  Every time I see them I know they are acting-- but not here.  It was wonderful to see them become these troubled characters.   The pacing and arc is almost perfect.  But still, the movie seemed pretty small.  We didn't see their anguish just after the death, we only see the grieving and the process their marriage goes through when it is subtle and seemingly without an end.  Brilliant, but I just didn't care enough, I guess.  Perhaps I should have.  Should I feel guilt about not caring enough?  4/5

Human existence is shocking-- even eating!

Life In a Day (2011)
This is the obvious choice for the winner of "Top Five films To Show To An Alien".  If you want to know about humanity, here it is.  It's all real, all ordinary and yet, somehow, extraordinary at the same time.  It is beautiful and disturbing, shocking and touching, dull and busy.  In the end, I felt that I spent an hour and a half watching cool videos on You Tube.  Lots of interesting stuff, but I don't know that any of it will stick with me next week.  4/5

Barbara Stanwyck involved in criminal activity-- running through a stop sign!

Witness to Murder (1954)
I watched this for Noirvember, but I was so tired on Nov 30, I finished the film in December.  Me falling asleep wasn't the fault of the film, though.  It was so much fun.  Barbara Stanwyck as a woman who witnesses a murder (in the first minute of the film!)  She turns all Rear Window on us, but with way more doubts than Jimmy Stewart.  George Sanders (Shere Khan!) is the killer who is causing doubts upon her sanity, both with the police and with herself!  There's some great points about feminism here (like when the policewoman is chasing the killer and then suddenly disappears so the MALE detective can fight with him!), and some Hitchcockian turns (but Vertigo is a few years later).  Still, great film.  4/5

Grant (looking aged) and Hepburn (looking eternally young)  in Beyond Sunset

Charade (1963)
This is not a thriller, in my mind, but a comedy.  Cary and Aubry just keep the sit com rolling and I haven't laughed out loud at a film for a while.  Just for fun, James Coburn, Walter Mattheau, and George Kennedy are there as the clueless bad guys.  My favorite bit is where the boy goes up to James Coburn and asks if he is a cowboy, like in the movies.  The film is so busy having fun, I don't care if the plot is a little confusing or the end doesn't make any sense.  It's like most Bond films-- the joy is in the journey.  4/5

By the way, all of these films can be watched on Netflix Instant, so if you have Netflix, you have no excuse.  And, yes, I do rate a lot of movies something other than a 4, it just happened to be a particularly good week for film.  My chooser ain't broken yet!

A Happy-Go-Lucky Life on the Streets of Helsinki

The Man Without A Past



This is a Finnish film of 2002, about a man who is brutally mugged and so forgets everything about his past, who he is, everything, and then tries to make do amidst the down and out of Helsinki.  Despite the obvious plot devises, this is a subtle and hilarious film.

I placed this film in my top 100 last year partly because of the characterization and partly because of the personal connections to those struggling to make due in an urban context.  For some reason, there were two things I forgot.  First of all, it’s in color.  I don’t know why I thought it was in black and white, but there you have it.  Secondly, it is hilarious.  The humor is sly and quiet, and I’m sure much of the humor I didn’t get the first time around.  All this to say, I enjoyed this film even more this second viewing.




Technical—4/5—It’s fine.  Nothing special, no tricks, no fuss.  Just basic filmmaking.  Nothing more than necessary.

Interest—5/5—I really enjoyed it this time.  I was hesitating seeing it again because I thought it would be too dull for me to watch only about a year or so since I last watched it.  Oh, I was wrong.  It was great, every scene.  It was good to know the end this time as well because it helped me to recognize where it was all heading.  And this time, I could see the quiet joy in almost every scene.  Wonderful.

Tension—3/5—Not much tension, this time around, except when the muggers show up.  

Emotional—3/5—There is some emotion, but it’s hard to feel when the acting is so dry and flat.  It is flat on purpose, and it helps one appreciate even more the obvious happiness that is there.  But we have to put that in, the actors won’t help us a whit.  On the other hand, see what I say under “personal”.




Characters—4/5—Excellent.  Sure the acting is flat, but since everyone does it, it looks like Helsinki is just that way.  I suspect that they are playing it as a Finnish stereotype, but it just adds to the humor and the local color.  The characters themselves are wonderful and funny and clever.  I wish more had been done for Kati Oetenin, because she just seemed sad.  

Theme—3/5—It’s not a strong thematic film.  I’d guess the theme might be, “It will all work out” or “There is a place for everyone” or some other generally uplifting cliché.

Ethics—5/5—I love films that show communities that work well, even in difficult circumstances.  Lars and the Real Girl and Notting Hill are among my favorites for just this quality. In TMWaP, the way they took our hero in and how he was instantly accepted, and the community helped him in quiet, small ways but that brought him life was wonderful to behold.  It is the ideal for my community as well, but that's getting toward...

Personal—5/5—I live and work amidst a community much like this.  Yes, there are struggles and not many resources, but there can also be joy and strength.  This personal connection is probably what really makes me emotional about this film. Not even so much because of these people, but because of the people I know on the streets of Portland and their joys and strengths.  It makes me happy.


This film is really a favorite of mine.  It gets better and more enjoyable with each viewing.  

Mother (2010)

"Love is insanity."

I'm really enjoying South Korean cinema. I love the breaking of genre, the humor mixed with pathos and tragedy. And this is among the best that I've seen. And Kim Hye-ja is almost a miracle. I couldn't take a break from the movie because I couldn't stop watching her. Even the most insane actions were truly believable and larger than life. I also loved how the movie leads us to make character judgments on a couple people, only to find we were wrong about them, or at least that they were more complex than we originally thought. Every scene had a new surprise. What a wonderful, true, powerful film.

"Mother won't let anyone dirty you through."

The question I'm left with: is it possible for love to go too far? We talk about love being blind, but is blindness really something we want to strive for? This movie shows that even the purist form of love, the loyal love of a mother for her grown but developmentally disabled son, can cause harm to others. This is why love is only really love when it is focused not just on one person, but it is something we have for all people.

Again, this is an excellent film, both to watch and to consider.

4.5/5