I found myself suddenly busy in February. All projects are ongoing at the same time, both personal and professional. I got overwhelmed and could not manage for a bit. However, I did manage to watch 15 movies, and I liked 12 of them (80%!). Those 12 are:
Agak Laen (Muhadkly Acho, 2024)
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006)
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012)
Eksil (Lola Amaria, 2022)
About A Boy (Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, 2002)
Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, 2021)
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022)
La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016)
Life of Pi (Ang Lee, 2012)
Fast & Feel Love (Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, 2022)
The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, 2023)
Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001)
These are interesting data. Judging on this list alone, I can tell I like big production movies and movies with a lot of heart. I like it best when it’s a big production with a lot of heart.
Special attention to La La Land. I watched it in the cinema when it came out. I didn’t like it but I couldn’t point my finger on why. It’s funny because I love musicals. So I watched it again last month and this time I liked the movie better.
In case you’ve never seen nor heard of La La Land, it’s a musical about making it in Hollywood. Mia (Emma Stone) wants to be an actress, while Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) wants to open an old-school jazz bar. They fall in love and help each other to reach their dreams. It’s very colorful and pays homage to classic Hollywood musicals but with a modern twist.
I appreciate it for its great production but I tend to think its musical beats are its weakest parts. The musical numbers and the narrative parts feel like two different movies. I’m thrown out of my suspension of disbelief every time they switch to singing (yes, even the big opening number). But I can relate to the story and romance better now. Today I can understand why this movie got a lot of people crying.
The Fabelmans has also been a special viewing for me. It’s about the Fabelmans, a Jewish family in the 1950’s. The movie centers around the teenage Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), an aspiring filmmaker. It’s a semi-autobiographical movie of Spielberg’s life.
The special part is in watching how obsessed Sammy is with movies. He always has a camera with him. He captures everything. He spends his time writing, shooting, and editing movies. In his head, he’s always thinking about how he’s going to frame every life moment he’s witnessing. I feel so seen.
I may not be obsessed with movies, but I have always been obsessed with stories. In my turbulent childhood and adolescence, stories were how I made sense of my life. And it’s all about framing: what gets told, what doesn’t. Things that didn’t make sense when it was happening, finally did when I read it as one whole story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. I mean, I literally call this newsletter Sequence Six. It’s the part where the protagonist finally learns the errors of her ways, usually around the 75-90 minute mark in a 2-hour movie. I’d like to think I’m in my sequence six era right now.
One day I’m going to reread everything I’ve written about my life and find sense and purpose in it. That my living here hasn’t been a waste. If only I still had my childhood diaries to read from the very beginning.
Anyway, Dune Part Two is out. It’s good! Try to watch it in IMAX. Until next time!