Wednesday, June 17, 2009

POLL 59: COLOUR MY LIFE

My poll 59 is inspired by PARAPARUMPULIANPULIAN, a Thai short film with bold use of colours. I love the colours and many things in this film, which deals with many things in the life of a woman. I love the fact that the more heroine talks, the less her boyfriend and other people may understand her. And even she may not understand the true essence of herself. One of my most favorite scenes in this film is the scene in which we see someone putting some marbles into a glass of water, while we hear the heroine talks about how she tried to change her skin color in the past. This scene makes me feel as if the marbles represent something which is not the true essence of ourselves. Later, the heroine seems to understand her problems and herself better, and we see the marbles falling out of the glass of water. I think this film is very complex and I hope I can see it again.

Since this film deals with the mind of a woman, I think it is quite appropriate that the film uses colours like this.

(Some of the photos below are from dvdbeaver.com)

I LOVE THE COLOURS IN THESE FILMS/TV SERIES. WHICH ONES DO YOU LIKE?

1.ALPSEE (1994, Matthias Mueller, Germany)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3636099524_98eb7851d6_o.jpg


2.BLACK NARCISSUS (1947, Michael Powell + Emeric Pressburger, UK)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3634/3636099534_cdeeecf7c0_o.jpg

3.LE BONHEUR (1965, Agnes Varda, France)
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews34/4_by_agnes_varda.htm
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/3636099538_67c531ee78_o.jpg

4.BROTHER, DEAR BROTHER (1991-1992, Usamu Dezaki, TV series)
http://quixium.com.phtemp.com/technogirls/brother.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_zy7pyLXbU
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3635303213_b23a770256_o.jpg


5.THE DANTE QUARTET (1987, Stan Brakhage, USA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61SzOGVdOnk

6.EDEN AND AFTER (1970, Alain Robbe-Grillet, France)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YauhheIq3Tk
I learned from an article in Filmvirus book that Robbe-Grillet hated green color very much.

7.A FROZEN FLOWER (2008, Ha Yu, South Korea)
You can read Tasana Tas’ review of this film in Thai in Bioscope magazine, June 2009’s issue.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3401/3636099514_e4b691510b_o.jpg


As for period films, I also like the colors in CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (2006, Zhang Yimou, A-) very much.

8.GATE OF HELL (1953, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japan)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045935/
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2483/3635303201_191a541ba5_o.jpg

9.I-BE AREA (2007, Ryan Trecartin, USA)
http://www.ubu.com/film/trecartin_area.html
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2245/2253057804_35dce2dda2_o.jpg

10.I KNOW WHO KILLED ME (2007, Chris Sivertson, USA)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0897361/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3594/3635303199_19a9f2aaf5_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3298/3635303191_520a1e5a98_o.jpg

11.JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (1965, Federico Fellini, Italy)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059229/
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/Reviews/jots.htm
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2450/3636099530_794f22d658_o.jpg


12.KON GIN MIA (THE MAN WHO ATE HIS WIVES) (1974, Dokdin Ganyamarn, Thailand)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3590/3635303203_5d94edef3b_o.jpg


13.MY PRESENT (2009, Thitipun Techakitrungrueng, Thailand)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3379/3636122172_fd021dba58_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3396/3636122168_ef6aa88e52_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2459/3635303215_b27319186d_o.jpg

14.PARAPARUMPULIANPULIAN (2009, Pawara Chatchawalpreecha, Thailand)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3417/3576636010_2c3f8fe2bb_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3614/3636122186_879890189f_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2430/3636122176_88bc67ded3_o.jpg


15.THE ROSE KING (1986, Werner Schroeter, West Germany)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2448/3636122192_fc2ac1d727_o.jpg

16.SUSPIRIA (1977, Dario Argento, Italy)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3588/3636122194_eaa01544f0_o.jpg

17.TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (2000, Wisit Sasanatieng, Thailand)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269217/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3635316495_8498fce609_o.jpg

18.TELL ME WHY (THE RIDDLE) (2000, Marcus Sternberg, music video of Paul Van Dyk featuring Saint Etienne)
http://www.blastro.com/player/paulvandyktellmewhy.html?detect_mediatype=flv&detect_bitrate=_300&big=1

19.TICKET OF NO RETURN (1979, Ulrike Ottinger, West Germany)
http://filmsick.exteen.com/20090326/ticket-of-no-return-ulrike-ottinger-1979-german
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3537/3636099522_6943678ec8_o.jpg


20.UNE VIE (1958, Alexandre Astruc, France)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052339/usercomments

You can cast multiple votes.

The theme song of this poll is COLOUR MY LIFE by M People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHUWfE_sxEk

7 comments:

celinejulie said...

My own votes are for ALPSEE, BROTHER DEAR BROTHER, A FROZEN FLOWER, GATE OF HELL, I-BE AREA, I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, PARAPARUMPULIANPULIAN, THE ROSE KING, TICKET OF NO RETURN, and UNE VIE.

Wise Kwai said...

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER for me. Sad to say it's the only one on the list I've seen. I know I should see SUSPIRIA. I think MAH NAKORN (CITIZEN DOG) is another one with a great color palette.

FILMSICK said...

i love colors in all of OTTINGER's FILM

but to me i think i love color in KAURISMAKI 's fil most

i don't know what to call it looks bright but dark and looks แบน

ิbtw colors in PIERROT LE FOU n ALI FEAR EATS THE SOUL was great too

/FILMSICK

celinejulie said...

--Wisekwai, as for SUSPIRIA, I love both its visual element and its sound element. Its soundtrack is great. Another horror/thriller film of which I love its visual element very much is PEEPING TOM (1960, Michael Powell).

SUSPIRIA (1977) also makes me suspicious that maybe the 1970’s is the era of films with great colors, because I also like the vivid colors of KON GIN MIA (1974), HIS NAME IS GARN (1973, Chatrichalerm Yukol, A+), and I DON’T WANT TO BE THE COLONEL (1975, Chatrichalerm Yukol, A+). But the films made by Dokdin Ganyamarn and Chatrichalerm Yukol in early 1980’s don’t have vivid, splashy, plastic-like colors any more.

As for Thai films with great colors, I also like HELLO YASOTHORN (2005, Petchtai Wongkamlao, A-) and MIAMI STRIPS, HOLLYWOOD DREAMS (1999, Lee Chatametikool, A+).

celinejulie said...

--Filmsick, I don’t remember any colors I like in ALI, FEAR EATS THE SOUL, but I like the colors in PIERROT LE FOU. So now I realize that the color quality of any film depends a lot on the condition of the film print being shown. I saw ALI, FEAR EATS THE SOUL from an old 16mm print at Goethe Institute. The colors in that film print had all faded when I saw it. But I think I saw PIERROT LE FOU from a new 35mm film print at Alliance Francaise. The colors in that new film print were very vivid.

--I think LIGHTS IN THE DUSK (2006, A+) and THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST (2002, B+) are very visually beautiful films.

Wise Kwai said...

I enjoy colorful films. Always have. Like WIZARD OF OZ.

Been thinking about other colorful Thai films, and YAM YASOTHON is one. Taweewat Wantha's new film DEK KHONG is very vivid, as was his SARS WARS and THE SPERM.

I've also thought about films that are intentionally muted, or earth toned, like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, THERE WILL BE BLOOD and SERENITY. Maybe even THE UNSEEABLE.

But yeah, there's a quality of the films of the 1970s that seems missing, that true Technicolor I guess, when all movies seemed to just pop with color. That doesn't seem so much the case anymore. But maybe my thoughts are colored by nostalgia.

celinejulie said...

I like THE SPERM and SERENITY very much.

My favorite muted-color films include THE SUN by Alexander Sokurov and NABI (2001, Moon Seung-wook).