Monday, August 19, 2013

Silk (2007) - movie and the legendary story

I had watched a very subtle, artistic movie called "Silk"(2007).  The movie definitely had great cinematography and style. I want to write about few things from that movie which are still reverberating in my heart, something which I have observed and interpreted.

Such as the hatching of the silkworms from the tiny eggs, that hatching, which is a success sometimes, and unsuccessful the other times, and the metamorphosis into the cocoon and then production of the amazingly shiny and soft material called "silk" are all hidden themes in the movie, or should I put it this way, those numerous thousands of tiny eggs are a silent protagonist of the movie perhaps.  Probably the presence of "silk" as a fabric was related to that of "love" which is as soft and subtle as the silk itself, and when held in hand, it actually tends to slip away, and that was what Hervé, the actor represented too in this deeply artistic movie.  He developed a love desire for the enigmatic Japanese woman Sei in the movie, but the eggs of that desire remain unhatched or were spoilt, even if they did try to hatch.

In any sense, we know that even if the worms had spun the cocoon which would become silk later, it would have slipped away, just in case of Hervé, symbolizing the mysterious nature of unrequited love or love that never reaches a destination.

Overall, the beautiful scenery of steaming spring waters, juxtaposed with the cold snowy weather was remarkably artistic too and symbolic.

Another beautiful symbolism was of that of the little blue flowers which were shown in the scene in which Hervé meets Madame Blanche in the brothel, so that she could translate the Japanese letter for him. I got a feeling that perhaps those blue flowers should symbolize something too, and when I did a bit of google search, I found out that indeed those flowers were extremely symbolic, they were the "forget-me-not" flowers which so fitted in that scene and its emotional hues. The poem like letter which Madam Blanche read out was also indirectly hinting to Hervé to not forget the beautiful woman who loved him and who really wrote that poetry. The beautiful poem is of that movie clip is available on this link written out: Letter poem -Silk

Well, this movie actually made me aware of many facts about silkworms and legend of silk itself. It so happened that there is a legend that a Chinese empress accidentally discovered silk, as silk cocoon fell in her tea while she was sitting under mulberry tree. The Chinese were the ones who actually discovered the secret of silk thus.

Also, I read about the method of silk production.   How sad it was to read that the pupa was killed inside the cocoon which was boiled in hot water in order for the workers to generate silk.  This process in any way was putting an end to the already short life of a moth.  In any way, the beauty of flying away and not getting held back or trapped still prevails, if the pupa would have survived in its cocoon, it would have transformed into the beautiful butterfly which flies away in wonder and never can be captured easily- the lissome being as it is.  And if the pupa is killed in cocoon, the threads of cocoon produce the shiny silk, slipping away from the hands again, the colors brought out by artificial means of dyeing silk.

I smiled at the revelation of the symbolism.








Is it really a fall of the meteor?

The Perseid meteor show was few days ago here in Long Island and there was so much excitement and unrest among many students who wanted to go and watch it, I guess the avid star gazers must be doing that each year.

I'd like to write about the meteor falling on earth and how scientifically, that only means that it's nothing save the cosmic debris which is falling on earth, something which makes the falling object glow, almost making it appear like a shooting star, brightest to each eye.

But how I wondered to myself, it is such a beautiful feeling and a beautiful thing, perhaps, we as humans should also learn to let go of our cosmic debris on this earth too, something which accumulated inside our consciousness for ages, past burdens, regrets, mistakes, memories, failures, frustrations, and shed it all as we journey through our life and enter a new phase.

We,  by shedding, will thus attain that brightness which will be a spectacle for all the viewers and who will, then wish upon us, knowing that we would then have power and glory to make their wishes come true as we  fade away into light.








Source of photo: http://i.space.com/images/i/000/020/498/original/perseid-meteor-kingham-620.jpg?1375803258

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Movie- How to Make an American quilt- poetry lines

Hi,

I would like to share some meaningful quotes and snippets of poetry  from a beautiful movie  "How to make an American Quilt", which I had watched a long time ago.  (Again, I am compensating for my laziness in penning down then by posting it now)

Following are the few deep dialogues and poetry I found in the movie:

1.
 Self expression heals the wounded heart

2.
Young lovers seek perfection,
Old lovers learnt the art of sowing shreds together
 and of seeing beauty in the multiplicity of patches.

3.
You have to choose your combinations carefully
The right choices wont enhance the colors
The wrong choices would dull the colors, hide their original beauty,
There are no rules you can follow, you have to go by instincts
And you have to be brave.
(This one was about making  quilt)

P.S. In all this movie still reverberates in my heart, was indeed very nice