Movie-time!

[janestarz]

I've been wanting to watch Memento for years, but I never could find the movie anywhere. It was recommended by Talescaper, with whom I no longer have contact. He said that the movie was going backward in time, piecing together the story-line.
Knowing that, I wasn't very puzzeled by the first few minutes, although I could see NoKey was struggling with it. But it was captivating, the story unfolding in front of your eyes. You see it's happening backwards, you know how the story ends, but you don't know how it began.
It was refreshing to see a movie that explores where the mystery is if you already know the ending. And I loved the ending/beginning. It was very good.
(I'm trying hard not to give away too much here.)

Last night we watched District 9.
Big name! Peter Jackson. And the trailer was very promising too. Boy, what a rush.

The movie is mesmerising. I don't know why exactly, but I can name elements that were really intriguing. For starters: the movie is set in Johannesberg, which is a 'global city' (i.e. comparable to Paris, New York, Shanghai - 'wereldstad') and therefore I as a Dutch person can hardly grasp its complexity. Add to that the diverse history of South-Afrika, the tensions between backgrounds... and then add a couple of aliens in the mix.
Apartheid between human and alien? A very interesting notion.

The start of the movie uses footage like a documentary, intermixed with news reports. Of course this is very mesmerising, very intriguing. It's just the way we are conditioned by television.
And then there is the main character. Anyone who will like this movie will consider him a dweeb. And then suddenly your feelings for him start to change. Bravo!

I think the aliens were very well done. NoKey said he admired how the alien language was nothing like we've ever heard, but I also appreciate that the way they move really makes you feel they are alive. They're real. They're powerful, graceful bugs, with scary spines. Facial features like pinchers and feelers react and move with a purpose. And despite their completely alien appearance, you can see by their actions that there is definitely a human side to them, we can understand.

The entire movie was a rush, I didn't want to pause it, and it left me wanting to see more. The only thing that I have to remark is that there were a number of plot-holes that still bother me, but I can't relate unless I want to spoil the movie for everyone. But then, some of these plotholes could be ascribed to human incompetence or an alien way of thinking.

District 9 had a definite raw, sharp serrated edge to it. How far will humans go towards those who are different? A lot of people say we've come a long way since WW II. But I think that this movie is rightfully pointing out that inside us there's this ugly thing that we will use to hurt those who are different.
Food for thought.

Comments

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

Ever heard of the Selfish Gene theory? It explains many of our human behaviours as instinctively good for our survival as a species; like selfish behaviour, the urge to eat more than me need to survive, liking people with whom we have things in common and disliking the ones who are different, and more things like this.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

I don't remember if you read ursulav or not (if not, you really, really should), but she once wrote about this:

"Kevin's theory is that parenting is one of those things where people doing it have to feel like they're doing it RIGHT, because nobody wants to feel like they're doing it WRONG. So if I'm RIGHT and you're doing it differently, you must be doing it WRONG, and I must defend my RIGHTness loudly and vigorously and occasionally irrationally, because A) children are involved, won't somebody think of the children, etc and B) probably a majority of parents, at various points, are secretly convinced that they have no idea what they're doing and some of us don't want to admit that, and thus are stridently RIGHT. (And of course, if you are WRONG, then you are an unfit parent, and if you don't recognize that you are WRONG, you must be told it, loudly, and if possible compared to Hitler.) Kevin may well be correct. This is one I don't intend to find out on my own."
From: Ursula's blog (http://ursulav.livejournal.com/922613.html)

Not quite what you said in your comment, but it reminded me of it. It's such an interesting philosophical question, isn't it? Right and wrong... (shut up, Marianne, shut up shutupshutup...)