Burning in paradise

Category: Movies

  • mio in the shore

    over the weekend as i was surfing the web, i came across a still image with a quote at the bottom. i read the quote and for whatever reason, the quote stuck a chord in me. i looked a little deeper and found that the image was actually a screen grab for a movie called, mio on the shore. thats usually enough for me to check out a strange movie.

    so i found it online and watched it over two days.
    the main character is 20 year old mio, who is super reserve and rarely speaks. super timid, even if she’s in the midst of a conversation it just head nods and innocence gazes. seemingly when the movie starts mio hasn’t really found her way in the world. she still lives at home under the guidance of her grandmother.
    i got the feeling that her family was very understanding of mio and her timidness. they just accept her for who she it. anywhere else in the world they may have got to a doctor and say, “something wrong with my daughter.” even while watching a question if there was something wrong with mio, thank you western medicine. in this world is people who don’t fit into a certain set of parameters are sent to the doctor to be “fixed”. but beautifully for mio she just allowed to be her.
    it touched me to find a character than can unapologetically themselves and not be a huge personally like clint eastwood or Samuel l. Jackson. and no one’s trying to change her, her friends aren’t trying to make her more out going, her sister at one point just sit with her in silence as the stare off into the distance. there was a huge sense of patience for mio, she given a lot of grace and time to figure herself and find her words. as i watch i almost envied her a bit. even if she was silent no one imposed on her.
    in my experience being quiet and timid can be enough to get bullied or taken advantage of. it seen as a weakness where i’m from. family member would find it rude if i didn’t speak to them, friends may take it as you’re trying to act high and mighty, like you’re too good for them. its really quite an odd phenomena when you think about it. people don’t know what to make of your silence and the easiest thing to do is thing negative of nothing.
    as the movie goes on she leaves town and start to branch out a bit, she encounter so really good people. strangers and neighbors that you would want to live next to in real life. these strangers, later friends, open mio’s world and exposing her to what community can be with the right people as she help run a bath house.

    nothing wild and adventurous happens, there is no shoot out or revenge plot. i don’t really think there is a plot. but its great movie to watch about a young lady trying to blossom.

    to watch click here: https://geo.dailymotion.com/player.html?video=x8hpf6k

    oh i almost forgot, i took some screenshots of scene i thought were cool and looked good.

  • Do The Right Thing

    Do The Right Thing is a movie I’ve heard about for years now and I finally made my way to see it. Spike Lee’s movies are always powerful with what feels like a hidden message if you’re sharp enough to catch it. Mookie, the main character played by Spike Lee, works at Sal’s Pizzeria delivering pizzas around the neighborhood on foot. As he makes his deliveries we meet the neighbors(or supporting cast) which all play their part in communicating Spike Lee’s many messages throughout the movie.  

    Mookie, the main character, is a hard working young man that tends to play peacemaker throughout the film. He focused on making money and though he’s not like the majority of the people in the neighborhood without a job, he still has his own sets of issues when it comes to responsibilities and maturing as an adult. 

    The three elders, as I call them, watch from across the street observing and criticizing the neighborhood, amazed at how the Korean shop owners have done so much in such little time since their arrival to the neighborhood. One of the wise men says that in time he’s going to save up his money and do the same thing as the Korean shop owner. But quickly the one of the other elders confronts him telling him that he isn’t going to do anything. That he’s just all talk. 

    Tina, played by Rosie Perez (Mookie’s baby’s mother), complains about Mookie not doing enough for her and the baby but also is continuing to see Mookie for good times. When Mookie tries to leave she quickly switches back from loving partner to angry baby mother.

    Each character has a message or a theme that they are trying to communicate either directly or indirectly through their actions. If you haven’t seen Do the right Thing, I suggest you give it a watch and see if you can catch all the different themes and messages that the cast is trying to communicate to the viewers. I feel a lot of these characters are still around in modern day. 

  • Movie Recommendation: Higher Learning (1995)

    Directed by: John Singleton

    Watch Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson and Michael Rapaport as they leave home for the first time to head off to college. Facing issues on race, sexuality, and identity as they try and figure out their first semester. See what happens when they are faced with challenges and how every individual deals with them and what the guidance from an educator can do for young men and women when lost along the road to find themselves. 

  • Andrew Allen talks Movies with Quartersnacks

    Quartersnack sat down with Andrew Allen to talk about some of his favorite movies and the references that he’s pulled from them over the years. Board graphics, video part songs, magazine ads, a bunch of stuff that I didn’t realize were references to films I had seen before. I should probably pull things from my favorite films or television shows and see what I can do. 

    Movies mentioned in the video:

    Point Break

    The Lost Boys (1987)

    Heat

    Goodfellas

    Terminator 2

    Twin Peaks (1990)

  • Ballerina

    Ballerina

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