Friday, November 18, 2005

Yaw Mama



This is a momentous film. If you are even remotely interested in philosophy, definitely view it; if not, do so anyway. Some might criticise Waking Life for a lack of plot or structure, but this would be missing the point. Director Richard Linklater here captures the distorted and disjointed nature of dreams in ways I never previously thought possible, at least not in any medium I had ever seen, heard, smelled, (other).

The movie follows the protagonist through a series of outlandish experiences and converstions which reflect upon the nature of reality and the human condition. If you're wondering what this means, again, watch it. The style is documentary-esque and you could easily forget that what you are watching is scripted dialogue: the acting is phenomenal. Furthermore, the film is overlayed with animation so that the fabric of reality can be toyed with, and this is the perfect medium for the subject matter. Have you ever wondered what moving paintings look like?

Linklater is slicing straight to the main arteries of life. This is beyond most cinematographers' wildest dreams.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Flight-11.11.05

The plane could go down in this dark Scottish moorland. The wind’s blowing gale-force but they’re still flying. They wouldn’t fly if it wasn’t safe. Would they? Was that parking attendant a conduit and his words ‘when you come back’ just a kind of dramatic irony. “What a night!” he said. The glint in his eye. The dark wind-thrashed silhouettes on the horizon. What did they mean?

Should I join these foolhardy soldiers in their lonely march down the walkway. Who else thinks at all?
These harbingers of doom tend to jump out at you at times of anxiety. But then again, Prestwick Airport don’t exactly stretch the imagination: their slogan is “pure dead brilliant.” Yeah, wicked!


Is someone trying to tell me something? Is 11.11.05 like 07.07 or 9.11? Where, exactly, do you draw the line and run, panicked, back home to your log fire?