This is one of the most thought-provoking short films I have seen lately, and compulsory viewing if you are interested in ethical dilemmas. It poses many interesting questions to the viewer in a fun way, and it makes its point so strongly that is difficult to argue it. Some of the questions that came to my mind after viewing the film are: Why do we eat meat if we have other sources of protein in the vegetable world? If the answer is yes, which one do we choose, especially having almost every animal at our disposal? Does cuteness and ugliness play a role in the food we eat or the food you eat? Would you rather eat a cute edible exotic animal or an ugly non-exotic one? Is our relationship with our pets a denial of our own animal instincts? Why don't we eat our pets? If we rear an animal as pet and you were starving, would you eat it? Why people get crossed about Koreans eating an edible of dogs and not us eating lambs or sucking piglets?
The film is very funny and well made, and will delight and repulse you, both at once.
Available for viewing at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybop2CgBSfc
Stranger than fiction is a modern fable about predestination and free will, about life as our personal creation, and a reflection on the process of artistic creation. It is a retake a la reverse on Pirandello's "Six characters in search of an author", but using just one character. The film is directed by Swiss golden boy Marc Foster and written by the screenwriter and film director Zach Helm.
The movie has a terrific script and dialogues, characters very well drawn, and great acting. Will Ferrell will surprise you as Harold; we are used to his crazy over-the-top performances, but here he offers a very controlled and sensitive performance and completely transforms himself into Harold. The always believable Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfect as the lawyer turned into anarchist baker Ana Pascal. Emma Thompson is great as the neurotic insecure and perfectionist writer Karen Eiffel. Dustin Hoffman is also terrific as Professor of Literature Jules Hilber, who intrigued by Harold turns into a Literary detective and Harold's counsellor. Queen Latifah is correct as Eiffel's PA Penny Escher; I found her character a bit unnecessary, but she does plays well what she is asked for.
The movie is not only entertaining, but it is embedded with multiple ethical dilemmas and philosophical questions, that turn the mystery and the romance into something else. Some of the questions that came to my mind were: If your life was written like in a novel, and therefore you knew that you were predestined, would you still try to fight this? And if you did, would that make your life better and more meaningful? If it was in your hand, what would you prefer, dying young but having a memorable death or dying old but nobody knowing that you ever existed? Would knowing that your death is poetic, give more meaning to it? Would you rather know when you are going die or how?
The look of the movie, is very clean, minimalist and stylish. The superimposing graphics and vectorial images help to make clear to the viewer what is happening in Harold's head and the sort of analytical and mathematical mind and approach to reality he has. They are terrific, very stylish, explicative and not invasive at all, just at the service of the story.
Don't be fooled, this is not the sort of gag comedy you watch to have a big laugh. Is a witty comedy, not a LOL one.
A terrific film, entertaining and thought-provoking.
A spellbinding animated adventure film with a simplistic script and predictable characters.
The creativity and imagination of the film is undeniable, and the fantastic world of Pandora is creative, beautiful and artistically created and coloured regarding Nature and Creatures, myths and mood.
I must say that I found the animation, especially at first a little awkward, a sort of advanced video-game with improved facial and body movements. However, once you get into the story, and as the animated part gains prominence in the film, you stop seeing animation, and you see real characters and a real fantastic world. That is a credit to the director and creative team.
I also loved the idea of a harmonious natural world where everything is interconnected, where the energy is shared. A little primal and indigenous Eden that is going to be violated and abused by human beings who believe to be superior despite their greediness and lack of respect to the environment. It is a metaphor of the inconsistencies of the modern world that ignores the environment and other humans beings to spread a system that is self-destructive. The whole philosophy and spirituality of the natives is very zen, really wonderful, and very well explained and developed.
My biggest criticism of the film is the incongruity, so American, of defending the right to a peaceful and harmonious world through war. The fighting and war scenes are great, but, obviously, very violent, so that all the film's Peace message is betrayed very soon. The movie becomes a thriller, with good and bad characters, military leaders, defenders and attackers. My second criticism is that the story line and characters are predictable, which tones down the whole movie and makes it less interesting for the viewer who wants a little bit of depth and is not easily contented with just wonderful visuals.
I really enjoyed the film, because it is, mostly, an action movie, with fantastic enthralling action and war scenes, and super-duper visuals. However, it has a mix of meditation, romance, adventure, sci-fi, and zen premises that will captivate men and women, children and adults.
A true blockbuster, and a landmark for movies to come regarding visuals and special effects.
The Good
The movie reminds me of Miyazaki magic worlds and stories, and of his precious 2-D animation.
The recreation of the world of dreams is really amazing, so realistically oniric in narrative and visuals. I especially liked the repeating scene of the cop in the corridor, which is true onirism brought to life. However, all the scenes even the craziest ones, are incredible as they bring to life the feelings, sensations and awkwardness of the oniric world. That's so difficult to do!
The colours of the movie are eye candy, especially the ones in the dreams. In fact, there is a contrast between the glee and bright colours of the dream world, and the grey and subdued tones of the real world. However, when reality and dream start to merge we get a mix of both. I find this extremely interesting, because most movies would colour reality and dreams inversely, and that is very mainstream.
The plot is crazy, sometimes confusing, not enough grounded, but, hey, this is a movie about dreams, and you have to put yourself in your dreaming mood, and, like in a dream, you don't need the whole story to make sense, as dreams rarely do that. Said this, I found the story related to Detective Konakawa really intriguing and very well narrated, and his character very interesting. Also believable the character of the overweight childish scientist Dr. Tokita.
The So-so
The main female character, Dr Atsuko, is a very intriguing character, but, sometimes, the viewer doesn't fully understand why she is so cold in real life, and why, her alter ego is so warm and cheery. Moreover, we don't know why Paprika is the key to solve all the dream problems. Why is she not manipulated before the other scientists are being as involved as she is in the project?
I found shocking that semi-nude erotic scenes were easily shown, and then, you see the giant humans at the end as they do not even have a hint of genitalia! How awkward! My dreams show humans with all their bits!
The Bad
The most important down, to me, is the dubbing of the characters, both in English and in Japanese - Very dull in the first, just dull in the second. The actors seem to be reciting a text they were reading to themselves in a boring rainy afternoon...acting is a very different thing. That affects the tone and energy of the movie. If you have an action/thriller scene and the actors speak as if they were talking to their old grandma, there is a problem. Also, the lack o inflection in the talking of some characters makes those characters plain, especially in the case of Dr Atsuko. I also got annoyed at the voice of Paprika being so silly and childish, especially in Japanese.
The second down is that the scientific details of the "DC mini" are explained in a very complicated way, while a simpler approach would have made those bits less boring. They are realistic, as scientists speak like that, but this is not a documentary but an animation movie in which you don't need real mumbo-jumbo to make sense.
The Interesting
The references to some well known Hollywood and Japanese movies, both in posters and the "sweding" or recreation of some scenes in the dreams. However, the most intriguing reference to me is the mention of the short animation film of the 1940s "Dream Kids". I don't know if Paprika (the original novel on which the script is based) has a connection of any sort with that movie or not.
Truly trippy and enjoyable. Unforgettable oniric scenes.
270 William St
Northbridge Western Australia 6003
(08) 9226 2434
http://www.jpsancho.com.au/
Hours:
Mon-Fri 7:00 - 17:00
The coffee is good, but I found it not as good as the one in the other café. Perhaps because take-away coffees are always more diluted or milky. I don't know..
The service has always been terrific regarding speed and friendliness of the staff. Perfect for take-away.
I've never tried their food or sweets.
Their terrace seating area is very comfortable and nice. However, the seating area indoors is very small and narrow, but also very intimate. Not my cup of tea, but very charming if you want a quiet charming place.
878 Hay St
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9226 2434
http://www.jpsancho.com.au
Hours:
Mon-Fri 7:00 - 18:00
Sat 8:00 - 17:00
Sun 9:00 - 17:00
I had heard so many things about this cafe that my expectations were very high regarding everything. I mean, this is an awarded cafe that has been mentioned in the media and is in everybody's mouth.
The coffee was very good, although the cup a bit small.
The service was terrific, regarding friendliness, speed, and attention to the client.
The cake I tried, supposedly the lightest of the cakes on display (as I requested), was too sugary, too rich and thick for my spoon go through it without the need of a knife or my fingers. The taste was OK.
I found the place average regarding atmosphere and layout, and it hit me hard that the place was full of ladies wearing their Sunday "froofroos" on a Saturday, seating and acting as if they were at a posh French bistro. Sorry to wake you up ladies, but this is an average every-day sort of French cafe, not the one that French ladies would dress to go to.
I cannot understand the hype about the place, really, really, really.
183 William St
Northbridge Western Australia 6003
(08) 9328 5285
Website
Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sat 9:00 - 17:00
Fri 9:00 - 21:00
Sun 11:00 - 17:00
This is a quintessential part of William St, one of those business without which you can't even think about the street being William St. It is like a real old-style continental shop in Mediterranean Europe or a mini-suq in the Middle East. This sort of shop has been in process of extinction in Europe at the same rate that their old cranky owners have been passing away.
The shop will awaken your senses with its mix of colours, smells and textures, with its old cracked wooden floors, wonderful dark shelves, their cashier counter, their scales, and that mix of harmony, chaos and intimacy that the Kakulas shop has. The shop attendants are usually European backpackers working there, very nice and efficient, always smiling and courteous.
This is a shop to find some spices, beans, herbs and staples that are rarely found in the supermarket and that are basic to cook certain national dishes, the sort of ingredients that some foreigners would use to cook their authentic national recipes at home. They also cater for packed products and brands that people from other cultures identify as theirs, that is, that are part of their culinary culture - identifiers of what they are and what they miss from home. Some of those products can be found in your normal supermarket now, but Kakulas were the first to cater for them.
The old cranky owner is no longer out there at the counter, and many things have changed in the last five or six years, I guess, to make the business more profitable. However, something has been lost in the way. Just two examples.
1/ The selection of olive oil brands has decreased in the last years, and those wonderful real non-mass produced really-tasty and authentic oil oils, those whose taste is real to a Mediterranean, have been replaced by mediocre brands that are, indeed, part of food multinationals and, therefore, can be found in your normal supermarket or continental store.
2/ The same sort of policy brought us the little charming coffee-to-go corner they have opened to the street. The only problem is that the coffee is a watery concoction of OK coffee - as good as the plunger coffee you could prepare yourself at your place for free using good quality ground coffee.
To me, being progressive in the food industry in the 21st century means being authentic and traditional, looking back and seeing what worked in the past food markets and shops and mix it with new "marketing" approaches and policies to adapt it to the needs of our modern society. If this makes any sense to you. It does makes sense to me, though. Cashing in on anything you can replacing good products with others that are managed by food multinationals is not the right way to go,though.
Kakulas is a wonderful place, with lots of authentic products, great service and a great old-fashioned atmosphere. Enjoy their natural charm while it lasts, as we will soon have it tinned and mass produced so we can sniff it and pass out.
