Memento

Memento is a film that was filmed in a short 25 days.  Christopher Nolan's screenplay was based on his brother Johnathan Nolan's story "Memento Mori". But the screenplay is still considered original, rather than adapted because Jonathan's story wasn't published until after the film was completed.  The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia - the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus.

The film starts out in reverse with a Polaroid picture but all of the sound is moving forward.  To get a better looking scene in reverse, they didn't simply film it forward and reverse it in editing. They fed the film through in reverse, making a crisper picture.  The transitions in the is film go from color to black and white.  Color has probably been used most often to signal important changes.  This can be accomplished by using color in conjunction with black and white or by switching to an obviously different color emphasis or style at the point of transition. The Art of Watching Films pg 233 The film's events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives — one in color, and the other in black and white. The black and white sections are told in chronological order, showing Leonard conversing with an anonymous phone caller in a motel room. Leonard's investigation is depicted in color sequences that are in reverse order. As each sequence begins, the viewer is unaware of the preceding events, just like Leonard, thereby giving us a sense of his confusion.

While composing the soundtrack, they created different, distinct sounds to differentiate between the color and black-and-white scenes.  Julyan says, "The emotion I was aiming at with my music was yearning and loss. But a sense of loss you feel but at the same time you don't know what it is you have lost, a sense of being adrift, (Wikipedia)  The cast for this movie fit their roles well.  The ultimate goal of any character should be to make us believe completely in the reality of the character.  The Art of Watching Films pg 319
Guy Pearce makes you believe that he has no short term memory by repeating himself and using pictures to find things, by looking a little shocked by the notes he finds. 

Christopher Nolan's love of literature is an integral aspect to his style as a film-maker.  “ I studied English Literature. I wasn't a very good student, but one thing I did get from it, while I was making films at the same time with the college film society, was that I started thinking about the narrative freedoms that authors had enjoyed for centuries and it seemed to me that filmmakers should enjoy those freedoms as well.” (Wiki quote) Memento was only his second debut film.  With his films he is creative and uses his own style, he does not conform to regular Hollywood standards.

The Shining

This week I have chosen The Shining in light of the Halloween spirit and because it is a fantastic movie.  This film was voted nineth scariest movie by Entertainment Weekly.  According to Variety Magazine The Shining took two-hundred days to shoot, but according to assistant director Gordon Stainforth it took much more than that, nearly a year.

There were many options for scene selections in this film.  Director Stanley Kubrick is known for his numerous retakes and compulsiveness. Kubrick originally wanted approximately 70 takes of the scene where Halloran gets killed by Jack Torrance, but Jack Nicholson talked Kubrick into going easy on the 69-year-old Crothers and stopping after 40. At one point during the filming, Crothers became so exasperated with Kubrick's notorious, compulsive style of excessive retakes that he broke down and cried, asking "What do you want, Mr. Kubrick?" (IMDB) The scene where Wendy is backing up the stairs and swinging the bat was said to have take 35-40 takes as well.  This film also sets the world recond for takes with the scene where Danny is eating ice cream with Halloran, which was said to have been shot 148 times.  All of this footage gave the editor numerous choices for each scene to select the best.  The editor chooses the segments that provide the most powerful, effective, or significant visual and sound effects and eliminates inferior, irrelavant, or insignificant material. (The Art of Watching Films pg 187)

There were several different transitions throughout the film.  For example they transition from Jack looking at the scale model of the hedge maze and then cut to Wendy and Danny running in the center of it.  Also they transition from Danny to his visions or "shining" when he sees the past or present.  The time for time movie is compressed as well, it will cut to a black screen showing the days of the week i.e Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. There is also flash cuts when Danny is having  a vision and Jack is in room 237. 

The dialogue of this film was great.  Here's Johnny is something everyone who has seen the film remembers.  The music throughout the movie builds the suspense for events to come and what is happening in the present.  Wendy Carols and Rachel Elkind wrote and performed a full electronic score for the film, but Stanley Kubrick discarded most of it and used a soundtrack of mostly classical music. Only the adaptation of Hector Berlioz"s "Symphonie Fantastique" during the opening credits, the music during the family's drive to the hotel, and a few other brief moments (such as Halloran's plane trip) survive in the final version. (IMDB)  At the end of the film the song Midnight, the Stars and You by Jimmy Campbell is played showing a picture from 1921, but the song was recorded in 1932.

As far as the acting in the this movies, I think that Jack Nicholson was amazing as well as Danny Lloyd.  Shelly Duvall was not so great, she seemed to be the weak spot in the acting.  The main characters in this film, with the exception of Wendy all had the same first name. Kubrick had considered Robert De Niro and Robin Williams for the part of Jack, but chose neither of them. I would have to agree that he made the right choice with Jack Nicholson, he made us believe.  The characters had to do action acting.  This type of acting requires a great deal in the way of reactions, body language, physical exertion, and special skills, but does not draw on the deepest resources of the actors intelligence and feelings. (The Art of Watching Films pg 329)

This Shining is a fim that is based upon the novel by Stephen King.  King was first approached by Stanley Kubrick about making a film version of 'The Shining' via an early morning phone call (England is five hours ahead of Maine in time zones). King, suffering from a hangover, shaving and at first thinking one of his kids was injured, was shocked when his wife told him Kubrick was really on the phone. King recalled that the first thing Kubrick did was to immediately start talking about how optimistic ghost stories are, because they suggest that humans survive death. "What about hell?" King asked. Kubrick paused for several moments before finally replying, "I don't believe in hell." (IMDB)  Kubrick changed the script in the film from room 217, which was used in the book, to room 237.  And also opted to leave out the hedge animals that came alive in the book and give the film a hedge maze.  This show that he made small changes but tried to keep as close to the story as possible.  Basically he put his own spin on a story that was already told, but must have enjoyed to want to put it to the silver screen.

He Came As The Caretaker, But This Hotel Had Its Own Guardians - Who'd Been There A Long Time

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdgo Millionaire was a film to show the true India.  It shows the journey of a young boy as he grows into adulthood, and all of the experiences he has to endure along the way.  The film is not linear, it goes between the question he had to answer for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," and the experiences that coincided with giving him the correct answer.  For example, the question about who was on the $100 bill, he got a $100 bill from the tourists and gave it to the blind boy who asked him to describe which president was on it, and answered Benjamin Franklin.

This film was set in India and also filmed there.  Slumdog Millionaire was filmed in four different locations in India three were actual locations and in one studio there.  When doing so is permissable within the limits of a films theme and purpose, filmakers choose a setting with a high degree of visual impact.  (The Art of Watching Films pg 103) This really showed how life in Mumbai and other locations was, gave the true effect of him being a "slumdog."  There were many different camera angles used throughout the movie, for example a high camera angle in the train station when he is watching for Latika.  The film also used many different lighting effects, the lights for the game show stage, the hot sun during the day, and darkness with subtle moonlight at night.  Some special effects also had to be used to for the people that were set on fire in the beginning as well.

Slumdog Millionaire shows true life about poverty and the stuggles it comes with, but also shows the fairytale most people dream of in Jamal winning "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."  The director/screen writers tried to put a love story into the mix of things, but there wasn't much substance there.  Overall, I found the movie to be just ok, nothing spectacular.

Finding Nemo

The film has an artistic semblance of truth.  Finding Nemo has a story that truly could take place and sets it in a fantasy ocean adventure.  Because it is a film from Disney and marketed mostly for children, it is done in bright, vivid colors to keep young viewers attention.  The story is sad, starting off with Marlin losing his fish companion and a mass amount of children except one, and then losing that one child to fishermen.  Finding Nemo also shows us that no matter how bad things seem that we need to keep moving on, keep living.  As Dory says, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

The film is set in Sydney, Australia and The Great Barrier Reef.  This was a great choice of setting for a movie that involves ocean life.  The Great Barrier Reef is the worlds largest single structure made by living organisms and supports a wide variety of life.  Green sea turtles and clown fish are just two of the inhabitants of this wondrous reef and are the basis for two of the characters found in Finding Nemo.  Marlin and nemo are clown fish, and Crush and Squirt are green sea turtles. 

To create the look and feel of a real underwater environment, the Finding Nemo development team recreated several components found in the ocean: particulate matter(particles, like specks of dust in the air, that are always present in water); surge and swell (the constant movement); caustic light (patterns of light on the ocean floor and shafts of light); murk (how light filters out over distance) and reflection and refraction( the look of water form above and below the surface).  http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/nemo/behind.html All of these can be seen throughout the movie, for example, reflection and refraction is when Nemo is looking up through the water at the boat, or murk is when Marlin and Dory go through the trench. 

In the United States, the sterotypical audience for animated cartoons was once a theater full of screaming kids.  This perception has changed radically in the last decade, and in recent years animated films(including two Shrek films, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles) have been amoung the natins top grossing movies, indicating their broad appeal. The Art of Wathcing Films pg166-167  I think that even though Finding Nemo is animated it is a wonderful film, I love Disney movies.  They are something that not only I can watch, but am also able to enjoy with my children.  There is something for everyone, kids love the characters and there is subtle humor for the adults.

Good Will Hunting is a credible story that is similar to real life and events. It tells the story of a man, Will Hunting, who is a little rough around the edges but is a genius.  He was an orphan that came from a abusive home.  This kind of background for a character gives a strong emotional effect to the viewers.  The film takes viewers through the transition of him being closed off and slightly violent to being open and focused.
The title of Good Will Hunting names the theme of the movie. There is no other significance to it.
This film has a linear structure to it.  It introduces us to the characters Will Hunting, Chuckie Sullivan, Morgan O'Mally,  Billy McBride, Prof. Lambeau, etc.  Then it is onto the conflict of Will Hunting being smarter than average, but having no direction in life.  He needs to overcome his past before he can move to the future. 
This was an internal conflict in the film. An internal conflict centers on an interior, psychological conflict with in the central character. (The Art of Watching Film, pg 59)  The character of Will Hunting is characterized through external action.  He is misleading with the fight at the beginning and his bad attitude.  Also when he refuses to get close to Skylar and tells her he doesn't love her. 

The main characters of Good Will Hunting are developing characters.  There were changes not only in Will, but also in Sean Maguire.  Sean decides to take off, put his chips on the table and bet again. He seems inspired by Will Hunting.  There is also a lot of  Irish symbolism in this film. The names of the characters, the place, Boston, music, and you will also see shamrocks throughout the film. 

The irony of the character, Will Hunting, is that you have a man who is afraid to be left and in the end leaves a letter for Maguire reading, "Sean, if the Professor calls about that job, just tell him, sorry, I have to go see about a girl."  They make you think he is going to take a good job, and then turns around and goes after what makes him happy.

The Upside Of Anger

The Upside of Anger tells a story that is credible.  It has externally observable truths because people will leave their loved ones in one way or another.  In this particular film, Terry thinks that her husband, Grey, has left her for his younger, swedish secretary. In the end, she finds the truth, that he had fallen into a abandon well and died.  The story has a strong emotional effect present.  Viewers can relate to times in their own lives when their world too has come crashing down around them and the emotions they themselves felt.  When Terry assumes her husband has left her for another woman she sulks at first and turns to alcohol for comfort.  As time goes by she becomes angry and bitter. Each character is true to life the first born child, Hadley, kick you while you're down as a way of dealing with her own issues? Or eager Andy, wanting to skip college, get to work and get ahead—possibly by any means necessary.  Emily, as the good girl, a ballerina craving mother's approval, dancing as fast as she can. Or the youngest child Popeye, the voice of the family but no one listens to the youngest, whose conversation with herself provides the real upside to this lesson in living.

The significance of the title The Upside of Anger is told at the closing of the film, by Popeye the youngest of the four daughters.  As she is narrating the film she says,"Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. That's what I know now. It needs nothing to burn but the air and the life that it swallows and smothers. It's real, though - the fury, even when it isn't. It can change you... turn you... mold you and shape you into something you're not. The only upside to anger, then... is the person you become. Hopefully someone that wakes up one day and realizes they're not afraid to take the journey, someone that knows that the truth is, at best, a partially told story. That anger, like growth, comes in spurts and fits, and in its wake, leaves a new chance at acceptance, and the promise of calm. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child."

The film has a nonlinear structure.  It begins in medias res with a few of the main characters in the back seat of a car after a funeral.  It does not tell you who's funeral they were attending.  Then there is a flashback that takes you back three years to tell the story, and bring you back to the time and place the film began.  There are also a few scences in the movie that are not actually taking place, but are the imagination of Terry.  For example, when they are eating dinner at the table and Schepp's head explodes. The important characters in this film, are developing characters.  Developing characters are deeply affected by the actions of the plot(internal, external, or both) and under go some important changes in personality, attitude, or outlook on life as a result of the action of the story. (The Art of Watching Film, pg 68)  All of the main characters in this film are greatly affected by the sudden absence of Grey, and again in discovering his death.  The discovery of Gray's death gives the film, irony of tone.  In essance, irony of tone involves the juxtaposition of opposites in attitudes or feelings. (The Art of Watching Film, pg. 82)


 "People don't know how to love. They bite rather than kiss. They slap rather than stroke. Maybe it's because they recognize how easy it is for love to go bad, to become suddenly impossible... unworkable, an exercise of futility. So they avoid it and seek solace in angst, and fear, and aggression, which are always there and readily available. Or maybe sometimes... they just don't have all the facts."

Schindler's List

Schindler's List is a film that shows the savage brutality of how Jews were treated during the Second World War.  The style in which the film was produced makes a strong impact on the viewers, some viewers may not be comfortable with the level of violence that is portrayed.  Such films have a quality that sets them apart-a unique look, feel, rhythm, atmosphere, tone, or organization that echos in our minds and senses long after we leave the theatre. (The Art of Watching Films pg. 23)

This film is done primarily in black and white to depict the time era in which it takes place.  There are a few instances where color arises, four to be exact. These areas of color attract your attention to something significant in the film.  Twice the pair of candles that are lit for Sabbath for Spielberg, they represented "just a glint of color, and a glimmer of hope." The little girl in the red coat, and the holocaust survivors and cast members in the end of the film.  For producer Steven Spielberg the red color represents his interpretation of the novel, "America and Russia and England all knew about the Holocaust when it was happening, and yet we did nothing about it. We didn't assign any of our forces to stopping the march toward death, the inexorable march toward death. It was a large bloodstain, primary red color on every one's radar, but no one did anything about it. And that's why I wanted to bring the color red in." (Schindler's List From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Schindler's List also tells the story of Oskar Schindler.  He was a man that had many flaws but at the same time was honorable.  He was married, yet kept a mistress; he was a Nazi, yet saved many Jews.  He was a clever man.  When speaking to Amon Goeth on the terrace he says,"They fear us because we have the power to kill arbitrarily, a man commits a crime he should know better.  We have them killed and we feel good about it, we kill them ourselves and feel even better.  Its not power though, that's justice.  Power is when we have every right to kill and don't."  This statement changed the way Amon acted towards many of the Jews in the camp.  In the end, Oskar thought he had not done enough. Spent his fortune of money to do what was right and looked at his belongings in terms of how many more lives could have been saved. 

The theme of this movie is a moral one.  What was done to the Jews was cruel, no human should be treated like that for any reason. The Jews were forced to move around from place to place like cattle, and slaughtered the same.  They became numbers in concentration camps, with no belongings.  Oskar Schindler and the making of Schindler's List  gave these people names and faces, brought their tragedy and human triumph to life.

 'Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.'

Casablanca

Casablanca is a true American classic that has captured the hearts of many audiences. I myself was reluctant to watch the movie because it was in black and white, even though I have been told it is phenomenal.   In watching the film, I discovered that the black and white sets the tone for the WWII era. 

Casablanca is a city in unoccupied France that is home to many refugees.  Inside this refuge is another refuge called Rick's Americain Cafe'.  Ricks is a place where all walks of life mingle from the pick pockets to the government officials.  The character of Rick seems like a mysterious, cynical, and neutral person.  He claims to have no opinion.  As the movie goes on the true Rick emerges.  Captain Renault says time and again throughout the movie what a sentimentalist he is.  Also the dialogue that Rick delivers is unforgettable, for example, "Here's looking at you kid" and "We'll always have Paris."

Ilsa enters into the mix of characters and seems to be what triggers changes in Ricks behavior.  Soon after she arrives at Ricks cafe' she sees Sam, the piano player from Paris.  She asks Sam to play, "As Time Goes By," knowing this will get Ricks attention.  This particular song is played several times throughout the movie in various ways.   When Sam plays it the for Ilsa in Ricks, it is the regular version.  After Rick enters the scene with the Captain comes to the table the song changes from the piano to deep strings to match Ricks upset mood.  The song changes again and slows as Ilsa and Laszlo exit the cafe' where it ends as they are driving away. 

Many may ask why the movie has stayed popular through the years, as stated in the textbook, The Art Of Watching Film, classics endure because of their strong, universal themes (pg 35).  This filmcan reach out to many viewers because there is something for everyone.  Casablanca is more than just a story about two people losing and finding each other in a world to chaotic for romantic dreams.  Its a story about a beautiful woman and a mysterious man, about war, responsibility, courage, duty, and most of all about doing the right thing (The Art of Watching Film, Boggs Pg 35).