20 Films That Have Influenced Me

Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarrintino -1994

Drugs, Dancing, and Samuel L. Jackson 

Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind - 2004

Jim Carrey plays a more serious role with Kate Winslet, beautifully crafted and forever quotable.

Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson - 2012

Two young teenagers run away and survive on scout knowledge and young romance... for about 24 hours.

The Darjeeleeling Limited - Wes Aderson - 2007

Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman are back, and quirky and confusing as ever.

The Truman Show - 1998

Again, Jim Carey in a much more serious role but still with elements of humour. One of those films that will completely change your perspective on things. With an incredible crescendo of an ending.

Youth in Revolt - 2009

Had to include a Michael Cera classic! Cera at his possibly most awkward, but still handsomely awkward.

500 Days Of Summer - 2009

Before everybody fell in love with Zooey Deschannel, we watched some poor soul go through the motions, and that poor soul was Joseph Gorden-Levitt. Every 15-19 year old girl's dream.

Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki - 2001

Studio Ghibli do it again, an absolute gem, anime at it's best. Heart-warming and beautifully made.

Fight Club - 1999

Cult classic and definitely lives up the hoo-har, Brad Pitt is amazing, Helena Bonham Carter is amazing, the script is amazing and everyone on Earth needs to see this film. Plus Pixies TUNE at the end.

Catfish - 2010

Before the spin-off show! Regardless of your opinion of the MTV show, this film is so so so much better, the original, the real deal that is so niche and different. Stop watching MTV, also.

Django Unchained - 2012

Quentin Tarrintino bangs out another masterpiece, following suit to all his other creations; guns, blood and a lot of N-word use.

Her - 2013

I love Joaquin Phoenix I love Joaquin Phoenix I love Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson's voice is to die for!

Rushmore - Wes Anderson - 1998

"I saved Latin, what did you ever do?" Jason Schwartzman still has braces and Bill Murray is starting to look old.

Juno - 2007

Ellen Page and Michael Cera and Kimya Dawson's lovely soundtrack

The Wolf of Wall Street - 2013

HOW DOES LEONARDO DICAPRIO NOT HAVE AN OSCAR???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, Jonah Hill looked FAB.

Black Swan - 2010

In my opinion should be rated much high in IMDB's top 250, as well as higher in many peoples opinions because this film is so captivating and unfortunately too many people only remember it for the Mila Kunis/Natalie Portman sex scene. Which is very unfair.

Donnie Darko - 2001

Another cult clasic, it's so difficult to distance yourself from the events and thesis' in the film from reality. Well worth watching, definitely not when high.

Howl's Moving Castle - Hayao Miyazaki - 2004

Another Studio Ghibli masterpiece, not enough people appreciate these kind of anime films.

American History X - 1998

So many people highly prized this film and I never understood how or why, until I properly sat down and watched it. Ed Norton does a brilliant job and my full respect and appreciation goes out to everything this film stands for and represents.

The Departed - 2006

Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg AND Maaaaatttt Daaaamooooon! I think I need to see this again because there's still a few things that didn't make sense to me but despite that, it still stood out as an extremely cleverly crafted film.

Creative Writing - Marianne's Journal

I don’t dream like I used to when I was with you. Since you’ve left, at night I endure only intense loneliness, pain so harrowing I feel like my chest will cave in and the only thing stopping it from crumbling is the gasps of air that I take between the tears.

I’ve been reminded endlessly that the red washing down the bathtub won’t change the colour of sea yet I still yearn to bask in the cloudy nebulous water that echoes the ocean – and to feel free.

It’s an embarrassment how too many people don’t understand that we are weak and fragile, that once people are broken in certain ways they can’t ever be fixed. It’s something they don’t tell you when you’re young and it never fails to surprise me as I grow older and see the people in my life break one by one. I’m beginning to wonder when my time is going to be, or has it already happened?

Uncounted times I would lay awake and visualize the stars above my head, wondering if somewhere else in the world you’re also thinking about the same cluster of bright lights, envious of how lucky they are to be so beautiful up there while everything down here is so ugly. The twinkling of the star light mimics the same ambiguous intensity as looking into your eyes, the simultaneous invasion of both vulnerability and safety – an oxymoron in your eyes, how cliché – true opia with your pupils glittering at me, bottomless and opaque. Suspended in time, I couldn’t tell if I was looking in or looking out.

I never lied much, but one that really shamed me was how I convinced you of the only obsession everyone wants: to be in love. Because everyone thinks that falling in love makes them whole, the platonic union of souls, but the truth is it’s not like that. We were whole before it all began in the great scheme of things, then love fractured us and tore us apart.

It’s taken me so long to realise that each passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as my own –populated with their own ambitions, routines and worries. An intricate story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might only appear once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blue of traffic passing on the motorway, as a lighted window at dusk. You used to be my sonder.

Even though time passes painfully slowly, the desire to hold on is still there, like trying to keep your grip on a rock in the middle of a river, feeling the weight of the current against your chest while your elders float on downstream, calling over the roar of the rapids, I mime the words to myself, no sound escapes my mouth.. “Just let go—it’s okay—let go.”

Yours truly, Marianne.

Recent Image Creations

Experimenting

Above: Both my own images, an overlay of the view from Southworld Lighthouse and blossoming flowers in Stowmarket.

Above: My own image of bees in The Natural History Museum overlay with Bon Iver album Cover.

Above: My own image of found wasp overlay with found image of mountains.

Zach Anner - Motivation Inspiration

We all (unfortunately) have those days, weeks and sometimes even months of subdued attitudes and outlooks to everyday life. It's normal for moods to ebb and flow, fluctuate and calm, but sometimes it can be overwhelming to find yourself feeling stuck in a rut of the same repetitive routine scattered with stress, anxiety and uncertainty.

From the last few weeks I have learnt that if and when you respect the vessel that propels you from A to B - you will be rewarded. You simply cannot treat old habits, outlooks and perspectives like your favourite jumper; it's a part of you but it's wearing thin at the elbows doesn't really fit any more but you just don't have the heart to throw it out. All that is required is an open mind and an open heart to allow the growth process to take effect.

Zach Anner is one of the most inspirational people I have ever seen and I am absolutely fascinated by his attitude and response to his disabling condition of cerebral palsy. Zach's youtube features videos such as Work Out Wednesdays - Zach puts so much effort into doing simple tasks like just getting out of his wheel chair or taking a few steps with little help, all whilst speaking words of motivation voiced through sarcasm and satire of his own condition.

"Don't focus on your limitations. Stevie Wonder was blind but did he ever write a song about it? No."

The underlying moral is as cheesy as it is - your outlook on today, tomorrow and even yesterday is crucial to attitude to everything you do. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson

I finally got the chance to see Wes Anderson's latest quirky, cutesie, cinematic masterpiece and it definitely followed suit to the typical Wes Anderson style; beautiful scenes, an amazing script and complete with cameos especially for the hardcore Wes fans.

As per usual each and every scene was faultless, if not completely symmetrical then bloody close to it as possible, with the most gorgeous colour schemes!

The film was slightly different to the rest of Wes' collection due to the fact (the very, very very VERY lovely) Jude Law acted as sort of a narrator, for another narrator, narrator inception. Although, because of this, I think the story was a lot easier to grasp and also made it more mainstream so perhaps that factors into why The Grand Budapest Hotel was such bit hit in comparison to all of Wes Anderson's other films such as Moonrise Kingdom or The Darjeeleeing Limited.

And, my God did Ralph Fiennes did a brilliant job as part of the duo protagonist team, partnered with Tony Revolori with his hilariously skinny drawn-on moustache.

Jason Schartzman also made another appearance, along with Bill Murray (OF COURSE), Owen Wilson and Ed Norton as part of his regular cast. Willem Defoe also did a brilliant job, playing a character slightly reminiscent of his green goblin days - a bit evil and menacing. 

The film was rather fast paced, I think it could have done with maybe another half an hour, spaced things out a bit more, but all in all it was bloody phenomenal.

From watching Wes' films, a formula seems to come to fruition; each and everyone one seems to have it's own quirky personality and feel to the film, to the script and to the characters, their worlds seem so perfectly imperfected but we wouldn't want them any other way. With each storyline so different, they submerse the viewer scattered with the driest, cleverest of humour crescendoing to a deep and dark moral.

What did I take away from the film? 

I want to be a lobby boy