animation

0483 – Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010)

spacetime coordinates:   post-human extinction-era Australia

legend poster

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is a 2010 American-Australian 3D computer-animated fantasy-adventure film based on the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219342/

movies

0461 – My Friend Dahmer (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1974 – 1978  Bath, Ohio

My-Friend-Dahmer-movie-poster

My Friend Dahmer is a 2017 American biographical drama film written and directed by Marc Meyers about the American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. It is based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by cartoonist John “Derf” Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school in the 1970s, soon before Dahmer began his killing spree. The film stars Ross LynchAlex WolffDallas Roberts, and Anne Heche.

Dahmer 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2291540/

movies

403 – Crimson Peak (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 1901 New York (state) // Cumbria

crimsonmondo

Crimson Peak is a 2015 American gothic romance film directed, co-produced and co-written by Guillermo del Toro, co-produced by Callum Greene, Jon Jashni and Thomas Tull and co-written by Matthew Robbins. It stars Mia WasikowskaTom HiddlestonJessica ChastainCharlie Hunnam and Jim Beaver.

crimson_peak_still

crimson_peak_Poster2crimson_peak_PosterDom1

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2554274/

movies, music, Uncategorized

0402 – Drowning by Numbers (1988)

Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British-Dutch film directed by Peter Greenaway.

The film’s plot centres on three married women — a grandmother, her daughter, and her niece — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses, each woman successively drowns her husband. The three Cissie Colpittses are played by Joan PlowrightJuliet Stevenson and Joely Richardson, while Bernard Hill plays the coroner, Madgett, who is cajoled into covering up the three crimes.

The structure, with similar stories repeated three times, is reminiscent of a fairy tale, most specifically ‘The Billy Goats Gruff‘, because Madgett is constantly promised greater rewards as he tries his luck with each of the Cissies in turn. The link to folklore is further established by Madgett’s son Smut, who recites the rules of various unusual games played by the characters as if they were ancient traditions. Many of these games are invented for the film, including:

  • Bees in the Trees
  • Dawn Card Castles
  • Deadman’s Catch
  • Flights of Fancy (or Reverse Strip Jump)
  • The Great Death Game
  • Hangman’s Cricket
  • The Hare and Hounds
  • Sheep and Tides

In Drowning by Numbers, number-counting, the rules of games and the repetitions of the plot are all devices which emphasise structure and symmetry. Through the course of the film each of the numbers 1 to 100 appear, the large majority in sequence, often seen in the background, sometimes spoken by the characters. 

The film is set and was shot in and around SouthwoldSuffolkEngland, with key landmarks such as the Victorian water towerSouthwold Lighthouse, and the estuary of the River Blyth clearly identifiable.

Music

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092929/

movies

0386 – Nightwatching (2007)

spacetime coordinates: 1640s Amsterdam

nightwatching-poster

Nightwatching is a 2007 film about the artist Rembrandt and the creation of his painting The Night Watch. The film is directed by Peter Greenaway and stars Martin Freeman as Rembrandt, with Eva Birthistle as his wife Saskia van UylenburgJodhi May as his lover Geertje Dircx, and Emily Holmes as his other lover Hendrickje StoffelsReinier van Brummelen is the director of photography. James Willcock, known for his esoteric sets, is the art director. The film features Greenaway’s trademark neoclassical compositions and graphic sexuality. The music is by Włodek Pawlik.

The_Nightwatch_by_Rembrandt

Nightwatching is the first feature in Greenaway’s film series “Dutch Masters”. The following film in the series is Goltzius and the Pelican Company.

rijks_nachtwacht13872_statement_thema

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446750

movies, Uncategorized

365 – Magnolia (1999)

spacetime coordinates: 1999 San Fernando Valley

magnolia_ver2_xlg

Magnolia is a 1999 American ensemble drama film written, co-produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.  The film is a mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

Themes

The film has an underlying theme of unexplained events, taken from the 1920s and 1930s works of Charles Fort. Fortean author Loren Coleman‘s 2001 book “Mysterious America: The Revised Edition” includes a chapter entitled “The Teleporting Animals and Magnolia“, addressing the film. The chapter discusses how one of Fort’s books is visible on the table in the library and the film’s end credit thanking Charles Fort.

Further information: Raining animals

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