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.

The Problem with "Killer of Sheep" is...

Watching the film "Killer of Sheep" was considerably difficult for me for a multitude of reasons. Before I get into the details of the film I would like to mention that in general, I am typically never a fan of any works of realism mainly because of how bland and strenuous they can be. I understand that realism is the attempt to portray accurate representations of reality, but that doesn't mean they all need to be hopelessly dismal and lifeless!

In the case of this movie, the attempt to portray realism virtually killed this movie for me. Making the movie in black and white (even though color films were being made at that time) did nothing to add to the nature of the film. I must also add that the background music was very poorly done and therefore lent nothing to the film's tone and only made my mood towards the film even more distasteful. The reason I had such a difficult time understanding the film was because of it's lack of plot and character development. Guess what! In true realism of reality, people are still dynamic and there is a story to be told. This film had neither of those two qualities. Absolutely no attempt was made to develop any connection to the characters, therefore I had no emotional ties to any the characters. Despite my best efforts to locate any solid introduction, rising action, climax, or resolution to the film, I found none of the above. The transitions from seen to seen left me without any firm understanding of what had occurred during that scene and it didn't flow well into the upcoming scene. Reading the synopsis of the film was the only way I was able to actually understand what the plot was supposed to be. I believe that I have learned nothing from watching this movie despite my best intentions.

The Myth of Clint Eastwood (The Good)

Clint Eastwood as always been the rough rider of American cinema. He has emanated the aura of the silent action hero throughout his acting career but his acting persona took root and begin when he starred in The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly. Since this film, Eastwood has become the archetype for ruthless silent action heroes all across the world of cinema. In this film, you are never quite sure of the actions of Eastwood's character and he remains highly unpredictable. His motives and goals are unclear, therefore giving him that "silent-but-deadly" quality about him. His character's ruthless behavior is evident in the way he treats traitors and low life's like Tuco and Angel Eyes. Eastwood then carried on these character traits of ruthlessness and silence into other films like Dirty Harry and Gran Torino. The look in Blondie's eyes when he looks down the barrel of his rifle pointed at the noose around Tuco's neck is indeed mysteriously auspicious and ominous. It shows that he knows that he alone has control other the fate of Tuco's life with the pull of a trigger. This ominous power is also displayed on Blondie's face whenever he is involved in a shoot out. He clearly fits the physical characteristics of the characters he has chosen to play as throughout his career. He always utilizes his facial ability to appear void of all expression and emotion, leaving the audience entranced and his character's opponents afraid because nobody knows exactly what is gonna happen next.

Awara: Musical or Bollywood Blunder?

Deciding whether or not Raj Kapoor's film Awara is a musical is truly debatable and it was certainly a tough call for me. But I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a musical in that it contains the melodramatic song and dance aspects that are present in all traditional Hindi cinema films. The in depth way that I made this decision was because I compared the film with that of Tom Hooper's Les Miserables. Granted, these films are hugely different for dozens of reasons and should never be compared for other purposes, but I noticed a few key traits of Awara that match the musical traits of Les Miserables. For example, both films are about the struggle between the paths of crime and justice in life. When I then considered the song and dance aspects of both films, I came to the conclusion that Kapoor's film indeed possesses the necessary traits of being a musical that are present within Hooper's film.

Film Noir's Take on Femme Fatale in "Detour"

Typically, the female character in films who fills the stereotype of "femme fatale" serve to obstruct the protagonist from achieving his goal. She possesses a power role in which she strategically manipulates the protagonist and exploits his weaknesses. Her mysterious and seductive qualities make her a "siren" of cinema. Within Detour, Vera is the femme fatale character and certainly has all of those specific traits. But because Detour is a film noir, there is a twist to Vera's stereotype. The difference being that women with that manipulative power are considered to be attractive within the film noir style. She will be a tall slender women much like the dark city skylines that characterize most film noir. It is clear that Detour applies this twist on femme fatale because even though Al tries to resist Vera, he always ended up falling for her manipulative snares. She seduced Al until it was too late for him. 

Unit 3: "Freaks" Themes

1. Freaks has been considered a horror film, do you agree? Write an argument defending your choice.

- I much as I am aware of the horrific nature of some scenes within Freaks, but I do not agree that it truly is a horror film. Rather than a horror, I view the movie as a psychological thriller due to the fact that it emphasizes the psychology of the characters and their unstable emotional states. In order for it to have been a horror film, it would have had to target the audience's primal fears, which it did not. While past society may have had an underlying fear of the unknown, this film did not seek to terrorize the audience with that said fear. Instead, its intent was to unravel the "monstrous" stereotypes, fears, and mentalities that some may have against those who are physically deformed. Also, most true horror films have frequently repeated scenes of terror that are meant to elicit negative emotions from the viewers, but this film only contains one such scene. It could be much more accurately described as a psychological thriller due to the aspects of moral ambiguity and the complex and tortured relationships between the pathological characters.

Assignment 2: "Sherlock Jr." Comedy

The stunts and visual gags that Keaton employed in his film making for "Sherlock Dr." was pure genius and absolute beauty. There were two scenes that were so unpredictable and crazy that I could not help but laugh that the profound quality of the classic humor. One scene being when Keaton’s character leaping down from atop the building by grabbing onto a train traffic barrier and swinging down on it nonchalantly into the backseat of the antagonist’s vehicle without the driver even noticing. There is first of all something to be said about the pure creativity behind Keaton’s way of thinking with this stunt and then the execution is truly beyond me. Speaking of Keaton’s creativity, there is certainly something to say about his incredible escape from the Sheikh's “safe house” through the window. An odd circular object with a fabric of some sort inside was placed on the window frame so that when Keaton made a run for it and jumped through the window, the fabric instantly disguised him as some random street-walking stranger. It was completely unexpected and the stunt awed me with instant surprise. I believe that it’s needless to say that Keaton’s gags and stunts were entirely effective in every manner. In relation to contemporary comedy, Keaton’s works in stunts and gags match the clean innocent humor and good old fashion hilarity.

 The self-reflexive nature of Keaton’s work if tough to determine and yet it was still very real and prevalent. The only stand-out scene of Keaton’s self-reflexive technique was when he came out of himself into the dream when he fell asleep in the projection room. For me, the technique was too vague so it did not carry strong effectiveness with me. 

My Introduction Video

Hi!

Here's my first post to this blog, my Introductory Video all about me, my tastes in movies, etc. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQX49-By1Ng&feature=youtu.be

Thanks,
Drew Tobin