2011 Oscar Films

So what I have discovered so far is that it is extremely difficult to keep writing in a blog unless you are really dedicated to it.

I set out to write about what I was watching in order to make it a more meaningful experience and so far it's an epic fail.

However, I will write briefly about 127 hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, and the Social Network.  I don't usually like focusing on the big films that everyone has seen, but they were all good in their own way.  127 hours was a story of perseverance and hope and kind of freaked me out.  However, it also made a statement (I think) about how people can become wrapped up in themselves and make very selfish decisions.  In the film the audience is reminded that we live for others and not just ourselves.  We must care for ourselves, but with the idea in mind that we build a better future.

The Black Swan also weirded me out a bit, but for different reasons... it was a horror/psychological mind destroyer of a film.  Natalie Portman did a phenomenal job making you feel like you were also becoming crazy.  It was also sad to see such a real and gritty performance because she made the character "believable."  I can believe that shitty relationships with parents will permanently (yes, irrevocably) harm a person.  Part of Natalie's twisted reality comes from her weirdly dominating mother... so glad my parents loved me without adding too much of their own baggage to my life.

The Fighter was just a lot of fun to watch... maybe the most enjoyable of them all (although Social Network may have been more so...).  Christian Bale does indeed do a great job making the drug addicted brother come alive, but Mark Wahlberg does an excellent job as the hard working and persevering boxer.  Amy Adams is delightful (I loved her in sunshine cleaning too), but Melissa Leo really did transform into a different person for the role; she was visually unrecognizable.  However, after watching Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, I think the younger woman did the better job (I am biased by "the Dude").

Lastly, The Social Network is a fascinating recounting of the conception and founding of Facebook.  It made me want to quit right away but I didn't...  I think what struck me most is that a movie about a website about making friends (or just "finding hot chicks") was about a man pushing his closest friends away.  Regardless of what really happened between all of those characters, it makes me sad that Zuckerburg pushed so many people away to create his empire.  I hope that all the hurt he caused and felt has made him come to value true friendship more.

At the end of the day, it does crack me up that Facebook was all about finding hot chicks and using an exclusive means (@Harvard.edu addresses) to make those women find men attractive.  Is all heterosexual men do, meant to attract females??  I hope it's not but when I look around at those around me, I sometimes wonder.  I also wonder if it's not just heterosexual men, but all of us...

Immigration where you don't expect it.

I watched "Shinjuku Incident" tonight.  I was surprised that it was a movie that dealt so heavily with oppressed people who immigrate.  I would guess from the plot that Chinese immigrants to Japan are not uncommon and that they often arrive on boats.  Jackie Chan's character is following a woman who has gone to Japan to find a better life.
It is interesting to see that illegal immigration is not an issue relegated to the USA.  Other countries struggle with it too and it really does divide people.  Chan examines the struggles of poor Chinese immigrants fighting to survive amidst strong ethnocentrism.
In the meantime, there is some fighting and violence and random action.  While the movie isn't perfect, it is still worthwhile to experience the collision of cultures outside of US understanding.  To see issues play out in front of you that are common between different people groups is powerful.  The plight of the poor, moving to find hope and opportunity in new lands, and the fight they have to assimilate into new cultures is difficult.  We all need to learn how to bridge the gaps that divide us instead of ways to force those gaps further apart.  Shinjuku does not make this any easier, but it does provide a new perspective.