Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Precious.

Shown during the 500 Days of Summer previews, this movie TRAILER for the film "Precious: Based on the novel Push by Saphirre" made tears trickle down my cheeks.

JUST the trailer.

Can you imagine how I'm gonna survive the film?

Monday, January 5, 2009

Resurfacing

Between the craziness of final exams and the holidays, I've barely had time to write. However, I have had plenty of time to think, feel, laugh, enjoy, and soak up a little bit more of life in general.

Aside from spending time with good friends, in town and out of town, I went to see 5 films in the theater.

They were:



The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Doubt, Yes Man, The Reader, and Seven Pounds.

It's a lot, I know!!
I wasn't planning to see that many. Maybe 2 at the most.
Normally, I'm not one to hit the movie theater every friday night, or even once a month for that matter. I can't claim to be a film buff or anything, but I really enjoy good films with amazing musical scores, rock solid acting, and heavy with themes, suspense, or thought provoking commentary about life that hangs with you for the rest of the week. I also tend to like sad films, where everything doesn't always work out ok, neatly tied up with a bow stamped on top. Cause thats not how real life is. If a movie makes me tear up or get goosebumps (the good kind, not the scared kind), that means I really really liked it.

With the exception of Yes Man, these movies were particularly dark, sad, and intense,
but nonetheless hopeful, inspiring, and full of riveting performances and musical scores.

Two of these films, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas & The Reader, were about the Jewish Holocaust and its unbearable tragedy.
I couldn't believe the ending in 'Pajamas'. Actually I won't give it away although I originally planned to discuss it....it's just too...insane. but oh so real. any alternative ending just would not have worked. Just go see it.

Doubt: its like watching a play on a screen. which is basically how it was born, because it is a play turned into a film. Amazing performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman (when has he ever let us down?), Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. Not a theater must-see, but definitely worth renting or net-flixin'

Yes Man: Heck Yes! Jim Carrey, always a pleasure. Murray from Flight of the Conchords -"prisint". Funny, cute, inspiring, I think a little therapeutic for us all. Basically the whole thing was filmed in Silverlake, Los Angeles, so I was constantly whispering to poor Eric during this one and excitedly pointing to the screen every time they went to a new scene and I saw more of my old stomping grounds: Spaceland, Elysian Park, Griffith Observatory, etc. I think I walked out of that new york city theater even more sure that I'm....probably going to move back oneday soon. I love the southwest.

The Reader: pretty racy at some points, considering it's about an affair between a 30's ish woman and 15 year old boy in Berlin 1958. Love love love Kate Winslet, but that's just me. She is so convincing. It was so impressive the way they aged her character. At one point, she's playing a 66 year old woman across from Ralph Fiennes' 40's character and in reality, it's reversed, as Winslet is in her early 30's and Fiennes is 46.

Seven Pounds: wowza. talk about intense. I had a hard time keeping quiet during this one. Will Smith was spectacular. I wish they went into his backstory more. I found myself wanting to get more inside his head. Is that just the therapist in me? Such a killer movie title. I want to name my first born after it. Or least have it be the kid's weight.

Classes start this week. I have 5 of them.

I just got Rob Bell's and Don Golden's latest book today in the mail "Jesus Wants to Save Christians". I read the back cover and started feeling all giddy. It's almost 1am and I haven't even finished reading Sex God, Rob Bell's other book, but I'm determined to start Jesus Wants to Save Christians tonight too.
Here's the back cover sneakpeek:

There is a church in our area that recently added an addition to their building which cost more than $20 million. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty.


This is a book about those two numbers.

It's a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity; it's about empty empires and the truth that everybody's a priest; it's about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate, and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.

It's about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.

Yes.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible."

-Voltaire.

This week I've been very pensive.

Such a momentous historic event of seeing the first African-American individual elected as President is not short of inspiring for thought, whether you voted for the man or not. I've seen this election bring out a lot of facets of us human beings, and sadly, it's been very polarizing as it's been unifying. I've been saddened to see the conflict and heated disagreement around me, fear-mongering (a 2012 letter by you know who!!!!) single-issue voting, and an understandable despair about our current economic prognosis and what ought to be done about it.

So, ok. Welcome to the Human Race. We conflict, we don't see things the same way, and we often hurt each other in the process. Sometimes in epic proportions.

But all of this leaves me thinking about conflict and what do we do about it and what really is conflict resolution? Where does forgiveness fit into that?

Last night I went to an event put on by The Gospel and Culture Project which included viewing award-winning documentary "As We Forgive" about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda followed by a discussion with Rwandan nationals, a professor from Westminster Theological Seminary, and psychologist Diane Langberg, whom I'd been dying to meet!! The documentary asks the question: Could you forgive the person(s) who murdered your family? It follows the reconciliation efforts of a community, specifically in the lives of two genocide survivors, Rosaria and Chantale, who come face-to-face with the men who killed their families, as the men are released back into the very communities they once helped to destroy. Completely powerful and heartwrenching, this film was actually a student academy award winner for Best Documentary for 2008.

There were many aspects of the film and the discussion that followed that are worthy of talking about and digesting more. I was so glad to have discovered an organization that is excited to create a place for dialogue about tough issues and
a learning environment for people who are passionate about how the Gospel and Culture intersect. But the thing that grabbed me the most was how counterintuitive this idea of reconciliation after a genocide like that seemed. I mean, for real? These people slaughtered innocent families. moms. dads. CHILDREN. Is their confession and repentance genuine? What would real reconciliation look like? Could victims and perpetrators coexist and live in the same communities again, as they once did prior to the genocide?

I'm not gonna go into all the history and complexity of this tragic event...I feel like right now that stuff is beyond me and it was definitely not a one-time, you disrespected me type of transaction. In the same token, I don't believe that forgiveness is the one-time, begrudging transaction many of us were lead to think it is either. Time, grieving, and divine help is a major player here.

How is that for conflict for you? I'm not attempting to speak into the lives of all humanity to tell them must immediately reconcile with people that have wronged them, especially in such monumental ways. Though there is a true freeing that often comes for the one doing the forgiving, honestly I can't begin to fathom what I would do or how I would respond if I were in those women's shoes. But this really challenges me in looking at conflict and the issues of forgiveness and conflict resolution in perhaps a different light.

I believe that we will not see complete harmony and justice in their perfection on this earth; we are a very broken people. I do believe we get glimpse's of it amongst each other at times, and Jesus gave us the ultimate picture of Love, Sacrifice, Forgiveness, and Freedom in Him. Thankfully, His Father and our Creator is the perfect judge whose throne is built on justice, righteousness and mercy, and one day we WILL see justice through Him. But in the meantime, how DO we love our neighbor as ourselves? How do you turn the other cheek? How do you forgive your trespassers? How do we live with people we disagree with and not necessarily be set on trying to change them?

One of my family therapy professors says that all couples and families experience conflict; it is the successful ones that can resolve it. Initially, I interpreted this as meaning that resolution meant, "I've convinced you of my correctness, you are now on my side, we see eye to eye, or even vice versa". I'm starting to think that maybe it may look like this at times, but real conflict resolution is being able to live with the differences, and the flaws (cause we all have em folks) and LOVING EACH OTHER THROUGH THE CONFLICT.

This is my challenge to myself. This is my call to arms.
The arms that hug, that is :-)

Underoath: In Regards to Self (love them!!)

Wake up wake up my God this is not a test

And it's not too late to come clean
Get it off your chest
So steady your hand before your face and concentrate
There's got to be some stable ground left to walk on

So tear another page from the book
Are you asleep or just alone
Clear this room from your lungs
And pull yourself together man

On your back, you're sleeping in a bed of shame
Let the light breathe some new life into this room
It's what keeps you coming back
Made up of insatiable taste
Bury your head in your hands and sink into yourself

Just what are you so afraid of
You're staring truth in the face, so come on down

You're busy living now aren't you
You're busy making vows
You're coming unglued
Time is shorter than you know
I know the light is blinding to the naked eye
So why don't you take steps away from being alone
I swear it's not too late for you

It's all worth reaching for the hand to pull you out
Wake up and step outside your box
Wake up

Thursday, June 12, 2008

My Days Go On & On

wow.
where to BEGIN!

so much stuff to update about.
but its such good stuff, so here I go:

::GRAD SCHOOL::

As of Monday at 4pm, I became a free woman! turned in my last paper for the quarter and for the year! so now I'm done for the summer, aside from my internship -- I'm beyond stoked. SOOOO RELIEVED! pretty optimistic about this summer and having time for a full social life once again :) most importantly though, its crazy to think that I am officially done my first year of grad school and halfway through my master's program! My mom reminded me the other day that a year ago I was freaking out about where I was going to go to school, where I would live, etc. I was so confused about it all and having the toughest time deciding. Now looking back on that, it absolutely blows my mind how much has happened, how much I've grown and learned and changed. God's goodness and faithfulness has been incredible.

::GREG LASWELL::
one of the up and coming new artists to grace the singer-songwriter world.
newish, but not really...his stuff gets played on grey's anatomy sometimes if you follow that scene at all. he's kind of folky, but just plain awesome and talented.
my good friend blake got me into him a little over a year ago because Greg is a friend of blake's, and blake has done some photography for him. ANYWAY, we all saw Greg play about a year ago at the Roxy in Hollywood and it was a good time.

two sundays ago, June 1, I had the privilege to go see him play a sort of surprise, low-key show on the roof of Whole Foods' parking lot on south street here in philly.
it was absolutely perfect.

even though I was like one of 3 people that heard about it and actually came out, Greg didn't seem to care, he was kicking off his months-long tour with ingrid michaelson that night at the TLA, so he was in good spirits. as were we, the 3 people or so that sat there soaking it all in with big smiles on our faces.

I tell you, the setting was perfect. Warm sunny weather, city skyline behind the stage, perfect breeze, and I'm sitting there listening to a bunch of really good new tracks I hadn't heard before..

It felt like I was a private show where there were playing just for me.
I seriously couldn't have been happier.
here is a picture of that day:



and here is an old photo i found from the show at the roxy in feb 07:



yes. so great!

so in line with all this, lately I've been chatting with friends about what it means for art and music to have "soul" in it. i.e. beauty, feeling, life, goosebumps...to me this really just means GOD, because I believe God is within and around and creator of all things beautiful, and alive. To me, anything with "soul" points me to God and His awesomeness that is infinite and amazing, regardless of whether the label of "Christian" is tacked onto it. In fact, I'm not a fan of doing that in general. Labeling certain music or art or books as Christian can be a dangerous thing because all to easily becomes exclusive and leading to "us" "them" categories. Besides the fact that there's a good bunch of art that has been labeled as Christian and is NOT good quality or artistically at all and definitely lacks that "soul".

Last night I watched a movie with some serious SOULNESS.
It's called ONCE starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, he's from Ireland, she czech republic. I don't want to give away the film or anything for people that haven't seen it, but it mostly focuses on the extraordinary music the two of them make together in this spontaneous whirlwind of a week. one of the songs from the film won the 2008 Oscar for Best Song. What's so cool is that these two make music together in real life, and became a real life couple after the film (they already knew each other before the film was made and were already playing music together in Prague ---yeah i know, how could you NOT fall in love in that city and WITH that city for that matter!!!! *cough* <michael adams!>
anyway, I pretty much listened to the soundtrack 33 times in row in the past 24 hours especially during my 2+ hours drive back from York today. Do the right thing and go listen to it, or at least the main song that won the oscar, 'Falling Slowly' on the movie website link I gave above or you can click here.



I should also add that Glen Hansard is not a newcomer by any means. He's the front man of the awesome band THE FRAMES from Ireland. They've been around for awhile and are a really talented group.

I can't resist ending this post with the beautiful lyrics to the ONCE song
I just love it.

Glen Hansard - Falling Slowly Lyrics


I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react

And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black

You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along