Tag: streets
834 – Lola rennt (1998)
timespace coordinates: 1998 Berlin, Germany
(FAST, smart & fun)
Run Lola Run is a 1998 German thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer, and starring Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni. The story follows a woman who needs to obtain 100,000 Deutsche Mark in twenty minutes to save her boyfriend’s life. (wiki) imdb / rt / THEMES
Wir lassen nie vom Suchen ab, /
und doch, am Ende allen unsren Suchens, /
sind wir am Ausgangspunkt zurück /
und werden diesen Ort zum ersten Mal erfassen. /
(T.S. Eliot)
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.
0823 – Crash (2004)
timespace coordinates: 2000’s Los Angeles
Crash is a 2004 American drama film produced, directed, and co-written by Paul Haggis. The film features racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. A self-described “passion piece” for Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real-life incident, in which his Porsche was carjacked in 1991 outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard. (read more: wiki)
[first lines]
Graham: It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.
821 – Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018)
timespace coordinates: 2029 South Korea
Illang: The Wolf Brigade (Hangul: 인랑; Hanja: 人狼; RR: Illang; lit. Werewolf; also known as Inrang) is a 2018 South Korean science fiction action film directed by Kim Jee-woon and starring Gang Dong-won, Han Hyo-joo, Jung Woo-sung and Kim Mu-yeol. It is a live-action adaptation of the Japanese animated film Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999). (This is not a direct remake of Jin Roh:Wolf Birgade which is set in an alternate reality of 1950’s Japan, this remake sets the action in Korea and places the story in the future.)
Set in 2029 where South and North Korea get ready for a unified government after years of preparation. South Korean police launches a special unit, known as “Illang” (The Wolf Brigade), to stop an anti-reunification terrorist group called “The Sect” (wiki)
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.
0817 – Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds
timespace coordinates: 2010’s South Korea
Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds (Hangul: 신과함께-죄와 벌; RR: Sin gwa Hamkke – Joe wa Beol; lit. “Together with God – Sin and Punishment”) is a 2017 South Korean action fantasy drama film directed by Kim Yong-hwa and based on a webtoon by Joo Ho-min, Along With the Gods. It stars Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-hyun, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi.
The film was shot as one but presented in two parts. The first part, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (imdb) , was released on 20 December 2017. The sequel, titled Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (imdb), was released on August 1, 2018.
In June 2018, it was announced that another two sequels are scheduled to be filmed in 2019. As of February 2018, Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds is the second most viewed film in South Korean film history.
TimeSpace Warps 