Quills

Quills, a period film directed by Philip Kaufman and written by Doug Wright, is a drama inspired by the Marquis de Sade. It stars an excellent cast consisting of Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Cane, and Kate Winslet.

It isn’t historically accurate, if that’s what you’re looking for; instead the filmmakers claim to be exploring issues such as expression, censorship, pornography, sex, art, mental illness, and religion.

There’s some great writing and even better acting going on, particularly from Rush whose performance alone is worth watching this movie.

It’s rated R for, “strong sexual content including dialogue, violence, and language,” and they mean it; Quills isn’t for the close-minded or the easily-offended, but if you can approach it with a flexible attitude, it will probably be a very good movie for you.

Check it out at Hulu.com for free and let me know if you liked it or not.

Waking Life

After you watch the Hills or another episode of E! News, head over to your local Blockbuster and borrow Waking Life. It’s this amazing DVD, directed and written by Richard Linklater, that discusses a lot of philosophical ideas and issues.

The plot is about a young man who’s in a constant state of lucid dreaming throughout the movie. He enters or observes conversations about reality, the meaning of life, death and other existential topics. The movie is shot with digitally enhanced animation, using rotoscoping to produce a dream-like effect, which makes it very interesting to watch.

It might sound a little tedious when compared to Danity Kane’s breakup or the new High School Musical 3 hype, but the technique is visually fascinating, the content is mentally stimulating, and it’s only an hour and thirty minutes long so it can’t hurt.

Take a second right now to watch a short segment from the movie:

That’s a clip of one of my favorite scenes and if the topic of Fear vs. Laziness doesn’t do it for you, check out the ones about Theory and Action or Lucid Dreams. (If you do end up watching the DVD or some of the scenes, let me know your thoughts on it).

The appeal of Waking Life comes from its ability to be so thought-provoking and challenging; imagine a compilation of Spirited Away and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind remixed by a DJ on some major crack and that’s an extremely convoluted picture of what it reminds me of.

So whether you’re sleepwalking or walksleeping, try it. It’ll be good for anyone to watch and wonder about and…maybe even discuss?