Sweet Mud, fantasy, things pile up

* Just got back from seeing the new Israeli movie "Sweet Mud" and really enjoyed it. Everything is great, writing, acting, photography, everything. This movie is like eating very rich choclate for 90 minutes. One knows that every scene, every sub-plot, is wonderful. But it's hard to eat very good chocolate for 90 minutes. Partly because, it's a very emotional movie. However, I seriously believe this one deserves the Oscar. It is worth noting however that, as far as I can see, a great deal of Israeli culture-products (Movies, books, TV) deal with what a difficult place Israel is. Sometimes it's so hard that the characters die ("Life according to Agfa" 1992) and sometimes, like in "Sweet Mud", they have to run away from Israel. (Partly, this makes Spielberg's movie "Munich" a very "Israeli" film since the hero chooses to leave the country and live in Brooklyn.) There are movies that don't deal with Israel in the same way (Most notebly "Walking on Water" and "Guests") But one is an Action movie and the other a Hassidic - Religous tale. They put themselves in a diffrent context then movies that deal with "Israel" and are uniqe in the field of Israeli movies. (Btw, notice the logic loop here: If you make a "serious" movie - then it's hard to watch. If you make a fun movie - you're not "serious".)

**In a conversation with a friend I was able to get out an idea that's been on my mind for a while. A lot of fantasy is based on rules. Spells are cast a certain way, warriors act in a certain way etc. In some works ("Sandman", "Lucifer") it's one of the core elements. This is completly unlike real life where we have rules but not extending to every possible thing* and we can obiously dis-obey. ( I know some cultures do have laws for everything, esp in the Haredi comunity but most of us living in the west do not). This, I think, is the reason a lot of people enjoy it when young (And beyond too, but this particuler hook is luring when young) it presents a very strucured world to inhabt for a spell. Fantastic - Realism also shares a similar thing for the high-brow person, nothing happens in the tale in terms of action (drama). It's a stage on which the auther can express an idea and the ideas become the focus of the story. Some writers do it very well (Karen Joy Fowler comes to mind after reading her "Black Glass") And yet, if you compare that to any Jonathan Kellerman Alex Dalawer mystery the pulp-fiction comes out better in terms of characters. They're alive, they want something, they're beliveble. They don't spend a life time building a library with secrets. Don't misunderstand, I enjoy reading all of these works on diffrent levels, I just felt that these are worth to point out.

*** At work I actually recived a wbsite to look at that said: "Learn to ride horses from the comfort of your own sofa." This takes my previous choice for stupid sites "Draw real-life models on web-cam."

**** The image is up because it rocks. And because it helps me to focus on what's important in life. To find hot women who don't mind my admantium skeleton.