Monthly Archives: December 2020

My love for movies is the only part of my personality that has stayed steady throughout my life. Other things come and go, but I will always be able to sit down and escape through a movie.

Although, I wasn’t always invested in movies for the art. When I was really young, I would watch movies purely because they were mesmerizing, and my brain was the size of a raisin. Turn on the TV, WHOW, there’s colorful faces, cool!

Every weekend, I’d watch movies with my parents and brothers. As we all got older, my parents would gradually start showing more, well real, movies. Simultaneously, my appreciation for real movies developed. Acting became more emotional, scenery became more allusive, plot became more complex, symbolism become more significant. And then, I found a movie that has forever changed the way I view cinema: Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Words cannot describe my love for this film, but I will make a valiant effort to formulate a cohesive address. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a huge collage of expressive excitement. To start, the plot is witty and adventurous. The story revolves around concierge Gustave H. and lobby boy Zero of The Grand Budapest Hotel in the 1930s. After a lover of Gustave dies, she leaves to Gustave an extremely expensive Renaissance painting called “Boy with Apple.” Outraged that Gustave received the painting, the family of Gustave’s lover (with aid from the police) begins to hunt down Gustave to get the painting. Gustave and his lobby boy Zero are then chased all around creation. Skiing showdowns, thrown in jail, giant shoot off within the hotel. Each scene is more invigorating than the last.

And not only that, but each scene is more hilarious than the last. The comedy and satire within this movie are so memorable. Anderson directs his characters and camera angles in such a manner that depicts the absurdity of human interaction and the awkwardness that spawns from it. The way his characters speak, act, and react are so absurd but also so realistic. Also, his movies always have historically accurate satire, such as the subtle WWII details and commentary within The Grand Budapest Hotel.

But what really makes this movie art is Wes Anderson’s craftsmanship when directing this film. The aspect ratio, the color in each scene, the placement of objects and characters, the camera angles, the character portrayals, the scenery, the lighting, the cinematography. I can just go on and on. Just as every great artist has his/her own unique style that differentiates his/her work, Wes Anderson is on Cloud Nine with is directing style. And the Grand Budapest Hotel is the greatest epidemy of any Anderson film. Every scene within this movie is like looking at a moving painting. The visuals are extremely appealing and pleasing. The dialogue is amusing and complex. The audio blends each element together perfectly. All of this make the film ten times more fun to watch, making it more than the plot, taking it one step further and making it more than the symbolism.

After watching this movie, my appreciation for little details such as these increased. Not only that, but my craving for more experiences such as this began to augment. Movies (if done right because I have seen bad movies before) can really pack a punch. There is so much that can be portrayed through a movie. Film is an artform that brings together numerous artform to create a completely immersive experience. Music, plot, visual art, all of these artforms which I have described in past posts can be cleverly interweaved to create an out-of-world experience.

I often find myself watching movies to escape from life. Not that life is bad, but that life is complex. Films let you experience feelings you may never experience in your own life, or experience feeling that you feel all the time. Seeing new place, different people, new ways of life, new ways of thinking. I always hope to experience a new world, or maybe explore an old one. Not only that, but you can have these experiences with others too. A way to connect with others.

This movie is probably the greatest gateway drug artform that I have experienced, really the product that gave me the idea for this blog. All this time I have been meaning to write about movie because they mean so much to me. So much of my character, my mannerisms, my though process, my understanding of the world have developed from the movies I have seen. I hope that everyone can find solace in any artform, whether it be painting, music, dance, or anything, as I have found solace in film.

Classical music was always just, well, there. Throughout all my life, classical music merely existed, nothing more than that. Nobody in my family ever played any instruments, so I was never surrounded by any real music, nor inspired to pursue music.

One day while studying for my exams freshman year, I found a song called “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy in my YouTube recommended. It appeared to be classical by the thumbnail having a piano in it, and I figured I’d try listening to classical music while studying for a change. And oh boy, what a change it was.

I was instantly struck by the ambiguous tones in the song, and each tonal pivot would strike my heart strings. Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” is so elegant in its manner of adapting to any emotion. It’s tone can be interpreted with joy, melancholy, fear, anguish, excitement, curiosity, the list is unending. The title in English translates to “moonlight.” Just as moonlight can depict distress, excitement, or both, Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” insights a wide range of emotions. Each high and each pause are arranged meticulously to evoke arousal and suspense. Debussy coerces upon his listeners an emotional roller-coaster with constant, vivid ups and downs.

I’m not any music aficionado, and I don’t know anything about music theory. Although, I do know that this song made me feel so much in what seemed like a blink of an eye. And this wasn’t even in person. This song inspired me to take interest in other classic genres. Eventually, I would seek out opportunities where I could hear some of these songs performed in person. And my god, listening to the piano in person is an experience. You can express so much emotion through the piano, the way the instrument quakes when you play it, you can feel the intensity in both the audio and the physical. Not only do you hear the piano, but you see the piano.

Although I have come to love classic music and the piano, I have yet to learn how to play the piano. It has become a dream to me, a goal which I hope to achieve at some point. Understanding how deep an impact the piano has had on me, and watching others play the piano, it seems like playing the piano is the most sensation way of feeling the emotion of each note. It is almost like another language, another way of expressing what one holds deep inside.