Friday, April 06, 2007

Bathed in Light

last night bulbgirl and myself took ourselves off to see some sunshine. sunshine at night? preposterous i hear you exclaim, but it was Sunshine, the latest movie from Danny Boyle, where light rays from a projector gave the illusion of watching a wall-sized sun.

despite having only 4 hours of sleep over the previous 2 nights, i went along. sometimes you can nod off a little in movies if you are tired, but i was on the edge of my seat for most of the film. some of the script is a little familiar but well worth a watch.

image courtesy of nasa.
the plot is a little derivative of some other space flicks but the visuals are what stunned me. seeing things like the sun and planets (coupled with deep rumbling sound effects) move me deep inside. with easter almost upon us, i feel the presence of god more in the cinema, than when a christian tries to convert me on a bus trip. maybe it's because films often get us to look at our place in the universe, i don't know. Danny Boyle was said to have considered the priesthood, but he was discouraged by a priest and is quoted as saying:

i don't know if he was trying to save me or the priesthood.

i think it shows in his movies. Scorcese once considered it too. the vatican's loss is cinema's gain.

here is the trailer featuring the music of the kronos quartet which was used in requiem for a dream.


i think i might even go and see it again.
Q:is going to the cinema a religious experience for you?

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Audition-Attack of the (Annie) Clones


wandering around Glasgow over the last few days has been a little surreal. it started on monday when a little girl with the most outrageous curly hair passed by with her parents. odd hair, i thought. a few minutes later, it happened again but this time there were 2 of them side by side with their guardians. a double take was necessary, to make sure i wasn't suffering the effects of sleep deprivation. sure enough, they were apparently real. then they seemed to be everywhere. every black taxi that went by seemed to be filled with a clone of the first girl, being shuttled off to her destination.

it crossed my mind that there must be an audition for some stage show of the musical Annie. i hope so, but just about all of the clones had blondish hair, not like the traditional red head of little orphan Annie. the thought then popped into my head: could this be an alien invasion not unlike Invasion of the Bodysnatchers? movies fill our heads with images of 10 ft exoskeletoned, whiplash tail monsters, and blobs, and superbeings. but the perfect way to infiltrate a society is to send an army of curly haired little clones, with their little carrycases on wheels following behind them. goodness knows what advanced weapons technology they can
pack away in there.

or it could just be auditions for Annie. i hope so...
ever feel that you have inadvertently stumbled upon a movie set and don't know where the exit is? :)