Did you see them..?
Did you see them..?
Monthly meet-up, March 2023
It’s the third Sunday of the month! Welcome to our first meet-up where you have the opportunity to share in the comments what you do, what you’re up to creatively or/and share your thoughts on today’s prompt which is, you guessed it, movies!
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My film partner, Ben, and I are working on getting a website up for our production company Itchy Rodent Films. Bulgarian photographer Tzvetan (Tom) Tzenov made us feel right at home in his studio in Seattle. A fitting photo series for today’s post. (Thank you Micah for the camera and lens props.)
Did you see any of these movies? My comments are few because I’d rather let the movies do the talking…in no particular order.
The Swimmers - based on a true story, a sobering, but life affirming look at mass migration, the two lead actresses kept me glued to the screen.
watched it with mom who couldn’t stomach the drama and left to smoke and never came back.
watched it with my 16 year old step-daughter, Iglika, who said, “You mean to say that this happened recently?” Yes, and it continues to happen.
Tár - an original screenplay, superbly acted by Cate Blanchett, loved the choice of minimal scene coverage, camera work and lighting.
The Banshees of Inisherin - an original screenplay, I can’t praise enough the acting, a movie reminding us that no matter where we live Humanity is the center-piece.
did you know the movie opens with a Bulgarian song?
some body mutilation may turn off your teens.
The Fabelmans - an original screenplay. It could have easily been heavy-handed, but Spielberg has already said all he has had to say, so “The Fabelmans” was about the unsaid in life.
watched it in the movie theatre with Iglika. The movie kept her interest and stimulated her thinking. On a side note, a few years ago we showed her and her friends “E.T.” and they were all crying and they asked, “How come they don’t make movies like that anymore?”
The Hunger Games - adapted from the novels, I never saw the series because the marketing put me off. All I got from the marketing was that kids killed each other to survive. While the third movie gets a bit predictable, the first two are really well put together. We’re watching the forth tonight.
started watching it with the family after making a choice to hang out more with our teenager who it appeared wanted to just hang with her friends. Yesterday, we watched “The Professional”. So now we are coming together around the re-invented fireplace - movies. But not just any movies, ours is a curated fire experience…
another good thing that came out of this - Iglika is reading the books. Reverse engineering, baby!!!
The Gendarme and the Creatures from Outer Space - a comedy from 1979 with the great French comedian Louis de Funès who was a regular on Bulgarian T.V. in the 80s. As a rule we always pay for movies, but finding this movie anywhere was a challenge so the above link is from a free site.
watched it with three teenagers - 15, 16 and 17. They laughed all the way through.
Everything Everywhere All at Once - original screenplay, wow is all I have to say. A movie that pushes the envelope, takes creative risks and they pay off. You have no idea where the story is taking you, so just let it do its thing and enjoy!
watched it with the family in the movie theatre after which Iglika stopped eating bagels. (True story.)
the mother-daughter relationship and climax weirded Iglika out, but that was a good thing. Besides, teens are quick to be weirded out, it actually means the movie made her feel something, it challenged her perception. Of course, she doesn’t want to admit any of it, so she just gets “weirded out.”
Have you seen any of the above movies?
Do you recommend any other movies to the readers here?
What have you been up to?
The floor is yours!
Well, I got around to watching This Baba last night. What a beautiful woman! And so lovingly and respectfully filmed. Such a lovely meeting to share with the world.
Triangle of Sadness was well worth the watch, if only for the wide open shot of the Russian agricultural magnate declaring his profession. It's a little over the top, as if it were made for the stage, but a lot of fun, and tragically accurate. I imagine... I don't move in those circles.
I wanted to reply about Banshees. As an Irish person (it was very well-received there), there's a lot that didn't work for me. The accents are incongruent (they're from an island, all of them), the manners of speaking also, and it also went a bit extreme, though I think that's often a modern styling. I did absolutely love In Brugges, the director's first feature with the two leading actors.
But yeah, Polegnala e Tudora as the opening audio. Beautiful, but why?! Then I realised, I'm only overly sensitised to it and if it was another song from another culture, it would just have been beautiful music setting a bucolic scene. I learned at the end that the film was shot on the island (Achill) where all my summer holidays were spent, and on the opposite side of the bay from where my father retired to.
Incidentally, about 13 years ago, I brought members of my then-choir (London Bulgarian Choir) over to County Mayo. We sang in the local pub (underwhelming), to the sunrise by the Atlantic, and on top of our local holy mountain (Croagh Patrick - we sang Tukala Li Si sitting behind the chapel, and got ourselves invited on local radio for the following Monday, only we left on the next day). So, not the first time that rich Bulgarian harmonies have caressed those shores.
I highly recommend The Lobster, from Colin Farrell's back catalogue.
Also, during Corona, I managed to watch pretty much all of Akira Kurosawa's movies (it had been a personal objective, and absolutely worth it). Red Beard, Dodesu'kaden really stood out, but not only.
Happy Monday!
Hunger Games.
I am not a TV person. I watch movies sometimes. I don’t like the Oscars anymore... my favorite movies are a surprise to my sensitive character 🫣 Django unchained and Inglorious bastards.... ya ya ya and My Big Fat Greek Wedding ...
My recent movie i watched on Valentine’s and I recommend is
“The lake house” ... made my tears remind me I was alive... and I can’t wait to see John Wick: chapter 4
I make note on co-parenting
... and I did not get the email with this post of yours...
have a super week ahead!