Sunday, April 26, 2009

Where does that penguin go?

Films this year:

18. Samira Makhmalbaf, The Blackboard (2000)
19. Werner Herzog, Encounters at the End of the World (2007)

18 is stunning. Can't quite believe this imagination of a then 20-year old director Samira, Makhmalbaf's eldest daughter. Thematically very tightly woven, with a breathtaking backdrop of the very rocky mountain. AND there is much more behind the film; the vast and ruthless reality of the border situation.

19 I could finally watch; another masterpiece from the master. A solitary penguin heading toward the mountain range and its own death well seems like our own collective destiny. Time to rethink all our ethics with our inescapable end in sight.La vie... sur la terre... quelle tristesse!