Mario Basanov & Vidis (ft. Jazzu) – I’ll be gone

DJ /Rupture & Matt Shadetek – Solar Life Raft (via iTunes Store)

Blakroc = The Black Keys + VA

DL: Blakroc – Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) (ft. Mos Def & Jim Jones)

Blakroc Album Stream HERE, also in iTunes store NOW

Be Kind Rewind – Gli acchiappafilm è un film del 2008, commedia americana della New Line Cinema, diretto da Michel Gondry e interpretato da Jack Black, Mos Def, Melonie Diaz, Danny Glover e Mia Farrow.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Michel Gondry | Jack Black | Mos Def | Danny Glover | Mia Farrow

Ich weiß noch, dass ich aus dem Kino kam, nachdem ich Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind gesehen habe, und wusste, dass ich gerade Zeuge der Vorführung eines perfekten Films gewesen war. Es gibt diese Filme, bei denen einfach alles stimmt, bei denen alle Aspekte des Filmemachens perfekt ineinander greifen — auf der visuellen, der schauspielerischen und der Story-Ebene. Diese Perfektion muss nicht unbedingt bedeuten, dass der Film einem auch gefällt, aber man kann nicht anders, als sich vor einer Meisterleistung zu verbeugen.

Eternal Sunshine kombiniert die Vorstellungskraft von zwei erstaunlichen Individuen der Noughties, Drehbuchautor Charlie Kaufmann und Regisseur Michel Gondry. Die zwei hatten vorher schon einen Film gemacht (den vergessbaren Human Nature) und sie haben später alleine Filme gemacht, aber bei Eternal Sunshine schien einfach alles zu klappen: Jim Carrey spielt seine beste ernste Rolle, Kate Winslet scheint wie ein Stern, in den Nebenrollen brillieren Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson und Mark Ruffalo, die Visuellen Effekte sind einfallsreich und nahtlos, die Musik von Jon Brion traumhaft.

Dazu kommt eine Geschichte, die jeden Menschen, der schon einmal über Liebe und Schicksal nachgedacht hat, packen muss. Können zwei Menschen füreinander geschaffen sein, gar zum ewigen Scheitern geschaffen?
Wachsen oder zerbrechen wir an unseren Erinnerungen? Und wieviel ist “wahre” Liebe wirklich wert? Solange diese Fragen weiter gestellt werden, wird Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind seine Wirkung behalten.

Über Gondry-Kaufmann hinaus war 2004 vor allem ein gutes Jahr für erstaunlich gute Fortsetzungen. Spider-Man 2, mit Alfred Molina als Doc Ock, ist mit Abstand der Beste der Reihe (und The Incredibles nahm das ganze Genre gut auf die Schippe). Kill Bill Vol. 2 gab dem wahnwitzigen Schlachtfest aus Folge 1 plötzlich einen psychologischen Sinn und gefiel mir sehr gut. The Bourne Supremacy prägte deutlicher als sein Vorgänger einen neuen Typ von Actionfilm — die Häcksel-Action mit gebrochenem Held.

Phantastik mit guten Bildern würde ich als einen weiteren Trend des Jahres nennen, das definitiv zu meinen Lieblingsfilmjahren der Noughties gehört. Mit Hellboy und Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban adaptierten zwei mexikanische Regisseure, Guillermo del Toro und Alfonso Cuaron, fantastische Welten mit einem faszinierenden Gespür für Bild und Herz. Und Brad Silberling kochte in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events eine Suppe, die Tim Burton sicher auch gefallen hätte. Einer meiner Lieblingsfilme des Jahres wird allerdings wohl kaum in die Geschichte eingehen: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow gefiel mir mit seiner Pulp-Attitüde dennoch sehr gut.

Shaun of the Dead ist vielleicht die beste Komödie des Jahrzehnts, gerade weil sie ihr Parodieobjekt so ernst nimmt. Aber 2004 war auch das Jahr von Team America: World Police, dem wohl besten und bösesten Film über den neuen amerikanischen Post-9/11-Imperialismus-Traum. I Heart Huckabees hingegen geht von seiner Stimmung eher in eine ähnliche Richtung wie Eternal Sunshine.

Die Tatsache, dass ich die großen Oscar-Filme des Jahres, Million Dollar Baby und Finding Neverland beispielsweise, jetzt erst erwähne, zeigt, dass 2004 einfach ein verdammt gutes Jahr für Mainstream-Kino war, abseits der großen Gefühle. Der Oscar für Million Dollar Baby ist verdient — der Film war sehr gut — aber ich bezweifle, dass er in den Köpfen so lange überleben wird. Den Auslandsoscar gewann Alexandro Amenabars Mar Adentro, ebenfalls verdient (vor allem gegen den Untergang).

Vampire Weekend – Cousins

Purchase “Cousins” now on iTunes, Download their first single “Horchata” Here

Grizzly Bear – Ready, Able

Purchase Veckatimest (Album) now on iTunes

Zomby – Aquarium

Purchase One Foot Ahead Of The Other (Latest Album) now on iTunes

Crystal Fighters – I Love London

Purchase Kitsuné Maison Compilation 8 now on iTunes

Pink Skull – Ritualistic Bug Use

Purchase Endless Bummer (Album) now on iTunes

Com um roteiro espetacular e atuações fantásticas, o filme mostra as lembranças que um homem pensa que quer esquecer

Por Rodrigo Gianesi

Você apagaria alguém e qualquer coisa que você viveu ao lado dessa pessoa de sua memória? O filme Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças explora essa pergunta. Joel (Jim Carrey) e Clementine (Kate Winslet) formam um casal de pessoas que não têm nada em comum, algo normal em vários filmes de romance. Porém, a abordagem deste filme dirigido por Michel Gondry é completamente diferente e intrigante.

Joel é tímido e metódico, enquanto Clementine é extrovertida, diferente e completamente impulsiva. Essa sua última característica a leva a, após terminar seu relacionamento com Joel, procurar a Lacuna INC., uma clínica que oferece um tratamento peculiar: apagar pessoas da mente de outras. Ao descobrir que sua ex-namorada o apagou de sua memória, Joel vê o mundo desabar, e, em um momento de desespero, procura o mesmo tratamento. Durante o procedimento, no qual os técnicos vasculham o cérebro do paciente apagando memória por memória, Joel vê todos os momentos em que passou ao lado de sua namorada, se arrepende de sua escolha e tenta voltar atrás, se escondendo em lugares remotos de suas lembranças.

Filme conta com grande elenco, com Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst e Elijah Wood

Em mais um roteiro alucinante de Charlie Kaufman (que escreveu também Quero Ser John Malkovich), o filme vai e volta no tempo através das lembranças de Joel com interpretações fantásticas, não só dos protagonistas Jim Carrey (que provou, mais uma vez, que não é apenas um ótimo comediante, mas um ator excelente e versátil) e Kate Winslet, mas também boas atuações de todos os atores que compõem esse ótimo elenco, que conta com Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst e Elijah Wood.

Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças é uma história linda que mostra que, não importa o que você faça, você não pode esquecer um amor. Ao ver o filme me lembro de uma frase de Nelson Rodrigues: “Todo amor é eterno. Se acabou, não era amor”.

Antes de responder a pergunta feita no começo deste texto, assista ao filme, e você perceberá que, não importa quão dolorosa tenha sido a separação, um amor nunca deve ser esquecido.

Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind): 2004, EUA. Direção: Michel Gondry. Elenco: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood. Roteiro: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth. Duração: 108 minutos.

Notas:

Rodrigo Gianesi [10] Ronnie Romanini [10] Paulo do Valle [9.5]

Nossa média: [9.8]

Surreal

Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (born 21 July 1971) is a French actress and singer-songwriter.

IRM (Her Upcoming Album Produced By Beck)

Heaven Can Wait (First Single)

VERDICT:
8/10 Boss Emcees

One of those magical little movies that’ll a big ol’ smile on your face from beginning to end. Man, what the hell happened to Dave Chappelle?

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is a documentary that follows Dave Chappelle – back when he was living it up as the funniest man on Earth –  as he puts together an utterly epic block party in Brooklyn, NY featuring some of the biggest names in the history of R&B and Hip-Hop. And being that Dave Chappelle is the man, he makes it into a free show, buses droves of people from his hometown in Ohio to go to the show, and makes everyone laugh their asses off.

What a guy.

Now, I happen to like a lot of the acts that Dave lined up for this show, especially since he somehow managed to get The Fugees back together for it (if you’ve never listened to The Score, you don’t know what you’re missing, brotha). So being that I like to laugh hard and since I’m always down for some choice R&B and Hip-Hop, this was a win-win for me, but I can understand how a number of folks out there might not see the attraction to this little comedy/rap concoction. For those of you who fall into this category, listen close, I have a story to tell thee.

I kinda had to rope my friends into seeing this one when it was out in theaters because they could really have given a shit about every aspect about this movie that didn’t have to do with Dave Chappelle. But by the time they came out, even though they still didn’t really care much for the musical aspect of it, they were soundly entertained across the board.

Part of this is because of Dave. The humor here is kinda different from Chappelle’s Show in that it’s not really trying to be edgy or push the envelope, it’s just capturing Dave as this normal, genuine, and totally hilarious guy that’s just trying to throw this sweet party for everyone to enjoy. The only bits that are scripted are a couple acts he does onstage with Mos Def and The Roots, but his best stuff is just when he’s being himself. It’s a damn shame that he’s been written off as this mental case over the years, because the impression you get from him here is that he’s of the rare humble, and grounded breed of celebrity that’s doing his best not to let fame get to his head. There’s a lot of celebrities out there who could learn a thing or two from Dave. That guy’s A-okay in my book.

But the other part of this is actually because of Michel Gondry. From a visual standpoint, you’d never know Gondry was behind this as it pretty much boils down to him with a camera and that’s it, but it’s something about the overall positive vibes this movie puts out that feels very much his own. Gondry makes movies about people, movies that bring people together, and that’s the beauty of Block Party. More so than the acts on stage, Gondry makes the people going to the show the main characters, showcasing this melting pot of cultures and happiness that all came together for this one kickass occasion.

It’s an unlikely one, but Chappelle and Gondry are a great team whose visions really complement each other. Good times all around with these guys.

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is just a damn good time. Not only is it funny as hell, but it’s surprisingly insightful, has a huge heart, and the concert itself is totally awesome, too. So give it a shot, even if you could care less about a Fugees reunion, everyone needs a good reminder every now and again of the genius that is Dave Chappelle.

We miss you, man. Come back to us.

Ce soir, une pub Levi’s réalisée par Michel Gondry – la réalisation est à couper le souffle, et c’est une vraie histoire à elle toute seule.

Seeing that Michel Gondry is responsible for the off-beat Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it is no wonder that The Science of Sleep is another quirky, off-beat product by him. Stéphane (played by Gael García Bernal) returns to France after his father’s death. He is under the impression that his mother organised a job for him as creative calender designer seeing that he is an artist, but comes to learn that the job is not as glamorous as he thought. Stéphanie (starring Charlotte Gainsbourg) moves in across from his apartment, and he fancies her attractive friend, Zoé, at first. When he gets to know Stéphanie better though, he falls in love with her in stead. But there is a big hurdle in their way: Stéphane struggles to distinguish between dreams and reality. This amounts to a sense of paranoia and obsessive behaviour that threatens his sanity and her love for him.

The film starts out innocently enough, but the viewer soon realises that this is not just any ordinary movie. There is a scene in the film in which Stéphane explains his project entitled “Disastrology” to his new boss. The project encapsulates a calender made up of

well-known historic disasters for each month accompanied by colourful illustrations of the tragic events. The calender seems quite absurd and Stéphane acknowledges that his target audience would need to have a sense of black humour to appreciate the concept. Likewise, the viewer of The Science of Sleep needs to have an open mind and an off-beat sense of humour to appreciate the genius of the film.

The Science of Sleep is filled with surrealistic dream-like sequences in which reality is distorted. The props and sets in these sequences are all hand-made out of everyday materials, cars and cameras are made out of cardboard boxes for example. This emphasises the idea of creativity and creating something with one’s hands, as Stéphane and Stéphanie do. And this aids the viewer to distinguish between Stéphane’s dreams and his reality. Yet later on, it gets more difficult for Stéphane to assess what is dream and what is reality, and as the clues get fewer as to which is which, so too does it complicate assessment for the viewer. The viewer is confused and can, therefore, empathise with Stéphane’s nightmarish sense of frustration and paranoia.

SPOILER WARNING! The viewer even later questions whether Stéphanie is the one that toys with his mind. Was it in fact she that danced so seductively with another man at the opening of his calender? Or was it just a dream? Or was it actually Zoé who he mistook for Stéphanie in reality. I even felt credulous about whether he finds trouble distinguishing between dreams and reality, or whether he is just schizophrenic. In the end scene where he speaks to Stéphanie quite vulgarly, I wondered whether Guy is truly the pig he is made out to be, or whether this is actually a projected characteristic of one of Stéphane’s other personalities. Stéphanie falls in love with him in the beginning, but his intensity and psychosis hamper that initial bud to blossom. He needs help, and one can only hope that she will be the one to rescue him. And this is possible, that is – if the final scene is not just another dream… SPOILERS END HERE.

It is interesting to note that Jean-Michel Bernard, who is responsible for the soundtrack of the film, played the role of the piano-playing policeman.

One’s subconscious is a melting pot for all sorts of ingredients from one’s life. And the subconscious often ascribes individual meaning to certain things/people/events which is very personal to the conscious mind. That is what I believe anyway. And that is why dreams do not seem to make much sense, even to the dreamer. Absurd things are possible and make sense within the dream. No wonder that the dream sequences in the film are described by Gondry as “something that was more personal to me”. I, therefore, do not feel too bad about not understanding everything in the film, for I do not feel the audience is supposed to. There is a quote from the film Waking Life (2001) by Richard Linklater which describes the whole feel and theme of the movie very well: “Are we sleep-walking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams?” Something to ponder, isn’t it?

Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance / Fantasy
Running time: 105 min
Country: France / Italy
Language: French / English / Spanish
Director: Michel Gondry
Writing credits: Michel Gondry
Music: Jean-Michel Bernard
Main Cast:
Stéphane Miroux – Gael García Bernal
Stéphanie – Charlotte Gainsbourg
Guy – Alain Chabat
Martine – Aurélia Petit
Serge – Sacha Bourdo
Christine Miroux – Miou-Miou
Zoé – Emma de Caunes

The Scan Processor Studies are a collection of works by Woody Vasulka & Brian O’Reilly.

The world needs more imaginative people like Michel Gondry. Where are all the artistic savants like him in our generation? To be fair, I don’t know how many like him existed before him, so it’s hard to gauge where they all “went”. Not since the exuberance of the 60s and the hyper-colorful Russo-Finnish co-productions like Jack Frost and The Day the Earth Froze, where imagination was plentiful on the wings of fantasy and adventure, has a director brought such a palpable excitement to the screen. Gondry’s films, while not always very dense, still engross with an emotional connection to the characters and the material that are impossible to ignore. Today’s film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is a contemplative, if not shallow, look at a modern, complicated romance that has some wildly imaginative aspects to it.

A man named Joel and a woman named Clementine meet one day on a cold winter morning. They click almost instantly and chat the day away. Even though they don’t at first seem very compatible, it seems insignificant compared to the fun they’re having with each other. Strangely, though, there is a scientific reason the two are attracted to one another; they used to be a couple, but they just don’t remember. In the film, a new procedure has come into popularity called Targeted Memory Erasure that people are using to erase painful memories from their lives. These two people were in a failing relationship and, in haste, decided that the thought of remembering one another was too much and went ahead with the procedure. Most of the film takes place in the man’s head during the procedure as his memories melt away. He is forced to relive a number of the good times and the bad times with Clementine as they slip away from him one by one. The more he looks at what he had with her, though, the more he begins to realize that perhaps he had made a mistake in asking to be rid of the memories. As he clings to his old life with her, the world they created in his consciousness begins to collapse, and Joel desperately searches for something that will perhaps stick with him as he loses one of the most important people in his life.

What a fascinating idea. An idea like this, in the wrong hands, could have ended disastrously, but in the capable hands of Gondry and wunderkind Charlie Kaufman, this film came out almost flawlessly. You are transported to a world of dreamlike memories falling away in the face of what looks more and more to be a terrible mistake. It’s as terrifying as it is tragic, and its inevitability bears down upon our hearts every second, even though we still secretly hope for a second chance between Joel and Clementine. The world inside Joel’s mind is equally impressive as a visual spectacle. The way the memories manifest themselves, be they half-remembered words and ideas, sketchy faces, childhood fears revisiting the adult manifestation of Joel, or endless loops of seemingly unimportant details all are lovingly rendered in a style that is both technically impressive and emotionally stirring.

This sumptuous feast for the mind is bolstered by breakout performances by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. While I never expected any less from the real deal actress Winslet, Carrey genuinely surprised me. As Joel, he made me feel so deeply for him that it shook me to my core as an ol’ softie. There is such a vulnerability there that I never saw before, would have never imagined before. He changed my opinion of him forever with this role, and for the first time I can look at Jim Carrey as a seriously talented actor with a range that can only be described as phenomenal. But let’s not forget that Kate deserves her due for being half of this depressing relationship. Clementine is a free-spirit who doesn’t like being told what to do, doesn’t like boundaries, and it hurts her when Joel seeks to reign her in and cull her with the rest of the herd. There are a number of scenes in which Kate showcases an emotional range that solidifies her as one of the greatest actresses of this decade, and even with badly-died blue hair I can take a woman like her seriously.

I’m keeping this one short for an essay later, but don’t let that keep you from watching it. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is not only an amazing movie and a classy reference to Alexander Pope, but also a hypnotically powerful drama wrapped in the mysterious language of dreams. Michel Gondry creates visual masterpieces in this film destined to become a classic. The cast and crew is stellar, and while not everybody makes much of an impact as a character (almost nobody does) the leads carry their peculiar weight with dignity and poise that I appreciated. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I give Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 9 ol’ softies out of 10. A high recommendation!

Tomorrow I don’t know what I’ll watch, but it will definitely be something new! Until then!

This week we’re video watching a pair of excellent pairings. The first comes from a recent White Rabbits show in San Francisco where the Brooklyn-based six-piece was joined on stage by Spoon’s Britt Daniel for a fairly excellent cover of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma”. Enjoy it, below!

I first fell in love with Charlotte Gainsbourg when she starred in the Michel Gondry French-flick, The Science of Sleep. After netflixing everything of hers I could get my hands on, I then moved on to her music catalog, namely 2006’s 5:55. Last month she started releasing tracks from her third and Beck-produced album IRM, and now it looks like we’ve got ourselves a video. Check out the Beck duet, “Heaven Can Wait”, available for your swooning pleasure below.

Escape From Tomorrow (A Day In the Life With Nigel Sylvester)

The NYC HandBallers

Awwww

“-¿Joely? ¿Y si esta vez te quedaras? -Salí por la puerta. No me queda ningún recuerdo. -Vuelve y al menos inventa una despedida, finjamos que la tuvimos.”

La adoro. Demasiado. A estas alturas ya no creo que mi amor por esta película sea medianamente aceptable o normal, no puede serlo. Me parece tan maravillosa desde el principio hasta el final, incluyendo a la sosaina Kristen Dunst. Y mi Kate, ay, mi Kate, es puro amor. No diré que es perfecta, porque eso es algo muy relativo, pero realmente lo creo así; pocas películas consiguen ver una realidad tan irracional del ser humano de una forma tan estupenda, aunque sea a través de una posibilidad remota que pedimos a gritos y nos demuestren que estamos equivocados. Porque Charlie Kaufman y Michel Gondry son geniales, juntos y separados, al menos para mí, y me enamoré de esta película desde la primera vez que tuve la suerte de verla. Y ya está, que es impresionante.

* * * Buena * * *

Año: 2008
Idiomas: Japonés, francés
Director: Joon-ho Bong, Leos Carax, Michel Gondry
Género: Comedia, drama
La ví en: Mi portátil, en tres sesiones separadas con Oscar y Héctor.

Avance:

Yo:

Hablando en serio, no soy muy conocedor del trabajo de los directores, pero se nota la calidad en los tres segmentos. El primero, Interior Design, no lo recuerdo muy bien porque lo vi ya hace casi un mes, sin embargo es el que enseña más sobre el día a día de los isleños cegatos y además me dejó buen sabor.

Aunque Merde es el menos agraciado, tiene muchos puntos a favor, como los personajes principales, la lengua misteriosa que hablan, las escenas de traducción y todo el rollo ecológico. Me parece que es el que mejor calza con mi persona en este momento.

El último definitivamente es el mejor. Trata sobre uno de los aspectos más retorcidos de la cultura urbana nipona, ese de apilar cajas de pizza. Los japoneses me incomodan, no me canso de decirlo.

Recursos:

en.wikipedia IMDB Rottentomatoes Metacritic Allmovie Página oficial