The Five Obstructions

Ahhh how bizarre. This film was so interesting to watch mainly because it showed the trails and errors in revisiting "The Perfect Human," such an intriguing and individual film. The film was done in 2003 which was quite some time after the original making of "The Perfect Human" (1967). Both Jorgen Leth and Lars von Trier were able to show their personalities both internally and as film makers. One of the things that caught our eye is when (Jorgen we think) said that "It'll be a spastic film." This seems true in its making but in the final viewing of the film, the viewer is left calm, possibly confused, but not "spastic." Leth seemed to face many internal conflicts within the making of the film, as would anyone trying to represent the perfect human. It would be difficult being motivated to remake a film that was so beautifully done in the first place. However, Leth showed the audience more incredible footage.

Each version of the film was so strikingly different from the previous one. The Cuban, full of spice, heat and personality. The one in Bombay, the tux is introduced and the whole atmosphere wreaks of privilege (as you can see the people.) Brussels provided an extremely artistic take, as the obstruction was to have complete freedom. The cartoon, although expected to be terrible, seemed to hold its own. It seems that as Leth went deeper into the making of "The Perfect Human," the layout and whole visual of the film became more simple. Regardless of his trails, between Cuba, Bombay, Brussels and the fantasy world of a cartoon - he got it right!

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is dominated by an ensemble of powerful actors playing roles that seem tailored to them. Prefaced by a short children’s story the movie initially focuses exclusively on Ofelia but quickly widens it’s scope to encompass the conflict between the rebel and fascist forces taking place concurrently. Not only did the two narrative’s effectively avoid distracting from each other, it is the interplay between two very different extreme’s of story, the fairy tale and the rebellion, that combine to amplify the viewer’s investment in the film. Being immersed in what seems like a child’s fairy tale and then being ambushed by the brutalities of the Franco army serves to sharpen the modern viewer’s dulled ability to feel horror.
Benicio Del Toro created a movie with particularly striking aesthetics in every regard, and his subtle manipulation of light is an especially powerful element of an already very well developed mise-en-scene. One of the most interesting subjects of manipulation was the forest. The set was rich and beautiful enough that after all the treatment given it the forest nearly qualifies as a character of it’s own. It is not an active character, but it has just as much impact on the quality of the movie as any of the actors. When meant to emote off sadness the trees are dull and monochromatic, the light is grey and the rain is falling. When joyous the landscape assumes the aspect of the perfect summer day, with wind you can nearly feel through the screen and nature bathed in golden light. The mise-en-scene is of much more importance in a faery tale inspired film, expressing the absolute extremes of good and evil that such stories require, and the forest serves it’s role magnificently.
Two of Pan’s Labyrinth most striking features are the character and costume design. Each actor seems to fit their role perfectly, and a large part of that is established through their outfits, and through their entire design in the case of the supernatural characters. The faun’s design in particular I thought was notable. It manages to be both affectionate and terrifying without obvious changes in form. Made up of what seem to be hunks of earth and roots entwined and enmeshed throughout it’s body, crowned by a face that could be made up of bone for all the colour and texture it possesses, it could easily be an unvaryingly terrifying presence, yet it manages to successfully straddle the line between the uncanny valley and an empathiable human physique. It’s more difficult to comment on the non-CGI altered actor’s costumes, but they seem totally authentic and match the personality of the character’s they adorn.
It is unclear as to whether or not the magic and fantastic creatures Ofelia encounters during the movie are products of her imagination or real, but it does seem like they were more her escapist fantasy than anything else. It is made painfully clear throughout the film that she wants to be elsewhere, and every magical event could be explained through quite probable non magical logic. The lack of evidence to the contrary, coupled with the generally sad tones of the film are enough to push me towards the notion that none of the fantastic exist outside her head. For me the last nail in the coffin was that the film returned to Ofelia's face, bleeding and bloody, right before she died, after she had imagined herself in the underworld.

Run Lola Run-Oliver

Run Lola Run utilized masterful editing. My favorite features were the flash montages made up of pictures implying the variable possible futures of people tangentially affected by Lola and Manni. As Lola interacted with certain characters the screen would be filled with a quick series of photographs which implied their fate, and when she interacted with them again in nearly the exact same manner in one of the re-runs a different montage would be shown, illustrating the butterfly theory mechanisms of fate upon which the film is built. I appreciated the specific manner in which the montages were formed and limited. With only five unconnected pictures each shown to you for maybe a second or a fraction thereof the movie still manages to implicitly convey a great deal of information, and being that the shots immediately following each future montage are of Lola running down streets without much interaction allow the viewer time to digest the images and stories contained without rushing.

Run Lola Run - Erin

The 1998 masterpiece film Run Lola Run, both written and directed by Tom Tykwer, provides multiple and very different perspectives on how one day or more specifically - a period of 20 minutes could have gone. Although foreign films with subtitles tend to be a bit distracting, as the viewer can not focus completely on the visual details, this film provided many interesting things to notice in sound alone that could be understood despite the language barrier. One instance in particular is when Lola and her boyfriend are on the phone and they keep repeating "the bag" back and forth to each other. This was to help the audience realize the initial importance of the bag and its contents as well as perhaps foreshadow that the only solution was to get the bag back (as we see Lola's boyfriend do near the end of the film). Another example is when the frame is split the first time just before Lola's boyfriend robs the store. Lola is seen on the right side of the screen and her boyfriend on the right. Interestingly, the clock is at the bottom of the screen portraying the fact that it is constantly moving as they are. As we see this happening, Lola's voice is calling out to her boyfriend. However, this time it does not seem as frantic as it had been on the phone. The viewer or in this case listener can really concentrate on Lola's speech, what that means in the situation and how that can relate to the rest of the story. Visually this film was most pleasing as well. The sequence of shots that appear in slow motion throughout the film as Lola drops the phone and looks at the clock really catches the viewer's attention. In addition, the attention to detail was impeccable. When we first see Lola's father, he is sitting down which shows his lack of superiority in the situation. This again may foreshadow that he will have little to no power in the future. In the second portrayal of the 20 minute countdown we see his sense of power decrease as he is robbed 100,000 notes and held at gunpoint by his own daughter. Although later the audience seems to come to peace with him, he is still in a situation where he even further looses his desire power and is very vulnerable - he is very hurt in an ambulance.

I really enjoyed this film.

Do The Right Thing

Do The Right Thing is a stunning display of Spike Lee’s talents as an actor, writer, and director. The movie is in essence focused on a number of dualities it spends the length of the movie building up and inverting, intentionally going out of it’s way to force the audience to think through the issues surrounding race and racism in ways not normally considered. One of the highlights of the movie is Spike Lee’s ability to create morally ambiguous characters without diminishing the audience’s empathy for them. He himself plays Mookie, a conflicted young man living in Brooklyn during the Eighties, who barely manages to hold down his job delivering pizzas and essentially ignoring the needs of his son, whom he sees less than once a week despite living down the block from him.
Mookie is a prime example of Spike Lee’s ability to make us love without liking a character. He’s human enough that we feel for him, but also does various obviously “wrong” things that we cannot respect or like him. He like every other character in the movie has both good and bad moments. He is commendable in how he deals with his coworker Vito, yet still initiates the wrecking and burning of Sal’s Pizzeria. In the end the prime message of Do The Right Thing is one of complexity, illustrated best through the opening scene and Radio Rahim’s brass knuckles. Every person moves through cycles of Love and Hate, the best and the worst in us both come out at times, and as hateful as life seems there is still a need to make sure that Love flourishes.

Do the Right Thing - Erin

The film Do the Right Thing, written and directed by Spike Lee, shows racial violence in Brooklyn on the hottest day of the year. The film captures the true essence of a hard life, working for your money and touches on stereotypes we still face today. These stereotypes helped break barriers in the movie such as the drunkard saving a life, always having great advice and being kind to those who were terrible and rude to him.
One thing in particular I noticed was the fact that the "fourth wall" was broken quite a few times. There is a montage of shots in the movie where several people seem to be looking directly at a camera, and therefore the audience. This provided a connection in seeing them as real people with feelings that may effect greater audiences than just themselves and their community.
The harsh realities of the movie were at times tough to watch but it was interesting to see a movie stay true to the reality of the situation. I didn't know so many cuss words were allowed in a film. Although shocking, these words added to the hostility of the film and seriousness of daily life.
Overall, this film was particularly interesting to watch and projected an issue that was (I'm sure) very difficult to take hold of.

Citizen Kane

“If I hadn’t been really rich, I would have been a really great man.”-Charles Foster Kane

Citizen Kane seems driven to tear down the conceit that a life can be encapsulated in a single film. The opening montage sequence serves to establish both Kane’s greatness and complexity, he is called variously a communist and a fascist, both loved and hated. The above quote relates directly to Kane’s hamartia and the one quality that is never up for dispute, the constant dissatisfaction he feels with the life he was forced to take up as a child. Throughout the movie multiple narrative streams and perspectives are interwoven in an effort to unravel Charlie Kane’s last word, “Rosebud.” Though the mystery of “Rosebud” did not entrance or affect me as it did the reporters during the main sequence of the movie, when at last it was revealed to be the name of his childhood sled I thought it was a beautiful conclusion to a painful story.
On a technical level the movie is fantastic. The lighting is very intense. Many times the light source came from just one place (often the sun) in a dark room so everything seemed to glow. The lighting made an important contribution to the film’s serious and uneasy atmosphere. The sound overlays were unique and interesting, exemplified by the earliest childhood scene and the party he throws to celebrate stealing his reporters. Throughout his parent’s entire argument about his education Charles is very distinctly yelling outside in the snow, yet it does not limit hearing the parent’s speak clearly. When the show girls and gentlemen are singing about Mr. Kane the music, singing, and background chatter are all very effectively separated from the front stage dialogue.
By far the best thing about the movie was the impeccable script. The dialogue was inspired, producing a variety of quotes that leapt out as timeless, and the multiple perspectives and framing narrations were brilliantly executed. One quote I found particularly interesting was when Henry Cane said: "I have and will be only one thing - an American." When he is asked by Thatcher what he would like to have been he states “Everything you hate.” His focus constantly shifts between the despise he feels for the manner in which he was raised and the need to gather love as tribute from everyone around him. The multiple perspectives, each covering a large time period but from a very specific angle effectively sparked an intense need to know more about the psyche and motivations of such an interesting character, and the plot was filled with constant turmoil in regards to his happiness. The script managed to let him constantly succeed while only becoming less and less happy.
The beginning of the movie consists of a series of different shots - all depicting Mr. Kane's grand Xanadu. They are all equally eerie. The combination of close ups and long shots as well as the sharp music help create the initial obscure tone of the film, and two specific images frame the beginning and end. The no trespassing sign and the image of the unfinished palace on a hill he built for himself only grow in impact between their first and last rendering, much as Charles Foster Kane only grows in inscrutability as we learn more about him.