Time for a Film Break?

So in almost four months after graduation, what have you become?

Me? Hehe. A surfer.
*crash! the large wave crashes into the seashore, and spreads far like a live liquid carpet, scaring some little tourists who had come to watch surfers and instead found themselves wet to the hips for trying to sunbathe from what they thought was out of the waves' reach. But my surfboard had gone over that wave and succesfully rode on it...*

Oh, not that kind of surfer though. Haha.

The net has been the ocean for me - breaks, after-office hours, weekends... If I remember it correctly, the last time I visited a real beach was the last week of June, even though I live near it. With this, I also have given up watching television, so I'm a bit outdated with news/shows - well, except if I come across big news like Hayden's camera, MJ's death, electronic elections...

Being withdrawn from my second home - the library - I've been reading bits online, the huge chunk of my time was set on reading manga. Reading e-books on a computer surface is tiresome, after all. Too much light exposure blurs my vision (hah! and how long do i read manga anyway?)

Well, not really withdrawn, seeing as my dad had been pestering me with reading his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter - book of investing knowledge. I dodged that initially, but I soon found my nose stuck on it for a while.It is a good book after all. Then, he's also pushing Og Mandino's Greatest Secret in the World. And I was... okay. Maybe after a year?

So besides missing books, I am also a bit film-deprived, so I started surfing YouTube.com. And I've struck luck.

Here are six of the videos I liked.

1. TANGHI ARGENTINI
Nominated for 2008 Best Live Action Short in the 80th Academy Awards, Guido Thys' Tanghi Argentini tells about a clerk who pesters his office mate into teaching him to dance Tango, after telling the girl in the chatroom that they will meet in a tango gathering. But the clerk seemed to have something up his sleeves, for this Christmas gift he wished to give.



You can also watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isDtYDmANkI

Comment: You'll just have to be a bit patient with subtitles though. But the learning of tango is a laugh. The years' worth of mastery of tangocrammed to two weeks? The girl was a bit a surprise herself. Maybe I do have a chance for tango too, haha :))

2. MARRY ME
A girl likes a boy, and the boy likes his BMX. So what should a little girl do for a little attention? This is a very light story of how far a girl can give for someone she loves.
It's a film finalist directed by Michelle Lehman for the 2008 Tropfest Australia Film Festival.



You can get it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFdbZHMBxfg

Comment: It's very light, that even my brothers took their time to watch it and laugh with me. I also like the background music, it adds to the pinkish atmosphere between this guys (so if there's anyway you have it or knows how to acquire it, please buzz me here!) And the kids can really act. It's cute! Go girl power!

3. SPIDER
(I really like this summary, so I'll just copy-paste it here.)
Jack and Jill are always hurting each others feelings. But like Mum said, Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
It's directed by Nash Edgerton.



You can get it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmbv8kevQ-E

Comment: Like they said, it's a symbiotic relationship. Karma plays big on this film. The guy could've been sweet, save for the lame flowers. And the girl's really severe (oh, not the acting though). But the chocolate saves the day.Until the spider came to take it away.
I just have trouble following their conversation. It's either the volume was too low, or they just like talking in the volumes that they'd hear. I'd prefer subtitles though.
The title and the film's quote "It's all fun and game, until someone loses an eye," reminds me of an episode in xxxHolic, when Doumeki and Watanuki suffers eye loss after destroying a spider's web. Haha, just a trivia.

4. BEYOND WORDS
A deaf woman finds herself being stalked by a guy. Is he really a stalker? Or a rescue? This thriller is a finalist in 2009 Tropfest Australia Film Festival, directed by Armand de Saint-Salvy.



You can get it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJlVNxBbrU8

Comment: It says it's a thriller. But it's just that at the beginning. Anyway, the dark scenes with noises were terrific portrayals of a blind world, while the same can be said to the opposite world of the deaf. It's a real wonder how to find oneself in another's world, despite the gaps of senses.
Though I find it odd why the blind man tilts his head to, coincidentally/not, the direction of the girl, which freaked her out. It's as if he knew she was there.
And the girl. She was, erm, talking to herself, right at the beginning right? Does she really need to use sign languages, though? She can understand what she's missing, and all that...

5. I'LL FOLLOW THE SUN
"Is your child lonely? Call today to find your child their very own imaginary friend!"
Single mom takes this chance to make her child happy. And exactly whose imaginary friend is he? This film is a finalist in the Tropfest NY 2008, directed by Ben Thompson and Emily Marcuson.



You can get it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar3HcPgwGlA

Comment: At first, I thought it was magic. Then I concluded that it is really magic. Simply Imagine Inc. sure knows who to pick up in times of lonesome crisis. I must say, I find the story touching. For as far as I understood the story, it's a tale of a person who try to fill the absence of someone significant in their lives, by seeking another person into it. And in the end, the mother sees significance in herself, as someone who can fill that gap.
Though I should also say, I couldn't understand her conversation on the phone. Someone should require them to put subtitles in it! (hehe). So, the last conversation with sunflower man is still a mystery to me.

6. SKELETTI GARDEROBEN (Skeletons in the Closet)
A woman wakes up in a dirty room, with no memory of she was, where she was, and who was the man in the same room with her. Trying to piece it together, they discover their relationship and their destruction.
It's directed by Ulrik Friberg for the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. (Not sure whether it's really 2007 or 2008 though.)



You can get it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEdwi7XfdMk

Comment: Poor guy in the basket. He's forever condemned to see their little skit repeat every time they wake up. Unless, of course, they decide to shoot him. Though the film doesn't really appeal to me, I think it's a good portrayal of two people who can only be treated as a destruction for each other. If there's such a thing as time loop, then this story is.

7. MORSURE (Bitten)
A girl named Clara flees in the night from a man who was intent on shooting her. However, things aren't what they seemed. Why is a man whose sanity seemed intact, is trying to pursue his injured wife?



You can get it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvFAy_NSncg

Comment: It was a bit unexpected for me, since neither did I read the plot nor expected anything at all (brings suprises in store all the time.) Cool cinematography though. Just one thing, why didn't the police pursue him immediately? With his injury, he couldn't have escaped as quietly as he wanted to. And given with their ability to gather info fast and hunt people on the run quickly... but oh well. The husband is doomed after all.

Light, dark, gloomy, sad, scary, romantic - just in short while. And free. Ah, the power of the internet is indeed like the ocean.

Powerful and also destructive. Hypnotizing and then stimulating.

Want to watch them?