tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.comments2022-12-23T05:51:32.589+00:00thinkingfilm | film as philosophy | thinkingfilm | filmosophy | thinking film collectivetheviewfromthehutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09037446509773839859noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-31438719011306948842016-03-19T07:28:11.580+00:002016-03-19T07:28:11.580+00:00I would say that it does not matter too much that ...I would say that it does not matter too much that the final encounter with the father is not real. What matters is the growth it represents in Kris - at the start of the film, he could only relate to his father in terms of angry and bitter rivalry, but at the end he is able to be a son and have a father. If the encounter had been real, it would have felt like a Hollywood they all lived happily ever after ending; whereas in the film there is growth but the growth does not involve pretending that the difficult past never happened.Paul Johnstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08676164388115825863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-83201172057119328682015-10-24T18:34:36.700+01:002015-10-24T18:34:36.700+01:00when aliens will come to Earth: goodbye religion a...when aliens will come to Earth: goodbye religion and all its liestonyonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08253501266473243514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-44820443730035188042014-09-10T14:14:19.350+01:002014-09-10T14:14:19.350+01:00This is a really impressive piece: thanks, Vincent...This is a really impressive piece: thanks, Vincent.<br />Yes, I found Ender's Game disturbing in exactly the way you dissect. For one is made complicit in what has happened. Unless one managed to remain resolutely antagonistic to the militarism and propaganda, throughout; I tried to be (I was wishing and wishing that Ender would find some way of reaching out mentally or physically to the Formics, and so avert the war) but I didn't fully succeed (especially earlier, in the 'war games' in Battle School), and I bet hardly anyone does. The revelation that the final 'game' was no game but the real thing is sickening, profoundly shocking. It puts into question the enjoyment one gets from these games - action / war movies. <br />As I was watching the film, I kept having this vague and slightly-disconcerting feeling that the whole thing wasn't real. That there was something dreamy going on; this feeling was of course fuelled by the 'mind game', and so on. But it turned out that, while I was onto something, in having that feeling, the truth was far more sinister, and sort-of 180 degrees in the opposite direction... Far from the underlying truth being, in classic philosophical or sceptical fashion, less real than how things seemed, what was really going on was ghastlily MORE real. One had been fooled into taking something to be just some giant video-game that was actually an ultimate war crime, a total genocide and ecocide. To see this on film and to be enthralled by it and then to have the truth sprung on one: yes, this is film-as-philosophy. (Reminiscent of course of MONSTERS, as analysed by Phil in the founding piece here on _thinkingfilm_.)<br />And of such fine creatures; as you say, Vincent, the gentleness of the Formic that Ender actually does encounter at the end is a marvel. (Reminding me strongly of the transformation in how one sees the 'prawns' in DISTRICT 9, as that film unfolds.)Ruperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04334135270533978426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-34414465643992390672014-08-07T05:48:28.350+01:002014-08-07T05:48:28.350+01:00Fantastic exploration of the film. well doneFantastic exploration of the film. well doneAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08260127956268260430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-45301502513058235902014-07-21T12:11:37.466+01:002014-07-21T12:11:37.466+01:00Thanks Paul! Lovely work.
Your reading of the film...Thanks Paul! Lovely work.<br />Your reading of the film places it close to my-and-Kramer's reading of 'Gravity': http://thinkingfilmcollective.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/gravitys-pull.html. Which is interesting to me.<br />But surely your reading misses the most striking feature of the film's end: that it appears that the coming-home, in this case, is not genuine: that Kelvin is lost in fantasy, in effect stuck in/on/near Solaris. In this way, it seems to me that actually 'Solaris' is quite distant from 'Gravity'.<br />I think that 'Solaris' is actually closer to 'Melancholia' (See my http://thinkingfilmcollective.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/thinkingfilm-co-founder-rupert-read-has.html ). Melancholia plays neurosis to Solaris's psychosis.<br />In the book-version of my 'Melancholia' material, I am going to explore further this link between these two planets that are really states of mind, and that force us to feel the depth of our homedness on Earth (I like very much your reflections on how 'Solaris' challenges our quasi-solipsistic self-preoccupation and anthropocentrism; though, as I say, I think that 'Solaris' ends in pessimism on this front, unlike 'Gravity' and 'Melancholia'.).Ruperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04334135270533978426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-13823254554267979202014-05-10T21:40:00.589+01:002014-05-10T21:40:00.589+01:00Si je comprend bien, l’auteur de l’article sugere ...Si je comprend bien, l’auteur de l’article sugere que Thierry Guetta pourrai en fait etre la veritable identité de Banksy ? Même si je trouve l’idée tres séduisante et « romantique » malheuresement elle n’est que peu plausible.Film streaminghttp://www.film-en-lignee.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-15600943916219494632013-12-31T15:16:00.235+00:002013-12-31T15:16:00.235+00:00[Another connection one might make is to the super...[Another connection one might make is to the superlative recent C4 series, UTOPIA. At times, this too seemed to have plot-flaws, sillinesses, etc. that let it down. When one reached the end, the final twist revealed that one was wrong: the whole thing now made complete sense. What THE WICKER MAN does so magnificently, though, as I've emphasised, is to effectuate a more therapeutic dimension to the trick it plays on the audience: somewhat unlike UTOPIA, it places _you_ as viewer more essentially in the place of the one being fooled, the one being a bit complacent and superior.]Ruperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04334135270533978426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-1971316662575929942013-11-19T09:41:54.636+00:002013-11-19T09:41:54.636+00:00'Abstract': I argue that these two very di...'Abstract': I argue that these two very different films have something profoundly in common, and yet that in the end that doesn't make one of them (the remake of Total Recall) good, even though it makes the other (the original of The Wicker Man) brilliant. I seek to pinpoint precisely why The Wicker Man is brilliant: because it fools one into thinking it is a bit empty and silly. Whereas the Total Recall remake is merely a hollowed out version of the original. It is merely empty, merely a trick. ...Whereas a trick, a hollowed out empty space, can be genuinely awesome, deep. The Wicker Man shows us this, by placing us in this space.Ruperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04334135270533978426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-19318270956229273512013-11-06T17:56:48.338+00:002013-11-06T17:56:48.338+00:00This gesture forms of course a direct connection b...This gesture forms of course a direct connection between Avatar (which ends and also begins with 'the same' gesture) and 2001, as transformative films aiming to facilitate in the viewer a self-therapy. See my two pieces, below. Ruperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04334135270533978426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-17367777003352209892013-11-06T17:53:51.342+00:002013-11-06T17:53:51.342+00:00Yes: I take it as crucial to the entire film that ...Yes: I take it as crucial to the entire film that in the final shot, at last, the StarChild looks the viewer in the eye. Ruperthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04334135270533978426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6873146134997412137.post-31874425548152641292013-10-31T10:30:45.794+00:002013-10-31T10:30:45.794+00:00You might find this interesting. The Top 10 Eco Fi...You might find this interesting. The Top 10 Eco Films of All Time<br /><br />http://www.ecohustler.co.uk/2013/10/25/top-10-eco-films-time/EcoHustlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13521824986465830747noreply@blogger.com