Change Your Image
mickgg
Reviews
Naqoyqatsi (2002)
Echoes of 9/11
Just a small comment to add to jaesboxer's lengthy review ("Beauty without depth" 9th March 2006) For a film made in 2002, the image I was most expecting to see as the film drew to a close was images of the WTC buildings collapsing. One would have thought that Reggio would not flinch from inflicting the horror upon us, but it must have been too sensitive for him or the director/producer.
Nevertheless, the only way I can interpret the inverted skydiver sequence of the Vivid Unknown is to see it as a not-so-oblique reference to the WTC occupants who jumped and free-fell to their deaths rather than be cooked or crushed within the failing structures.
On so may fronts today, there are bodies splatting all around us, but still we fail to abandon this seemingly resilient edifice called progress. It is time we made peace with planet Earth.
Emma Thompson: Up for Grabs (1985)
Small low quality sample on YouTube
Emma's acting credentials are to the fore in the opening sketch, which concerns infidelity, betrayal and promiscuity amongst UK television celebrities. She plays the role of both the wronged wife, and the dizzy blonde starlet, vying for the same man and vying for a coveted BAFTA award for "The best female comedy performance of 1984."
Clever video editing may at first trick you into thinking the elegant brunette in the formal gown and the scatterbrained blonde starlet are different actors, but be assured Emma plays both.
The main curiosity value of this clip is the truly bizarre 1980s style of Emma's song-and-dance routine. It follows the BAFTA-awards comedy sketch, and is unfortunately cut short abruptly 249 seconds from the start of the clip. Oh, those crazy '80s....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erxTNjPJ9mA
The Planet (2006)
Simultaneously cerebral, visceral and musical
Al Gore did the cerebral - lecturing us like a bunch of college freshmen.
Now Johan Söderberg gives us heart and soul: frankly an absorbing and confronting multimedia experience. This piece deserves some serious awards for the powerful blend of images, music and ideas. I watched it on a Linux box with stereo TV capability, taking live broadcast TV to a tiny 17" monitor screen.
The audio quality was great, but for maximum impact the stunning visuals need to be seen on a bigger screen, preferably in DVD picture quality.
I plan to get the DVD and lend it to as many people as possible. It really should get a run in the high street cinemas, IMO.
The next paragraph is a quote from the film. It was the real punch-line for me, but when you hear it in context, it has much more force (therefore: not really a spoiler, more of an appetizer!)
"There is a profound human fear - even terror - of destroying the human habitat - with our own technology, by our own hand, and to no purpose." - Robert Jay Lifton, Psychiatrist.