Final Film Evaluations

This rating of the films we have watched this semester is based on personal preference. Starting with #12 - my least favorite, and ending with #1 - my favorite. Lets begin!

#12: Killer of Sheep - Ugh! Bland and strenuous attempt at Realism. Did absolutely nothing to hold my attention, even when I made an active effort to understand it. Showed no real value to me. I hated it.

#11: Wendy and Lucy - Once again, such a bland Realism film. Even if it was the director's style, the lack of a moving plot or dynamic characters made it terribly uninteresting. Not a fan of the acting either.

#10: Freaks - Although it told a good story with good acting (even though I don't view it as a horror film), its just such a weird film. The scene transitions were so rough and trying to follow each scene was a struggle. Seriously lacked fluidity in my opinion.

#9: Detour - The film did what it was meant to accomplish and that is the bear minimum. I found it to be highly unremarkable and unmemorable. I will give it props for solid acting and accurate portrayal of the Femme Fatale.

#8: The Vanishing - So many complexities and techniques that made it attention grabbing for viewer. Good filming and acting on the behalf of the villain. Decent film, but I wouldn't watch it again.

#7: Awara - Definitely would NOT watch this again. Great acting and a very well told story but so strenuous to watch (so long!). This being my first experience with Bollywood film, it was indeed eye-opening.

#6: Sherlock Jr. - Completely impressive and entertaining for its time. Keating is a genius! The capacity for greatness was strangely only increased by being a silent film in black and white, with great music too. Definitely not something I'd normally watch though.

#5: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Just wow. This classic film is the epitome of the Spaghetti Western and Eastwood fills that roll to a T. Not sure why it needed to be so painfully long though. I'm glad I watched it, but I wouldn't do it again.

#4: My Own Private Idaho - Every second of this movie just left me with questions, but in a good way I guess. It was extremely eye-opening and revolution in some standards. I loved the cinematographic techniques, particularly the quasi-stop motion.

#3: Fruitvale Station - Its such an humble and honest film that paid great respect for Oscar Grant. They didn't try to be overly dramatic in they're portrayal which made it more real. Awesome acting and cool filming techniques. I'm truly glad I watched this.

#2: Moonrise Kingdom - Such a close second! Oh man, this film is truly a rare treasure. It think its sole purpose is just to be weird. They took a typical story line and twisted it so far that it made it impossible to guess what would happen next. Although I oddly don't think that Bill Murray truly added anything to the film. Beautiful creativity and filming techniques. I love watching this movie again and again, laughing every time.

#1: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? - My Winner! This film is a timeless classic of southern culture right up there with Forrest Gump! It includes such flawless acting and priceless scenarios. The politics and situational ironies of the setting was excellently portrayed. The diegetic music was so perfect and epitomizes the movie for me. I'll laugh when watching this film every time.

The Victor!

"Fruitvale Station" Sequence Scene Analysis

The full scene takes place at the fish section at the local grocery store. In the first shot of this sequence we are looking at this girl, Katie, who is trying to make a fish fry for her friend but doesn't know what to do. The shot is centered around Katie looking down at the fish on display in front of her. This is certainly a close up shot where everything in the background behind Katie is blurred, drawing focus more to her. In the background we hear the diegetic sounds one would normally hear in a grocery store.

Next shot in this sequence is another close up, this time looking at Oscar has he is calling his grandma to help Katie with her fish fry dilemma. Although you can see Katie's hair in the left corner, the eye is mostly drawn to the unique blue text box saying, "Calling... Grandma Bonnie". Which is a unique way of portraying cell phone use in this film. The background is once again blurred.

The third shot in this sequence is when the setting changes from the grocery store to Grandma Bonnie's home as she picks up the phone for Oscar's call. The shot is centered on the grandma and her activities. Unlike at the grocery store, the background here is vivid, particularly the flower arrangement she is working on.

This next shot in the sequence is of Oscar explaining that he is at work and wants her help, but he is cut off by his grandma who thinks that she is "playing on the phone". The shot is focused exclusively on Oscar and the entire background is blurred.

In the last shot of this sequence, Oscar explains the situation involving Katie and wants Grandma Bonnie to give Katie some advice on the fish fry. Katie is now re-mentioned in the conversation, and therefore the image of the back of her head is brought back into frame covering the left half. But the shot is still focused on Oscar.

"Moonrise Kingdom" Screenshot Analysis

This priceless and beautiful scene from the film, "Moonrise Kingdom" occurs precisely at the time of 1:17:11 and essentially depicts Scout Master Ward rescuing Commander Pierce from his inflamed tent in the middle of the great flood. From this camera angle, we are viewing the action in progress from the center of the stream/flood canal looking upstream. The camera is placed low just above the height of the rushing water, therefore giving us a very slight upward angled view of the two characters of focus in this shot. The mise en scene occupies the entirety of the shot and it includes very extensive layering. The first layer of this shot is composed of the two characters jumping over the water just left of center; Scout Master Ward impressively carrying Commander Pierce on his back. On the right side, layer numbers two and three are the Commander's tent post (viewed from its right wall) and the flames that burst out through the tents front entrance (a purposefully cheap yet effective pyrotechnic method). The fourth layer is essentially the rushing stream of water that occupies the whole bottom "horizon" of the shot, with the walls of the steam on both sides. The rest of the screenshot is essentially the background of the scene which consists of the camp gates, the surrounding wall, approximately nine yellow tents, and the forest of pine trees that extend beyond the camp walls. The dark stormy sky occupies the entire top "horizon" of the shot and literally overcasts the mise en scene in progress.

Wendy's and Lucy's Best Companion is...

For starters, in this film by Kelly Reichardt, the characters Wendy and Lucy already have each other for companionship, so I don't know why I need to play the role of matchmaker and find a new companion for them. Nevertheless, if I had to pick a film we previously watched from this class that would be the "best companion" for the movie Wendy and Lucy, it would probably be My Own Private Idaho. This may be a very surface observation, but the complete lack of any dominant male role or discussion about men and the solo bond between Wendy and Lucy paints a very "lesbian-like" image of Wendy. Not to mention her ragged butch clothes and haircut (obviously I mean no offense towards anybody). The feeling of homosexuality in this film is what remind me of My Own Private Idaho. Plus there is the fact that Wendy and Lucy as essentially drifters, just like characters Mike and Scott, and are just "passing through town" on a vague strenuous journey towards a hopefully better life. Just as similar, in both movies the characters are continuously stricken with hardships and obstacles that prevent them from achieving happiness. I also noticed that both Wendy and Mike have to give up their companionship with their best friends, Lucy and Scott. Although they lose their companions for different reasons, the even of losing them is the "final straw that broke the camels back" for Wendy and Mike. For this reason, I see it appropriate that My Own Private Idaho would be the best companion film for the movie Wendy and Lucy.

"Odysseus McGill" - A Man of Constant Sorrow

My excitement to watch Oh Brother, Where Art Thou for this class was very high thanks to my already developed love for the movie. This having been approximately the fourth time I've watched the film, I can confidently say that it is a timeless classic and the story never gets old. Maybe that is because the story itself is indeed loosely based off of Homer's "The Odyssey". I am familiar with the story of "The Odyssey", but until the connection between it and Oh Brother was discussed in the article, I had no knowledge of the connection and had not noticed it in the film until now. But thankfully it all makes sense now and heightens the beauty of the film for me even more so.

A particular theme of the movie that has always captivated me was the concept of The Man of Constant Sorrow. Not only was I hooked by just how catchy and song was, but I was amazed by the way that Everett McGill actually filled the role of the man of constant sorrow through the story and his part of the adventure/journey. Just like Homer's Odysseus, Everett was forced upon a great and perilous journey just in the hope of returning home to his family. I will avoid diving into why Penny is an awful character compared to Odysseus's Penelope, but I will say that Penny definitely contributes to Everett's constant sorrow. The hope of Everett's journey is that he will be reunited with Penny and remarry her, but even when he finds here, she does not accept him. She even renounces him, tells their daughters that he was hit by a train, and engages herself to the "bona-fide" Waldrip. Everett will never satisfy Penny no matter how hard he tries (aka. "she counted to 3!") which adds to his sorrows. And by "constant sorrows" it doesn't mean that Everett is a depressed man, but that he is a man struck with constant misfortune but always manages to survive and slowly journey on. It just so happens that the Soggy Bottom Boys hugely popular song captures the true nature of Everett's and Odysseus's struggles. For example, the song lyrics, "For 6 long years I've been in trouble, no pleasure here on earth I found. For in this world I bound to ramble" are a perfect description of their connected perilous journeys. The fact that whenever they sing "A Man of Constant Sorrow", the entire state of Mississippi goes crazy with excitement is only an ironic reaction that the protagonist will never truly receive for his efforts and survival. Therefore the man of constant sorrow is always destined to journey on as a stranger through life.

New Queer Cinematography

Within Van Sant's film, My Own Private Idaho, I believe that there is a unique element of cinematography present that could clearly be outlined as a defining aspect of New Queer Cinema. The usage of the cinematic filming technique of quasi stop motion throughout the film is something that I believe to be a defining element of new queer movies from that time period. That specific technique was a very new concept at the time and once cinematographers started using it, it grew very popular, but only for that short period of time in which the genre lasted. The stop motion filming concept was used most noticeably in the movie's sex scenes, in which still frame images of various sexual acts were shown almost artistically and had an austerely beautiful nature to it. This technique of displaying the sex scenes made it feel like you were skimming through a 90's erotica magazine or porn magazine photo story. Stated in Adnum's article, the stop motion technique of the sex scenes was “one of the most beautifully nuanced depictions of naked desire ever captured on film.” The technique was also applied in the imagery where there would be sudden spontaneous cuts to scenes of wooden houses whirling around in the air and crashing suddenly as a metaphor for Mike's childhood. I believe that this technique concept could certainly read under the New Queer Cinema association as an underlying aspect for that era of cinema.

"The Vanishing" Horror Film

The formal definition of a horror film is certainly debatable and there are a series of different explanations for why people choose classify a given movie as being a horror film. This debate is definitely present when discussing the genre of George Sluizer's 1988 film, The Vanishing. I argue that this movie is indeed a horror film mainly for one reason; the presence of a terror that evokes a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. In my opinion, there is no need for the antagonist to be monstrous or supernatural, only that the the primary purpose of the film is to elicit real/realistic fear from the audience. In this film, the protagonist, Rex, is buried alive by Raymond just like he had done to Saskia after kidnapping her earlier in the film. Being buried alive is a very real and rational fear for many people. For this reason, many find the thought or image of being buried alive to be profoundly horrifying. Sure, I can agree that the film does lack some of the suspense-building aspects that are tradition in most typical horror film's but it still contains the primary trait that all horror films need; that presence of a terror that evokes the audience's primal fears. For this reason, I believe that Sluizer's The Vanishing truly is a horror film.