Change Your Image
mysmalllamb
Reviews
The Doll Factory (2023)
Probably not for everyone
I binge watched the full series and enjoyed it all the way, yet I admit it may only attract limited audience with certain interests.
First of all the setting is London 1851, when the very first World Expo was bringing London and the whole British Empire to a whole new cultural level, and many underprivileged people wanted to take this chance to climb up.
And then it plays with the art society especially the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but instead of paying homage to the historic artists it took a critical perspective to see their artwork and artistic life.
The four occupations in the story (namely doll making, taxidermy, surgery and painting) were all about treating a life as an object. When doing the job like producing an artwork with passion and admiration, they gradually grow an obsession of eternal beauty and ignorance of real life.
This is what we call "objectification" in art. When they paint a portrait it's like gazing and owning of a real person, mostly a delicate woman in the 1850s context, very often a "damsel in distress" under chivalric gazes. But what if a woman wants to be a painter instead of a model? Can she assert a subjective voice of the painted character?
Also the image of cage is all over the whole series, from the poster and the opening sequence to various occasions the leading characters confront. When they think they could take the 1850s momentum to climb up in the art society, probably they are jumping into a larger cage.
If you had did artwork and critically thought about it yourself, this series may strike your notes. Also if you concern about female empowerment you may see a 1850s version in the series. But it is not for everyone.
Het bombardement (2012)
Face the war with a waltz
Knowing the bombardment of Rotterdam is a brutal tragedy, in the beginning I was surprised by the light hearted teenage love story as the main part of the film. But as it progresses, so many casual moments and tiny things gradually make sense. The war is there, the huge casualties and lifetime loss is there, how do you deal with it? As the boy tells the girl to laugh instead of fear, and the girl later tells the boy to do boxing with waltz, I think that is the message how people could endure the war and achieve love. Some German characters here may be snobbish, but the war tells them what is truly valuable; Dutch people may be considered victims, but some Dutch characters show their speculative minds in the warfare. After all, love without boundaries, save those you love, live with those survived by your side. I think it's a good movie about love at wars.