solitary_summer: (irina cowgirl)

Saw X-Men 3 today, and I don't know what everyone is (or, at any rate, so many people seem to be) complaining about. Sure, it's not the most profound thing ever, and I don't have any knowledge of comic-verse canon to compare it against, and yeah, big explosions & melodrama & such, but it was plenty entertaining and has enough ethical complexities/complications to keep me interested. And I loved the final scene, Eric playing chess with Charles like at the end of the first movie, but this time one of them is dead and the other is a normal human being. It's beautiful and fitting, in a way...

[ETA: I didn't see the scene after the credits; knew there was one, but didn't remember... I think I'd prefer finality, and people who died to remain dead.]


And I'm about to watch the last episode of Firefly [::tiny sob::] I knew I'd fall in love and then be frustrated that there's only half a season, which is why I put off buying/watching it for so long, and here I am, very much in love, wanting more & very frustrated indeed. Although I must say I'm not really surprised it got cancelled. Not because it is bad, obviously, which it certainly isn't, but (and this kind of hit me watching Jaynestown, especially at the end of the episode) if ever there was a tv show that was wholly and in every respect contrary to the official ideology/zeitgeist of the country that produced it, it's Firefly


Quite a good day, despite getting caught in a downpour-ish rain on my way to work and arriving with soaking wet and uncomfortably clinging trousers. Thank god we have a hair-dryer there. Got to leave at 13:30, lingered a bit at the Blasmusikfestival on my way home -- not the kind of music I ordinarily listen to, but it was a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon (after a couple of weeks of more or less constantly crappy weather) and all those groups in their colourful traditional clothing, Dirndls and whatnot, or colourful pseudo-uniforms, were very picturesque and even the music fit the mood. A cute group from a school in Tokio wearing black glittery cowboy hats with glittery gold hat-bands/scarves wrapped around, everyone took pictures of, and had pictures taken with, them. A tall, young, smiling Austrian military officer with a red beret as I was watching; surrounded by small Japanese girls. Two women in Dirndl from one of the Austrian groups taking a picture of a middle aged man in Trachtenanzug, also from their group, with two of the pink and white dressed, short-skirted and booted majorettes from the Slowakian group, admonishing him to hold the ceremonial flag he was carrying straight. Then, young guys who might have been from the French group, with their uniform trousers only, boots with spurs, t-shirts and suspenders down, also taking pictures with the majorettes.

And there must have been a society wedding or something like that, because in the midst of all this there passed a group of very posh dressed and be-hatted people. Later, they were standing on the infamous balcony, looking over the Heldenplatz.


And I'd been thinking of taking the camera along this morning. ::sigh::
solitary_summer: (Default)

i finally got around to watch 'Dancer in the Dark' and it was... ah well. i spent the last half hour painfully swallowing past the lump in my throat, blinking away tears, while at the same time clenching my teeth and furiously forbidding myself to cry (something i wouldn't normally do, because recently any kind of feeling is welcome). not that it isn't good - i guess it is -, Björk is amazing, the musical parts blend into the story beautifully... but. the story. yet again a celebration of female suffering and self-sacrifice, presented in a way that i already found hard to tolerate in 'Breaking the Waves'. the fact that it is ultimately Selma's decision, her refusal to do the 'normal', reasonable thing, to give in to the pleas of her friends, of the man who loves her and try defend herself, doesn't make it any easier to swallow having to watch her being victimised and finally martyred as the movie goes on and on. not to be mistaken, i'm not so self centred as not to see that there are cases where such a decision might be necessary and inescapable, but what i can't help feeling uneasy about is von Trier's way of almost sanctifying it. in 'Breaking the Waves' Bess's husband recovering, the church bells finally ringing, here Kathy coming to witness the execution, ultimately agreeing with Selma's decision, passing her her son's glasses, who has successfully undergone surgery. (at the price of his mother's life. when one has wiped away the sentimental tears one might prosaically wonder how he'll be able to live with that.) and it's always women, always. suffering, abused, selflessly sacrificing themselves for husbands and children. to me this is just another romanticised brand of age old misogyny.

(and at a random guess there probably are quite a few blind people who would object to the reasoning that an innocently executed mother is a better fate than blindness.)

or maybe i just expected something different, because i've always loved Björk's 'i have seen it all', its defiant rejection, and the movie just isn't much like that...

moreover, despite the quality & general artsiness, i never quite could escape the feeling that in some respects it's quite a calculated tearjerker.

(i'm trying to decided if von Trier maybe intended the possibility of another reading, a subtle criticism of the pressure and expectations women experience from society, because after all Selma's trouble started when she felt she needed to have a child, despite her better knowledge, but i suspect he should be taken at face value, such as it is.)

*


also watched x-men (the movie), which wasn't all that bad. esp. Ian McKellen's character makes sad, perfect sense. gives the movie some depth. all the more tragic because (one assumes, and certainly, Patrick Stewart's character aside, there is nothing to indicate otherwise) none of those who fight for or against him know what moves him...

the final scene, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart sitting in Magneto's plastic prison, talking, playing chess not with a black and white set, but with transparent and milky pieces. old friends, not-quite opponents. beautiful.

*


in other news, i reconnected to my inner hair colour and dyed my hair red again. it's not quite as bright as i wanted it to, being still rather dark to start with, but i feel more like myself, even though i did like the black, sort of. more than sort of, even.

my hair still smells like henna, dark-smoky-woodsy...

Profile

solitary_summer: (Default)
solitary_summer

March 2013

M T W T F S S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
1819202122 2324
25262728293031

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 8th, 2025 03:57 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios