movies

1669 – Manta Ray / Kraben rahu (2018)

timespace coordinates: coastal village in Thailand / 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis

Manta Ray (Thai: Kraben Rahu) is a 2018 drama film written and directed by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng. The film had its world premiere at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on 7 September 2018 and received the award for the best movie in Orizzonti/ Horizon Prize selection. The film stars Aphisit Hama, Wanlop Rungkumjad and Rasmee Wayrana in lead roles. The film focuses on the political theme of Rohingyas in a poetic way. (wiki)

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movies

1657 – Ash is the Purest White/Sons and Daughters of Jianghu 江湖儿女 (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2001 till about 2017 in the city of Datong bordering with Inner Mongolia, an old mining city that now has become poor since the price of coal dropped and then in the province of Hubei in central China where the city of Wuhan lies.

directed by Jia Zhangke

“He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the “Sixth Generation” movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang XiaoshuaiLou YeWang Quan’an and Zhang Yuan.”(wiki)

“It was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The story is loosely based on the leader of a gang from Jia Zhangke’s childhood, whom he had admired as a role model.”(wiki)

“A story of violent love within a time frame spanning from 2001 to 2017.”(imdb)

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movies

1656 – Long Day’s Journey into Night (2018)

timespace coordinates: somewhere in the present or near future in the city of Kaili in the southeastern province of Guizhou, People’s Republic of China.

directed by Bi Gan

Bi Gan was born in Kaili City in Guizhou Province in June 1989. He is an ethnic Miao.

“The film chronicles the return of Luo Hongwu (Huang Jue) to Kaili, the hometown from which he fled many years before. Back for his father’s funeral, Luo recalls the death of an old friend, Wildcat, and searches for lost love Wan Qiwen (Tang Wei), who continues to haunt him.

Director Bi Gan enlisted novelist Chang Ta-Chun as a consultant for the script, noting that Ta-Chun aided in the overall film structure as well as the division of the film into two parts. Of the two parts, Bi noted that “the title of the first part is Memory; that of the second is Poppy, in reference to Paul Celan’s poem Poppy and Memory. At some point, I even considered using this as the film’s title.”[7]

Bi stated that “I liked the idea that the first half would be in 2D, because I wanted it to feel as fragmented as time, with little bits of memory… With the second half, I wanted it to be real-time, and the 3D was the best way to create a spatial experience for that.” The 59-minute unbroken long take 3D sequence that closes the film took two months to prepare, as techniques had to be devised to move a RED camera through the complicated environment of the scene. It took seven attempts at shooting the sequence before Bi was satisfied.[8] The sequence was shot in 2D and converted to 3D in post-production because a 2D camera was lighter and therefore easier to move in difficult positions and small environments.

Bi drew inspiration for the film from the paintings of Marc Chagall, specifically The Promenade, as well as the novels of Patrick Modiano.”

(wiki)

“Many critics praised the final, hour- long dream sequence which was filmed in one continuous take. In his 4/4 star review for The Boston Globe, critic Ty Burr compared the sequence to his own dreams, noting that they are often “unsettling, unstoppable, and yet there’s often a logic within their illogic. This is precisely what Bi has re-created in the final hour of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” a fluid and outrageously extended camera shot that, as with dreams, doesn’t need editing to cast its spell.”(wiki)

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movies, Uncategorized

1655 – The Wild Goose Lake 南方车站的聚会 (2019)

timespace coordinates: around 2010s in the environs of lakes around Wuhan city, Hubei province.

directed by Diao Yinan. It was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2019 edition of Cannes Film Festival.

NY Times review

“Zhou Zenong, is the leader of a gang of criminals specialized in the theft of motorcycles, and has recently been released from prison. During an argument with a rival gang, Zhou accidentally shoots and kills a policeman, mistaking him for his enemy.

Hunted by the law and rivals, the man finds himself on the run.

The rest of the story revolves around Zhou and Liu Aiai, a prostitute (“bathing beauty”), whose pimp is a well-known associate of Zhou. It will be Liu, as not directly known to the police and therefore not suspicious, who will have to get in touch with Zhou about a bounty issue on him.”

imdb

movies, Uncategorized

1647 – The Fountain (2006)

timespace coordinates: 16th century. conquistador Tomás Verde in New Spain, neuroscientist Tom Creo working on a cure in 2005, 26th century space traveler Tommy in a self-contained biosphere bubble. flying in outer space toward the golden nebula of Xibalba

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The Fountain is a 2006 American epic romantic drama film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. Blending elements of fantasy, history, spirituality and science fiction, the film consists of three storylines involving mortality and the resulting loves lost, and one man’s pursuit of avoiding this fate in this life or beyond it.

Production mainly took place on a sound stage in Montreal, Quebec, and the director used macro photography to create key visual effects for The Fountain at a low cost.

The design of the space traveler’s ship was inspired in part by Biosphere 2 near Tucson, Arizona.

Critics’ reactions to the film were divided, but it has gained a cult following since its release. In December 2008, Aronofsky expressed interest in reassembling The Fountain, not as a director’s cut, but as an alternate story that combined theatrical footage and unused footage. (wiki)

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imdb


series

1642 – Snowpiercer (TV Series 2020-)

timespace coordinates: 2021, seven years after the world becomes a frozen wasteland, the remnants of humanity inhabit a perpetually moving train consisting of 1001 carriages that circles the globe 2.7 revolutions per year (133 days to complete a revolution). Built by billionaire Wilford, the train is rigidly separated by class, with passengers caught up in a revolutionary struggle against the strictly imposed social hierarchy and unbalanced allocation of limited resources.

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Snowpiercer is an American post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller television drama series that premiered on TNT on May 17, 2020. It is based on both the 2013 South Korean–Czech film of the same name, directed by Bong Joon-ho, and the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, from which the film was adapted, by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette.

A reboot of the film’s continuity, the series questions class warfaresocial injustice, and the politics of survival. Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly star alongside Mickey SumnerAnnalise Basso, Sasha Frolova, Alison Wright, Benjamin Haigh, Roberto Urbina, Katie McGuinness, Susan ParkLena HallSheila VandSam OttoIddo Goldberg, and Jaylin Fletcher. (wiki)

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books, series

1640 – Tales from the Loop (TV Series 2020-)

timespace coordinates: 1955 > early 1980s Mercer, Ohio. Mercer is home to the Mercer Center for Experimental Physics, an underground facility known as the Loop. It is there where researchers attempt to “make the impossible possible”.

Tales from the Loop is an American science fiction drama web television series based on the art book of the same name by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag (536). The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 3, 2020. All eight episodes of the first season were released simultaneously. (wiki)

David Baird from the B.C. Catholic characterizes the series as “a set of loosely interrelated meditations upon ephemerality, the impact of technology, and human vulnerability infused with a mild science fiction savour” and considers it “a beguiling fusion of forward-looking nostalgia”.

imdb   /   rottentomatoes