You are what you Love

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limitations

limitations

take away every chance

to live, the way you want to.

why do we please each other,

as if it really matters

as if anyone really cares.

everyone thinks they’re so precious

and that they’re owed the world

yet spend every day, wasting away

tricking themselves into a sense of

accomplishment.

you’ve done so much, you’ve done so little,

what is the difference

three people get your contributions

no one else will ever know of them.

we’re all tiny dots, dust that

is never cleaned

we all believe that we will leave our

legacy.

every living thing loses its

importance.

time passes and something new becomes important.

life’s hard but only cause we make it

there’s no such thing as natural when

everybody fakes it.

constrained by ideas that someone else created.

why do we do it to ourselves,

why do we make things complicated

the potential for the greatest life story is blocked by

limitations.

by: adriana floridia

Tiny Furniture Review, 8.5/10

My Review of the Movie Chronicle

6.5/10

The Avengers Review 

8/10

Dark Shadows Review

5/10

Carnage

FRESH FROM THE THEATRE VIDEO REVIEW:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv-QKu40xZQ

Society has set out rules and expectations that many people strive to meet. There is a certain way of handling specific situations in order to come to a solution of some sort, such as two couples meeting up to resolve a school-yard fight that their sons were a part of. This is the premise of Carnage, Roman Polanski’s latest film based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. 

After Nancy and Alan Cowan’s son knocks the teeth out of Penelope and Michael Longstreet’s son with a stick, the Longstreets set up a meeting at their home for the parents to figure out how to handle the situation and how to deal with their children. Instead of a lawsuit, or complete ignorance of the situation, they decide to face it head on and make some real resolutions; in the process however we learn a lot about these two couples and their real opinions of their children, their marriages, and the ways they view society. The cast in this film are who really have to hold the story together, because it is all on them. The film takes place all in one setting, simply just four people playing nice and eventually escalating to acting barbaric with one another is all we get for the eighty minute running time. All four actors: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly, are brilliant in their roles and make this movie as great as it is. A weaker cast would have made this film much harder to endure. 

As it all takes place in one spot, and as all four characters dislike each other and want out, there is a massive awkward tension that is going on for most of the film. Nancy and Alan don’t really care at all, but are willing to make the effort; and Michael is pleasing his wife Penelope who is the only character truly concerned about her son and the “disfiguring” of his face. Nancy and Alan try to leave a countless amount of times but something always manages to keep them at the apartment. The audience feels this tension and it reaches crazy heights once alcohol is brought into the picture. The script is always witty and honest, but goes to over-the-top extremes by the end that make it both completely absurd and hilarious. 

The film challenges the expectations of our society in the way that it pokes fun at political correctness and what it means to be an adult. These are four people who have an idea of what is expected from them, but who continually stray away from the things that they are “supposed” to do. The whole set up of the meeting is Penelope’s idea of what is “right” and what is “moral”, but all four of these people are anything but. They are all consumed in their own worlds, and don’t really know how to deal with things outside of themselves. It is an interesting commentary on morality and adulthood, and how everyone has different values that for some reason or another they feel obliged to defend, yet may not even know why. Carnage is a biting, outrageous and true to life glimpse into the lives of four people who don’t really know what they are doing, but who are getting by on the images they have created for themselves, and a lot happens considering it stays all in one small room. 

                                                                 8.5/10

travelling song.

sometimes,

you can almost forget,

who you are and where you’re going,

headphones on and noises flowing,

a sea of people you don’t know

filling your eyes and teasing you,

with a sense of belonging.

no one can make you do or be,

anything you don’t want to be,

they’re just existing for their own

sakes, we all live for our own sake.

the prospect of the day sets in,

as you contemplate all you

know and think so hard of

a future you’ll never know,

how could you;

forget your place and time

and your presence in your body,

it’s not your fault that you can

tune out and lose senses

senses of self,

senses of mind,

senses of time.

it’s so easy to lose grasp,

but you can always get it back,

don’t waste my time;

it’s the only thing that’s mine,

and i’ll use it how i choose,

until it’s no longer my choice.

just sitting and taking it all in,

when did it get so hard to win?

all of these people just want

love and to be loved and to live

why is it so hard for them,

why is it so hard for me,

why don’t i know anything,

why don’t i know who i am.

by, adriana floridia

The Squid and the Whale

Noah Baumbach, 2005.

Such a realistic depiction of a family’s deterioration after a divorce could have only come from a personal understanding, and Noah Baumbach’s own experience with his family makes for a very honestly funny story with The Squid and the Whale.

A contemplative character study filled with genuine comedic moments, this film can easily find a place in anyone’s heart, whether or not you have personally gone through anything like a divorce. There are the two children, Frank and Walt played by Owen Kline, and a younger Jesse Eisenberg who shows he had acting chops way before his breakout in The Social Network. These two boys both show traits that seem to be heavily influenced by their parents. They are obviously very affected by the splitting of their parents, and each handle it in their own, sometimes abnormal, ways. You can see how they each are inclined to either their mom or dad, and how their opinions of their parents change the more they realize about their parents’ relationship and about how they each act on an individual basis.

Then we have mom and dad, Joan and Bernard, played expertly by Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels. Joan has been unhappy in their marriage for a long time, and we see them reach their breaking point. Bernard had been the one fighting to keep them together, but as we get to know more about each of their personalities, we see why their relationship wasn’t really working. We see how they treat their children, and their different parental approaches. The point is, we really get to know each character.

I think that’s why this movie works so well. The four main characters are very intricate, complex people. The ordeal that they all go through makes them act out all in different ways. Though the topic is serious, and has been handled quite melodramatically in other films, the best way I can think to describe this movie is that it’s honest. There is nothing that really feels false, save for one little push in Bernard’s new girlfriend. Everyone feels real and the way that they deal with the situation feels real. Because of it’s honesty, there is so much humour just everywhere in it. Not blatant, laugh-out-loud, funny moments, but very relatable, true events that anyone who doesn’t take things too seriously can have a laugh with.

Noah Baumbach has proven to be great at dealing with very real life scenarios in a quiet and understated way. Nothing about this movie feels in your face, it’s just a slice of life, or in particular, of Noah’s life, that is presented to us in a simple and sweet way. I don’t think everyone who watches this will be jumping out of their seats over it, but I really appreciate the genuine nature, the honest humour, and the whole general demeanor of the film. I think it’s definitely worth a watch. 

                                                                                       8

 

                  

 

I <3 Huckabees

David O’Russell, 2004.

It’s a shame that this film is such a mess, because it has a really interesting concept. There is a large part of me that wants to like it a lot more than I did, but the only thing that really makes me appreciate it is its ambition. The execution really falls short.

It’s kind of surprising, because the film has so many stars in it, the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts and Jude Law all are part of this jumble of a film. If not for its cast, this film would have really fell short because they highly elevate the material. At the centre of the story is Jason Schwartzman’s character, Albert Markovski, a man who is feeling confused and defeated in his life. By pure chance, he comes across a place that offers a unique service, existentialist detectives. As Albert feels he has experienced an odd coincidence, in that in the same day he bumped into the same tall African-American man three different times, he feels there is some deeper meaning and hires the detectives to figure it out. The detectives, a husband and wife team played by Hoffman and Tomlin, have a different way of going about their work, upsetting Albert and contributing to his anxiety. They insist on spying on his every move, and analyzing every aspect of his life to help figure out his existential issues, going deeper than Albert intended, and further complicating his issues at work and with his boss Brad Stand (Jude Law).

Albert comes across another client of the detectives, Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), a man who is doubtful of the ideas of connectivity and everything having meaning, as proposed by the detectives. He finds solace in a woman who preaches the exact opposite, that nothing is connected, life is meaningless, and everything is completely random and inconsequential. These two opposing ideas propose some very thought-provoking material, but instead of being a smart and insightful analysis on life’s meaning, the film is more of a joke about those who try to seek it. While I appreciate the attempt of humour in the film, it just…isn’t very funny. All we have are characters who constantly make a mockery of themselves as they run around aimlessly trying to answer all of the big questions. We get no answers, nor any real resolutions for the characters. This film is all over the place and does not seem certain of what it wants to be. I give it some credit for its ideas, its cast that makes the most of it, and some interesting visual techniques, but for such an ambitious premise, I Heart Huckabees isn’t really much to “heart” at all.

                                                                                       6

                

The Royal Tenenbaums

Wes Anderson, 2001.

This is dark comedy at its finest, Wes Anderson style. The Tenenbaum family start out very promising. A wealthy husband and wife have three children, two biological and one adopted. All three of their children are intelligent and have the utmost potential, but as they grow older, and after the splitting of their parents, they get lost in the midst of various tragedies, explorations, conflicts, and life itself.

When estranged father Royal Tenenbaum hits rock bottom, he decides he wants the family he abandoned back. As Royal claims to have a short amount of time to live, the family reunites in their old home to bond and say goodbye to him. Royal is hoping to reconcile things with his wife, who though never he legally divorced, he had been separated from for many years. He wants to become a part of his children and grandchildren’s life again, making up for lost time and hoping to mend his wrongs from the past. However, not everyone is so forgiving of him, and his children are more consumed in their own problems.

If you’ve ever seen a Wes Anderson film before, you have an idea of how he executes his story. Told with a narrator in a storybook fashion, with very bright and elaborate sets and quirky characters, this film has a very “hipster” feel to it. The music is also bang on, as he uses a wide variety of styles on the soundtrack but still has every song fit so well for each scene. The cast is stellar, with names like Gene Hackman, Angelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwenyth Paltrow, Owen and Luke Wilson, and Bill Murray, just to name a few, each performance shines to make a perfect ensemble.

Wes Anderson draws inspiration from many different places, and he always bring a unique style to each film. The Royal Tenenbaums, while taking place in the time it was made, the early 2000s, is heavily inspired by the 70s, and that is reflected in the costumes, setting, and overall feel of the film. This film also really reminded me of the television show Arrested Development, which while is more blatantly a comedy, has very similar style in plot and in the way the story is told. This highly dysfunctional family has so much going on, but the story is well paced and each character is given equal importance. Everyone’s issues are serious, but told with a lightness that makes them both funny and endearing. This film is in equal measures dark and light, and its universal theme of love and forgiveness within a family makes it something anyone can relate to, if not in the same witty and eccentric way.

                                                                                    9