Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
94 min

Country: USA
Language: English


Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward and Bruce Willis

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, as a young boy and girl fall in love they are moved to run away together. Various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down -- which might not be such a bad thing.(IMDB)


The film premiered on May 16, 2012, at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where it screened in competition. It was released in French theatres the same day. The American limited release occurred on May 25, and set a new record for the best per-theater-average for a non-animated movie by grossing an average of $130,752 in four theaters.
Critical reception
Moonrise Kingdom received highly positive reviews from film critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of 174 critics have given the film a positive review, holding an average score of 8.1/10 (98% amongst top critics). Review aggregate Metacritic has given the film a weighted score of 84, based on 43 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim".
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4 stars out of 5, calling it "another sprightly confection of oddities, attractively eccentric, witty and strangely clothed."Christopher Orr of The Atlantic wrote that Moonrise Kingdom "captures the texture of childhood summers, the sense of having a limited amount of time in which to do unlimited things" and is "Anderson's best live-action feature" because "it takes as its primary subject matter odd, precocious children, rather than the damaged and dissatisfied adults they will one day become."Kristen M. Jones of Film Comment wrote that the film "has a spontaneity and yearning that lend an easy comic rhythm," but it also has a "rapt quality, as if we are viewing the events through Suzy's binoculars or reading the story under the covers by a flashlight."(Wikipedia)

Ratings: 94% (Rotten Tomatoes Critics)

Awards:
Cannes 2012: Nominated: Palme d'Or: Wes Anderson (More)

Epiphany (2007)

Epiphany (2007)
Artist: Karen Cusolito
Height: 22 FT
Weight: 7 Tons
Composition: Salvage Steel
Installation: Crane
Engineering: Free Standing

Epiphany is bursting with the joy that accompanies the revelation in acknowledging the essential essence of life. Her heart beats with fire and in that moment of illumination, her entire body pulses with fire.

Epiphany was first exhibited at Burning Man, 2007 and has traveled to many events in the US: Maker Faire, 2008, Great American Music Hall, 2008, The Fire Arts Festival in both 2007 and 2009, aboard the USS White Holly in Sausalito, CA – where she took first prize in the competitive "Parade of Lights" - and Electric Daisy Carnival, 2010. Epiphany is presently on exhibit at American Steel Studios, Oakland, CA.


About the Artist
Karen studied at Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts College of Art. She worked on several public art installations in and around the Boston area before moving to San Francisco in 1996.

Her art has taken many forms, from painting and mixed media to the large-scale steel sculptures she’s presently developing.
She finds drawing to be the easiest and most concise form of communication and the human form a rich arena in which to explore and express emotion, intention, and challenge. Much of her work focuses on humanity and the environment and the delicate balance between the two.
Karen is about to embark on a new series that studies the female form throughout history.
Since 2009, she has been running American Steel Studios in Oakland, CA, which provides studio and gallery space to over 100 artists and small businesses.

A Short Film About Killing (1988)

A Short Film About Killing (1988)
Krótki film o zabijaniu (original title)
84 min


Country: Poland
Language: Polish


Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writers: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Stars: Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz and Jan Tesarz

A Short Film About Killing (Polish: Krótki film o zabijaniu) is a 1988 film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, and Jan Tesarz. Written by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, the film was expanded from Decalogue V of the Polish television series The Decalogue. Set in Warsaw, Poland, the film compares the senseless, violent murder of an individual to the cold, calculated execution by the state. A Short Film About Killing won both the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival,[2] as well as the European Film Award for Best Film.It is one of the 11 films that have been selected for preservation by National Film Archive of India.


The film shows a very bleak Poland at the dying end of the Communist era. This is greatly enhanced by the strong use of colour filters. The print appears to have an effect similar to sepia tone or bleach bypass - although it is a colour picture, the photography combined with grey locations provides an effect similar to monochrome.
Krótki film o zabijaniu was released in the same year that the death penalty was suspended in Poland. In 1988 the country carried out just a single execution, with 6 condemned prisoners being hanged in 1987. The portrayal of the execution method and procedure is mostly accurate, however in reality the date of executions were a surprise to the prisoner - the condemned man would simply be led into a room to discover it was the execution chamber. After the early years of Communist repression, executions were quite rare and invariably for murder; from 1969 a total of 183 men were hanged and no women. A major inaccuracy in the film is the extremely short time between the crime, trial and execution - the film implies mere months. (Wikipedia)


Awards and nominations
1988 Cannes Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1988 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1988 Cannes Film Festival Nomination for the Palme d'Or (Krzysztof Kieślowski)
1988 European Film Award for Best Film (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1988 Polish Film Festival Golden Lion Award (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1990 Bodil Award for Best European Film (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1990 French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Award for Best Foreign Film (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1990 Robert Festival Award for Best Foreign Film (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won


Cannes 1988: Won: FIPRESCI Prize: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Polish Film Festival 1988: Won: Golden Lion: Krzysztof Kieslowski (More Awards)

Rating: 83% (Rotten Tomatoes Critics)

The Wave (1896)

The Wave (1896)
La Vague
Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Completion Date: 1896
Style: Neoclassicism
Technique: oil
Material: canvas
Dimensions: 121 x 160.5 cm

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (November 30, 1825 - August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter. Bouguereau was a staunch traditionalist whose realistic genre paintings and mythological themes were modern interpretations of Classical subjects with a heavy emphasis on the female human body.

A Short Film About Love (1988)

A Short Film About Love (1988)
Krótki film o milosci (original title)
86 min
Country: Poland
Language: Polish

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writers: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Stars: Grazyna Szapolowska, Olaf Lubaszenko and Stefania Iwinska

A Short Film About Love (Polish: Krótki film o miłości) is a Polish romantic drama film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Grażyna Szapołowska and Olaf Lubaszenko. Written by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, the film is about a young post office worker deeply in love with a promiscuous older woman who lives in an adjacent apartment building. After spying on her through a telescope, he meets and declares his love for this jaded woman who long ago gave up on believing in love. She responds to his innocence by initiating him on the basic fact of life—that there is no love, only sex.A Short Film About Love is an expanded film version of Decalogue VI, part of Kieślowski's 1988 Polish language ten-part television series, The Decalogue. The film is set in Warsaw.
The film is based on Kieślowski's Decalogue VI, with minor changes and expansions to the script. The most significant change is to the ending, which was rewritten at the suggestion of lead actress Grażyna Szapołowska, who wanted the film to have a "fairytale ending". The original version ends with Tomek back at work, recovered from his attempted suicide, and telling Magda that he does not watch her anymore. The film ends with Magda's more developed concern for Tomek mirroring his earlier obsession with her. The film concludes in Tomek's room after his return from hospital. She looks through his telescope into her own apartment and Kieślowski replays an earlier scene of Magda crying in her kitchen, which had led Tomek to reveal his feelings to her, only this time she is joined and comforted by Tomek. Like Kieślowski's other Decalogue films, it features the mysterious angelic Man in White. (Wikipedia)

Awards and nominations


1988 Polish Film Festival Award for Best Actress (Grazyna Szapolowska) Won
1988 Polish Film Festival Award for Best Cinematography (Witold Adamek) Won
1988 Polish Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress (Stefania Iwinska) Won
1988 Polish Film Festival Golden Lion Award (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1988 San Sebastián International Film Festival OCIC Award (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1988 San Sebastián International Film Festival Special Prize of the Jury (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won
1989 São Paulo International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Feature (Krzysztof Kieślowski) Won[10]
1988 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Foreign Film Award
1988 Venice Film Festival FIPRESCI Award Nomination
1988 Chicago Film Critics Association Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film

Ratings: 100% (Rotten Tomatoes Critics)

Read Review: slantmagazine.com

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The Kiss (1882)

The Kiss (1882)
Circa 1882
Marble
H. 181.5 cm ; W. 112.5 cm ; D. 117 cm
S.1002 /Lux.132
Artist: Auguste Rodin

Commissioned by the French state in 1888, carved between 1888 and 1898. Joined the collections of the Musée du Luxembourg in 1901; transferred to the Musée Rodin in 1919.
The Kiss originally represented Paolo and Francesca, two characters borrowed, once again, from Dante’s Divine Comedy: slain by Francesca’s husband who surprised them as they exchanged their first kiss, the two lovers were condemned to wander eternally through Hell. This group, designed in the early stages of the elaboration of The Gates , was given a prominent position on the lower left door, opposite Ugolino , until 1886, when Rodin decided that this depiction of happiness and sensuality was incongruous with the theme of his vast project.

He therefore transformed the group into an independent work and exhibited it in 1887. The fluid, smooth modelling, the very dynamic composition and the charming theme made this group an instant success. Since no anecdotal detail identified the lovers, the public called it The Kiss, an abstract title that expressed its universal character very well. The French state commissioned an enlarged version in marble, which Rodin took nearly ten years to deliver. Not until 1898 did he agree to exhibit what he called his “huge knick-knack” as a companion piece to his audacious Balzac , as if The Kiss would make it easier for the public to accept his portrait of the writer.

Candle In The Wind

Candle In The Wind
Artist: Steve Hanks
17 X 27 in.
Watercolor Painting