Tag: shapeshifting
0824 – Dark City (1998)
Dark City is a 1998 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas. The screenplay was written by Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer. The film stars Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, and William Hurt. Sewell plays John Murdoch, an amnesiac man who finds himself suspected of murder. Murdoch attempts to discover his true identity and clear his name while on the run from the police and a mysterious group known only as the “Strangers”.
(themes) Theologian Gerard Loughlin interprets Dark City as a retelling of Plato‘s Allegory of the Cave. For Loughlin, the city dwellers are prisoners who do not realize they are in a prison. John Murdoch’s escape from the prison parallels the escape from the cave in the allegory. He is assisted by Dr. Schreber, who explains the city’s mechanism as Socrates explains to Glaucon how the shadows in the cave are cast. Murdoch however becomes more than Glaucon; Loughlin writes, “He is a Glaucon who comes to realize that Socrates’ tale of an upper, more real world, is itself a shadow, a forgery.”
Murdoch defeats the Strangers who control the inhabitants and remakes the world based on childhood memories, which were themselves illusions arranged by the Strangers. Loughlin writes of the lack of background, “The origin of the city is off–stage, unknown and unknowable.” Murdoch now casts new shadows for the city inhabitants, who must trust his judgment. Unlike Plato, Murdoch “is disabused of any hope of an outside” and becomes the demiurge for the cave, the only environment he knows.
The city in Dark City is described by Higley as a “murky, nightmarish German expressionist film noir depiction of urban repression and mechanism”. The city has a World War II dreariness reminiscent of Edward Hopper‘s (0049) works and has details from different eras and architectures that are changed by the Strangers; “buildings collapse as others emerge and battle with one another at the end”. The round window in Dark City is concave like a fishbowl and is a frequently seen element throughout the city. The inhabitants do not live at the top of the city; the main characters’ homes are dwarfed by the bricolage of buildings. (wiki)
Mr. Hand: We’re very lucky when you think about it. / Emma Murdoch: I’m sorry? / Mr. Hand: To be able to revisit those places which have meant so very much to us. / Emma Murdoch: I thought it was more that we were haunted by them. / Mr. Hand: Perhaps. But imagine a life Alien to yours. In which your memories were not your own, but those shared by every other of you kind. Imagine the torment of such an existence….no experiences to call your own. / Emma Murdoch: If it was all you knew, maybe it would be a comfort. / Mr. Hand: But if you were to discover something different…Something….better.
819 – Olivier de Sagazan
Olivier de Sagazan (born 1959 in Brazzaville, Congo) is a French artist, painter, sculptor, and performer. De Sagazan’s work typically centers around the artist building layers of clay and paint onto his own face and body. His work was featured in the 2011 documentary film Samsara by Ron Fricke. He has collaborated with the likes of Mylène Farmer inspiring and appearing in her video for À l’ombre and FKA Twigs (567) for her Performance Piece Rooms, he collaborated with Nick Knight and Gareth Pugh on the fashion film presenting Pugh’s S/S 18 collection. (wiki)
« I am flabbergasted in seeing to what degree people think its normal, to be alive.
Disfigurement in art is a way to make face to face to real life !
I have to dig my face and try to understand my true nature, between my Holy Face and my Meat Face. » ODS
0818 – Push (2009)
timespace coordinates: 2000’s Hong Kong
Push is a 2009 American superhero film directed by Paul McGuigan and written by David Bourla. Starring Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, and Djimon Hounsou, the film centers on a group of people born with various superhuman abilities who band together in order to take down a government agency that is using a dangerous drug to enhance their powers in hopes of creating an army of super soldiers.
0815 – Errementari (2017)
timespace coordinates: 1843, Basque Country
Based on a Basque folk tale, ”Patxi herrementaria,” collected by priest, archaeologist and anthropologist José Migel de Barandiarán, the story is set in the Basque region, in a universe inhabited by mythological diabolic creatures, battling to capture the souls of the unwitting.
799
Ant-Man (2015)
Ant-Man is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name: Scott Lang and Hank Pym. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the twelfth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Peyton Reed, with a screenplay by the writing teams of Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, and Adam McKay and Paul Rudd. It stars Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man, alongside Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. In Ant-Man, Lang must help defend Pym’s Ant-Man shrinking technology and plot a heist with worldwide ramifications. (wiki)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Hope van Dyne / Wasp. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man, and the twentieth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Peyton Reed and written by the writing teams of Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, and Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari. It stars Rudd as Lang and Evangeline Lilly as Van Dyne, alongside Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Tip “T.I.” Harris, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder Fortson, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Douglas. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, the titular pair work with Hank Pym to retrieve Janet van Dyne from the quantum realm. (wiki)
505 – Downsizing (2017) / 348
793 – The Brothers Grimm (2005)
timespace coordinates: 1810s French-occupied Germany
The Brothers Grimm is a 2005 adventure fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam. The film stars Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, and Lena Headey in an exaggerated and fictitious portrait of the Brothers Grimm as traveling con-artists in French-occupied Germany, during the early 19th century. However, the brothers eventually encounter a genuine fairy tale curse which requires real courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms. Supporting characters are played by Peter Stormare, Jonathan Pryce, and Monica Bellucci.
TimeSpace Warps 