Independent Film Article Review

1. Film of Paul Bowles Short Story Rediscovered - I think this was a really cool article. Director Sara Driver gets a phone call telling her that they found the original print of a film she did inside an abandoned apartment. This film was thought to be lost forever, until now. The film is called You Are Not I and was produced by Sara with a budget of only $12,000. She shipped the film to someone who loved it and granted the rights to her. It was filmed in 6 days in New Jersey. It would be a hit at it's premier, being called one of the best films of the 1980s by one critic. As it started to gather a cult following, a strange accident in a warehouse ruined the prints of all copies. And even more oddly, her copy was so used and tattered that it could no longer be played on a projector. Then many, many years later a copy would be found years and years after a man's death. After going through his left over belongings, they found Sara's long lost film. Now, for the first time in almost 20 years, the film can be seen once again. I think finds like this are really cool. Imagine if they found a long lost film by John Carpenter, or someone more world famous like Spielberg, or even a long lost Charlie Chaplin film? SOURCE

2. Brazil’s Best, Restored and Ready for a 21st-Century Audience -  This seems to be another article raving about a movie that has seemingly re-emerged from the dead. Orson Wells even gave it a thumbs up. This time the film, called Limite, was made in 1931 in Brazil. Directed by Marrio Peixoto, Limite has become an urban legend among film buffs. It is important to mention that this film is very avant-garde, although this is one of the only things mentioned about the movie. Being cited as a mystery film, Limite was detested and eventually banned by the right wing government party. Peixoto's film is currently being screened at the World Cinema Foundation Festival. The article doesn't mention the plot, so I took it upon myself to find out. The plot is based around a man and a woman stranded in a row boat, and the experimental film is mostly about flashbacks about their lives while they wait to be rescued or die. Again, another cool story to see about a cult classic from early film years re-emerging. Although, the way this article displayed the content made me show little interest in viewing this film. However, it is being shown at a theatre in Union. So, anyone interested in seeing this important piece of Brazillian film history should go check it out. SOURCE

The Spirit of the Beehive

Michael George

11/17/2010

The Spirit of the Beehive

Director: Victor Erice

Total Running Time: 01:37:00

Language: Spanish

Awards: "Silver Hugo," Chicago International Film Festival

     The Spirit of the Beehive is a Spanish film that was directed by Victor Erice in 1973. This film follows two young girls as they experience life together. Their lives are shaped by a traveling movie theatre that comes to town and shows the original Frankenstein film. The girls almost become obsessed with finding him after they believe he is haunting a small house in a deserted field. I really can't think of any specific theory that this film would fall into. Judging by the content of the film and background information provided in class about the director, I would guess that this is an auteristic film. During the time period showcased in The Spirit of the Beehive there was a lot of political termoil going on in Spain, mostly between two groups known as the Republicans and the Nationalists. As mentioned in class, many have speculated that each girl in the film represents a different side of the political debate in the country at that time. I think choices that he made in this film with casting, music, scene selection, and themes points that this is an auteristic film, as this all molds together to showcase his vision of the film.

     The two articles I chose for this journal entry can be seen here and here. The first article is a film review from a scholarly source, but it mentions things that I thought were important to mention. Firstly, the copy of The Spirit of the Beehive that most possess now is actually slightly different than the one that was originally released in the mid-1970s. Apparently as cencership strains began to losen up after cinema returned to the country, a different version was created. It's not mentioned how different the two versions are, but I'm guessing their is nothing too earth shattering or we'd all know about it. Secondly, the article mentions the theme of regression; regression being the act of trying to return to a previous state.

     The second article mentions the way in which the film plays down serious issues. The article cites the distant gunfire and the mother's maybe-scandal as being played down more than they should have. The word being used here is subtle. The children are fascinated, almost in their own little world, and don't seem to pay that much attention to important things. Isn't the usual response to gunfire to be to run? Isn't the usual response to a cheating scandal to me to question why? There is an apparent darkness to this film that the writer of the second source says creates a mesmorizing quality. Also mentioned here is that the beehive in the father's office was a metaphor for the repetitive nature of humans.

     In relating the two sources to the movie, it is noticable that the two sources both seem to have a different take on the same movie. This is ironic at best because The Spirit of the Beehive is a film about opposing worlds, opposing political views. The articles share the same values as the movie, but seem to play particular attention to certain themes than others. Both sources mention the history of Spain, which is fundamentally what fueled this movie to begin with. Both sources also cite Ana as the main character, although I would personally give both girls equal value to the film. If each girl represents a different stand, each girl is equally important to driving the plot forward. The second article mentions the repetitiveness of humans. I guess this is applical to the theme of war or how the mother get's up every morning to send a letter, but aside from that I don't share the same believe on that theme.

     I guess this film was allright. I don't really have an opinion on it either way. I think it would have been a short film at best, and dragged or was very repetitive at points. There were a lot of fluff scenes that I didn't get and left me questioning whether or not those scenes were important. The biggest thing I thought during this movie was, "Wow, these girls are creepy." Am I the only one who thought they were creepy? It was mentioned that Isabelle was the creepy one, but Ana would just randomly stare off at things. I'm more than likely she'll snap at some point in her life. I thought that the soldier was going to kill one of the girls at one point, since one of the biggest plot points in Frankenstein is when he accidently kills a lilttle girl. I'll give The Spirit of the Beehive some points for not being completely transparent and predictable.

SOURCES:
"The Spirit of The Beehive." A.O. Scott. NY Times. 27 January 2006. http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/movies/27beeh.html
"The Spirit of The Beehive." Row Three. 31 August 2009.

Italian Neorealsim & French New Wave

     Italian Neorealism is a film style that emerged around 1944 and deals mostly with the struggles between
the poor and working class, and can be seen in several different time periods in their films. It also dealt with
economic and moral themes. Italian Neorealism was created as a counter movement to the events that had happened during World War II. As seen  in class, during World War II, the studios were taken over by the Nazis and used as storage shelters. Then, the storage shelters were bombed by the good guys, and used as shelters for displaced citizens after the war. This means that film makers at the time were left on their own to produce films and had to use nonprofessional actors, equipment, and sets.
     Notable Italian Neorealism direcotrs include Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio D Sica, and Federico Fellini. While being a style of film created almost 70 years ago, they have had a great influence over some of today's great film makers. One of those influenced is Martin Scorsese. He would create a documentary called Italianamerican in 1974, which showcases some of the great films from the Italian Neorealism period. Italianamerican is also almost like a journal as it features both his parents, their experiences in America, as well as his thoughts and feelings about being Italian and relating these things to the films he watched as a child.

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     Another movement that formed roughly around the same time, 1950, is the French New Wave. We've already spoken about this multiple times in class, but here is a brief description. It was pretty much another counter movement to distance itself from the way things were being done. One of the biggest characteristics of the French New Wave was their use of the long tracking shot. Other notable characteristics include stressing the need of the individual as well as almost poking fun at how silly the world can be at times, whether morally or politically. Also, most of the films were created with a very small budget.

     Notable French New Wave directors include Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, and of course, Jean Luke Godard. My favorite Jean Luke Godard movie is Breathless. We saw a clip of it in class and it seemed so familiar to me that I realized I had seen it before. I probably would have preferred to see
Breathless for a second time over 400 Blows. Here is a brief slug of Breathless, for anyone interested
in viewing it.

Breathless (1960)Director: Jean Luke Godard
Total Running Time: 01:27:00
Language: French
Awards: "Best Director," 1960 Berlin International Film Festival

     Plot: Breathless is an ill fated love story about a criminal and his girlfriend. Michel is on the run from
police and tries to bide himself some time by hanging around his girlfriend, Patricia, who is a journalism
student. She is weary of his intentions at first, but decides she likes the extra attention and tries
to keep him around. Eventually, the police catch up with Michel and his girlfriend must chose between her
sometimes boyfriend, or furthering her budding career.

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CITED USED:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053472/

http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Neorealism-HISTORICAL-ORIGINS-OF-ITALIAN-NEOREALISM.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_neorealism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_new_wave

http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/fnwave1.jsp

Un Chien Andalou

Michael George

10/30/2010

Un Chien Andalou

Total Running Time: 00:16:00

Director: Luis Bunel

Language: (silent)

Awards: This better not have won any...

If not the most "WTF?!" short film of all time...

    Ok, I know that film can sometimes be an expression of art, but...this just really had no point. I'll give it props for being made well for 1929, but that is as far as it will go and is the only favorable thing I will mention. This was a surrealist film that catored to the avant-garde movement as well as Freudian theories. While researching Un Chien Andalou for this blog, I read that both the lead actors killed themselves after the film was created. I don't doubt it, nor do I blame them after being in this.

     In 1974 Bunuel told the Oxford University Press: "Nothing, in the film, symbolizes anything. The only method of investigation of the symbols would be, perhaps, psychoanalysis." Now, don't get me wrong, I can have a sick sense of humor or a twisted mind at times, but I don't think I would create something like this.

     I'll close the blog with the legacy of the "eyeball cutting scene" and stills from the film. Then I'll never think about this ever again. I know it was shown for weird Halloween purposes, and I guess the shock value was achieved because the film was just creepy and confusing to watch.



#10 in "The 25 Most Shocking Moments in Movie History" (Premiere)

#65 in "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" (Empire) ...How?

Beauty and the Beast (1946 version)

Michael George

10/30/2010

Beauty and the Beast

Total Running Time: 01:33:00

Language: French

Director: Jean Cocteau

Awards: #26 in Empire Magazine's "100 Best Films of World Cinema" (2010)

     Beauty and the Beast or La Belle et la Bete is a French film from 1946 that was directed by Jean Cocteau. It portrays most of the elements from the animated Disney movie we all saw as children, but there were several differences. The live action version we watched seems to be much darker with more emphasis on death, betrayal, and for the most part, overall stupidity. This film also didn't have any musical numbers, thank god. While it was mentioned in class that some see Beauty and the Beast as a feminist film, I tend to disagree. Feminist views and theories usually deal with female empowerment and enlightenment. Beauty and the Beast is the exact opposite of this, in my opinion. Belle is a slave to her family at first, pretty much subservant to men, and only gains wealth and self esteem after finding a man who loves her and is bestowed with a huge castle and treasures. If anything, I would see more Marxist and Formalist Theories in this film based on its motion of the plot and the new advances of "special effects" showcased here.

     Two articles I used researching this film can be looked at here and here. I chose these articles because they focus on the special effects, writing,  and acting of the film, with the first article being in favor of the production and the second article praises these things, while not liking pretty much everything else. The first article starts off by talking about the make-up job on the Beast. Apparently, his beastly mask was very progressive for the time and the author comments on how the eye brows were able to move, along with the mouth, and was able to give Beast the opportunity to showcase various emotions through almost primative special effects. It then talks about the arm ornaments and people in the wooden furniture and how it was progressive as well. Then it mentions that Beast hands would smoke every time he kills something. I never picked up on this in the film. The second article starts off mentioning that one of the theme's of the film is staring death in the face, yet transforming it into something positive and beautiful. It also states that the score of the film played a crucial role in creating the atmosphere and the DVD even has bonus tracks on it. Just like the first article, credit is given to the production values of this film.

     These two articles relate to the Marxist and Formalist Film Theories. I'm still baffled by how they made the magic mirror effects happen. We would probably do that with green screen, but I know film makers certainly didn't have that back then. So, how did they do it? Angles? Beauty and The Beast defnitely showed the advancements in film making. These special effects almost seemed like a character in the film that drove the plot more than the boring acting. I can't forget to mention that they steared the plot away from most Feminist theories in, in my opinion, as magic doesn't have a sex so it can't favor one gender over the other. Still, I think Beauty and The Beast can also be seen as semi-auteristic based on the directions of production they chose which differed from an even more original version written several years earlier. I didn't catch some of the themes mentioned in both articles, so they were interesting to think about while typing this up.

     I guess this film was ok. I started getting bored into sleep for the first 20 minutes because the film was very dull, not much was going on, and I guess I need flashy things on screen to entertain me. Once I came out of my slumber for the last hour of the movie I was actually entertained by the special effects. I think it was these new advancements that really sold the film. Could you imagine trying to watch the film without them? It would be even more terrible. I didn't like the acting; the under acting at points made certain moments weird to watch. When you see something scary, you expect the actor to be scared. When they don't act that way, you question why. This movie is a good example that should be used for film history purposes, but should be sealed away in vault and not watched after that.

SOURCES:

"Beauty And The Beast." Matt Langdon. 12 February 2003. Film Critic. http://www.filmcritic.com/reviews/1946/beauty-and-the-beast/

"Beauty And The Beast." Christopher Lloyd. 2 August 2010. http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/08/02/beauty-and-the-beast-1946/

Let The Right One In

Michael George

10/27/2010

Let The Right One In

Total Running Time: 01:54:00

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Awards: "Best Narrative Feature," Tribeca Film Festival, "Best International Film, " Saturn Awards

PLOT: Let The Right One In is a Swedish film released in 2008. The film focuses on the relationship between a bullied 12-year-old living in Stockholm, Germany, and a young vampire who moves into town.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOOK AND MOVIE: I've never read the book before, but after viewing the movie I hopped on the internet to search sources for a specific "attention to writing." In this case, the most common attention to writing is the differences between the events depicted in the book (released in 2004) and the movie that was released four years later. Apparently, as seen in most cases, the book has a lot more plot points and characters than the movie does. This was probably done because of time and budget restraints.

I think the biggest difference of all is how much the film was toned down. The film looks G rated compared to some of the things I read that appear in the book. The biggest difference I can tell from reading reviews is that the book is a lot more sexual than the movie. The young vampire, Eli (who was originally a boy), lives with a caretaker who is a pedophile and makes unwanted advances, if not flat out taking what he wants, on the young girl. Sexuality between adolescents is depicted in the book, as well as possible incest, as well as the whole transgendered debate. I have a feeling this was toned down for the big screen because that would be a big no-no for audience members and the people who rate movies because of the content being directed towards two children. The main character, the bullies boy Oscar, is also much darker in the book than on camera. In the movie he collects a scrap book of violent newspaper articles and other grim things, but is mostly quiet and somewhat cowardly. It was noted that his character is much darker and sinister in the book. Examples of this are that in the book he contemplates being a serial killer and an arsonist.

Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon

Michael George

10/14/2010

Rashomon

Total Running Time: 01:28:00

Language: Japanese

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Awards: "Golden Line," 1951 Venice Film Festival, "Honorary Award," 24th Academy Awards

     Rashomon is a 1951 Japanese film that tells the story of a rape of a woman and the murder of her husband from four different perspectives; the bandit, the woman, her husband, and a woodcutter. Each story is different during various parts, but each story also contains a bit of a truth about what really happened. Several types of film theories are displayed in Rashomon. I feel the two biggest theories present in this movie are psychoanalysis and marxist. The psychoanalitical theory tends to lean more in the direction of the film acturately portraying human nature. Rashomon obvoiulsy portays human nature in the ways that it shows the evil that people do to each other, the fact that everyone lies, and while there are lots of horrible people in the world, there is still some hope for change in humanity in the future. The marxist theory states that the plot of the film is moved around by the groups of characters in the film, not just by the central, main character. The bandit in this film is who I feel is the main character, as the events seen in Rashomon come directly from his poor choices. However, the the husband and wife have the same equal value, and the woodcutter and priest also add to the plot of the movie through their little side plot.



     Also visible in this film is the feminist view, as well as the formalist view. I think that maybe the film maker was trying to show how weird the treatment of women is in Japan. I just didn't understand the whole "I've been raped, please kill me, husband," situation and thought it was silly. Maybe he was trying to play this silliness off as a way to poke at the almost nonvaluable opinions towards women at the time. The formalist theory was pointed out to me in class on wednesday. Formalist theories play more into production values such as lighting, sound, shots, etc. The use of the music which would almost fit into a western and the "first ever" shot of the sun in film was used for a specific purpose.

     The two sources I used for Rashomon can be viewed here  and here. The first article talks about how "ground breaking" Rashomon was because it was proof that foreign films could survive in other markets around the world. An interesting production note is that in some shots Kurosawa tinted the rain black with ink. Next, it talks about how Rashomon left the ending up to viewer interpretation. Its next main point is how another underlying central theme of the film is ego and that having an ego your whole life is one of the hardest things to redeem yourself from. In the second article, it gives a breakdown of the opening scene where the woodcutter is walking through the jungle. The picture below is described by some as "among the most sensuous moving camera shots in cinema history." If one were to break down the woodcutters walking scene by direction, it becomes clear that he is walking in circles. This plays into the theme of lying and embellishing so much that you get caught up in your own lies.



     The two production notes I learned from my two articles only proves more that Rashomon can be classified as a formalist film. Again, a formalist film being one that focuses on production techniques as a way of telling the story. The black tinted rain relates directly to the mood of the story, the lies each man was telling, and the despair that the priest felt towards humanity as a whole. The walking scene was a subtle way of relating actions to themes in the film, something I think very few people have actually realized. Stumbling onto the church  during the rainstorm could be a big metaphor for the woodcutter finding the truth in life. Once the rain stops, he decides to raise the baby unselfishly. Again, the production of rain in the film was directly related to a character's thoughts and actions.

     Compared to 400 Blows, I really liked this film. It was slow at first and I almost didn't understand what was happening until the second side of the story was told. The "Rashomon Effect" was mentioned in class, and I think I've seen this done in other films before. For example, because we're so close to Halloween, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) has a similar plot as the trial of a deceased woman is shown from the perspective of the priest, the girls father, and by legal officials. Three stories on the same tale, all of which are different but have some bit of truth. As I stated above, the only real downside of this movie was the Japanese culture and their treatment of women. I kind of wanted to be the obnoxious one in the theatre and be like, "Kick his ass!" or "Don't let your husband look at you like that." I'm kind of an equal opportunist type of guy. Either way, the film made me have some sort of reaction which is what film making is all about.

SOURCES:
"Into The Woods: A Rashamon Sequence Analysis." Pacze Moj. 23 February 2009. http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/391
"Rashamon." Patrick Tatara. http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=136021&mainArticleId=160926