quote of the week

“Stand a little less between me and the sun.”
(Diogenes (412 BC - 323 BC))

“the torch” #37 – A cinephile’s truism: film conquers reality

The Spanish without doubt are among the most accomplished when it comes to all kinds of conquering. From “La Reconquista” to “La Convivencia”, those Conquistadores apparently knew what they were doing and profited greatly, even winning almost an entire new continent for themselves and their King (temporarily at least). If reality was to gradually become a colony to our fantasy and secret wishes – maybe that is what is happening right now? “The Torch” this week maintains that a cultural acquaintance doesn’t always have to end in the dispossession of the other. But, if not of triumph, what are we talking about here? That films should have it in them to implant attention-grabbing details in our heads and with guerrilla-like persistence to penetrate our imagination, this is undeniably true. What power does the medium hold over reality, then, one might come to ask. This truism is put to the test right: here.

(pic©mo)

quote of the week

“Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemy displays, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous maneuver. I think that no idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered and viewed with a searching, but at the same time, I hope, with a steady eye.[...] Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender[...]”
(Sir Winston Churchhill, House of Commons address (1940))

quote of the week

The river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.
And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors;
Departed, have left no addresses.
By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept...
Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song,
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not load or long.
But at my back in a cold blast I hear
The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear.

(T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922))

“the torch” #36 – High trash

Be funny or die trying – well, that’s a way to put it. Whether you think it particularly tasteful is another matter, but one probably worth looking into. The humorous adventure of serving something which is not quite in line with common taste and liking – in film, it must be handled with good care and graciousness if it is not to spoil everything and make a movie lose all audience support. Where tackiness is concerned, we do have our very distinct and personally defined limits, each and every one of us, that would tell at which point fun is ending and a nuisance begins (or vice versa). Not to overstep this border, or if so, to do it discerningly and as just a minor offence which is entertaining because it is tolerable, that’s the task precisely and needs to be negotiated every time anew. “The Torch” addresses this issue of (im)moderation in generating the right effects: here.

(pic©mo)

2 masters now on record

In proto-ymagon’s ongoing effort to promote quality in filmmaking, I would like to bring the following to your attention: Two of the all-time best short films to come out of Singapore have now been newly added on IMDb.com.

Locust by Victric Thng (2003)



After The Rain by Royston Tan (2007)



Do check out the entries for yourself (links provided above) and give it your vote, everybody!

(pics©purrfectnine; Zhao Wei Films)

quote of the week

“The mildness of Marcus, which the rigid discipline of the Stoics was unable to eradicate, formed, at the same time, the most amiable, and the only defective, part of his character. His excellent understanding was often deceived by the unsuspecting goodness of his heart. Artful men, who study the passions of princes, and conceal their own, approached his person in the disguise of philosophic sanctity, and acquired riches and honours by affecting to despise them.”
(Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1781))