FINALLY, A SPECTACULAR MOVIE ABOUT REAL LIFE.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic AFTER focusing their cameras on a tiny patch of grass in their beautiful bug movie ``Microcosmos,'' filmmakers Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou have, as they put it, ``turned the binoculars around'' with their latest film, ``Genesis,'' which tackles the birth of the universe in 80 minutes (including credits). Once again, Nuridsany and Perennou (who wrote and directed the movie) have done a fantastic job of capturing the natural world in ways that are both amazing and illuminating. They've also come up with a simple way to tie the whole ball of string together, deftly showing how humans live the story of creation in fast motion, going from the aquarium of our mother's womb and then back to the earth and ether upon death. The film's lack of pretension Pretension See also Hypocrisy. Prey (See QUARRY.) Pride (See BOASTFULNESS, EGOTISM, VANITY.) Absolon vain, officious parish clerk. [Br. Lit. only adds to its profundity. The scientific explanations for life on Earth are presented in plain, vivid language by an African griot griot African tribal storyteller. The griot's role was to preserve the genealogies and oral traditions of the tribe. Griots were usually among the oldest men. In places where written language is the prerogative of the few, the place of the griot as cultural guardian is still (or storyteller) who uses such simple devices as puffs of smoke and a cauldron of water to illustrate the circle of life. As in ``Microcosmos'' (just out on DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. , by the way), the filmmakers have several astounding a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, showpieces with an eye toward the grotesque. The Galapagos sea iguanas stand in for prehistoric monsters; a mudskipper mudskipper, name for several fishes of the genus Periophthalmus, of the goby family, found in coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. They live chiefly on mud flats and in brackish mangrove swamps and are adapted for remaining on dry land when the resembles the pioneering walking fish. We see toads coupling, lizards racing, snakes somehow fitting their jaws around an egg. Birth. Life. Death. Then there's the beautiful: the birth of an ostrich ostrich, common name for a large flightless bird (Struthio camelus) of Africa and parts of SW Asia, allied to the rhea, the emu and the extinct moa. It is the largest of living birds; some males reach a height of 8 ft (244 cm) and weigh from 200 to 300 lb chick seen from inside the egg and amazing shots of human babies inside the womb. This comes at the end of a sequence comparing fetuses of various creatures with the aim of, again, tying together the animal world and the human world, the strangeness of life, the inevitability of change. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com GENESIS - Three and one half stars (G) Director: Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou. Running time: 1 hr. 20 min. Playing: Landmark's Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles
In a nutshell: The team behind ``Microcosmos'' gives us the birth of the universe in 80 minutes. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion