Inlovewithcinema🎬

I like watching and analysing films🎞️

[inlovewithcinema]

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and directed by Gus Van Sant ,Good Will Hunting is a heartwarming story about the triumph of love over fear.

The first ten minutes of the film paint a picture of the social and economic background of the protagonist Will(Matt Damon).It's revealed that he lives in a working class South Boston neighborhood and works as a a janitor at the prestigious MIT and faffs about with his buddies Chuckie(Ben Affleck),Billy(Cole Hauser) and Morgan(Casey Affleck) in his free time.

But,there is something which separates Will from most people.Will is a mathematical genius and has a mind that can solve complex mathematical problems in a matter of minutes.

When MIT professor Gerald Lambeau(Stellan Skersgård) discovers his genius accidentally,he decides to bring Will's genius to the world's attention.He aids Will in avoiding a prison term for assault charges (from a streetfight) on two conditions,firstly that Will meets him up once a week to work on advanced mathematics together, secondly that Will has to seek court mandated therapy.

To fulfil the second condition,Will meets psychiatrist Sean Maguire(Robin Williams).Now,this is where the film actually starts for me.

When Sean meets Will,he understands Will and why he does what he does.He sees through Will's tough guy act and sees Will for what he actually is under all the false bravado, he sees the little boy who still exists under all the facade,the little boy who was abandoned by his parents,who never knew what being loved and taken care of felt like,who is still reeling from the effects of the emotional and mental trauma of the physical abuse he went through with his foster father.

There is a certain indescribable magic in the moment when the emotionally guarded person finally lets someone in.

When Sean finally manages to let Will let his guard down,things start changing.For the first time in his life,Will lets himself trust someone else apart from his three Boston buddies.He emotionally connects with Sean in a way he has not connected with anyone in a long time

Sean's ability to be vulnerable,real and sensitive opens Will's once closed heart and a bond is forged between them which will last for a lifetime.

This single relationship gives Will the courage to dream again,to love again and to trust again while dealing with the scars of his childhood abuse.

It's been a few years since the first time I watched this film but every now and then I go back watch it again just to remind myself of the beauty of the human spirit which is so painfully fragile yet so wonderfully powerful at the same time.

[inlovewithcinema]

Little forest(2018)

A sublime treat for the senses,Little Forest felt like a breath of fresh air almost literally.

Based on a manga of the same name,Little Forest tells the story of Song Hye-won who gets tired of living the big city life in Seoul and returns to Kumouri(her native town)an idyllic village away from the chaos of the city where she repairs her emotional wounds and reconnects with her own self with the help of food ,friends and nature.

Some of my favourite scenes in the film are of Hye-won cooking traditional Korean dishes for herself and her friends Jae-ha and Eun-sook(which makes up most of the film actually).Visually,these segments are gorgeous and conveyed in a language which is very tactile and sensuous.In fact,most of the film felt like asmr to me ,soothing to the senses.

One of the cons of living a fast paced urban lifestyle is that you can easily lose yourself amongst all the white noise and get busy surviving.This movie will remind you of the pure joy that exists in some of the experiences that life offers us freely but we take for granted like smelling a flower ,or watching a rain drop fall on a pond making concentric circles of ripples,or the feeling of a breeze embracing your face.

[inlovewithcinema]

Lost in translation (2003)

I loved the soundtrack of lost in translation.Some of the music invoked feelings of nostalgia and melancholy,some of it made me feel so tranquil and yet some of it awakened the soul searching traveler in me.

These are my favourite tracks from the album.

[inlovewithcinema]

Lost in translation (2003)

There are movies you watch and you forget ,then,there are movies which touch a part of your soul.For me,lost in translation is one of those special films.

Director Sophia Coppola uses the bustling,noisy,overwhelming yet enchanting city of Tokyo as a backdrop to highlight the contrasting emptiness and loneliness that the two main protagonists symbolise in the movie.Coppola explores the human experience of alienation and isolation through the eyes of the barely twenty just out of college Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) and an aging Hollywood star called Bob Murphy (Bill Murray).

We first meet Charlotte (in a very unconventional manner ).She is staying at the same hotel as Bob with her photographer husband who is in Japan for work. Right from the start, you know that Charlotte does not relate to most people including her husband.She is desperately trying to know herself and find herself.Introverted and sensitive,there is an emotional depth to her which is apparent throughout the film but really comes through the screen in those few long minutes when she is sitting on the ledge of her hotel window gazing at the city below in quiet ponder.

On the other hand,Bob is going through a midlife crisis both in his work and personal life.I feel a lot of people young and old alike are going to see themselves in Bob.In his fifties,Bob is struggling to accept the fact that his acting career is slowly fading away from him.For the passionate musician or artist who makes music or art because that is what makes them truly come to life, depriving them of their music or art is equivalent to killing them in a way.

He is struggling to keep his marriage alive and feels insecure that his wife and children have got used to his absence in their life .(As his wife is the one who takes care of the kids as he travels for work most of the time.)

According to me ,Bob exemplifies the anguish of losing the things that matter most to a person.But, I have to say ,there is something so controlled in the way Bill Murray communicates Bob's agony.There is never any emotional breakdown or outburst.With him ,all the pain is conveyed in a very internalised and subtle fashion.

When Bob and Charlotte meet ,they both sense something of themselves in each other.There is an instant unspoken connection between them.Both of them seem to be at peace when they are in each other’s company even in those moments when there are hardly any words spoken between them.In a way, they are soulmates just not of the romantic kind.In fact,their relationship never gets to the sexual or physical level which you expect as a viewer.

It’s as if Coppola wants to guard and protect the innocence and purity of their relationship by keeping sex off the table.Its as if Coppola is saying that what Bob and Charlotte have with each other is a beautiful bonding between two kindred souls not bodies.

The cinematography is brilliant and is a vital tool to communicate the story here just as much as the writing.D.O.P Lance accord makes you explore Tokyo through the eyes of Bob and Charlotte ,two people visiting the Japanese capital for the first time.You are transported to Tokyo through some very ethereal shots of the neon lights of Shinjuku,Shibuyu scramble crossing , the serene Nazenji temple or the Kawaguckiko country club.

You know how sometimes when you are sleeping and you have a beautiful dream and when you finally wake up and realise in disappointment, that the dream has ended,well,that’s how I feel about lost in translation,it’s like a mesmerising dream you do not want to wake up from.