Mythos & ethoS

"i like having a cast doing something difficult in every shot"

-Wes Anderson

A rarity is what i would call this film. Not for being odd or silly. But because nowadays it´s really rare to watch a good, well written, well performed, well directed and entertaining movie at the same time. A STORY WORTH TELLING. A story you would actually like seeing again and again. Because it is very well told. The characters are 3 dimensional. They have feelings, they are coherent. They are different among themselves. No one is the same as the other. Like in theatre everyone has their ins and outs. Every character portrayed plays their part as if it was a dance or a gymnastics choreography. No egos, No superstars trying to get the most camera time in the editing room. Every single one wants to be a part of the Wes Anderson universe. And to be inside that world is a privilege. It´s a simple, little film about a hotel. The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The way Wes Anderson introduces us to his simetrically perfect world is like in every one of his films. By the time the credit sequence is over. We are in. The way he plans his shots for them to condence the most of the story inside a  a single frame is a real treat. I laughed at his dark humor and really enjoy watching this film. Because it is a great film told by a great director. He is clearly influenced by french cinema and old black and white films. But he took film to an unthinkable perfection. The colors, the music, the acting, the timming, the humor. It is a film that could be shot indoors but you never feel like you are in a closed space. Wes Anderson is in fact a genre of his own. A Wes Anderson film is  unique.

Terry Gilliam once told Quentin Tarantino " You have a vision of a movie in your mind now gather the best people in the business and tell them your vision so that they can bring it to life coreographed by you" That´s the importance of the director". It is the very fundamental of why he is there. That is why many directors continue to work with the same cinematorgraphers, camera crew, gaffers, sound directors, composers, editors etc, etc, etc. There is no written formulas to success but as in real life chemistry exists and when several, very talented people get together they can make movie magic.

Wes Anderson reminded us of one key element of going to the movies:  enjoy the film. He really delivers us a good story with solid characters. No mistakes or script flaws, or  stupid twists. This movie is a must.

The GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is a character on its own. It is center stage and it holds the intimate secrets of everyone who works there and stays there as a guest.

"i have always wanted to work in the theatre, but i´ve never actually done it. Not since i was in fifth grade, but i´ve had many plays in my films. maybe....theatre is a part of my movie work"

-Wes Anderson

TIME AND TIDE

MEMPHIS TIME
As if someone had encapsulated together both the wind, the sea and all our memories. Alan Silvestri´s score for the movie CAST AWAY reaches far into the deepest corners of our mind Robert Zemeckis put it on film. Tom Hanks portrayed Chuck Noland. No Land?? hmm

I´LL BE RIGHT BACK!
Chuck Noland is so sure of everything. He works for FEDEX, he lives by the clock, he is a workaholic. So much he has gained fame in FEDEX  as someone who  "stole a bike in order to deliver a package".  He torments others about how they should do their job, as if life was A FEDEX DEADLINE to reach. We live by the clock we die by the clock. As if his life was such an example. But his life changes unexpectedly when he is on a plane crash.
Leaving him... all alone... on an island with a lot of FEDEX packages.

HELLO!!ANYBODY OUT THERE ??!

He screams, he cries , he calls for help!  Every time i see this film, i found myself making the same choices as Chuck. You get on a plane sure you will reach your destination. You unbuckel your seatbelt because you want to grab what you most love the watch with Kelly´s picture. You cry for help because there will always be someone to help you. You find yourself full of darkness. And that is when we search for light. With doubt comes knowledge. There are a lot of hidden messages on this film intentionally or not. But to me it is the masterpiece of both actor TOM HANKS and director ROBERT ZEMECKIS. The island can be a metaphor of the mind.

As this movie portrays life as a mirror. All of our choices are roads we will take. If it takes us far or near. If it is a defeat or a victory. We should learn from every experience.We don´twant life to change but it does. We don´twant people to go but they do. What we must always treasure is the chance to be alive, to be aware of life, to be able to look around and enjoy it. 

WILSON IM SORRY!!!
Wilson is born from Chuck drawn with his blood. Wilson a methapor of the importance of others in our life. What we can achieve by being silent. Have you ever done that? just listen to others instead of trying to win an argument?
Wilson has no dialogue, Wilson has no actions or reactions. But the way it interacts with Chuck as a witness of his adventures, makes it so hard for the viewer to watch him go.  As the tide takes him further. How we miss him when he is gone. Chuck´s life will never be the same but is not over its only beggining. 

Wilson is everything but "a goddamn volleyball!!!"



YOU´RE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE
I THINK The message is not only about a man who lost everything because of being a CAST AWAY BUT about a man who thought controlled everything and everyone.
 As he returns to civilization, on a rainy night he goes to see Kelly only to realize one thing  "Now i´m back and i´ve lost you all over again". Kelly was his hope. Chuck finds out the reason he is alive is for himself.

YOU LOOK LOST
And just when his task is over, when he finds his way home. He finds out the world moves on with or without him. Nothing is certain. Nothing lasts forever. As waves in the ocean are the only eternal sound. We are mere guests here in this life. As Chuck finds himself in a cross road with 4 different options. We are left wondering what would he choose? What would i choose if i had to start all over again from zero?

I HAVE MADE FIRE !!!

a·chieve·ment: something accomplished, especially by superior ability, special effort, great courage, etc.; a great or heroic deed: his remarkable achievements in art.

We are made of goals and achievments. We value so little what we´ve got until we have lost it. And i´m not talking material things. When we value each other. Respect everyone that makes us better.We must seek others not be an island. In order for us to be happy we have to be exposed and we have to risk failure.  This film earned no Oscars. But it is a testament of what excellent filmmaking is. 

A great cast a great score and a great story crafted by a great team including one hell of a Director. We can be certain of very few things in life. 

As there is Time... there is Tide.

"acting is a never-ending process of examining where you are in life"
-Tom Hanks 

FAMILIAR FACES

In movies we often expect actors to portray the same characters over and over again. There are main characters, supporting characters, but many are extras or have one single line of dialogue. Not often recognized by name when the credits roll. But always recognized by their face. 

Albert "Al" Leong 

Martial Arts expert and stunt double in over 200  movies. Has been killed in most of them. Ofently typecasted as an evil thug. Al Leong is a legend in the underworld  movie community.

Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson Sr.

He helped Brandon Lee as Sergeant Albrecht in Alex Proyas Cult masterpiece The Crow and  saved the world as Winston Zeddemore in both Ghostbusters movies. Often portrays a good guy doing whats right. To me his best character; as Solomon in  The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

Richard "Rick" Ducommun 

Neither good or bad...This Canadian comedian turned actor appears in many many films saying one liners or being the annoying rich guy in The Last Boyscout  or even a yelling costumer in Groundhog day. His best movie is with non other than Tom Hanks as two suspicious neighbors called THE BURBS

Udo Kier  

This german actor has appeared in more than 200 movies. Mostly horror movies as a vampire. He usually gets type cast as a villain. Why?  because he looks Evil and always planning something. I´ve always dreamed of a James Bond film in black and white ...if I directed it... he would be the PERFECT BOND villain.

William Gary Busey

Neither good or evil, always on the grey line doing what is best for him: Predator 2, Under Seige, Lethal Weapon, The Firm, Fear and Lothing in Las vegas ...to name a few. He has performed all....  Awesome villain, great hero both corrupt cop and funny bank robber. One word UNPREDICTABLE.

Andrew Daniel Divoff  

Another 48 hrs, Toy Soldiers , AIR FORCE ONE, Venezuelan actor always typecasted  as a bad guy because of his looks and accent.

Bradford Claude "Brad" Dourif 

Who can forget his maniac laughter. Most people don´t even recognize him by face. He ofently plays disturbed characters, as GRIMA Wormtongue in Lord of the Rings trilogy and as  Charles Lee Ray also known as CHUCKY in the cult movie franchise CHILD´S PLAY. 

Michael Ironside

Famous on TV because of the TV SERIES "V". Usually typecasted as a military officer because of his commanding Voice. Ironside is one of the best actors as supporting cast ever. Acted in Scanners, Total Recall, Top Gun, Star Ship Troopers.

Walter Charles Dance

Always a Gentleman. One of my favorite English actors. Clever sight and cunning dialogue. He is one of the finest villains in movie HISTORY. He is not too over exposed. He made a horrible movie tolerable as bad guy MR. BENEDICT in The Last Action Hero saying the line: HELLO TOTO! and made the most deep character since Lt. Ellen Ripley in the Alien saga as Johnathan Clemens. A morphin adict doctor who decided to stay behind humanity as one of the 25 prisioners in Alien 3´s Fury 161. Saying: "When they stayed ......I stayed."

William Henry "Bill" Duke, Jr.

Born in 1943 in New York, a very tall actor. Commando, Predator, Action Jackson, Bird on a Wire, Red Dragon or Payback he usually is in action films. The quintessential "Tough guy" He has played a Police Chief, a Detective, an assasin, a Pimp and a corrput agent. With his no expression face meaning he is only business.

A true actor delivers and convinces with his performance without you knowing or even thinking "he is acting". A true actor becomes the part. He is like you or me in real life but on a sound stage. When he hears "ACTION" he is not acting but living the moment. This performances are almost invisible because they are not main characters but that does not make them less important as part of a whole entity called A MOVIE. Either good or bad this are a few of a long list of unrecognizable names ...but familiar faces.

My favorites

1978 was the year i was born. I have no clue to how many movies i´ve watched since. But i´m sure of something... I LOVE going TO THE MOVIES. I asked myself 10 questions as i revisited different films as well as stages of my life in the  process.....

1)My favorite COMEDYI guess it depends on what mood you're in that day
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, CAVEMAN,,,, 
If i had to pick just ONE:  
TOP SECRET Because ... Val Kilmer as a young ELVIS PRESLEY type of ROCK STAR going to sing to NAZI GERMANY. The MOST RIDICULOUS MOVIE PLOT EVER. 
But it works. The way AIRPLANE did. Top Secret pushed further. Nonsense everywhere. Not taking anything serious. Doing good parodies to ICONS and POP CULTURE is not easy.  

2)The film I WATCH the most
There are two films i watch almost every week The Social Network or Moneyball.

 I don´t really know if its Sorkin´s way of writing dialogue or the long moments of silence and reflection that both movies soundtracks HAVE. But i´ve lost track on how many times i´ve watched them .

3)My favorite SOUNDTRACK

Crazy Heart 
I LoveJeff Bridges acting and I love COUNTRY music !! JUST EPIC! I´m a fan of his work since I can recall ....he made The last Picture show, KING KONG on the 70´s with Jessica Lange all the way through the 80´s with TRON and the 90´s with BIG LEBOWSKI. A LEGEND.

4)My favorite CONCERT movie
METALLICA -ORGULLO PASION Y GLORIA 
UNbelievable is to meet  your idols. 
FCKN AWESOME!!! to have it captured ON A MOVIE.  
Inside CHAPTER 23 holds the testament of:
whatever you wish can become true. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!

5)The film i love that NO ONE else has HEARD OF

It´s a tie between my two favorite comedians...
Peter Sellers and Gene Wilder.

BEING THERE is Peter Sellers PERFORMANCE of a lifetime. As a Stan Laurel(ish )character who is the victim of everyone´s assumptions. After facing the death of his long time employer the life of Chance, a simple gardener will never be the same.

FRISCO KID is a "buddy movie " featuring the talents of Gene Wilder & Harrison Ford can you i magine that. Avram the rabbi and Tommy the outlaw TOGETHER??? It´s a wonderful light comedy set in the Old West Gold Rush to San Francisco.

6)the film that always makes me CRY
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Gene Wilder makes an awesome performance as a scary ,crazy owner of a Candy World Corporation. But i have to say it is Peter Ostrum (Charlie) whose performance floored me. Every time i  watch Charlies face when he opens that Wonka Bar searching for the last Golden Ticket. 

7)the film i LOVE that everyone HATES
GOAL
Kuno Beckers performance is not the best, neither is his english. But at least he tried. Whenever i catch it on TV i watch it full and enjoy it. As ROCKY  did on the 70´s it is the story of an UNDERDOG who wants BIG THINGS. To play professional footbal in ENGLAND. Maybe because I love soccer. I would´ve loved to play professional soccer.

8)the film i will NEVER watch again
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM 
It gave me too many nightmares. 






9)the FIRST movie i ever saw
Cinderella 
One of my aunts took me to the movie theatre when i was like 3  but after it i was a little dissapointed because the story wasn´t about the adventures of little mice but about a princess and her step mother. But i loved eating popcorn.

10)the film that SCARES me the most
PET SEMATARY 
It is really scary TO ME beacause it deals with the relationship of DEATH AND LOVE and the circle it makes in our lives. As many fear DEATH because of what it takes away. Stephen King uses that unconditional LOVE to trick us into watching a film that is very, very dark. Rooted within us is the question ..what if we had the power to bring someone back to life? To me that is a scary thought.

ThisDiseased Lewis Carroll Universe

....thats what, american film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum called Terry Gilliam´s film TIDELAND.

"I don´t want to do what is easy ...I don´t want to do what everybody else is doing.

There´s enough people out there doing that and they are tecnically better than I am 

I don´t want know about that.

I wanna take the ideas, the stories... that nobody wants to touch 

or doesn´t know how to make in this instance"

- Terry Gilliam

The first movie i ever saw of Terry Gilliam was 12 Monkeys. It attracted me because of my cousin ALEX. WHO told me you had to watch this FILM! Its Brad Pitt & Bruce Willis like you´ve never seen them. Not in hollywood STYLE but in the world of Terry Gilliam!! He also got me interested in riding bikes, READING Spiderman comics (he had a massive collection) The magazine "HEAVY METAL" listening to jazz,  Neil Peart´s DRUMMING, Nine Inch Nails The downward spiral, oil Painting and french press coffee.

As we begin to grow and experience things we begin liking some better than others. Brands and styles. Movies and stories. Trends and tendencies. As if we were trying on clothes. We watch on others and on ourselves. Some stay forever others pass quickly. The importance of having options or adding colors to our own palette is fundamental.In movie making the more you have to choose from the better. I have many favorite films & directors one of them is Terry Gilliam because he makes no repeated formulas.He has no FEAR.

The representation of SPACE affects the reading of a film. Depth, proximity, size and proportions of the places and objects in a film can be manipulated through camera placement and lenses, LIGHTNING( has a profound effect on the way an image is perceived), DECOR(the objects contained in and the setting of a scene), effectively determining mood or relationships between elements in the diegetic world. Terry Gilliam plays with all of these elements for his dark storytelling.

His worlds are full of fantasy and dirt, a magic loneliness, surreal confussion and misguided adventures...as if we enterd a world full of lost people in the after math of war. A world recovering. A world that just exploded and is trying to join all the broken pieces. Like in BRAZIL. A world not completly clean nor clear in ideas. Deeply troubled main characters that have to socialize within as well  as stumbling onto others. There are no supporting ROLES everyone counts. As in movies or theatre we all are laughing as we witness the brutality of the few who think PEOPLE MUST BE CONTROLED. Gilliam makes this point across like on  the Monthy Python skits.

Only in a Terry Gilliam movie you will see HUGE UNIQUE

worlds made of clouds and doubts, colorful CHARACTERS, grey PERFORMANCES,  factory bureaucracy, deformed lifestyles , THE BROTHERS GRIMM, a fisher king, the future made of brick walls, A  BARON MUNCHAUSEN, CRAZY CAMERA ANGLES,  the ever present poor people, the all seeing eyes, all the  questions remain silent as type writers, TIME BANDITS , ZERO THEOREMS and wait...Tom Waits is the devil.??????

To André Bazin, a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist, he believed that a film should represent a director's personal vision but the interpretation of a film or scene should be left to the spectator.

The real magic of Terry Gilliam, to me is that he doesn´t have to make sense. Nor is trying to give us a happy closure perfect movie ending. He screams his thoughts and ideas out there for us to see and experience. No one is right or wrong. THE IMAGINATION has no limit. Every MIND is DIFFERENTLY complicated. As admiring a painting... Gilliam´s work stays with us and speaks to you. And you ALONE. Everyone can criticize but you have to acknowledge...He has THE COURAGE TO PUT IT ON FILM. His work has influenced, trascended  and molded my creative process in so many different ways  as those rainy afternoons with my cousin ALEX... listening to jazz, drinking coffee and  watching a Terry Gilliam movie...

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...

"I know this sound silly ...and i know that i might sound ridiciulous...like this is "the scene" of the movie, where the guy is trying to get a hold of the long lost son... this is "that scene" and i think they have "those scenes" in movies because they´re true."

-Philip Seymour Hoffman 

DARKNESS

By some fantastic inexplicable unknown force every movie begins so. In darkness. We don´t know whats it about or who are we going to meet. But i discovered the one true constant in every single movie ever made in history. And that is ..."Time stops here for a reason".

Movies are stories worth telling by characters we are drawn to like or to hate. Told by them and witnessed by us. To be in a little relationship. A two hour relationship. Character involves the illusion of being a human and a premise is an assumption that something that will happen is true.

"to be able to tranform, to undergo a metamorphisis not act but become and comand and inhabit the character" 

-Martin Scorsese

The Academy is not always right...it has given OSCARS for 86 years and not necessarily are THOSE MOVIES OR PERFORMANCES THE BEST OF THAT YEAR. In my opinion. 

"acting is ...claiming the moment " 

-Marlon Brando 

Movies also reflect the struggle within ourselves and our inner changes.

"i was creating characters that i felt ... i´m learning" 

-Dustin Hoffman

The way a story is told,  the way we are introduced to the characters. Conflict or the lack of it moves the main character to action taking him outside his daily routine. Or the oposite. A charcter so troubled by the constant conflicts of his own persona he cannot relate to anyone not even him or herself.

TIME. 

Time is the only proof that a movie has what it takes to prevail. Performances that last forever. To act is to portray the inner truth of another human being. Year after year we watch performances that reach deep inside ourselves. Portrayed by a stranger we will never meet but we will always remember.

Movies are the way may skilled artists are capable of carrying emotions to our senses in a cinema. From  script to film from the movie set and a camera to finally reach our EYES and SENSES.

THE MAGIC

The real MAGIC in movies happens in scenes where absolute silence could be just listening to the wind or missing someone we lost. Scenes where you can almost hear the character´s mind. Nothing in movies is ignorable.

"ignorable is different from unimportant"

-Meryl Streep

As different people there are different points of view. My favorite is not gonna be your favorite. There are movies we buy, movies that make you think, others make you laugh, others you can never watch again. WHY????Movies are deep connections and answers to ourselves. We watch each other and ourselves in the silver screen. And how easy it is as an audience to criticize. To stand up and go. Or to remain seated watching how it will end. What all of this is about.

Movies are entertainment, teaching tools, they are history, they are fiction or human feelings encapsulated in film. They ALL mark  a certain point of view. We might not share it, WE MIGHT NOT EVEN LIKE IT, but it is basic to our social behavior and every day communion to respect the other and what his beliefs. Everyone... has felt happy, afraid or sad. Triumph or tragedy are constants worth telling the stroy.The movies in our lives  become a part of us kind of like our family. We are all not the same it´s the differences that makes us grow and learn and come together.  Thats is why "THE MOVIES" are so important to us. And that is why we MUST go to the movies . To feel that experiences over and over again.

If Movies are events (TIME)

the Score is the mood (STOPS) 

Actors perform the present (HERE).

That  is why...Time stops here.

"if you analyze it..... the way fairy tales and folk tales are analyzed.............. all those characters actually, probably represent aspects of the protagonist. It´s really Dorothy who needs courage, needs the brain, needs a heart " 

-Harold Raimis (talking about The Wizard of OZ)