*ACTUALIZACIÓN: ahora puedes verlo subtitulado en castellano…
Werner Herzog gives voice to a plastic bag’s existential crisis. A very unique and powerful filmmaking statement.
This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. Along the way, it encounters strange creatures, experiences love in the sky, grieves the loss of its beloved maker, and tries to grasp its purpose in the world.
In the end, the wayward plastic bag wafts its way to the ocean, into the tides, and out into the Pacific Ocean trash vortex — a promised nirvana where it will settle among its own kind and gradually let the memories of its maker slip away.
- Part. 1/2
It is a heavy subject—existential angst—and in the form of plastic bag’s personification, definitely absurd. But for the most part the film takes itself and its concept seriously, albeit with occasional breaks for wry humor. The result is a film that is a success as education and entertainment, that musters a startling amount of pathos from its subject and a surprising amount of empathy from its audience.
- Part. 2/2
Director Ramin Bahrani, has developed quite a reputation on the basis of his three feature films, Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo and Man Push Cart, which turn a humanistic eye to the American immigrant experience. This attitude coupled with his frequent use of non-actors, has lead some to classify him as something of a neo-neorealist. Thus, on first blush, it is strange to see him tackle a high-concept work such as this. However the same skills that prove successful in his features buoy Plastic Bag: a broad and sympathetic understanding of interior worlds, and a photographer’s eye for natural beauty in the exterior world.
* Found in Shortoftheweek. Making of Plastic Bag and more info about the film, here.
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really good one.. Kudos!
this is great
thanks for sharing!
http://www.tracyzhangphoto.wordpress.com/
Will have to watch this when I have a bit more time. Looks interesting!
Takes 17 minutes to watch, but each one of it is really worthy.
And you know what it also is? Existential yes, etc but surprisingly intimate and touching! Enjoyed watching it, thank you!
Thanks to you for your nice coment. True about the intimacy, it reminds me a bit that escene from American Beauty, when the teenager is showing her girlfriend some footage of a plastic bag taped in a very lirical mood, do you remember it?
BTW, kudos for your blog http://sayitinasong.wordpress.com/ Good contents and well written
Thank you for your post. It is very interesting!
Before I read your post, the bag reminded me of the one in American Beauty.
Thanks for doing this. This topic is so important in our world today and we need to realize how damaging plastic bags can be to our ecosystem.
Thanks for doing this. This topic is so important in our world today and we need to realize how damaging plastic bags can be to our ecosystem.
GREAT, really ! I’m gonna talk about it to my friends, in France !
Bye !
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Sounds very creative. I’ll have to stop back by when I am not at work.
There is need to think about this problem. I am here with you to start a compaign about it.
The journey of a plastic bag. Why don’t u just stop using plastic all together and find alternative ways to house ur goods like one of those reusable bags for $2. Being eco friendly means nothing to the big company’s, only profit, so you must choose between low prices or gimmicky high cost green products.
Wow, this is a genius piece of artwork! We need more intimate, subtle messages of environmental issues like this – great way to really reach people! Very powerful.
This is awesome. Definitely a way to break from the monotony of film. Thanks for sharing, I’ll check it out.
I used to wonder where it came from, where it was going, and whether it would ever get to where it was going…the plastic bag. Thanks for this post!
I’ve been on vacation for the last two weeks from my own life’s version of the pacific vortex — the coveted ‘shangri-la’ for all bags discarded. Paradise lost.
Was it Hemmingway that wrote about that?
How soon the mystique of the unknown fades once it is no longer unknown. The thing is in the journey not the destination? How long have i been circling in the frey? Does everyone want to leave the comfort of the vortex at some point or another?
It has been a vacation without an agenda. The days have been filled mostly with coffee and books.
It is inevitable that we all must meet our makers. What we do in the meantime is what I struggle with. Spending the 18 minutes to watch this was definitely not a struggle.
Magnificent, Bravo! “I wish that my maker would have created me so that I could die!” Powerful content to say the least!
Bankruptnooption. Great Blog too!
It is very interesting… and it feels kind of deep.
Thanks for sharing!
WONDERFUL! WOW!
nice post thanks for sharing this.. plastic bags spoiled the whole beauty of the place…each one should replace the plastic into paper bags or jute bag…
This work is Great
Thanks so Much for shar
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The sooner the whole world bans plastic bags, the more chance nature will have to survive against man’s population overabundance.
Colin, you refer to “man’s population overabundance.” You probably learned about Earth’s overpopulation from the censored, state-controlled, liberal media and the politicians who would benefit from putting in place some sort of population control.
What you might not know is that the entire population of all of Earth can fit inside the city of Pensacola, Florida, USA…TWICE. There are 6 billion people on Earth, right? Well, there are 28 billion square feet just in Pensacola, FL. Yes, there are some AREAS on Earth that are overpopulated. The cities in China, for instance. But if people would just spread out, there would be no crowding problem. Again, the entire Earth’s population can fit TWO TIMES into the city of Pensacola, FL.
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Ban plastic bags – brown paper bags will never end in the vortex they just return back to the earth – much better…
Thanks for sharing that! It’s so captivating, especially the end.
Interesting movie and I hope that it helps people to realize that these bags cause an enormous pollution to the environment. That there’s a need to use more durable bags. And if one accepts one of these bags, bring them to a recycle point of plastics in the neighbourhood.
Thanks for posting this movie!
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This is amazing…. It gives me a new perspective on plastic bags.
The quote: “I wish my maker could’ve created me so that I could die.” is so deep.
This video is truly amazing. Thanks so much for sharing!
Pretentious.
Plastic bags, and other plastic bits and pieces like you find on all beaches, will become much more of a problem than arms,
atomic weapons, atomic waste, global warming or freezing, and running out of energy.
Plastic waste and plastic fishing nets, are killing sea creatures and sea birds in great numbers.
When wild nature becomes under such threat and stress, guess whose turn it becomes next ???
Colin in Barbados.
I am not a fan of plastic bags too. It’s time to think green after a lot of calamities we are all experiencing.
I am thinking: instead of researching the advancement of technology, why not give some of it into researching on making our earth more environment-friendly. In any case, we can not use all the technology advancement if our earth is gone, right?
Great message portrayed within.
Who remembers that one American Beauty parody in Family Guy:
Peter: [filming a plastic bag] Look! It’s dancing with me! It’s like there’s this incredibly benevolent force that wants me to know there’s no reason to be afraid. Sometimes, there’s so much beauty in the world, it makes my heart burst.
God: [angrily] It’s just some trash blowing in the wind! Do you have any idea how complicated your circulatory system is?
… I’m just saying.
Kidding aside, I must admit there is something inexplicably alluring about watching an inanimate object dancing with the wind.
This particular film also seems to have a pretty neat exploration of the creator-and-the-created relationship.
It is good!
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Great stuff!
Thanks.
interesting.
http://cocoaristidesgarvirasbo.blogspot.com/2010/09/y-donde-estara-ella-hoy.html
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