The Joy of Movies with Robert Gray - Summer of Imagination course Starts June 15

Parallax

A conversation about movies, and about our upcoming course:

PARALLAX MOVIE CLUB ‘24: SUMMER OF IMAGINATION
For more information or to sign up:

https://www.parallax-media.com/courses/course-parallax-movie-club-24-summer-of-imagination-wf6cd About the course:

Art and film expand our horizons, transport us out of our mundane, ordinary lives to places greater than heaven, more dreadful than hell, into a war-torn dystopia or a world full of romance, hope, and possibility. Join us on an eclectic journey exploring four powerful films and how their aesthetic, philosophical, and existential elements offer insights into the human condition, into ourselves. Each week we will explore and engage with a different film, unpacking the emotional and psychological factors, celebrating the technical craftsmanship and distinct storytelling, and answer questions about anything and everything related to the films.

Andrew Sweeny will begin the Parallax Movie Club: Summer of Imagination with american classic Fight Club, appropriately about reclaiming their identities and transcending the boredom and predictability of corporate life, escaping into a full blown anarchist movement named Project Mayhem.

Layman Pascal will host the second session with David Lynch’s Fire Walk with Me. Fire Walk with me is as controversial as Layman, receiving boos at the Cannes Film Festival for it’s shocking, controversial use of imagery and narrative. In Layman’s words “‘Fire Walk with Me’ has some of the most stark and disturbing commentary on abusive and violence in America, but also a truly spiritual emergence of transcendent goodness.” What’s not to like!

Robert Gray will reverse the darkness in the third session with Japanese Film-maker Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, as two bumbling military deserters are tricked into helping a princess and her most heroic general escape death and bring the princess to safety. One of Kurosawa’s most well received films, the Hidden Fortress is a great introduction to on of the best directors of all times and a dramatic tale of power, deception, folly, and triumph - oh, and it inspired George Lucas’ star wars (and is much better imo), so if you like adventure and fantasy films, this will be a great time for you!

John Vervaeke will take us into the heroic fantasy of The Fall (2006). Critically acclaimed and then virtually lost to the internet due to poor distribution and lack of streaming, The Fall imaginatively challenges the art of storytelling with exotic locations (shot in 24 countries over 4 years of filming), stunning arrays of characters (over 1000 actors participated in the filming), and dramatic narrative as life and fantasy blur for the characters - mystics, warriors, explosive experts, and even a monkey - who grapple with the ups and downs of their complex inner and outer lives.