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Reviews
The Mindful Way (1977)
A rare documentary of life at Ajahn Chah's monastery
Although there are audio recordings and transcritions of Ajahn Chah's talks, videos recordings of him are quite rare. This is a wonderful documentary of life at his monastery Wat Pah Pong. The images convey some of the peace and serenity that people who have visited the place often talked about. There are some snippets of wisdom from Ajahn Chah, both simple and profound, including the famous simile for meditation, often quoted by Ajahn Brahm, of sitting sill by a forest pool where wonderful animals come out to bathe.
Amarcord (1973)
My favourite film by Fellini and one of my favourite films of all time
This is literally a wonderful film, with images and scenes that fill our mind with wonder and often seem to come out of a dream. Fellini once said that in order to make a film one needs the same technical mastery required to send a rocket into space, and one can only marvel not only at the images, but also at his ability to recreate in the movie his dream world.
Like other later movies by Fellini, the film does not really have a story line but consists of a series of episodes taking place over a year and conveying an atmosphere of the city of Rimini, where Fellini grew up, in the time of fascism. I think it was Italo Calvino who remarked that this is one of the best renderings in art of Italy under fascim.
This is one of my favourite movies of all time and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Le cas Perrot (2019)
Nice combination of oneiric subject and realism in the way of filming
I enjoyed the film and the combination of the oneiric subject - with which many viewers will probably at least in part identify - and the realistic way of filming it (e.g. Sometimes using the camera movement that one finds in documentary films).
Much of the story takes place at a school named after Baudelaire; and one is fittingly reminded of the poet's verses both on on sleep and on the sun. There is an internal logic in the dream-like story that defies rational explanation, and some scenes were for me rich in evocation of literary and philosophical themes. There is for example a reference to Andersen's famous tale in one of the several humorous scenes of the film. I was also reminded of Plato's myth of the cave, though the light of the sun seems to have the opposite meaning here than in the philosopher's allegory.
Overall this movie has been a nice discovery for me.