Up is one of the best films of 2009, having the perfect balance of humour, romance, and adventure: an instant classic. I am a reluctant watcher of animated films; I loved Toy Story and Finding Nemo, but am part of a minority that did not like Wall-E, so the fact that I loved Up so much is a testament to its pure and wonderful movie magic. After losing his lifelong partner and wife, Carl Frederickson (voiced by Ed Asner) decides to attach thousands of helium balloons to his house to achieve his and his wife’s lifelong dream of visiting Paradise Falls in South America and seek adventure. But the diligent Wilderness Explorer, Russell, unexpectedly goes with him, having camped out on Carl’s porch the night before in an attempt to catch a “snipe” and earn his “assisting the elderly badge”.
Up bears great resemblance to its predecessors – it’s no surprise that its writers were also on the writing team of the aforementioned films – but the writing in Up is much much richer; it is a masterpiece in “showing” the story rather than just “telling” it. There is a brilliant and touching montage at the beginning of the film as we watch Carl and his wife Ellie meet as children, get married, and build a life together. There is no dialogue but we watch as they fix up their new house, we watch as they save money for Paradise Falls, but inevitably have to use those savings to pay for various emergencies – a broken tire, medical bills, and a leaky roof – delaying the achievement of their dream. We also watch the rituals that they build together: picnicking and watching the clouds, and reading together in their chairs while holding hands. We see their love, their disappointments, their hardships, and their happiness. And I cannot watch this montage without weeping like a baby, because it is so sweet, so well-observed. We do not need to be told their hopes and dreams, we watch them and see the hope in their faces. Amazingly, the rest of the movie is as good as this first sequence. Continue reading
Last week, BlogUT caught up with Canadian bassist and composer, 
Although the great jazz saxophonist 
Departures is a new Japanese film about a man, Daigo, whose dream to be a concert cellist fails because he lacks the necessary talent, and so is forced to make other plans. He moves from Tokyo back home to a small town, where news seems to travel surprisingly slowly. Untrained in any profession other than music, he answers a classified ad in the newspaper for a job in “departures”, thinking he is applying to work at a travel agency, only to discover it was a misprint and a job about “the departed”. The job interview lasts 2 minutes; the interviewer asks Daigo if he will work hard, Daigo responds “yes, sir!”, the interviewer tells him he’s hired and hands him a pile of cash. When Daigo discovers the job deals with dead people, he is hesitant, having never seen a corpse before or had to deal with death. Nevertheless, upon discovering how well it pays, Daigo decides to accept the job.
