Prometheus, the universe and life

I went to see the film last week with one of my sons. We came out with a lot of questions and not necessarily in a good way.

 A voyage into the unknown that conjures more questions than it answers … That's what we were told to expect from Ridley Scott's long-awaited sort-of-Alien-prequel Prometheus, ... We thought they were talking about the characters' journey into the depths of space to meet the extraterrestrial originators of life on earth. It turned out, though, to refer to us poor lugs in the audience, stumbling out into the night scratching our heads.

So I was interested to find this article which asked the same questions and then a couple more ...
Prometheus: what was that about? Ten key questions | Film | guardian.co.uk . But then there's one I asked that's not on their list. In fact it's the same basic question I asked of at least one of the Alien films and also regularly ask about other sci-fi and/or horror films. it's a bio-ecological question. In the case of Prometheus it comes into sharpest focus with the alien beastie that comes out of Elizabeth's womb in the emergency c-section/abortion. That beastie is about the size of a human neo-nate in terms of mass (why Elizabeth didn't 'show' more is another good question btw). When we next see said beastie it has become I would say four to eight times the womb-leaving size. ... How? Leaving aside the rate of growth which I'm willing to suspend my disbelief over- where has the critter found the protein and other compounds it would need to have ingested to convert into that kind of body mass. The room it was trapped in was sterile and had no significant amount of biological material to convert into more of said beastie's body. This issue is also part of at least one other of the the Alien films.

A related issue is the sheer amount of alien carcasses in what turns out to be the Engineers' ship: again; what have the beasties fed on to become so big? While some Engineers clearly were colonised, we seem to be talking about an aggregated mass of alien body-stuff many times that of the captured Engineers' body-stuff. There are well-known ratios of predators to prey in established sizes of ecosystems; the Aliens seem to have the secret of making body-stuff out of thin air. In which case, why bother feeding off other living beings?

I prefer my sci-fi to have greater plausibility in the face of such questions.

PS: I've just (3 July) found a review of the film that actually gives it a lot more sense symbolically but also helps some of the plot plausibility by reckoning that the black goo is an adaptable stuff that is shaped by the emotional atmosphere of those around it -in this case the greedy and rapacious homo sapiens around it produce their own nemesis; but had 'they/we' been more gentle or convivial, the goo would have shaped into a life form of friendlier and more helpful disposition. I'm expecting, on this basis, for the next film to be called Nemesis!

Hugo: Scorsese does Jeunet

I don't recall seeing this advertised in cinemas, but last week I watched it on DVD. I was enchanted. There's lots of things to like from my perspective. First most of the actors are using British English. Second Scorsese seems to have decided that 1930's Paris-setting is best rendered by using the kind of palette of colour and inventory of props that Jeunet would. At points even the soundtrack evokes Amelie. Since I love both the palette and soundscape of Amelie and also the polished, steampunky clockwork and machinery (which you'll also see in productions such as Dr Who, Mic Macs (also Jeunet), the latest The Time Machine and so on). So, for me, a delicious sensory experience.

The fact that the chief protagonists are children means that there is an innocence about the main plot and yet the fact that adults are important players means that there is not a dearth of more mature interests represented. I also like the fact that, as one of my sons put it, there are no real 'baddies' in the film. By the end we have grown to understand the adults who seem to be the most obstructive, scary and unsympathetic at the start (except, perhaps, for Hugo's uncle, who actually features very little in the main plotlines). I like the way, then, that the film eschews the simple goodies and baddies plots and tells a children's story (?) with an acknowledgement that people are both 'good' and 'bad' in terms of motives and actions. I'd love it if we had more plotting like that.

Of course the take-home message could be that 'bad' is ultimately about being mistaken, under-informed or damaged. And I'd actually want to affirm that to a great extent; all too often we come at things the other way round. But sometimes we need to have room for malevolence and culpable in/action. However, this would be a minor quibble in a lovely, fantastical, film with a heart-warming set of plot lines.

It's also a must for those who love silent film, but I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen.

Departures

On a recommendation from one of our students, I've -just yesterday- watched the Japanese film Departures (2008) this description only just does it justice "A newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals". It was an emotional experience for me not because it was sad (though it is at points) but because it was beautiful: seeing the comfort that could be brought by caringly performed ritual actions. It is also a story of reconciliations and of growth, of the breakdown of prejudices and a film that reminds us of the humanity that actually reminds us of the image of God, I think. It's long, but I didn't actually feel it to be long; the pace seems about right for the content and the dignity of the film.

For me it was a reminder of the value of the simple ministries of being there, doing things with simple dignity and acting with compassion. It was also a reminder of the value of ritual acts in giving a framework for important human transitions to be begun, continued or brought to a close. It made me aware how impoverished our cultural and ritual language has become particularly in relation to death and dying. Though perhaps it should be a case of looking carefully enough to see what people are pressing into service in actuality ... and what priorities and thinking is revealed, but that's another posting or several ...

Bradford wins Unesco City of Film award

Unexpected (and sorry, it's from Friday -but I was a bit busy the end of last week), but I'm really pleased for the city which I still emotionally think of as home. It needs a filip, perhaps this is it. Bradford wins Unesco City of Film award | Film | guardian.co.uk: "The world's first City of Film will be announced by Unesco today, with the honour going unexpectedly to Bradford."
Read the article if you want to understand why it's not such a strange choice.

MAMMA MIA!

As part of a wedding anniversary treat, I went to see Mama Mia, the film, the other day. I have to say that my daughter's recommendation was not wrong. I enjoyed it in ways I wouldn't have thought possible. It was funny and mostly the songs were appropriate to the plot or cunningly reworked. Okay, the plot was a bit sugary but it was fun. I found the re-using of part of the background music to significant parts of my youth was strangely moving, I think it was to do with the kind of content of the plot at the salient points and the resonances they had with my emotional life at the time (which I'd kind of forgotten). The music pulled the remembered emotional texture to the fore. I was also impressed by Meryl Streeps abilities both as a dancer and a singer. There were some nice touches, including a scene where two of the 'fathers' discuss the night before and we the audience think they are each misunderstanding the other. It turns out that only one misunderstanding takes place, and we were suckered. Nice.

Gotta say that the irritating bit was the wedding: presumably a Greek Orthodox chapel; but then the priest appears to be RC (after all that was the background already established for Meryl Streep's character), but who then goes on to officiate at a wedding where one character is a self-proclaimed divorce... and that's without the question of what the proper wedding preliminaries should be in that jurisdiction. But hey, sometimes facts need not to get in the way of a plot!
MAMMA MIA! The Global Smash Hit - The Movie Trailers

Still

Undercurrents Alternative News: Stand Still

Meet meat

YouTube - Film School NYFA - They're Made Out Of Meat

SGM Lifewords' Easter resources

This looks worthwhile signing up for. It's atSGM Lifewords; Easter resources site: "This Easter, SGM Lifewords is hosting an online reflective journey through Holy Week – you can sign up by email on the right, and we’ll explore the story together through animation, music and spoken word."

A film to watch out for

... and here's why:

"We are being sold a false bill of goods, that the more connected we become the more equal we will be," Rivera said during an interview from Sundance's headquarters in Park City. "Statistically speaking, that's not what's happening. The more connected we become, the more we are divided."

Sleep Dealer is remarkably topical for a film set in the future (albeit one described by Rivera as taking place "five minutes from now"). Central themes include outsourcing, corporate ownership of water, remote warfare, confessional internet diaries and military contractors who are accountable to no one. It's the rare political film without any reference to contemporary politics; like Blade Runner and other big-brained sci-fi flicks, it's about ideas, not selling merchandise.

Full article at Wired News. Film's site here.
I'm a great believer that the importance of sci-fi is the space it gives us to explore potentially big issues arising from new technology and cultural change. This film looks to have the potential to do that real well.

TRADE -film about people trafficking

I haven't spotted when this might be released in the UK, but it looks worth keeping an eye out for.
TRADE

The Pit of Despair

One of the things I enjoy about Princess Bride is that the main parts are taken by relatively unknown actors, and then there is this thing going on with rather better-known actors in cameo roles...

YouTube - The Pit of Despair

Miracle Max

Oh! And here's another fave scene from That Film. This time Billy Crystal plays a blinder with some priceless one liners.

YouTube - Miracle Max

Princess Bride clips

At last: I've found You Tube has clips from my favourite film: the Princess Bride. This is one of my favourite scenes.

YouTube - Princess Bride
It is, as you can tell, the source of the quote about land war in Asia: advice that goes for playing Risk too!

Just recently, I attended a very serious service in a cathedral, unfortunately having to stifle my giggles because one of the service leaders sounded rather like this ...
And it shows, btw, surely Andre the Giant's (RIP) best role.

Princess Bride is the Top Romantic Fairy Tale Movie Ever

The JollyBlogger is absolutely right on this. And I just loved the quotefest that the posting produced in the comments column. All my favourite quotes. I think that to call it a 'romantic fairy tale' is missing the point though: it's a rom-com, sure, but with the emphasis on grown-up but non-smutty humour and brilliantly wierd and wonderful one-liners and bits of dialogue. Brilliant.
JOLLYBLOGGER: Princess Bride is the Top Romantic Fairy Tale Movie Ever

Pan's Labyrinth

I was certain that I had blogged about this being one of my new favourite films, but having read this article by John Morehead and looking for what I thought I'd already written for cross-referencing, discovered that I must have imagined it. John has done us a service by examining the pagan and Christian underlays of this film. I left a comment which added what to me seems to be a vitally important cultural critique. But then maybe I'd seen something not really there? Here's what I wrote there.

My initial reaction was about the way that the film seems to be pulling the rug from under the myth of redemptive violence by showing the 'goodies' as engaged in violence just as brutally with no real good being achieved and the only response that is given a thumbs up appears to be that of self-sacrificial love. Perhaps the theme of (self-) sacrifice is one which works with both religious traditions far more powerfully and subliminally. So I enjoyed the implied cultural critique of the Hollywood mythos which was one which is friendly to central Christian theological motifs.

Of course, I also enjoyed the fact that the film is in Spanish!
TheoFantastique: Pan's Labyrinth: A Grand Fairytale and Key to the World of Wonder