67th Cannes Festival

The Cannes Festival is taken place on these days (14-25 of May). It is an international cinema festival which was made to make public the new talents and promote de cinema in general. There are different categories in the festival to show the diversity of the cinema creation. The different categories are: "In competition" where there are some films chosen by the jury, "Un certain regard", "Special projections" where we can see some original and peculiar films and finally there is one categories for short films.

Billboard's film

The categorie which is more famous is the first one because the films are more popular and there is a lot of competition between them. The jury has got a lot of complications when he has to choose the best film. In this 67 edition, one of the best film for the audience and the journalists is Maps to the stars. This film transmits a decadent image of the Hollywood's world which is full of treacheries, violence and envies. Another distinguished film is Le Meraviglie, the only italian production in the festival. This drama explains the history of four daughters whose parents have brought up in a remote farm because they think that the end of the world is arriving.

The winer of the previous year was the french film La vie de Adele and on 2012 and 2011 were Amour and The tree of life respectively.

 

New films reviews!

WINTER'S BONE (2010 - EUA) Zebra Granik

Genre: drama/thriller

Synopsis: This film is about a younger who is seventeen years old that she has to look after her family which they live in uncertain situation in a rural area. She has to take care of his little brothers and his mother who is sick. His father has gone away while he was in conditional freedom after being on the prison. For this reason, she has to search his father in order to maintain the house.

Opinion: I have seen the film and I can say that the story fascinates me; maybe for the character's characterization. This is amazing and probably the thing which makes the film to stands out from another films. The director defines them like sad and not so much sociable people. They are the product of a lonely and isolated surrounding. From another poing of view, it was the first film which I could see Jennifer Lawrence performing. She is the main character and she carries out an authentic and brilliant interpretation. The film achieves putting you on tension all the time because you are suffering for the familiy's safety. Anyone wants to help the younger and this pushes her to do anything in order to achieve her objective: find her father. Finally, all the film develops on cold and distressing atmosphere and this reaffirms the cruel story and the difficult situation which has to face the younger.

LOPE (2010 - Spain) Andrucha Waddington

Genre: romance

Synopsis: This film is the biography about the famous writer Lope de Vega (1562-1635). The film explains a passionate and difficult love story from the poetry with two women. One of the women could help him with his professional career and the other represents the true love. Which woman will choose?

Opinion: I don’t tend to see Spanish films but I saw this film and I liked it. It is a very realistic film because it reconstructs the biography of Lope de Vega but without an historic punt of view. Well, the film is set in a historic atmosphere but the film doesn’t rebuild exactly his whole life, only a part. The Lope’s life was very intense and passionate; he had a lot of lovers and wrote loads of comedies and poems probably during the night or whenever the inspiration comes to him. While you are enjoying a fantastic love story, you can make and idea of how was his personality and how was the theatre life on that period. Moreover, on the film there are some pieces of Lope’s poems.

Suggestions - Catching Fire, The Road, Jo Mai.

Review of Into the wild

The real Christopher McCandless

This film explains a real history about a guy (Christopher McCandless, alias Alexander Supertramp) who decides to abandon his possessions, his family and his comfortable life to set forth on a trip. When he finishes the university in 1900, he goes to Alaska in order to connect with the nature. He doesn’t feel happy in the society and he thinks that he would find happiness and peace in the nature.

Christopher McCandless's character in the film

I really enjoyed the film because it made me think a lot. I think that he has the ideas very clear and this is what pushes him to search his own path. He is this kind of people who don’t like living in the society because they think that the properties, the money and the relationships aren’t as important as we think. Alexander Supertramp takes his conception to the extreme and finally, he dies. The humans are social animals, for this reason it is very difficult for all of us to live on the margins of the society.

This film is one more example of these groups of people who decide to live apart from the society. Along the story there have been some groups of people who have decided to build their own life apart. For example, the Epicureans or the Stoics in the Ancient Greece. Nowadays there are also people who live in self-sufficiently away from the civilization because they are against the capitalism and they aren’t happy with the actual system of values. The difference between these groups of people and Alexander Supertramp is that he starts his trip alone and he wasn’t so conscious of the difficulties and the riskiness. He meets some people who have opted for the same kind of life and they help him but only in punctual situations. Moreover, this people tell him that he is a little crazy to go to Alaska alone and without anything.

 

One aspect of the films that I want to outmark is the soundtrack. It has been very famous for the message of the songs. It was made by Eddie Vedder. (You can find it on the Spotiffy.)

These are some quotes which were written for Christopher McCandless:

“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

“If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed”

“I read somewhere how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong… but to feel strong”

Independent films VS commercial films

Hi! Today I will write about independent cinema and I will express my opinion about it. I will also suggest some independent films which I have seen.

The independent films are these which are made with a very little budget. The technical team is smaller than in the big productions and also, the shooting is larger. The directors and the screenwriters give more importance to the scripts than to the other productions, which give more importance to the technical aspects and special effects in order to impress the audience. Another difference between commercial and independent cinema is that the first one is made according to the spectator’s preferences and it is addressed to all the public. The second one is for a specific and more realistic sector of the population.

Here you can see independent films online https://www.filmin.es/ 

Personally I prefer independent films. For me, they are more realistic and have more quality in relation to the script. I don’t care so much about the special effects or the technical aspects, it is not important for me. Moreover, the independent films are more close to the spectator. They tend to be more original and creative and they are made to impress the spectator with the storyline. The audience of independent films is, sometimes, more critical and tough and they value the interpretation, the dialogues and the complicity between the actors and actresses.

In particular I like French independent cinema. I have seen some of these films and I really like them: for example Dans la Maison. This film explains a story about a young boy who, pushed by his professor, writes a kind of serialized novel about the family of one of his schoolmates. Finally, the reality confuses with the fiction. Another French independent film is Tomboy, the story of a girl who pretends to be a boy and taking the advantage of her short haircut and her outward appearance of a boy. 

TRAILER "DANS LA MAISON"

TRAILER "TOMBOY"

La Plana View

Hi bloggers, during the curse, in our advanced english subject we have done these blogs where you can find some videos and news about the topic.

• Kenny Mark's blog - http://markcoffiekenneth.blogspot.com.es/
• Fashion victim - http://fashionvictimtrends.blogspot.com.es/
• Culture Vulture -http://cinemaisculture.blogspot.com.es/
• A weekend with... - http://vicnightlife.blogspot.com.es/
• Anime & Manga - http://soundmusic8.blogspot.com.es/
• Cooking with Clàudia - http://sweetaste1.blogspot.com.es/
• Sports are life - http://sportimeislife.blogspot.com.es

This project is named La Plana View which is an online channel where you can find different programs recorded by us. There are some different topics: fashion, sports, leisure, culture, anime and manga and cooking. We hope like it!

Our teacher has present this projects to an audiovisual contest. If you want to see it you can click to this link: http://classede2on.wix.com/laplanaview1

Top 6 of the most popular films

Hello! In this publication you will read my interpretation of two results of the last survey: http://cinemaisculture.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/what-do-people-think-about-cinema.html

You will also found the top 6 most popular comedy, science fiction, dramatic, fantastic, historic and romantic film. Let's see!

According to the survey 65% of 20 tend to watch the films through the T.V and the other 35% tend to watch the films through the internet. Not one usally watch the films in the cinema.

This means that people who watch the films through the T.V, prefer watching a film than other T.V programs. This people aren't so much worried about which film they are going to watch because they adapt easily to the schedule. But the poeople who watch the films through the internet, they are more tough about the film they are going to watch. They choose a particular film, they can see it whenever they want and they don't depend on the scheldule. 

I think that the people who watch the films on the T.V are people who haven't got so much time to search a specific film on the network like it do the people who watch the films through the internet. This kind of people have more free time to search for the film they want to watch.

According to the survey, 10 of 20 people pay more attention to the landscapes and locations when they are watching a film. Only 7 of 20 people pay attention to the interpretation. It indicates that the people are more interested in what they are seeing and in the visual sight than the argument of the film. 

I though that it was different, I believed that the people paid more attention to the conversations or what the characters do. Maybe they prefer films with a spectacular landscapes and special effects without a good argument, they aren't so much critical and they reluctantly accept most of the films.

Finally, I think that it would be interesting to group the most six popular films depending on the genre. 

The most popular science fiction for excellence is: AVATAR



The most popular comedy is: INTOCABLE



The most popular dramatic film is: LO IMPOSIBLE




In the most popular romantic film there is a tie: TITANIC / 3 METROS SOBRE EL CIELO
 


The most popular historic film is: THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS




And... the most popular fantastic film: HARRY POTTER

What do the people think about cinema?

Hello! I've asked to twenty people to answer a little survey about cinema. The results are reflected on the following infographics.

The firsts questions were about general habits related to the cinema:

     

Then, I asked the people to choose one from six fantastic films, historic, romantic, comedy, dramatic and science fiction. Let's see:

SUGGESTIONS - 3rd video

The success of "VI Premis Gaudí"

The  “Premis Gaudí” are some important awards in Catalunya. The awards are given by the “Academia del cinema català” who value the films which are made by Catalan people in the last year 2013. The celebration took place on 2n february in a Barcelona’s theatre.

Nora Navas and Clara Segura

The award for the best film was for “La Plaga”, a film about a farmer who gets into a humoristic story when he meets three peculiar women. The award for the best female interpretation was awarded to Norva Navas for her interpretation in “Tots volem el millor per ella”. The prize for the best male interpretation was awarded to José Sacristan for his interpretation in “El muerto y ser feliz”. The prize for the best secondary actor and actress was for Ramon Madaula and Clara Segura respectively.

We should enhace the paper of “Barcelona, nit d’estiu”, a film made by a director who débuts with this film. The film was nominated for the best film and for the best soundtrack. Sadly, it only received the prize for his original soundtrack made by Joan Dausà.

Well, the leading film of the festival was “Los últimos días”. This film shows us a catastrophic society overwhelmed for a strange epidemic. The population has to keep inside the buildings or houses in order to keep alive because if they go outside, they can die. It is in this context, where the main character will search for his lover. This film received 7 awards. The second film which received more awards was “La plaga” with 4 awards, and “Tots volem el millor per ella” with 2 awards.

Moreover, I will remark the award that was given to “Món petit” for the best documentary. I talk about it in my last video: 
http://cinemaisculture.blogspot.com.es/2014/01/suggestions-cinema-theatre-and-books-2n.html

All the awarded people

The gala was a big success. It was very humoristic and funny. It was led by Àngel Llàcer: he sang, danced and judged the current society. The actors, actress, directors, productors... talked also about the politic position of the moment. They especially defended the derogation of the recent law of abortion. You can live again all the occurrence in this link: 

http://www.tv3.cat/3alacarta/#/videos/4888112

SUGGESTIONS: cinema, theatre and books. (2n chapter)

NEW SUGGESTIONS

IN TIME (2011) Andrew Niccol. EUA

Genre: action / science fiction

Synopsis: This film is set on a future society. The people have a clock on their arms and when they are 25, the clock switches on. This means that the people stops growing up and they have to get time in order to live more years. But the differences between rich and poor people are extreme. The rich population can live a lot of years and the poor population has to fight every day to achieve more time. The protagonist achieves a lot of time and he is followed by a corrupt police.

Opinion: It is a very good futurist film and it seems very real. The story is very thrilling and keeps you in tension all along it  because the time of the characters is finishing and it means that they can die. This film has got an interesting background because it transmits a lot of values about the future society. I recommend the film to the people who like futurist and science fiction films.

50 FIRST DATES (2004) Peter Segal. EUA

Genre: romantic comedy

Synopsis: Lucy Whitmore has an accident and receives a blow on the head. This implies that she loses her memory. When she gets up every morning, she doesn’t remember the day before; it means that every day is brand new for her. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) falls in love with Lucy but her lack of memory isn’t an impediment for their relation.

Opinion: This film explains a funny story which could be tragic but it isn’t. It also has sad and romantic scenes. The couple decides to create a family and be happy in spite of  Lucy’s problem. It shows that  love doesn’t have limits. The interpretations of the characters are wonderful. If you like comedy and romantic films, you will enjoy this film so much.

WEDNESDAYS TO THE CINEMA

In Spain, the principal associations of the cinema industry have started and initiative to promote the cinema. That’s why they have begun a campaign called “Wednesdays to the cinema” with the objective of getting more audience to the cinema. The campaign started on 15 of January and will finish on 15 of April. The tickets cost between 3,70€ to 4,90€ depending on the cinema. So far, 306 cinemas around Spain have added on the campaign. They want to promote the value of the cinema as a cultural and a social experience as well as entertaining.

This initiative started after the success of the “Cinema Party”. The “Cinema Party” was celebrated during three days in December. You were able to go to the cinema paying only three Euros.

In Vic, you will enjoy this offer in Multicines Sucre and Vigatà. You can consult the cinemas around Spain which are adhering to this campaign on the link. 

http://www.hoycinema.com/actualidad/noticias/miercoles-cine-las-salas-las-20140108-791272.html

SUGGESTIONS: theatre, cinema and books. (1st chapter)

CINEMA IN THE PAST

Hello! This is an interview in which you will see the differences between how the cinema was thirty years ago and how it is nowadays. The interviewee is an adult so you will see a different perception of the cinema than the teenagers have.

Did you use to go the cinema when you were young?

Yes, I went to the cinema two or three times a week. In the past there weren’t so many distractions so the people used to go to the cinema. The sessions were double, which meant that the cinemas projected only two films one after the other and the films were different each week, you couldn’t choose.

Did you only watch films at the cinema?

No, I also watched films on TV on Saturday’s afternoon.

What type of films did you use to watch? And which do you watch now?

In the past I used to watch adventure and western films. Currently, I see all the genres excepting Spanish cinema.

Do you go to the cinema nowadays?

No, I don’t,  because it is very expensive and I don’t have so much time. But if the prices were better I would go to the cinema more often.

Do you like the type of films shown on TV?

On TV most of the films are comercial and contemporany. I also like old films and independent cinema. Nowadays there aren’t so many “big productions” like Titanic or La guerra de les galaxies and the films seem to be simpler and not so elaborated..

What channel do you use to watch the films? Why?

It depends on the film. First I check the schedule of all the channels on TV and then I choose the film that I thing could be more interesting.