The Oscars

Wanted to watch this year's oscars, if only to catch the moment Martin Scorsese wins Best Director. And he did won it. :) And the montages were great. And Ennio Morricione. But the moment was fleeting. So I guess it's better to sit down and watch Martin talks about films he likes in the documentary "A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies". It's like having a glimpse into a walking film-book. Like browsing through my thick Timeout Film Reviews book. Or sitting through film school Day One again. D.W. Griffiths, F.W. Murnau... Pretty interesting.

I was still thinking about Adaptation, the movie I watched yesterday. It is fascinating how the movie went from passion for orchids and the beauty in that to mere obsession with drugs. :D Dug out this amazing quote from wikipedia-

"There are too many ideas and things and people. Too many directions to go. I was starting to think that the reason it matters to care so passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size. (Susan, in the book)"

That wisdom can be applied to so many things- passion for orchids, turtles... (spoiler) to passion for orchids-"whittled"-down-to-chunk-sized-drugs. :P

Found out from the earlier oscars too that Philip Noiret (actor from Cinema Paradiso) has passed away. Somehow what Forrest Whittaker said was true. There's a connection between the actor and the audience somewhere. I'm reminded of the first time I watched Cinema Paradiso in the cinema. And that Ennio Morricione music was playing. It's all coming together.

The Ending In "Adaptation"

This is the first time I've watched Adaptation. Talk about "twists in the ending/the final act". This one blew me away. I was expecting the ending to just "coasts along". I really wasn't prepared for that.

Very fascinating and engaging (on many levels) film.

The Ending In "Lost In Translation"

"Lost in Translation" was shown on tv earlier. It is, for me, one of those rare films that hits the right notes just about everywhere. Both actors were endearing. Brilliant soundtrack with music by Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine).

Unfortunately, the ending on this tv-version was snipped. I remember it was fairly shorter than the original. The ending was integral to the film too.

In anticipation of Oscar-day, which is Monday, another movie will be shown on tv tomorrow night- "Adaptation", which I planned to catch.

The fillers have ended for Naruto too. The new Naruto series which deals with the Akatsuki saga has started, named Naruto Shippuuden. Naruto and friends have grown older and Gaara has become the new Kazekage of Sand Village. :)

Movie Music

Nothing much. Happened by this blog earlier. The blogger discussed movie music that he liked. In it were a couple of my favourite films and true enough, they all had memorable theme music.

One of which caught my attention- the Indian film Pather Panchali. He wrote that he had put up the music from the movie, by well-known musician Ravi Shankar. The link didnt work though. It pointed me to another site and through some searching I found the sample music I was looking for.

Here's a part of the music from Pather Panchali-
http://hype.non-standard.net/track/228415

The music echoes familiar scenes from the movie. Such is the brilliance of wonderful movie music.

Now and Then, Here and There

I remember watching this anime long ago too- "Now and Then, Here and There", days before I was due for enlistment into army. It was a moving and sad anime. The anime made me ask myself a fundamental question- "Can I bring myself to die before I'm forced to kill a person in a war?" I don't know the answer and probably never will. This uncertainty scares me more than anything else.

"Because ten billion year's time is so fragile, so ephemeral... it arouses such a bittersweet, almost heartbreaking fondness." -NTHT

NTHT ending song



To prey upon stillness,
to suffer dawn,
to bow before God,
to administer grace,
to unveil space, to
be spirited away,
to lift a child
into the reigning air
where the voice of heaven
chirps like a bird
- Patti Smith

The Groundhog

This chubby fella is special; a day is dedicated to its name. ^^

Tradition has it that - "If a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks."

Reminds us of the endearing actor Bill Murray too.

Groundhog's Day Wikipedia