SPRING RHAPSODY (2004, Bill Mousoulis, Australia, 84min, A+25)
SPOILERS ALERT
--
--
--
--
--
First of all I have to say that my English listening skill is very
bad. There are many conversations in this film which I don’t understand,
because the film is in English with no subtitles. So I apologize in advance if
I understand anything wrongly.
What I think about this film:
1.What I like the most in this film is the comparison between the
angel and the songwriter (Rachel). There are many things which link them
together, such as:
1.1 Both of them take a bus, and seem to walk along some same
streets.
1.2 Both of them are interested in human beings. They observe human
beings with curious and sympathetic eyes.
1.3 The angel intervenes in two characters’ lives to inspire them
to make the right decision. But there is a strange editing in a particular scene.
When the angel tries to make Claire decide to keep the baby, the next scene
shows Rachel singing a song of hope in a venue, and the next scene shows
Richard waking up after listening to some music.
What does this editing mean? Does Rachel really sing in a small
concert? I don’t know. Does Richard listen to Rachel’s song? I don’t know. But
in this film we see two characters singing in that venue—the angel and Rachel.
I’m not sure what this editing means. But it makes me feel that
sometimes songwriters are like angels. Some good songwriters observe other
human beings with curious, kind, and sympathetic eyes. They may want to
understand how people in different cities live, how people in each profession
live. And after they have been inspired by the lives of other human beings,
they may write some good songs, and the songs can inspire some listeners to
make the right decision in their lives.
The comparison between the angel and the songwriter is the thing
which I haven’t found in other films before, so I like this idea very much. If
the angel was just an angel in this film, I might have thought of it as just an
idea borrowed from WINGS OF DESIRE. But when the angel is compared to the
songwriter in this film, I think this is a very original idea.
2. There is a strange scene near the end of the film. It seems to
show a female artist having trouble making her own work. So she decides to go
outside, taking a bus, and looking at an unknown man in the bus.
What does this scene mean? I don’t know. But it makes me think
about “how we should take inspirations from other human beings, especially
ordinary people around us.” If this
female artist follows the path of the angel and Rachel, who are both interested
in ordinary people around them, she might have some ideas to make her work
successful.
Maybe that’s what another character in the film should do, too.
There is a male novelist in the film who seems to have trouble finishing his
novel after having written it for twelve years. This man seems to be too
preoccupied with himself. If he looks around and talk to other people like
Rachel, maybe it can help his work a lot.
The look of the female artist is also very interesting. I think she
looks like the combination between Rachel and Claire. I’m not sure if this is
intended or not. But I think it works. Because I think any songwriters
(Rachel), novelists (Claire), or artists should sometimes take inspirations
from ordinary people around them, and make good songs, novels or art works
which give good inspirations back to their audience/readers.
And I think this is also what Bill Mousoulis does here and in other
films of his. His films seem to be inspired by the lives of ordinary people,
and give inspirations back to the audience.
The use of a new, unknown character near in the end of the film is also
interesting, because it reminds me of the pianist who appears at the end of A
NOCTURNE (2007, Bill Mousoulis). The pianist in that film is an unknown
character who is not connected to any other characters in the film, too. But
her presence at the end of A NOCTURNE seems to sum up some ideas in the film,
like the presence of the female artist near the end of SPRING RHAPSODY.
3.One of the main characters here is of course the city of
Melbourne. There are many scenes in this film which focus on ordinary people in
the streets of Melbourne. The most impressive scene is the one which shows a
mad man arguing with a group of anti-war activists.
I think the sound of the city is very much emphasized here in this
film. Sometimes the sound of the city is so loud that I can’t hear what the
characters are talking about. Hahaha.
I think the focus on the city of Melbourne here is an interesting
way to adapt a kind of experimental/documentary films--the city symphony films—to
use in a narrative film. I think Mousoulis has made many interesting “city
symphony” films, such as CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER (1989), MELBOURNE ’89 (1989), FIT
WATERS ’95 (1995), and HOLY LAND (1998). But these films are not traditional
narratives. So it is interesting to see how one can employs what seems like a
city symphony film in a narrative film like SPRING RHAPSODY.
4.The structure in SPRING RHAPSODY is also interesting, because the
characters in this film seem not to relate to one another that much. Apart from
the angel who intervenes in the lives of Claire and Richard, other characters
seem not to know one another at all. And their lives are not similar. It is
difficult for me to find some parallels or similarities between their lives,
except the similarities between angel and Rachel, and the fact that all of them
live in Melbourne.
So I think the structure of SPRING RHAPSODY seems very loose for me
compared to most films. The lives of the
characters in SPRING RHAPSODY seem not to be confined by some obvious themes or
plans. Their lives seem to be a little bit free. I mean there are many films
which combine different stories like this, but the lives of the characters in
most of these films seem to be governed by some obvious themes, such as in CRASH
(2004, Paul Haggis), 71 FRAGMENTS OF A CHRONOLOGY OF CHANCE (1994, Michael
Haneke), DOG DAYS (2001, Ulrich Seidl), or AM I BEAUTIFUL? (1998, Doris Dörrie).
So I think it is interesting to see a film like SPRING RHAPSODY which combines
different stories, but lets the lives of the characters to be a little bit free
(I mean freer than the group I mentioned above).
This kind of loose structure reminds me of other two films I like
very much: FREE RADICALS (2003, Barbara Albert) and LA VIE MODERNE (2000,
Laurence Ferreira Barbosa), because I think the lives of the various characters
in these two films are a little bit free, too.
5.However, I don’t mean that I prefer this structure more than the
other one. I like both of them. I think each of them has its own strengths and
weaknesses.
For the loose structure in SPRING RHAPSODY, I think somehow it
might be the reason why I think the film is not “extremely powerful” for me. I
mean I like the film very much, but it does not overwhelm me as much as BLUE
NOTES (2006, Bill Mousoulis, A+30), which combines different stories, too. I’m
not sure. I mean I know for sure that I like BLUE NOTES more than SPRING
RHAPSODY, but I’m not sure what makes BLUE NOTES greater than SPRING RHAPSODY.
But BLUE NOTES was made after SPRING RHAPSODY. So I guess Mousoulis might have
learned something from the making of SPRING RHAPSODY, finding a way to improve
it, and using that knowledge to make BLUE NOTES having a greater emotional
impact than SPRING RHAPSODY.
6.After watching SPRING RHAPSODY, I asked myself if I have ever
been inspired by some song lyrics or not? Yes, though not often. This is because
I mostly listen to dance music without lyrics. But I think songs which give
good inspirations for me include some (silly) pop songs like this. Hahaha
6.1 DAYS LIKE THIS – Sheena Easton
6.2 GREATEST LOVE OF ALL – Whitney Houston
6.3 HOLD ON – Wilson Phillips
6.4 YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE – Brand New Heavies
6.5 YOU LEARN – Alanis Morrissette
But what about other kinds of art? Are there things which act like
the angel in SPRING RHAPSODY by influencing my decision in life? Yes, there
are. I think these angelic things include:
6.6 The novel LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
After reading this novel, I realized that sometimes I did something
bad because I saw other friends did it and I thought that it was okay. I
changed my behaviour after that.
6.7 The film L’ARGENT (1983, Robert Bresson)
Seeing this film makes me very afraid to do even small bad things.
Because, who knows, some small bad things you make can affect other people like
a chain reaction, and the bad effects might grow exponentially like in this
film.
In conclusion, I like SPRING RHAPSODY very much, because of its
loose structure, its focus on ordinary people, and its comparison between the
angel and the songwriter, which makes me realize how we should take inspirations
from ordinary people around us, and giving good inspirations back to other
people, and it also makes me realize how we may be influenced by things around
us—songs, novels, artworks, films—sometimes they can be the angel in our lives.
I also saw some short films by Bill Mousoulis, including:
(in chronological order)
1.DREAMS NEVER END (1983, A+30)
2.J.C.: THE JEWELLERY-CASE (1984, A+20)
3.PHYSICAL WORLD (1986, A+30)
4.FAITH (1987, A+25)
5.EMBRACE (1988, A+30)
6.KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU (1988, A+15)
7.CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER (1989, A)
8.MELBOURNE ’89 (1989, A+15)
9.HOW SOON IS NOW? (1990, A+20)
10.LOVE (1991, A+20)
11.FITS WATER ’95 (1995, A+15)
12.HOLY LAND (1998, A+15)
I wrote about A NOCTURNE (2007) here:
I wrote about WILD AND PRECIOUS (2012) here:
BLUE NOTES (2006) is one of my most favorite films I saw in 2012:
