Cynergist

Beowulf

This evening I went to the cinema for the first time this month to see Beowulf. There have been posters all over town, and I was interested to see how a motion captured film would actually look on the big screen.

If you don't know the story, it is based on an Anglo-Saxon poem that is believed to be about 1,200 years old and is one of the earliest examples of English literature.

The story is set in Denmark, where aging dragon slayer King Hrothgar (played by Anthony Hopkins) is holding celebrations in his new mead-hall. Unfortunately this disturbs the rest of the monster Grendel, who attacks the hall.

A message goes out across Scandinavia that the King will give half his gold to anyone who can kill the beast.

Beowulf hears of the Thanes plight, so comes to their land with his troops. On their first night he manages to kill Grendel, but this incurs the wrath of its mother (played by Angelina Jolie).

El Laberinto del Fauno

My old school friend Robert was visiting this weekend and yesterday while we were on our way into Stockport to visit the shops, we passed the local cinema multiplex and I happened to notice they were showing "Pan's Labyrinth".



This was a film I had been waiting to see, but I had expected I would need to go into Manchester and watch it at the Art House Cinema. I didn't think that a Spanish language film would be on general release, but I was pleasantly surprised. So we popped straight in and bought tickets.



The film was by the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, who also directed "Hell Boy" and "Blade 2". I do wonder how many people were expecting something similar. If so, they were in for a shock.

Leeds International Film Festival

I had the pleasure of watching Paprika during its UK premiere at the Leeds International Film Festival.

I must start by saying that I am already a fan of Satoshi Kon's work. Films like Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfather are amongst my favourites in any medium, not just anime.

I sometimes feel that much of his work could just as easily have been performed in live action features as anime, but this isn't the case with Paprika. One of the main aspects of this story is the way in which the dream world intrudes on the real world, and how it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the two - until something totally bizarre appears. Many of the images just wouldn't work in any form except anime.

While the story itself follows an investigation into the theft of three devices that enable users to drop into people's dreams, the movie is also a homage to both films and television. In dreams we see everything from Tarzan to Monkey, and film posters to several previous Satoshi Kon films.