Kunstkammer list

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71 About Trees

Kunstkammer 71: About trees

Kunstkammer 71: About trees

tiger mom, Le Grand Bazar, dir Baya Kasmi, episode 5; scene 23:00

I watched the last episode of Le Grand Bazar, director Baya Kasmi for M6 in 6 episodes. 

There was a scene with the mother who has given birth under X and is thinking of the reasons why she must give up her baby for adoption. The midwife (a man) tells her the procedures, she has 3 days to decide, and if she gives up the baby, she must say good bye formally to the baby because the baby understands everything and also, the mother has a formal closure. So the mom tells her baby in so m y words why and how etc. Babies understand everything. V moving. 

So finally the midwife who loves kids he adopts the baby with his wife. A black baby with white midwife father and arab-french mother who is a lawyer. 

There are many details relating to immigrants way of thinking, branching and connecting two generations together. About how to use money how to make economic sense in everyday life. The movie is full of small everyday human stories, maybe its a wide sweeping brush of a portrait, but it has the potential to be developed into so many finer stories with more memorable and very specific details. 

I could see how the different branches could really blossom into mulitple full fleshed stories, into movies. For example, the grandma from Algeria explains to the fat little girl - a grand daughter related via x-marriage of son in law - what is a batard (half breed), and that she herself was a batarde and that her own mother never called her by her name, but "batarde, batarde".  She was not allowed to go to school and did all the house work like a locked up slave, no friends etc. I find this v cruel, but maybe its real. You never know.   Implicit is the pre-history.  Why was the mother so negative towards her own daughter?  Batarde, maybe she was the child of a rape?  Since there was the war during that period. etc etc.  Implicit stories not told but if it were a tv series, there would be vaious buds that could grow into the stories with more and more details.  Details makes the film more full and not so caricature of the immigrant experience.  

Right now, its a bit like a catalogue of people stories. 

The Asian part is very quick and maybe sketchy but its a known reality thats included in the broad picture of contemporary Asian French life - a little bud in the fabric of mixity in contemporary society. 

The Arab older couple are played by very good actors, both the man and the woman, with lovely sensitive eyes. 

Question, for the running water of human stories, what would make a film memorable?
What makes a good actor and a so-so actor?
Maybe we need truth, something that is not just an answer.

For example in a recent movie, "A Day in New York" by Woody Allen, we found out why the super tiger mom wants the son to do all these cultural preparations to become a learnt man... its because she was a former hooker and wants to have her son, her kids become somebody and not like herself, being a person who is at service to others without choice.
Allens film making is very smooth, everyone in the movie moves around in NY, the central park apts, huge, the street, the MET, in the section of Egyptian tombs - as if they were moving around in their own back yard.  Very smooth, only an experienced director who knows his setting could pull it off so easily.

Here, equally, in an immigrant background, maybe we need more truly immigrant scenes and not stereotypical reactions.  For example, how could the lawyer daughter not see the parents turmoil over working to bring up an un-immigrant experience for their own daughter?  
It is possible if the daughter was not a smart lawyer - if she were a character who tries also to blend in very hard as a non immigrant kid, then she would be blind to everything thats immigrant oriented.  As of now, the lawyer was played as if she truly - smart as she is - not know this basic principle of immigrants.  Immigrants immigrate and go through all this trouble to have a new better life for their children.  Its not a secret.  Or if the daughter character has some weakness, not pretty, not so good at doing her everyday work compared to others, then we understand she has to fight for herself to the point of not noticing etc etc.  But, who wants to watch that?  Life is full of real characters like that already.  What would make it memorable and not just factually correct?

The pot smoking grandfather who is a former guitarist is a fun character.  The combination of every character seem to be a sample of everyone in society - but the show does not go into the inside of the person.  The x wife of the mid-wife male lead is very pretty and delicate but even her neurotic behavior is not very convincing.  Maybe her delivery is always in a rush, very speedy.  I dont know exactly why.

This is a speedy comedy entertainment tv series.  To be more moving, so others really want to see it, it needs maybe something more profound so viewers could truly be moved.  The choice of settings of a lot of backgrounds are very interesting, in 60s office buildings, the façades very pop art is beautiful and slick. 

I like it it has much promises.
Am sorry that there will not be a second season.

Maybe this comedy has to have a solid internal nut, something that sounds and feels of blood sweat and tears.  It is not enough to be a stereotypical immigrant life story -- but but but, maybe the reality is really like this!

In that case, you have to bring in something more to give to the viewers to make the films realities augmented, reveal an angle that they have never thought of possible, so they could enjoy more - and not just a sugar coated reality of general facts - something much more than their daily lives of "no tears, its just dust in the eyes".

Also, due to the everyday videos made by everyone on their smart phones, in fact it is much harder to make a "reality" based movie.  We have bona fide, good or bad, smart and slick to zero action  reality videos everywhere already.


Some of the great outsider/insider, change of life, growing up stories I have seen in random order as they come into my head are the following:

1//  "The little seamstress" - Zhou Xun actress.  

2//  Norwegian real time film of a boat cruise without any storyline.  You just watch what you see outside the window of a cruise ship for several hours...

more...

"A Rainy Day in New York" - Woody Allen ****

This movie reminds me of the expression "old hand".
Everything runs so smoothly, works so well.  All gears in place, film runs on a fast pace rhythm.  No accidents, revelations are grave, but nothing more than "just dont talk about it, ok?".  Very blasé experienced people.  Even students, they are all so unfazable.
Only someone who has enough life experience on all levels could make a film like this.
Like what?
First, every character in the movie seem to not have to deal with money problems - they all have enough to not to have to deal about limitations.  So, when that is no longer an issue, what are the things they care about?  Existential problems, love, self love, being in love, getting the girl, or the guy.
I am not a big fan of Woody Allen, but after having seen this movie, makes me want to see his other movies carefully.
Great dialogue, setting, he shows the world thats not so easily seen and displayed in a very knowledgeable way, unlike a lot of movies thats not nearly as convincing.

As for the plot, its about current young rich peoples turmoil and interactions.  A warm New York flick.

The actor, young actor sings well.  He lives in a romantic hazy world, melancholic dreams and really it doesnt matter if he went to college or not, with his powerful family background, we dont need to worry about that for him.  He resolved his mother/son problem - just like most of us common people - after hearing an unapologetic family truth from his mother.  How many people could afford to do that?  (Not many, because most of us may not get out of our tunnels so easily.)

We get a chance to see the lives and woes of the privileged, fame and wealth cushioned people.  Movie goers gets the glamour, the truth in life, everything swift and quick.  There is no profound melancholy, sadness, no, all smooth as butter.  Good sophisticated entertainment.

My world also changed a little bit after watching this movie, now for me, that is already an achievement.

"DreamCatcher 2019", "MobileMusic 10%" 2019, Pixel Cubes

Pixel Cubes by Shuengit Chow 2019

New material, light weight and unlimited size for monumental sculptures. Sculptures do not necessarily have to be huge and heavy, why not do it modularly? Like a human body, made of cells? A seacrab shell is very strong, but after you removed all the flesh, the internal structures are very delicate. 

Not only we should have huge monumental stone, metal works, we now have composite material today, very strong and light weight and unlimited size. How about that?

"DreamCatcher 2019", Lugau, Germany 2019

Entrance to bike trail + exercise park

"DreamCatcher 2019", Lugau, Germany. Aluminum skin + epoxy structure. 

The aluminum cubes comes from everywhere around the world. 

Beauty of the everyday, fixed in permanence. Some cubes come from aluminum skins made 10 years ago. 

The preprinted cubes are also contemporary history of our world, the information on the aluminum skin are also evolving.  Ten years ago there werent any QR codes preprinted on the cans, nor are there invitations to join social clubs for the drinkers.  These details reveal the world that we live in, and show whats available to us and is witness to how we might we be living our everyday lives.  
Graphic design also changes due to style, and current events.  Anime figures, "cyber" characters, and previous illustrations of animals, all mixed on the same platform - our everyday aluminum drink cans from everywhere - through international commerce and tourism travels.  

MobileMusic 10%, Etretat Gardens, Etretat France 2019

"Bitter Flowers", ***half - a warm, docu style movie. Director Olivier Meys,

"Bitter Flowers", ***half - a warm, docu style movie.

Director Olivier Meys,

Actrice: Qi Xi, Wang Xi, Chloe Maayan

Very sensitive and soft, kind to the characters in the film. With very good actrices. Go see?

The film has won best first film award in Belgium. Its an unusual sympathetic film. Because people look down on prostitutes, or they eroticise the profession. The content about prostitutes are usually v sensational. Here, its more about the lives of people going for a better future and when reality does not match to the expectation, what to do? The story revolves around mainly 2 women, with side characters. We see contemporary urban scapes of Dongbei, how people live. Very delicate it shows the men and the women the older folks and the younger children - everything in a succinct form thats recognisable without much distorsion. Docu style. We could easily compare this film to "Belleville Shanghai" a film on similar subject. Both are more than your usual voyeuristic view into China town and the girls on the street.

If we see the film as a personal reaching for better lives goal movie, and if the husband of the Lina character could accept that she also has a right to try for a better life and its also a valid experience. We see in the end, the man, so hurt by his woman being "sold" to Europe, his lost of face, he never never saw once how she had to do all the work - from imagining a better future, daring to take steps, resolve all the accompanying problems, and eventually accepting to reveal and face the reality and to go home - all this takes much more strength than a mere "keeping face" issue. But he is not a bad guy, he loves his wife and he lets her cook noodles with him in the end. :) Everything will be fine. Even though its not easy or pleasant to suffer through all this, in the end, adjustments could be made and from the view of someone outside of the situation (movie goers like us), it is not that bad. Life will be better for this couple.

"Dream Catcher" Lugau Germany 2019 (Pixel cubes with aluminum skins from Vienna, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Paris, US, Canada and Lugau, Germany)

https://mobilemusic2019.blogspot.com/2019/09/dream-catcher-lugau-germany-2019.html

"Dream Catcher" Lugau Germany 2019 
(Pixel cubes with aluminum skins from Vienna, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Paris, US, Canada and Lugau, Germany)

Photographer: Bernd Franke, 
and some selfies