Waking Life

Today I went out and bought some dry shampoo to try - the color I dyed my hair wears quickly, so the less I can wash it, the better. However, I'm an everyday-wash sort of person, and I've always hated having to skip a day or two (I used to dye my hair all sorts of unnatural colors but I would always hate trying to preserve the color. I'd either re-dye it a lot or make my own shampoo with dye in it to try to extend the color). I tried the one I got today and it was amazing. Life-changing amazing, because now I feel like I can keep my hair weird colors and not have it be gross 50% of the time. Sorry, boring, but I'm really excited!

Earlier I watched Waking Life, which was directed by Richard Linklater in 2001. I remember watching this in high school with my friend Jon. I remember slouching on his couch afterward and talking endlessly about things the movie made us think of. I also think we dozed off a few times during it, but it still made a big impression on me. I love dreams, and I was really into trying to lucid dream in high school. I also just thought some of the conversations in the film were really profound, and I like that it actually created some good conversations for me and my friend.

My Neighbor Totoro

I wrote a lot about how I never really watched animated films in my post about Grave of the Fireflies. I don't want to restate that, but I feel like it needs to be said, because I am really starting to become a convert. I am so happy that Ebert picks such a wide variety of films, and I'm able to see such different and new genres. I probably would have never rented today's movie on my own, but I am in awe.

Today I watched My Neighbor Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 1988. After I saw the whole movie, I was upset that I never saw it as a kid. I hoped that it had been directed when I was "older". Nope. The year I was born, of course. This is the kind of movie I would have loved when I was little. It is also still an incredible movie, and by far, more than any other film that tends to make people nostalgic for childhood, made me nostalgic. I loved the beautiful animation in this film, the plot, the characters, and the whole tone of it. I feel like every (American) animated film I've seen, I write about how scary it is and awful for children. Not this. This is a children's movie I would actually show to kids...and to all adults that I know.

Grave of the Fireflies

I have what can only be described as an extreme prejudice about anime. It feels juvenile to even say it, but I never found myself attracted to it at all. I mostly felt this way in high school, where it seemed too happy and goofy and did not fit in with my sullen, serious, life, where I would sit and watch Ratcatcher on a blow-up Aerobed. I know I saw an anime or two at some point - Princess Mononoke, I think, but I don't remember it. For that reason, I always consider today's movie to be the first anime I ever watched all the way through. I was glad to watch Grave of the Fireflies, directed by Isao Takahata in 1988, today when I got home.

I watched it in my history of Japan class that I took in college. I was skeptical of it, of course. "Peh," I thought, "how could anime be serious enough to deal with war and stuff?" Of course, I was so stupidly wrong. This is one of the best films about war that I have ever seen. It shows the suffering and grief, but without any distractions of violence or gore, if that makes any sense. It works so perfectly as an animated film, and I think so much of what makes this great would have been lost in a live-action movie. It is a sad movie, one of those ones that deeply affects you and stays with you later. You might not cry, but you will always think of these characters, because the grief you will feel will be profound. I hate saying movies are sad, because I feel like it turns off a lot of people. It is a sad movie, but it is a beautiful movie, and an important movie. It's about war, and like it or not, war is filled with sorrow, and it needs to be conveyed.

Pinocchio

I don't really know what to write about this movie. I'm not even really tired or surly or anything else that usually makes me unable to think. I just don't know what to say! I don't remember how I felt about this as a kid, although I'm sure I was scared of it, as I was all things. As an adult, I just feel apathy towards the story. Who knows.

I understand that part of the reason this movie is on the list is the animation - which I get, it's beautiful looking. I rented the Blu-ray that had just been restored and it was really shocking, how great it looked. I loved that I could see all of the little brush strokes on all of the drawings. I don't ever remember the film looking so tedious and hand-crafted, and it was really cool to see that. It looked great, and if I was one of those people who had patience for children, I could see sharing it with them, the sort of excitement that you might feel in that. I get it, I guess, I just don't really relate to it or anything.