WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE III: SPRING 2024
Hello People of the World;
Well, the four-year streak finally comes to an end. It feels horrible and I cannot fathom how people act like it’s a simple thing these days.
As always: Stay safe. Stay home.
All right, let’s get going:
1:[ This virus really showed how equal we all really are: Have we really lost sight of the fact that people still dying from it? It was exactly four years to the day, when I was furloughed from my job at the movie theater to when I caught it. My Bonnie said it was unfair I caught it because I was the most diligent person that she knew in trying not to catch it. I guess, not diligent enough.
2:[ MOVIE REVIEWS:
Perfect Days
Directed by Wim Wenders
So far, at the time of typing/posting, the only film I have seen in the movie theater in 2024. Twice at that. I wanted Bonnie to see it to. I have been guiding her on a tour of Japanese Cinema of late.
Wim Wenders expands his fascination with Japan, to create "Perfect Days", a slice of life film about a Toilet Cleaner in Tokyo and his seeming mundane life. Wenders states that this is based on the concept of "komorebi 木漏れ日", of how light filters through leaves and branches and falls on surfaces.
Kôji Yakusho plays Hirayama (a name derived from Wender's love of the films of Ozu) the toilet cleaner and how each day blends into the next but he seems content to do his job, eat lunch at the temple, take pictures of the branches of trees, then, visit the same eating establishments time and again. The days are separated with some of the best on-screen representations of dreams I have ever seen. Soon, life starts placing obstacles in Hirayama's path, each providing a bump in the road he travels.
I am a fan of Wenders. His "Wings of Desire" and the five-hour cut of "Until the End of the World" are some of my most favorites. I was disappointed that this was considered the Japanese entry for best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards, though, this year was pretty disappointing over all. I still think Kore-eda's "Monster ‘怪物’" to be the superior film last year.
Still.
This is a good film. Greatly acted by Kôji Yakusho, whom shoulders the film effortlessly.
HIGH RECOMMENDATION
EW3
Dune: Part Two
Directed by Denis Villenueve
Only the second (!) movie I've seen in the theater. I'm slacking.... Anyhoo....
I've said it once, I'll say it again: of all the ideas that Hollywood stole from Jodorowsky's planned "Dune" film, I WISH they stole the color palette. I mean, really.
(I know, it would have been horrible because he says he never read the book nor did he get that it was supposed to be a treatise AGAINST messianic figures! Didn't he know?! Calm down. Jodorowsky will say anything to provoke. He's a provocateur. Look at what he said about El Topo. Which is why he can hypocritically spout off about the evils of money infecting art while flashing the thousands of Euros he has in his pocket. Geez.)
Here, TIM-OH-TAY CHAL-ohm returns as Paul Atreides, having lived amongst the Fremam led by HAWV-yar Bar-deeeeeem. Paul must make a choice of embracing the future holy war he incites, or trying to stand grounded in his relationship with Zendaya's Chani. I have nothing bad to say about Zendaya. I think she's great in this. She's good in a lot of things. Very talented actress. I just wish people didn't have an issue with her skin-tone.
With the Harkonnen's re-establishing their foothold on Arakkis, the Emperor of the Galaxy (played by a sleepy Christopher Walken) must step in to prevent the major houses of going to war against him. The Baron Harkonnen brings in his psychotic and beloved nephew, WhatzHis Naum, to take control of Arrakis and get spice production going again. Hijinks ensue. Truths revealed. Sequel Stuff.
So, what did I think of the movie that is being called "better than the first movie"?
I thought this was friction' hilarious! It had so many laugh out loud moments that I am sure I was bothering the folks around us.
Not to point out again, the hilariously too-on-the-nose comparisons to "The Life of Brian" that have already been made, but everything coming out of Bardem's mouth just recalled that and I couldn't stop giggling.
Walken's mere appearance simply can no longer uphold the gravitas placed on it. He's just too silly now. The fact that he was able to wear his bath robe for the whole show just attests to this. That "It's in his heart" speech lifted from "Racing Stripes" lifted me off the chair with laughter. His performance is so sleepy I am sure many out there are calling it his best ever.
Then, to put the cherry on top of this comedic sundae: that smash cut of the fearsome, gigantic sand-worms dramatically erupting from the ground in the climatic and epic battle of CGI armies rushing at one another amidst the explosions, to the sand-worm driver screaming a nonsense scream was *chef's kiss* the absolute peak of comedy!
I mean, why scream while driving anything at …anything? No one hears you.
Especially when you are a mile high on the back of sand-worm that no one even knows you’re there and the rage and noise of battle is screaming all around you. You think the enemy who are fighting for their very lives, dodging shots fired at them and explosions, running fearful in hopes of surviving but are then confronted with these gigantic creatures suddenly coming out of the ground, basically sealing their doom, are suddenly going to hear your feeble scream of what, triumph, and be what, MORE scared?
Come on, that's funny.
I have to hand to Villenueve, to pivot and make such a clean turn into comedy unseen since John Wick Chapter 4, it is beautiful. A beautiful work of comedy.
MEH, BE HONEST, NOTHING WILL STOP YOU FROM SEEING THIS.
EW3
3:[ This Month’s Essay:
I didn’t write a short essay this month as you can tell. I got very sick this month.
4:[ Observation: Hey, you know why flying is still the safest form of transportation? All of the cancelled flights. You can't pull over midair and pop open the hood. If there is the slightest whiff of a possibility of something MIGHT go wrong? They have the interest in safety, (I'll grant it's a self-interest) that they would think that putting up with mad, inconvenienced people is much better than counting the dead somewhere along the flight path, or worse, never finding them at the bottom of the vast oceans....
5:[ We cannot go back to “Normal” all after this: thinking that fresh water is a infinite resource.
That is it for this month.
As always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here. I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I write here and I will see you in a month.
Until next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”
2024 Ernest M Whiteman III
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