e.u.r.o._f.e.v.e.r.
Two weekends and two motion pictures - The European Film Festival has ended, with me only managed to catch Ocidental and Calling Hedy Lamaar.
A Romanian’s production, Occidental featuring Alexandru Papadopol, Dorel Visan, Tania Popa, and directed by Cristian Mungiu. It was a 3-dimensional plot in another 3-dimensional scene. The filmography was largely a revise of a technique of shoot-reshoot, in which you would see different angles into a similiar scene. Think of the Academy winner for Best Picture - Crash. It made you think of multiple characters, but eventually each of them would connect to one another through some expressive reasons. If you’d taken Psych 101 in college, you would doubtless have heard of Stanley Milgram and his “six degrees of separation” or its synonym “the small-world phenomenon”, or it would be better known as “baconology” after the actor Kevin Bacon and a surprising board game about such theory. It has every bit of Milgram in the process.
Recognition - Leeds: Best New Director Award; Clui International Film Festival: Best Picture; Cannes 2002: Quinzaine des Realisateurs; and more.
The infamous famous Calling Hedy Lamaar was another beautiful piece. Partly she was named the most beautiful woman in the world, and a genius in so many ways. It was a passionate film as it involved her children and friends in the making. An Austrian’s movie featuring Anthony Loder, Denise Loder-DeLucea, Charles Edie, Caitlin Stansel, and directed by Georg Misch. Shall we start off with her resume? Well, she was beautiful, and sadly most of that attributed to her beauty before cosmetic surgery. Told ya there’s nothing good in botox! Then she was the first woman who appeared nude in a movie that made her instant fame, because of the controversy it caused. She was not born Lamaar. She was a Kiesler. Lamaar is her chosen last when she entered Hollywood. She crossed path with many actors. And I mean crossed path as in not only professionally, but also personally. She was married six times! You might think she was a no brainer. Then you are certainly wrong. Though she didn’t win any Oscar, she did however earn various recognitions for her undocumented effort in designing the spectrum of wavelength or better known as frequency. Initially it was suggested for designated torpedo during the Nazi war, but look at where it is today - everywhere! So next time you receive or make a call, that is Hedy Lamaar. Her idea was beyond revoluntion that people was afraid to give it a try, not until 1981. What I admire about the movie is not the fact that it was shot as a documentary or a reproduction of a legend with some lookalike (i.e. Ray, Serena), but it was documented in a pleasant and heart-warming effect with the living and the death having a go at the scene. It is awesome. There was definately more research work done than one could imagine, and the fact that every breathing actor seemed so natural that you would suspect whether there is any script at all. No matter what the critics said, you have to watch it yourself. it is no Hollywood, but it has more than any big screen could offer - a sense of hope.
