酷我-北美枫

[星子]

I wrote this after watching the movie.
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[[ANNA]]

I wrote this after watching the movie.
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[星子]

Thank Eric to recommend this moive to me.

Here attach some review for the movie.

Author: Chris Docker (eyeforfilm) from Scotland, United Kingdom

What makes poetry a special art form? Answers might include bringing together extremes of joy and despair within a couple of lines, offering an alternative to rational thought, enriching our outlook and understanding in ways that prose would struggle to equal. Poetry can provide a single phrase or sentence that is easily remembered and somehow unlocks difficult-to-express inner states, just as a song can (and poetry is the basis of songs). It offers a freedom of expression where you don't need to explain every aspect of what you are saying - it urges the listener to grasp a semi-spoken truth or idea.

That's my rough guess. I've got over 40 books of poetry on my bookshelf at the last count, yet I'm no literary expert and appreciate poetry in a very simple way. Most people might agree that poetry offers something special, so a film celebrating the life of a famous poet might be expected to bring us a glimmer of that something.

Sylvia Plath has been championed not only as a poet but as a sort of ‘feminist' – a cry on behalf of women treated as a commodity, subjugated by an unfair male-dominated system. Cast in the lead role, Gwyneth Paltrow's Plath focuses much attention on how downtrodden she was, chained to two children, overshadowed by a brilliant and celebrated Ted Hughes, struggling with bitterness, jealousy, mental instability and a less than attractive persona. We also get the occasional poetic outburst, from who-can-recite-poetry-fastest undergrad shenanigans to romanticised performances of Chaucer (addressed to an audience of watching cows whilst floating downstream in a boat). All punctuated with soft-focus shots of a naked Plath/Paltrow, hysterical and often violent outbursts at Hughes, and scenes of a generally uninteresting and uninspiring life of moderate wretchedness. The only thing that distinguishes Sylvia from the now-unfashionable kitchen sink drama is that its central character is called Sylvia Plath.

So is the film worthy of the title? In A Beautiful Mind, we learnt of the joy of mathematics, Lunzhin Defence championed the addictive mysteries of chess, and Dead Poets Society made us lift our eyes to literary horizons that could inspire the dullest of minds. Sylvia was limited, perhaps, by the refusal of her daughter to allow much of Plath's poetry to be used in the film but, for whatever reason, it has failed to be more than a rather humdrum biopic. It offers little insight into her poetry or the magic of poetry generally, and adds little of interest about the historical figure that doesn't apply to millions of women. If any deep philosophical statement can be drawn from this, the film certainly doesn't make it, poetically or otherwise. Sadly, it would seem that the words of Sylvia Plath's daughter almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy: "Now they want to make a film . .. They think I should give them my mother's words . . . To fill the mouth of their monster . . . Their Sylvia Suicide Doll." Whilst not quite an empty doll, Sylvia is maybe an arm or leg short of a manikin.
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[[ANNA]]

Thank Eric to recommend this moive to me.

Here attach some review for the movie.

Author: Chris Docker (eyeforfilm) from Scotland, United Kingdom

What makes poetry a special art form? Answers might include bringing together extremes of joy and despair within a couple of lines, offering an alternative to rational thought, enriching our outlook and understanding in ways that prose would struggle to equal. Poetry can provide a single phrase or sentence that is easily remembered and somehow unlocks difficult-to-express inner states, just as a song can (and poetry is the basis of songs). It offers a freedom of expression where you don't need to explain every aspect of what you are saying - it urges the listener to grasp a semi-spoken truth or idea.

That's my rough guess. I've got over 40 books of poetry on my bookshelf at the last count, yet I'm no literary expert and appreciate poetry in a very simple way. Most people might agree that poetry offers something special, so a film celebrating the life of a famous poet might be expected to bring us a glimmer of that something.

Sylvia Plath has been championed not only as a poet but as a sort of ‘feminist' – a cry on behalf of women treated as a commodity, subjugated by an unfair male-dominated system. Cast in the lead role, Gwyneth Paltrow's Plath focuses much attention on how downtrodden she was, chained to two children, overshadowed by a brilliant and celebrated Ted Hughes, struggling with bitterness, jealousy, mental instability and a less than attractive persona. We also get the occasional poetic outburst, from who-can-recite-poetry-fastest undergrad shenanigans to romanticised performances of Chaucer (addressed to an audience of watching cows whilst floating downstream in a boat). All punctuated with soft-focus shots of a naked Plath/Paltrow, hysterical and often violent outbursts at Hughes, and scenes of a generally uninteresting and uninspiring life of moderate wretchedness. The only thing that distinguishes Sylvia from the now-unfashionable kitchen sink drama is that its central character is called Sylvia Plath.

So is the film worthy of the title? In A Beautiful Mind, we learnt of the joy of mathematics, Lunzhin Defence championed the addictive mysteries of chess, and Dead Poets Society made us lift our eyes to literary horizons that could inspire the dullest of minds. Sylvia was limited, perhaps, by the refusal of her daughter to allow much of Plath's poetry to be used in the film but, for whatever reason, it has failed to be more than a rather humdrum biopic. It offers little insight into her poetry or the magic of poetry generally, and adds little of interest about the historical figure that doesn't apply to millions of women. If any deep philosophical statement can be drawn from this, the film certainly doesn't make it, poetically or otherwise. Sadly, it would seem that the words of Sylvia Plath's daughter almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy: "Now they want to make a film . .. They think I should give them my mother's words . . . To fill the mouth of their monster . . . Their Sylvia Suicide Doll." Whilst not quite an empty doll, Sylvia is maybe an arm or leg short of a manikin.
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[星子]

The Poetry of Sylvia Plath

http://www.stanford.edu/class/engl187/docs/plathpoem.html
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[[ANNA]]

The Poetry of Sylvia Plath

http://www.stanford.edu/class/engl187/docs/plathpoem.html
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[星子]

---review for "Dead Poets Society"

Dead Poets Society is a thoroughly moving, and inspiring film from Peter Weir, who is definitely one of the most under rated directors around. This movie is in the same vein as "A Separate Peace", in the sense of setting, and in the general coming of age story line. The basic message is to "suck the marrow out of life", as the passage for the society reads, or to live every moment to the fullest. It is inspiring and uplifting for the first hour and 15 minutes or so, before changing stride altogether to a somewhat depressing but remarkable conclusion. This is a must see.

The film makes us, the audience, take a long hard look at what inspires us, what governs our motivations and determines our actions. It emotes feelings rarely felt in the movies these days.

It's a tearjerker where the tears come not from the heart, but from the aching mind; we cry not because of the sad situations, but because of its ludicrous attempts at being sad.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dead_poets_society/

(yes. I agree. It is a very meaningful movie.)
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[[ANNA]]

---review for "Dead Poets Society"

Dead Poets Society is a thoroughly moving, and inspiring film from Peter Weir, who is definitely one of the most under rated directors around. This movie is in the same vein as "A Separate Peace", in the sense of setting, and in the general coming of age story line. The basic message is to "suck the marrow out of life", as the passage for the society reads, or to live every moment to the fullest. It is inspiring and uplifting for the first hour and 15 minutes or so, before changing stride altogether to a somewhat depressing but remarkable conclusion. This is a must see.

The film makes us, the audience, take a long hard look at what inspires us, what governs our motivations and determines our actions. It emotes feelings rarely felt in the movies these days.

It's a tearjerker where the tears come not from the heart, but from the aching mind; we cry not because of the sad situations, but because of its ludicrous attempts at being sad.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dead_poets_society/

(yes. I agree. It is a very meaningful movie.)
_________________

[星子]

Mirror By Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful-
The eye of the little god, four cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.


http://www.sylviaplathforum.com/mirror.html
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[[ANNA]]

Mirror By Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful-
The eye of the little god, four cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.


http://www.sylviaplathforum.com/mirror.html
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[anna]

Don said,

Nice little piece--a tribute to the film. You know what Anna. This needs visual art. Make a poster.

So here, I made it a poster.
_________________
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Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

Don said,

Nice little piece--a tribute to the film. You know what Anna. This needs visual art. Make a poster.

So here, I made it a poster.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[ericcoliu]

Your poem is oppressively bleak; to me, it truly captures the spirit of the biopic of Sylvia Plath, which opens with the horizontal head of Plath while her voice recites some famous lines from her own work:

"Sometimes I dream of a tree, and the tree is my life. One branch is the man I shall marry, and the leaves, my children. Another branch is my future as a writer, and each leaf is a poem. Another branch is a glittering academic career. But as I sit there trying to choose, the leaves begin to turn brown and blow away until the tree is absolutely bare."

She once wrote:“Dying/Is an art like everything else. /I do it exceptionally well,” and “The woman is perfected. /Her dead/body wears the smile of accomplishment.”


The film concludes with her tragic death.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Your poem is oppressively bleak; to me, it truly captures the spirit of the biopic of Sylvia Plath, which opens with the horizontal head of Plath while her voice recites some famous lines from her own work:

"Sometimes I dream of a tree, and the tree is my life. One branch is the man I shall marry, and the leaves, my children. Another branch is my future as a writer, and each leaf is a poem. Another branch is a glittering academic career. But as I sit there trying to choose, the leaves begin to turn brown and blow away until the tree is absolutely bare."

She once wrote:“Dying/Is an art like everything else. /I do it exceptionally well,” and “The woman is perfected. /Her dead/body wears the smile of accomplishment.”


The film concludes with her tragic death.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[星子]

Hi Eric,

Thanks.

I happened to know a lot of people suffered from depression.

I don't know why now people seem very weak and feeble in mind.

There are a lot of problems around the world and the inner self . . .

Tonight I just came back from the Cyborgs event and was interested and confused in our future when everything seem to be replaced by cybo . .

I would like to raise the question about where the mind, soul come from . . .
But since it was too late, so I dropped my puzzle.

There are a few other events I may join the following month.

Sometimes it is good, with a short time, some people's speech open your mind . . .
_________________

[[ANNA]]

Hi Eric,

Thanks.

I happened to know a lot of people suffered from depression.

I don't know why now people seem very weak and feeble in mind.

There are a lot of problems around the world and the inner self . . .

Tonight I just came back from the Cyborgs event and was interested and confused in our future when everything seem to be replaced by cybo . .

I would like to raise the question about where the mind, soul come from . . .
But since it was too late, so I dropped my puzzle.

There are a few other events I may join the following month.

Sometimes it is good, with a short time, some people's speech open your mind . . .
_________________