Bill Cunningham New York(2010)

If I were to name something heartwarming and encouraging in terms of book reading, I would pick Tuesdays With Morrie written by Mitch Albom. But if I were to name it in terms of films, it would undoubtedly be Bill Cunningham New York (2010) directed by Richard Press. 

The story of Bill Cunningham is truly a unique one to tell. Having begun his fashion career at the Carnegie Hall, New York in 1949, Bill came into the field full of passion and preserved his fervency for decades. For years, he lived in daily routine of riding bikes on streets of New York, and constantly seeking for elements of fashion and catching them on camera. When he gets into photographing, food or anything else physical is forgotten. Even money. 

While watching this documentary, I felt more and more respectful to Bill. So careless of the world around him whose goal is only to record fashion itself, as if fashion is the last thing living on earth. Whenever I try to sit down to write my film blogs or homework assignments, I either get hungry or begin wandering my mind somewhere else; I’m easily distracted. The fact that Bill has been the same for half of a century and still liked ripping money checks given to him as paychecks, I really don’t know what to do if not to pay proper respect to such a peculiar and pure man. We can see that Bill’s mind, although inattentive to anything other than fashion, has his own principles. When he worked at Women's Wear Daily, seeing one of his post works was used by his company to make fun of the women models in his photos, Bill was “beyond upset.” He immediately left the job after he experienced that incident as he felt embarrassed for what the models had to go through because of him. Bill’s sense of freedom was the main reason why he deserves full honor. He is really the first person I’ve ever seen that is full of gratitude, modesty and passion. 

Bill, in the end, made me believe the magic of perseverance, kindness and patience. He will perhaps be the only person I think who is unintentional of hurting anybody. And, I hope, that his soul will forever rest in peace with his camera in hand, as he continues to take pictures of art, the fashion that he finds inspiring.

Thank you for reading this blog.

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 (Spoiler Alert!) Millennium Actress: A LifeLong Pursuit

A lifelong pursuit is perhaps the shortest but precise summary for Millennium Actress. It depicts the life of Chiyoko Fujiwara as a parallel to her acting career, which are somewhat similar to each other with one ultimate goal–to seek someone she wishes to return an item to. A fate that begins in her adolescence, and continues till the end of her life. Film director Satoshi Kon perfectly expresses the feeling of surrealism of Millennium Actress through the form of anime and seamless transitions that blurs Chiyoko’s life into a masterpiece of art that is filled with joy, challenges, sorrow, grief and hopes. It is a story about love, motivation,  self-growth, and a revisit back to Japanese history in the 1900s, where wars and propagandas were forms of normality.

 

Millennium Actress holds a rather simple plot. However, the art form and storyline is as fruitful as a dish of deliciousness, full of content and satisfying texture. Following the chronological timeline of Millennium Actress, the story's protagonist, Chiyoko Fujiwara is given birth on the day of the Great Kanto earthquake (Tokyo-Yokohama earthquake); a day that also marks the ending of her father’s life. Japan, having suffered from the loss of 140,000 lives and two major cities, enters into a depression state. Only three years after the earthquake, Japan’s emperor of the Taisho era died  in 1926; The country officially welcomed the coming of Showa era and the new emperor Hirohito, whose enthronement rituals were seen as a foreshadowing of chauvinistic nationalism. Large amounts of money were invested into making the enthronement happen, but for Japan at the time, the spending was beyond its low budget; Japan’s economy after the Hirohito’s enthronement worsened. People were more devastated, Japan continued lacking necessary resources, and soon the pre-war era arrived.

During Chiyoko’s youth, she describes the world around her as “a turbulent and dangerous place.” A country that is all in chasing for national benefits and extreme ideologies. Propagandas about war are posted along with posters that emphasize self-sacrifice and devotion for Japan. People whose actions conflict with the trending belief would be seen as traitors–even persecuted to death.

Obedience, perseverance, deindividualize, Chiyoko grows under such an environment where her life is to pursue what the country pursues. Even when the Ginei Studio scout wants to hire Chiyoko as a young actor, he emphasizes the amount of benefits it would produce for her mother nation. While on scout’s side, Chiyoko is able to contribute to Japan as an actor, Chiyoko’s mother is against his idea and thinks that becoming a housewife is the correct way for a woman to dedicate herself for her country; Chiyoko feels hesitant at the same time lost with the two options given to her. She leaves both her mother and the scout in the room with their argument as she goes out for a walk on snowy streets, and throws snowballs onto walls as a release of her emotions. 

The color of red appears obvious and attractive for sights in the snow. The red brick wall, the Japanese flag, the propagandas. Almost everything else is in a tone of black of white, even Chiyoko’s red-pink scarf loses its saturation and gains the color of limestone statues. She is rather alone and depressed. As Chiyoko continues walking down the neighborhood she is pushed by a man from behind, who is in a hurry escaping the pursuit of the Japanese Government. Out of sudden urge, Chiyoko decides to help him. 

The man is placed inside of Chiyoko’s family storage house to avoid being discovered. Only at night times Chiyoko sneaks into the storage house, bandages his injuries, and listens to his stories. The man explains his identity as a painter, as he carries a rectangular shaped canvas covered by a black sheet, and a box of painting tools. He wish, that when peace comes, he is able to finish his painting back in his hometown Hokkaido during its heavy winter. But before such time may come, the man wishes to go to his friends who are currently fighting in Manchuria; he has to leave Chiyoko’s house. He promises Chiyoko that once the turbulence in their country ends, he will invite her to Hokkaido to express his gratitude toward her kindness. Their conversation continues on, and the topic turns to the man’s key necklace. “It is a key that opens something important.” Explained by the man. Upon observing his locked paint box, Chiyoko is completely aware of what the “important thing” the man implies. Still, she makes a promise with the man in giving her a day of time to guess what the key is for. Except she is never able to tell him the answer as the Japanese government eventually discovers traces of the man, and the man has no choice but to take his leave early; he accidentally drops his key while attempting to escape on a train going in the direction of Manchuria. Despite knowing the difficulty for her to meet the man again, Chiyoko still wants to keep their promise. She wears the key that the man dropped and says to the faraway train: “I will go…I will go to you!” Thus Chiyoko’s journey into fulfilling her promise with the man begins. Or should we say, at this point, we are finishing the ending of one of Chiyoko’s films. 

The intriguing part about Millennium Actress is predictably known for its surrealism, as I have touched on a little bit at the beginning of this blog. For audiences who are familiar with Satoshi Kon’s other work of films, such as Paprika and Perfect Blue, the immersion of reality and none-real world are applied by Kon in a way that only anime can reproduce the same stunning effect; the seamlessness of the transitions in Paprika, Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress always leave me speechless, at the same time paying more respect to Kon’s creativity. Back to Millennium Actress, when we perhaps are watching Chiyoko’s story of her life, we are unsure whether or not we are seeing just other cinema films she participates in. Because in both her films and life, she is always pursuing the man, wishing to return his key to him. 

My immature writing on Millennium Actress is, and never will be able to express the fascinating visuals that this film brings us. The parallelity of Chiyoko’s career and life is not only a proof of her determination to find the man again, but that the pursuit of him also means significantly to the building of her own character. As Chiyoko states at the end of the film, maybe the man isn’t what matters on her journey. Because at the end of the day, what she really “likes is the pursuit of him.” 

 

Thank you for reading this blog.

Feel free to find my other works of writing in my personal blogs: 

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(Spoiler Alert!) Millennium Actress: A LifeLong Pursuit – PereCreate 

 

Inside Out 2: A Reformation of Self-identity; a Journey of Self-growth

Inside Out 2: A Reformation of Self-identity; a Journey of Self-growth

I recently went to watch Inside Out 2, its previous movie being one of my favorites. It was quite unforgettable how amazed the little me was after realizing a human mind contains many cute creatures, and they help sort out your life.

So I immediately went to watch Inside Out 2, not only due to my personal favoritism, but also because of the heartwarming story it tells.

This blog will be a debrief of the first movie for better understanding, and then we’ll further into Inside Out 2 where the storyline connects.

The Inside Out was released in 2015 and directed by Pete Docter. It introduces us to our human protagonist, Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias), and the protagonist that lives inside her mind. In the world of Inside Out, the human mind consists mainly of five emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). These five emotions are the small creatures that control a person’s way of thinking and feelings, as one paves through life, The same goes to Riley. Her life is greatly affected by these emotions, as well as the many mind workers that do minor but important tasks in Riley’s head.

Inside Out gives us a sight of Riley’s life as she grows from a baby to the start of her adolescence. Throughout the first movie, Riley and her emotions comprehend the idea that all emotions are neutral feelings and not to be defined as positive or negative. Sadness, who is previously judged as a harmful emotion to Riley has her label taken off as she and Joy experiences a journey outside of the headquarter (emotional responses of Riley is transmitted in headquarter); Joy finally realizes that Sadness is not what Riley doesn’t need, but part of what she needs to be the Riley she is. Joy and Sadness eventually come back to the headquarters as Riley, too, drops her plan to go back to Minnesota and instead runs back home. As Riley is faced by her worried parents, Riley releases her tears as Sadness transfers a message from the headquarters for the first time, with no one stopping her to do so. Both Riley and her emotions (or just Riley herself) learns to face and accept their thoughts, and be more open-minded about life.

With a complete debrief on the first film, let’s now talk about Inside Out 2. I have only two words to describe my feeling when I finished the film: Amazement and Appreciation. Inside Out 2 brings us a very significant stage of Riley’s life, or everybody’s life, and that is puberty. Puberty is like waves of high sea tides that constantly knocks you but not really trying to kill you. It is a life phase where many begin building their consciousness and become aware of outside influences (such as peers and their social environments). It could be a tough transition growing up, however it is inevitable. So the moment Riley enters puberty, she finds herself facing difficult challenges. Mood swings, body odor, overly-observant of others, wanting for attention and being included in a cool social circle, Riley experiences all of these phenomenons brought by puberty. As for her emotions, Joy and her four friends are woken up in the middle of the night by the puberty alert, The headquarter gets a forced and unfinished reconstruction, and new emotions move in…a lot of things happen overnight, and Riley’s world is flipped upside-down. I personally really appreciate the perfect depiction of puberty by Disney Pixar. They did a fantastic job at visualizing such abstract concepts with lively character movements of 3D-animation, which makes the scene quite chaotic and adorable at the same time. Once again I owe my compliments to Pixar for the stunning performances of their animations. Back to the film, Anxiety in lead takes control of Riley’s mind and abandons everything Riley previously owned that built her first sense of identity, as well as the five old emotions. It’s not hard to understand the core concept of Inside Out 2. It is just like its first movie, to face one’s true self with no judgment. Inside Out 2 is indeed another stage of Riley learning and accepting herself again. However, it is a different experience, and I believe a lot more people sympathize with Riley than they do with the first movie. Inside Out 2 discusses a common phenomenon that most people have or had in their young teenage years. Riley is taken over by anxiety and desperately seeks attention in order to feel secure. I once felt the same way, too.

Inside Out 2 is definitely on my recommendation list right from the moment I finished watching it. A story of comedy, anxiety, sadness, joy, and teenage moments, you won’t regret trying Inside Out 2. 

Thank you for reading. 

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Evil Does Not Exist: the Ambiguity of "Evilness" (no spoilers)

Evil Does Not Exist: the Ambiguity of "Evilness"

How does one define the meaning of “evil”? It is not in the category of verb or noun. As an adjective word it is ambiguous to use, and forever subjective. Based on various experiences, the definition of “evil” is different and unique for every human being. Let’s pretend a person is robbing a bank because he has no money to aid his family. Some might say that this robber is “evil” because his act disrupts the balance of fair competition in the economy, and is rather violent. But some may say that the robber has a reason for his actions, therefore he is not necessarily evil, but neither is he kind. Evil Does Not Exist is a wave that pushes and encourages us to think relatively to the question of “evilness,” considering the world is not just black and white, but shades of gray. The director Ryusuke Hamaguchi does a perfect job at veiling the deep waters of Evil Does Not Exist. The atmosphere of the film can almost trick you into thinking that it is merely a simple story happening in a rural Japanese village. When the quiet, yet slightly unsettling, opening credit begins playing, it’s already difficult to escape the illusioned tenderness, and the ending is unexpected as if testing the depth of water with two human feet. 

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Azure Dust: The Tragedy of Chernobyl

Azure Dust: The Tragedy of Chernobyl 

One of the most disastrous human failures occurred on a day of 1986–a radiation explosion that was expected before its coming took place in Chernobyl, Ukraine (at the time part of the Soviet Union. Thousands of lives and numerous cities were significantly influenced due to Soviet Union authorities' problematic control of radioactive substances. People died, not knowing they have ingested contaminated air, those who lived suffered permanent damage for the rest of their lifetime. Directed by Volodrmyr Rybas, who is well known for the documentary film, Azure Dust guides its audience to the long desolated exclusion zone of Chernobyl, as it is no longer inhabited, frozen in its own time. 

Pripyat, a city in Ukraine two kilometers away from the radiation explosion power plant, was the dream city where young Soviet Union people pursued to take residence in. Carnivals often took place and the neighborhood was friendly, crowded, and eventful. On April 26, 1986, as reactor 4 of the power plant safety drill was misconducted, an enormous amount of radioactive materials exploded into the air, carried by the wind, and into cities including Pripyat (the radioactive material later covered most of Europe as well). After 36 hours of the explosion, Pripyat residents were evacuated without a specific explanation from the Soviet Union Authorities; they were informed to leave the city for just three days to a week for the government to fix the situation. Most people packed little personal belongings, left their pets some food and water, thinking that they’ll be back to their home in a short amount of time. Many began to show fatal sick symptoms after a week, due to the radioactive waste they breathed in during those 36 hours, the living ones weren't in better condition, either. Aside from covering the fact of radioactive material leak, the Soviet Union Authority carried out forced abortion on pregnant women that came into contact with the toxic substances. One of the survivors from Pripyat, Maryna was interviewed in Azure Dust to talk about her experiences with the forced abortion. She replied that she received IV (intravenous injection) that she thought was used to reduce the radioactive waste existing in her belly, however  made her five month old baby at the time reacting very strongly. Maryna was later informed that she will be aborting her child with no choice. She decided to leave the hospital immediately with her husband. The next day she found herself wanted by the Soviet Union Authorities. According to The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, “an estimated 100,000-200,000 wanted pregnancies were aborted in Western Europe.”

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine article: https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/jnumed/28/6/933.full.pdf 

The tragedies never happened enough, broken families, declining health, irresponsible measures taken by the Soviet Union government, those who lived the days in the nuclear wastes have either vanished, or have no choice but live under the shadow of the traumas. Volodymyr Rybas’s Azure Dust depicts the horrifying history of Chernobyl, and the sorrows of victims. Pripyat now lives as a ghost city, the insides of buildings under the accumulated dust and deteriorating ceilings. But I feel grateful seeing Volodymyr Rybas and his team bringing us the sight of Pripyat today. And that, someday, cities like Pripyat would be able to experience the same joy it once possessed forty years ago. 

Thank you for reading 

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Paprika: The Balance Established by Dream & Reality

Paprika: The Balance Established by Dream & Reality

Dreams, free of all physical forms and logical thought system, is an unpredictable yet imaginative experience that occurs in bits of our lives. The film Paprika released in 2006 is a masterpiece directed by Satoshi Kon, as it jumps back and forth on the boundaries of real and imagined worlds. Following the sight of Paprika, or Dr. Chiba Atsuko (Megumi Hayashibara), we get to witness different dreams of many characters as their minds rip away from reality, and dive deep into a complex conspiracy. 

Launched by Dr. Chiba and her colleague Dr. Kosaku Tokita (Toru Furuya), the dream device DC Mini is invented and in development for purposes of dream psychotherapy. DC Mini gives those who are connected to the device the ability to enter one’s dream, which allows the patient and therapist to be in the same dream created by the patient’s subconscious mind. Such a therapy method was introduced in the beginning of the film, when policeman Konakawa and Paprika dives into his dream relative to his pursuit of a criminal. 

Interestingly to say, Paprika’s motif on the topic of dream and reality penetrates throughout the entire film; the boundaries of reality and dreams are meant to be the reflection of one’s self, the outer mind and inner mind. Neither can be dismissed. 

Let’s observe Chiba Atsuko and Paprika, they originate from the same person, which is Chiba herself. But the way they talk and interact is apparently distinct from each other. Chiba is an attractive woman that speaks stoically. She barely smiles, and tends to distance herself away from everyone else except Tokita. Her dark blue hair is clipped up as she always walks fast like the wind. Ever before the end of the film Chiba stands as the definition of permanence. Same suit, same High heels, same attitude to almost everyone around her. If anyone were to be the “antonym” of Chiba, it would be Paprika. She exhibits an expressive kind of beauty, making her a lovely and friendly woman just from her appearance; the color of her bright red blouse t-shirt makes her someone attractive and a tolerant figure like the sun. But is it really possible to say that they are not the same, and should be judged as two different figures? 

Paprika: “Leave that irresponsible fatso!”

Chiba Atsuko: “Why won’t you listen to me? You’re a part of me!” 

Paprika: “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re a part of me?”

Here comes the paradox, Paprika and Chiba are different people, but similar enough to call each other the reflection of themselves. Just like what we previously said, Paprika originates from Chiba, nevertheless, Paprika prefers to be identified as herself, and not Chiba. In fact, Paprika never once says that she is part of Chiba, and she sees Chiba as another individual: “If anything happens to Atsuko, use the…” is what Paprika tells Dr. Shima (Hori Katsunosuke) in dream of finding Tokita’s consciousness. Therefore, Chiba and Paprika both sense the difference between them, and does not consider their existence presents because of the other’s presence; they live with their own minds. 

The lack of logic is perfectly explained by the imperfect yet powerful imagination of dreams. Which eventually concludes a paradoxical message regarding dream and reality. They stand as two sides, having their pros and cons, and inseparable or one another.

Thank you for reading.

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