Over Fragmenten.blog

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Welkom op Fragmenten uit het Schemerland, mijn persoonlijke website en content-verzameling. Je vindt hier veel artikelen over films en series in de FilmDungeon. Ook vind je op deze site mijn achtergrondverhaal, een selectie van mijn professionele werk, en een groeiende collectie blogs – fragmenten genaamd – over uiteenlopende onderwerpen. Veel leesplezier en bedankt voor het bezoeken van mijn blog!

— Jeppe Kleijngeld

PS: Bezoek ook eens mijn andere website over bewustzijn en mijn visie op de ware aard van het universum:

Gecomputeerde wespenplaag

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

In augustus 2019 kwamen we terug van een weekje kamperen in Frankrijk. Rosa zei: “Ik moet plassen, super nodig”. We renden naar de voordeur en ik haalde de sleutel uit mijn zak. Onze wc zit direct in het halletje waar de voordeur uitkomt. Ik maakte de deur open en Rosa deed de wc-deur open. “Papa”, zei ze. “Kijk.” Ik keek. Er was iets met de WC, maar het drong niet tot me door wat het was. Er lagen zwarte dingen op de grond, maar ik zag niet wat het waren. Het duurde een goede drie seconde voordat ik me realiseerde dat het wespen waren. De hele WC zat er vol mee. Op het raam zaten hele zwermen. Verder lagen er dode wespen op de grond, in de pot, kropen er wespen over de muur, de wc-rol, de vloer, et cetera.

We zijn realiteitsmachines. Het waarnemen van dit tafereel gebeurt door mijn geest. Het vond niet gewoon plaats; het incident oversteeg ruimte en tijd. Het was niet zo dat de wespen er al waren, en ik ze waarnam. Ik creëerde de wespen in mijn geest. Omdat het zo’n ongewoon tafereel was duurde het een paar seconden voordat hetgeen dat mijn geest computeerde tot mijn bewustzijn doordrong. Maar dit werkt hetzelfde bij alles wat we waarnemen. Ik creëerde de wespen, net zoals dat de wespen mij creëerden in een of andere vorm.

LEES OOK: De oorsprong van ons bewustzijn

Dungeon Classics #46: Bound

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Bound (1996, USA)

Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Cast: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano
Running Time: 109 mins.

Extremely tense and entertaining crime movie by the brothers (now sisters) who brought us The Matrix three years later. The movie kind of plays like a male fantasy. Two pretty girls called Violet and Corky meet on the elevator of an apartment building and make eye contact. Violet lives there with her Mafia boyfriend Caesar and Corky has just been released from jail and works in the building as a handygirl. Soon after, Violet starts seducing Corky. After some hot and steamy sex, they cook up the plan to steal two million dollars from Caesar. This is the start of a tense and bloody rollercoaster ride. Bound is kind of like the Wachowski’s Reservoir Dogs. It is their debut and mostly plays at one location – an apartment building – and is all the more exciting for it. After the set-up in the first half, the second half is a true edge-of-your-seat thriller. With lots of great twists and turns. It is not hard to spot the camerawork and visual touches that the Wachowski’s would later employ for the Matrix-films. The cast, consisting mostly of the central three leads, all portray believable and interesting characters. Pantoliano is hilarious in his mobster role (almost exactly his role in The Sopranos from years later) and Tilly and Gershon have some real chemistry going. If only the Wachowski’s could make a film like this every year.

Dungeon Classics #45: Eastern Promises

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Eastern Promises (2007, UK, Canada, USA)

Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Running Time: 100 mins.

The master of body horror David Cronenberg made an outing in the gangster genre with A History of Violence, one of the surprise hits of 2005. I guess he liked it, because he soon followed it up with another gangster movie called Eastern Promises, once again starring Viggo Mortensen. A young Russian girl dies in childbirth, leaving a diary found by nurse Anna (Naomi Watts), who wants to return the baby to its family. Unable to read Russian, Anna seeks help and meets Semyon, a restaurant owner and leader of the brutal Russian mob Vory v Zakone. His enforcers – Kirill (Vincent Cassel), a violent, closeted homosexual, and Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), a cunning newcomer – compete for Semyon’s approval. The diary reveals the girl was one of Semyon’s prostitutes, her life story unfolding in voice-over as the film’s central thread. The casting of non-Russians in the leading roles turns out very well. Mortensen speaks Russian like a pro. The details of the reality the filmmakers created are also spot-on: the underworld body tattoos that tell a person’s life story, the folk music, the accents, it is all very well executed. A few scenes stand out: Nikolai’s initiation ritual and a brutal fight in a bathhouse most notably. The characters are also beautifully realised, especially Cassel’s Kirill. You can feel the tension rise as his father swaps Nikolai for Kirill like he swaps a Ukrainian girl for a case of cheap booze. It is only a shame that ultimately too little is done with these characters. After we learn a big secret, the movie pretty much ends abruptly. Still works on many levels, and the cast and crew’s craftsmanship make it definitely worth viewing.

 

Dungeon Classics #44: A History of Violence

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

A History of Violence (2005, USA, Germany)

Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris
Running Time: 96 mins.

David Cronenberg, the master of body horror, has long been fascinated by duality and fractured identities – most brilliantly explored in Dead Ringers (1988). In A History of Violence, adapted from a graphic novel, family man Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) reassures his young daughter that monsters don’t exist. Yet, as fate would have it, two real monsters arrive in their quiet town of Millbrook, Indiana, intent on another murderous spree. Tom stops them, but the media frenzy that follows draws the attention of gangsters who expose his dark past as a Philadelphia mob enforcer. Meanwhile, Tom’s sharp-witted son outsmarts an alpha male schoolyard bully, sparking a reflection on humanity’s violent, primal nature – our constant lust for power and sex. This realization weighs heavily on the son, who soon finds himself drawn into the violent legacy of the man his father once was. The ‘history’ in the title is richly layered: Tom’s hidden past, the family’s shared burden, and, quite literally, a story steeped in bloodshed. The film boasts a stellar cast, with William Hurt delivering a standout performance as Tom’s weirdo brother, Richie. It’s a history worth uncovering.