my latest movie discoveries

Better late than never, they say. Well, I guess it is true, at least it applies to me finally getting acquainted with Jim Jarmusch. I don't know why I had never seen a film by this director before, not until recently. And now I am happy I finally did it. I managed to see Dead Man, Night On Earth, and Down by Law.
Dead Man ranked top in my personal ranking of movies with the most impressive and convincing atmosphere, including great music (sorry, Paris, Texas).
And I loved all the short stories in Night On Earth. I only felt it was a bit unfair to have a Scandinavian one at the end - somewhat depressing for a final (OK, I admit this is a prejudice but that's how I felt about the Finnish story).
Down by Law was definitely a good film, which I unfortunately saw in a time when I was feeling tired and sleepy and I did not really enjoy the slow pace of the film so much.

Friends recommended also Coffee and Cigarettes. Any other recommendations are more than welcome...

Lost Generation? Is there still hope?

Der Himmel Über Berlin

Since I mentioned the film yesterday I decided to post this small fragment.
I often think if I have to rate my favourite books, films, songs... what would my ranking look like. And I never have an answer. A book has touched me or not. Maybe I loved it because I read it exactly in that moment, and I wouldn't remember it if I read it a month later or earlier.
It is different with this film however. I have seen it a few times, I have read the script a few times, I know some of the passages by heart, and it still says so much to me...

swinging between past and future

"Sometimes I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I’m either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments in my life, I’m hurtling across space in between trapeze bars.
Most of the time, I spend my life hanging on for dear life to my trapeze-bar-of-the-moment. It carries me along at a certain steady rate of swing, and I have the feeling that I’m in control of my life. I know most of the right questions and even some of the right answers. But once in a while, as I’m merrily (or not-so-merrily) swinging along, I look out ahead of me into the distance, and what do I see? I see another trapeze bar swing towards me. It’s empty, and I know, in that place in me that knows, that this new trapeze bar has my name on it. It is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get me. In my heart-of-hearts, I know that for me to grow, I must release my grip on this present, well-known bar to move to the new one.
Every time it happens to me, I hope that I won’t have to grab the new bar. But in my knowing place I know that I must totally release my grasp on my old bar, and for some moment in time, I must hurdle across space before I can grab onto the new bar. Each time I am filled with terror. It doesn’t matter that in all my previous hurdles across the void of unknowing, I have always made it. Each time I am afraid that I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks in the bottomless chasm between the bars. But I do it anyway. Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics call the faith experience. No guarantees, no net, no insurance policies, but you do it anyway because somehow, to keep hanging on to that old bar is no longer on the list of alternatives. And so for an eternity that can last a microsecond or a thousand lifetimes, I soar across the dark void of “the past is gone; the future is not yet here.” It’s called transition. I have come to believe that is the only place that real change occurs. I mean real change, not the pseudo change that only lasts until the next time my old buttons get punched."

This is an excerpt from Warriors of the Heart by Danaan Parry I came across today. A vivid description of the change process, any change process, I believe. And it looks so beautiful, and makes life so much worth living, especially for those moments when you hurdle to the new trapeze...
And because I was really fascinated by the description I couldn't help attaching this image to it. Marion from Wings of desire, a movie I will always remember.

Her Morning Elegance

I found this very beautiful and poetic...

1 Corinthians 13

Love

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

...Am being grateful for the love I have. Inspired by recent events and this.

Man on Wire

I found this film truly inspiring! Man on Wire tells the story of Philippe Petit - the wire walker whose dream was to cross the distance between the Twin Towers of the WTC, he worked hard for that and he did it! I do believe that everything is possible for the willing heart, and this was a beautiful story to confirm it. I admired the persistance with which he and his friends prepared for this adventure. And of course the whole Universe was there to help them overcome all the challenges they faced. Add to this the great music selection and you get a piece of art to enjoy!