A woman holding a fetus (Гоген)
Gauguin often combines the portrait genre with the landscape genre, for the combination of one genre of painting with another was the main theme of Gauguin's art - "the consonance of human life with the animal and vegetable world in compositions in which the great voice of the earth plays a major role.
The heroine of most of the master's paintings is a beautiful, wild and mysterious Tahitian woman. It is through her majestic and flexible image that Gauguin conveys his pantheistic vision of the world.
So, for example, in the canvas The Woman Holding the Fetus, the artist transformed a perfectly mundane everyday motif into a sublime and aesthetic one. The foreground depicts a young Tahitian girl of a bride's age in a bright red pareo, carefully holding the fruit of a tropical plant like a child.
At some distance from her, in the background of the huts, sit her friends, looking intently at the viewer. The style of this work is much softer and more natural than the master's previous paintings. The drawing has almost lost its former sharpness, and the line has gained flexibility and liveliness.
Through the composition, Gauguin has unobtrusively combined flat, rhythmic motifs, softening the boundaries of contrasting colours. The colouring of the painting is exquisite; thanks to the variety of warm pink hues, it seems to be covered by a sultry heat.
The silhouette of the woman is outlined with simple and clear contours. The artist admires her calm, swarthy face and natural grace of her posture. The pattern of the skirt resembles the shape of branches and leaves above the woman's head.
The Hermitage painting has a Tahitian title which was given to it by Gauguin. It translates: "Where are you going?". It's a question the islanders ask the people they meet. The answer must be given by the protagonist of the painting. The fruit in her hands is a pumpkin, used as a vessel for water. If you look closely, you can even make out the string holding the vessel.
Gauguin does not strive for optical fidelity in conveying the world around him. He paints not so much what he sees as what he wants to see around him.
In their flatness, ornamentation and brightness of colours Gauguin's paintings resemble decorative fabrics and, to a certain extent, the art of oriental populations.
In addition, Gauguin aroused with his work a great interest in the culture of non-European nations, and this constitutes his undoubted merit.
The painting The Woman Holding the Fetus is from the Tahitian period of Gauguin's work. It was executed in Polynesia, where the artist was drawn by a romantic dream of the natural harmony of life. An exotic world, full of mystery, unlike Europe. Impressions of the vivid colours and lush vegetation of Oceania, of the appearance and life of the Tahitians became a source of inspiration for the painter.
A big budget doesn’t always mean a good film
Так уж повелось, что мы любим смеяться над тем, что в обычной жизни может довольно сильно пугать. В реальной жизни при контакте с различного рода криминалом и преступностью человек скорее всего испугается, однако мы с интересом смотрим фильмы на эту тема, а когда туда примешивается доля юмора, то сочетание нравится нам еще больше. Гай Ричи - британский режиссер, съевший собаку как раз на такого рода фильмах. Сочетание сюжета про разборки различных мафиози и преступников с фирменным английским юмором выходит у режиссера просто мастерски и доказал он это именно этим фильмом, являющемся при этом еще и дебютом.
Карты, деньги, два ствола - очень бюджетный и камерный фильм про случайные совпадения, нелепые сюжетные повороты и прочие превратности судьбы на улицах криминального мира Лондона. Главные герои - компашка молодых шальных ребят, решивших поднять легкие деньги на игре в карты с серьезными людьми. Прогорев и задолжав кругленькую сумму, они решают пойти на ограбление, чем ныряют еще глубже в пучину проблем разборок между местными преступными элементами.
Именно в этом фильме впервые появляется все те фишки, за которые впоследствии зритель полюбил Ричи. Фирменный монтаж, оригинальная и запоминающаяся подборка музыки и песен, почти тарантиновские диалоги, харизматичные, смешные преступники и легкий юмор — все это сочетается в прекрасном ансамбле и создает ту самую легкую и задорную атмосферу, которая так всем нравится. При этом фильму совсем не мешает откровенно маленький бюджет. Темные, тесные улицы и помещения, статичные ракурсы, практически любительская камера, отсутствие каких-либо эффектов — все это очень уместно смотрится в фильме про разборки мелкой шпаны в ночном городе.
С ростом популярности бюджеты и качество фильмов Ричи росло. Картинка и декорации становились только лучше, да и актеры первой величины не брезговали сняться в картинах режиссера. При этом фирменный стиль повествования, юмор и атмосфера его картин остаются все теми же, что и в этом дебютном фильме. Кто-то может поругать режиссера за то, что он часто снимает все про то же и все также - может это и так, но его первый фильм точно нельзя назвать вторичным или неоригинальным ведь именно с него потом и брал вдохновение сам автор и многие подражатели.
As it happens, we like to laugh at things that in real life can be quite frightening. In real life, contact with all kinds of crime and criminality is more likely to scare people, but we watch films about it with interest, and when there's a bit of humour involved, we like the combination even better. Guy Ritchie is a British director who has made movies like this. He masterfully combines the various Mafia bosses and criminals with trademark English humour and he proved it with this film, which is his debut as well.
Cards, Money, Two Guns is a very budget and chamber film about coincidences, absurd plot twists and other vicissitudes of fate on the streets of London's criminal underworld. The main characters are a bunch of young, dashing guys who decide to make easy money playing cards with serious people. Having burned out and owing a tidy sum, they decide to go in for robbery, than they plunge deeper into the problem of squabbles between local criminals.
It is in this film that all the tricks for which viewers later fell in love with Ritchie appear for the first time. Original montage, original and catchy selection of music and songs, almost Tarantino dialogues, charismatic, funny criminals and light humour - all this combines in a wonderful ensemble and creates that light and cheerful atmosphere, which everybody likes so much. At the same time, the film is not hampered at all by the frankly small budget. Dark, cramped streets and rooms, static angles, almost amateurish camera, lack of any effects - all this looks very appropriate in a film about small-time punk squabbles in a night town.
As the budgets and quality of Ritchie's films grew in popularity. The picture and the scenery only got better, and the actors of first magnitude are not squeamish to star in pictures of the director. However, the signature style of narration, humor and atmosphere of his paintings are the same as in this debut film. Some may scold the director for often shooting everything about the same things - maybe so, but his first film can't be called secondary or unoriginal because it's the one from which the author and many imitators took their inspiration.
Review of favorite film
Watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I discovered not only one of Johnny Depp's best roles, but also the wonderful world of director Tim Burton. The film struck me at the time and still does to this day.
The film tells the story of a poor boy, Charlie Beckett, who for his birthday unexpectedly gets an unusual present - an invitation card hidden in a chocolate bar to the world-famous chocolate factory of the eccentric and mysterious inventor Willy Wonka. On the appointed day, Mr. Wonka opens the doors of the factory to Charlie and four other children who have also found the golden tickets, and gives them a guided tour of the shop where the sweets are made. But this tour has another purpose, and it remains to be seen how it will end up for the children and their parents...
The film is an excellent example of exploring the style and vision of one of the most extraordinary directors in Hollywood today - Tim Burton. Don't expect any ordinariness in the storyline - after all, even in movies based on true stories, he chooses something extraordinary and quirky. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is based on Roald Dahl's fairy tale novel of the same name, which gave the director a kind of creative freedom to be as weird as possible. Although the action takes place in the real world, at the chocolate factory it's as if we are transported into another world where incredible things happen - even if they are simply used to invent new kinds of chocolate sweets. We could even draw a parallel with Alice in Wonderland (5 years later, Burton will also adapt this fairy tale), only we're treated to such treats as edible grass, gum-lunch, eternal lollipops and a chocolate river in which chocolate is stirred by a waterfall...
However, although chocolate and chocolate adventures are at the centre of the story, it is not the main idea, but the importance and values of family. There's even some digression from the fairy tale plot as the storylines of some of the characters, particularly Willy Wonka, develop. But the theme of family and the importance of family relationships is almost always present in Burton's works, each time forcing us to reflect and reflect on the values of life.
I remember at one time struggling to recognize the oddball confectioner and chocolate factory owner Willy Wonka with the quirky glasses and perfect hair in velvet suits as Johnny Depp, but to this day, Willy Wonka remains one of his best roles! Incredibly eccentric and extravagant, with a cute smile and a gushing laugh, who knows all about chocolate and more, with a mysterious twinkle in his eye and a precise 'plan' for the tour. He's also interesting with his childhood history and the sudden flashbacks that come over him out of the blue, plunging him into memories. Throughout the film, we ask ourselves: What is Willy Wonka up to? And we watch on, eager to find out the answer.
The main character really is a boy, Charlie Beckett, who literally gets his lucky ticket and ends up in Willy Wonka's factory. Despite his family's poor financial situation, Charlie grows up to be a bright boy with a good heart who is even willing to sacrifice a dream for his family. A stunning performance by young actor Freddie Highmore!
Not to be forgotten are the other children who, in various ways, get golden tickets and also get a tour of the factory: the gluttonous August Gloop (Philip Wigratz), who eats chocolate in huge quantities; the spoilt girl Veruca Sol (Julia Winter), who has been getting everything her heart desires all her life; the ambitious athlete Violetta Beauregard (AnnaSophia Robb), who only cares about records and how to break them; the snooty and mean gamer Mike Tivy (Jordan Fry), who doesn't even like chocolate. All the young actors played their parts to perfection, creating convincing images of children who are quite real in real life.
Thanks to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I learned about Tim Burton, who later became one of my favorite directors. Now I will never turn down a journey through his wacky and intricate fairy tale worlds, full of oddities and wonders and equally quirky characters. And a trip through a chocolate factory is just the perfect start for getting to know the legendary director's creations!
Negative
There are horror films that haven't even made it to the screen yet, but they're already being talked about. For example, that it's the scariest film of all time, etc. That was the case with "Paranormal Activity", "The Ring" and other films.
But if I liked the aforementioned films and really scared me, the same can't be said about "The Babadook". Although it was advertised as a very scary horror film. In fact, movies about the beech out of the wardrobe, not so much, it would seem here he is room for imagination. But this film has problems with it, because instead of giving us something new, they just stick us with what we have seen in other films, and add a strange and unclear ending. What's more, even the monster himself is shown to us two or three times during the entire film.
The plot is pretty banal: a woman has an accident - her husband dies and she is left alone with a newly born son. And now, after six years, a beetle appears in their house and starts to spoil our heroine's and her son's life. And even after the final scene it is not clear what kind of monster it is and why it comes after this family. I mean not really, to understand what happens you have to pay attention to the book and what it says in more detail. But personally, I only understood it after it was explained to me.
However, in horror it is the atmosphere and the ways to frighten the audience that are much more important than the plot twists. Unfortunately, the film doesn't do much with that either. Again, nothing new. All the director tries to frighten us with is jarring noises which after "The Paranormal Phenomena" will, perhaps, never frighten anybody. And on the whole, the film looks more like a drama than a horror. Yes, the viewer becomes madly sorry for a lonely woman with a small child in her arms who no one understands or supports (although no one, she had a friend at work who was trying to look after her, only it's somehow quickly forgotten, it seems to vanish). But it's a horror, not a soap opera, which is also terribly drawn out. Almost a third of the film, almost nothing happens at all.
The only thing I liked was the acting. Both the main characters, mother and son, looked very alive and really evoked sympathy. So the beautiful Essie Davis, and young Noah Wiseman, at least brighten up the boredom of watching, a bit, with their acting. Though you won't make a horror film on acting alone, as the film shows us.
In whole, the film evidently does not live up to the expectations which arise after watching the trailer. In fact, you should limit your attention to the trailer and go and watch something more worthy, for instance, "The Boogeyman" or "Darkness Comes".
Positive
Interview with a vampire
If vampires were not a figment of human imagination, but a reality and you became one of them, how would you feel about such a life-changing experience? On the one hand, it might be considered a grand event, for you would have an immortal life and the opportunity to experience one historical epoch after another. Immortality implies the absence of fear of any disease or weapon. However, on the other hand, such a life guarantees a heavy burden, because you would have to say goodbye to the sun, family, friends and even love forever. And perhaps the worst thing that's waiting for you is the bloodlust, which will make you become a real monster that destroys all living things. That's the idea behind Interview with a Vampire.
Storyline
One late night in San Francisco, young journalist Daniel Malloy interviews a mysterious stranger who tells him the story of his long life, the life of a vampire. The story begins in the late eighteenth century, when a young man named Louis, ready to commit suicide after the death of his wife and unborn child, meets the vampire Lestat. This encounter changes everything...
Actor's performance
Without seeing the film, it's not hard to guess that the acting will be terrific, thanks to such a motley star cast. Brad Pitt played the role of Louis, a man who, even after being turned into a vampire, is still tormented. Tom Cruise played the classic villain, the vampire Lestat, who is content with the vampire life, but fears the worst that this fate brings - loneliness. However, the brightest star of this film is, of course, Claudia, played by a very young Kirsten Dunst. The actress did not get her Golden Globe nomination for nothing, because she had to play not a child, but a woman trapped in a little girl's body.
Directed by
Neil Jordan basically did a pretty good job and made a pretty good vampire movie. However, the film should not be categorized as a horror genre, despite the vampire theme. The director has shot the film from such a perspective that it is better classified as a mystical drama with horror elements. The director did not skimp on the violence and brutality depicted in the film. You can see this when you see the scenes of Louis fighting a clan of vampires. However, as a drama, the film turned out to be boring and didn't really cut into the soul.
Screenplay
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to read the book, so it will be difficult for me to judge the film as an adaptation. However, I will rate the film as a standalone. It is worth noting that the main part is a first-person narrative. The protagonist Louis almost commits suicide as he has lost the meaning of life after the death of his relatives. He is given a second "chance" by the vampire Lestat, who claims that the raison d'être of a vampire is to be content with life. Louis, dissatisfied with this answer, embarks on a quest to find other vampires to make sense of his cursed existence.
Soundtrack
Music is probably the key part of the film as it was the music which allowed the makers to achieve the gothic atmosphere and capture the spirit of the nineteenth century through a variety of melodies. Most of the tracks consisted of church choir, harpsichord as well as symphonic music combined in a polka or waltz.
Visuals, sets and costumes
What surprised me was that the film very rarely used computer graphics. The creators only resorted to it on rare occasions, namely in the "death" scene of Lestat, the fire in New Orleans and Claudia's death. Incidentally, given that the creators resorted to graphics on rare occasions, it looked realistic. Regarding the sets and costumes, I can say that the artists deserve an Oscar for such a professional display of talent.
Bottom line
"Interview with a Vampire" is one of the most memorable mystical thrillers. The film vividly showcases the twists and turns that a vampire experiences. However, it is worth noting that the film can seem tedious because of the behaviour of the protagonist, who perpetually walks sullenly.
What makes us find our own people
Who is "your person"? In my opinion, it is the person with whom you feel comfortable and safe. We are surrounded by a lot of people everywhere, family, society. To feel at ease, you just need to know that there is someone around you who can brighten any day with their mere presence.
For me it's quite difficult to talk about this topic. The most important thing for me is to be supportive, to have a good sense of humor, because without all that I feel sad, gloomy and downcast. Loyalty is also a very important quality; you can be sure that the person will be there for you no matter what. Honesty and faithfulness are also very important to me - I'm not the kind of person who forgives betrayal and also brazen lies, as I still choose the truth even in the most difficult situation in order to understand certain things.
Negative qualities from my point of view include selfishness, narcissism, excessive melancholy as well as laziness, although I am far from an altruist myself, but I always keep my laziness within the norm.
Much of my understanding of my person was put into me by my mother. She is the kindest person, sentimental, sensible and simply a beautiful woman, who is always ready to help in any situation. She showed me by her own example what a good person can be like. She also taught me that without understanding a person cannot be yours a priori.
I also saw some negative people when I was growing up, which made me realise that I don't want to tolerate and see in people. Unhealthy selfishness on the part of my peers literally suffocated me, nor did my classmates show a drop of compassion even in the most difficult situation. For the first time at school, I saw narcissistic, aggressive and cruel people, which left a certain imprint on my later life.
In conclusion, I would like to answer the question that carries the theme of this essay. We need people who will be there for us to maintain a stable emotional state, not only for ourselves, but also to help those who help you. I believe that you don't have to look for your own people, sooner or later, time will bring you together. Of course, it is not an easy process, you will have to go through a lot: quarrels, arguments, conflicts, maybe even something more serious. But your person will stay with you virtually forever.