191–200 of 237 posts
Fight Club and The Matrix, but I only understood the latter several years later.
The whole matrix being a trans metaphor didn't even register for me until I heard about it in an interview on YouTube.
The Man From Earth Can't describe this without giving it away.
Does he actually learn from his experiences, and chooses to be the man that he is? Or did his experiences literally whittle him down to the person that he has become.
In essence: Is he the embodiment of a mankind that witnesses the consequences of its actions, or is he the very antithesis of it (telling in the way that he distinguishes himself from others, whilst being extremely humane in every interaction).
On a lighter note: I also wonder if he can juggle and do a backflip, or if he could and these skills were lost to time.
In the same way that many of us are defined by a childhood that we barely remember, I wonder if his generosity and kindness is born from a blur of unconscious experiences he barely remembers.
Premise: Everyone disappears from Earth without a known reason, except for 3 people.
This movie made me realize that everything we do is connected to other people. That awareness changed everything for me.
Recently, Midsommer. I think if you go into it with an open mind (and not get too weirded out by the gore) it asks some really fascinating anthropological and social questions. By the end of the movie, I was almost entirely on the side of the culture and their behavior made complete sense to me. During the course of the movie I experienced a shift of position and perspective and continues to affect me 4 years later.…
fwiw, Midsommer also has the best approximation of psylocibin visual come-up in video format that I’ve found
I’ve always been one to recognize a lot of absurdities in life, but this movie got me asking: “What if the absurd false dichotomies are the feature that influential people use over their supporters to test their power and loyalty?”
I’ve also been asking myself, what other absurdities do I still not see and how can I systematically detect those absurdities?
I liked the book. I loved the movie.
I personally believe that infinity is a wonderful concept and so honestly anything is possible. Even the impossible.
Helped me not take life so seriously. And that being super smart isn't the end-all-be-all. You can have a totally excellent time just being kind to others. In fact, kindness is probably the most important thing to be.
Groundhog Day. It's such a subtle movie, that it works on multiple levels at the same time. I got to level 2 on the first viewing, but only years later assimilated level 3. At level 1 it's a simple Romcom movie - boy stuck in a time loop needs to earn girl's love. Level 2 is that we are all stuck in a time loop. Everyone is functionally living the same day over and over. Same job, same relationships, same everything.…
Virtually all films follow that pattern. Read any textbook about screenwriting, and they'll tell you that 1 any movie has an overarching theme (here is routine life), and 2 all characters need to follow some kind of evolution arc (Phil goes from being the worst cynist to actually becoming a good guy). It's quite hardwired in how hollywood makes movies.
It's easy to dismiss it, as a simple story. Discovering the underlying insights takes thought.
Incidentally it also pioneered the "time loop" genre. As far as I know, certainly for mainstream-me, it was the first to use this plot device.