One of my favorite short films in recent memory, the Oscar nominated 2006 live action short out of Belgium Tanghi Argentini probably borrows a little from Shall We Dance? (the wonderful, original Japanese version, I mean), but is so charming and so well told that it hardly matters. It’s 14 minutes long, so maybe wait ’til lunch, but otherwise I believe it’s safe for most workplaces. (There’s no nudie bits, and if there’s any swearing in it, it’s in Dutch.)
Archive for May, 2011
“The Mountain” by Terje Sørgjerd
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
I often think of film (and comics) as a narrative medium, but every once in a while, something comes along to remind me that it’s not; it can be bigger than that, broader than that. It can be art.
“The Mountain,” a three-minute long, juxtaposed sequence of time lapse photography paired with a gorgeous piece of music from Ludovico Einaudi (whose music was used so incredibly well in Shane Meadows’s 2006 masterpiece This Is England), is simply breathtaking. It certainly generates a powerful emotional reaction that neither the images nor the music on their own would.
Check out Mr. Sørgjerd’s “The Aurora” over at Vimeo, as well. You can like TSO Photography on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
“Hook, Line and Murder” by Eben McCue
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Eben McCue’s “Hook, Line and Murder” is a fun, quick short (<3 min.) about "a fishing trip [that] triggers some form of post-traumatic flashback." The sound all seems to be appropriated from various films — music from the scores for Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight were pretty easy to spot, but is there anything else you noticed that I didn’t? Eben’s other videos are well worth watching, too, so check out Vimeo page.
Trailer Watch: The Adventures of Tintin
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
The uncanny valley rears its head in the new teaser for the motion captured Hergé adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin (previously subtitled, Secret of the Unicorn) from director Stephen Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson, sporting a script by the current Dr. Who head writer Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. The film stars Jamie Bell at Tintin, Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook.
It’s probably telling that they avoided any shots with people talking (at least with synced sound); every motion-captured effort I’ve seen to date has, at best, looked a bit dodgy once the figures are in motion. At their worst, they look like corpses with sticks shoved up their bums, bouncing around like mop puppets. And while this certainly looks better than that, I can’t say I’m crazy about the too-“realistic” character designs. But then, I’m biased — I adore the original comics, and I had hoped for a less photoreal, more stylized approach to the motion capture. I don’t think it’s an inherently bad technique, just that it hasn’t yet been used well. (Yes, I saw Beowulf.)
Those of you who aren’t as attached to the originals: what do you think?
The Adventures of Tintin hits theaters on December 23rd.