Ascendingsun Reviews

Starship Troopers (1997)

Self destructive hell of fascism born out of the degenerating nature of capitalism that brings humans towards the level of bugs they fight as their existential mirror

[10/10 · 24 January 2024]

The world as it is today has been increasingly preparing us for the eventual failure of capitalism and the only real way up the spiral of evolution reveals itself to be communion and transcendence, hence why we're headed in the way of global communism, globalization and woke culture as the necessary death and re-birth spiral of transformation. Whereas the humans that act like the bugs in this film tend to choose the alternative, and that is in the form of predatory separation and disconnection, and Carl Jung has already described these two separate basic body instincts, the surival instinct of self preservation, and the instinct of expansion and thriving and connection at the cost of sacrifice, which is the natural progression of the evolution of the former instinct. Whereas the latter one is asking for death as a gateway towards the new birth. In this film, it would be mean allowing those bugs to eat us as a sacrifice in order to give birth to a new system and the world. And this is the divine nature of grace. It is actually the only way towards evolution instead of devolution. Now this may give you hints about things yet to come in this world, but do not fear. Fascism comes only as a result of resistance towards evolution and love, it always hijacks our lowest nature.

It seems many people have misunderstood this film by embrracing what it has criticized, despite the fact it shows how throughout the history it has never worked long term, because it is a self destructive system that leads down a devolving spiral of evolution through the fragmentation within the psyche and the world outside as a result of the density of us vs them. It is traumatizing.

This film has perfectly criticised the animalistic predatory tendencies within the psychology of a fascist/conservative that needs to retain a status quo at all costs by establishing the enemy in the form of progress.

Some people would love to believe this film is true and promotes the way how humans should live for the purpose of retaining an utopian order of a dog eat dog world, wothout realizing detrimental effects of such a predatory system.

Fascism is only a manifestation of something called social dominance orientation - the degree to which a person desires one's in group to be superior to and dominate other groups. It's basically a person's fascism quotient and it appears to be a stable, heritable trait. Most people have a low to moderate social dominance orientation but about 20% of people (a figure that seems to be consistent give or take across countries and cultures) have a high social dominance orientation. These are the early adopters of fascism. Through propaganda and the weakness and self-interest of conservatives,they're able to gain a plurality in the political landscape. Violence and intimidation take them the rest of the way to total domination. What we're seeing is the way a dynamic in our species plays out in democracy. The anti fascist project needs to be to build a democracy that insures it will always be 80% against this 20%. This is why there are social scientists to ensure the balance, why there is cancel culture, why there is need for sacrifice of people's beliefs for the sovereignty and value of an individual.

The genuine definition of fascism fits those who defend a social structure instead of individuality and mother nature within humans that is in the process of deconstructing it, including its social morality, for the purpose of evolution and expansion of the collective. It originates in the dehumanizing thought or belief defining others for not fitting a created norm as malfunctional, delusional, abomination or degenerate (theocratic term widespread during WW2). Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia, all of these have always connected the entire fascist movements, it is its living tissue. This is why any invalidation whether it is pureposeful misgendering or judgment is promoting a fascistic mind within the society. It is ideologically rooted in dominance of belief over the value of an individual, it is also around anytime someone sees someone else as less human.

Starships Troopers seems so timeless because it transcends the nature of our lower nature and engages our thinking mind, may it remain as a dire warning and not something to be emulated. The film's theme is not as black and white as the characters in this film, there is a lot of truth sprinkled throughout the film, co-ed shower scene for instance is quite prophetic, as we're evolving to that point when people manage to transcend their carnality and the shame around the body once the collective at large wakes up to the realization that man and woman are pure sociological inventions designed to keep us within the denser levels of reality and sexuality which is mirroring the wars and social dominance of that world.

Lost and Delirious (2001)

It's about a relationship with ourselves.

[10/10 · 1 January 2024]

Some of us out there have experienced it on a much deeper level that nearly killed us, imagine that Tory is actually your true self, your higher self that loves you unconditionally, and you are trying to embody yourself to be who you are, but cant out of fear of how the society would treat you if you were true to yourself.

Many trans and gay people have experienced this out there, many, which led to the end as in this film. Romantic relationship is merely a symbolical analogy here, the heartbreak of human relationships can be survived, there's plenty of other people, but not you not being who you are, because there is only you. And you matter in this world of matter. This film can go to that level if you start shifting your perspective to see what it says about nature of being true to ourselves despite all fear, this is why Paulie identified with the bird so much, and why there was so much focus on the eyes of the bird, cause the bird is not of this world, but in it, free not to see themselves in the mirror, free from any possibility of their body defining them. It is the body that has been weaponized against humans for millenia, and it is a tragedy of the limited imprisoned human consciosuness that keeps in a way every other human on a leash. Animals don't see themselves in the mirror, therefore they are not the victims of the mirror/external world.

Love transcends all boundaries, your body does not define who or what you are, not your sex, gender or sexual orientation, love just is, and nothing can make it go away, because you are that love.

Free yourself so you could be yourself, the Iris of this world!

Carnage (2011)

Powerful film

[10/10 · 28 November 2023]

Anything made by Roman Polanski is going to be most probably great, and this is no exception. It took me years to realize by looking back that his so-called 'rape' incident from the 70's was actually a blessing in disguise as it has allowed humanity to face the demons projected onto this, their own self-righteousness, their sick dependence on the system rather than love for the victim (who wanted that case stopped), through their lust for power and revenge, bascially a lynch-mob mentality going centuries way back. I think it has led many of us through a consequent collapse of the good and evil within our human psyche by understanding the true nuance of life, that evil is not here to be necessarily punished or eliminated, but to be integrated, healed or allowed to play out its role in order to allow us to collapse the great gap within the duality between good and bad that leads to wars and suffering. The whole system based on punishment has been dysfunctional and rotten to the core from its very beginning that merely reflected the sick minds of the criminals they were trying to punish, and it is time for it to change once and for all, it is based on resistance, power and control rather than rehabilitation. This play God Of Carnage just shows the inverted side when people are consumed by their self righteous poison projected upon their surroundings, Polanski knew what he was doing, and what he wanted to say with this one. Throughout his career, there was one repeating theme in most of his films, that nothing is truly black or white, nothing is truly binary in nature or life, only in our dogmatic beliefs that have denied the inner self that exists somewhere in-between the polarities, as the holy trinity, and not the duality. Humanity freeing itself from duality is going to be a next stage in evolution and a possible step into the golden age of human expansion.

Starman (1984)

Starman speaks to all of those who came here as a bridge to another world in exchange of being only half-way in this one (disabled, autistic, transsexual, etc.)

[10/10 · 23 November 2023]

So much like a little baby, learning to be human, in this skin, in this body, making mistakes while being here, for not understanding the smallness of this world, smallness of this body that holds us here.

This movie has spoken to me since I was very little when I've seen it back in the mid 1980's, at the time I have not understood why or how it is relatable to me as someone who was born autistic. Only much later I've realized that Starman is probably representing all the misfits of this world who came here as a bridge to another world in exchange of being only half-way in this one as a reflection of not being fully rooted in the body. Starman film portrays that relationship many people seem to experience where light and love need to be earned through the conquer of dark and fear they face within themselves as a reflection of what they choose to see in others. I've accepted that due to the unknown people are feared and misunderstood in this world, that only through the courage to overcome this fear, they tend to discover in those they initially feared the depth of the soul, humanity, empathy and love that can seem like it does not even come from this world. This seems like the nature of fear that people hold towards the unknown within the other living beings that perhaps appear in their lives as if to change them forever. This film speaks to me on that level, as I've experienced that kind of relationship and love, where fear towards me turned into love, and only through this journey and courage to open the heart and transcend the conditioning of the mind by society, they have found what is love and who they are, that they are not just the vessel they occupy, through this journey of re-birth I believe they have found the greater connection within themselves, I've been able to be there to witness their own self discovery that my presence has perhaps helped to fascillitate for them. Maybe this film when I watched it as very little showed me what is yet to come to my life in some way.

The sci-fi aspect can seem to be there almost like a way how to demonstrate this otherwordly love that breaks all the physical limitations and boundaries. This is what makes this film sooo beautiful and timeliness.

It made me realize that deep down John Carpenter must have a great heart himself to make a film like this. And I would love to thank him for making this, because he managed to capture the magic on celluloid and make a difference at least in my life. Thank you.

"Get ready, someone's coming. Someone like no one she has ever known before."

The Fog (1980)

What you can't see won't hurt you... it will kill you!

[10/10 · 2 March 2023]

This is a film that beautifully demonstrates a recurring theme in Carpenter's films, and that is the truth of our past hidden in our shadows coming to the light to haunt us, or kill us, unless we face it head on, the same theme is found in Prince Of Darkness, Ghosts Of Mars and The Ward.

In Carpenter's cinema we often find a rigid authoritarian force, system or a character facing a fluid, anarchic free expression, Martian rebellion against the rigid authoritarian force that invaded the planet (Ghosts Of Mars). Michael Myers against the rigid controlling Laurie (Halloween), the evil fluid liquid force against the rigid religion (Prince Of Darkness), the illusory ghost against denied identity (The Ward), and men that were betrayed and killed in the name of greed coming back as ghosts to close the karmic circle (The Fog). Any form of repression of freedom or sexual energy within the person, or even the system itself produces a rising rebellious force, and that is what is happening in this film.

The film is actually a big criticism of religion here, it ends symbolically in the church as the root of the evil where it started, where it has corrupted love. Like in many other Carpenter's films, the evil is not so much represented by the antagonists as it may seems, but the protagonists who hide their evil side, it is from the darkness that comes out the truth to haunt them.

Stevie Wayne says something profound at the end - Watch for the fog! As if to suggest that in the unknown there is the truth about ourselves and our destiny, and we need to find it in order to find ourselves safe in this world. The light of the lighthouse is there symbolically to search for that truth. The story of this film is told in a way like a bedtime story where the events that happened could have not been prevented whatsoever, as if they were destined to come, the same kind of approach appears in The Thing and In The Mouth Of Madness, right from the beginning you get a sense like the ending is already set and you can't do anything about it, you're just there as a witness to the events too horrifying and unspeakable.

Carpenter's films have always seemed to honor the demonic/satanic realm of this world, and our dark roots of who we are. That's why they have been so subversive thematically, and sometimes even subliminal by dealing with the magick of witchcraft without openly revealing it, often by using the musical cues to evoke a hypnotic state under which one can be influenced or programmed, his heroes also often are not the good guys at all, that is another trick for the unconscious mind. It started with Dark Star, then Assault On Presinct 13, Prince Of Darkness, Big Trouble In Little China, Village Of The Damned, Ghosts Of Mars, and The Ward. John Carpenter has played with his unaware audience for decades without many realizing it. In all these films the villains are actually heroes in a way. No coincidence that Carpenter himself has openly proclaimed that he does not believe heroes are meant to be good guys, the themes in his films make it more obvious that he does not seem to believe in good and evil, but rather adhering to the Kabbalistic approach to the truth found beyond duality, where two forces come together to give birth to a new world.

The Fog is a powerful film, and perhaps his scariest, and just like Halloween film, it is filmed in such a way as if we're supposed to watch it with the eyes of an autistic child where familiar objects, people or locations are the anchor to keep us safe, and anything that appears outside of it or seems irregular makes us unstable and uneasy. It can have a hypnotic effect on our consciousness. This is why these films are the scariest in our childhood unspoiled by the cynical mind that gets in the way, Carpenter goes deep inside of our unconscious, and it takes a willpower to allow ourselves to fall deep inside of the realm of the dark mother nature awaiting our arrival to go along with her rebelling against the authority, social norms and moralities of this world. Carpenter has been merely a vessel and messenger for the cosmic forces to allow you take a plunge into the dark yourself and re-shape the world you live in. One suggestion: do not fall into the abyss! You're here to find yourself, not to lose yourself.

The Fog was made the year I was born, and since then horror films including Carpenter's work have been gradually brought out into the mainstream consciousness to parallel with the incoming Aeon Of Fire, the return of our pagan roots in our collective that re-shapes the whole world upon the ashes of the abrahamic religions.

Escape from L.A. (1996)

Is it prohetic of the theocratic system implemented by the anti-woke fascists?

[10/10 · 19 February 2023]

I find John Carpenters work can be a bit hit and miss, but this one is definitely a hit, actually a triumph of cinematic brilliance. For more than 20 years I have considered this one of the best films Carpenter has ever done because of the level of artistry and imagination that came into it, I also have watched it perhaps the most times out of all his films. Along with Dark Star, Big Trouble In Little China and Ghosts Of Mars it is perhaps also one of his most timeless works due to its hip factor that keeps it grounded out of time and space of cultural trends. It is a celebration of anarchy in the name of freedom, so it seems anything goes here, but it's also about seeking a balance in the world of extremes, this film could have not been made anytime else than before 2000 when there was a sense the world was going to end, but that collective feeling has not vanished, in fact it has perhaps only gotten bigger.

This is that type of film that my imagination loves to return to. It is also very much ahead of time because it has beautifully managed to depict the theocracy mirroring the Christofascism rooted in the old testament bigotry that has found its way into the US these days, which naturally tends to lead to theocracy as a result since it is based on an ideology that denies individual free self expression and self government, and that is encompassing bodily autonomy with regards to abortion, marriage, or sexual polarity someone needs to embody, it is the body that has been exploited throughout millenia by an outside authority as a tool how to oppress the individual, and many people's beliefs and prejudices have been used to do the bidding of that authority as good slaves of the system, and this film focuses on that aspect in various ways, whether it comes through the virus Snake got injected with, or him being used to kill the president's daughter, or the surgical failures where their bodies have turned into jello, the introduction of hologram itself has served thematically as a way how to have the edge and power over the body in that kind of world, and at the end it served Snake well. On the other hand the film also showed the potentiality of freedom on earth, how true freedom from all oppressive governments on this planet can only be achieved by abolishing the objective morality (illusion in itself) and following only secular way of living by honoring all the deviations from the social norms beyond the reaches of law or order, that is because social norm used to serve on this planet as a mere extension of the governmental rule oppressing the true nature hidden within humans. And the more diverse and different humans are and true to themselves while honoring that difference and truth of each other through acceptance and validation despite their own personal belief systems, the less control any corrupt government has over its own people as a reflection of people at the bottom of the pyramid of power who are radically honoring self government of each and every human being on earth without any devaluation through acts of dehumanization. This is a trajectory that has been largely resisted throughout the history out of fear that inclusion will erase their belief systems that served governments as a form of control, and that includes religions, this came from a deep misunderstanding that a true inclusion of all differences of respectful self expression actually erases only belief systems that prevent the freedom from the governmental oppression, and that is by the act of raising the value of individual differences over any belief systems. True revolution comes exactly due to those differences coming together to give birth to something new. Religions/belief systems/rules are rooted in stagnancy and radical opposition to nature which is wild and free, and nature has always won over the beliefs of a mortal man.

The theme of Escape From LA is very much about diversity coming together to give birth to a new world. It can trigger a philosophical conversation how true freedom essentially equals anarchy, unless all humans manage to establish a divine guidance operating by the law of immediate karma fascilitated by AI as a personal police and judge over our actions, in that kind of society we would not need external laws or governments. This film shows civilized side and uncivilized side and Snake is crossing both, tasting the world outside of LA and inside LA, where both are dominated by power hungry people, so at the end he attempts to end the division between these two worlds. Notice when he enters LA he does not walk around like a judge, he starts to see it as a dark paradise and see the freedom in all of it. We can notice how many people watching this film tend to judge the world of LA the same like those within the government judging them as degenerates instead of the expressions of divinity, these are the people who cause all these divisions seen in this film that Snake tries to end, it is these people this film is made for to take a look at themselves. Snake's symbolical role in this film is reflecting an outsider who merely observes reality and by doing so collapsing the duality in the process, in many ways he sort of walks the draconian dark left hand path, where its purpose is to end the illusion of separation once and for all, that perhaps also relates to his name and his snake tattooed on his body, snake is a modern extension of the mythical dragon symbolizing a transformation, often reflected by our DNA strands or sexual kundalini energy, it is an alpha and omega force of creation or destruction.

This film explores the idea of division itself, how only transcendence of duality (good and evil, right and wrong, man and woman) can bring in a unified human race, and that is through the darkness, and that's where the film has also ended. We know that once we transcend duality we no longer experience life in a black or white fashion, we start to see good in bad and bad in good, we start to see the truth in the paradox stemming from the conflict between the heart and mind demonstrating a collapse of duality and somehow giving birth to a trinity/truth. This is why only through the inclusion of evil we bring in expansion, harmony and unity, by exclusion we don't get rid of anything, we usually get more of what we don't want, when we allow pain, the pain becomes more bearable, the more we resist it, the pain gets more irresistible. In Carpenter's cinema the heroes do not have to be good, they serve a higher purpose in story-telling, and in life too where anarchy and chaos could also be a way how to bring in changes into the world even if it means killing innocent people like Snake did, he's been conceived as an anti-hero and a sociopath who's like an exploding bomb.

In this film there's a portrayal of a woman played by Pam Grier who has medically altered her masculine characteristics to establish a physical and psychological congruence to correct the deformity of nature, Pam Grier has explained once herself that her transgender character was there to strenghen the theme of the whole film about bringing a balance towards the extreme polarity, which can be symbolized by gender binary itself as it tends to lead towards a dualistic mind-set that promotes sexism and oppressive gender roles, this is basically what the existence of transgender species has served here on earth at least within the indigenous cultures, harmonizing and balancing the polarity, transcending the oppositional mind-set, this is why they generate so much confusion and resistance in humans who are so dogmatically attached to the polarity. Within the unity consciousness you are a sexual polarity from the divine authority within, not some authority outside of you that genders sexed body based on social norms like a religion that tells you what to believe about yourself instead of what you know about yourself, since sexuality is in fact a spectrum because all sexual reproduction is a mutation to asexual reproduction that humans evolved from and which added so many more variables down the line, and sexual identity and orientation are those variables, because our brain itself is what determines whether we even reproduce. Hershey in the film is acting at a moment like she wants to kill Snake and in another like she is seducing him, which can seem like she is confused, but in fact she is in perfect control of herself, but the viewers might be confused while she is balancing the extreme views so many hold within the world of that film, including in our world these days.

In a sense this film shows how in a city that attracts so much diversity, it can either kill you or save you, and the only way out is to transcend the differences and the entire matrix of ideological definitions of what is right or wrong or what constitutes a woman and man by surrendering our beliefs for another living being so that a human would rise in value over any belief system, for it is the beliefs that ultimately give rise to fascistic oppressive regimes on this planet.

The film is relevant and very much timeliess in its symbolical and satirical glory for it portrays the world of social/religious norm that blinds people and their hearts, and the diverse nature deviating from it that seeks freedom, and the technology standing on top that poses a threat.

Ma vie en rose (1997)

Example of modern society pushing children into the soul crushing socio-cultural illusions of biological sex instead of our genders.

[10/10 · 10 November 2022]

This film was very much instrumental in helping the society to realize how important it is for these children to go on hormones as early as possible to prevent the psychological and physical damage the wrong puberty does to the mind and body of a trans person.

People are waking up to what our conditioned society has been doing to those who didn't fit into their sick norms. If you're not heterosexual or cisgender, you're mentally ill, you're automatically pathologized. That's what this society has been doing for centuries, and it was also happening to women just for existing, they were considered sick and inferior species in our history. The same is now happening with transgender people by trying to erase their existence the same like patriarchal governments used to do in our history.

There's been a widespread propaganda in the west just like in WW2 Germany to indoctrinate trans children into being cisgender or just gender non-conforming, to erase the existence of these uniquely gifted beings, to make it seem like trans people don't exist, that there is no biological basis, the evidence has been there for years for anyone to see how long these people existed throughout the history and how exteremely important it is for them to start transition as early as possible. All human beings deserve to have dignity to live true to themselves. Hormonal transition is not something that should be done in adulthood if they wish to have a healthy good life, and this film makes that point even clearer, lives of old trans people who never transitioned due to social ostracization can also serve as a testimony of what our society does.

Quantum physics is illuminating that our world isn't so much particles as waves... and by definition waves have any number of expressions, translated as physical as well as emotional or social. Considering what we know in science about biological markers of sex that are often in conflict with each other within one body, no one can be defined fully as male or female by the body alone by excluding the brain, our self knowing. And even that self knowing identity can be often influenced by society and is not open to embody both masculine and feminine equally to the best capability their body allows. This is why both men and women have been oppressed for centuries, to the point when men have become afraid to express their vulnerability, as they would look less masculine to others, these labels have been artifficially imposed upon us ideologically and politically, to force us to fit into the society of predator/prey relationships and disconnect us from our unified authentic self expression, not as men or women, but very unique human beings in contrast to each other.

As for why for decades trans women have been treated as adult female humans, and sharing the spaces with their cis counterparts, because our gender identity has a biological basis, this is why transsexual males are in fact born biological females, and always have been seen as females throughout the history where gender played the most important role for its conscious sexual embodiment.

We need to make sure transgender people have their own sovereignty over their body and embody the gender they consciously experience. No one on earth can define or tell others what genders or sex they are, this is a deeply personal thing, because sex is in fact what we embody at a conscious level, it is not defined by a body part thats been compatmentalized and used against our own soveignty and sexual embodiment, against our rights, and our true self.

Let's also not forget that gender has a much longer history than biological sex and its reductive political ideology ever had, people have been using the ancient science of holistic observation of sex based on the presentation of it by people within the society. It was always gender/sexual embodiment that determined biological sex, not the microscopes and our reductionary sexist language. Modern scientism has played its role in indoctrination of human mind to start reducing human beings into definitions based on various compartmentalized body parts, completely ignorant that biological sex is the whole body, including the brain, the largest sex organ of the whole body.

This film very much resonated with me back in the early 2000's. I think this is by far the best film ever made about what it's like being transsexual, I use that old term to stress out the most extreme form of transgender condition, where the body needs to undergo change to alleciate distress. In an ideal world no transgender would need to go through so much self repression and harm, and transition before gender dysphoria did its own damage, which is often irreversible. As most trans people themselves reveal, the surgery and hormonal therapy is bringing mental health back in order, but once they start the journey of living as trans openly, the society makes life harder for them through discrimination and hatred, which can even accumulate to trauma over the years. So the real changes also need to happen within our society by gendering them based on the gender they cosnciously embody, by treating them as human beings, and in my eyes actual heroes and heroines for accomplishing what most people would not dare to do, and that is to take the pain and darkness they were born into, and let it transmute to a higher calling to live as their authentic self and help the humanity, and especially women to free themselves from oppressive unattainable beauty standards and social constructs of sex and sexism that's been designed to reduce our perception of humanity and sex into carnal material objectifications.

There is a difference between trying to fit into social beauty standards dictated by society, and trying to fit into the body to match our gender outside of any societal beauty standards. Most trans people are bringing empowerment to men and women to start to see what it is like to be our true selves outside of any norms of society, by realizing our uniqueness and beauty that is not cultural. And if there's any reason trans people usually try to fit into those standards, it is out of self preservation, otherwise it is an intimate personal battle of trying to align the mind with the body, not the society.

I think this is ultimately what this film is about, being our truest innocent selves, no matter what society says.

I need to state the obvious, queer people are truly helping this world to liberate itself from tyranny by transcending the illusions of materiality and honoring the spirit, a conscious experiential knowledge of I AM, which contains the sexual embodiment of masculine and feminine within the right immutable frequency pattern that seeks anchoring in the body. On the other hand, biological sex means a certain body part that has been compartMENTALIZED and used against our own sovereignty and embodiment, it was a socio-cultural and political construct from the beginning used as a reduction of the whole sexed body into that single definition while ignoring the whole body and self knowing of an individual, the brain, the largest sex organ of the body. Ancient cultures had multiple genders for this reason to honor that sovereignty of the spirit over the body, many wisdom teachers in their tribes knew there was something like sexual embodiment. Male bodied people shared spaces with female bodied people in their tribes if they shared the same gender.

This film is ultimately about freedom to be true to ourselves, which means the authority over our own body and gendered sexual embodiment.

Freedom, freedom!

Showgirls (1995)

The exposed naked truth for the intellect that's hiding with self denial.

[2 July 2020]

Back in 1995 I felt like it was one of the best films I have ever watched, it helped to embrace that what people don't wish to see, there's more life to this film than films like Terminator, ironically so cause it portrays the fakeness of people and the whole showbiz in the film, that contrast of revealing the truth in a fake world is what I believe draws people subconsciously to this film, it's a breath of fresh air.

This is more like an art film that demands the audience to think for themselves by being removed from the familiar archetypes or messages, it removes the anchor for anyone looking to relate to anyone in the fim at a surface level, the same is true about Bunuel or Fellini films, this film doesn't use neorealism to portray the world of the film, it uses the aesthetics of the American cinema, a language under the language, it's not a genre film to thrill in a basic commercial way like Robocop, Basic Instinct or Flashdance, it offers questions and ambiguity, as a little example, what does it suggests with a scene like Nomi and Crystal kissing at the end? What should we feel? For me it demonstrates glimpses of how much different their lives could be, how much there's more to these characters who long for something else, yet everyone seems to show glimpses of how deceptive can be at the same time, people are an enigma here, unaware of their own identity, and lost innocence, nothing is what seems to be, it is a facade that's breaking apart through Verhoeven's lens, using the naked bodies and Goddess show to portray the surface hiding their authentic heart and soul. Nomi's rebellious nature in a sense represents an outsider's look into this world that refuses to be seduced by it, yet it is at one point. There is also a cartoony playfulness and beauty in the way it is made, mainly visually, that appeals to the senses as well, but for me that style represents the seductiveness of this world that Nomi enters.

Another aspect I appreciate about it is how innocently and openly it shows nudity and sex, it shatters our inhibitions. The film goes against expectations often, it subverts the conventions, and that always is bound to be embraced more later in time, cause the conventions have changed, so in a later time the film has lost its potency to challenge our attachments to conventions, once it reaches the safe zone when such conventions/standards being gone years later, the film gets embraced, however its pure function as a medium made for a particular time to shock or make us uncomfortable is no longer there. The same is true for anything that flopped but got embraced much later, Citizen Kane, Wizard Of Oz, Vertigo, Blade Runner, Alexander, Fight Club, etc, none of these films serve the same function years later for the human collective.

Yes Showgirls seemed to be hated by some people at the time, the truth is the more we hate something the more it reveals some aspect of us that we can't stand, it's all a projection, anything that triggers hightened emotions. Some of the most despised art shows me more accurately the greater picture of our collective conscousness, or perhaps subconscious. Often the hated movies reveal the truth of how much people lack the surrender or openness to the unknown, the unexpected, the breaking of their beliefs or standards, the change, etc. It challenges the ego, and the willingness to look into our own shadow side, hence why I love to watch more often things that most people hate, there's always something that shows more originality or individuality of perception than in films that are largely embraced.

This film in particular was daring, going narrativelly forward in unpredictable ways, even though the plot seemed basic.

My Soul to Take (2010)

The revolution of awakening and self discovery.

[9 March 2020]

I feel like this film might be describing the possible challenges Wes Craven might have been facing in his own childhood growing up finding his own identity in the repressed Christian environment. And this is also why I find this film so endearing to me, perhaps my most favorite film from Craven, it really is so much deeper than just the main plot, it is about retaining the sense of who we are, that we are not mere product of our parents and genetics, but at the same time, many times our friends and loved one we surround ourselves with represent a part of us too, notice how our friends seem to mirror us so much, and complement us in some way as well. I love the deleted scene of this film how all his friends are walking with him on the road, and then they disappear, as if they were just ghosts. This film works emotionally on so many levels and dimensions, saying so much in an indirect way.

There's been classic films released around the same time with a theme of discovering or retaining our own soul or identity.

Small Change (1976)

The examination of free will in one's life.

[6 January 2020]

At first I need to mention an approach that often determines the type of my reviews, a lot of times I intentionally watch films in a language I don't understand, I may even put on a foreign dubbing, or not paying attention to dialogues, just so I could feel the energy behind the films first, as the intellect can often interfere, the same kind of a feeling I search for in the presence of an impressionistic painting. And here's the things this film brought up within me. First feeling I get is humility and openness, the word often associated with Truffaut's cinema, I get the feeling of his soul penetrating the film. The poetry of this film I find in the rhythm, dialogues, or silent scenes presented with a slice of real life, often elevated by humour, similar poetic moments can be seen in the works of Blake Edwards or Steve Martin. Another feeling I get is of my own childhood, the sense of wonder, that is very much running through the film.

I'd also bring up one scene involving Sylvia and her parents not allowing her to wear a dirty purse to a restaurant, it had me re-awaken old emotions concerning the freedom parents would need to give their children, while guiding them, to allow them the choice without forcing them their own ideas of what is acceptable or not. That scene stood out as well as the camera, as if it was the eyes of a child seeing the world afresh with wonder and curiosity.

The blue and grey color permeates the film, very grounding vibes.

More review to come for editing.

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (2017)

The student in every teacher, a child in every man.

[10/10 · 4 January 2020]

The Poem in the novel "Journey to the West" - "I used to have a sincere love in front of me. I didn't cherish it. I regret it when I lost it. The most painful thing in the world is this. If God can give I have a chance to come again, I will say thse words to that girl: I love you. If I have to add a deadline to this love, I hope it is-ten thousand years! "

Tang Seng embarked on the path of Scripture, burying the survivors in his heart.

If the thought of this being a sequel is erased, the film presents a strong notion of timelessness or transcience of time. There is a past not witnessed in the film, and yet carried along in memories, there is the future, moments imagined, feared or desired. And there is the now, witnessing things go by., events seeming real or unreal. The ghostly girl Tang Seng loses at the end feels like a reincarnation of his missed old love, and when he says to her that his heart still belongs to his old love, it is like the past repeats itself, he is letting things go by, not owning or holding onto them, he lets them die. He becomes a mere observer. The last scene of him imagining Miss Duan in place of his disciple makes one see that love he once felt is taking shape of other people on his journey. There is no longer only one person, there's many.

Tsui Hark is mainly a master of character building in very efficient ways, and as a technical virtuoso, also a craftsman of visual poetry serving his philosophical concepts and ideas, Journey To The West is a beautiful example of his open heart and spirit let loose, depicting the world of illusions or undead, whether demons, spirits or ghosts of people lost in memories. The music by Raymond Wong captured my heart with its exquisite innovative touches ranging from Mexican to Chinese influence, the last time he was musically involved with Tsui Hark was for Love In The Time Of Twilight in 1995.

I find the power of the film residing in its ability to focus on the depth behind each character presented in a way that can entertain on a surface level just as much. It is reflecting the time when a lot of people facing their own inner demons, when leaders revealing their own true self, their immaturity, sometimes being treated like coddled children. And also spiritual masters who show their own hypocrisy. All these observations come from my own experience.

The film is a jewel embedded in my memory, memorable and significant, for its uplifting energy as well as political, social and spiritual angles.

Legend of the Mountain (1979)

The unfolding path towards the mystery and mastery of the mind.

[10/10 · 4 January 2020]

China is not short of magical / fantasy / fantasy stories. Ancient myths, Fengshenbang, Shanhaijing, Journey to the West, and Liao Zhai Zhiyi are endless, yet this long over 3hr full cut of this film reveals the beauty of Chinese heritage in new clothes and perspectives, very much reflecting the innocence of the late 70's. Here the literature and mythology of ancient Chinese culture is distilled into the beauty of a film that has spoekn to my soul for a long time. I used to return to this film once in a while since its release, to take a notice of my own changing perspectives upon the unchanging piece of film art.

This film's story I find mainly revolving around a man who's bound by the material quality of life, yet slowly and gradually coming face to face with the unseen, the world he has merely studied, not fully experienced. It is a serene look at the nature of mind, the unresolved traumas, and the ways forward.

It also demonstrates the location almost as a character or a symbol of magic, wonder or child-like innocence. It awakens in me time and again the sensations I've experienced the most in my childhood with regards to the depth of perception.

This is what I consider the most essential King Hu film for me personally.

Shy People (1987)

Mystical beauty of life

[7 December 2019]

The film evoking Bunuel's Tristana for its unconditional love of characters, embracing all their qualities as they are without judgment. It's a film about mystery of love, the heart, mind and soul colluding with the rationalization of the mind, or more precisely the mystery of the spirit vs the rationalization of an ego, represented by two different worlds and people coming together, learning from one another and becoming all the more whole at the end. A mystical lyrical film that is more about the meaningful poetry of images rather than the story, Andrei Konchalovsky's cinema always seemed to me reminiscent particularly of Dostojevsky's work of literature, focusing on the human soul, works like The Idiot can come to mind often, such an exploration in this film is beautiful and marvelous, unique in a way that has no comparison in the history of cinema. As a film it does remind me of his other memorable works (House Of Fools, Nest For The Gentry or The Postman's White Nights). Konchalovsky has once said that "Cinema is ruthless because it's too specific, the task of the director in the cinema is to leave space for imagination."

For me Shy People is perfect example how to do a film that has no clear message, it leaves it up to an audience to find them for themselves, to find connections, to see what their heart, mind and soul guide them to see and feel.

Twilight (I) (2008)

The haunting magic of a teen spirit lost in a sensual spell.

[4 December 2019]

This film is quite sensational, it used to be quite groundbreaking in its time for its reinvention of the genre, in particular the dynamics in the portrayal of romance within such a genre. And you can feel its power, you can imagine and believe in its mythical world this film is building, that's a craft of magic, almost every shot carries a sense of longing, mystery and romance, perfectly capturing adolescent spirit lost in a sensual spell of forbidden and unexplored, while conjuring the haunting wonder and magick of Vampire lore that Bram Stoker imagined in his classic novel - the romance and horror merging together to create the world of mystery and sensuality, from my view he never had in mind to stress out horror, it was a perfect balance of love, sensuality, terror and mystery, and in this saga of films that is indeed masterful, without hyperbole perhaps the best most authentic portrayal of the dynamics of fear and love in a vampire world on screen to this day. Most films or shows about vampires, especially in recent decades have never dared to capture the seductive nature of love and terror in such an equal measure and balanace, the more terrifying the more seductive it is in this franchise, and that's what I feel is what Bram Stoker tried to capture, this real old myth existing in our culture for centuries. As a vampire film, Blood and Roses from 1960 might have made this balance successfully as well.

The film also flows gently like a wind touching the mystical and unreal. Truly beautiful and powerful example of a moving cinema at its best. Also it has to be said, this is among Pattinson's very best performances to me, the role he was born to do, fully based on subtlety and understatement, playing with the mastery of body language to a very good effect, it is true that he was never as good as in this series, which has a lot to do with the character he was given too, although he's been a very good actor since then. The impact on pop culture and cinema is very rare to happen, and there is indeed a reason it has gained such a huge following worldwide.

The pop culture landmark film that appear once in a while, the same like Wild One, To Have And Have Not, Saturday Night Fever, Easy Rider, 9½ Weeks, Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, Clueless and Meet Joe Black, these films manage to target a specific audience, the right kind of cult audience it is either intended for, or who find themselves at its highest vibrational alignment with such films, I feel these are always the people that are the most conducive ambassadors of their quality and value, to provide a passageway towards their highest artistic potential for a human being. For every film does have a perfectly resonating target audience that can penetrate into its essence and throroughly evaluate it as it deserves to be, and perhaps the more perceptive or open minded individuals can find attunement or feel into such individuals, to find resonance with them first, to feel what they feel, before experiencing the same resonance with those films. Follow your heart, and you'll find pleasure out of every art, every song or film you encounter, for you become their highest energetic counterpart.

Charlie's Angels (2019)

The growing new wave of cinema

[29 November 2019]

Even though this film is doing well with the audience worldwide, the negative response to this film seems to be the case when heavier vibrations of an ego are challenged by the more holistic lighter way of being. Take a notice how many voters are men and women, on the film made by women directed towards a more feminine side of us, not just women, the lighter side of people. There's many questions we can pose to ourselves, why more men tend to go to the theatre and give votes than women? Or do most men even enjoy films as much anyway, when women tend to give higher votes than males for most films anyway, including this one? Can men bring both their masculine and feminine back into balance? or still remain insecure (cringy/ashamed, etc) at the prospect of losing that masculinity, especially whenever it is shamed, criticized or feminized. Can people wake up and look into their own hypocritical self and ask why they feel what they feel before criticizing what is criticizing them? That includes critics and filmmakers of this film that might be perrfectly reflecting one another as two sides of the same coin.

I very much enjoyed this film, I truly had a good time with this. I can see that Banks is a talented director, and Mrs.Stewart is soooo good in this, almost iconic in her presence alone, I feel like it is more down to earth than previous two versions, it feels refreshing and original in the way how it is done.

This film may not make as much money as the grittier more "serious" films, considering its lower budget than even the previous two versions, however the films like this seem to be very much needed, they're also part of the groundbreaking new wave of cinema, spreading into European and Asian cinema as well, that pushes to the forefront the portrayal of people with mental illness or handicap or any social disadvantage, it is the empowerment of underdogs, those pushed to the side and neglected, who felt they wanted to be heard and loved as they are, it is a fantasy for those kind of people, that includes people like Trump, that includes women, gay, or more feminine men, some may say by degrading men in general? Then I ask you what about the 60's fantasy called James Bond for men indoctrinated by more sinister propagandas of those times when women were treated as mere sex objects to be used, or degraded whenever they stood up for themselves. Some people have no idea how they've been influenced growing up when pointing fingers at some obvious propaganda of today, yet sometimes questionable by itself as many people, including filmmakers are merely sharing their own view of morality the way they see it in the world where more women are being more of themselves, standing up for themselves and refusing to be the way men want them to be.

I don't think this film or any film I watched is degrading men in general at all, only pushing to the forefront the behaviour of some men (and sometimes women as well) who have been using masculinity to cover up their repressed insecurity and vulnerability (running in our psyche for a long time), that is all what lots of films have been doing. Films these days are more open minded and inclusive than people even realize, what they do is to show diseases of the society from their own different individual points of view, that also disagree with one another.

For me this film is a blast, perhaps a cult classic in the making, with an eye to the past when even James Bond films used to be less serious, more fun and out of the world. It has an adorable unpretentious charm reminiscent of the 60's/70's wackier explorations into female power, yet this time with dignity that never in history ever had, there's no sexualization of women through the eyes of men, it is a super realistic and authentic portrayal of how some women and men really are in real life, totally breaking to smithereens the social expectations of gender roles, and that's one of the key aspects that don't exactly pander to the masses. Take a notice of very subtle difference, the heroines are not physically bigger or more built type of women like Ripley or Sarah Connor, and neither typical supermodels either, it goes very much against the grain. The film also seems to capture the sense of comic books so well, especially the older ones.

There tends to be fewer people to be neutral enough without their own politics or hypocrisy, hence why I wanted to bring in here a bit more balance or open mindedness that doesn't take sides. If you have not yet lost the innocence of your childhood, to feel and enjoy without over-thinking, this film might be for you.

I Confess (1953)

The closest to my heart

[6 November 2019]

One doesn't have to be a priest or religious catholic to know what it's like to commit to the faith, heart/spirit or higher self, and be who we are in that sacred place in the heart. Hitchcock has made a film of elegance here, staged with light and shadow of German expressionism. Tiomkin stands out as well with well calculated precision and placement in the right moments. A lot remains under surface speaking visually to the deepest emotions. This film feels like a lily of innocence growing through the storms of drama never to be corrupted, only to reveal grace at its end, ending in redemption, release and forgiveness. Films like this are not meant to attract wider audience, which is part of what has always made it for me Hitchcock's most appealing, relevant and inspiring film. I can't find many films by Hitchcock that have been as positivelly life-affirming beyond the mere thrill seeking experience with few scenes or the end that reveal their message. I Confess has an overall tone itself running through the film that is inspiring itself, as though it was all told from Clift's character's point of view. The only Hitchcock film I would take anywhere with me.

Other deeper Hitchcock films that really impressed me, Under Capricorn, Paradine Case, Spellbound and Rebecca. I'm aware the experience with Selznick had a considerable impact on Hitchcock's growing as an artist, he seems to have learned a lot from him, his films have never been the same since then, more psychological, introspective and poetic in style.

Ghosts of Mars (2001)

The world beyond the limitations of mind and matter, time and space. The 1950's fashion of storytelling in a language of dreams

[10/10 · 2 November 2019]

John Carpenter's films have certainly been becoming more light-hearted and retro in latter years, concerned more with the human consciousness rather than physical reality, not enough heavy to come down to earth to resemble reality many people could relate to, which often results in work less dark or realistic, more complex. However I feel those kinds of films offer more depth by getting closer to the abstraction of dreams rather than real life, thus allowing more freedom in breaking the rules of cinema, and Carpenter's later films have definitely done that.

This is the 3rd film in Carpenter's trilogy of savagery, after Escape From LA and Vampires, further exploring the unshackling of modern life, loss of humanity and the roots of American spirit and cinema. The storytelling uses a Bressonian minimalist 50's mode with suggestive sound tones, visual innuendos and subtle implications on top of dialogues to feed the imagination beyond what is shown, for the truth of what's happening steadily remains elusive. As if reading the book we're challenged to imagine the real experience under the given testimony (searching, the intrigue, the escape, etc.) The soundtrack further opens another dimension to the experience. It feels like a bed time story, and it is probably the quality that I appreciate about this film the most, it may also be the quality that makes it stand out high and above any other Carpenter's film to date.

In this film characters are rather symbolic representations of a worldview that makes you dive into in your own imagination rather than people to identify with. The film also shows similarities to Forbidden Planet (eg. the enemy being recognized within), even borrowing one dialogue line. it doesn't portray ETs as pure villains, only a reflection of humans, one can see Martian's point of view, even through it, and stand on their side just as much. The film is subversive, it doesn't take sides, only points a mirror at humans themselves. No one is a hero, no one is a villain to win or lose.

The film is absolutely brilliant in every way, the astounding lighting against the crumbling cracks-filled old walls of the Shining Canyon and Chryse, bringing out a palpable quality of abandoned home and familiarity, recalling Hawks style based on the principle of repetition of familiar objects or characters within one film constantly re-appearing in a similar manner. At the end you feel like you don't even wish them to leave that place. Tarantino has made similar attempts by having characters hold up in one place, yet often that sense of home and immersion in the place is muddled by the lack of depth in the lighting of location, not enough breathing space in a loose frame, or complicating the shots with irregular camera set ups, which is disallowing the viewer to get more familiar with the place, so at the end you actually wish to move to other locations, unlike Hawks, Terence Fisher, King Hu, Henri Verneuil, Alan Parker, Polanski or Carpenter who made locations like another character you feel comfortable with.

The simplicity is the key to the charm of Ghosts Of Mars, offering a look into the depths of our hidden psyche, our dreams and fears, painting an overall feeling and image of the truth behind it, whether related to our perception of the color red, cosmic re-birth or possession, aggression, lack of control. And just like in The Big Sleep, we are seduced into the consciousness of mystery, we enter an unfamiliar place, and we leave it like a home, and yet we don't know the truth we came there for, as much is left out of Ballard's testimony that poses a question of how true it is, we're submerged in a Lovecraftian vision of things beyond description, witnessed in our imagination. Carpenter is very much a formalist, and yet completely destructive of the form he envisioned by transcending its limitations with self conscious flexibility, which reveals a cinema of unusual spontaneity and freedom, putting it almost in direct opposition to vacuous definability of Kubrick and Hitchcock, it challenges the bending of senses rather than an analytical mind.

There's a contrast between the reality and the fantasy of the film, including the surreal look of the sets, it is accentuating the disembodied nature of the story told by Lt.Ballard to her officers, as well as the whole film itself, as if it was beamed to us by the ancient spirits of the Mars themselves through dreams and visions. Which gives the film a slightly etheric or out of body psychedelic overtone, not a grounded realism. The slo-mo especially creates a bone chilling experience. It also provokes an emotion of being in love with Melanie Ballard cause it feels at the end like swimming in the hazy shades of her mind and soul. And I did. The opening musical theme uses only 2 notes repeating on top of the ambient sound, beautifully enhancing the hypnotizing effect of a journey into the underworld of subconscious, like a repeating mantra taking us into the world beyond the limitations of mind and matter, past, present and future.

The film resonates with the charms his fans have grown to adore- the Martian landscape looks magically like a set (as if modeled based on the template of Hammer productions), the interactions between the characters feel otherworldly (removed from any cultural references), the mastery of frame composition and the score that perfectly reflect the tone and feel of the film. It's that same world of Carpenter that made us forget about logic and realism when we viewed Escape From L.A, In The Mouth Of Madness and Big Trouble In Little China.

The film is also presenting in very subtle ways the clashes of the rigidity of gender with its fluidity coming together to reconciliate two paradigms - authority and freedom, this has been often a theme running in Carpenter's and Howard Hawks' cinema, where we don't tend to see the focus on married stable couples or couples who have been together for a long time, only that initial romantic spark, and by this giving a notion of the freedom rather than the rigidity of the system or an institution like a marriage, and yet there might as well be a possible denial or repression of the feminine within both males and females in their characters, vulnerability, softness and emotional intimacy is a rare thing to find in their universe, despite successful breaking of gender conventions, both Hawks and Carpenter have often portrayed feminine and all its attributes as a weakness to grow out of, no matter how inbred it is, which puts that freedom in conflict as it manifests the destructive force inwardly and outwardly as a result of the repressed feminine (shame/insecurity) under the control of masculine strength. In Carpenter's cinema we find a rigid authoritarian force, system or a character facing a fluid, anarchic expression, not just sexual, in this film Martian rebellion is another layer and form of greater anarchic expression against the rigid authoritarian force on top of another one. The same for Michael Myers against the rigid controlling Laurie in Halloween, the evil force against religion in Prince Of Darkness, the illusory ghost against denied identity in The Ward, any form of repression of freedom within the person or system produces a rising rebellious force.

The accurate representation of reality can be given too much importance in arts, often at the expense of losing the nature of stylization based on reality that is relatable to us through symbolism or metaphors, what is underneath is what the story is built on and we are subconsciously drawn to, which can be the relatable point for the audience. It doesn't matter how close to reality the films are made, it's about how much our own intelligence/imagination is demanded to relate to them and enjoy them. The films are asking us what we bring into them. The whole art of cinema is based on the illusion known as Pepper's Ghost, an illusion which solely depends upon the openness of the viewer to believe it. And this is a film that does demand openness to the depicted reality very much at odds with most others around it.

Alfred Hitchcock once said, "Most films are slices of life. Mine are slices of cake." The same can be applied to Carpenter, Bunuel, Cocteau and Hawks, their worlds and characters exist out of time and place, eternally truthful and delicious.

The film as a whole is fascinating for it comes as a symbolic excursion into an energy experienced in the higher dimensions that depicts an invited chaos and destruction of all our layers that suppress the free spirit in us, our fears, worries, attachments, identities, insecurities, while getting birthed into a more free, whole, psychic, lighter selves as a species. The film ends in the city Chryse (Christ) with protagonists fearlessly facing this ultimate truth disguised as an impending doom and death that preceded with a mere investigation into it. Limbs being cut off, maimed painted bodies, logic distorted, male/female/cop/thug identities inverted, all of it comes as a mirror of death and rebirth of galactic consciousness all around us. The film is essentially lensed thru a DMT-induced vision of spontaneity, freedom and anarchy (ghosts/spirits) facing and battling the rigidity of human experience, and whoever is less rigid survives.

The film also reminds us how the future can mirror our past, no matter how far we go and colonize, unless we make that long journey into the unknown darkness of our spirit, see the truth of our past deeds, and change the course. In the same way, the film's value is not determined by the collective mind of the past, but by the awakening to our new scope of perception building the new unfamiliar frontiers of the future.

Ghosts Of Mars remains one of the most accomplished films ever made in its genre, and a crown jewel in John Carpenter's filmography.

"Desperate for the new, but disappointed with anything but the familiar, we recolonize past and future." - J.G. Ballard

Bobby Deerfield (1977)

To live as the authentic self in the world is to die as a person of the world.

[8 October 2019]

The film at the beginning shows a man who is basically incapable of letting go of the control of his destiny, of all circumstances, radically removing himself from his true self, his soul, his freedom, his soul was dead, then he goes through a little transformation throughout the film, and what died in the man at the end was his false self, his self constructed personality and image, so that his real self could come to life. Now he was facing the way out of his tunnel, to be open to and not resist all possibilites. The film's slow pace and meandering style showing all kinds of things that may not seem important to anything in the film beautifully reflects in a poetic way the openness to all possibilities the viewer himself is meant to face as well, just like Bobby at the end of the film, when he's coming out of the tunnel of his own self imprisonment.

Come out of that tunnel and you'll feel this film speaking messages in hidden or subtle ways. That's what life is about. To be open to all possibilities means no expectations and control of all things to come. The trust in the universe comes with the death of our manufactured self, the woman dying in the film was like a message to Bobby Deerfield, like a mirror of his own death he had to face to become born again. Life and death is part of the whole, to fear death is to fear life.

Some could take this film as a message to motor racing these days as well, or any sport or part of life, how too much protection can take away from life, it kills the human spirit. People seek danger so they could feel at that orgasmic crossing point between life and death so they could feel alive.

This film was reflective of my own healing, I was going through disabilities and challenges of my own physical body. Years passed and one day at that time I decided to stop feeling sick, to get myself out of the prison of my mind, and miraculously what happened is that my body started getting back in shape, and at the end I was becoming more connected, more open, exuberant. I stopped seeking explanations, or the truth, I was open to mystery that is life.

I am open to my crazy self now, I let it all come as it may, I live like never before. That is what I took from the experience this film was for me at one time. I can't say this film did it for me, this film was a sign, a divine reminder, a portrayal of the theme and feeling I adopted in my own transformation.

Welcome to Marwen (2018)

One of the most relevant and endearing films of our time... The power of imagination and how it relates to our true self.

[18 July 2019]

I must have seen this film 10 times already, this is a very important film as it poses a mirror back at the viewer helping to observe how secure we are in our own sexuality, openess and self awareness to allow others to express their own free will without the loss of peace within our own selves, and consequently perhaps to reveal our own own PTSD or buried traumas which as we know create human insecurity in the first place, no matter how small, so be self aware what you point your fingers at here.

The natural way it deals with the protagonst's fetishes like it's no big deal, which it isn't, is very reflecting of our own times of self empowerment and individual freedom and self healing. A film like this would have not been possible 50 years ago, this is how our generation has progressed genetically, socially and spiritually. It beautifully reflects the crossing of lines between black and white to find that middle point, the grey area, whether it is the differences between male and female, or sanity and insanity, imagination and reality. Life is becoming less definable, and many films like this only demonstrate it in a confined form.

I love the journeys into Mark's own imagination, it reminds me of my own childhood, of the magic many of us have forgotten and many of us are reclaiming back. Mark Hogancamp character is going through a journey that started at the point of obsessing and attachment, to letting go (whether it was the love of a woman or his own little world) and freedom revealing true openness of what life has to offer him.

Zemeckis has made another great classic film up there with Forrest Gump, Polar Express and Back To The Future that is bound to stay with us for a long long time. And if you wish to see something that doesn't use millions of cuts per minute, this is the film recalling an old fashioned cinema with more focus on the soul of characters. It's designed as a small cult film, the one that can randomly be re-discovered anytime as something very unique and speak to us deeply.

Monster Trucks (2016)

The film to stay in my heart for a long time

[12 July 2019]

This film stayed with me for years now, incredible fun full of high energy and charm you wish to experience again and again, in some ways it kind of reminds me of 1987 film Rolling Vengeance. However, with Monster Trucks they definitely captured the lightning in a bottle, in this film, the music, story, characters, everything is so perfect, the magic and emotions behind this film is what makes it so memorable. It is films like these that can matter the most for uplifting the human spirit in this world.

Thank you Mr.Wedge for another memorable film that is bound to find and engage audience in the years to come.

The Ward (2010)

An awakening to our light and shadow

[10/10 · 29 June 2018]

To be honest, Carpenter's early films did not seem as scary, original and deep as this film, as someone who was growing up with his films since the early 80's, to me The Ward is a triumph, even a few seconds of the score or just few images of the film can scare me to death, Carpenter hit something deep within the psyche of the collective consciousness., a truly powerful film setting the stage and an imprint for artistic expressions about the discovery of identity and its redemptive freedom within the theme of mental illness and fluidity of reality. The same like Halloween, there was Black Christmas and Texas Chainsaw Massacre before too, just like there were a few others before The Ward too within the span of 10 years, but all of them together are part of a new wave. Nothing comes along alone, or standing apart, everything always comes in groups, all inventions, all new things are reflected by others wihout even being aware of one another, because everything is connected in this universe.

The Ward is a reminder of our inter-connectedness, for many there's spirits or personalities (personal realities) around and inside of us, reflecting us, in our private universe, and also this wider universe. With all that we know about the nature of reality and our multi-dimensionality existing in many realms at the same time, films like this turn out to be very relatable on many levels. We all have multiple personalities to various degrees as a result of the fragmantation of our consciousness, at least until the proper therapy of re-integration, so the film's thematic subject can be very truthful to all of us, even as a reminder towards an awakening to our light and shadow, and ancestral traumas to lead us away from the ward of this world back to freedom.