Review of Жизнь Студента

I am part of a forum called Christianfilmmakers.org. We currently have about 550 members and Colton Davie is one of them. This is an experimental short film of his called Жизнь Студента which I believe is Russion for Student Life. Anyway, I was extremely interested by this work and wrote up a very detailed review.

I suggest watching the short, trying to figure out what it means to you, reading my thoughts on it, and then sharing your thoughts. I hope you enjoy!


http://openlightstudios.com/ZhiznStudenta.mov

Hey Colton,

I just watched your short twice and here are some thoughts:

I was very confused the first time and wondered if there was any point at
all... I think part of me, though, thought that there might be, but it had just
gone way over my head. However, I did really love the cinematography. Encouraged
after reading the posts about the short, I watched it a second time, this time
with my brother and I bounced ideas off of him of what I thought things
meant.

Opening credits: Just now, listening to the opening music a third time, I
get a early morning/sleepy feeling from it. Also, the way the credits disappear
is very sleepy.

Cell phone alarm goes off and then box alarm: This is something I've done.
I wake up to my alarm in the morning and then look at the time and go back to
sleep. Then, my box alarm (that I set to go off later as a safety measure) goes
off. While I can't identify with a loud dorm roommate, I do sympathise with the
obnoxiousness of it all and everyone has been rudely awoken at some time or
another.

Dropping down to the concrete floor: This seemed symbolic to me. To me it
represents how one feels in the morning. He has passed from the warm,
comfortable, wonderful bed onto the hard, cold, depressing floor. He has left
the comforting, restful world of dreams for the difficult, laborious, and
stressful world.

Everything in the opening part of the short is very sleepy. It seems that
he is taking a hot shower which may not be the best thing to wake one up, but it
is what one feels like doing in the morning. I'm not sure if the soaps signify
anything, but I noticed that two are upside down and one is right side up. Yeah,
maybe there's nothing to that... yet perhaps there is. *wink* Back to the
drowsiness thing, even pulling the towel down is down in a sleepy, morning
way.

I love the shot with the leaf rolling in the upper right corner. It gives
the feeling of freshness. The music also picks up here and I get the feeling
that the main character is more awake now, but not quite awake enough to be
almost-tackled by a friend (the friend has either more energy than the main
character or has been up a lot longer... afterall, it is at least 11:00.)

Some of the later stuff just feels like school or is confusing.

I think that the colored stuff is what he is dreaming rather than the black
and white. This goes along with the idea that the dream world can seem way
better than the real world. All the dream stuff is more random, but overall
feels more pleasant.

Talking with the girl: I love this part! I love the exchanged glances! I
think the green light shot goes along with the glances. Once they both smile at
each other, the main character feels like he has a green light to talk to her. I
think they both go to the same school and are perhaps even in a class together
(maybe Russian?), but he has never really talked to her. I think they say "hi"
to each other and then he asks her how she is. She responds by saying something
like "not too bad" or "alright" or "pretty good." I'm confused about what the
main character says next. I kinda get the feeling, but I'm having trouble
placing my finger on it.

Cutting back to the obnoxious roommate: From a cute dream to shocking
awakening... Once again the difference between the worlds.

Scene with main character, girl, and lights: Great lighting effect!
Beautiful! I don't completely get the point here, but it is comforting. The
scene feels like it's saying, "It's going to be okay." This is the last
comforting thing before he wakes up.

The second alarm and screaming roommate: He's back to the real world.

So, I'm not sure what I got right, but I love that I was able to pull all
these things out of the short even though the film is so out of the ordinary.
Thank you for sharing!

Two Small, But Impactful Blessings

Already I have not kept my goal of posting often. I will try to make it up. :) This last week has been crazy! RJ left on Wednesday and that was shocking for our whole family. We are slowly recovering. Also, for most of Saturday, I was gone at the Rebelution Conference (a conference rebelling against low expectations for youth) held in the Twin Cities.

So, I suppose I should get to the point of my title. Twice, within about the last week, I have been blessed with having an amazing opportunity to take some fantastic pictures. Both came on days where I would later be rather stressed out. I think that maybe this is God's way of making my day bearable since He knew what I would go through. He has been teaching me to appreciate the things He does bless me with rather than always focusing on what is wrong in my life. These were just a couple opportunities to put into practice what He is teaching me. Taking these pictures was such a joy and I thank God for them.


With this last pic, let's see if anyone can tell me what reoccurring theme there is, but if I already told you, please don't share. :)

RJ: World Traveler

This is a picture of Ljubljana, one stop on RJ's travels.

In a day and a half my sister RJ will be leaving for Europe. She will be there for three months. Because of this, on Sunday, we held a farewell/ blessing (and since she turned 21 on Sunday, it was also a birthday) ceremony for her. It was extremely fun. She had family attend as well as many of her friends. Since she will be in Europe, the style of food was Mediterranean. IT WAS AMAZING! If I could eat like that every day, I wouldn't be disappointed. :)

For the blessing ceremony, RJ sat in front of everyone and then people came
up and said some of the things they appreciated about her and then they usually blessed her with something. For instance, RJ is very different than anyone else I know and I blessed her with accepting that and knowing that God rejoices in her differences and that He will use them.

So, why a blessing ceremony? Well, I think most other cultures in the world, besides the extremely Westernized ones, have some sort of release into adulthood. For instance, the Jewish culture has Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. However, Westernized culture seems to have lost this valuable tradition of blessing a person and releasing him/her into adulthood. I think it is so important to receive that blessing, especially from one's parents because this is where the parents show the child that he or she is respected completely as an adult, that he or she is no longer under their parenting, and that they completely release that adult into God's plan for his or her life. I would suggest that it is crucial to receive this blessing.

I am going to miss RJ, but I am so glad she is going.

RJ, I pray God's blessing over you and your trip, I pray that it will be safe and God-filled, and I bless you with and pray for you Isaiah 30:21: "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"

Pride

My heart is heavy right now. I am reading further in Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and realizing so many of my deficiencies. Praise God!

Jack Deere, the author, is talking about Mary's (as in Mary and Martha) passion for Jesus. Here is what he says: "Mary walked in during the middle of dinner with a pound of pure nard, a perfume worth at least a year's wages. Then she 'wasted' that expensive perfume by pouring it on the feet of Jesus. Next she let down her hair and wiped the feet of the Lord with her hair (John 12:1-3).

This was an extraordinary act. It was also an improper act. Mary interrupted the dinner, she approached a male guest, she let down her hair in the manner of an immoral woman, and she did the work of a slave. What led her to humble herself and transgress the bounds of propriety? What led her to such an extravagant waste?

It was this: she recognized the greatness of Jesus, and she knew that he was worthy of all of the extravagance she could lavish on him. He was worthy of the deepest humiliation she could suffer on his behalf. Mary was driven by a holy passion for the Son of God."

Why don't I have this passion? I think it's because I am so prideful that I can't even see it. Why am I afraid to be extravagant for God? Why am I afraid of humiliation? Pride is an illusion. We don't really have anything to lose unless we aren't truly sold out wholly to God. Jesus, who is completely holy, suffered the greatest humiliation because He loves us. Can't we, out of love, humiliate ourselves for Him? Mary was the one who instead of serving Jesus just wanted to sit at His feet and listen to Him speak. I find that often I am more of a Martha than a Mary. I am so eager to do things for Jesus, but I don't know that I'm that eager just to listen. Maybe it's because by doing things for Jesus, I feel better about myself and can get some sort of recognition or pride out of it. I want to be willing to sit at Jesus' feet out of love and to humiliate myself for Him out of love. I wish that it was just natural, but right now it isn't. Only God truly understands all of our motives and I think He may be showing me just a glimpse of how prideful I am. How can I be more like Mary? I think the answer lies in asking God. I truly hope that He will make me so focused on Him so that I might love Him like Mary.

Now, after all of that, I'm going to go make some pancakes!! Have a blessed day!

Passion

Passion... What are we without it?

Lately, I believe God has been trying to create passion in me. I feel starved for passion. I fear that I am not passionate enough about my relationship with God, yet I am passionate about becoming passionate. I feel like a starving man. I am starving for a closer relationship with God.

I've been reading a book called Suprised by the Power of the Spirit. In a section I read today the author talks about a time in his life where some things in Psalms made him uncomfortable. One of them was how hungry the psalmists were for God. At this time in his life he did not have this passion and so naturally he was confused by it. Psalm 42:2-3 says, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'"

Reading this I realized that I don't have that same hunger and passion, yet I want it.

Passion... What are we without it?

Lord Jesus, please create in me an overwhelming passion and hunger for You.

Welcome!!!

Well, I've finally decided to start a blog. I've been wanting to do this for some time and now here it is!

I hope to write consistently (hopefully several times a week) until I go to the Challenge conference in Utah and then I'll see what happens.

This blog is to write down my thoughts so that I may better understand them and what God is doing in my life. It is also so that I and others may get to know each other better and inspire one another.

I hope you enjoy! :)