The longer we live and the more we know about the world, the less we are constrained by social norms and taboos. If you had read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez, you definitely recall the badge of incest that went along the protagonist family's history. Moving a hundred years forward, should we be condemned for having feelings for siblings? What happens if you see a developing body of your brother or sister? Is it resentful or, quite the reverse, attractive? Should you feel sinful if you have erotic dreams including your family members? Should you acknowledge or ignore your family's sexuality? And if you're related, can you lawfully fall in love? Genes, past, mutual parents. Sometimes the closest to your heart are those who are biologically alike and who can feel what you feel in an unexplained, brother/sister-like manner. I love this kind of films, even though in reality the society's judgment might be a little bit more radical.
Do you remember when you were little and your mother/father/guardian read you fairy tales to soothe you to sleep? The effect might have been opposite as fables are dense in cruelty, murder, surprising outcomes and bad family patterns. After reading some of them you might have been wide awake. Fairy tales contain wisdom very few are able to surpass, they teach you about abusive parents, silly kings, naive princesses; they highlight the importance of friendship, love, sisterhood, and brotherhood. Stories depict the tragic consequences of human fragile nature and mistakes caused by desire. Besides wisdom, they take you to the realm of magic, where mythical creatures mix with ordinary humans. There is still something so appealing in the stories that we fall for their allure again and again. This time Tale of Tales. A story definitely worth falling for.
It seems that nature gave us everything we need for survival. We were treated with hundreds of plants, fruits, herbs and edible roots. Yet we tend to limit ourselves to pork, beef, and poultry and concentrate our diet on simple, easily prepared dishes. We were programmed by tradition, by our grandmothers' dinners and our mothers' efforts to raise us strong and healthy. Maybe it's time to change something in our habits and set off towards a better and healthier life. Not everyone will be vegan or vegetarian. But all of us might at least change the percentage of meat and plants in our diet and reverse the way we do our shopping. Results will be visible in the near future. Maybe this time there will be fewer strokes, heart attacks, less hypertension. Maybe we will even be able to fight cancer. Planeat.
To me, there is nothing more fascinating than a human being. With flaws, fears, and fascinations we continue our day by day. We consume, shape and destroy what we had found here according to our needs. We have been welcomed to this planet, pinpointed to particular spot: the country, political situation, language, the color of the skin, religion. We carry our traumas, sexual orientation, pathological families, loves, losses, and diseases. We make other people stronger, we take and give, hurting others and being hurt on the way. We create an economic gap, where some have everything and others have nothing.
Each of us has a story to tell. A story of one's life. A story which will help other people deal with their traumas, heal their pains and come to terms with the past. We also hope for one such story for ourselves: a brick of help to make our house full. Each and every one of us is important. Each of us has a story to tell. Each story tells what it means to be human.
I remember my high school years divided between not particularly conscientious engagement into school work and a thorough exploration of YouTube which has been taking its first steps with no idea of how big it was going to be. The internet has changed everything. We conduct business online, we write blogs, we upload videos, making the world a smaller place, with every corner of earth available to the masses. With good, it also brought a lot of evil. Is there still a place for something genuine in the era of Facebook friends who like your profile picture but don't say "hello" when they pass you on the street? In times of great success stories is there a spot for failure and morals? Where is the line between right and wrong and what should we value? Friends? Love? Money? Fame? And once you stay genuine to oneself, can you have it all?
We live in times when emigrating for financial/professional reasons is a norm. By student exchange programs we program our children to get used to the fact that they will live abroad. We push them into circumstances distant from their motherlands where mother tongues are not understood by friends and workmates. We create an economic melting pot.
The different country requires you to live in a way the country dictates. You have to obey the norms, cultural customs, minute behavioral patterns and sometimes you make mistakes. This is a story of one such family and one such little mistake which snowballed outbursts of events, accidents, and emotions. While for some the social security system might be paradise, for others it might be hell. And taking it all into account, is there really an ideal place to live?
The different country requires you to live in a way the country dictates. You have to obey the norms, cultural customs, minute behavioral patterns and sometimes you make mistakes. This is a story of one such family and one such little mistake which snowballed outbursts of events, accidents, and emotions. While for some the social security system might be paradise, for others it might be hell. And taking it all into account, is there really an ideal place to live?
Once in a while, a stone is put in a ring of perfect size, perfect shape, and perfect color. Once in a while, a movie is made with the perfect cast, compelling plot and setting breathtaking with minute details. I'm not a fan of horror films where blood and guts are spread on the screen for no good reason. But I'm a fan of good stories, genuine emotions, and scenes that make you feel something and forget that you are sat in the cinema's seat. In times when the internet and TV are full of so much crap, it's great to see that there are still talented people who care about our entertainment and don't treat us as half-brained amoebas. One good Gothic romance to watch.
We need heroes. We need someone who in times of danger, famine, war or violence will make us feel that there is still justice in the world. We obsess over Superman, Spiderman, Ironman and we are besotted with the idea that under the disguise of an exceptional, strong and a man of unsurpassed abilities there's a plain guy: a little bit geeky, unlucky in love, abandoned by parents. Such a deprived hero is like one of us: born not into wealthy families but into circumstances we can feel attached to. Harry Potter was an ordinary boy who found out that he's extraordinary. Jesus lived not in a palace but in an ordinary house with an ordinary family. We still need to feel that there's someone in control, that the good will always win and the evil will be defeated. And a hero might be an ordinary guy trying to do some good.
Who told us that we should be fond of entertainment of the highest level? Who forbids us to laugh at the most vulgar and humiliating acts of human nature? Don't you fart, burp, digest with the volume of a loudspeaker? Have you never fallen down, tripped, slipped on a slippery road? Are you always nitpickingly perfect? I suppose not. And as far as human nature is concerned, we all like to laugh. For those with a peculiar sense of humor. Tropic Thunder. A group of not so glamorous representatives of the actor's kind and their mission.
First loves. First jobs. First marriages. There are very few lucky people who were successful from the very beginning. The majority of us managed to accomplish what we have already achieved by trial and error, making countless mistakes, hurting other people and being hurt on the way. Classic stories rarely lose any of their impacts. However times might change, people need to be loved, appreciated and made comfortable with themselves. Can infidelity be justified? Who is to blame: the unfaithful husband, the unfaithful wife, the cold spouse who for years made you unhappy? And is the happiness more important than financial security, appearances or the opinion of your family? Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Have you been lost in life which circulates around jobs, reports, boredom, stresses, work, shopping, home, shopping again, fitness activities, shopping again, lunches at a cafeteria, boredom again, shopping again, mortgage, work again, shopping again? Have you been stuck in the western civilization? Can you see the emptiness of it all? Do you crave wild and exotic vacation to change your lifestyle just a little bit? Maybe you desire a complete change of routine? Possibly you want your life turned upside down. Fight club. There was one time a man who also got lost. This is his story.
Adulthood. When you're young you start a race towards adult life, having in mind better, more independent, happier. And then you're an adult and it seems that nothing has changed. Your family situation, life problems, unsolved dilemmas will always come back and remind you of themselves like old friends popping up on your Facebook wall now and again. You think you can move to a big city and start life with new prospects ahead but the core of your being is the place you grew up and the people who shaped you as a kid. It's great, though, to come back to discover that the old, known and tried is good for you and help you deal with your issues and anxieties. Garden State. A simple meaningful story with great music in the background.
Edwardian bliss not yet destroyed by war when (for the better-off of course) life was peaceful, safely adventurous and class-oriented. What do you take into account when you decide on who to marry? Does the opinion of your family matter? Do you still consider yourself a part of a bigger group and do you need the approval of your relatives and friends in your private affairs? Or do you regard yourself as an independent entity whose choices should never be discussed by the third party? Do you value your own happiness above the happiness of others? Are you afraid of scandal and rejection? And are you brave enough to follow your heart? A Room With a View.
The topic of the wrong food that makes our society obese tends to come back to us as our bad eating habits constantly reappear with the force of a boomerang. We think we know how to eat healthily, how to avoid fast foods, how to keep the balance in life. Still, we are tempted by delicious cakes, crispy crisps, chocolate toppings, fatty burgers, and pizzas. I don't think we could ever eliminate those from our diets but we should change something in our everyday lives. Lifestyle is a combination of choices. Changing all of them is an enormous effort. Changing at least some of them is setting off on a journey towards a better life. And if one boy managed to turn his life upside down, we can also make a little bit more effort.
Family relations may be a little bit different than what appearances might suggest. Love may not be love, innocence might be the cover of bestiality and relationships can be layered with second bottoms. Have you asked your family members all the important questions? Do you know who is to be trusted and who irrevocably betrayed the trust? Or do you want to experience something which will put to doubt all your expectations? A beautifully filmed setting is the background for a few characters with less beautiful instincts. Stoker.
Tokyo. The paradise of tradition, orient, and sushi. A city both intriguing and unexplored. Consumptive culture, the most modern technology, manga, anime and the most bizarre sexual toys mixed with established norms, the division of roles and a very strict code of conducting business. For a foreigner, it's a jungle of stimulants of senses. Your taste, smell, and sense of hearing are subjected to unknown impulses. Let yourself get lost in this jungle and experience something extraordinary. There's no place like Japan. There's no place like Tokyo.
Adolescence. First loves. Rites of passage. Messed-up parents. Relationships that last and don't last, building and destroying our idea of love and friendship. Growing up is difficult. Childhood is over and staying in one little submarine of distant observation doesn't do the trick. You won't experience life if you don't get wet. A good film for those who are still growing up. And as life circumstances change, family events may require you to reinvent yourself and ask yourself deeper and deeper questions even if you're way beyond your teens.
Sometimes we need to forget about school, duties and family dilemmas. We crave autumn's charm and hot-chocolate-cup/under-a-blanket entertainment. We desire magic and mystery. It's one of my favorite childhood films when the dead come back from the grave when witches are released from their prison of time and memory, when salt is your best weapon and when simple trick-or-treat changes into an adventure of a lifetime. Hocus Pocus.
The question of people's purpose on this planet is yet to be answered. Are we here to fulfill God's plan? Are we here for a higher purpose? Are we here only as another species - a little bit more socially and technologically developed - and we need to procreate? What if some of us were brought to this world to serve another purpose, to help other people? What is their right of equality? Can everybody love, be loved and live freely? Can everybody take responsibility for one's life? And can we divide people into categories as we tend to divide ourselves: according to class, background, education, cast, race, and religion? This adaptation of a great novel will make you think.
There are very few people who nowadays don't question the authority of the Church. There are some laws which seem to us inhumane, not modern enough, inadequate to the needs of contemporary families and individuals. But if you believe in God can you keep the Church entirely at bay? If you live in an informal relationship, if you have a child out of wedlock, if you don't completely agree with the Scripture should you deprive yourself of the consolation religion has provided for millennia? Some people tried to solve this problem by the power of film. Maybe your God is everywhere you go, not only in palaces built by authorities? A film for the seekers. Doubting is yet another form of faith.



















