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Wes Anderson Movies + Tv tropes part 12/12

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher, Poison Edition

I was watching Schindler's List (one of my favorite movies 💖), when I had to stop the movie to take care of some business. When I came back, I noticed that I had paused it at the moment where Oskar Schindler gives his gold watch to Itzhak Stern for him to use as a bribe in order to get an elderly couple (the Perlmans) added to the list. 📝✍

This isn't only a pivotal moment in the film (and in the true story that inspired it as well 🕯️), but it also involves my favorite character (Itzhak Stern, played masterfully by Sir Ben Kingsley 👏), and some exquisite cinematography (just look at that camera work and lighting! 🎥✨) that inspired me to try to paint it in my beloved Paint Tool SAI. 🖌️

The painting took about 50 hours and was done with 1 medium/large flat brush, 1 small round/bristle brush (both with chalk texture to make them look more realistic and less "digital" 😉), and 1 very large water/blur brush (which was only used for the background, as I didn't want to blur the character so that the painting would look more traditional and less "photographic" than some of my previous works 👀).

The hardest part to paint was Itzhak's forehead and, to my great surprise, the easiest was the glasses! Which surprised me since it's the first time I've painted a realistic portrait of someone wearing them, haha. 👓🤭

Where Hugo, I Go...

Rewatched for the umpteenth time, the lovely film, Hugo (2011). If you haven't seen it, nor read the book by Brian Selznick upon which it is based, please consider a look and a read.

We rewatch films for a variety of reasons, just as we often do for books. Always something new and different to see, to hear, to learn, to experience.

But that wasn't why I put this film on the blog. With the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, now more than ever, the Martin Scorsese directed piece seems relevant. Here we have the young orphan, Hugo Cabret, living in the train station and maintaining the clocks; the timepieces that make the trains, and presumably society, run on time. Those horological machines are human made and what time represents in the lives of humans is a constant tick tock, tick tock. With every beat of our heart, every breath taken, time passes.

Hugo senses this, as does his young friend, Isabelle. At one point in the film, Isabelle questions the future and what her purpose in life is to be. Hugo thinks for a moment and remarks:

"I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too."

And during their conversation, Hugo also states:

"Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do… Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose… it's like you're broken."

Turning that scene over in my mind and thinking about the plot (w/o spoiling too much, it is a wonderful homage to humans and art and film and history and human connections) and the ongoing strikes...but...

How is it that we humans have so readily turned the machines into the masters and the humans who created them into the extra parts?

This marvelous film would be nothing without the humans who dreamed and created and built and moved and loved it into being along with the original work upon which it was based. The humans aren't broken, the system is. The studios/corporations must recognize the labor that gives purpose to our lives and place the technology in the place wherein it serves the greater good before time runs out.

I could contemplate this film and its themes for a long time, it is a real gem to view and think about in the context of the past, the present, and the future. Hats off to all involved.

Capturing Dreams

If the studios persist with their endeavors to disregard humans in favor of machines and the pursuit of profit for the few and paucity for the rest, get used to *The Sound Of Silence, for the synergy will be lost and we'll be alone...with our machines.

An earlier post of mine talked about the lovely film, Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese and its relevance in relation to the ongoing WGA & SAG-AFTRA strikes and continuing in that vein, here's an additional thought or two:

A scene from the film has Isabelle, (pictured above-played by the actress Chloe Grace Moretz) reading to lead Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) an excerpt from a book, The Invention of Dreams.

"The filmmaker Georges Méliès was one of the first to realize that - films had the power - to capture dreams."

While Georges Méliès was a real person; if I recall correctly, the book title was created by author, Brian Selznick, who wrote the original novel from which the movie screenplay was adapted. Apparently there is now a group for writers that takes its name from that fictitious book included in both the novel and the film.

The word synergy is likely overused as a buzzword these days, but it seems apt here. Selznick's writing, Scorcese's direction, actors acting, filmgoers, the writing group mentioned above, and it expands ever outward. The numbers of people involved in this creative output are tied together in so many ways and so many dreams, some of which are yet to be realized. Film technology has changed since the 1930s setting of the story, without a doubt-- but machines cannot be allowed to replace the dreamers, the storytellers, the actors, the humans who labor to capture these dreams.

*The Sound Of Silence (1964, written by Paul Simon; performed by Simon & Garfunkel; Columbia).

Watched this on Netflix last evening. Really enjoyed the film. Great cast, wardrobe, sets, and Wes Anderson style as he interprets Dahl's story. Good job all around!

Also: superb fast-talking by the cast. Don't know how many takes were needed but daaaang, they were smooth.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

🙏🏽

Okay so just came back from watching Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. And that movie was simply amazing.

Spoilers up ahead.

So the movie was everything I hoped for and so much more. It was funny, action packed, emotional and the CGI was so much better than Black Widow and TFATWS. Also, I think this was the first Marvel movie after CATWS that did not disappoint me in its action sequences.

Every side character had their roles. It felt like if they weren't there in the movie, it would have been incomplete. And ugh, I loved Ben Kingsley and Awkwafina. The casting choices were perfect. Simu Liu was the perfect Shang Chi.

And as usual, the post-credit scenes were the best.

I would give it a 9/10. As an Asian I'm so fucking proud of the fact that we finally have an Asian superhero. The movie truly didn't dissapoint.

25.06.2023

#Mira-Marathon | MCU

Film Name: Iron Man 3 (2013); Production studios: Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios, DMG Entertainment, Taurus Studios, Illusion Entertainment; Director by: Shane Black; Screenwriters: Drew Pearce, Shane Black, Warren Ellis, Adi Granov; Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley; Genres: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure; Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes;

"Iron Man 3" is an exciting superhero movie of 2013, which tells the adventures of Tony Stark, who faces the terrorist Mandarin. The film has an exciting plot and impressive visual effects, but some moments may seem implausible.

My rating: 8/10

SAGA Fan Casting [3/3]

Jamie Clayton as PETRICHOR Abbey Lee as THE STALK Ben Kingsley as BARR Tilda Swinton as THE BRAND Morgan Freeman as D. OSWALD HEIST Viola Davis as YUMA Idris Elba as DENGO

Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Steven Spielberg and Liam Neeson on the set of Schindler's List, 1993