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Alive Inside (2014)
Alive Everywhere
Music is powerful and the sounds are unpredictable. "Alive Inside" takes us inside some American nursing homes and it shows some of this hidden power and the healing effect of music on patients which suffer different levels of dementia and Alzheimer's. We see through their eyes, how they were kinda dead and, suddenly, smiles and that spark on the eyes. With music, they can live again.
The movie is about "Music & Memory", Dan Cohen's nonprofit organization. He brings iPod's and earphones for some patients, and plays their favorite music. The results on screen are fabulous. We know our music carries memories and it defines part of our personality. These patients combat memory loss, by dementia or Alzheimer's, and just by playing the musics, we can see they come up with things they thought were lost. We're exposed to some awakening and delightful moments, with an uplifting atmosphere of hope and joy passed to us, with some sensitive and heart touching scenes. There's too much feeling on it!
I believe one of the best points on the documentary is Rossato- Bennett's work on the cinematography. He followed Dan to check and film his job. What he didn't knew until the first days, is that he was going to spent a couple of years with him, and there are some astonishing pictures on the screen. His works on close ups and the pace of the doc are fantastic. But, it's all about the music, and the key point is the soundtrack, made by the collection of some patients music. We travel in time on gospel music, some blues and jazz, classical music. The soundtrack is brilliant. It couldn't be different.
Since everything isn't great, there are some important preoccupations with the future shown. The planet is getting older, and we're not prepared to it. There's no interest today on taking care of the elders. Geriatricians are fading and in some years from today, we will see an old population, without the needed assistance. People today don't even seem to care with this. Dan got huge negative feed backs when he was trying to get some donations improve and spread his organization on the country. Here, we see with our eyes, how music affects on people, how it enhances the life of the elders, but we don't even have huge research's on this field. We simply don't care with elderly people.
Music is everything. Music is identity and memories. Musics are sad and happy, it hurts, heals. It works on us in deep levels and so many ways we can't even imagine. We all have our musics and our memories, and we're the ones who should protect it. When you forget, you don't leave a memory. You leave yourself, aside on the roads of life, and it's okay. Our brain can't hold on too much information, we need to leave some things on the way, but remember: if you want it back somehow, just play your music. Musics are feelings, and to feel is to be alive.
Blackfish (2013)
I love Orcas
Humans live with a hidden gift to destroy the beauty on this world. Blackfish is a stunning documentary that shows us how we use this super power by changing the nature of Tilikum, an orca, once docile on the oceans, and now, a human that lives on a bathtub.
The movie has a nice editing job. The story of Tilikum is told for us by the eyes of former trainers of the SeaWorld, that amazes us with the experience of being in love by the job, as a trainer, and how they fell in love with the position. How was their lifes with Tilikum and Tilikum's sons, training them and "taking care" with their lifes. And it ends with the fatality of one of Tilikum's victims. With nice shots and a pretty linear storyline, the time flew.
Orcas are docile animals, that lives with their family the entire life. They have different group communications between the species, just like Indian tribes. Tilikum, just like the other orcas on the industry, was captured as a baby and had to grow up far away from his family. Since different orcas uses different languages, he never fits with other orcas. They beat up on him, because they were getting hungry because of his mistakes on the show. The aggressive behavior of Tilikum is a reflection of his life. Orcas aren't suppose to be alone, and they kept Tili on solitary over and over, because of his behavior. The movie is very informative about the nature of the animal.
Orcas are not killer whales. There's an industry gaining a lot of money by changing the nature of this magnificent animals, on movies and at this circus, like SeaWorld. And they're winning with toys, shirts. The animal life has changed into money, and we enslave them, we kill them. Our race is cruel in so many ways, but it's worst in turning the nature into us.
The movie is stunning. The editing is a key point on it. It has a pretty good storyline and, forgot to mention, a nice soundtrack. I love orcas, and feel sad for Tilikum, the human.
Racing Extinction (2015)
Humanity Makes Me Sick
Serious questions were exposed in this documentary, even if they are already known, but two most important one wasn't even made: Do we need to be saved? Are we even trying hard for it? All the questions made on it about our seemingly inevitable extinction, has two common factors: money and humanity. What we do about it? Never seen documented.
The movie is pretty linear and simple, with some groups of activists and they defend different causes in order to one objective in common: a belief that what they do will save mankind. And we travel with them through their works on trying that. The locations and some images are fantastic, with an okay cinematography but a poor editing, IMHO.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in their work. The cruelty with the animals is insane, and it shames me to think we're capable of that (and even more). They do a very good job in the demonization of great companies and the ordinary fisherman who's trying to feed their family, but the message is passed like a religion: "Look what we are doing? Be ashamed of it, hate yourself and get sick of you. But if you want to save this, it'll save mankind, because what we are doing is the way to do it".
I think it's incredible how they make us empathize not only with their cause, but with the animals and specially, the mother nature. Some of them die for the cause, they really believe on it, and it's inspiring. We feel earth's loneliness, pain, despair, anger, sadness. All of this through their words and their emotions, with a very nice work on the soundtrack. But this show, to me, what I think it's a bad thing: some of them look unable to connect with human beings. They just can't.
There are heroes doing an undercover job for the ones who are lazy or don't brave enough to risk everything for it. And they are doing an important job. They are trying to correct things the humanity choose, trying to save us from an almost imminent ending. And they can be right, but they need to remember two questions: Do we need to be saved? Are we even trying hard for it?
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
A lonely masterpiece
Synecdoche, New York must be one of the powerful and insightful movies about loneliness, love, life and death I've ever saw. There's too much to think about the human being on this movie which made this movie a little bit hard to watch, and its slow pace (necessary, IMHO) build up more struggle, but it's worth.
The casting for this screen is amazing, but the outstanding acting of Philip Seymour Hoffman is the real deal. His character (Caden Cotard) appears on almost every single scene. It's his movie and he carries it right upon his shoulders, and made it fantastic. We can feel his pain, his loneliness. It's too easy to empathize with him. There's too much feeling on it!
We knew Kaufman for his previews works (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), but Synecdoche, New York is the first directing work he did. We can see a lot of influence by Jonze and Gondry on the screen, but I think his signature is on the screenplay and, since he wrote it, this dictates the pace of the movie. The cinematography is brilliant and I think his directing was genius. The movie is slow to make us feel it. It has to be hard to watch. Living is hard, dying is hard too.
With an outstanding acting and a genius directing, the soundtrack the brings us inside the movie, should be good, right? And it's fantastic. Jon Brion is delicate and passionate. It's a lovely, deep and touching soundtrack, just as good as his Eternal Sunshine work.
One of the best and meaningful movies ever made. I know it will be hard to watch, it's a slow movie and too thoughtful, but it's intent to be this way. We need to feel it to love it. We need to feel the loneliness, the love, the life, the death, our meaning. Feel everything, and feel slowly (this way, we can learn with it). A real magnum opus