2016/03/11

365 days, 382 movies, an amazing experience




Another Earth:
The beggining...

Day 1: Another Earth, 2011
Day 2: Ida, 2013; The Double, 2013
Day 3: Still Alice, 2014
Day 4: The Yellow Handkechief, 2008
Day 5: Kingsman: the secret service,  2014; Focus, 2014
Day 6: Only Lovers Left Alive, 2013.
Day 7: The Fault in Our Stars, 2014
Day 8: Timbuktu, 2014
Day 9: Fifty Shades of Grey, 2015
Day 10: Rushmore, 1998
Day 12: Adam's Apples, 2005
Day 13: 1.000 Times Goodnight, 2013
Day 14: Synecdoche, New York, 2008
Day 15: Elsa and Fred, 2005
Day 16: Troubled Water, 2008
Day 17: The Parsons' Widow, 1920
Day 18: Only Lovers Left Alive, 2013
Day 19: The Salt of the Earth, 2014
Day 21: Insurgent, 2015
Day 22: The Salt of the Earth, 2014
Day 23: Cinderella, 2015
Day 24: Furious 7, 2015
Day 25: The Secret Life of Words, 2005
Day 26: Fright Night, 2005
Day 27: Stations of the Cross, 2014
Day 28: I-Origins, 2014
Day 29: Begin Again, 2013
Day 30: Ender's Game, 2013
Day 31: Flipped, 2010
Day 32: Heathers, 1988
Day 33: Now You See Me, 2013
Day 34: What If, 2013
Day 35: 50%, 2011
Day 36: Les Combattants, 2014
Day 37: Dans la Cour, 2014
Day 38: Don Jon, 2013
Day 39: Anything Else, 2003.
Day 40: Predestination, 2014
Day 41 Chappie, 2015
Day 42: The Lives of Others, 2006
Day 43: Danny Collins, 2015
Day 44: Mr. Nobody, 2013
Day 45: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 1927
Day 46: Daybreakers, 2009
Day 47: Home, 2015
Day 48: In Your Eyes, 2014
Day 49: Avengers: Era of Ultron, 2015
Day 50: The Pillow Book, 1996
Day 51: The 7:39,2014 + Seeking a Friend for The End of The World, 2012
Day 52: Wild Child, 2008
Day 53: White Bird in a Blizzard, 2014
Day 54: Cake, 2014
Day 55: Like Someone in Love, 2012
Day 56: Une Bouteille à la Mère, 2011,
Day 57: Labor Day, 2013
Day 58: Act of Love, 1953
Day 59: Lovers of the Arctic Circle, 1998
Day 60: Tangerines, 2013
Day 61: I Kina Spiser de Hunde, 1999
Day 62: The Art of Getting By, 2011                                            
Day 63: Lemon Tree, 2008
Day 64: El Critico, 2013
Day 66: I was Here, 2008
Day 67: Dr. Strangelove or..., 1964
Day 69: Mad Max, 1979
Day 70: Mad Max 2, 1981
Day 71: Rust and Bone, 2012
Day 72: Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015
Day 73: 3 Coeurs, 2014
Day 74: A Swedish Love Story, 1970    
Day 75: The Age of Adaline, 2015
Day 76: Altman, 2014
Day 77: Short Term 12, 2013
Day 80: Away We Go, 2009
Day 81: The Water Diviner, 2015
Day 82:  Pi, 1998
Day 83: War Games, 1983
Day 84: San Andreas, 2015
Day 85: I'm Not a Hipster, 2012
Day 86: The Face of Love, 2013
Day 87: Horns, 2013
Day 88: The Law of Enclosures, 2000
Day 89: Silver Linings Playbook, 2012+Les Beaux Jours, 2013
Day 90: Sex Tape, 2014
Day 91: La Délicatesse, 2011
Day 92: La Famille Bélier, 2014
Day 93: Les Femmes du 6ème Étage, 2010
Day 94: PS: I Love You, 2007
Day 95: Cursed, 2005
Day 96: Drinking Buddies, 2013
Day 97: Aloha, 2015
Day 98: Obvious Child, 2014
Day 99: Les Amours Imaginaires, 2010
Day 100: The Good Lie, 2014 + Specil Guest: Sense8
Day  101: WildLike, 2014
Day 102: Ernest et Celestine, 2012
Day 103: Dersu Uzala, 1975
Day 104: Touch of Evil  - restored version, 1958 (1998)
Day 105: Rocco i suoi fratelli, 1960
Day 106: Jurassic World, 2015
Day 107: Terminator, 1984
Day 108: Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991 + Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines, 2003
Day 109: Minions, 2015 + Terminator Salvation, 2009
Day 110: La Rizière, 2010
Day 111: Pride & Prejudice, 2005
Day 112: Thanks for Sharing, 2012
Day 113: Kraftidioten, 2014
Day 114: Restless, 2011
Day 115: Terminator Genesys, 2015
Day 116: Locke, 2013
Day 117: While We're Young, 2014
Day 118: The Best of Me, 2014
Day 119: On the Edge, 2001
Day 120: Inside Out, 2015
Day 121: The Maze Runner, 2014
Day 122: Minions, 2015
Day 123: The Burning Plain, 2008
Day 124: The Taming of  the Shrew, 1969
Day 125: The Concert, 2009
Day 126: The Straight Story, 2009
Day 127: Historias Mínimas, 2002
Day 128: Paper Towns, 2015
Day 129: Safety Not Guaranteed, 2012
Day 130: Ant-Man, 2015
Day 131: Advantageous, 2015.
Day 132: Delivery Man, 2014
Day 133: Detachment, 2011
Day 134: Avis de Mistral, 2014
Day 135: Red Lights, 2012
Day 136: The Dust Factory, 2004
Day 137: Land Ho!, 2014
Day 138: Barry Lyndon, 1975
Day 139: High Noon, 1952
Day 140: O Som ao Redor, 2012
Day 141: A Big Hand for The Little Lady, 1965
Day 142: Oldboy, 2003
Day 143: Bad Words, 2013
Day 144: A Second Chance, 2014
Day 145: Der Sibient Kontinent, 1989
Day 146: The Lunchbox, 2013
Day 147: The Truth about Emanuel, 2013
Day 148: Rapture-Palooza, 2013
Day 149: The Breakfast Club, 1985
Day 150: Breathe In, 2013 
Day 151: Paper Man, 2009
Day 152: If I Stay, 2014
Day 153: My Life as a Dog, 1985
Day 154: Brief Encounter, 1945
Day 155: Another Day, 2001
Day 156: Indiscreet, 1958
Day 157: Gemma Bovery, 2015
Day 158: The Invisible, 2007
Day 159: Saving Mr. Banks, 2013
Day 160: To Catch a Thief, 1955
Day 161: Rope, 1948
Day 162: Heights, 2005
Day 163: Summer in February, 2013
Day 164: 12 Angry Men, 1957
Day 165: Strangers in a Train, 1951
Day 166: The Drop, 2014
Day 167: Spurce Code, 2011
Day 168: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 2013
Day 169: Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, 2015
Day 170: Nobody Walks, 2012
Day 171: Irrational Man, 2015
Day 172: Your Sister's Sister, 2013
Day 173: This is Where I Leave You, 2014
Day 174: Fill the Void, 2012
Day 175: Edge of Tomorrow, 2014
Day 176: If I Had Wings, 2013
Day 177: Coco Before Chanel, 2009
Day 178: HeartBreaker, 2010
Day 179: Les Adoptés, 2011
Day 180: Celeste & Jesse Forever, 2012
Day 181: Blade Runner, 1982 (2007)
Day 182: Interview with The Vampire, 1994
Day 183: The Man from U.N.C.L.E, 2015
Day 184: The Lady Eve, 1941
Day 185: Barbecue, 2014
Day 186: Collateral, 2004
Day 187: Moon, 2009
Day 188: Frances Ha, 2012
Day 189: Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu?, 2014
Day 190: Love, 2015
Day 191: The Journey of Natty Gann, 1985
Day 192: Le nom des gen, 2010
Day 193: All is Lost, 2013
Day 194: The Way Way Back, 2013
Day 195: The Flying Scotsman, 2006
Day 196: Elvis and Anabelle, 2007
Day 197: Frank & Robot, 2012
Day 198: The Upside of Anger, 2005
Day 199: Black Hawk Down, 2001
Day 200: Everest, 2015
Day 201: Snowpiercer, 2013
Day 202: The Little Prince + Rich and The      Flash + The Last Drive-in Theater, 2015
Day 203: The Second Mother, 2015
Day 204: Persepolis, 2007
Day 205: Maze Runer: The Scorch Trials, 2015
Day 206: Hanna, 2011
Day 207: Event 15, 2013
Day 208: Before We Go, 2014
Day 209: What We Did on Our Holiday, 2014
Day 210: The Martian, 2015
Day 211: Last Night, 2010
Day 212: French Movie, 2008
Day 213: Pretty Woman, 1990
Day 214: Priceless, 2006
Day 215: Ain't Them Bodies Saints, 2013
Day 216: The Intern, 2015
Day 217: Le Prénom, 2012
Day 218: Words and Pictures, 2013
Day 219: Elsa & Fred, 2014
Day 220: It's Kind of a Funny Story, 2010
Day 221: The Walk, 2015
Day 222: Best Man Down, 2012
Day 223: Heat, 1995
Day 224: Crimson Peak, 2015
Day 225: Tomboy, 2011
Day 226: Back to The Future, 1985 + Back to The Future Part II, 1989
Day 227: La Vénus à la Fourrure, 2013
Day 228: Back to The Future Part III, 1990
Day 229: The Rewrite, 2014
Day 230: Hideous Kinky, 1998
Day 231: Sicario, 2015
Day 232: Vivir és Facil con Los Ojos Cerrados, 2013
Day 233: Blue Ruin, 2013
Day 234: You Can Count on Me, 2000
Day 235: Runaway Bride, 1999
Day 236: The Last Witch Hunter, 2015
Day 237: 101 Reykjavik, 2000
Day 238: St. Vincent, 2014
Day 239: Wadjda, 2012
Day 240: Cairo Time, 2009
Day 241: Spectre, 2015
Day 242: Goosebumps, 2015
Day 243: Zombieland, 2009
Day 244: High Noon, 2009
Day 245: Sweet and Lowdown, 1999
Day 246: Turning Tide, 2013
Day 247: Les Magasin des Suicides, 2012
Day 248: Lars and The Real Girl, 2007
Day 249: Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, 2015
Day 250: Stuck in Love,  2012
Day 251: The Pretty One, 2013
Day 252: The Snow Queen 2, 2014
Day 253: Io e Te, 2012
Day 254: Olmo & the Seagull, 2015
Day 255: Hawaii, Oslo, 2014
Day 256: You Again, 2010
Day 257: Enemy, 2013
Day 258: Arabian Nights: Volume 1 - The Restless One, 2015
Day 259: Taxi, 2015
Day 260: The Road, 2009
Day 261: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, 2015
Day 262: 5 to 7, 2014
Day 263: Love me if You Dare, 2014
Day 264: Self/Less, 2015
Day 265: Pixels, 2015
Day 266: The Hunger Games Mockingjay - Part 2, 2015
Day 267: Leggies, 2014
Day 268: Rudderless, 2014
Day 269: Ae Fond Kiss, 2004
Day 270: Tomorrowland, 2015
Day 271: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, 2014
Day 272: The Patience Stone, 2012
Day 273: My Old Lady, 2014
Day 274: Date and Switch, 2014
Day 275: The Shining, 1980
Day 276: Burnt, 2015
Day 277: Hotel Transylvania 2, 2015
Day 278: An, 2015
Day 279: Victor Frankestein, 2015
Day 280: The Visit, 2015
Day 281: Star Wars: Episodes I, II, II (1999-2005)
Day 282: Star Wars Episodes IV, V, VI (1979-1983)
Day 283: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2015
Day 284: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, 1983
Day 285: Before I Go to Sleep, 2014
Day 286: Laggies, 2014 (Again)
Day 287: Bronson, 2008
Day 288: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2015
Day 289: Playing it Cool, 2014
Day 290: Amour & Turbulences, 2013
Day 291: Arthur Christmas, 2011
Day 292: Tango Libre, 2912
Day 293: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, 2015
Day 294: In the Heart of the Sea, 2015
Day 295: The Clan + Macbeth, 2015
Day 296: Mia Madre, 2015 + Psycho, 1960
Day 297: About Time, 2013
Day 298: 10.000 km, 2014
Day 299: Big Hero 6, 2014
Day 300: Miss You Already, 2015
Day 301: Finding Nemo, 2003
Day 302: Better than Sex, 2000
Day 303: Alexander and the Terrible..., 2014
Day 304: Victoria, 2015
Day 305: The Good Dinosaur, 2015
Day 306: Haemoo, 2014
Day 307: Love the Hard Way, 2001
Day 308: Spotlight + Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2015
Day 309: 18 Comidas, 2010
Day 310: The Hateful Eight, 2015
Day 311: The Peanuts Movie, 2015
Day 312: Carol, 2015
Day 313: Bridge of Spies, 2015
Day 314: Ex Machina, 2015
Day 315: Steve Jobs, 2015
Day 316: Like Crazy 2011
Day 317: Move On, 2012
Day 318: Joy, 2015
Day 319: The Big Short, 2015 + The 5th Wave, 2016
Day 320: Unbreakable, 2000
Day 321: Numb, 2007
Day 322: O Menino e o Mundo, 2013
Day 323: The Gift, 2015
Day 324: Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961
Day 325: Love Story, 1970
Day 326: Closed Circuit, 2013
Day 327: Looking for Eric, 2009
Day 328: The X Files: I Want to Believe, 2008
Day 329: Byuti insaideu, 2015
Day 330: Waking Ned, 1998
Day 331: Call Me Crazy, 2013
Day 332: Requiem for a Dream, 2000
Day 333: Puncture, 2011
Day 334: Scott Pilgrim vc. the World, 2010
Day 335: Annie Hall, 1977
Day 336: Little Shop of Horrors, 1986
Day 337: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, 2008
Day 338: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, 2015
Day 339: Adam, 2009
Day 340: Son of Saul, 2015
Day 341: Brooklyn, 2015
Day 342: The Danish Girl, 2015
Day 343: Deadpool, 2016
Day 344: Anomalisa, 2015
Day 345: Le Tout Nouveau Testament, 2015
Day 346: It's a Disaster, 2012
Day 347: The Boy, 2016
Day 348: Bianca, 1984
Day 349: Empire Records, 1995
Day 350: La Messa è Finita, 1985
Day 351: The Salvatiion, 2014
Day 352: The Revenant, 2015
Day 353: Room, 2015 + Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, 2016
Day 354: Rams, 2015 + Faust, 1926
Day 355: El abrazo de la serpiente, 2015
Day 356: Mustang, 2015
Day 357: Knight of Cups, 2015
Day 358: Trumbo, 2015
Day 359: Solace, 2015
Day 360: Creed, 2015
Day 361: Reservoir Dogs, 1992
Day 362: White God, 2014
Day 363: Every Thing Will Be Fine, 2015
Day 364: Asphalte, 2015 + Hiroshima Mon Amour, 1959
Day 365: The Last Picture Show, 1971 + Another Earth, 2011

Son of Saul, 2015


Room, 2015

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Day Zero: About endings and new beginnings (Texasville - March, 11)

"Liftoff. And may God's love be with you".

Here we are, guys. The end of countdown. The end, my friends. The Omad challenge is over - on a high note, I must say. Amazing movies, blah films, beloved productions and, mainly, lots of love from those who stayed with me through this period of time. A beautiful note, for sure.



Throughout this year (the stereotypical one, composed by 365 days, despite us being on a leap year), some scattered thoughts and feelings came to me. What was changing on my relationship with movies and my perceptions of world and people. I was forcing the choice of movies or just going with the flow? The challenge was a boring obligation or a nice opportunity to view cinema in other ways? I usually question everything, and it wouldn't be different in this daring proposal I presented to my disappointed self one year ago, on March 10, 2015.

The main thought was how time is in fact an illusion. I'd guessed at first that it would take longer to reach this ending point. Actually, it passed in such a fast pace, I'm mesmerized to have reached Day 365. And it looks like it is a lot of movies, but it isn't really. I also had expected to watch all the movies I wanted to see, but again no.  Another wrong idea. The pile of "to-see-films" under my TV got bigger. My watchlist on imdb.com is not small either. And I have my eyes in so many films that I want to meet that I'm not sure a life time will be enough for that. Instead of fill the many holes on my filmography, Omad opened a million others. It proves how fragile the idea of chronological time is. 

Only Lovers Left Alive
There were also practical concerns. A movie watched after midnight belongs to which day? Late at night, tired, what would be a better choice? Holidays, partying with friends, classes, appointments in general... Through all that I would have to make time for the day's movie. Once, I even resorted to the Netflix on my cell while attending a party. I should clarify that I was helping a friend to organize a dinner for her birthday. While we were waiting for her guests to arrive, I quietly found a comfortable space and watched The Upside of Anger. My friend came to see what the movie was about. Some of her closest friends were a bit perplexed that I had to see a movie on that exact moment. Well, that was life for an year. It was so much fun, actually.

I've been talking about the great support of dear friends and their will to participate actively of this challenge that had the purpose of giving a sense to my days when my other plans went to hell. It is with a smile, though, that I remember all the times that I had to leave a place and say goodbye to the perplexed, amazed and amused faces of those not so close friends and acquaintances who could not believe I would go home only to watch a movie. Not by chance it is called a challenge, right?

Away we Go
It was really challenging sometimes, of course. 12 movies here were watched in parts - I'd started them at one day, finishing it on the other. Maybe I'm biased, but I think it is a fairly low number of difficult moments, which were rare compared to the whole. Anyway, I'm happy that I didn't give up on any day. Even if I was upset, tired, sleepy, drunk or just without the slight desire to see a film at that moment. The thing is that the most surprising and beloved movies came to me exactly on days like this: Away We Go, Elvis & Annabelle, Restless, The Art of Getting By, It's Kind of a Funny Story. I'd look for a movie to watch on Netflix, in a state of sheer discouragement,  and it ended up being incredible. That's how Joe named this lucky search as The Magic Shuffle - and it did work beautifully every time.

There were a few days in which I wasn't open to any movie that could be too good - I wasn't worthy of them on those moments. A so so movie would have to do. This way, a film like The Dust Factory became a part of Omad. They're not just poor productions, they're absolutely blah. Well, we have blah days on our lives, and it is just fit that movies as a part of the daily routine would follow this kind of natural trend.

On other days when I wouldn't do justice to anything new, I'd chose reruns of what I have watched before or movies from Omad that I hadn't been able to get away from. Only Lovers Left Alive - there's butterflies in my heart only by thinking of it. How I love, love, love this Jim Jarmusch film. Begin Again and Laggies (both with Keira Knightley) I will see again soon - I've watched it full two times this years, and many, many isolated parts on TV during breakfast. By the way, this new year will be full of reruns. On Omad, they were 52. A big chunk of this challenge.

François Damiens in Delicacy
Talking about numbers, here goes some statistics for you. Omad is composed by 382 films, 112 of which I've watched on a movie theater. There were 14 double showings and only 3 triple ones. I've watched 62 with friends and family; the rest I've met all alone, as it is usual for me. My nieces' kids were my most constant company, of course, specially my oldest great-niece (yep, you've read it right), who is one of my favorite persons in the world. It is not a surprise that she watched 25 movies with me (it was a quiet year for us, I must say). Fla, my beloved older niece, was with me in 10 movies, followed by Rudd, with 9 (who initially had declared the wish to see at least one movie with me per month - we almost got there, Rodrigo!). Mari, an adventurer traveller, was able to see 5 movies with me, which is a miracle - she is not usually in town. Even my resistant mother was by my side in 3 films <3 Thank you, guys! We surely had a great time. My gratitude will be for life, you know that.

Sam Rockell in Moon
Some performers had a more constant cameo on Omad. A few I haven't met before, as François Damiens (4 movies), one of my favorites now. He is so against the grain, just a wonder to see. I've seen Anton Yelchin before, of course, but I was amazed by him during this year, he truly made an impact on me with films as Only Lovers Left Alive and 5 to 7. He is also in 4 films here. You'll sneer at me, but I end this challenge with two new crushes (is it the plural for crush???). Chris Evans (4 movies) proved to be much more than Captain America. I don't dislike the Marvel super hero at all, but in Snowpiercer he is something else. And in Before We Go, his directional debut, he is so cute and heartbroken. Other love of mine here is, of course, Tom Hardy, with the record cameo on Omad: 6 films. I must also mention Sam Rockwell, who steals the scene in every of his movies, even in a smaller role  - he's been here 4 times in 3 different movies. Tom Hiddleston's Adam almost spoiled all his other roles for me (he was here 4 times in 3 movies). Domhnall Gleeson is getting more and more attention, and he made a strong appearance here in 5 movies. Oscar Isaac is worth a note too, with 2 films. But numbers don't tell all, and my forever favorite surely is Mads Mikkelsen, who only was on the cast of 3 movies on Omad. What a shame.

Chris Evans in Snowpiercer

Damn, I almost forget to talk about Mark Ruffalo. Just for that he gets his own paragraph :) I try to follow his career closely. We saw him 7 times on Omad, on 6 movies. Soon, I'll see again one of his first roles, in Committed (2000), a fun and heartfelt and crazy small movie with Heather Graham.

Eva Green in The Salvation
Girl crushes? Eva Green for sure (2 movies), she is stunningly heartbreaking. I don't remember who asked me (It was Rudd, he reminded me of that today :) if I liked Keira Knightley a lot, because there's some movies with her on Omad - six, to be exact. I had to think about that carefully, and the answer is no, nothing special. However, I can relate to her characters, she carries an honesty in her performances that is admirable actually. And I surely enjoy her movies (she has a good taste for picking scripts I must say). Finally, Tilda Swinton is who I'd like to be if I could choose <3

One of the most recurring directors? Anders Thomas Jensen, proving my love for Nordic cinema, with 3 movies. Two Georges, Miller and Lucas, were present on marathons of their famous series - Mad Max and Star Wars, as happened with Robert Zemeckis and the Back to the Future franchising (3 movies) and James Cameron with Terminator (2 movies). Alfred Hitchcock has 4 of his outstanding films here. Another brilliant filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick gave us 3 of his productions based on literary works. Jaco Van Dormael, John Carney, Joe Wright, Mike Cahill, Erik Poppe, all admirable filmmakers, have 2 movies on Omad each.

Wadjda
All man, have you noticed? Susanne Bier, one of my favorite directors, gave us the confusing Second Chance. The deserved mention goes to women that dared the sexist system prevailing in their native countries in order to tell us the strong tales of women and girls on these cruel realities in Mustang and Wadjda.

71 movies came from Netflix. The streaming provider is not just a nice plus anymore, but turned out to be absolutely mandatory for me nowadays. It is not a merchandising, I assure you. But it is undeniable how it is becoming a bigger part of the daily life of those addicted to movie and TV shows around the world. If you don't know it, give it a chance. It is an easy and legit way of finding great productions to watch. The original Netflix productions are outstanding too.

At last, 4 movies were filmed on Iceland, my dreaming place in this crazy world :)

 Up to this day, there were 11.382 pageviews, mostly from Brazil, US, Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, among many others (I loved to read their names on the statistics). The most popular post was Paper Towns (Day 128), followed by Daybreakers (Day 46), Only Lovers Left Alive (Day 6), Another Earth (Day one and Day 365), The Pillow Book (Day 50), Restless (Day 114), Before We Go (Day 208), Blue Ruin (Day 233). I'm not sure about how the blogger's statistics work, but it's hard to believe that those numbers are accurate. It is overwhelming, actually. 

   
Land Ho!


Ok, enough numbers for now. Let's talk about the movies that almost ripped my heart out of my chest in different ways and magnitude. It may sound surprising to you, but I would say Snowpiercer if you had asked me to quote just one movie that represents the current world for me. I could see the surprise on some friends' face when I told them that. But it is true. When I see all the absurdity and horrid violence that are a fundamental part of the modern political and economic systems, I immediately remember this film. I also believe that the solely outcome to all this unfairness of the hideous reality is the same as presented by Snowpiercer.

There were others, of course. Oldboy I'd like to erase from me for good. It is brilliant, but it is something that I'm not sure I would choose to see if I'd be fully aware of what it is about.  A 1.000 Times Good Night tells about the womanly struggle in life. It is so beautiful and uncompromising. Movies that took my feet from the ground and undid me in a way that was hard to even breath: Ida; Son of Saul; Haemoo; Detachment; Fill the Void; The Patience Stone. The Nordic productions always have a scathing way of looking at life and human struggles, as Troubled Water. Two Estonian movies amazed me, Tangerines and I Was Here.

Rust and Bone
There were those who broke my heart in a quieter but equally fierce way, as The Broken Circle Breakdown; Room; Rust and Bone. There were also the indie productions that never fail to amaze me. They're so simple and so accurate at the same time, filling our hearts with so much love: The Art of Getting By; Begin Again; Away We Go; Olmo and the Seagull; It's Kind of a funny story; Elvis & Anabelle; Short Term 12; Delicacy; Laggies; Before we Go; 5 to 7; Lunchbox.

And what to say about the sci-fi movies that approach the many meanings of alive in this mad world by talking about what seems impossible? Predestination; Mr. Nobody; In your Eyes; Another Earth; Moon; Ex Machina - all those I simply loved.

Finally, there's the ones that prove that different ways of narrative, inventive forms of telling, are one of the greatest achievements of movies: Hiroshima Mon Amour; Olmo and the Seagull; Locke; Anomalisa; Mr. Nobody; the abolutelly brilliant Son of Saul. And many, many others.

Hiroshima Mon Amour
Here, on this post, they seem to be mere references, names. In this year, though, they were my way of looking at life in general. In a more intimate note, they were a constant presence in my days, turning my eyes toward a million different directions and, above all, to myself. In the first and last movie of Omad, Another Earth, there's a question about what we would do if we had the chance to meet another us. What would we see? What would we ask to ourselves? Well, for me, the movies are the way of confronting our many selves. Those that are visible from the outside and the ones that are known just by us. And even those selves that are yet to be uncovered.

Jung wrote that the symbolism present in dreams are personal, non transferable. There are universal meanings for every symbol, of course. But in our dreams, a symbol makes sense in our own universe. It is up to us figure out what it is telling us. Well, movies are usually associated to dreams. There's the illusion aspect, the not real thing that we use to relate to dreams and movies. "I dreamt that I was falling from the highest building in the world", someone tells to a friend. "Thanks god it was just a dream" will be the most likely answer. You are dying a fierce death from all the intensity of the feelings in front of the screen, and the person near you gives the usual reply: "Why are you like that? It is just a film. It is not even real". Well.

Terence Malick, the filmmaker that films dreams, thoughts, feelings...
Knight of Cups

Reality is an odd thing to define. Because the other side of dreams - and movies - is that they speak to a part of us that it's beyond rational and factual. As happens in dreams, there's some part of us that we can only access by movies - and art in general. Fictional tales, symbolic images, the retelling of true events (which is still fiction nonetheless), they are not just what we perceive objectively. A film is not just an object to be analysed, and a narrative is beyond its decoupage.

This is one of the reasons why the experience with a movie is also personal, non transferable. We can trhough a cinema class and study the many aspects of production. It's a great subject, for sure. However, when we assume that movies are just this subject for analysis, we close the door for its many and amazing possibilities in our lives. We usually meet people trying to prevail their perceptions above others, as if there was a "true reality" in every thing. Personal, remember? We can discuss movies without knocking down different ideas and feelings about it. Again as it happens in dreams, instead of putting it in the "no real" box, maybe we could try something like "Wow, falling from the biggest building in the world? What did you feel? Do you relate that to anything? What a feeling it must be".

The word here is empathy. And fiction is an amazing way to be aware of otherness through its different medias - movies, songs, books. We should try to see, read or listen to a story in order to empathise to what we don't understand and also as a path to knowing ourselves better, a forma of being aware of what lives in the caverns of our souls, just waiting to come to light.

Locke
But that's just a way of seeing things through. There is an infinite array of others, of course. 

In Hugo (2011), there's a painting of Prometheus giving light to the first humans, who lived in darkness - they were not human at all. From his hands, the light goes down to earth in the similar way of the light that is generated by a movie projector. And that's another view of movies: a way by which the gods gifted us with humanity.

It is like that for me. Since childhood, I felt like an ET in the world around me. I didn't fit anywhere. I couldn't make sense of what was around me. It didn't help that I had a very reclusive life, in a ghost town that is nothing else than the capital of a country. My Rabbit's hole to the world were the movies I saw on TV and, after that, on movie theaters. On the moment, at the age of 11, in which I became a frequent movie goer I was truly born. From that instant on, I was aware of the bigger world which my town is a small and square part.

Hugo

Most of all, it is with the movies that I can understand not just myself, but others, and, by understanding, reach a kind of empathy that I wouldn't be able to achieve through any other way. Understanding, awareness, care, attention. Love. Those are all gifts Prometheus gave me with his light.

I thought at first that after these amazing 365 I would have to take a time away from movies. I couldn't have been more wrong. I cannot wait to reach the ones I wanted to see on this years, but wasn't able to. I cannot wait to discover new ones. My love for movies, life, people grew during this Omad year. I'll be eternally grateful for the tiny idea of challenging myself that came to me in a time of bleakness one year ago.

It's  like I've read once: the more cracks we have in our souls, more light gets through them.

Thank you for being here with me. See you soon, in the new adventures ahead.

All my love, Adriana.


Not in a movie theater!!!

 PS: I wouldn't bring out a post on Omad without talking about a movie, right? But the focus on this day was thinking about the whole experience. That's why today's film is in this post scriptum. 

 I didn't know there was a follow up to The Last Picture Show. I thought then that it would be interesting seeing a sequel, something that is related to the  past, to the original story, but presents something new - after all, that's the main tone of today's post. This way, Texasville was my choice. 

 I wasn't sure I wanted to know what had happened to those characters, though. I had my own ideas about it, and I reckon that one of the strong features of The Last Picture Show is the uncertainty around those people's future. 

 The curiosity won the war. Something that became clear since the beginning was that the darkest atmosphere of the first part was absent. A more delicate and subtle tone was adopted here. I could even say that this movie is a dramedy, actually. The characters are not just older, they are getting old. This way, their perception of things is different and it doesn't fall into more extreme manners. But it is still intense, dealing with deep feelings and issues.

 The focus here is not Sonny, but Duane (I could finally recognize Jeff Bridges :). He is not the rowdy young man anymore, but a guy who is an important part of his comunity, even if his actions are still reckless.  But he is solid, and that's one of the main reasons why this movie captivated my attention. 

 I would have foreseen bleaker futures for everyone. Anarene is still a small town lost in the middle of nowhere. Nevertheless, it is not dead as in the first film. The people in it keep it alive, amazingly as it seems since everyone is crazy. Or maybe just because of that.

 I guess that there was a lot of expectations about this sequel. Peter Bogdanovich was daring in presenting a whole different movie from before, in a lighter tone. And there's so much love in this film, something that was absent from the first one. It is something that keeps everyone together. I think that was Peter Bogdanovich's response to all the despair and hopelless pictured 45 years ago. Not a bad answer at all. 
Texasville. Directed and written by Peter Bogdanovich from
the novel by Larry McMurtry. Cast: Jeff Bridges, Cybill
Shepherd, Timothy Bottoms,  USA, 1990, 123 min., Mono, Color.


 PPS: I wrote this post with the help of some of my favorite soundtracks. First I heard Before Sunset, that presents a few songs by Julie Delpy (I haven't listen to it for a long time, it reminds the time I was writing my master's thesis, almost 10 years ago). After, I put on the Out of Sight CD, another one that was on the shelf for a while and that is as fun and clever as the movie itself. Thicker than Water, by Jack Johnson, is an amazing soundtrack and part of my studies on the master degrees also. Her was with me on the last lines of the main post, making me cry in plain sight of the people around me in a public library (What I was thinking when I chose writing about that in public I don't know). I got really emotional :) Finally at home, I put Pride and Prejudice on, another soundtrack that I adore, by the amazing Dario Marianelli.

 PPPS: There's new blogs on the way. As soon as I publish them, I'll post the link to them here.
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