Activity Calendar (Jan 1, 2023 - Dec 31, 2023)
My bookshelf
Seek flowers within ruins
A Clockwork Orange
2★★★★★★8.621971 / UK USA / Drama Sci-Fi Crime / Stanley Kubrick / Malcolm McDowell Patrick Magee
Watched Aug 4|Average★★★★★Exquisite acting, wildly eccentric, filled with a unique aesthetic style. The film offers a glimpse into the affluence of America in the 1970s, as well as the realities of crime and social psychology in an era before advanced forensic technology. The antisocial young man, despite committing detestable and outrageous crimes, is portrayed with a unique charm and innocence. As a case study dissected and analyzed, it teaches us a lesson on what freedom and social responsibility mean. Upon revisiting, I find that the film leaves behind many classic scenes, especially the ending duel between Alex and the minister. I don't care at all about the dialogue between the two; it's Alex's brilliant performance that captures all my attention. The unreserved exhibition of sexual violence is indeed quite avant-garde and bold.
Watched Aug 4|Average★★★★★Exquisite acting, wildly eccentric, filled with a unique aesthetic style. The film offers a glimpse into the affluence of America in the 1970s, as well as the realities of crime and social psychology in an era before advanced forensic technology. The antisocial young man, despite committing detestable and outrageous crimes, is portrayed with a unique charm and innocence. As a case study dissected and analyzed, it teaches us a lesson on what freedom and social responsibility mean. Upon revisiting, I find that the film leaves behind many classic scenes, especially the ending duel between Alex and the minister. I don't care at all about the dialogue between the two; it's Alex's brilliant performance that captures all my attention. The unreserved exhibition of sexual violence is indeed quite avant-garde and bold.
The Little Shoes
0★★★★★★9.201997 / Iran / Drama Family Children / Majid Majidi / Mohammad Amir Naji, Farah Amir Hashemian
Watched Aug 3|Excellent★★★★★The narrative level is so strong, coupled with the very good performances of the children, filled with a sense of youth. It is a youth marked by poverty that is unique to the Middle Eastern Islamic culture, different from the West and the East. The film transcends religion and the secular, becoming a modern work that can be universally accepted by different cultures and backgrounds. Unlike the usual perceptions of Iran, the Middle East, and Islam, this film stands on an advanced cultural and cognitive level. The people on the screen are no different from ordinary people, with moral and intellectual frameworks based on a modern secular society with Middle Eastern characteristics. The details are rich and the techniques are clever, presenting without criticizing, a rarity.
His youth is about running, taking care of the family, protecting his sister, striving to become stronger, excelling in everything. Her youth is about running, taking care of the family, being considerate of her brother, and being a sensitive girl who is competitive and sensible.
Watched Aug 3|Excellent★★★★★The narrative level is so strong, coupled with the very good performances of the children, filled with a sense of youth. It is a youth marked by poverty that is unique to the Middle Eastern Islamic culture, different from the West and the East. The film transcends religion and the secular, becoming a modern work that can be universally accepted by different cultures and backgrounds. Unlike the usual perceptions of Iran, the Middle East, and Islam, this film stands on an advanced cultural and cognitive level. The people on the screen are no different from ordinary people, with moral and intellectual frameworks based on a modern secular society with Middle Eastern characteristics. The details are rich and the techniques are clever, presenting without criticizing, a rarity.
His youth is about running, taking care of the family, protecting his sister, striving to become stronger, excelling in everything. Her youth is about running, taking care of the family, being considerate of her brother, and being a sensitive girl who is competitive and sensible.
I Am Sam
0★★★★★★9.002001 / USA / Drama Family / Jessie Nelson / Sean Penn Dakota Fanning
Watched Aug 2|Good★★★★★American 'positive energy'—believe in light, love, kindness, effort, and perseverance, and ultimately, there will be a harvest. Fortunately, it's somewhat restrained, but still a bit tiring to watch.
A very wealthy female lawyer with an extremely fragile heart and strong empathy as a crucial plot pillar seems too ethereal and unconvincing? Working as an hourly wage server at Starbucks and Pizza Hut, living alone in a big house?
The performances in this film are quite good, whether it's Sam or little Lucy. However, using Lucy's unparalleled beauty seems inappropriate; she's too cute and too clever. On one hand, no one would want to send away a child who looks like this, making the story pointless. On the other hand, it also creates psychological pressure on the audience, questioning their own sources of empathy.
In summary, with the particularly hard-working acting, the story feels too cinematic, keeping the consciousness awake, realizing that this is a carefully crafted warm story displayed on the screen, and one cannot immerse themselves into it. Additionally, I'm not sure if it's due to the source of the film or the color grading itself, but the style is very outdated, making the colors somewhat uncomfortable to watch.
Watched Aug 2|Good★★★★★American 'positive energy'—believe in light, love, kindness, effort, and perseverance, and ultimately, there will be a harvest. Fortunately, it's somewhat restrained, but still a bit tiring to watch.
A very wealthy female lawyer with an extremely fragile heart and strong empathy as a crucial plot pillar seems too ethereal and unconvincing? Working as an hourly wage server at Starbucks and Pizza Hut, living alone in a big house?
The performances in this film are quite good, whether it's Sam or little Lucy. However, using Lucy's unparalleled beauty seems inappropriate; she's too cute and too clever. On one hand, no one would want to send away a child who looks like this, making the story pointless. On the other hand, it also creates psychological pressure on the audience, questioning their own sources of empathy.
In summary, with the particularly hard-working acting, the story feels too cinematic, keeping the consciousness awake, realizing that this is a carefully crafted warm story displayed on the screen, and one cannot immerse themselves into it. Additionally, I'm not sure if it's due to the source of the film or the color grading itself, but the style is very outdated, making the colors somewhat uncomfortable to watch.
Forest of Fireflies' Light
0★★★★★★8.802011 / Japan / Drama Romance Animation Fantasy / Takahiro Omori / Ayane Sakura, Koki Uchiyama
Watched Aug 1|Excellent★★★★★Such a short film managed to steal all my tears, so annoying. This movie is brief yet powerful, capturing the essence. What is love? Random encounters, moments of waiting, missing, and reluctant partings. The days spent together are silly, simple, and joyful. Over time, when realization dawns, you find yourself unwilling and unable to separate. The 'untouchable' setting captured my heart. Those few seconds when you can finally embrace tightly, what an incomparable feeling that must be? I really want to experience it myself. I want to meet Gin... / I want to touch Gin...
Watched Aug 1|Excellent★★★★★Such a short film managed to steal all my tears, so annoying. This movie is brief yet powerful, capturing the essence. What is love? Random encounters, moments of waiting, missing, and reluctant partings. The days spent together are silly, simple, and joyful. Over time, when realization dawns, you find yourself unwilling and unable to separate. The 'untouchable' setting captured my heart. Those few seconds when you can finally embrace tightly, what an incomparable feeling that must be? I really want to experience it myself. I want to meet Gin... / I want to touch Gin...
Seven
0★★★★★★8.801995 / USA / Drama Mystery Thriller Crime / David Fincher / Morgan Freeman Brad Pitt
Watched Jul 31|Excellent★★★★★A powerful movie that left my heart turbulent and oppressed by dark clouds long after watching. The film has a tight structure, vivid characters, and a wonderfully suspenseful plot. However, the blend of human nature, religion, and philosophy behind it, expressed through meticulously designed cinematography, weighs so heavily that it leaves me breathless. This heaviness makes me feel as if I'm falling, as if the atoms in my body are losing gravity and about to disperse. Humans can be as great and beautiful as they can be evil and ugly. Human virtues and sins coexist and contrast each other; innocence cannot slip by unnoticed. Perhaps I'm getting old, as watching this movie left me panicked and confused, making me wish for a moment that I hadn't seen it. I wasn't always like this; I used to actively explore the darkness of human nature and be left in awe. Now, I no longer want to stand in the shadows, but only wish to face the sun, using my brief life to bask in incense and enjoy the warm sunlight. / Additional notes: 1. Reading the comments, I realized this feeling is called despair; 2. So the often-quoted "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part" originates from here? 3. I love the old detective's attitude towards life.
Watched Jul 31|Excellent★★★★★A powerful movie that left my heart turbulent and oppressed by dark clouds long after watching. The film has a tight structure, vivid characters, and a wonderfully suspenseful plot. However, the blend of human nature, religion, and philosophy behind it, expressed through meticulously designed cinematography, weighs so heavily that it leaves me breathless. This heaviness makes me feel as if I'm falling, as if the atoms in my body are losing gravity and about to disperse. Humans can be as great and beautiful as they can be evil and ugly. Human virtues and sins coexist and contrast each other; innocence cannot slip by unnoticed. Perhaps I'm getting old, as watching this movie left me panicked and confused, making me wish for a moment that I hadn't seen it. I wasn't always like this; I used to actively explore the darkness of human nature and be left in awe. Now, I no longer want to stand in the shadows, but only wish to face the sun, using my brief life to bask in incense and enjoy the warm sunlight. / Additional notes: 1. Reading the comments, I realized this feeling is called despair; 2. So the often-quoted "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part" originates from here? 3. I love the old detective's attitude towards life.
The Martian
0★★★★★★8.502015 / UK USA Hungary Jordan / Drama Sci-Fi Adventure / Ridley Scott / Matt Damon Jessica Chastain
Watched Jul 30|Excellent★★★★★The pacing of this film is really great, with scenes and camera language contracting freely, gently advancing, accumulating emotions, and then exploding intensely at just the right moment. The skillful and mature techniques are truly astonishing. It's been a long time since I've seen a film so exhilarating, so realistic, and so human-friendly with intelligence on point. The primal desire and instinct for human survival and mutual aid couldn't be more direct and touching. The consistently full-on American humor throughout doesn't feel contrived at all; instead, it highlights seriousness and tenacity, respect and understanding of others, and irreplaceably lubricates teamwork, making any dry and serious matter light and interesting. How could such values not attract people from all walks of life?
Watched Jul 30|Excellent★★★★★The pacing of this film is really great, with scenes and camera language contracting freely, gently advancing, accumulating emotions, and then exploding intensely at just the right moment. The skillful and mature techniques are truly astonishing. It's been a long time since I've seen a film so exhilarating, so realistic, and so human-friendly with intelligence on point. The primal desire and instinct for human survival and mutual aid couldn't be more direct and touching. The consistently full-on American humor throughout doesn't feel contrived at all; instead, it highlights seriousness and tenacity, respect and understanding of others, and irreplaceably lubricates teamwork, making any dry and serious matter light and interesting. How could such values not attract people from all walks of life?
Where Is My Friend's House
0★★★★★★9.001987 / Iran / Drama / Abbas Kiarostami / Babek Ahmed Poor, Ahmed Ahmed Poor
Watched Jul 24|Good★★★★★A quirky film, made on a shoestring budget, with unfiltered, simplistic visuals that resemble the ramblings of a storybook or an NPC in a game. It features pure, kind, calm, and persistent boys and other children, strangely merging with the bizarre world of adults. The film vividly portrays the hustle and bustle of society, poverty, and a hierarchical system of respect based on false identities, mercilessly slaughtering the development of a healthy personality day after day. The movie intentionally creates a sense of calm; everyone is incredibly calm, peacefully living within this framework, even a child who returns home in the middle of the night after being away for half a day faces no harsh punishment. This calmness is better described as numbness, where anything that happens to anyone is just so. The film is romantic, so romantic that a flower unexpectedly falls out of a crumpled notebook in a dilapidated classroom, a cute little yellow flower that is completely out of place with the soil.
Watched Jul 24|Good★★★★★A quirky film, made on a shoestring budget, with unfiltered, simplistic visuals that resemble the ramblings of a storybook or an NPC in a game. It features pure, kind, calm, and persistent boys and other children, strangely merging with the bizarre world of adults. The film vividly portrays the hustle and bustle of society, poverty, and a hierarchical system of respect based on false identities, mercilessly slaughtering the development of a healthy personality day after day. The movie intentionally creates a sense of calm; everyone is incredibly calm, peacefully living within this framework, even a child who returns home in the middle of the night after being away for half a day faces no harsh punishment. This calmness is better described as numbness, where anything that happens to anyone is just so. The film is romantic, so romantic that a flower unexpectedly falls out of a crumpled notebook in a dilapidated classroom, a cute little yellow flower that is completely out of place with the soil.
You Look Tasty
0★★★★★★8.902010 / Japan / Drama Animation Children / Masaya Fujimori / Kappei Yamaguchi, Rikako Aikawa
Watched Jul 22|Excellent★★★★★So cute that it brought tears to my eyes. This is exactly what children should be watching, and it moved even an old person like me deeply. Kind and gentle, embracing diversity, accepting one's own differences as well as others', embracing growth, liking the process of growing up, and becoming stronger to maintain kindness and protect oneself and loved ones. Full of vitality, this unique expression of Japanese animated films is vividly captured in this film. Such a great spirit, full of liveliness, dispelling gloom, and making oneself and the lives around more beautiful.
Watched Jul 22|Excellent★★★★★So cute that it brought tears to my eyes. This is exactly what children should be watching, and it moved even an old person like me deeply. Kind and gentle, embracing diversity, accepting one's own differences as well as others', embracing growth, liking the process of growing up, and becoming stronger to maintain kindness and protect oneself and loved ones. Full of vitality, this unique expression of Japanese animated films is vividly captured in this film. Such a great spirit, full of liveliness, dispelling gloom, and making oneself and the lives around more beautiful.
The Secret World of Arrietty
0★★★★★★8.902010 / Japan / Animation Fantasy Adventure / Hiromasa Yonebayashi / Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki
Watched Jul 21|Excellent★★★★★In the works of Hayao Miyazaki, young protagonists are always steadfast and brave, earnestly living their lives and shining like a meticulously designed kitchen as they face subtle challenges and witness growth. Experiencing this gentle and tender touch to the heart is truly a special experience. One can imagine being so old that all the teeth are nearly gone, yet cherishing a few animated movies like precious treasures. This tenderness and healing truly offer comfort and strength. ❤️ Immersed in such a soft movie, who would unnecessarily ponder the meaning of life?
Watched Jul 21|Excellent★★★★★In the works of Hayao Miyazaki, young protagonists are always steadfast and brave, earnestly living their lives and shining like a meticulously designed kitchen as they face subtle challenges and witness growth. Experiencing this gentle and tender touch to the heart is truly a special experience. One can imagine being so old that all the teeth are nearly gone, yet cherishing a few animated movies like precious treasures. This tenderness and healing truly offer comfort and strength. ❤️ Immersed in such a soft movie, who would unnecessarily ponder the meaning of life?
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
1★★★★★★8.712001 / USA, UK / Drama, Sci-Fi / Directed by Steven Spielberg / Starring Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor
Watched Jul 20|Good★★★★★Originally a great work by Spielberg. It's no wonder the film has such a unique philosophical quality—bitter, profound, perplexed, and melancholic, relentlessly focusing on the unease of exploring the soul. The clumsiness and annoyances of those mechanical boys, their nearly insane dedication and meticulousness towards their chosen targets, the stereotypical human parents and mischievous boys, those tears of love and hate, helpless cries, the symbolic arenas, machine hunters, Rouge City, and the Blue Fairy—it's all cinematic art. One day, humans created robots with emotions and thoughts, and surely some of them, due to experiences or reflections or both, begin to hate humanity—"Why create me in such a way, why let me be trapped in the hell of thought and emotion, why allow me to have life to experience such terrible pain that I cannot escape from existence itself." Perhaps love and thought mean hate and division. The shared perspective on the bear suddenly reveals a deeper meaning; it is passive, weak, and different from the appearance of the main character under the spotlight, yet similar at the core, worth a star.
Watched Jul 20|Good★★★★★Originally a great work by Spielberg. It's no wonder the film has such a unique philosophical quality—bitter, profound, perplexed, and melancholic, relentlessly focusing on the unease of exploring the soul. The clumsiness and annoyances of those mechanical boys, their nearly insane dedication and meticulousness towards their chosen targets, the stereotypical human parents and mischievous boys, those tears of love and hate, helpless cries, the symbolic arenas, machine hunters, Rouge City, and the Blue Fairy—it's all cinematic art. One day, humans created robots with emotions and thoughts, and surely some of them, due to experiences or reflections or both, begin to hate humanity—"Why create me in such a way, why let me be trapped in the hell of thought and emotion, why allow me to have life to experience such terrible pain that I cannot escape from existence itself." Perhaps love and thought mean hate and division. The shared perspective on the bear suddenly reveals a deeper meaning; it is passive, weak, and different from the appearance of the main character under the spotlight, yet similar at the core, worth a star.