To see or not to see

My little Hamletish divagations concern only the issue of going to movies to see The Hateful Eight or not. The Revenant used my patience and tolerance for watching violence. It is going to be more of it in the Tarantino’s new film. After all there are eight hateful people being heroes of the film. And Tarantino likes blood dripping from the screen.

Yet, I am hesitating. I have two or three days to make my decision as if I see the film I want it to be the 70mm version. I do not fully understand what the plus of such version is, but I understand some and want the whole intended effect.

                         

The reason for me considering such a trivial issue is my introduction to Tarantino’s films. It was more than 10 years ago when I was making a significant change in my life. Moving to Poland, becoming a part of a new family. All together one of my favourite concept of a new beginning. This typically brings new hopes, new dreams and temporary distortion of reality. For me it was also going back to my intellectual Polish roots after a lifetime of corporate and personal achievements. Even before I landed in Gdansk with my earthly goods and my little dog Kiki, I was told that I will need to see Pulp Fiction, the best film ever. I obviously had a lot to catch up with as I had never heard the name Tarantino before. So, soon after my arrival I was set in front of TV set (no popcorns, but a glass of sweet, herbal vodka confusingly called bitter) with father and son watching my reactions and expecting my elation. Frankly I was not that much impressed but seeing things through pink glasses at that time, I really gave the film a go. It was not that bad. Not quite the type of film I would choose myself, but there is always a value of opening one’s horizons to add new. I must say that by now I have seen the film few times and it has been growing up in my opinion considerably. I am thankful for the introduction.

Then The Kill Bill came along and the young man was very impressed. I respected his views but he said – Blooood all over the place! Even his father was not that keen to go to movies and see it. So that was it until one night in Gdansk when I could not sleep. I have a small TV set in the kitchen, so sleepily I wondered there and put the TV on. The scene took my interest and I stood and watched for a while. It was the part of choosing the Hattori Hanzo’s sword. After a short time I was transfixed and watched the film to the end still standing up. I may have made some herbal tea during that time, but I have not stopped watching for a second. Yes, it was a lot of blood, but it was so stylized that I was not repulsed by it at all. Just the opposite I was watching the bloody scenes admiring choreography and the sense of humour.  I have seen the film many times since this memorable night, so I am hesitating now about The Hateful Eight. Should I buy myself three hours of stress or be respectful to my health and time? Any advice?

I have also seen Django Unchained on one of my long trips from Sydney to Europe and I found it again funny in spite of being cruel and gory. For me with Tarantino it is just a convention and cruel scenes do not have the same effect as scenes of The Revenant meant to scare and repulse. It is still difficult watching so my decision is still to be made…

The Revenant

 Just a brief note about my impressions on The Revenant. I did not intend to see the film until the news about the Golden Globes:  the best motion picture, the best director, the best actor. Since I am interested in films, I thought that I should see it even if I knew it was not my type of a film.

Well, I spent big parts of the films under my seat (a metaphor of course). The violence and the cruelty were much too much for me. Was it art? Not in my mind. Has Di Caprio showing disgust in eating a still warm liver of a freshly killed animal, displayed his prowess as an actor?   I would say that he did not have to use any acting skills at all. Putting actors though ordeals does not deserve acting awards in my opinion. If Di Caprio gets an Oscar this year it will be mainly for his perseverance in jumping through director's hoops. He waited a long time for his Oscar, in my opinion if you work  in your profession with dedication for a long time, you deserve a superannuation. But Oscar? Hmmm...

The story is simple if not simplistic and not even believable. I have been told in one of the comments that the story is actually based on true events. Well... it shows that real life is sometimes unbelievably strange. I thank kvd for the information.  

There was one thing about the film I liked, the photography.

I do not dare to rank the film, I started to wonder if I know anything about films at all.

I was planning to see The Hateful Eight, strangely enough I like Tarantino, but I will think it over. I used all my resistance to violence and cruelty watching The Revenant.

Suffragette

Typically I sort out my impressions, observations and judgment related to films through writing about them and then most of the time I post the written review. This time I have a bit of a backlog. I have seen lately Suffragette and Truth. I liked the films but they did not make a significant impression on me and I did not know what I could really write about them. There has been another reason too. I wanted to continue writing about my plans for 2016. This is not an easy subject and I still have some work to do before I really know how I want to live this year to make it really special this time. The best year ever, as some gang ho motivators say. Let’s say a good year, anyhow. I will get to it soon but for now it will be about the films I have seen, as it looks I need to do some catching up with films to see the ones that were awarded Golden Globes.

                                

Suffragette, I believe, is a British film, at least many actors playing  in the film are British. Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Romola Garai, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson. Well, Brendan Gleeson is really Irish but this is definitely not a Hollywood production even if Meryl Streep plays the cameo role of Emmeline Pankhurst, the political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement. Woman who helped women to win the voting rights. Being a recently declared feminist, I had to see the film. It was sort of an obligation, really. I realized how little I know about women movements that were so necessary for me to be as independent and free as I am now, in the XXI century. It was not that long time ago when Swiss women were not allowed to vote. They got their rights as late as 1971.  I found that very surprising. One would think Switzerland is a civilized country. Obviously not in all aspects. No wonder women still have issues with equality, it is still rather new.

I have not liked to hear about violence related to feministic movements. I do not agree with violence in any form. Seeing the film, however, I realized that women of the times did not have any other choice but to bring their point across in a violent way. They were not heard unless they shocked or scared the society. Did Emily Davison wanted to shock through suicidal stepping in front of the King George V’s horse or was she just unlucky?  The truth most likely will not be known but this does not change the fact that she was in despair to bring the message across no matter what the price. And that price was her life.

                                        

The film is also about growing up. Maud, played by Carey Mulligan, at the beginning of the film is just interested in what is going on among women she works with. Coincidently she gets involved in presenting women plea for voting rights.  This starts her strong involvement in the movement leading to loosing her family. She becomes a woman with the purpose. I like the way Carey Mulligan handled the metamorphosis of the character. Rather a subtle performance and by this subtleness powerful.

What particularly moved me was the story of Maud’s husband who through pressure of the society threw the too independent woman from home and not being able to combine taking care of their son and working, gave away the son for adoption. His last cry was: what have I done ??!! Looks that men were also hurt by unjust treatment of women.

This brings me to my favourite couple of the film actors : Romola Garai and Ben Whishaw. Ben Whishaw plays the father and the role of Romola Garai is this time not particularly significant. I first saw them in the series The Hour, they both were memorable. Since then I have seen them in several productions and I believe that they have great future ahead of them, at least Ben Whishaw.

                 

Maybe the film made more of an impression on me than I initially though or maybe I am too verbose? In any case it is enough this time, I will have to write about Truth on another occasion.

My rating 6 out of 10.

Happy New Year!

                            

I have started the year in a very beautiful part of Australia, very quietly and philosophically. It was not my usual start to a new year but new beginning sometimes calls for new ways.  This is how it was this year.

My new year started in Kangaroo Valley, in Glenmack Park. I am not a camping person and Glenmack Park is a caravan and camping place. I did not feel that camping was my way of living and I hired a self contained-cabin with air conditioning. So I was not exactly roughing it. The reason why I found myself there was my long estranged friend celebrating her 21^st anniversary of coming to Australia on the 31^st of December. She and her two sons spend their summer holidays camping in Kangaroo Valley. In the process I discovered how camping places in Australia look like and work. This is really impressive and attractive way to live. Maybe not for everybody, maybe even not for me, but  I appreciated the community spirit, easiness of making new friends and comfort one can achieve through great organization and service. I am not sure if I will repeat the experience but I really enjoyed it my time there.

             

Kangaroo Valley threw a party, as any respectable place in Australia would, and the 9:00 fire works in its length and quality suited the special occasion of saying good bye to 2015. The old year was finishing with a bang but the new one started with only one skyrocket. This came rather as a surprise but not a disappointment. I knew the new has started.

New Year should start with new resolutions. It is true that our New Year resolutions fizzle out and are forgotten rather soon after the year has started. It also happens that we promise ourselves that this time it will be different, that we will be more diligent in following on our promises. This is exactly the point I am at right now. I am hopeful that it will be right this time, even if I am a little skeptical about living up to my expectations. Of course I expect changes to my initial plans, even some disappointments with myself. But I am planning to follow up on my plans on monthly basis to check with myself if I am on track. Say, first week of each month. Maybe I will manage to go through this year being happy with my progress?

The first step is now. This is a decision making time, a decision on what is especially important to me. Things I want to focus on. In Steven Covey’s words I want to identify my rock tasks and focus on them first. For me it is health, friendships, learning, reading and writing, giving, home, travels and generally fun and pleasure.

The next step is to design my masterpiece day and define projects for the year. I am still working on details.

Lewis Howes, the author of The School of Greatness poses questions:

How do I want my every day to look?

How do I want to feel every single day?

What am I creating daily?

Who am I spending time with?

What places am I exposing myself to?

What passions am fulfilling?

They are good and important questions and I find that the answers are not so easy to come up with. After some reflection though, I found my answers. At least their first cut.

Merry Christmas

                                      

I am starting my Christmas today and am off to Melbourne.

Happy, warm but not too hot, friendly, moderately sober, reflective in a positive way Christmas wishes

AC

My 2015

                                                     

It is this time of the year to take stock of events and learnings of the year that soon will belong to my past. Has it been a good year? Yes. Not an easy or particularly happy one but it has been in many ways a good year.

Some people, quite a few really, think that I tend to over-analyse or even complicate things. I reluctantly agree. Translating my favourite Polish saying into rather clumsy English – I have it like that. This is how I am made. I do not apologise for being one way or another as long as I do not hurt anyone. In this particular case, I bore some people and this maybe hurting them, even if only a little. Meeting friends, I watch myself not to go on my marry way analyzing small events to death. This forum however allows self indulgence, reading my post is not compulsory, even if very much appreciated.

Wow, it has been a long, meandering introduction. I declared the 2015 to be the Year of Elegance. I do not mean dressing elegantly but living elegantly. Living elegantly means to me being measured and deliberate in reactions to life surprises and challenges. Not going into a flap. Accepting whatever comes at me without blaming anyone or denying existence of potential problems. Being grateful for existence, friends and surrounding beauty. Forever learning. Keeping good order around me and within me. Accepting limitations. Living with moderation especially when it comes to eating habits. No rush and no greed. And definitely no overeating. And loving… Not necessarily particular people, even though this is always a wonderful experience but just being loving and kind. Elegant living requires good listening, this is how we find beauty and needs of others.

It came out as my life credo. It is, really. So, have I lived elegantly this year? In some aspects, yes. There is a lot of room for improvement though.

2015 was a year of recovery from rather serious health issues that took over a big part of my 2014. The problems taught me a lot. The main lesson was in acceptance and taking things as they are, submitting to necessary hardship, trusting that this too shall pass. And it did pass. At least for now, but I have improved my ability to live in the moment and do not worry that much about what may come, as I did in the past.

It is always very difficult for me to loose a friendship. Unfortunately, I did loose friendships this year. One, I lost very definitely through death. I feel sorry at the loss and thankful that I was given a chance to know the man. Bad memories fell by the wayside.

The other changes brought disappointment, some surprises and plenty of life experience. I moved on…

The main uplifting event of the year was my stay in Poland. Once again I decided that I do not want to close the Polish chapter yet but I rather continue my schizophrenic life between the two countries I love. I am now hoping that Poland under new rulers will not change in such a way that I will not want to go there again.

Some of my European summer plans did not work out but some worked out better than I had expected. My traveling plans did not work; I had some health issues that stopped me to visit Berlin or Prado in Madrid.

I wanted to renew contacts with my family and friends and this worked out better than I had expected. I enjoyed getting in touch and spending time with my old friends and the young ones. The young people, I am close to, are fantastic. Living their lives and planning their future well. It was stimulating and very enjoyable to talk to my young friends. I have also mended some ways that got broken in the past. This was one of the happiest experiences of the year and it means a lot to me.

I used to say that I do not have family, and then went, with my partner of the time, to a family reunion. There were close to 200 people of Mieszkowski (my maiden name) family. My partner said – You do not have family? and who are those people??? It woke me up. I do have a big family with whom I do not keep much contact. I made a choice, not the best one and I take full responsibility for that. To remember about my family I included a family reunion picture as my FB background. This is what will always stand behind me, the legacy of my parents.

Coming back to Sydney with new thoughts and new energy, I made a commitment to go to gym twice a week, play and improve my bridge in the local club - Trumps, play lawn bowls and volunteer in the local council. It all works very well and is fun. All except volunteering. It is very difficult to comprehend that wanting to be useful may be such a difficult thing. Bureaucracy of the process is unbelievable. I still live in hope that after seven months I will get an assignment eventually.

It has been also a year when my reading changed. I re-discovered fiction. This is not what I want to elaborate on right now; I just want to say that reading and books have been an important part of my 2015.

It has been a year when I spent a lot of time on my own. This helped me to think through some dilemmas and see things from a new perspective. It has freed me from some doubts and regrets. I decided that life this year has been good.