CHEAP CINEMA

Having a look to the long queues of “The festival of The cinema” gave me hope. People still wants to enjoy movies at the cinema. The tickets were only 2.90 Euros which explains that is all about money, not lack of enjoying art. Maybe if the distribution companies have thought about this earlier not so many cinemas would have been closed all around Spain.

There are books at different prices, DVDs, theatre tickets and many other things... so why all cinema tickets have the same price? Of course if you are going on a Wednesday morning it will be cheaper than Saturday night. But why movies with different budgets cost the same for us? Going to see The Hobbit costs the same money that going to see Amour, for example; when the budget of the super production is always going to be higher than a small movie. And I will bet anything than increasing the tickets two or three pounds/euros for The Hobbit will not change much the benefits they will gain; on the other hand, small films will notice a big difference if they are a bit cheaper. I am talking about to give people(audience) and small movies options and opportunities.

Some people would think that if you are going to see a cheap movie means is bad; but here comes one of the main problems about values nowadays: quality is measured on quantity. In my opinion it should not be like that, at least with cinema. Not because it costs more would be better!

BOXING

For some strange reason in life, I was able to see a boxing competition live. To tell you the truth I did not enjoy anything of it but a short film they play to present the boxers. The movie was really well done; the editing, light and soundtrack were just great. Make me wonder why this violent sport looks so good on the screen.

I have always enjoyed most of the movies about boxing; aesthetically speaking they are just amazing. The scenes of fights have always been strongly visual and beautifully shot. In addition, most of their main character's personality and life goes perfectly with the way they earn their living. 
Here I leave you with some examples of the most recommendable and famous films about boxing:

Finally just to say I strongly recommend you to go to see boxing in cinemas; in my opinion it is far more enjoyable experience than seeing it live.

MAN RAY

Man Ray was one of those American artists who move to Paris in the early twenties to find inspiration and different ways of expression. Shortly he became part of the Dada movement where the surrealism and modernism was merged with photography.

He is well known for his portraits of many artists like Gertrude Stein, Picasso or Breton. He also took photographies of his lovers, muses and wives; he loved the shape of women’s body. Kiki de Montparnasse or Lee Miller were some of his models.

If you live in Edinburgh and want to see his photography, you still have time. The exhibition ends next week, so hurry up. If you are going, pay attention to his portraits their models never smile but their eyes mean worth a thousand words.

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/floorplans-303/exhibitions/man-ray-portraits

MISTER MICHAEL HANEKE

For those who do not know him, it is a pleasure to introduce you to Mister Michael Haneke, an Austrian filmmaker.

First of all I must say that Michael Haneke’s movies are not made for all public. If you are used to easy films or you just want to be entertained by a happy story, do not dare to watch his films. His stories are beyond all this; full of violence, fear and psychological issues of the actual society.

He uses a style which is far away from Hollywood and commercial movies. He wants the audience to think, to reason about a particular matter; and the best of all he does not give you any solutions or answers, it is up to you to figure it out.

His movies are based on disturbing situations which among all are based on us, on how humans behave and on where is the limit of this behaviour. He does not even offer you the possibility to identify with characters; the opposite, he wants you to see it from outside like a proper audience.

Recently I have discovered a Greek director who reminds me a lot of Haneke’s styles: Yorgos Lanthimos. If by any chance you love Michael Haneke’s style, you will definitely enjoy Dogtooth.

GREECE

It is such a good feeling to discover a new country; its people, traditions and food.

This time has been Greece ( Santorini  & Athens- to be more precise) and the experience has been just amazing. I strongly recommend you to go there, probably May is a good month as the places are not too crowded and the temperature is perfect!

Santorini is a small island on white and blue where each corner has its charming. Santorini’s beaches are all completely different from each other: the red , the white, the volcanic and many more.

I did not spend much time in Athens, but my first impressions were that the Capital of the old Greece is full of life and art!

Greek people are extremely friendly, open and kind and, I insist the food is really good, fresh  and tasty.

I just can say Ζήτω η Ελλάδα! (Long Live Greece)

DALI

A Dali exhibition is open in Madrid from 27th April to 2nd September at the National Museum of Art Reina Sofia. This retrospective is the biggest released of Dali since 1983 at his native country.
This slim man with eyes full of craziness and an emblematic moustache who loved the surrealism and symbolism is one of most complex and talented artists of the history.

Dali is this kind of artist who could never go unnoticed that is the reason for the long queues every day at the museum. I hate queues myself but at this very moment I wish I could live in Madrid and be able to queue just for the fact of seeing his art.

Dali’s art explores the dark side of humans being even if his paintings are full of special lightS and tones of colours. The critics say his work is full of people’s fears, desires, frustrations and secret sins. 

OLD SOUNDS

Not long ago I was on a train when I took the last picture with my old SLR camera. Automatically the film started to rewind – an action that takes up to ten seconds and gives this specific sound recognized by many of my generation. There were a young girl and her grandfather in front of me; she looked at my camera with a surprise gesture on her face. I looked at her thinking than probably this was the first time she heard that sound and I wondered what was she thinking: what is that noise for?  Is the camera broken? She kept staring at my camera waiting for the sound to finish. Then I opened the camera and removed the film roll. Without knowing it, I gave to that little girl a small lecture of photography history and a bit of a technical knowledge.

The reaction of this little girl to a new sound (or noise), make me wonder how many sounds have disappeared from our lives, some of them have just vanished and we cannot even remember. 

This is the last picture I took from that train with my SLR camera.

Curiously, this image brings back another sound from older generations of mine, the magnificent noise of a steam train-probably that sounds brought the grandfather‘s girl a good bunch of memories!