There are two amazing things worth viewing today (
19 March Saturday): The first is, which I shall deal with second below (because it is not a one-night-only event...although it may not last long), is the release of our FAVORITE film from this past year's
New York Film Festival,
Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy. (Copie conforme). The second, which I shall deal with first, is the fact that
tonight's perigee Full Moon will be among the biggest and brightest of all time! I cannot tell you how much I think you should go out an see both of these visual events.
Perigee Full Moon
The juxtaposition below of two photographs of Full Moons demonstrates the approximate difference between how a
Full Moon looks when the moon is at its
perigee (point at which its orbital position is lowest [
i.e., closest to the Earth], at left) and at its
apogee (point at which its orbital position is highest [
i.e., farthest from the Earth], at right). [The photograph is from an extremely informative article on this subject, "
Inconstant Moon: The Moon at Perigee and Apogee," available at
www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html. Another good sight for information about this event is NASA's
www.science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/.]
So, we saw the
Moon last night, and it was really something...and tonight,
19 March Saturday, should be the best (weather permitting, of course). Tonight's
Full Moon Perigee will make the viewed size of the Moon an amazing
14% larger than the smallest apogee versions we sometimes see, because this Full Moon is occurring within an hour of the Moon's Perigee, a coincidence that only happens this closely approximately every 18 years. (By the way, while the size difference is impressive, the brightness difference between perigee and apogee full Moons is even more impressive: it's approximately
30% brighter that at the other extreme!) When I was first told that there would be this extreme a difference in the viewing size of the Moon, I was skeptical...and even seeing it did not convince me, until I carefully re-considered what I know of the astronomy--mostly with relation to its effect on the tides (
q.v., below).
I have long known that the height of the Moon in its orbit above the Earth has a powerful affect on the tides: The mean tide rise (the distance between mean high and low tides) in Wellfleet, MA, is 10 feet; but the current lunar conditions are resulting in tides rises of ~15 feet (a +12.66 foot high and a -2.24 ft low being the most extreme of the period)! This alone should have clued me in to the fact that there was veracity in the claims that tonight's Full Moon Perigee would be visually significant.
The factor that fundamentally causes the tides is the Moon's basic position in its journey around the Earth, and that factor has twice the effect as the next most important factor: high tides occur diurnally (in general) when the Moon is over a particular spot on the planet, and again when it is directly opposite that spot (the latter for reasons of centrifugal force...but that's another story). Of the other factors that affect the tides, the next most significant is the phase of the Moon, relating to the degree to which the Moon is in line with the Sun in relation to the Earth or perpendicular to it (full and new Moon "spring tides," when the gravitational pull of the Sun is additive to that of the Moon, being the most extreme tides of the orbital journey, while half Moon "neap tides," when the gravitational pull of the Sun counteracts that of the Moon, are the most minimally different). The next most significant factor--and the one relating to tonight's event--comes from the fact that the Moon's orbit around the Earth is elliptical (ranging from 252,000 miles at apogee down to 221,000 miles at perigee...which
is a difference of more than 14%), and so when perigee coincides with a full Moon, the result is more extreme tides (and, conversely, when it occurs at apogee, the tide rise is at its most minimal). The third factor is the inclination of the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth to the plane of the Earth's equator...but this is of far less significance. (Actually, the current tides are
not as extreme as they sometimes get, which I assume [I don't have my astronomical tables with me at the moment...nor do I feel "inclined" to research it online right now...] means that the inclination/declination effect is not near its maximum.) Suffice it to say that, at times of
syzygy (now
there's a Scrabble word for you [I know, I know, there are only 2 y's in the game...but there are still opportiunities]), when all of these astronomical factors are perfect alignment, there have been tide rises of ~
18 feet in Wellfleet!. (
q.v.,
www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/restles1.html , for a more extensive discussion of this interesting tide stuff.)
Anyway, the result of all this is that it makes perfect sense that tonight's Full Moon, occurring as close to perigee as it is, will be larger in the sky--and that 14% is a perfectly reasonable factor for this. It also makes sense that the height of the Moon is it's orbit would have an even greater affect on its brightness on Earth--as it also does on gravitational pull, and therefore tide height--as these differences are dependent on the relationship between distance and force, which vary inversely with the square of the distance. On the other hand, if we are so lucky to see it, the Moon will look particularly large as it is just rising over the horizon; but this (like the larger appearance of the Sun at sunrise and sunset), is for an entirely different reason...
But, on to cinema...
You can read below my full review of
Certified Copy. (Copie conforme) from its screening at the NYFF, or you can just click here for it: www.RLRubens.com/nyff-10.html#_Toc275199361; but this is a film you will really want to see. (Well, if you just like plot-driven adventure movies, I'd actually avoid this film like the plague...) This masterful film, written and directed by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, is his first shot outside of Iran. We have always enjoyed his films (as writer and director, and as writer of films directed by another favorite Iranian director of ours, Jahar Panahi), but Certified Copy is far and away my favorite of his works. It is a effectively intellectual and subtly emotional exploration of relationships and of the interactions of individual perceptions within them. The film centers on the relationship between an English writer James Miller (effectively played by William Shimell) and Elle (the marvelous Juliette Binoche), an antiques dealer in Florence. They meet at a lecture James is giving in the Uffizi in Florence. His thesis revolves around the question of what is real in art, and what the relationship might be between that reality and the assumed realities of the perceptions of art. What ensues--wonderfully set in Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside--is an incredible playing out of the disparate perceptions of the relational realities of James and Elle, very powerfully reminiscent in the most wonderful ways of Alain Resnais’ marvelously reality-bending Last Year at Marienbad—although Certified Copy is played, as it were, in a much lighter and more enjoyable register. As I said above, it was our favorite film in this year's NY Film Festival...which makes it extremely special! I suggest you see it. And I suggest you do not procrastinate, as films that are this good usually do not stay around very long (unfortunately)...
This film is now currently playing in the NYC area at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas (Broadway Between 62nd and 63rd), IFC Center (323 Avenue of the Americas), Kew Gardens (81-05 Lefferts Blvd., Kew Gardens, Queens), Clearview Claridge Cinemas (486 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ); in California at The Landmark (10850 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles), and Laemmle's Playhouse 7 (673 East Colorado Boulevard 2 Blocks West, Pasadena); and at a number of theaters in Connecticut (our friend Arnold's Madison Arts Cinema at 761 Boston Post Road, Madison), Criterion Cinemas at 86 Temple Street, New Haven, and the Avon Theatre at 272 Bedford Street, Stamford).
Below is my NYFF review, which has much more to say about the film. I only warn you that, near the very end of it, there is a bit (clearly marked as a "SPOILER ALERT") that gives away a small piece of the plot--even though the plot is not all that important to this magnificent film.
Certified Copy. (Copie conforme). (France/Italy, IFC Films) We have enjoyed the films of Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami in prior NYFFs (as writer and director, Ten in 2002, and Taste of Cherry in 1997; as writer of films directed by another favorite Iranian director of ours, Jahar Panahi, Crimson Gold in 2003, and The White Balloon in 1995), but Certified Copy, written and directed by Kiarostami, is his first shot outside of Iran, and it is far and away my favorite of his works—and my favorite of the entire NYFF this year. Juliette Binoche was at her wondrous best as Elle (she won Best Actress at Cannes this year for her portrayal), an antiques dealer in Florence, who brings her early adolescent son to a lecture at the Uffizi by an English writer, James Miller, effectively played by William Shimell. There were those who felt Shimell’s performance was too stilted and unnatural; but I believe that whatever his flaws in this unaccustomed role as a film actor (Shimell’s career has been as an operatic baritone), he was perfect for this character—whose fiery (operatic?) emotionality is supposed to exist deeply covered and restrained within the confining rigidity of his obsessive intellectual personality. In fact, I think there actually is a subtle symmetry here: while I very much love Juliette Binoche in many roles, I actually find her acting somewhat flawed by an overly emotional—often almost cloying—quality that often creeps in; but, in this role, it is perfect for the character she is portraying, in much the same way as Shimell’s reputed shortcomings as an actor are perfectly suited to his role. In the wonderful and amusing opening sequence of the film, James is delivering a lecture—to which Elle arrives late, and her son even later—based on his recent book, Certified Copy. His thesis, while never fully articulated, seems to revolve around the question of what is real in art, and what the relationship might be between that reality and the assumed realities of the perceptions of art—as, for example, the status of a work that was revered for centuries as real, that turns out to have been a copy or forgery. (A key moment later in the film involves a story about a woman talking to her young son in front of the well-known copy of Michelangelo’s David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.) The plot reality, as introduced in an early conversation between Elle and her son, is that Elle has just met James for the first time at this lecture, and she is accused by her son of looking to pick James up, not to interact with him professionally, and that the son has witnessed this sort of performance from her before. Everyone who has looked carefully at marriages and other deeply personal relationships knows that each participant in a relationship has a separate view of the reality of the events of that relationship—even to the extent of having a different sense of the facts of what has occurred between them. Thus, a story in which a wife experiences her husband to be emotionally distant from her and an absent father to their children, while the husband experiences his wife to be overly emotional and needy and never satisfied with all that he provides demonstrates a level of divergent realities that is completely par for the course in relationships—even to the extent that the participants can have separate views of the facts of their joint history. In this film, however, the marital relationship in question is that of Elle and James. Elle takes James for an afternoon drive outside Florence, and, early in the drive, a waitress at a café mistakes the pair for a married couple, and Elle pretends they are—with gusto and deep emotional response. This pretense continues through a series of meetings with other people—often couples in different stages of their own marriages, but always (as was the case with the waitress) people who have something meaningful to offer in terms of what marriage means—and at times James joins in the pretense, and at times he opposes it. The pair alternately connect and bicker as the outing progresses, certainly appearing like a married couple; and progressively it sounds like they are arguing about past events in a history they have shared—or, at very least, may have shared; and James becomes every bit as involved as Elle at times in the reality of their marriage. [SPOILER ALERT: I liked this film so much, and it is so unclear whether you’ll have a chance to see it, that I’m going to say more about what happens than I usually like to do in my reviews. The “plot” is not the point in this film, so it probably won’t matter in any event; but, if you like to discover how a film plays out without any foreknowledge, DO NOT READ FURTHER. Just accept that it is a fabulous, fun film, and see it if and when you can.] Progressively, it becomes clearer that the discrepancies in their different experiences of their relationship are not merely different perspectives, but substantially alternate realities. The conflicting realities of Elle and James in the end are irresolvable—actually raising questions about whether there is any objective reality at all. The film was reminiscent in the most wonderful ways of Alain Resnais’ marvelously reality-bending Last Year at Marienbad—although Certified Copy is played, as it were, in a much lighter and more enjoyable register. Suffice it to say, this was my favorite film of the NYFF; it was a complete joy; and it ended perfectly—something I often feel films fail to do. In addition to everything else, the scenery of my beloved Florence and the Tuscan countryside outside it made the film an even more rewarding treat.
