We often find ourselves in the same everyday routine. Wake-up, shower, breakfast, make-up (no make-up), travel to work, traffic, work, work, work, home, dinner, kids, TV, bed. Add some additional stuff that fills your day. Individual decisions. We rarely see more than our office's windows, our way to work, our computer, our family members. Maybe that is why traveling seems to us more appealing. For once we're doing something else than seeing the same faces in the same configurations. Maybe we crave this bigger world, selfishly to compare ourselves to the others, to see that we are better off, that we have more money. Or we are disillusioned because oriental cultures are more appealing and intriguing. Maybe we crave different food, possibly varied views, different pace of life and a completely new perspective on life. Time, love and well-being can't be bought. Maybe these sets of images will at least bring you closer to happiness.
It's a funny thing when you look at your parents and realize that once they were also teenagers with insecurities and doubts. And then you look at people who are younger than you and compare yourself to them. You think about the clothes that you wore, consider your past behavioral patterns, reminiscent on the items that you had at your place, the music that influenced you, your idols and aspirations. And you want to feel younger. Or you're glad this awkward period is over.
And while usually, the oldest are content with their life achievements, the middle-aged - dissatisfied with their careers and insecure, the youngest - eager and willing to do everything to accomplish professional glory, there's one thing we have in common. We're people driven by passions and desires. No matter the age. A thoughtful film for every generation.
The way we communicate does not have to be limited to sounds. The scheme of history divided us into countries and nationalities but there's a universal language of gestures that we all understand. Emotions, the language of sex, desire, violence, death. No words are spoken. But so much is depicted via those images that we don't find it difficult to comprehend every single situation. And we can see that we aren't sinless. There's something inherent in the human nature which makes us no better than animals. Tribe.
Remember when you were a kid and the greatest joy in life was to get a set of round colorful chewing gums and a can of Coca-Cola? When you were wasting your days in the yard of your house or in the playground of your block of flats. When thinking about your profession was as distant as going to the moon, when you liked a girl or a boy from the neighborhood and when you waited with your cheeks burning for your favorite film on TV. This is one of those films.
What if you are a call girl who dreams of being an actress? Should you go the standard way, wait for your chance, attend castings, stalk actors on their way home? Maybe there's an easier solution. What if one of your clients might help you make your dreams come true? Another Pretty Woman? Not so much. Good intelligent plot with a twist. And a twist. And a twist. Entertainment at it's best.
The lines between genders slowly disappear. The division to women and men seems to be not adequate when you take into account life stories of so many. Shinjuku Boys changes our view on what it means to be a woman, what it means to be in a loving relationship (not recognized by the society) and how difficult the life of an outcast might prove to be. It shows what it means to love and rebel against tradition as this tradition makes you unhappy. And it tells us something about the modern relationship. You love a human being, whether a transgender, transsexual, a man or a woman. Sometimes sex is not necessary. And in the times when Bruce Jenner appears on the cover of Vanity Fair as a woman, we need to broaden our horizons just a little bit more. A worth watch.
When one side of the world is suffering from hunger, the other - from extreme obesity. When icebergs are melting, toxic fumes are spreading with a speed of turbojet to pollute the air we are breathing. When the poverty outweighs the richness and when there are no remedies to the presence that builds the dystopian future, there are still the ones who care and who act. A great adventure story for brainy kids/adults who are involved in something more than minding their own business. Tomorrowland.
One misinterpretation of events might lead to disastrous consequences. One lie may trigger the break of the bonds of love and desire. War can destroy the strongest and most idealistic people and subject them to views that can't be erased from one's mind. Can you really atone for the sins that destroyed someone's life? And finally, can you forgive if someone destroyed yours?
From slavery, the Civil War, through apartheid, segregation, discrimination to a black president. African-American people cherish their history and respect those who built it on their lives, who suffered, sacrificed and those who were killed. It's vital to see that every movement for the better future is a slow process that includes all the tiny but significant events, all the people, and all the social changes. The film glorifies what happened in America in this short period of time and inspires us to leave a better world for those who might be in need of it at this day and age.
Love is such a difficult thing. You take responsibility for the other person, you accept her/his flaws and drawbacks. You have to deal with a living and wanting human, which takes a lot of effort, courage, and patience. The pressure of having a relationship is equally hard from your parents and distant family members. But what if your potential girlfriend is not a human at all but is seems that your love equals the one which everyone else expects you to share? A film with a twist with a sort of intelligence everyone appreciates.
Have you ever wondered about the quality of your job, about the people with whom you're working with, your superiors and inferiors and how the modern way of work changed from the one in the past? Do you appreciate your shiny skyscraper building offices with nice views and coffee machines? Do you like your health insurance and holiday leave? For me, this film is not only a postcard of everyday life from the past. It's the epitome of how difficult the life of a working woman without money or connections would be. How much she would have to suffer and sustain to make her living. And considering this, if I had been born a hundred years ago my (and many other young women at the moment) would have had a very similar life story. Not a Jane Eyre fairy happy ending, I suppose.
A house that unveils many secrets. Two classes which are inherently connected and they intertwine. Relationships considered improper. Intrigues known only to selected individuals. A very peculiar atmosphere of work, where secrets should be secrets and the distance between classes should be preserved. Still, as every place of work is an interesting kaleidoscope of personalities, Gosford Park seems to be the epitome of the intricacies of the lives of rich, prosperous and those inferior.
It's amazing how people are similar regardless of the passing of time. It strikes me every time that human instincts are just the same and we might be technologically more developed, know just a little bit more, either from experience or observation, but still, we commit sins of our kind. We hate, discriminate, we are inherently afraid of one another and these instincts we cultivate all the time. Cloud Atlas shows how struggles of each generation lead to a better future for the next one. When one door closes, another door opens. Films are a great way to show us past, present and future by means of images. They teach us that the past was not really that long ago and the future is not really that distant. Once we were a civilization where slavery, apartheid, tribal wars, the illegality of homosexuality was something to be dealt with on everyday basis. We change slowly, acquiring new information, accepting more differences. And hopefully, we will change and we won't allow winning those who are stuck in their basic human insecurities to hate, hurt and prejudice. A wise and beautiful film for an individual. If you want to make the world a better place, start from your own little universe.

The clash of family values and desires. Three young characters trying to oppose the times they are living in when class, morals, and religion were of utmost importance. Can you choose a life you crave to have? Can you follow your heart standing against your family expectations? Can you finally be true to oneself in terms of your sexuality, vocation, and beliefs? A beautiful landscape of Brideshead. A great power of Catholic religion. And a division between what makes you happy as a human being and people's expectations about your life, love, and lust.