Day: May 23, 2014

By Pitu Chakpram

One can only wonder how ideas of Tarantino’s movies came from. He does not run under a particular genre or a theme. Watching his movies are like reading a particular book that makes no sense but still intrigues the mind. In a sense, his movies are the kind that can be watched only for the sake of watching. However, despite it all his movies still draws the attention of the vast majority of its viewers. His movies such as “Pulp Fiction”, “Reservoir Dogs” to name a few have no particular plot or a theme. Here, I have tried to take a peek into Tarantino’s world and his movies.

Born in Tennessee on March 27, 1963, to Tony Tarantino and Connie McHugh, Quentin Jerome Tarantino grew up loving movies more than school. Despite having an IQ of 160, he dropped out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, California, at the age of sixteen to pursue film making. He worked at the Video Archives in his early years, where he wrote the scripts for True Romance and Natural Born Killers. His directorial debut came with 1992′s Reservoir Dogs; however he received wide critical and commercial acclaim with “Pulp Fiction “(1994), which earned more than $108 million at the box office and an Oscar for Best Screenplay. In 1997, he released the movie Jackie Brown as homage to 1970’s blaxploitation movies. Then came the released his Kill Bill series in 2003 and 2004, which led to a Golden Globe nomination for Uma Thurman, who starred in the films. He was later nominated for two Academy Awards (best director and best original screenplay) for the film Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Tarantino went on to meet with both commercial and critical success with his next action movie which is a western-Django Unchained, released in late 2012. At the 85th Academy Awards in 2013, Tarantino won an Academy Award for best Original Screenplay for Django Unchained. The film received several other Oscar nominations, including for best picture, cinematography and sound editing.

Tarantino’s films have garnered both critical and commercial success. He has received many industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, the Palme d’Or, has been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy to mention a few, and has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine in 2005. Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him “the single most influential director of his generation”.

Aside from being a screen writer, producer and a director, he also acts in movies but more as a cameo. His films have been characterized by nonlinear storylines, satirical subject matter, and glorification of violence that often results in the exhibition of neo-noir characteristics. Music also plays a very important role in all his movies which is related to the scene. What is mostly unique about his film making style are the uses of aliases in nearly all of his movies “Honey Bunny and Pumpkin”, usually have a shot from inside a car trunk, extreme violence, much of which is suggested off-screen and making references to cult movies and television. His films usually have a shot from inside a car trunk. In all of his original screenplays, the name of a police detective named Scagnetti is referred to at least once.

Tarantino often attempts to meld comic strip formulas and aesthetics within a live action film sequence and in some cases uses the literal use of cartoon or anime images. He has stated that the celebrated animation-action sequence in his film “Kill Bill” (2003) was inspired from the use of 2D animated sequences in actor Kamal Hassan’s Tamil film Aalavandhan and often favours particular brand names of his own creation to make promotional appearances.

The three films that have most influenced him as a director are: “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”, Mario Bavo’s “Black Sabbath” which taught him the importance of having a distinct directorial voice, and “Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein”, because it taught him about mixing genres.

Even though most of his movies are violence related he believes that it does not inspire acts of violence in real life and even further stated that he had the right to write any character in the world when questioned about his used of the word ‘nigger’ in the movie ‘Django Unchained’.

A bi-annual festival name the Quentin Tarantino Film Fest held in Austin, TX (USA) shows his screens selections of favourite films from his own private collection and sometimes shows films that have something to do with upcoming projects of his which may have inspired him.

It has been made official that the script for prequel for the movie ‘Inglorius Basterd’ is already written although there is no information regarding the story with another mystery project in line. Tarantino’s project “The Hateful Eight” has been dropped when the script was leaked out and he became upset and decided that he will not direct that film.

Much talk has been going on about his new project which will also be a western, however due to leakage of the script, he has told the media that he will not continue with the movie.

It is hard to understand and explain but what is intriguing about them is the way the movies play out. It may be the witty remarks or the sarcastic one-liners, or it may be because of the actors in his movies or, it might even be the violence and choice uses of weapons, or it could even be the fusion of music in his movies. Whatever it maybe, it draws the attention of the viewers to the movie entirely of its own. It can also be said that attentions are drawn mainly out of curiosity and later may leave the mind of its viewer in deep sense of confusion.

Just as much as there are a number of fans, there are also a vast amount of haters who believe that his movies are baseless and time-wasting. For those who watch a movie regarding its theme and depth, Tarantino’s are of wits, action with no sense of reason at all. Haters or lovers of his works, it is a well-known fact that his movies are a genre of their own and his movies stand out from others.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/tarantinos-world/

By Paonam Thoibi

Mind Matters

First of all, I would like to thank the team of Imphal Free Press for setting aside this space for addressing the need for mental health and behavioral wellness.

Mental health and well being is explained by taking into account the cultural differences among people, subjective assessments and multiple theories. However, all theories commonly derives that it is the state of functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment. Simply put, it is the ability of a person to enjoy life and strike balance between activities he/she is engaged in by coping with normal stress, and contribute to the community as is expected from a social being.

A lot of daily transactions depend on how our mind works while doing a task. The mind which is frequently synonymous with thought: the private conversations that we carry on ‘inside our heads’ will help to ‘make up our mind’. The mind is a private sphere where only the owner has the access to it. So no one else can therefore actually, in the real sense ‘know our mind’. The psychologists are trained people who can attempt to interpret what people consciously or unconsciously communicate. The psychologist’s area of work is vast and diverse starting from an individual who stays in a small nuclear family of two to all workplaces where ‘people to people’ interactions are involved. They find a huge role in schools, sports arena, corporate, space research, etc.

A person struggling with his or her behavioral health may face stress, extreme sadness, get anxious or have various psychological concerns. Their interpersonal relationship can get adversely affected or they can even get into substance use. We all have heard about people who attempts or commits suicide for reasons not known even to their closest tie. With a timely intervention through therapy, proper medications or community involvement facilitated by practiced personnel like clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals they can be managed and saved.

We live in a place where the global wind sweeps and are not left unaffected by what is happening in the farthest continent. We are all connected, always logged-in in these fast paced days and hardly find time to rewind to a time where things were simpler and we all were healthier. In such a time, it is very essential to stay informed and have help at our disposal- both for our elderly and our just born kids! It is not a surprise to come across very familiar words like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia etc from our friends. We are often clueless why are our children behaving so differently every time and we would be lying if we say we are never panicked by such behaviors. We would definitely want to know when our adolescents will listen to us or grow. Very frequently we come across people who asks which is better: MEDICINE or COUNSELING. How drug addiction is best managed?

This space will commit to answer all queries related to mental health and wellness every Saturdays and will be answered with the best of the solutions which have been derived from therapeutic practice and experiences. Cases which will need a prompt visit to the expert concerned will be duly advised as mental health concern is very much a health emergency like physical injury or accident.

Readers are invited make queries about what they see as their anxiety problems for Paonam Thoibi to answer at: e-mail: mindmifp@gmail.com. Anonymity will be respected if desired.

(Paonam Thoibi, Consultant Psychosocial Worker with Human to Humane Transcultural Centre for Torture and Trauma.)

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/demystify-your-anxieties/