i watched whale rider this afternoon, in order to let the film seep into my brain because i'm gonna have to write a lot about it in the next few months. there is something about really, really, really good films, and their ability to make me cry, even after seeing them for the twentieth time. i always end up in tears when pai is making her speech about her people for koro and he's not there. and the beached whales (i KNOW, they're NOT REAL but TRY TELLING THAT TO ME WHEN I CAN BARELY BREATHE BECAUSE OF THE TEARS RUNNING DOWN MY FACE) god i can hardly bear those scenes. i remember the horror i felt when (not knowing the story) pai says she's not afraid to die (and it's filmed in such a way that you think, she knows she's going to die, and she will, and then you find out she doesn't). the emotional power of films is something that always amazes me. i only ever remember experiencing an equivalent torrent of emotion when reading books in two instances: one was a book probably most of you read in elementary school, called where the red fern grows; the other one was in a scene (that is horrifically sudden) in a book by a.s. byatt called still life (the second book from her frederica quartet. refer to my website if you want more info :)

but films move me to weeping fits a lot more frequently. isn't that peculiar? it must be the overload of the visual senses. actually, this is a very interesting question. i'm going to have to think about it a lot more. because it's not an issue of room for imagination (film and books both allow that equally); nor is it an issue of whether or not the reader/spectator is able to become fully absorbed in the artistic text. it must be a difference in the way the two modes of expression communicate with their readers/spectators. what do you think that difference is? hmmmm....ponder....ponder......ponder.....

Labels: film