You can hear so many stories about people living in wrong relationships. You can hear about couples who decided to be with each other because of loneliness, material security, friendship or treated each other as a last resort in the battle of starting a family. The pressure of meeting our family and friend's expectations influences our love-life butterfly effect. Nowadays films try to present us with something genuine and honest. When your fate, income or the length of your life is so uncertain, is it worth to spend time being unhappy in the wrong relationship? And how much can you bear for love? Carol.
I'm sure there was a time when you doubted the goodness of God. Be it the family tragedy, unlucky love affair, quarrel between friends. Or simply you spilled milk on your new shirt. God acts in mysterious ways. And if God is in fact a slob, a pathological maniac and an addicted gambler of human fate? Who will save us from his mischievous deeds? Who will provide us with a tissue to wipe our tears when we're lost and suffering? And don't you have a feeling that, as our lives changed so much, and because contemporary problems are rarely problems connected with the original Bible, we need something of the kind of an upgrade? Can cinema play the role of a cathartic church?
We all have this weird human trait of having more than necessary. We submit our life, health, and well-being to stresses, anxiety, and fear just to possess a house that we don't use to the fullest, to buy a flat we cannot afford or own a car that we cannot maintain. We believe in the idea of a loan. We want something now and we are willing to pay for it in advance, knowing that we can sooner or later regret it. We might get bored. We may have our precious things destroyed. Or stolen. Or simply we might not live to pay off the debts. A smart film about how smart people use our naivety and trust. While professional financial terms are not everybody's cup of tea, we all have a dream of a roof above our heads. Whether it's rented or bought, big or small, vintage or modern. The Big Short.
I wonder what makes us think that ours is better, nicer and faster. Is it the language that we speak, is it our nationality or the food we consume that make us protect our country when it is invaded? What makes us die for what we consider our property? Why colonizing other countries always meant imposing one's language and culture? Why emigrating leads to being forced to learn those customs and languages which are inseparably connected to a particular country? Why do we have problems with being controlled by foreign nations? Why there is such a strong need for independence and freedom from imposition? Braveheart. Even though not all of us are Scottish, I have a feeling that we all know what belonging to a certain nation is all about.
Why is it so that Mark Zuckerberg is considered successful for inventing a social network we all use nowadays? Why we pay tribute to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs for their genius, wit, and courage? Why we create the cult of a man? Why women are just a small part of the decision-making board and why women agree to earn less for doing the same job as men? Why it is women who have to make a choice between family and work? Why men can fail and why women have to clean the mess? Why women should be mothers if men constantly evade the responsibility? Why childless women are stigmatized and why successful ladies have to face so much pressure? The dilemmas of so many of us. One thing is certain: there is such a big potential in all of us that we should stop listening to the words of discouragement but we ought to spread our wings. Joy. One woman managed to face the challenge.
I remember times when singing contests were occupied by talented people who had an idea of what kind of career they would like to follow. Then the number of such shows tripled, the number of potential stars multiplied and now it seems that everybody can sing. We have one Adele and hundreds of seemingly good voices. The last thing I enjoyed about this film was singing. The best were those moments when Hollywood showed us something more than America, gave us a glimpse of different culture and mentality. When the world changes into a melting pot of races and religions it's good to see Bill Murray entering the deserts of Afghanistan.
Ideally, you graduate, find a good job, get married, get pregnant, start a family. Ideally. Idealism has rarely anything to do with reality. Some girls end up heartbroken, others choose a professional career, yet others want to change the country and taste the life abroad. There's a whole lot of those who want to pursuit fashionable careers of models, actresses, celebrities. And there are some who, by a tricky coincidence, accident or let's call it an act of teen love, become pregnant. And then the whole ideal order of our lives: to graduate, find a good job, get married, start a family is way-way harder. A story of one teen pregnancy. If you're sinless, be the first to throw a stone.
The friendship between women often borders on a competition. Everything is well when one has more than the other, when one is lucky and the other is there to make another feel better. Then one person's success means mutual happiness. And accordingly: failure on one part proves to be the tragedy of the partner. Or is it? Friendship. In times of trouble, you can prove whether it's true or not. An interesting film about the formation of a girl into a woman. Can ambition turn you into a bitch?
Death is still something we fear the most. The cause of it changed over the years. Spanish flu might have beaten you a century ago but now you're more likely to die in a plane crash, in a terrorist attack or accidentally choke on processed food at home. At the same time, a decomposing body is something we look at with fascination and disgust. We can see that the body gave up but we delude ourselves that it's not the final journey. We still desire our beloved family members to come back from the grave, especially if they left untimely. Even though we know that the process is irreversible. Or is it? An exciting retelling of Victor Frankenstein classic. Who is the monster, the creature or the maker? And can we really play God?
Have you ever wondered how big cities were created? What was the life in a great metropolis in previous centuries, how busy and crowded streets paved the way for what we see now and what we can visit on a tourist-like basis? How different were the people, their clothes, their language, their habits? Ponder on how rotten and corrupted human nature could flourish among dilapidated buildings and cobbled pavements. Think about morals in flea-infested bed mattresses. And as our civilization develops, wonder about the cities of the future. If New York was so different 150 years ago, how next centuries will shape this Mega-city for our progeny? A powerful and epic mythology of the most famous city in the world.
It often surprises me how superficial the idea of success is. You struggle, being poor, to buy the necessities of life, to pay for the basics of your maintenance. Then the luck turns upside down and you're wealthy, having won the blessing of a good job or starting your own business. The business flourishes until you're considered less attractive, until people are bored with your persona, until you're considered less up-to-date. And while you got used to a certain level of life, the luck might change again. Now you have to pay the bills for your restaurant meals, pay off your mortgage or sell everything you have to make ends meet. At times you end up in the street. Homeless. With higher education diploma, with past career and memories of prosperity, you find yourself alone without any shelter. And while we can observe the philosophy of downsizing, of choosing less instead of more, is the life devoid of home and family worth our pity or admiration?
Family. Tensions. Friendships. Jealousy. Support. Acceptance. Disillusionment. Our family situation is rarely simple and straightforward. There are siblings who used to hate each other and now they prove to be each others' greatest support in times of life trials. There are mothers who are too demanding for their daughters and there are daughters who push themselves too hard to prove that they're worth their mothers' love. Relationships come and go but your family members might prove your greatest support. While love, understanding, and acceptance are hard, the above showed by your family can be unconditional.
Do you pay attention to what mattress you sleep on? Do you read the ingredients of baby products which you use to take care of your children? Have you checked the content of your walls, wall paint, tiles on the floor? Are you aware what is inside the deodorant you press against your armpits every single day? To be honest, we shouldn't worry about it, since the majority of us are not chemists, scientists or the producers of goods. There are, however, standards which a lot of products available to us don't meet. Such products are responsible for cancer, infertility, autism and many other health hazards. This is a good eye-opener for a lot of us. And since standard requirements vary from one country to another, I doubt whether Europe has cleaned its deal way better than the USA.
One night stand. Happens to so many. In some cases, it ends up in an unwanted pregnancy. In others, the outcome is a tricky venereal disease. Sometimes it leads to a romance. Occasionally it's the trigger for a long-lasting relationship. In the majority of cases, it's something you quickly forget like a blackout party, boring birthday celebration or a drunk evening at home. In 1890 such one night stand could lead to a way different outcome, especially if it connected people from different social classes. Enjoy.
Abandoned places always boost our imagination. Shorter days make us come back home with fear or anxiety that there might be someone waiting for us behind this wall, behind this fence, behind this bridge. People were always afraid of the lack of sun. Equally, they feared things which were unknown and new, be it a different culture, custom, possibly a disease. In a house traumatized by fate, there was the family which might give you creeps. Fear is yet one more emotion.
The nightmare of spending a night in a cell can happen to any of us. You are a human being. You make mistakes. Law system was introduced for a reason. The nightmare of spending half of your life behind bars is rarely something we wish to experience. And the nightmare of being falsely accused, wrongly sentenced and unfairly placed in prison evokes feelings of hopelessness and anger. Imagine your life behind bars. Imagine how strong may be the certainty of being innocent and what such certainty might drive you to achieve. Stephen King's classic at its best. Enjoy.
There were times when there was no technology, no machines, no houses, no luxury. People used to sleep in caves, they ate what they picked and hunted, they weren't attached to each other as losing one mate in an accident, a wild beast attack or due to disease was common. Children were resourceful and could fight for themselves. Roles between men and women were divided. Yet, this film shows how similar we had been centuries and centuries before, driven by the same instincts and emotions. And finally, it's a great opportunity to laugh at a pristine detective story with creme de la creme of the French acting team.
You don't choose your family. You don't have any influence over your family history, your family members' character, their decisions or views. You tolerate each other for years, you vividly remember your past mistakes, the awkward periods of adolescence, you circulate: bumping daily at each other as if checking whether you are still the same people. You are attached like primary school children, always having each other in mind, and holding nothing but good wishes, old grudges or warm feelings. This is one such complicated family in which love mixes with hatred, responsibility with a wish to escape and start anew, and a bond only those few living withing the walls of one house can truly understand.
Motherhood is a hard job. You constantly worry about your child's health, balancing between life and death, stumbling upon every table corner, electric socket and abandoned pin. Due to the lack of experience, you fear your every move, deciding whether you're bringing up a human being in a right way. There are thousands of mothers who were helpless, despite the efforts they put into bringing up their progeny. Is it their fault? Can we really be responsible for the actions of our children? What do the mothers of well-known murderers and assassins feel? Does the society teach us important lesson that bringing up is not limited to food, sport, and school education? While there are parents incapable of raising a child, there are children who are resistant to any form of guidance.
People do have low self-esteem. Nowadays, when the western world suffers more from the surplus of food rather than its inadequate amount, people are bullied for being too fat. While fashion shows, lingerie, and chain brands campaigns are promoted by super attractive people, people fall into the madness of plastic surgery and enhancing their appearance. Poor look up to the rich, rich look up to the richer ones, creating a vicious circle of never having enough. Being gay is not only hard since teenage bullying is omnipresent at schools, but even though you look gay, and possibly are gay, you don't want to sound gay. However silly the problem might seem, it opened my eyes to many little problems which make people uncomfortable. The timbre of your voice is just one of these problems. Enjoy.



















