Rewound: A fragmented film collection

Day to day I like to write reviews of the films that I watch. The past few days I kept wondering how it would be to write them down on a blog. Today I made my decision to create one and here I am. The title of this post means that this blog would not be complete in terms of reviewing all movies out there but that it would be mostly of films I've watched or admire meaning art films, old films and all that oscar-ish stuff I love so much.
The title I gave the blog alludes to my eccentric obsession with VHS videotapes that to this day I still buy (:
I hope this would be helpful explaining/recommending movies you're yet to watch and for you to see my point of view on some subjects regarding cinema and films of course.

Director: Julian Schnabel
Cast: Mathieu Amalric and Emanuelle Seigner

Well the first movie I'm going to write about is "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" -Le Scaphandre et le papillon (2007)- because is the last one I've seen -meaning yesterday- and because I haven't got the time to write about it.

French cinema has always had my fascination and this movie was great in every aspect.


This film tells a true story, the story of Jean-Dominic Bauby who suffers paralysis -all body his paralyzed but his left eye- at age 43 having it all in his life.
Aside from the great life lesson it gives from overcoming adversities in life this films gives a whole new meaning to what is to live the movie you're watching and become part of the story.
The scenes it shows are both ordinary and unique and the way they're shown its what makes them special.
From the beginning of the movie we are transported into the body and thought of the main character and we can have both perspectives from Jean-Dominic (by having that inside look, thoughts and eye perspective) and from all the other characters (based on our own judgement).
The screenplay amazes by the audacious take on such complex plot and interpretation taken to the big screen.

I would recommend this to anyone passionate about french cienema, art films, book adaptations and personal growth themed films.



Now in another note; I want to talk about Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937).
This movie every time I talk about it -because I usually comment a lot about what I like and don't like- I hear the same thing over and over. From boys: "It's for girls" or "It's a dumb animated movie". From girls: "It's beautiful!"or "She's so dumb, she should want more than just a guy".
Well I always reply the same thing, this film is a masterpice. Ok, so Walt Disney made it so he could afford a bigger studio and produce more animated features, yeah, but that doesn't mean he did it just because of that this was just on of his reasons.
Disney was an entertainer and if in something he gave all of his effort was in this, he didn't care about people telling him he couldn't do something, like to make an animated feature film... and well he did an amazing movie.

First of all let's all erease the belief that animated features are for kids or at least just put them aside for a minute. With this film it is essential to take note of each and every element of it.
The story is known by all and while its important, it is not the main point in this review.
What made Snow White a classic are the techniques of reality used to create certain characters combined with the cartoonish looks of others, the mixture of both good and bad in such contrast, the music, the songs and of course the way human emotions were ascribed to animated characters and the way they were handled.
Now moving to a different subject, there are comments against -well not against but whatever- stating that this movie promotes the 'dumbness' in women and low expectations of life. Seriously I always differ from this point of view and not because I'm a guy but more than that I don't believe that just because traditions, culture, beliefs, etc., of some generation are portrayed in a film and are different nowadays the movie is bad or promotes a specific way of behaving.

Today a lot of people are happy with Princess and the Frog for its values and its independent protagonist and because today that's a 'normal' -by normal I mean an accepted one by society- behavior but lets remember that back to the 1930's most women were just like Snow White searching for true love and weren't that much allowed to work leaving them to aspire on getting married and having a family only. Today people have a different belief on true love, most of the time it comes at second place, a job being the first one; by having this perspective a movie like this may seem a little dull and poor in ambition, but the important thing is to look at its spirit and value it as the work of art it is. Plus it doesn't kill to fantasize a bit with a novel or a movie about true love.
I've always believed this to be a masterpiece -in its own way- for all it encompasses and for the revolution it caused in the movie-making industry.

I'm just starting so I'd thank your feedback & support (: