Off Topic

Today I'm talkin about cinema, it's the second thing I like the most in the world. It's funny cause I have the most diverse taste when it comes to movies. I love drama or sci-fi or animation or terror or comedy, it's really more about authors than the movie itself, and it´s at the same time kind of sad that the last picture I have completely loved was Gran Torino, almost two years ago. I've been to the movies, but I just haven't seen recently anything as good as that one. In my opinion the whole industry hasn't been that interesting lately, and don't even get me started on all the recycled projects that come to the big American studios just to make money (coug cough; Sex and the City 2, anything Twilight, Shrek unfortunately, and any adaptation from a tv series, 80's movie, or videogame).

I finally watched Avatar a few weeks ago, and while I really liked it, I also though that it was the American movie with persons of an epic adventure from Hayao Miyazaki, in 3D. The effects may be great, and it's definitely an awesome journey, but I just think that movies like Nausicaa or Princess Mononoke give a stronger message, that what Avatar accomplishes to express. Besides the fact that Avatar with that diary-like, off-voice throughout the movie, explains you every single fact that you have already understood. I always wondered how a live Miyazaki movie would look, and it was answered.

If I had to choose an era of cinema to watch, it wouldn't be this one. The classic American films from the 40's and 50's are my favorite ever. Women where this powerful creature which filled the screen and reflected their power in every close-up, stories where much lighter in most of the cases, and just fun to watch. They didn't had pretentious undertones, and different narrating perspectives, the language sounded better and the performances weren't natural, because well, they were acting.

Needless to say I have a great admiration for the strong diva characters that women played during those years, a phenomenon never achieved again. Betty Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall and Jane Russel to name a few had the carriage and grace to stand out in a crowded place. In Mexico the same effect happened simoultaneously, Andrea Palma, Dolores del Río, Maria Felíx and Miroslava to name a few had the same star quality that their American counterparts, the film industry in our country then diminished but we have also never seen stars like them again.

All screencaps by me. Movies are: An Affair to Remember, All About Eve, Roman Holiday, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Sunset Boulevard.