jchrisobrien (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jchrisobrien) wrote2004-10-04 09:53 am
jchrisobrien) wrote2004-10-04 09:53 am
You only have yourself to blame (or another edition of Subconscious Theater)
Good morning. I'm Silas7, and welcome to another edition of Subconscious Theater, where I share the movies that go on in my brain when I'm sleeping.
No one forced me to watch Elephant and Suicide Club on the same day. No one held a gun to my head (though guns were featured in both films). None of the cool kids were doing it, and no one cajoled me into watching (though peer pressure was a factor in both films). I watched Elephant first, spent most of the rest of the day painting, and wrapped the day with Suicide Club. The end result?
Few feelings are more uncomfotable than sitting in a narrow wooden auditorium chair, between two elder Japanese karate masters who hate each other. I tried to focus on the stage, and ignore the rustling as the two rival schools were preparing to square off. When the masters began putting on the right shoes, I knew that It was On. I excused myself and walked outside, as a parade of young Japanese school girls started walking into the auditorium. They were smiling, and cheerful, and all brandishing firearms. Ah, I thought. It's that Gun Club I've heard about. Sean Connery's immortal words about knives and gun fights ran through my head, as my feet ran out of the auditorium. I saw a few of my friends outside, warned them about the ensuing chaos, and ran for my life. My friends ran one way, and I ran the other. That was obviously a mistake, as one of the Gun Club Girls caught up with me. We stared at each other on a bridge overlooking a street in Boston. She spoke a haiku as she pointed her gun at me. Petals floated through the air between us.
And that's how it ended.
You see how my mind works? It's like a laser!
Thank you for viewing, good night, and tune in again next week, when I watch Snow White and Seven back to back, and see what hilarity ensues.
No one forced me to watch Elephant and Suicide Club on the same day. No one held a gun to my head (though guns were featured in both films). None of the cool kids were doing it, and no one cajoled me into watching (though peer pressure was a factor in both films). I watched Elephant first, spent most of the rest of the day painting, and wrapped the day with Suicide Club. The end result?
Few feelings are more uncomfotable than sitting in a narrow wooden auditorium chair, between two elder Japanese karate masters who hate each other. I tried to focus on the stage, and ignore the rustling as the two rival schools were preparing to square off. When the masters began putting on the right shoes, I knew that It was On. I excused myself and walked outside, as a parade of young Japanese school girls started walking into the auditorium. They were smiling, and cheerful, and all brandishing firearms. Ah, I thought. It's that Gun Club I've heard about. Sean Connery's immortal words about knives and gun fights ran through my head, as my feet ran out of the auditorium. I saw a few of my friends outside, warned them about the ensuing chaos, and ran for my life. My friends ran one way, and I ran the other. That was obviously a mistake, as one of the Gun Club Girls caught up with me. We stared at each other on a bridge overlooking a street in Boston. She spoke a haiku as she pointed her gun at me. Petals floated through the air between us.
And that's how it ended.
You see how my mind works? It's like a laser!
Thank you for viewing, good night, and tune in again next week, when I watch Snow White and Seven back to back, and see what hilarity ensues.
no subject
no subject
I think they lost their focus a lot too. Who were those little kids? How did the control people into killing themselves? How did the bags of skin get there? Perhaps if I were japanese I'd understand it better, but I think also there was a lot of randomness and mislead threads (the ghosts in the hospital).
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Elephant is more much artistic and introspective (sometimes annoyingly so). There are lots of long overlapping shots as the camera follows students through the halls of their school. It keeps going back in time to pick up each thread, so you know that something is going down, but have to wait for it to play out. You get a surface description of a number of "types" in high school, w/out a lot of depth and development. I believe this in intentional, because you are just being shown the environment, and that in this instance character is unimportant.
There is shock, and some sorrow, but not abject despair. It's not too violent, and it doesn't try to answer why thing like Columbine happen. Initially I was not satisfied with it, but it's a different sort of film so it takes getting used to.
no subject
no subject
Did you have a brief moment of terror, as you were being comforted, that you would feel a sudden bite on your head? "There now, it's okay, it was only a dream... CHOMP!"
Now that would be a nightmare.
no subject