Aventurina King

In a little room of the Metropolitan Museum, a dozen of golden icons huddle around a shining representation of the Virgin and Christ. This jewelry box of paintings constitutes the museum's exhibit: "Duccio's Madonna and Child" and the central piece is one of Italian painter Duccio di Buoninsegna's masterpieces. The metropolitan recently acquired this painting for the golden price of 45 million dollars, a number which becomes rational considering the intricate beauty and the historical significance of the piece.

Duccio di Buoninsegna along with Giotto di Bondone is considered the founder of Western European art.  He is one of the initiators of European renaissance art.  Active during the early fourteenth century, his work constitutes a bridge from the rigid, apathetic Byzantine icons to the passionate, naturalistic renaissance paintings. 

Up until Duccio, the characters in religious representations wear self-reflecting gazes and rigid expressions devoid of human emotions.  They are divine in their distance from humanity.

In Byzantine representations of the Virgin and Christ, no emotional connection, no mother-child relationship is apparent. The two figures' gazes seldom meet, most often, both characters stare off in the distance towards the viewer, or one of them does so, leaving the other's gaze unanswered.

Duccio's Madonna and Child breaks away from this Byzantine representation. Upon the small (8x11 inches) alter-piece's gold leaf background, the Madonna enrobed in flamboyant green stares tenderly down at her child.  Her eyes are slightly hazy, as if dampened by affection. Her mouth anticipates a smile like a bud awaiting its blossom. The child stares up with wonderment into his mother's eyes, he playfully tugs at her veil.  The couple's gazes are directed outwards, towards each other.  They establish the emotional proximity of a mother and child between the two figures.

The amount of emotion that is transmitted between both characters is comparable to that in Renaissance artists Leonardo Da Vinci's Madonna and Child. Although Duccio's style retains Byzanitum's delicate sharpness and fragile precision. 

At the bottom of the painting lies a parapet upon which the Madonna stands. Seemingly a minor detail, the parapet marks yet another artistic step towards the renaissance.  It places the Madonna and Christ in the material world, they are represented on earth. In contrast, Byzantine representations suspend the couple on a golden expanse representing heaven.

Surrounding the magnificent couple are masterpieces by Giotto and Duccio's pupils. Like Duccio, Italian painter Giotto added emotions to his religious subjects. In his Epiphany, the Mage's reverent gazes alight on the newborn.  Most striking is the virgin Mary, she looks off to the side, away from her baby, her brow knitted in a frown. Perhaps she anticipates the fate of her child.

Giotto shades the characters faces offering an illusion of 3-dimensionality and make their expressions more realistic. The illusion of space was seldom explored in Byzantine art which emphasized the other-wordliness of its subjects through its flatness.

Pietro di Lorenzetti was Duccio's pupil.  The delicate shadows in his portrait of Saint Catherine of Alexandra along with her thought filled gaze further what Duccio had started. 

In Simone Martini's Crucifixion, a crowd of soldiers and saints chaotically mingles under Christ's crucified body.  This pupil of Duccio's decided to represent the Mary's violent emotion before her son's dead body by making her faint in the foreground. A surrounding group of friends sustain her, their features, stretched by terror and concern.

None of the pieces in the little room lack beauty.  The colors are sublime, their vivid tones heightened by the golden intricate background.  The delicate features are finely molded into expressions of sadness or joy. Moreover, they are all significant works, participants in the transition between two radically different artistic periods. 

What is disappointing though, is the failure of the exhibit to demonstrate their historical significance visually.  In the room, there is not one example of Byzantine art, nor is there any renaissance art. 

These are necessary though, to show what artistic background Duccio and his contemporaries had initially acquired, and what their experimentation later evolved into.  They are necessary to demonstrate the 14^th century's artistic significance visually instead of verbally (as it is stated in the exhibit's panel).  Without these, the exhibit lacks a clear thesis and becomes the simply pleasurable display of a handful of sublime Italian icons.

If last year taught one lesson, it would be to never underestimate PG-13 animation movies. These movies reigned over the 2004 box office: the triumphant Shrek 2 was closely followed by The Incredibles, Shark Tale and The Polar Express. At the heart of these features' success was an endless sequence of innocent gags for children intertwined with equally frequent allusions and plays on words for the adult audience.  Thanks to this, the animations attracted large audiences from all different age groups.

However, 2005 shirks its predecessor's teachings.  Children's animation movies are in dire shortage, with the sole exception of Robots, directed by Ice Age's Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha and designed by A Bug's Life s William Joyce.

Instead, this year's box office will be submerged by movie adaptations of comic books and novels.  Starting in February 18^th, Constantine adapts the DC/Vertigo comic book Hellblazer and stars Keanu Reeves. 

A month later, Sin City kicks Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same title on screen.  Three separate stories evolve on the movie's black and white ink drawn backdrop.  In the principle narrative, Marv, a fierce street killer, rampages throughout the city's corruption to avenge the death of his one true love.  This is comic book author Frank Miller's first directing experience.  Robert Rodriguez (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) co-directs with him.

Another of Frank Miller's creations swoops on screen this 2005.  Batman Begins propels Chrstian Bale into the role of zoological action hero of the year (previously detained by 2004's Spiderman).  This may not be a welcome coup however.  Despite Batman's plastic armor and painfully rigid bat mask, the new hero seems to take himself (and his costume) much more seriously than his arachnid counterpart in this latest adaptation.

During the second half of 2005, prose replaces ink drawings as the source of on screen inspiration.  Among the  major book adaptations The Brothers Grimm seems the most worthy of anticipation.  A collaboration between Matt Damon's penetrating characterization and director Terry Gilliam's knack for comedy (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), The Brothers Grimm could make this adaptation of age old fairy tales pleasurably unconventional.

As for the rest, award winning Roman Polanski (The Pianist) revisits Oliver Twist.  While Mike Newell (The Adventures of the Young Indiana Jones: Masks of Evil) takes over for Alfonso Cuaron (Y tu Mama Tan Bien) for the fourth Harry Potter installment.  One wonders if this directorial change has something to do with correcting the overly dark, almost family unfriendly atmosphere of The Prisoner of Azkaban.

In the wake of 2004's Aviator, a 2005 team of movie remakes will follow. Two of these: Bewitched and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory provide their stars with the opportunity to radically depart from their acting repertoire.  After streams of tears in Cold Mountain and troubled frowns in Birth last year, Nicole Kidman's face will display a wide smile and winking eyes as she saddles her broomstick in Bewitched.  She co-stars with comedian Will Ferrell (Elf).  Meanwhile, Johnny Depp braves a young audience's laughter for the first time as Willie Wonka in the family comedy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Summer 2005 will greet the usual large crowd of action flicks.  Mr and Mrs Smith stands out from the rest.  Starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, this explosive mixture of comedy, kung fu and sex displays the marital life of two assassins hired to kill each other.  Directed by The Bourne Identity's Doug Liman, Mr and Mrs Smith should share Bourne's suspense along with some welcome humor. Also noteworthy is War of the Worlds (that is planet Earth and Mars), the fruit of a second collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise (after Minority Report). And lastly, May 16^th marks the world wide premiere of Star Wars: Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith.

Moving away from pyrotechniques into a slightly more subdued register is Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda, staring March 18^th.  It is a romantic comedy, or tragedy (Allen wishes to leave it to the viewer's discretion) in which Melinda (Radha Mitchell) falls in love with Hobie (surprisingly enough Will Ferrell and not Woody Allen).

            2005 marks a welcome break in the flood of animation movies and their pixel characters. This year's screens will feature actors of flesh and bone collaborating with challenging directors. It's definitely worth saving up for.

    I have a confession to make.  I am a film major, yet I live in dread of silent film.  I know it is profane, loving modern cinema, and yet abhorring the silent origin, the dumb parent of modern day cinema. 
    Last night shed some light on my situation however.  For the first time, I enjoyed a silent film.  Goddess (Shen Nu) was directed in 1936 by Wu Yonggang.  It takes place in Shanghai and features the unparalleled Rian Lingyu.
    Why unparalleled?  In her role as a prostitute, striving to earn some money for her baby boy, she displays the glamour of the American female stars (Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner).  Yet her glamour does not pale the genuineness of her emotion.  Wu Yonggang rightfully provides her with a maximum time on screen.  The film is beautiful and heart breaking.