sound & vision

I watched Up in the Air (2009) last night, it was a good film, it wasn't life-affirming, but gives you something to think about.


Brief glimpses into the personal lives of unsuspecting employees losing their jobs, at times emotional and entertaining, are the best moments of the film. Another strong hold in the film is the relationships concerning the three main characters, and their different perspectives and experiences of love and life in the bubble of career politics. The witty script and sharp-edged direction does at times become clouded by a suffocating smugness, caused largely by the form of George Clooney. The inclusion of Elliott Smith’s Angel in the Snow in the soundtrack was pleasantly apt… but the film went a bit too schmaltzy for my liking by then.

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I've also been watching most of Charlie Chaplin's films in the past two months.


I've been enthalled by his talent, his gift of slapstick was pure art.
Every action he gave to the camera was magic... he was a genius. He wrote all his scripts, directed all his films, wrote all the music.

My favourites were The Kid, City Lights and A King in New York.

His earliest are the best, especially when he mixes comedy with emotion. The value of selflessness for the common good is captured in one of the most moving final scenes ever... The scene at the end of City Lights. And his awareness of the current times is needlelike... Modern Times, The Great Dictator.

It's a pity that he began to speak in his later films... this brought out an arrogance/outspokenness that was suitably missing from his silent films... despite all that, a A King in New York is still a classic.

I was moved to tears when I saw this clip (chaplin receiving an honourary oscar in 1972)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Pl-qvA1X8

he doesn't need to speak at all... his expression, as always, says it all.

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Current song on the speakers:
http://open.spotify.com/track/4uvKHRmLMlteVh1N4Sxut3
'Range Life'
by Pavement
from, Quarantine the Past (2010)