Hayao Miyazaki

"Airplanes are the most beautiful when they are in the air. I wanted to see a Zero flown by a Japanese aviator, not an American. My fantasy was to see it flown under high-voltage power transmission cables next to Studio Ghibli in western Tokyo. But my wife told me to stop being such an idiot, and that was that."

— Hayao Miyazaki


Interview with Hayao Miyazaki at The Asahi Shimbun

The Future Is Now #2

Sur un air de Charleston (Jean Renoir, 1927)

Shoes

David Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee 2.2 (2013)

Images of shoes in film are a rare thing. Feet rarely get a close-up of their own, and since the current aspect ratios are not made to accommodate the whole of the human figure, and the feet are the farthest away from the face (the part of the human body most closely associated with personal identity, and as such, the most prevalent in narrative filmmaking), it's unlikely that they will show in the frame accidentally.

Once in a while, however, feet do get a close-up of their own. That choice is worth noting.

Johnnie To

"Most of the films are made for the industry, and to sustain my company. I can count on one hand the films I really enjoyed making:  The Mission, PTU, Exiled, Sparrow and Life Without Principle. That’s  just five! And the rest are, shall I say, business projects."

— Johnnie To


via The Hollywood Reporter

La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser (Davide Manuli, 2012)

Silvia Calderoni cuts an astonishing figure in Davide Manuli's La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser, her body constantly bouncing to a silent beat, as if her heart was a drum machine, a kinetic energy that is both awkward and awe-inspiring. A true messiah.

Addicted to Love (Griffin Dunne, 1997)

A stunning moment in Griffin Dunne's Addicted to Love, a camera obscura projection of a window across the street, an ex-girlfriend turned object of desire, magically "lit up" by virtue of a brokenhearted man's misguided (but oh so earnest) fixation.

All romantic comedies should be this perverse.

The Future Is Now #1

Dredd (Pete Travis, 2012)