movies

0029 – silence (2016)

spacetime coordinate: St. Paul’s College, Macau  17th century Nagasaki, Japan

Silence-Banner

Silence is a 2016 religious historical epic drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks and Scorsese, based upon the 1966 novel of the same name by Shūsaku Endō. Set in Nagasaki, Japan, the film was shot entirely in Taiwan around Taipei. The film stars Andrew Garfield (as Sebastião Rodrigues), Adam Driver (as Francisco Garupe), Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano and Ciarán Hinds.

The plot follows two 17th century Jesuit priests who travel from Portugal to Japan to locate their missing mentor (Father Cristóvão Ferreira) and spread Catholic Christianity. The story is set in the time of Kakure Kirishitan (“Hidden Christians”) which followed the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638) of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Tokugawa shogunate.

El_Greco_-_The_Veil_of_St_Veronica
father Rodrigues is fascinated by the face of Jesus Christ and visualizes it in the form of this portrait by El Greco
 _____
movies

028 – the revenant (2015)

spacetime coordinate: 1823, unorganized territory, Upper Missouri River, Fort Kiowa, South DakotaGreen River Valley

explorers and fur traders during General Ashley’s expedition

the revenant poster

The Revenant is a 2015 American semi-biographical Western film directed and co-produced by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, based in part on Michael Punke‘s 2002 novel of the same name, describing frontiersman Hugh Glass‘s experiences in 1823. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter.

revenantimdb         wikipedia

movies

027 – Van Diemen’s Land (2009)

spacetime coordinate: 1822, The Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, British colonial penal settlement, established on Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour

Van Diemen’s Land is a 2009 Australian thriller set in 1822 in colonial Tasmania. It follows the story of the infamous Irish convict, Alexander Pearce.

van_diemens_land

A group of transported convicts, suffering brutal treatment at the Sarah Island penal settlement on Van Diemens Land, escape into the Tasmanian wilderness in hopes of reaching the settlements to the east.

___________

imdb

wikipedia

animation, documentary, Uncategorized

0026 – Proteus: A Nineteenth Century Vision 2004

proteus

The animated documentary Proteus explores the nineteenth century’s engagement with the undersea world through science, technology, painting, poetry and myth. The central figure of the film is biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel, who found in the depths of the sea an ecstatic and visionary fusion of science and art.

Selections from the the film Proteus:


imdb

movies

0025 – Enter the Void (2009)

spacetime coordinates: 2000’s Tokyo

Enter the Void is a 2009 English-language French drama film written and directed by Gaspar Noé and starring Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta (*Noé found Paz de la Huerta after holding auditions in New York City.”She had the profile for the character because she likes screaming, crying, showing herself naked—all the qualities for it.” Due to a desire that Linda and Oscar should be believable as siblings, Nathaniel Brown, a non-professional, was cast because of his resemblance to Huerta.:) and Cyril Roy.

Set in the neon-lit nightclub environments of Tokyo, the story follows Oscar, a young American drug dealer who gets shot by the police, but continues to watch subsequent events during an out-of-body experience. The film is shot from a first-person viewpoint, which often floats above the city streets, and occasionally features Oscar staring over his own shoulder as he recalls moments from his past. Noé labels the film a “psychedelic melodrama”.

Noé had tried various hallucinogens in his youth, and used those experiences as inspiration for the visual style. Later, when the director was already planning the film, he tried the psychoactive brew ayahuasca, in which the active substance is DMT. This was done in the Peruvian jungle, where the brew is legal due to its traditional use as an entheogen. Noé described the experience as very intense, and said he regarded it “almost like professional research.” Since few on the design team had ever taken a hallucinogen, it was necessary for Noé to collect and provide visual references in the forms of paintings, photographs, music videos, and excerpts from films. One reference used was the works of biologist Ernst Haeckel, whose drawings influenced the organic patterns seen during Oscar’s visions. read more

___________

imdb

animation, movies

0023 – Immortel (ad vitam) 2004

spacetime coordinate: New York City, 2095

Immortal (French: Immortel, ad vitam) is a 2004 English language French live-action and animated science fiction film co-written and directed by Enki Bilal and starring Linda Hardy, Thomas Kretschmann and Charlotte Rampling. It is loosely based upon Bilal’s comic book La Foire aux immortels (The Carnival of Immortals).

Immortal was one of the first major films (along with Casshern and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) to be shot entirely on a “digital backlot“, blending live actors with computer generated surroundings. The French video game studio Quantic Dream helped produce much of the cinematics.

The film takes place in New York City in the year 2095 where genetically altered humans live side by side with unaltered men and women, and where Central Park has been mysteriously encased in an “intrusion zone” where people who attempt to enter are instantly killed. A strange pyramid has appeared over the city; inside, the gods of ancient Egypt have judged Horus, one of their fellow gods, to cease his immortality.

In the city below, Jill, a young woman with blue hair is arrested…


imdb