"A Christmas Miracle"

From the movie Scrooged (1988)

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert - Khruangbin

Khruangbin

Being Alive (from the musical "Company")

by: Dean Jones

Just leaving behind one of my favorite Youtube comments about this performance:

Mark Richards:
That, ladies and gents, is what I would call giving yourself 100% to something but then digging even a little deeper. It's an amazing performance.

"Marriage Story" and "Parasite"

 

2019 has been a remarkable year when it comes to cinema... so much so that making my "Top 10 movies of the year" has been probably the most challenging since I started my blog.

This week has been yet another reminder of that... Just in the last couple of days I've seen two movies that have have transcended just getting into the top 10, but actually make - easily - my top 3.

Marriage Story and Parasite.

Both offer very different things to the table, but having said that, there's a lot of sharable trades.

Marriage Story has taken me to places that I never thought I would go in a million years.

It desperately begged me to look into myself, my past relationships and my anxieties looking into the future. It also made me examine the human core, with the good and bad that lies within. 

None of this would be possible if not for the superb directing and writing from Noah Baumbach, the true craftsman of this success, that both offer sweet and lighthearted moments, as well as painfully heartbreaking ones.

Baumbach was well aided in his quest with a wonderful cast led by sensational leading performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. Both are poised to get Oscar nominations, with Driver most likely to be in a two-horse race against Joaquin Phoenix's Joker (2019).

The supporting cast does well to keep up within the realms of their roles. Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda are all wonderful and unique in their own way. 

The finish product feels authentic, real, raw... most people will likely find the subject tangible and I'm certain it will bring out personal and interesting reactions out of each and every viewer. They will likely differ, but an intimite experience is most likely in the cards.

Parasite, which won the top prize at Cannes Film Festival, also looks into the human core, with a particular astute eye on the social components that make South Korea's society - which in all truth, could be applied in almost equal measure to a lot of places around the world.

It never feels light, despite the use of dark comedy to lift the audience from a grim reality check. There's very little about the movie title, poster or even the trailer that gives away the plot. That should remain as it is.

As the the director Bong Joon-ho says: this movie is best served cold (not a direct quote, just FYI).

I believe that anyone that has watched it, will stick to this principal. The less you know, the more you will enjoy.

Weirdly enough the movie, currently leading the top award-winning list this year, has been released in Asia and parts of Europe ages ago, but for some reason it is only getting released in the UK in February of 2020. Fortunately enough, I was able to get access to a special screening in London just in time to include Parasite in the discussion for my "Top movies"

After being introduced onto the stage, Joon-ho made his way with a translator to greet the crowd and set up the film. As expected, the introduction was short and sweet, used mainly to reitorate that the audience should do its best to keep spoilers from spreading so people could enjoy the film as intended.

He then went on to say the film was appropriate for all families, as it didn't contain any blood, sex or any sort of violence. Joon-Ho left the stage under applause and cue the PG-15 slate staating the movie contained strong bloody violence, language, sex, sex references. The crowd bursted into laughter.

All I will say is that the movie delivered some laughter and plenty of tense, unexpected moments. The pacing was always right, the acting great, but similiary like Marriage Story, it was the writing and story-telling techniques that really delivered what I believe ot be the best movie of the year...

... and with a few highly acclaimed motion-pictures still left to watch (I'm looking at you Uncut Gems, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Honey Boy, Little Women and 1917) it will be a colossal task to try and bring this one down.

Crazy Love, Vol II

by: Paul Simon

Tomb

by: Angelo de Augustine

Angelo de Augustine has been my revelation of 2019. 

Found him totally by chance and I can say it was love at first sight, or rather, love at first hearing. 

Its been a while since I last listened to a song that had immediate impact. As of late, tunes require two or three times listening to grasp my full admiration, but Augustine's Tomb swept me away literally within the first couple of cords... and when his vocals hit for the first time, its absolute bliss. 

I knew it was something special and immediately it made its way to my top songs of 2019. His album, also named Tomb, followed suit. 

In my ears, his music was where Elliot Smith and Sufjan Stevens met.

The two are among my favorite singer/songwriters, so you can imagine how Augustine is so appealing to me right from the get go. 

Both the musicians to whom I compare Augustine to, have this graceful ability to keep things incredibly minimalist, with a sense of genuine storytelling that appeals to your heart and soul. 

For instance, if the song is about heartbreak, it will shatter your heart.

It's no surprise the man from Thousand Oaks, California, is currently signed with Asthmatic Kitty Records, the same label Sufjan.

I hope you can enjoy his music as much as I have.