0742 – LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE / Ruang rak noi nid mahasan (2003)

timespace coordinates: 2000’s Thailand

Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang directs the character-driven drama Last Life in the Universe, co-written by first-time screenwriter Prabda Yoon. Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) is a Japanese man living in Bangkok. He lives a tidy, silent lifestyle fueled by the detached desire to kill himself. Meanwhile, Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak) is a pot-smoking call girl who lives in a  shabby beachside home outside the city. She tries to teach herself to speak Japanese with hopes of moving to Osaka. One day, Kenji walks into his apartment as his brother Yukio (Yutaka Matsushige) is involved in a gun fight with gangster (yakuza) Takashi (Riki Takeuchi). Then Kenji accidentally witnesses the death of Noi’s lovely sister, Nid (Laila Boonyasak), with whom he first became smitten at the library. Having nowhere to go, Kenji goes to live with Noi for a few days, leading to the development of a strange and sensitive relationship. With cinematography by Hong Kong-based photographer Christopher Doyle. Last Life in the Universe won an Upstream Prize at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. (rottentomatoes)

Last Life in the Universe OST – Untitled [Are you alone? Are you lonely?]

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Too hot inside Too hot outside Lazy days when I said let’s go for a ride

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CocoRosie / insta / twitt /

freak folk / New Weird America

0713 – The City Dark (2011 documentary)

THE CITY DARK is a feature documentary about the loss of night. After moving to NYC from rural Maine, filmmaker Ian Cheney asks a simple question – do we need the stars? – taking him from Brooklyn to Mauna Kea, Paris, and beyond. Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawaii, tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing injured birds on Chicago streets, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights – including increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night, and a generation of kids without a glimpse of the universe above. Featuring stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, THE CITY DARK is the definitive story of light pollution and the disappearing stars. (imdb)

The City Dark is a documentary film by filmmaker Ian Cheney about light pollution. It won the Best Score/Music Award at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival and was nominated for at the 34th News & Documentary Emmy Awards. (wiki)

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 “It looks like the stars have been scattered across the ground. Have you ever … Have you ever seen anything so full of splendor?” Dolores Abernathy

703 – Early Man (2018)

timespace coordinates:  Stone Age / Bronze Age Manchester

Early Man is a 2018 British stop-motion animated historical sports comedy film directed by Nick Park, written by Mark Burton and James Higginson, and starring the voices of Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, and Timothy Spall. The film follows a tribe of primitive Stone Age valley dwellers who have to defend their land from bronze-using invaders in an association football match.

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0702 – Ben-Hur (2016)

timespace coordinates: 25 – 33 ancient Rome / Jerusalem / Ionian Sea

Ben-Hur is a 2016 American epic historical period drama film directed by Timur Bekmambetov and written by Keith Clarke and John Ridley. It is the fifth film adaptation of the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace following the 1907 silent short film, the 1925 silent film, the Academy Award-winning 1959 film and the 2003 animated film of the same name. It has been termed a “re-adaptation”, “reimagining”, and “new interpretation” of the novel.  (wiki)

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0699 – The Lone Ranger (2013)

timespace coordinates: 1933  San Francisco / 1869  Texas

The Lone Ranger is a 2013 American western action comedy directed by Gore Verbinski from a screenplay written by Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio. Based on the radio series of the same name, the film stars Johnny Depp as Tonto, the narrator of the events, and Armie Hammer as John Reid, the Lone Ranger. It relates Tonto’s memories of the duo’s earliest efforts to subdue local villainy and bring justice to the American Old West.  It is the first theatrical film featuring the Lone Ranger and Tonto characters in the more than 32 years following William A. Fraker‘s 1981 film, The Legend of the Lone Ranger.

Johnny Depp’s make-up and costume were inspired by artist Kirby Sattler’s painting “I am Crow.”

The film was originally supposed to have a plot focusing more on supernatural elements and Native American mysticism. This mainly would’ve taken the form of werewolves, which would’ve explained the silver bullets. However, this draft was supposedly part of the initial 250 million dollar proposal that Disney quickly cancelled after John Carter (2012) underperformed. When the project was revamped to meet Disney’s approval, it came more in line with the current script. (read more: Trivia)

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“nature is indeed out of balance”

imdb    Comanche   /   wendigo

0689 – Furious aka Legend of Kolovrat (2017)

timespace coordinates: 13th century Russia

Furious, also known as Legend of Kolovrat (Russian: Легенда о Коловрате, translit. Legenda o Kolovrate), is a 2017 Russian historical fantasy film about the Ryazan knight Evpaty Kolovrat, It is directed by Dzhanik Fayziev & Ivan Shurkhovetskiy and stars newcomer Ilya Malakov, Polina Chernyshova, Aleksei Serebryakov, Aleksandr Ilyin Jr. and Yulia Khlynina in supporting roles.

Film is based on the period when Russia was under control of the Golden Horde. Ryazan knight Evpaty Kolovrat is the leader of the squad, which decides to fight back Batu Khan , who divided Russia.

The plot is based on The Tale of the Destruction of Riazan, a medieval military tale about the capture of the city of Ryazan by the Mongols in 1237 and is one of the best sources of the Mongol invasion of Russia. (wiki)

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