Love of films : Short films 5

The meaning of Life (2005)
[Animation, Short, Comedy]
Don Hertzfeldt

The evolution of humanity, through countless eons.

The cartoonist's title sequence shows images of black and white flames. And then a human body falls down through it decaying. (A human stick figure)

Next sequence is stick figures unique to the cartoonist's tradition walks and we are reflected of each one saying same dialogue lines. Then the crowd increases. And it becomes chaos of mixture and confusion. And in an instance all are dead and we see black clouds and confusion.

We have a starry sequence later.

And then mutation. Which was my first thought after the observation but later I realised it was a reflection of a parallel universe and how alien life would be behaving and it is accordingly reflected.

We see a discussion with an alien language. We see stars and other beautiful aspects floating around after the discussion.

And then slowly it concludes to the end title.

It's more like a mindless observation of life without any logic or judgement. The film maker establishes his violent and dark abstract style to theme and it is a very unique short animation.


Overall - 3.5/5

Love of films : Short film 4

Piper (2016)
[Animation, Short, Family]
Alan Barillaro

A mother bird tries to reach her little one how to find food by herself. In the process, she encounters a traumatic experience that she must overcome in order to survive.

Now this is the basic plot of this short animation.

This is the most beautiful animation of the year 2016.

It's full of heart, detail and beauty of nature. Don't miss it. One of Pixar's best.

It's worthy of it's oscar nomination this year. (2016)


Overall - 5/5

References

·         Image: Piper (2016). Format : (Jpg) Available at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5613056/mediaviewer/rm2627606272 (Accessed at : 2017/02/13)

Aloko Udapadi (2017) is the finest of the Sri Lankan historic films

Aloko Udapadi (2017) in my opinion is the finest of the Sri Lankan historic cinema.

It is the best film that depicts a historic theme with a cinematic achievement after Aba (2008), Siri Parakum (2014) and Maha Raja Gemunu (2015).

His cinematographic achievement is unparalleled.

Many critics and audiences finds wrong in his depiction of character, story and history.

In my opinion Sri Lanka has a dying film industry and innovative and crowd pleasing films like this comes very rarely.

And to attract crowds to film you basically needs eye candy. So this is it. To go to substance over style first in my opinion, the Sri Lankan industry needs Style over substance. Now this film lays foundation to that.

This is Chathra Weeraman's first film and it deserves it's praise.


References

Image : Aloko Udapadi (2017). Format : (Jpg) Available at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5963218/mediaviewer/rm3350724608 ( Accessed date : 2017/02/04)

Guy Ritchie : Style, Energy and Gangsters

Guy Ritchie never attended film school.

But he's one of the best in the industry and one of my personal favourites.

His films are Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000), Revolver (2005), RocknRolla (2008), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Sherlock Holmes : A game of shadows (2011) and The man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).

Style and energy is with many directors. Danny Boyle, Quentin Tarantino, Joe Carnahan and Robert Rodriguez.

But why Guy Ritchie has something special...

His depiction on gangsters. For me he is one of the crime / comedy masters.

Since Guy Ritchie is a british his ability to depict the british culture mixed with crime / comedy became his distinct iconic style. He built on many of the character arcs deeply but not in a serious way, the way he shows them is very quirky and fun the action stars who play his roles do it better than comic stars.

Many of the films takes us to the deeper roots of the british crime culture stylishly. [ Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) ].

His new films like RocknRolla (2008), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Sherlock Holmes : A game of shadows (2011) and The man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) depicts a new filmmaking style from him. It's like the new turn taken by the filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu in his films like Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Revenant (2015). 

It's both unique and amazing to the director because it links to his conceptual foundation of his own style. With Alejandro, the spirituality and with Guy his energy and comic/crime formula.

 There are no clean - cut characters in his films, they're all grey. Now this makes him a master in his genre.

His vision on fantasy and reality which is film and the real world is amazing. He fuses fantasy into the film through his unique camerawork and cinematography and also through visual effects.

I don't have to point you out....but his new films have this.

Now the fundamental observation in his films I made as a fan of film and personally Guy Ritchie's is that they are filled with energy, style and gangsters created by Ritchie himself. He's a master of his own style. Now that's something I find very unique in a very talented film maker.

 So bravo !!! Mr. Guy Ritchie !!! Hoping to see more style in cinema in the future.

References

·         Image: Sherlock Holmes (2009). Format : (Jpg) Available at :  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988045/mediaviewer/rm155749888 (Accessed at : 2017/02/04)

·         Image: Sherlock Holmes: A game of Shadows (2011). Format : (Jpg) Available at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1515091/mediaviewer/rm1786360576 (Accessed at : 2017/02/04)

·         Image: Lock, Stock and Two smoking Barrels (1998). Format : (Jpg) Available at :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120735/mediaviewer/rm2885333760 (Accessed at : 2017/02/04)

·         Image: The man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015). Format : (Jpg) Available at :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1638355/mediaviewer/rm1556545536 (Accessed at : 2017/02/04)