Now that I’ve given my resident philospher Taylor a thorough lashing (check it out in the previous post’s comments), I want to post a video I recently saw, featuring a brilliant film professor from Fuller Theological Seminary, Dr. Craig Detweiler (note: he was also once the chair of the Cinema and Media Arts program at Biola University). The video really picks up about halfway through, and says everything I’ve ever wanted to say about being a Christian (an actual one) and an artist.
Tag Archive for 'film'
31
Mar
Seeing this is a must.
2008 Paramount Pictures
Often enough around holidays, epic films are released that not only feature strong actors, but an inventive idea that has existed for decades that had to wait until film-making techniques were advanced enough to accurately portray it at its fullest potential. I am, of course, talking about Twilight, Four Christmases, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. No doubt this movie will receive recognition at the box office and during awards season, but more importantly will it remind us as viewers about everything life has to offer: it’s precious, it doesn’t last forever, and death is a natural part of it. Benjamin Button shows us that, and so much more as the tale progresses forward through time in the opposite direction of its title character.
From the very beginning, we’re faced with death, or rather, an elderly women on the verge of it. Daisy, gracefully portrayed by a surprisingly striking Cate Blanchett throughout the film, and her daughter Caroline remain in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina begins to batter the city and send everyone into different states of panic. The devastation of such a major event seems only a contextual bookmark for the realtime characters as Caroline and Daisy begin to look into the story of the original love of Daisy’s life, Benjamin. By now, we all know that Benjamin was born under unusual circumstances, more specifically a baby with all the attributes of a person in their old age. As Benjamin is raised in a retirement home, the connections he has with the true elderlies that live there display what I can only describe as a paradoxical parallel: Benjamin’s peers are headed towards death as they grow older while his own path is slowly taking him further and further away from old age, but down the road, death is still the end. As we follow a world tour that echoes of the adventures of Forrest Gump (oh wait, Eric Roth wrote both of these), we stay close and connected to Benjamin as he discovers the aspects of life (love, hurt, happiness, sorrow, and much, much more) like any growing person could.
Brad Pitt has always been a talented performer. Here, as Benjamin, Pitt goes beyond natural and truly embodies a character richly complex. The ability to portray a boy with the feeble characteristics of a weathered elderly and retain that wide-eyed curiousity and innocence of youth doesn’t seem feesible, yet Pitt takes on the arduous task and adds to it a growth and maturation that defines character development. Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett gives her usual best, and takes on every notion of who Daisy is in a similar progression, the incredibly graceful dancer, the immature twenty-something unsure of her life and beyond in her later years. She provides the heart and emotion of the two leads, and reminds us that she loves her craft.
Director David Fincher, known for darker works Fight Club, and Se7en has always had a grasp on gripping storytelling, and this film is no exception, even with its daunting length. Benjamin Button, however, takes Fincher’s oftcold style and adds layers of humanity rarely seen in his work: warmth, love, and emotion, even without a rollercoaster ride of happy and sad. This film doesn’t work to squeeze tears from its viewers, and I think its intentional. We’re not watching the story of a reversely-aging man to feel sorry for him, but to see his life celebrating everything that we should celebrate and embrace. Continuing with Fincher’s storytelling, he brilliantly uses various devices to evoke the major themes of the precision of fate (through a fascinating sequence of events that leaves viewers brains racked), time’s cruel indifference to every human, the temporal nature of our lives, and the lives of those we love. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button lives up to the hype of its performances and its technical effects (which will undoubtedly continue to draw recognition), yet holds to a certain simplicity in its atmosphere and storytelling that can remind us of the inevitable natures of life and death in remarkably thought-provoking ways.
15
Dec
Memories and Sunshine
Living with four roommates in an apartment is an interesting experience when it comes to entertainment. One giant television in the living beckons for the community experience, yet it’s nearly impossible to have people in the same room at the same time for a film. With three of my roommates having girlfriends, I find myself in situations where I get to be that extra wheel in the room. I didn’t mind this evening when a couple wanted to pop in a film, and watch one of my all-time favorites: Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. A unique look into the world of the human memory, and how we are affected, but not defined by our experiences and memories, both the good and the bad.
This movie’s about 4 years old, so I won’t go into a full on review. Just keep in mind that I place this film in my top 3 favorite films of all time. If you’re familiar with the writer Charlie Kaufman’s works (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), you’ll know that the themes, structure, and story devices are very similar, and require a bit of thought to really unpack.
The plot in a few sentences: Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) both submit to a memory-erasing procedure to rid their minds of each other after a rocky patch in their relationship. While racing through his memories during the procedure, Joel realizes he wants to keep his memories, and risks everything to save them.
That’s right, the majority of the film takes place in Joel’s mind. My last semester in school, I gave a presentation on three of Charlie Kaufman films: Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and this one. Some would consider the three to be a sort of trilogy concerning the nature of human identity and it’s resilience within existence. Without giving too much away, Eternal Sunshine really drives home the idea that our disposition, our nature, cannot be changed by our memories, or be removed (if there was a way to have our memories removed). At the same time, we see that throughout life’s ups and downs, there are things we’ll always want to hold on to. Joel realizes that although there are some uneventful memories in his life with Clementine, but all the good, meaningful ones that they share make the bad ones worth keeping, and they certainly were not a waste of time.
The most beautiful scene in a long line of beautiful scenes features Joel and Clementine reminiscing about the first night they met in Joel’s own memory about the first night they met. Classic Kaufman. As the unoccupied strangers’ beach house they broke into comes crashing down around them (results from the memory-erasing procedure occuring at that moment), it’s expected that Joel chickens out and bails on her like he really did that first night. “I wish I had stayed. I wish I had done a lot of things…” Not only are our memories worth embracing, but the experiences we have creating such memories are ours to control. Sometimes it isn’t until retrospect do we wish things were different, but even though they’re not, the memories are still important to us.
We are created in the image of God. Our essence as human beings precedes our existence, and the implications of the Kaufman trilogy, exposing that nature of ours as resilient through time suggest even more interesting implications on a theistic metaphysics level. Since I’m no expert on the topic, I’ll leave it to you the reader. Give it a shot.
