In First Person: My Favourite Films

In First Person is a monthly meme here on Books and Hot Tea. Every first of the month I talk about a topic that is not related to books. Feel free to leave comments and chat with me!

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Is this possible?! I actually posted In First Person post on time!

Well, happy September, people! Autumn is coming and that makes me really happy. 🙂 But, now, I’ll talk about something completely unrelated to that.

If you remember, in last month’s In First Person, I talked about films I like to watch when I just want to relax and have some fun. As much as I like the films on that list, those are not necessarily my favourites. But the films I really love are not always suitable for a cosy evening, as they can be quite disturbing. You’ll soon see why.

Before I start, I also want to stress that I’m not a big film lover. Everyone loves films, at least a little bit, but I’m not a big “movie junkie” and there are many classic films that I haven’t seen (yet). And the same is true for tv shows. I just don’t watch as many as other people seem to, and I get bored if there are too many seasons of a show. Reading one book takes a lot more time than watching one film, and since reading is my preferred free time activity, I just try to find time for it, which means something’s got to go. This doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate film as an art form. And I think these films truly are art:

Pan’s Labyrinth (original title: El laberinto del fauno)

 

IMDB description: In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

Director & Writer: Guillermo del Toro

There are many layers to this film. Pan’s Labyrinth is a blend of dark fantasy, drama, and historical genre. It’s magical and creepy, but also very realistic and sincere. It’s very powerful and it disturbs me every time I watch it. And it looks beautiful!

Black Swan

IMDB description: A committed dancer wins the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” only to find herself struggling to maintain her sanity.

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Another beautiful but disturbing film on the list. I’ve heard complaints about it not representing the lives of ballet dancers realistically, but I don’t think that was the point of the film. It is about ballet, of course, but more than that it is about a person who struggles with her own ambitions, jealousy, and expectations. It’s more psychological than anything else, and I think it was done great.

Mr Nobody

IMDB description: A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn’t choose, anything is possible.

Director & Writer: Jaco Van Dormael

This film is about much more than you might guess form the description. It’s surreal at times, but everything makes sense in the end, which is not always the case with similar films. It’s a bit hard to explain without ruining it, so I won’t say much more.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignnorance)

IMDB description: A washed-up actor, who once played a famous superhero, attempts to revive his career by writing and starring in a Broadway play.

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu (he’s also one of the writers)

Birdman is a thought-provoking film which deals with the schism between Broadway and Hollywood, without taking sides, or promoting just one view. Every character is well-developed and interesting, with many flaws, but also some virtues. It is about art, and what art really is, but at the same time it portrays the lives of actors and people around them in a realistic way. The acting is great, and the choice of Michael Keaton for the main role was perfect and even metatextual in a certain way. (What’s even more interesting is that he recently played another “birdman” – Vulture – in Spider-man: Homecoming :P)

I’ll end the list here, even though there are more great films out there, because there four really stan out to me. Apparently, I love films which are strange, but not completely, if you even understand what I’m trying to say. XD

What kind of films do you like? What are your favourites? And do you have any recommendations for me? 🙂

Twittering Tales: The Artist

Twittering Tales challenge is hosted by Kat Myrman. The goal is to write a twitter-length story, in 140 characters or less, based on the prompt image. You can see the challenge HERE.

Here is this week’s prompt image and my little tale, a small tribute to the often misunderstood tattoo art.

The Artist

He loved his job. Steady hand, tiny details, precise lines, colour, calligraphy.

It was art, and he didn’t care when some people disagreed.

(139 characters)

P.S. When I published this post, WordPress informed me it is my 200th post on this blog. 200 already! 🙂 Thanks to everyone who’s been reading these posts and happy blogging! 😀

A Message in a Bottle

#MiracleChallenge : Week – 11

Challenge No : 4

Write a Story/ Poem using Prompt Theme –

A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

You write it down
And cast it far away,
Hoping someone will find it
Somewhere in the sea of words,
In the atmosphere of versed clouds.

It often starts simply
With an image, a memory,
An emotion long forgotten,
Turning soon into something more,
Fictional but true.

You bare your soul,
And offer pieces of your mind.
Sometimes the feeling’s good,
Inspiration like a warm hug,
Other times it makes you weep,
Art born from pain once felt.

And you write on,
Cry out your poetry in silence,
Each letter a scream,
Each word laughter,
And you cast it in the air
For someone to find and read –
Your message in a bottle.

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Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

Two sentence story: Hurt

Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

He took the Bible, the heaviest book he could reach, and threw it at her. In pain once again, she felt powerless.

Sunset Goodbye

Carl Gustav Carus (1789-1869)

Look far away.
Stay silent.
Look and breathe in
The playful dance of colours.

Soon they’ll disappear,
Erased as our own selves.
The night is coming closer
And with it brings our sorrow.

Night is dark and lonely
And loneliness hurts deep
Goodbye is just one word
But it means everything.

Night might not have colours,
But it will bring you stars,
It will offer moonlight
Beauty of another kind.

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 I haven’t been posting much lately, I know, I’ve been quite busy… But I’m here, reading you, and planning what to post next. 🙂

Anyway, I really like this painting and I felt inspired, so I wrote this little poem for it. 

 

The Accolade

I see the sword drop. Sun rays are reflected off the sleek metal. The intense light almost hurts my eyes. How many have seen the same image, and then never saw anything, ever again?

To me, the sword doesn’t mean death, at least not for now.  What it brings to me is knighthood; honour and glory. It taps me on the shoulder as a kind friend who wants to make me feel proud of myself. But somehow, I feel the opposite. I feel shame.

“Hail to our brave hero!”

The Lady smiles. Everyone cheers, but all I can hear are screams. My nostrils can still smell blood.

Hail to me! Hail to the hero who saved us all!
Hail to me! Hail to the murderer who murdered them all!

 

Edmund Blair Leighton (1852 – 1922) – “The Accolade”

 

Dragons again!

So, I’ve been nominated for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award by paully1965. Since I was already nominated for this award recenty, it felt a bit strange to write another post… And I can’t think of that many facts about myself, honestly. XD I’m sorry… But I did want to give a shout-out to paully1965. His blog is great and I recommend you to at least have a look at it! You can also read his award post HERE and get to know him a little bit more.

Anyway, I’ll link my previous award post HERE, if anyone’s interested. And to make something out of this strange blog post, I’ll share some wonderful dragon art that I’ve stumbled upon on Deviantart.

Dragons are amazing, and so are these artists! Enjoy! 🙂

Dragon’s Night by eronzki999 on Deviantart

Lighting Strikes Twice by Blacktalons on Deviantart

Mountain Priest by Eclectixx on Deviantart

Two Sentence Story

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) – “Golden Tears”

Say that you hate me only it you truly mean it, my beloved,
don’t make me believe it if it’s false.
Sometimes hate can be just as powerful as love.

Quote for Thought: Lestat

Who cares? Kingdoms rise and fall. Just don’t burn the paintings in the Louvre, that’s all.

Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat

I think that my love for vampires was quite obvious on this blog. I even wrote an entire post about fictional vampires which you can check out here if you want to.

Anyway, this obsession started with Lestat. Not the one from the books though, and not even the Tom Cruise version, but the Lestat from The Queen of the Damned film. Yes, I know, the film is quite bad, but for fourteen-year-old me it was the best thing ever, and I still adore the soundtrack. Then the books came and my obsession was sealed. So, I decided that I should honour Lestat with at least a short little post.

For me, Lestat was, and is, a perfect anti-hero. He is a reminiscent of the Romantic, Byronic hero, who acts because he is bored. He is also curious, and has a strong desire to learn and understand the world. And in the end, he appreciates art in all of its forms. The Vampire Lestat is my favourite book from The Vampire Chronicles mostly because of Lestat’s complexity. And this quote decribes him the best. Lestat would rather see the world burn than be bored, he regards people as weak and corrupted, but still sees humanity as something precious. He loves his immortality but grieves for some aspects of mortal life. He wants to feel, even if it means he would get hurt. He loves to enjoy beauty and to experience art.

All of this is contained in this short quote. This quote is Lestat.

Quote for Thought: Just Kids by Patti Smith

…you could feel a vibration in the air, a sense of hastening. It had started with the moon, inaccessible poem that it was. Now men had walked upon it, rubber treads on a pearl of the gods. Perhaps it was an awareness of time passing, the last summer of the decade. Sometimes I just wanted to raise my hands and stop. But stop what? Maybe just growing up.

I’ve recently finished Just Kids by Patti Smith, a memoir about her youth and life with Robert Mapplethorpe. This book made me smile, but it mostly made me cry. I usually experience my emotions inwardly, but this time I actually cried. It’s a book about two people about my age, even younger, and what they have gone through in their search for artistic life is both sad and admirable. I can’t imagine experiencing everything that they did, and compared to theirs my life’s been quite easy. Still, I could understand them and sympathise with their story and emotional turmoils. Certain aspects of the story reflected some of the things I’ve been through, however far-fetched that might sound. Some doubts and questions they had are the same as those that I’ve often asked myself. It’s interesting to enter the mind of someone so different from you and still find traces of yourself. The experiences may be world apart, but emotions are always similar.

Obviously, it’s a book about art and artists. But even more so, it’s a book about life itself, about growing up, being happy and being hurt, about personal growth and maturing which never stops and can never be completed. It’s about finding yourself. It’s also about the ever-changing concepts of love and friendship which escape any definition. Life is complex and erratic, and this books portrays it beautifully. Life can get scary, and growing-up may seem unachievable or even unwelcome. At this point in my life, I realize that being an adult just means pretending to be one (and I admit I’m not good at it). No one truly grows up. It’ a process without end.

Everything distracted me, but most of all myself.