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.
No comments:
Post a Comment