the Rotten Apple pictures ltd.

I’ve seen the hype. I’ve heard the gossips. I’ve joined the long line of eager and excited fans.
 
But I never attempted to read a line in the book. I never tempted myself to check the wiki. I never bothered having to wait and stand in line with all the giddy fanatics of the book. I never hesitated to spend a couple hundred bucks for the ticket even if I knew I had to sit on the front-most seats almost kissing the big screen.
 
But all I can say is – it’s half-cooked.
 
So the acting didn’t go that well to animate the supposedly beautiful lines in the script. The almost perfect shots were amiss and could use a couple more takes and framing. And oh! I won’t forget the kinda-dragging-kinda-fast phase of the story it sounds like an oxymoron.
 
Well, the feel and the over-all photography is excellent and meeting expectations toning the seemingly dark nature of the film. If it was darker then it would be more than excellent and deserving of its title. Catherine Hardwicke went miles to hold on to that feeling of teen-giddy-superficial-love and play with it through the whole film. However, I believe she missed on using the script as a strong and rhythmic animator of a could-be unforgettable love-themed teen-flick vampire film.
 
I wouldn’t mind that the book was not that applauded if the film adaptation didn’t play safe and resigned to subtlety. Meyer is introducing a new concept of vampirism that elevates one notch over the conventional Shelley-based bloodsucker and the Twilight film could have been the best tool to announce it. Sad to say the film didn’t live up to its purpose.
 
Twilight has that something in it to become a good film; unfortunately the whole film revolves around the monotony of an infatuated young woman sans the drama. It’s so simple its dull and lacking excitement. Hardwicke and her actors can do better than that. And please, no more sequels.

I wouldn’t call it eerie. I wouldn’t call it weird. I wouldn’t call it oddball. Those terms and their equivalent would be an understatement.

While I was enjoying a somewhat typical film-noir, seemingly detective-style narrative, I was kind of caught up in the middle I asked myself, “Where the hell is Lynch taking me this time?” It was the first time I saw the movie and when you say Lynch you’d really expect a totally different (and when I say different I mean really different in things you can’t imagine) experience. All those images of Eraserhead came flashing in like a whirlwind and I was so eager to click on Play and be twisted by Mulholland Drive.

Honestly, the opening, though it didn’t fail to introduce an out-of-placed meaningless scene, was homage to the film-noir style. The introduction was simple, an amnesiac woman involved in a night-time car accident somewhere in Mulholland Drive made her way out of the wreck and finding herself waking up in the garden of famous movie star.

So the story continues with the amnesiac befriending another woman who helped her figuring out her real identity. And it struck me, “Where is this going?” The story suddenly changed and everything was disrupted, intertwined, juxtaposed, mixed, and I don’t know where I was.

No matter how many times you’ll watch this movie, even a hundred times; it won’t stop you to ask questions. The movie doesn’t have a definite interpretation and if one be daring enough to try a constructive interpretation; David Lynch would just laugh at it.

Lynch’s method of infusing film-noir techniques into his Lynchian style of filming was effective in taking me to the beginningless endless movie. Everything in the film was pure symbolism and the story bloats from there. The red lamp, the accident, the blue key, the characters, the music — they’re purely symbols of something unfathomable and if you put them together in film, with Fellini’s style of lighting and framing, they just dance together perfectly in a strange and mesmerizing way.

No doubt this launched the careers of Naomi Watts (who played both Betty Elms and Diane Selwyn) and Laura Elena Harring (who played both the amnesiac Rita and Camilla Rhodes). Their characters really destroyed their identities, stripping them away of their real identities they just got lucky they didn’t end up seeing a shrink. Well, to say the least, their characters were part of a dream universe inside a dream universe much like of Eraserhead. And their acting was superbly exemplary to make the movie even more beautiful.

Mulholland Drive is one hell of a strangely twisted ride and David Lynch is one hell of a director. I believe this is his finest since Eraserhead. And I know I got to see this again and again and again…

So you can blog thru Friendster? Hmm, why haven’t I discovered this before? Anyway, let me stain it with a first stroke.

I rarely get satisfied and beaten by a movie. Normally, I would start criticizing every detail and every second of a film and not end. I even urge myself to go far beyond criticizing that if the director or the writer would have known of it, he would not think twice of putting a bullet straight through my head. Harsh? Not quite. Every normal viewer does that.

And so there was Nuovo Cinema Paradiso – a film that beat me up for more than 2 hours but still prompted me to watch it again. The film was Italian but the English subs guided me through conversations that require higher understanding of the Italian language. It’s what I call an aesthetically correct and accurate film that was not too compelling and complex to make you forget the beautiful dialogues and rhythmically arranged narrative.

I won’t go into details as to reveal the exact gist of the story but Cinema Paradiso is a beautifully weaved story of Salvatore Di Vita (played by 3 actors including famous French film producer Jacques Perin) who must travel back home for an old friend’s funeral and try to understand and confront the missing pages of his life that made him into a successful film director.

The usage of available light created strong contrasts to every shot making it feel like a classic Rembrandt study. Moreover, the addition of the chiaroscuro effect to distinctly outline the characters and their emotions remind us of the Baroque style of art. Along with this, the camera movements remained honest and true to the situations. Director Giuseppe Tornatore created shots that were not complex and sophisticated rather they were merely fundamental and strong. He knew how to move you from sentimentality and open your eyes to an enlightenment and pragmatism. He perfected how the way of life should be without sacrificing to dwell on just pure humor, indifference or self-pity.

The actors’ portrayals of their characters were simply real. They were simply simple human beings part of a story of a young man’s poor but beautiful and adventurous past. Marco Leonardi was simply exemplary in being a crafty adolescent driven by his passion for films, sensitivity for his people, care for a friend, and undying love to a woman. Leonardi somehow connected the young clever Salvatore and the adult successful but incomplete director.

It’s a tragic story that tells us that decisions play an important role in life no matter how painful they can be to the point that one might feel betrayed or deserted. Tornatore’s walk past memory lane teaches a strong advocacy and affection of the past, confronting and taking risk of the present and finally moving on.

Now, why didn’t I see this on the big screen? With all the crap that queues up every cinema, this film reminds me of a sad reality that beautiful films now exist only in the hidden and untouched corners of DVD shops. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso has got to be in my 5 most influential and favorite films among The Godfather, Casablanca, Clerks, and Cidade de Dios.