Film Review: La Jetee

Fig.1 La Jetee Poster.

La Jetee was directed by Chris Marker in 1962.

The film In a whole is a series of still images with narration explaining what the images are representing, The film is about the aftermath of World War Three in Paris and the means to stop the tragedy by using time travel.


Patrick Samuel said: "Set in the aftermath of World War III in the bombed out city of Paris, we meet survivors who are kept underground in the Palais de Chaillot galleries. This is where experiments in time travel are taking place. It’s also where we meet an un-named man – a prisoner – he’s the only one who can withstand the effects of the experiments. He’s desperate to solve the puzzle of the image that haunts him; when he witnessed the death of a man, and the woman who watched it with him. Her face remains burned in his memory." (Samuel,2013)

Fig.2 Film Still.

A group of scientist start to experiment with time travel by fining humans who will be able to withstand the shock of time travel, after many failed attempts the scientists turn to  prisoner who seems to be capable of withstanding time travel, he is sent to his pre-war past where he would of been a child and meets a women who he soon develops feelings for and forms a relationship with her, he is then sent to the future to gather help on stopping the war, the future kind give him a devise to stop the war. Once the war has been stopped the man is told he is able to stay with the future kind, he instead requests to be sent back to the pre-war times to join the women he had fallen in love with.

Fig.3 Woman from the past.

After he is sent back he finds the women but realizes she has been killed by one of the scientist agents, the agent then turns and kills him, destroying any association with the parallel world and the means of time travel.


"This classic 'photo-roman' about the power of memory - 'the story of a man marked by an image of his childhood' - begins at Orly airport a few years before WWIII. That image is of a woman's face at the end of the pier; and in the post-apocalyptic world the man now inhabits as a prisoner, he is given the chance to discover its true significance as a guinea-pig in a time travel experiment. Marker uses monochrome images recognisably from the past, such as the ruins of Europe after WWII, and with a few small props and effects, subtly suggests a future environment. The soundtrack's texture is similarly sparse, and the fluid montage leads the viewer into the sensation of watching moving images. Until, that is, an extraordinary epiphany when an image genuinely does move: the man's sleeping lover opens her eyes." DT




Bibliography:

Patrick Samuel January 3rd, 2013, http://staticmass.net/world/la-jetee-1962-review/

DT (There where no dates stated on the webpage) :http://www.timeout.com/london/film/la-jetee

Film review : Black Narcissus

Fig.1 Black Narcissus Poster

Black Narcissus was directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in 1947.

A group of nuns travel to the Palace of Mopu which is located in the remote mountains of the Himalaya. The nuns are tasked with setting up a school and hospital for the local people. As the story progresses the nuns start to find themselves increasingly seduced by the sensuality of their surroundings and by the local British agent Mr Dean.


 Keith Uhlich describes the surroundings in his review : "there’s something truly unearthly about this place of howling winds, yawning chasms and atmosphere thick with temptation. Sanctity, it will be proven, is no match for sin." (Uhlich, December 31st 2012)

The opening scene of the film is of a nunnery in which sister Clodagh is being assign to go to the palace and take a group of nuns with her to help set up the necessary needs for the people, we find out that one of the nuns "Sister Ruth" Is ill and so the nun superior insists sister Clodagh takes sister Ruth so that she may recover.

When the nuns arrive at the palace they are greeted by Mr Dean who in a way is as manly as a man could be (so to speak) the nuns have no choice but to interact with Mr Dean as he is there agent.

As the story progresses the nuns are introduced to the young prince who wishes to study at the covent, the nuns at first do not wish to allow this as there rules are to only teach children and females, the nuns however decided to allow the prince to study at the covent.

As sister Clodagh interacts with Mr Dean more she is reminded of her past life in Ireland in which at the time she was with a man, and begins to loose focus on the over mission, sister Ruth also starts to become effected with constant interaction with Mr Dean, Sister Ruth eventually gains feelings for Mr Dean and wishes to remove her vowels of being a nun so that she can be with Mr Dean, Sister Ruth also becomes jealous of sister Clodagh as she believes Mr Dean and Sister Clodagh have an intermit connection.

Roger Ebert saids : "This emotional conflict is one of many that eats away at nearly all of the film's characters. Clodagh's relationship with Dean reminds her of her ill-fated longings for a former friend. Ruth, who was emotionally disturbed even before joining the expedition seems to become completely unhinged once Dean shows her an act of kindness which she might have been seeking for so long. And Dean himself, a charming cynic who has seen-it-all, appears to surprise himself with how much he grows to care and admire Sister Clodagh's resolve, however misplaced it may be." (Ebert, March 5th 2010)


Sister Ruth's affection eventually causes her to become tormented by the jealousy of seeing sister Clodagh and Mr Dean together and falls into the demise of madness. In one scene sister ruth is seen wearing a red dress and seductively putting on red lipstick, as for the colour aspect red can be a representation of lust and sexual desires.

Keith Uhlich  "The exotic place and the constant wind lead Sister Clodagh to bask in memories of her past as a young woman of privilege in Ireland. Meanwhile, Sister Ruth plunges even further into her sexual reverie by convincing herself that she loves Mr. Dean, even though he has barely spoken to her."(Uhlich, December 31st 2012)

at the climax of the film sister Clodagh goes out to ring the morning bell, while sister ruth attempts to sneak up to sister Clodagh and push her off the mounting side, Sister Ruth fails to do so and ends up with both sister Clodagh and sister Ruth fighting for there safety, sister ruth eventually falls off the mountain to her death.

Keith Uhlich, December 31st 2012) https://www.timeout.com/us/film/black-narcissus-3

Roger Ebert, March 5th 2010, http://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/black-narcissus-which-electrified-scorsese

Film Review: The Shining

'The Shining' was directed by Stanley Kubrick and was based off the Novel " The Shining" by Steven King.

Roger Ebert said : "Stanley Kubrick's cold and frightening 'The Shining' challenges us to decide: Who is the reliable observer? Whose idea of events can we trust?" (Ebert, June 18th 2006)

While watching The Shining, I came to the conclusion that a big part of the movie was the design aspect, The hotel being the main scene in the film, from what was shown seemed to be designed like a maze with tight long corridors, this gave a sense of isolation as the rooms were wide and tall.

Scenes in which a single person would be in standing in a room gave off a big sense that this person was truly alone. Another aspect of design would be the patterns and colours of the rooms, the walls of the hotel were mainly painted red which is a similar colour to blood and bruises. As for the patterns, the floor style and walls had an art deco design but also the symbols on the floor looked very similar to a maze, something I had noticed at the start where the main protagonists home was shown, was that all their walls and furniture was coloured white, just a theory of mine but this may be a possible look at good and evil as the colour white is generally depicted as good as for the alternative would be red depicting evil.

Anne Billson "In years to come I would begin to appreciate Kubrick’s film for what it was, rather than what it wasn’t. The Steadicam shots of Danny riding his tricycle around the hotel corridors are a masterclass in building tension." ( Billson, october 27th 2016)

The hotel as we are told began construction in 1907 and was finished in 1909, the area in which the hotel was built on, was previously an old indian burial ground, as the beliefs of the indians this ground would be classed as cursed ground.

The story also has aspects of supernatural powers and a theory of reincarnation, in the film we are told that the protagonists son has a power called shining, which is in a way seen as a sixth sense of being able to see darkness in the future but also is known to allow someone to see the past, it is not told but from common knowledge of what the film has told us, Jack also has the power of shining, this is how he is able to see the past and interact with the lost memories of the hotel. 

I believe that the shining is truly the reason Jack goes mad, and possibly might be the way in which reincarnation is shown, the isolation and claustrophobia of the hotel was a way of keeping jack inside so that the old spirit of Delbon Grady could influence and posses Jack,  Delbon Grady; who as we find out at the end of the film was the old reincarnation of jack. In achieving the corruption of Jacks mind the end goal would be to eventually create an endless cycle of all the reincarnations of jacks past and future versions of his spirit being influenced into going to the hotel and resulting in a tragic event.

 Jack wishes to stay at the hotel forever and one spiritual way is that your spirit is stuck at the place you have died and so if jack murdered his family and himself his spirit and his families would be in a permeant loop of murder at the hotel.

Another theory would be going back to the indian burial ground that in their tradition they would have had blood sacrifices and Jack may just be being influenced to carry out this tradition without even knowing what he is truly doing.

conclusion

the entire aspect of the design and story of the film is that it is a maze, as this all leads up to the finale of the film in which they have the final show down in the maze and the truth is finally revealed.


Roger Ebert, June 18th 2006, http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980

Anne Billson, October 27th 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/27/stanley-kubrick-shining-stephen-king

Edward Scissorhands : Film Review

Fig.1 Poster for Edward Scissorhands

Edward ScissorHands was directed by Tim Burton(1990) 

The film is set in a 50's styled American suburb, the colours used in the film was based around commercial advertisement that was around in the 50's.

Beyond the town is a mysterious and very dark mountain which really does not fit into the time or place that is set in the film. On top of the mountain was a European gothic looking mansion which was home to the main character "Edward Scissorhands".

The film opens with the classic sales woman (Peg) who goes door to door trying to sell products. Peg was un-successful in her attempts to sell products. Peg decides to go to her car, when she notices the mysterious house in her car mirror. 

The camera angle for this scene was very clever in the way that it was shown, the camera was angled towards the side mirror of the car, as the women moved the mirror to focus, and the gothic house came in to view as if this was in the normality of the town.

The scene then cuts to the Peg driving up to the house, and comes into an opening, were everything is beautifully created with shrub sculptures and a pebbled white path, As if to depict that you should not judge a book by its cover theorem, and shows that something dark and un-nerving can open up to something beautiful and creative.

Fig.2 Edward and Kim

Roger Ebert(1990) ”The movie takes place in an entirely artificial world, where a haunting gothic castle crouches on a mountaintop high above a storybook suburb, a goofy sitcom neighborhood where all of the houses are shades of pastels and all of the inhabitants seem to be emotional clones of the Jetsons. The warmest and most human resident of this suburb is the Avon lady (Dianne Wiest), who comes calling one day at the castle - not even its forbidding facade can deter her - and finds it occupied only by a lonely young man named Edward (Johnny Depp).” Ebert(1990)

The actual character of Edward Scissorhands is of which seems to be man with a childlike attitude, Edward was an invention of a scientist who lived in the gothic home and so was just like a new born baby, where he would have to be taught as if he was growing up.  However the scientist died before Edward could ever be fully developed and this is why he has a childlike attitude and not knowing right from wrong. Edward was also undeveloped, as for hands he had Scissors, although the scientist had made hands for Edward, he died and the hands were destroyed, Edwards was left un-finished and without hands.

Owen Gleiberman (1990)Edward lives in an old gray horror-movie castle that looms up absurdly over the tract houses. It’s there that he was created by the Inventor (Vincent Price), a kindly Gepetto figure who neglected to give him human hands. When the local Avon Lady (Dianne Wiest) pays a visit there and finds Edward sitting alone, she takes him back and makes him a part of her family. The movie turns into a fish-out-of-water comedy, like Splash or E.T., with Edward the humanoid visitor struggling to fit into his new world. Most of the neighbors are amusingly nonchalant about having Edward in their midst. Gleiberman (1990)


Edward in a way comes across as someone who may have an aspergers like personality. Edward struggles with talking to anyone and so has hid away in the house without contact from the outside for many years, Edward also cannot speak clearly and seems to struggle with his words as if he never knows what to say to people. Finally Edward seems to have a creative brain, were his socializing skills and human contact lacks, he has taken up creating magnificent sculptures out of garden shrubs with his scissor hands.

The director could be getting across a message to people, to say that even though everyone is not perfect, people can work with their problems and make a negative into a positive.

Near the beginning of the film Edward is found by Peg, who sees that Edward is not all there and alone, out of sympathy Peg takes Edward into her home to live with her and her family.

Edwards also finds love in the film, the daughter of Peg (Kim) comes home and immediately Edwards start to get feelings for her. It comes as a problem to Edward as one point in the film Edward is asked to break into a house, Edward knew this was wrong but still goes ahead as he loves Kim who asked him to do it.

The breaking in leads to Edward being arrested and so is scared from the traumatic experience. Edward seems to be on edge throughout the rest of the film, as if Edward is going into a dark hole and soon would not be able to come back from it.

Fig.3 Movie still of town

The Towns people in the film is shown mainly of the common house wife of the 50's era, Were the woman would stay and work at home doing cleaning and the odd local job. All the woman as well seem to be connected, as this is a small town, everyone knows everyone, and anything new or exciting that happens in the town is heard about. This is why everyone is suspicious when Peg takes Edward back to her home. Everyone decided that they want to meet Edward as if he's something new in town and everyone wants a piece of him.

The ending of the film is a tragic scene were Edward accidentally hurts Kim's Brother this leads to one of the boys in the movies to start a fight with Edward, Edward accidentally cuts the boys arm and Kim tells Edward to run. Edward returns to his home but is perused by the boy who then tries to kill Edward, Edward retaliates and stabs the boy in the stomach and throws him out the window.
Kim then shows the town people a spare hand of Edwards and tells the Towns people that Edward was killed, From this point on Edward could never return to the town.

The film seems to be a film about love, trickery and loss. Edwards is in love with Kim, The towns people trick Edward into think they like him, but really are just using his gifts for their own interests, as soon as Edward shows signs of struggle, they turn and are against Edward trying to get him out of town. and lastly loss, this is can come into a lot of things in the film, such as the loss of Edwards creator, The loss of Edwards emotional and human like nature that turns him into more of an object rather than a human and lastly the loss of all that Edward had gained while in the town.


Raceme(site) 'This is a wonderful tale about love and kindness, but also about rejection and estrangement. It shows the limits of people's tolerance for what is different from them and how strangers, those who stray from the norm, commonly named 'misfits', awake mockery or fear from a society which will use them and ultimately reject them, thus breaking their innocence and goodness. Though a harsh satire of people's vices, such as deceit, gossip, jealousy, hypocrisy, as well as a tragic witness to the pain and frustration linked to being unable to be accepted as one is by others, the tone is still infused with an ever constant sweetness, gentleness and innocence.'



Bibliography:

Quotes:

Roger Ebert (1990) http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/edward-scissorhands-1990

Owen Gleiberman (1990) http://www.ew.com/article/1990/12/07/edward-scissorhands

Raceme(site) ceme.org/films/edwardscissorhands/review.php



images:

Fig.1 :grimmfest.com/grimmupnorth/2015/01/edward-scissorhands-tim-burton-season/
Fig.2 http://images.hellogiggles.com/uploads/2015/12/13/Edward-Scissorhands-movie-still.jpg
Fig.3: https://designingforhumanbehavior.wordpress.com/category/01-movie-set/

Film review:La Belle et la Bete

Fig.1 La Belle et la Bete poster

La Belle et la Bete was produced in 1946 and was directed by Jean Cocteau.

The film is about a woman called beauty who gives up her life to live in a mysterious castle. The reason beauty did this was to save her fathers life, as her father had wandered into the grounds of the beasts castle and picked a rose. This had made the beast angry and said he would kill the man if he did not give up one of his daughters.

'Belle has come to the castle as a hostage. She lives at home with her father, two unkind sisters and a silly brother, whose handsome friend wants to marry her. But she cannot marry, for she must care for Poppa. His business is threatened, and he learns on a trip to a seaport that he has lost everything. On his way home, through a forest on a stormy night, he happens upon the Beast's castle, and is taken prisoner and told he must die. The Beast offers a deal: He can go home if he will return in three days, or he can send one of his daughters. The other sisters of course sniff and make excuses, and their father says he is old and nearly dead and will return himself. But Belle slips out and rides the Beast's white horse, which knows the way to the castle. And the Beast's first words tell her, "You are in no danger." ' (Ebert,1999)

When Beauty first arrives at the castle the beast is no were to be seen, Beauty decides to wander into the castle as the door to the castle mysteriously opens on its on. As beauty walked inside the castle she came to a long and mysterious corridor with hands coming out of the wall holding candle lights.

As beauty walked down the corridor the candles one by one lit as she walked past them but also followed her, this straight away gave the castle a mysterious and magical feel.

Fig.2 Beauty and Beast together.

When beauty first see's the beast she is horrified by the ugliness of the beast and feels a sense of horror and fear. beauty wishes to leave the castle straight away but knows if she leaves her father will die.


The beast immediately becomes fond of beauty and tells her he will only see her at 7:00pm for dinner everyday, when the beast meets beauty for dinner he tells her he will ask the same question every time, until he gets an answer ( He asks for beauty to be his wife).


'A gorgeous, pin-sharp remaster for poet-dramatist-artist-director Jean Cocteau’s giddy, sumptuous 1946 retelling of the Freudian fairytale about a helpless girl and a kindhearted monster. Slightly pompous preamble aside, this ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is pure joy, a self-conscious but never precious attempt to revisit childhood fantasies and half-remembered dreams. The Beast’s ornate, decaying castle – ringed with thorns and filled with grasping hands – is a place of terror, wonder and mourning, the perfect reflection of its tragic, noble occupant. The tug of love between the monster and the maiden is never overplayed, but neither does the film shackle this beast – he remains unpredictable and threatening throughout.' (Tom Huddleston) (2013)


Time passes and beauty's father becomes ill over the fact that he has lost his daughter, beauty sees this as beast had given her a magical mirror in which she could see what she desired. From the news of her father beauty immediately begs the beast to leave for a week to see her father, beauty also said she will marry the beast if she is allowed. At first the beast does not allow beauty to leave, but out of the feelings that he is in love with beauty allows her to go. Before the beast lets beauty leave to see her father, he tells her that he would die if beauty did not return.

Fig.3 Beauty holding Beast by the river.

Beauty is given a magical glove that allows her to teleport to her fathers home, she is also given a golden key, which opens a tomb full of riches, beast tells her that this can be hers if he dies and holds trust in beauty that she will return.




Beauty then uses the glove and appears by her fathers bed side, on seeing beauty, her father is overjoyed and soon starts to recover. Beauty has two evil sisters, a brother and her brothers friend(Avenant) who is very fond of beauty. On learning of the key the two evil sisters come up with a plan to use Avenant to kill the beast and take the riches for themselves.

Fig.3 Beauty holding beast as he is dying.

Beauty learning that the beast had now fallen ill from beauty being away for so long, she hurry's back and finds the beast by a river. Meanwhile Avenant had found a magical horse that transported him to the beasts castle, when Avenant and beauty's brother had arrived they found the tomb and tried to use the key, the key did not work, so they decided to break in instead.


Avenant broke the glass ceiling of the tomb and asked beauty's brother to lower him down, as this happened a mysterious statue had a magical bow and arrow and shot Avenant in the back, immediately Avenant is transformed into the beast, while the beast changed into the image of Avenant. Beauty is shocked by this and said that beast now has the face of a man she had become fond of, Beast asked if this would be a problem but beauty decided it would not be.

'Cocteau plays up the differences between the ultra-realistic world of Belle's cottage -- with its huge white sheets hung up for drying in the backyard -- and Beast's castle, with its living statues with eyes that follow you wherever you go. When Belle first enters the castle, she moves in slow motion, as if running in a dream.

Though it tells the same story, and though I love both films very much, Cocteau's version could not be more different from Disney's 1991 version. Disney concentrates on warmth and comfort while Cocteau filters the story through the strangeness of dreams. In Cocteau, you can't quite get a firm handle on anything.' ( Anderson)




Bibliography:

Quotes:

Roger Ebert (1999) http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946

Tom Huddleston(2013) http://www.timeout.com/london/film/la-belle-et-la-bete-1

Jeffrey M. Anderson: http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/classic/bellebete.shtml


Images:

Fig.1: http://dreason479.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/film-review-la-belle-et-la-bete-1946.html

Fig.2: http://www.moviemail.com/blog/cinema-reviews/1886-La-Belle-et-la-Bete-Cocteau-s-Gothic-classic-returns-to-cinemas/

Fig.3: http://www.visitluxembourg.com/en/whats-on/event/2013/02/19/la-belle-et-la-bete-jean-cocteau

Film Review: King Kong (1933)

fig. 1 King kong poster

King Kong was produced by  Merian C. Cooperand Ernest B. Schoedsack.


The films is about a famous film director who is looking at capturing a new film and wants to go to an island that he has heard of, he is mysterious with telling the location of the island as he wants secrecy  as it may be dangerous and the crew could be put off going.





"The story is not sophisticated. A movie director (Robert Armstrong) hires a ship, recruits his leading lady from off the streets of New York at the last moment, and sails for a mysterious Pacific island he heard about in Singapore. The island contains a legendary giant ape, which he hopes to use as the star of his movie. Fay Wray plays Ann Darrow, Kong's co-star, and Cabot is the sailor who falls in love with her and saves her from Kong. "Ebert(2002)

The film did a very good job at using Matte Paintings for the background of the scenes, this made the environment seem bigger and more like a mysterious, forest island.


The film I believe has a strong base around ethnics and tribal culture. The portrayal of kong may come across as an animal with rape like fanatics, such as the scene were he is feeling the girl and smelling his fingers, this could come across as an attraction towards the women, also in the same scene he starts to rip her clothes off as if she was just an object, and kong was allowed to do what he so pleased.

A particular scene in the opening of the movies, where the white men and women first go to the island, they come across a very deriving scene of tribal worship, the people are presented as animal like with black feathers and bone piercings.


The film portrays the female character more like an object rather than an actual person, this would most likely be because of the era that the film was made ( 1933) this is were women were not seen as equal as men.

The film is set on a mysterious island, were dinosaurs and great creatures exist, King kong seems to be the king of the island hence the name.

Fig.2 Film still

one particular scene in the film is were kong fights a t rex to project the girl he has become fond with, a great fight breaks out and kong beats the T Rex by dippings its jaw.


"Besides Kong in the jungle among other freaks to appear are a triceratops, a brontosaurus, a tyrannosaurus, a pterodactyl and a 60-foot snake. Kong battles three of them, including the snake. His first scrimmage is with the tyrannosaurus, which looks like the better known dinosaurs, and it’s a wrassling match the likes of which is never seen at the Garden. As an illusion it beats anything that follows, and there is plenty following. After Kong breaks them apart he picks up the pieces for a hasty examination and then beats his breast in token of victory. All he does with the serpent is slap it up against a rock a few times. Bigelow" (1933) 


near the end of the film kong is captured and taken the new york, to be used in a show for the public, the paparazzi turn up and start taking pictures of kong, from the flashes kong becomes distressed and breaks free from his chains. King Kong finds the girl and takes here, destroying new york in the process, King seems to be scared as he has been taken from his home and put into a place were he is not the King.

Fig.3 film still of Kong on empire state building

King Kong climbs the Empire state building near the end, were he is attacked by fighter planes, Kong is killed from gun shots and falls off the empire state building, the ending ends with the film director i the films saids






"A monkey, forty feet tall (some fans say forty-five) may have obvious charms, but those charms have not convinced this viewer. King Kong is no full-blooded ape but rather a rusty, desiccated machine whose movements are downright clumsy. His only virtue, his height, did not impress the cinematographer, who persisted in photographing him from above rather than from below — the wrong angle, as it neutralizes and even diminishes the ape’s overpraised stature. He is actually hunchbacked and bowlegged, attributes that serve only to reduce him in the spectator’s eye. To keep him from looking the least bit extraordinary, they make him do battle with far more unusual monsters and have him reside in caves of false cathedral splendor, where his infamous size again loses all proportion. But what finally demolishes both the gorilla and the film is his romantic love — or lust — for Fay Wray" Borges(1933)


biliography:

Quotes:
Robert Ebert(2002): http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-king-kong-1933

Joe Bigelow:(1933)http://variety.com/1933/film/reviews/king-kong-2-1200410783/

Jorge Luis Borges (1933): http://www.openculture.com/2014/08/jorge-luis-borges-reviews-reviews-king-kong.html








Image:

Fig.1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kong_(1933_film)

Fig.2:http://kingkong.wikia.com/wiki/File:King-kong-1933-37-g.jpg

Fig.3: https://blockbusterchronicles.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/king-kong-1933-594207-2400x1891-hq-dsk-wallpapers.jpg



 

Film Review:Edward ScissorHands

 

Fig.1 Poster for Edward Scissorhands

Edward ScissorHands was directed by Tim Burton(1990)

The film is set in a 50's styled American suburb, the colours used in the film was based around commercial advertisement that was around in the 50's.

Beyond the town is a mysterious and very dark mountain which really does not fit into the time or place that is set in the film. On top of the mountain was a European gothic looking mansion which was home to the main character "Edward Scissorhands".

The film opens with the classic sales woman (Peg) who goes door to door trying to sell products. Peg was un-successful in her attempts to sell products. Peg decides to go to her car, when she notices the mysterious house in her car mirror.

The camera angle for this scene was very clever in the way that it was shown, the camera was angled towards the side mirror of the car, as the women moved the mirror to focus, and the gothic house came in to view as if this was in the normality of the town.

The scene then cuts to the Peg driving up to the house, and comes into an opening, were everything is beautifully created with shrub sculptures and a pebbled white path, As if to depict that you should not judge a book by its cover theorem, and shows that something dark and un-nerving can open up to something beautiful and creative.

Fig.2 Edward and Kim

Roger Ebert(1990) ”The movie takes place in an entirely artificial world, where a haunting gothic castle crouches on a mountaintop high above a storybook suburb, a goofy sitcom neighborhood where all of the houses are shades of pastels and all of the inhabitants seem to be emotional clones of the Jetsons. The warmest and most human resident of this suburb is the Avon lady (Dianne Wiest), who comes calling one day at the castle - not even its forbidding facade can deter her - and finds it occupied only by a lonely young man named Edward (Johnny Depp).” Ebert(1990)

The actual character of Edward Scissorhands is of which seems to be man with a childlike attitude, Edward was an invention of a scientist who lived in the gothic home and so was just like a new born baby, where he would have to be taught as if he was growing up.  However the scientist died before Edward could ever be fully developed and this is why he has a childlike attitude and not knowing right from wrong. Edward was also undeveloped, as for hands he had Scissors, although the scientist had made hands for Edward, he died and the hands were destroyed, Edwards was left un-finished and without hands.

Owen Gleiberman (1990)Edward lives in an old gray horror-movie castle that looms up absurdly over the tract houses. It’s there that he was created by the Inventor (Vincent Price), a kindly Gepetto figure who neglected to give him human hands. When the local Avon Lady (Dianne Wiest) pays a visit there and finds Edward sitting alone, she takes him back and makes him a part of her family. The movie turns into a fish-out-of-water comedy, like Splash or E.T., with Edward the humanoid visitor struggling to fit into his new world. Most of the neighbors are amusingly nonchalant about having Edward in their midst. Gleiberman (1990)



Edward in a way comes across as someone who may have an aspergers like personality. Edward struggles with talking to anyone and so has hid away in the house without contact from the outside for many years, Edward also cannot speak clearly and seems to struggle with his words as if he never knows what to say to people. Finally Edward seems to have a creative brain, were his socializing skills and human contact lacks, he has taken up creating magnificent sculptures out of garden shrubs with his scissor hands.

The director could be getting across a message to people, to say that even though everyone is not perfect, people can work with their problems and make a negative into a positive.

Near the beginning of the film Edward is found by Peg, who sees that Edward is not all there and alone, out of sympathy Peg takes Edward into her home to live with her and her family.

Edwards also finds love in the film, the daughter of Peg (Kim) comes home and immediately Edwards start to get feelings for her. It comes as a problem to Edward as one point in the film Edward is asked to break into a house, Edward knew this was wrong but still goes ahead as he loves Kim who asked him to do it.

The breaking in leads to Edward being arrested and so is scared from the traumatic experience. Edward seems to be on edge throughout the rest of the film, as if Edward is going into a dark hole and soon would not be able to come back from it.

Fig.3 Movie still of town

The Towns people in the film is shown mainly of the common house wife of the 50's era, Were the woman would stay and work at home doing cleaning and the odd local job. All the woman as well seem to be connected, as this is a small town, everyone knows everyone, and anything new or exciting that happens in the town is heard about. This is why everyone is suspicious when Peg takes Edward back to her home. Everyone decided that they want to meet Edward as if he's something new in town and everyone wants a piece of him.

The ending of the film is a tragic scene were Edward accidentally hurts Kim's Brother this leads to one of the boys in the movies to start a fight with Edward, Edward accidentally cuts the boys arm and Kim tells Edward to run. Edward returns to his home but is perused by the boy who then tries to kill Edward, Edward retaliates and stabs the boy in the stomach and throws him out the window.
Kim then shows the town people a spare hand of Edwards and tells the Towns people that Edward was killed, From this point on Edward could never return to the town.

The film seems to be a film about love, trickery and loss. Edwards is in love with Kim, The towns people trick Edward into think they like him, but really are just using his gifts for their own interests, as soon as Edward shows signs of struggle, they turn and are against Edward trying to get him out of town. and lastly loss, this is can come into a lot of things in the film, such as the loss of Edwards creator, The loss of Edwards emotional and human like nature that turns him into more of an object rather than a human and lastly the loss of all that Edward had gained while in the town.


Raceme(site) 'This is a wonderful tale about love and kindness, but also about rejection and estrangement. It shows the limits of people's tolerance for what is different from them and how strangers, those who stray from the norm, commonly named 'misfits', awake mockery or fear from a society which will use them and ultimately reject them, thus breaking their innocence and goodness. Though a harsh satire of people's vices, such as deceit, gossip, jealousy, hypocrisy, as well as a tragic witness to the pain and frustration linked to being unable to be accepted as one is by others, the tone is still infused with an ever constant sweetness, gentleness and innocence.'



Bibliography:

Quotes:

Roger Ebert (1990) http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/edward-scissorhands-1990

Owen Gleiberman (1990) http://www.ew.com/article/1990/12/07/edward-scissorhands

Raceme(site) ceme.org/films/edwardscissorhands/review.php



images:

Fig.1 :grimmfest.com/grimmupnorth/2015/01/edward-scissorhands-tim-burton-season/
Fig.2 ://www.film.com/movies/edward-scissorhands-johnny-depp-family-guy
Fig.3: https://designingforhumanbehavior.wordpress.com/category/01-movie-set/

Film Review: 2001 a space odyssey

Fig.1 2001 a space odyssey

2001 a space odyssey(1968) is a sic-fi film which was produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The film comes across as a film about evolution, and alien like technology. During the beginning of the film apes find a mysterious black sculpture which seems to make the apes evolve into a more human like persona.

Here is a review by Rob Humanick (2007) talking about the opening scene "The first step toward the stars comes when mankind, presented as the aforementioned ape-men roaming the Earth millions of years ago, realizes that a bone needn't be just a bone. This first (and simplest) tool gives way to an orbiting spacecraft."

The film gives off and makes the mind think what really is going on in the film , some interesting scenes in the film was where the apes had now evolved and learned to fight, the un evolved apes come to share the water hole in which all of of the apes a residing, this scene then carries on into the evolved apes killing an undeveloped ape, as if to show that the newly evolved is killing off the old.

 The ape  scene is very similar to a scene further on in the film. This is where the film is set in the space age. In this stage of the film men had found the mysterious marker and evolved them into creating the Hal 9000, this could be seen as the next evolution stage; where machinery is the new life.

During the movie Hal 9000 starts to kill off the humans, as if to show just like the ape scene, the more evolved creation is trying to kill off the old, just like a cycle of life, the old must be smothered for the new to strive.

Fig.2 Film Still

when the film is at the point in where the antagonist is entering Jupiter everything becomes very strange and obscure, all that is shown is a variety of shapes and colours and strange music is played, as if this is a 4th dimension, the space outside of the 3rd dimension of reality, where time has a mind of its own and evolution is created.

Tim Durks : "The only survivor of the mission - a human specimen, it appears that he is in an observation chamber or tank, scrutinized by alien, extra-terrestrial superior intelligences or beings - symbolized by the black monolithic slabs - who decide that he should be reborn. The film's many reproductive allusions: procreation, gestation, birthing, and nursing, are further visualized throughout this final sequence. The alien beings assist him in making a basic symbiotic change in consciousness toward a more completely civilized human being, with a universal knowledge of existence. The end result of the space odyssey is not a greater and more infallible machine, but a greater, more fully-realized being produced in a second childhood."

near the end of the film there is a variety of scenes were the antagonist is evolving, time jumps as if the room is a testing room for a new type of evolution, subjects are studied and work is calculated to eventually get the next stage of the human evolution.

Fig.3 Interior shot of space ship/film still

At the very end there is the newly evolved Dan (The antagonist) who seems to be a new style of life, a way that perhaps the newly evolved has been sent back to get rid of the previous evolved and start a new, or maybe, it is there to guide the un-evolved to further their development.


This is a quote explaining the ending of 2001 a space odyssey, Roger Ebert(1997) "The film did not provide the clear narrative and easy entertainment cues the audience expected. The closing sequences, with the astronaut inexplicably finding himself in a bedroom somewhere beyond Jupiter, were baffling. The overnight Hollywood judgment was that Kubrick had become derailed, that in his obsession with effects and set pieces, he had failed to make a movie.

What he had actually done was make a philosophical statement about man's place in the universe, using images as those before him had used words, music or prayer. And he had made it in a way that invited us to contemplate it -- not to experience it vicariously as entertainment, as we might in a good conventional science-fiction film, but to stand outside it as a philosopher might, and think about it."

Bibliography:


Quotes:

Rob Humanick (2007) : http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/2001-a-space-odyssey

Tim Durks: http://www.filmsite.org/twot.html

Roger Ebert (1997) : http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968



Images:

fig. 1 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

fig. 2 - http://www.bfi.org.uk/whats-on/bfi-film-releases/2001-space-odyssey

fig. 3 - http://whatculture.com/film/what-does-the-ending-of-2001-a-space-odyssey-really-mean.php

Film Review: Metropolis (1927)

Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' (1927 )

Fig 1. Metropolis Poster

Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' (1927) is a German Science - Fiction film set in a futuristic city. The city seems to be full of life as there is always something going on in either the background or the main focus. The city's structure seems to resemble a high earning settlement where it is controlled by one man Joh Frederson (The main characters father).

The Main character of the film is presented to the viewers as a hero, some may seem him as a martyr, others may see him as a freedom fighter via the use of his position and voice, there is also a religious aspect, where people see him as a symbol of hope, the saviour of the city and the people who are stuck down in the working class area.

Peter Bradshaw: "one of the biggest, strangest, maddest films in cinema history returns, with missing footage restored:

 a textual enlargement that of course "explains" nothing about the film, and just makes it bigger, stranger and madder than ever. Fritz Lang's 1927 film is a crazed futurist epic, a mythic sprawl with something of Jung and Wagner, and dystopian nightmare about a city-state built on slave labour, whose prosperity depends on suppressing a mutinous underground race whose insurrectionist rage is beginning to bubble. Metropolis predicts the ideologies of class and race of the 20th century, and there is a perennial frisson in the way the workers' leader Maria longs for a messianic figure who can find a middle way between the head and the heart, the bosses and the workers: he will be the Mediator, or the "Mittler" – a word that has a chilling echo with another real-life leader who at the time of Metropolis's premiere had a few seats in the Reichstag. The "Maschinenmensch" robot based on Maria is a brilliant eroticisation and fetishisation of modern technology and the current crisis in Dubai, whose economic boom was founded on a colossal import of globalised labour, makes Metropolis seem very contemporary."

Characters to focus on are Maria ( The Heroin ), C.A Rotwang (Mad scientist), Joh Frederson, Freder ( Main Character/Hero). All these characters have a specific focus onto them such as Maria who seems to be the voice of the working class, a symbol to them which makes them want to fight for their freedom through the means of peaceful actions. C.A Rotwang is a mad man who has suffered great loss of losing a woman who left him for Joh Frederson and eventually died giving birth to Freder, and thus has become dependant and driven insane with building a life like replica of Hel . Joh Frederson is the head of the city and is set on power and control. It seems the pyramid effects comes into play with his mind where Upper class can never mix with the lower class and thus an ongoing War is formed between right and wrong. And lastly Freder who seems to believe that his father is blind to his beliefs and believes that all people should be equal and work together. He seeks out to try and bring everyone together by his own hands using his position of power and belief in the system that is corrupt.

Fig 2. Still of the metropolis.

Roger Ebert: "Generally considered the first great science-fiction film, "Metropolis" (1927) fixed for the rest of the century the image of a futuristic city as a hell of scientific progress and human despair. From this film, in various ways, descended not only “Dark City” but “Blade Runner,” “The Fifth Element,” “Alphaville,” “Escape From L.A.,” “Gattaca,” and Batman's Gotham City. The laboratory of its evil genius, Rotwang, created the visual look of mad scientists for decades to come, especially after it was mirrored in “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935). And the device of the “false Maria,” the robot who looks like a human being, inspired the “Replicants” of “Blade Runner.” Even Rotwang's artificial hand was given homage in “Dr. Strangelove.”

The entire story gives off many thoughts on what the directer is trying to base the story around, Is it religious terms, Equality rights, a man blinded by power who people seek to conquer, or is it just simply a film about rebelling.

Fig.3 Still of Joh Frederson and C.A Rotwang.

Mick LaSalle: "Seeing it is a time-bending experience, a way of visiting the past and glimpsing the past's idea of the future. A masterpiece of art direction, the movie has influenced our vision of the future ever since, with its imposing white monoliths and starched facades. In "Metropolis," the upper class inhabits the city's surface, while workers, held in little better than slave conditions, live and work in underground mines."

Brigitte Helm plays a saintly figure named Maria who rallies the workers and acts on their behalf. But she is imprisoned by the ruling powers, and a replica robot Maria is sent down to the mines to incite the workers to a self- destructive riot.

Around the time the film was being produced the Ruhr Uprising was happening which was a Left- wing workers revolt. This may of given the director an idea for the film and so based the film on  his research and experience into the Ruhr Uprising.

Overall the film contains many strong characters with a wide range of personality and beliefs.

The camera angles used in the film was very clever, The wide camera that was used, was to show the pure size of the fictional city Metropolis. When the destruction of the city was happening at certain points, a handheld camera was used, in which the camera shuddered forward at certain points as if to make the viewer feel like they were in the destruction of the city as it was happening.

Bibliography:  

Quotes: 

Peter Bradshaw, (2010), Metropolis Review, http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/09/metropolis-restored-film-review

Roger Ebert, (1998), Metropolis Review,

 http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927

Mick LaSalle, (2002) , Metropolis Review, 

http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/FILM-CLIPS-Also-opening-Friday-2779282.php

Images:

Fig. 1, Metropolis Poster, (2009),  en.wikipedia.org

Fig. 2, still of film, (2013),finzi22l.wordpress.com

Fig. 3, Still of film, (2012), www.myfilmviews.com

Film Review: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Robert Wiene's 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920)

Robert Wiene's 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920 ) is a German silent film. The film is said to be one of the classic forms of German Expressionism in Cinema. The films settings and surroundings seem to be very daunting and off putting as the entire set seems to be disfigured as if the film is set in a different reality, were all is not what it seems.

Roger Ebert describes the set " The first thing everyone notices and best remembers about "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) is the film's bizarre look. The actors inhabit a jagged landscape of sharp angles and tilted walls and windows, staircases climbing crazy diagonals, trees with spiky leaves, grass that looks like knives."

Fig 1. still of the set 

During the film the camera is always set in the same position, which is straight, this makes the film become more of a stage like feel and so with the over exaggerated acting it seems to be more of a performance than a film.

Fig 2. Cesare

One particular scene seemed to catch my interests, this was when Cesare ( somnambulist ) went to kill one of the characters in the film. This became of interest to me as in this scene, the camera for a small period of time just focused on Cesare's hands coming closer to the screen, by doing this, it seemed to break the scene up from just having the same still positioned image and creates more interest for the viewer, a kind of refresh button for the mind.

Fig 3. Dr. Caligari

The story of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, is very confusing at most, I found that the films story line at first seemed to be obvious ( Dr. Caligari was controlling the somnambulist (Cesare)... to murder )

This seemed to give the storyline a dull tone at first, although this did not matter as viewers were more taken by the over exaggerated acting and set designs.

However near the end of the film there is a huge plot twist, which tells us that the entire film up to a point had been the imagination of a mad man ( the main character ) this could explain why the set design seemed to be disfigured and disturbing as who knows what a mad mans mind could look like, by giving the viewers this interpretation it shows that this world is twisted and disturbed by reality its self and reflects the basic principles of a mad persons persona.

(A less positive review ) this review is talking about the storyline of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Julia Merriam "Overall, the plot seems almost stagnant, as if it has nothing new to offer. It seems obvious from early in the film that Caligari is controlling Cesare in order to commit these murders. It’s hardly a surprise when Cesare attacks Jane, the only pretty woman on the screen available for damsel-in-distress duty, and the shocking twist ending is so predictable you’re almost surprised they actually follow through with it. However, while Caligari may seem mundane, it’s imperative that we remember this was made in 1919."

For the lighting of the film, yes its a black and white movie but lighting work still comes to play, an obvious one would be to show night and day as when it is day time the set is lit up and when it is night the lighting seems darker, the transactions also come into play and don't always just go to a black out, but instead shrink down to focus on key characters in the film, such as one seen when Dr. Caligari seemed to be plotting something at the end of the scene the screen shrunk down and focused on Dr. Caligari as if to say this was an important moment in the film. A way of helping the viewer keep up with what is going on within the film.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a landmark for the horror genre that we see today, The scenes, camera effects and even plot twist have been influential in an entire genre of Film.

Merrick Doll "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has become synonymous with cinematic expressionism. The visuals in the film pay homage to the expressionism in painting as practiced in the 1900s and 1910s (Reimer 71). Reality is reproduced as if it were reflected in a fun house mirror. The distortions, however, do not obscure the objects but instead render them in distorted shapes. Elongated shadows are painted onto set walls, and the streets wind crookedly past houses that are equally crooked. "


Bibliography:

Reviews:

Roger Ebert review: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920

Julia Merriam review: http://classic-horror.com/reviews/cabinet_of_dr_caligari_1920

Merrick Doll: http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari


Images:

Figures 1 and 2 : http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-20-777-778-view-1900-1920-profile-1919-bthe-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-b.html

Figure 3: http://www.davidjrodger.com