Blancanieves 20:50-24:13

The scene begins right after Carmencita comes out of the church after her confirmation, and her grandmother comes to greet her. As Carmencita is engulfed in her grandmother's arms the music and the scenery change, lively Andaluza music begins which is characterized by clapping and lively guitar arcs, and we are transported to Carmencita's party. The people play with Carmencita running around blindfolded chasing after them, the camera changes from running feet, to a medium/close shot of a rooster, to a close up of her exited grandmother. The scene is as lively as the music accompanying it, with constant clapping matching the pitter-patter of running eager feet. Suddenly Carmencita catches/crashes onto someone, it is her father's manager, he comes bearing a gift from her father, a small victrola. She looks around the party for her father, she finally looks toward the distance past the manager through the long hallway to car parked on the street, which most likely holds her father. This makes it seem like he is unattainable to her, that long hallway separating them, and him being inside a car while she stands and watches him, simulating exactly the situation in real life, the fact that he has a life and she is not allowed to be a part of it. When she starts to chase after the car, the guitar picks up along with the clapping that continues, the music seems to follow her emotion, she runs after the car with a smile in her face, we get a close up of her face as the smile fades because the car is starting to drive away. She chases the car down the street with the guitar intensifying, the camera shifts from the back of the car showing us Carmencita running after the car, to her face, and back an forth, until her grandmother comes out, then we see the scene through her perspective, as the last bit of the car disappears on a curve and Carmencita stands disappointed looking after the car, the music completely stops, as to show the last bit of excitement leaving Carmencita's excitement , the music mirroring her emotions.

We continue in silence to the next scene which takes up to a medium/close up shot of Carmencita petting the rooster under the table, she pets the rooster sadly as we can feel her sadness and disappointment. Suddenly lively music begins again and she curiously looks over her shoulder, where the apparition of her mother appears dancing spanish folk music and becoming her to be happy and to come to dance, Carmencita smiles, because this music reminds her of her mother who she knows through her grandmother and still feels her love through the music, a woman begins to sing, as he mother's image disappears, the table cloth is drawn up to show her grandmother there who continues to beacon her to dance and be happy once again. We see a shot of the shadows of dancing hands, this is beautiful and seductive in a way, then we see her hands in a close up of the beautiful dance of zapateo espanol(Andaluzo), the shot pans down to show her smiling grandmother dancing for her, then to a medium/close-up of Carmencita looking at her grandmother dancing, the camera pans around and back Carmencita, to include her in the foreground and her grandmother in the mid ground, and eager party goers clapping trying to her the child to be happy again. I particularly love how the lyrics of the song to me are a representation of her grandmothers feeling toward Carmencita at that moment, it says "I look for you but i can't find you" which to me is he grandmother trying to bring her smile back. She finally gets Carmencita to dance with her just as the song asks for a "signal" and as we see a shot of Carmencita starting to snap her fingers to the music just as her grandmother is, then the camera moves to show her grandmother's smiling face and she rejoices. They begin to dance and the camera moves from a close up of Carmencita to one of her grandmother, and then to a bellow shot so we can wee them twirling around each other clapping. We see the clapping hands and smiling faces of the other party goers, and a close up of Carmencita's face as she looks happily up to her grandmother, as the song says that "wherever she is she'll go looking, even to the end of the world".  The dancing continues and the camera continues to show close-ups of Carmencita and her Grandma dancing, and the people smiling at the dancing pair. Then we see a shot of the victrola playing the vinyl, and suddenly the scene becomes erratic to show the viewer something is about to go wrong, the camera begins to shift rapidly from her grandmother twirling to the faces and hands of other people, just as the song beings to talk about death. The scene begins to flash rapidly between her grandmother face and her twirling and suddenly she collapses, the song continues to state that "I would die one and a million times for you", we get a close-up of Carmencitas face as she looks down on her grandmother, who is clearly having a heart attack, we get a close-up of her grandmother dying, and then it shifts to a close up of the victrola as the song ends signifying her grandmothers death, the scene fades to black in silence.    

Moonrise Kingdom and all its Wonders

Moonrise Kingdom, like all of Wes Anderson movies, is filled with quirky camera angles and artistic beyond belief shots. He is the master of symmetry, he adores to make his shots seem like paintings which you can just hang on the wall. He hardly ever uses diagonal shots, they are always straight forward 90 degree shots, not only that but he pairs these shots with symmetrical framing. Plenty of times he keeps the camera in a still while an entire scene occurs within it. for example when Sam and Suzy meet at their designated spot, the camera shows the grass as they slowly begin to appear into the screen, he does not use tracking shots, which in a way make his scenes be more artistic and powerful. Or when Sam first introduces himself to Suzy, after he walks out of the clothing wrack, which he parts perfectly in the middle, he stands there in the center and asks Suzy which kind of bird is she, it switches from a perfectly centered straight shot of Sam to a perfectly centered straight shot of the actresses in bird costumes. This creates a special kind of atmosphere that engulfs you into the scene, because we get the perspective that the characters see, so we are in way part of this conversation. You feel immersed in his movies, as if you are being part of the story, you are living it alongside the characters, at least for me, I felt that I was running away with Sam and Suzy and I wanted them to never be found.
The way he arranges the camera angles evoke a silent-film comedy, but it also creates a fairy-tale type of world, as if you are living in a painting. Also when groups face each other, we get a reverse-angle depth, moving from one symmetrical composition to another, the cutting being either 180 degree reverses or zero degree changes of angle. He sparingly uses zooms, to emphasize important scenes, this is wonderful because get to be pulled in or pushed out to get a perspective of what surrounds the scene or what goes on for the characters.

Overall Wes Anderson is a master, and i can actually say that besides Tim Burton he is my next favorite director, he creates utter magic, fairy tale worlds-like-paintings in which you hope to live in, very much like Burton. The peculiar thing is that Anderson creates light painting with some dark matter in it, while Burton creates dark worlds with a lot of light matter. I guess that is why I love them so much.

Spike Lee's 25th Hour

The first shot in the sequence happens right after Naturelle, calls Monty to the living room because the cops are there to search the house. This is a close/medium closeup, we get a blurry closeup of Naturelle, while we get a medium shot of Monty, and they are framed by the painting on Naturelle’s side and by the wall on Monty’s side. This almost feels like it is from one of the cops point of view, or at least close to where he is standing.

We move around the set to stand behind Monty, we get to experience this sort of face-off between Monty and Agent Flood; both characters are centered in the scene framed by the other characters. The room is soft lit, which counteracts with the tension of the scene. Monty is closer to the camera, but he is slightly out of focus, like Naturelle was on the last scene, we focus on the characters that are farther away. The three agents and Naturelle are in focus, this being a close/medium/long closeup, Monty being closest, then Flood, followed by Naturelle and the other agent, with the agent facing the other way farthest away. So our focus shifted from Monty in the last frame to agent Flood, and we look toward the room from slightly above Monty’s shoulder.

Then we shift again to focus on Monty in a medium closeup, who is not centered on the frame, but is centered on the frame of the door. We are looking at him from bellow now, right behind Flood’s leg, or almost like the are set on top of the coffee table.

Then we shift to a medium close up of Flood holding the warrant, Flood holding the warrant become centered in the frame, behind him is the corner of the room, so he is being framed by the two pictures on the wall of the Guinness poster and Naturelle’s picture.

We switch our focus again and we appear to be standing either on the next room, or right on the threshold next to Naturelle, so this could be the point of view of the officer in the other room. This is a medium/long close-up. Flood is again centered in the frame, so our eyes naturally focus on him first. The other characters are layered in the scene, with agent Cunninham slightly behind and to the right of Flood, Monty is next to the left, still within the boundaries of the frame leading to the hall, and the last agent being furthers away, by the window. Their positions are a triangle of sorts, which lead your eye around the frame.

Oh Brother where art thou? The Sirens

First and foremost I cannot begin to describe just how much I love this movie! I have been very exited for weeks about discussing Oh Brother where art thou? I have loved this movie since I was a child, having read the Odyssey and just worshiping Greek Mythology, this incredible adaptation blew my mind! Plus my mom has been in love with George Clooney for years, so her love for this film was passed on to me.

Having to choose a specific scene to discuss in this movie was a no-brainer for me; my favorite scene has always been and will always be the sirens. As a child I wanted to be them, to be able to capture a person with your voice alone and lull them to danger willingly has always intrigued me. Sirens are one of my particular favorite “monsters” in Greek mythology because, differently than other monsters, they are not scary of ugly, in fact they are beautiful, and beguiling, they have power and are dangerous, all in their sweet voices.

In this scene we see a beautiful composition, to perfectly convey emotions and tone. We are seeing the sirens slow and seductive approach most likely still from Pete’s point of view, the girls are perfectly centered in the frame which creates symmetry which is more pleasing to the eye, thus we are drawn even more to them. They themselves are posed symmetrically in a triangle and layered to create depth, with Pete’s siren at the front, Everett’s Siren to the right and Delmar’s last and to the left, they create the foreground. To each side of them we see their discarded undergarments, perfectly placed layered as well as the girls are layered, with a floating piece in the river being closest to the camera, the next on the rock, and lastly the two on the tree branch. The river itself flanks them on both sides, curving in a U to draw your eye around the frame, the U emphasizes the triangle positioning of the sirens, thus even though your eye wonders around, there is a trail to lead you back to them. Their soft pastel clothing which almost melt with their bodies, makes them seem more “natural” like wood nymphs, as if they were part of the river, dreams come to life for these men. Their colors are emphasized by the bright green of the foliage that frames them, and the dark brown of the river, really brings them out. Their stance is seductive, they walk to the pace of their song, slow and lazy, determined to get what they want. They are visions coming to life, beautiful dangerous creatures with purpose, and their expressions showing the men what they want to see; seductive they feel mythical, as though they truly are sirens of the river.

My Own Private Idaho. Sad but worthy of praise

My Own Private Idaho is a film that I personally find, beautiful and heart breaking. Even though it is clearly a film with a strong theme of homosexuality, I do not see it as solely that. I actually feel that this movie deals more with the heartbreak and loneliness of someone trying to find a place to belong to, a place to feel at home, to feel warmth.

To me a big theme in this movie is family, and also the strained relationships within families. Scott has a father, a father who may not be the best person in the world, but is trying to give his son a choice to do good, and even though Scott could have anything he wants in this world, he chooses to instead live on the streets and sell his body for money. He outwardly defies his father, and valiantly parades his tirades in front of him, to show that he is rebelling. While Mike is so desperate to find his mother, even though his mother clearly is of low stature, and also not the best mother in the world, or even one who cares about her children. Mike yearns for her, and this causes him so much grief that it actually triggers his narcolepsy plenty of times. The strain of wanting a home, and love tends to send him into an episode at random moments. Mike wants love and warmth, he even goes as far to confess his love to Scott in the campfire scene, I found this scene to be so true and moving, River’s performance is outstanding, especially in this scene. You can really taste his raw emotions, how much he needs affection, true affection, and human warmth that is freely given and needs nothing in return. He wants to love and be loved, and he yearns for a family. He does not seem to resent or even question as to why his brother is also his father, he accepts that, that is his reality, and is willing to just leave it as is, as long as he can find his mom. The sad reality, is that his quest to find his mother, someone to love him, takes him to Italy, where inadvertently he looses the only person who understood, his closest friend who took care of him and watched over him. At the end of the film we are left in a kind of confusing and sad state, we see Mike back in the same road, where he falls under ones of his narcolepsy spells, where he gets robbed and then picked up by a random car, this would have never happened if Scott was still with him, so at the end Mike never find his mother and looses his best friend and unrequited love.

 I think this movie is one of those, that needs to be watched at least twice, because at first the more blatant scenes take away from the underlying beauty of this film. So the second time you already know what to expect, and thus can concentrate on everything else that is beautiful about this film. All and all it stays with you, the sad beauty of it, it lingers. 

Annie Hall, great comedy

How to write about one of the most influential filmmakers in history, Woody Allen, and about the film that is considered to be his turning point, it is hard to know where to begin.

Annie Hall is the film where Woody Allen made the turning point from comedian to incredible filmmaker. His experimental style of comedy is just truly brilliant and very poignant. It is truly no the usual style that we are used to seeing, he uses peculiar strategic style choices that include, text on screen, animation, and split screen, to show the neurotic and innermost thoughts of the main characters, to create this amazing romantic comedy.

His style of comedy works perfectly because is so different, for example when he uses the split screen to show the contrast between characters and situations, when he first uses it, we see Alvy having dinner with the Halls in a well lit, and decorated scene, everyone is sitting evenly spaced and everyone is at ease of course except for Alvy. In the contrast screen, we see Alvy’s family having dinner, the family is all crammed together, and it’s a low-lit, crowded frame. The respective mothers begin to talk to one another through the split screen discussing the differences in their homes. This is absolutely brilliant, because we get to see two different sides of why the main characters are who they are; it’s a different way to give us a background story of sorts by taking a look at these two families simultaneously. Also when they are both in therapy and we get to see them discussing their problems with their respective shrinks. They talk about very similar things, but their points off view are completely different. Also the scenes themselves are contrasting, her side is lit, while his is stark and feel crowded, also when the shrinks ask about their sexual lives, Alvy says that they hardly have sex only three times a week, while Annie answers with “constantly” with the same number of times, this shows how different they are, and it is a way of smart banter. We get to enjoy this style of comedy because it does not need to be dumbed down for it to be funny. He utilized perfect timing to deliver the dialog, and this would have not been possible without the split-screen, the characters interacting in this particular scene is like a perfect choreography of expertly timed banter with one another.

Woody Allen is undoubtedly an iconic filmmaker, his films have touched me deeply, movies such as Annie Hall, Blue Jasmine, and my particular favorite Midnight in Paris. His movies are interesting and certainly beautiful, they are creative and incredibly interesting, it is impossible to dislike his movies and his style.

1960's Daisies

I have to say that even though I thoroughly enjoy strange enigmatic movies, Daisies is not one that I could truly get in too, I think that even though it is amazing, I am one of those people that need a story line to follow, regardless of how strange that plotline may be, I definitely need one. I love films with bright colors and interesting scenery, and its ok if the movie moves in a strange pace, such movies as Amelie, which happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. Many find Amelie strange and hard to follow, which is the way I felt about Daisies. But even though it is not exactly my cut of tea, I do have to admit that it is indeed a fantastic work of art. The way it shifts from color, to black and white, to some slashes of color, and the overall the scenery is incredible.

At first glance Daisies could be played off as a disembodied comedy, girls running around like crazy from set to set, falling into different colored world. They run around stuffing their faces with everything they can find, even magazine pages with food printed on them, cutting limbs of each other’s bodies, we get glimpses of an arm, and a head. They run around in a wild rampage of child like delight, but doing rather “stupid” things. When you just watch it and not think of it too hard as to why they do what they do, it feels just like a strange episode of a cartoon. But when you stop and ponder as to why? Then that’s when Chytilova’s intent comes into fruition. She meant for it to be thought off, she wants the audience to wonder, “why are they doing all of this?” that is what she wanted. Her visual strategy was to be provocative, she wanted for people to question their antics, to wonder, why are they cutting sausages, what does that mean?

It is rather brilliant to think that she in a way hid these intense thoughts behind silly cartoon-like antics. And once again even though Daisies is not something I will be watching again, I do have to appreciate its brilliance.