Of summer breezes and teenage dreams, of hot nights and everlasting days, of young smiles and muffled secrets. Of wolves disguising as sheep and forced compliance. Of a life, young and broken.
Smooth Talk, directed by Joyce Chopra, is unapologetically 80s. Everything, from the bubble gum pink accessories to the grainy film, from the pastel palette to the voluminous bangs, from the protagonist's family to her need for love, it is all an already seen play. But then something goes…
"The devil made him do it"
Devils and sinners, a world of deception and crimes, a world of darkness. How do you find the right path if you can't see it? Your mind so lost in a mist of unknown fumes, your body acting on its own, deciding for you what has to be done. Light scorches the dark veil, playing tricks on your eyes, making you see, for a moment, not enough to give you knowledge, but more than…
Cold neon lights invade the city, they fill the night with artificial colors and ready-made emotions, making the familiar streets of home suddenly feel foreign. Amidst this changing urban jungle, people navigate the new world alone, struggling to float. Modernity alienates people, who either try to find refuge in the memory of a glorious past, or try to face the future, behind a shield of dark glass. All that remains are reflections, soulless scraps of what once were people.
Taipei…
Go Ulysses. Hide into the night. Hope the gods don't see you nor hear you, as you blabber your way through these streets. The gods that give you life but refused to take action, refused to give you a chance. These laughing gods, see you walking alone, desperate, naked. They watch, sad, spiteful creatures, they watch the poor trying to navigate life, all-mighty, they could give you a lifeboat, but they don't. The gods leave you there, in the cold…
Close your eyes and dream. Of a life made of silliness and joy, of smiles and music and dancing and loving. A life where time doesn't have any meaning, where clocks stop working and nothing is on your mind. A life without struggles nor crisis. A life you cannot have, aside from in your dreams.
Roman Holiday is a parenthesis of pure joy and giggles, a movie with a silly premise (a princess runs away for a day and explores…
Faces stand against blue backgrounds. Tired, motionless. Every inch of skin covered in dust, scars uncovered. Faces that look like maps, signed by time, by pain, by solitude, wrinkles, spots and marks that tell lifetime stories, without words necessary. In a waste land, souls meet in the most unexpected places, while the Seine runs inscrutable, unperturbed.
Les Amants du Pont-Neuf is a love story set in Paris, two vagrants find each other on a bridge closed for repairs, they are…
Tanned bodies lay around, bashing in the sun. Skin exposed, eyes closed, the torrid wind caresses them, the heat embraces them gently. The pool reflects the rays of the sun, inviting, refreshing water. Summer drains energy and the bodies langue on the ground, waiting. You can smell it in the air, the tension, the anguished waiting. What is that we are waiting for? The people, the minds, do not know, but the bodies do. You can see it in their…
The sun shines bright today. Shines on every flower, every person, every crack. It exalts the beauty, making color pops and souls get warm. It shines, and by reflection everything shines with it. Everything is so beautiful under the sun, no secret can be kept from its vivacious presence, but no worries, we don't have secrets her, do we? Because if we had, the sun would be quick to reveal them, insinuating itself in every crack. And it hot, isn't…
Marry for love. He said. Love. As if such thing was real. As if such thing was possible. To follow your heart only brings to ruin. But then, what good does it bring to follow your family's orders? No matter what, fortune will always be their merit, disgrace will always be your fault. It doesn't matter that you had no role in deciding your fate, that it was always someone else's choice, someone else's violent act, it will always be…
Lies. Sins. Corruption. Indecency. Oh, this messed up, this horrible, wrong world. And the kids. Oh, the kids. Them too. Full of lies and ugliness. Corrupted, both of them. Corrupted by those two, those... Lovers. Who gave them the right to be together? It's not proper, it's not fair. They haunt the empty halls of this big manor, they whisper in the darkness, they plot, scheme. I hear them breathing, watching us, me. And the kids. Innocent creatures they were.…
Doubles and opposites. Night and Day. Sun and Moon. Draining power from one another, weakening each other. Yet, not killing. For that would only mean one thing: the end, of everything. Power imbalance must be avoided. But you seek power. It's your only job, to obtain it, is it? A relentless, restless game of mouse and cat. An infinite search for something unachievable. A game of shadows and lights, beautiful, yet vain in its beauty.
Duelle by Jacques Rivette is…
Come Alice, and follow me into Wonderland.
Follow me, down a spiral of magic.
Madness.
Is it madness? To think you could be happy... If you just sit still and watch.
Watch, my precious Alice, as your story is written for you.
Celine and Julie go boating is the epitome of the French New Wave. A movie were nothing is what it seems, a movie that asks for the viewers to trust it, as it brings them into an uncharted…