CHRISTMAS IS COMING EARLY THIS YEAR

I am such a Wes Anderson nerd; so can't wait for this one! To quote cnet: "Wes Anderson out-Wes Andersons himself".

Also very much feeling the poster:

Ps. Are you following Accidentally Wes Anderson on instagram? Love that account!

LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE

Photo: Neil Kendall

It will be a full moon tonight and if the sky is clear I know I will most likely be woken up by it, as it stares straight into my window around 3am with a light strong enough to penetrate my sleep. But I still don't want to close the curtains because there is just something about being woken up by a bright full moon, so I most often tend to stare back at it for a while and ponder the universe.

So in honour of that I'll post a picture from a photo series inspired by Méliès 1902 film La Voyage Dans La Lune – taken at the end of this summer, when I had the chance to shoot with amazing vintage style photographer Neil Kendall in Chester and I got to be the first one to try out his new moon set!

Not to be shared without proper credits.

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Waiting for November then!

Queen was the first band I was an actual fan of! I did my first presentation ever in school about the band. My mom helped me put it together. That was a terribly long time ago already.

Biopics like these can either be a hit or miss (and sometimes going back and forth between either one), but lets hope this one is good! So far I like how the song mix for the trailer is made, so lets make that a god sign.

Ze interwebz told me the movie has a campaign where you can sing Bohemian Rhapsody karaoke-style with your phone and perhaps get your voice in the films (guessing ending credits?) and apart from the looking-for-a-shot-talented-singers I keep thinking of the thousands and thousands of terrible ones that have to, just have to (forbidden karaoke songs: immigrant song by Led Zeppelin or Bohemian Rhapsody) happen. And that somebody has to listen trough. Give me half a bottle of red and a late night and I'm in! (No, please don't).

RGB

Altough in general I was always more of a CMYK person.

I've been organising, kind of, as in trying to, which rather means: looking at and going trough things at home that have been packed in boxes; drawings and sketches and paintings from my art school years. And then I thought about those years. And then I watched this and thought about art school some more.

I like the red one best.

THE COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES

Some time ago I watched the film Sayat-Nova / The Colour of Pomegranates.

It is a1968 Soviet film written and directed by Sergei Parajanov that tells the story bout Sayat Nova, the Armenian 18th century poet and musician. It describes his life symbolically and poetically via his works, often with an allegoric meaning, rather than presenting the events told in a form that we are used to. This did not result in a very amicable reception from Soviet officials the time; the name of the film was changed from Sayat-Nova to The Colour of Pomegranates the most religious iconography were edited away, and the international release was not until years later. (Plus, Parajanov was persona non grata because of his films for a long time and was also imprisoned in the 70's.) But the internet can tell you all that in better detail.

The Colour of Pomegranates is different from and not directly comparable to any other film I've seen - I got into watching if after reading a film review int he paper that said it was un-rateable, as it is a category of it's own. It's a captivating and also, in it's on way, a very strange film.

Actress Sofiko Chiaureli plays several roles troughout the film, both male and female.

The scenes are like paintings; tableaus with Armenian imagery and folkloristic elements. For me it's like some snippets from a memory, the way the childhood is remembered with some details strong and others more fairy tale like, and sometimes like a mind flow; of poems or how they may have been inspired. Not always easy to get but then again one does not have to.

The movie just quit on Yle Arena (great timing I know you're welcome) but is available here and there online and for purchase on Amazon. The 2014 restored version is the closest to the original cut.


Film caps via image searches, mainly from here and here.

SKAM

I'm going to end my little blogging hiatus here by telling you that I've been watching the Norwegian teenage drama SKAM a lot lately. It has the unanticipated and dubious effect of me kind of wishing for my late teenage years again, which I guess says quite a lot about the series as I knowingly loathed being a teenager. (But to be fair, the gymnasium years, between age 16 and 18, were rather nice in the end; it was the early teenage years that I nowadays am sure would be one of Dante's levels of hell if one were to actually end up in such.)

The series have been super popular among it's main target audience; the young ones (which, let's face it, I am non longer a part of, something which becomes undeniably and painfully clear when you for example hear yourself telling the soon-to-be 16 year old at home you actually are a pretty cool person, that do know things about life. Oh my.), but on my Facebook feed all my middle aged friends are obsessively bingeing it. It's hard not to.

SIGN OF THE DOG

Here's the video for Dark Country that we shot earlier this spring!

You can see some behind-the-scenes footage and making-of in my previous post.

DARK COUNTRY: BEHIND THE SCENES

In April I filmed a music video for my friend (and total multi-talent) Sampo's duo band Dark Country (Sampo Marjomaa & Jami Pietilä).
The setting was something of a classic 50's horror tale with werewolf vibes but also a comment on on the wolf hate and hunting craze that still is around in this country (and hate/haters in general as well).

Here are some behind-the-scenes from the days of filming:

It was a big and nice crew to work with! But outdoor filming is always outdoor filming -I have never (well, almost) filmed anything anywhere that would actually be comfortable all the way, no matter how lovely it may look (me walking on a hey field in summer - so sticky! I had pants and my old harbour boots on underneath the dress! And last winter we filmed the Knucklebone Oscar video in a warehouse with -10C indoors for example...there's always something!).  This surely was no exception - it was an especially cold weekend for the time of year when filming the woods part, and it rained most of the night when we shot. But anything cold and wet just makes one feel real cosy and relieved afterwards when thinking about it and seeing the material now the rain really looks like it would have been ordered and suits the whole picture perfectly.
 We'll get back to the final video in just a bit!

Indoor shots by Minna Lehtinen, outdoor photos by Roscoe Lee.

"SON OF A BITCH, I'M SICK OF THESE DOLPHINS"

The other night I was talking about movies and reminded myself about  my love for Wes Anderson's films, in the same time realising it's been a while since I've watched any.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is one of my absolute favourite movies of all time, so full of detail that I've been able to watch it over and over again. And so are all the Anderson films, very visual, with a subtle humor that works. All the worlds and characters Anderson creates have always appealed to me and somedays you just want to get lost in them. Last night we were filming until three in the morning so today is really one of those days; my tired mind just wants to soak into a pastel coloured space where everything is specific, tidy and everyone deeply dysfunctional.

(The internet provded me with screencaps 1, 2, 3)

What is your favourite Anderson movie? I actually haven't seen them all (yet!) though; Rushmore still to go! And a new round of Zissou, of course, always.