Xavier Dolan’s Mommy (2014) and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida (2013) epitomize visual masterpieces. Mommy won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and competed as a nomination for the Palme d’Or; Ida won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In relation to the synopsis, the films are dichotomous, the former depicts the relationship between a single mother and her teenage son; the latter follows a young nun and the legacy of the Holocaust in post-World War II Poland. Also, in terms of color and visual style the films diverge, Mommy utilizes bright colors and multiple closeups, whereas and Ida is in black-and-white and uses a multitude of cinematographic techniques. Both films represent divergent styles, but contain myriad elements for a visual analysis. Mommy is ultimately about an intense mother/son relationship. At the beginning of the film, Diane Després picks up her son Steve from a juvenile detention facility, from which he had been expelled. Steve’s impulsive and violent behavior led to his temporary incarceration. Throughout the 2 hour and 19 minute run time, Diane and Steve attempt to rebuild their fraught relationship, with the major barrier being Steve’s behavior and Diane’s inability to provide him assistance. The introduction of the Després neighbor, Kyla, attempts to heal the relationship; however, the film concludes in an act of impulsively suicidal desperation. Pawlikowski’s Ida takes place in Poland in the 1960s, with the effects of the
Based off Charles Webb’s 1963 novel by the same name, The Graduate is an American romantic comedy/drama released in the United States on December 21, 1967 starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, and William Daniels. The film was directed by Mike Nichols, produced by Lawrence Turman and the screenplay written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham. The film was produced by Lawrence Turman/Mike Nichols productions starting in March of 1967. Mike Nichols has also directed other well known films such as Catch-22 (1970), Working Girl (1988), and more recently Closer (2004). The film was distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures nationally and United Artists internationally. AVCO Embassy Pictures studio, founded by Joseph E. Levine, the films executive producer, also claims production/distribution for other hit films such as Godzilla, King of Monsters! (1956), The Fog (1980), and Prom Night (1980). The movie was well received due to its $104 million dollar box office opening tab. The score was produced by Dave Grusin and the songs written by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
North By Northwest is a thriller,mystery and crime film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, that was released in 1959 during the midst of the Cold War era. He depicts the United States Government and their use of spies during the time. When reading about the covert operations used by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War it is astonishing how little the general public knew about the affairs of the government.The film centres on the character of Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive who finds himself mistaken as a United States spy - George Kaplan. Reference to cold war as Edger Hoover said communist were inflicting in corrupting ‘’various spheres of American lives’’.Ultimately, this resulted in a incredible paranoia and
In the film Babies Thomas Balmès elegantly and wordlessly captures the first year of life through the eyes of four unique cultures. This film follows four babies Panijao from Namibia, Mari from Japan, Hattie from the United States, and Bayarjargal from Mongolia. The main purpose of the film is to show how the four cultures differ in their behaviors with infants. One of the striking differences is the role the parents play in the documentary and how they interact with their newborn infants. In contrast, the film also shows the similarities in infancy even in vastly different environments and cultures.
In the movie, Wo Ai Ni Mommy demonstrated that Sadowsky used several ways to help her adopted daughters to appreciate the Chinese heritage. For example, Sadowsky brought Faith to a Chinese school and ask her to continue her Chinese class to keep learning the Chinese language. Also, she was able to meet some other children were Chinese and have adopted by American parents that also provided her a chance to expose other Chinese. In addition, the whole adopt family celebrated the Chinese festival such as Chinese New Year which helps her appreciated the Chinese tradition. Furthermore, Sadowsky let faith talked to her foster parents and foster sister once in a while, which gave her a better motivation to catch up her Chinese identity. In my point of view, Sadowsky let Faith talked to her foster family and greeted them during the Chinese New Year is the most helpful in maintaining Faith’s Chinese identity because it is a unique and meaningful event for Chinese culture. It is a time that all the family members went home for the celebration. It does not only carry the Chinese tradition but also represent Chinese cultural filial spirit. In my own family, we will kneel down and greet the elder people in my family and appreciate how much they did for the family to show our respect. We will practice this custom on the first day of the new year to show our highest esteem for our grandparent
The censorship conflicts in the 1900s were extremely intriguing and intense. Around the end of the 1920s, individuals possessed immense moral shifts powered by religious groups during the Great Depression, which resulted in decisions that created a new revolution that dealt particularly with the regulation of content of films. Consequently, in 1934, at the same time that the “Golden Age of Hollywood” began, the Hollywood Production code was formally implemented. The film
In the first shot of scene one, we are introduced to the character Senor Love Daddy which begins with an ECU (extreme close up shot) of his mouth, along with the top of the microphone and his hand with is holding an alarm clock. The alarm clock (which is a prop) is making an extremely loud, irritating, ringing sound. This is done to grab our attention from the get-go by referencing the conflict within the film which can be to some the conflict slowly reframes as it is zooming out which is allowing us to see more of Senor Love Daddy’s face and the microphone. This entire introduction scene is shown with a hard-reddish light coloring, this coloring motif paired with the slow zoom is to show us how hot it is within the setting of the film.
The early 1940s marked an incredibly dark period of world history where millions of European Jews were executed under German supremacist ideals. This atrocious period was something inconceivable to individuals worldwide and thus, sparked the creation of several compelling works such as the 1986 graphic novel, Maus written by Art Spiegelman and the 1997 film of Life is Beautiful directed by Roberto Benigni. These two works, although greatly distinct, homogeneously open the public to personal tales of the unexplainably malicious event known as the Holocaust. Maus, although presented as a graphic novel in black and white, strongly depicts the story of Vladek, a Holocaust survivor through his son’s recollection of the unfortunate events that occurred to him through interview sessions that cause the novel to shift between the “present time” of these sessions and the “past” memories of Vladek. Whereas the film, Life is Beautiful portrays the tale of a Jewish family told by the forever appreciate son, Joshua, of Guido, who creatively distorted the reality of the Holocaust as a thousand point game to preserve the innocence and youthful joy of his son. Both of these works effectively communicate the severity of the Holocaust while introducing the audience to the presence of the humanity in these tales and characters who were a part of an otherwise inhumane event. Both works manage to do such through similar means such as the father-son relationships present that although distinct,
In the film, Wit, Starring Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, Jonathan M. Woodward, Harold Pinter directed by Mike Nichols we initially begin the film with a scene where Dr. Harvey Kelekian diagnoses Professor Bearing, also known as Vivian, that ultimately sets up the tone for the rest of the film.
The movie Parenthood (1989) revolves around the psychological stresses that are faced by families. From the name of the movie, the main theme is coined, involving the issues that are faced by parents while raising up their children. The movie is centered in the family of Gil and Karen, and their extended family. Set in a middle-class white society, the anxieties and pains of raising children are presented in the movie. Gil Buckman is a parent and businessman. His wife, Karen, comes out as a nearly perfect parent, and always stays at home. Gil and Karen have three children. The oldest child is Kevin, a nine-year old boy with emotional problems. The emotional problems that are experienced by Kevin form a very significant aspect of the movie,
In this paper, I will write about “Thelma and Louise” (1991) movie. I choose a last scene of the movie which the police came to arrest them in the Grand Canyon (from 122 to 125 minutes).
Of Mice and Men is an action-packed, but peaceful film and novella by John Steinbeck. The movie has been made as an interpretation by Gary Sinise, who is the director and one of the main characters. Of Mice and Men is about George and Lennie (Gary Sinise, John Malkovich) who are very close friends. George is a short and smart man. On the other hand, Lennie is a big man who is mindless.
In Hidden Figures the people at NASA are trying to solve a math problem, so they can send someone into space. They are in a race with the USSR to see who can get into space first. John Glenn is the man that would be going into space. He is putting his life in NASA’s hands. He preferred that the numbers/problems that would determine if he lived, worked out.
Part 1 - In American author's 2009 book, The Help, the primary thesis is the relationship between Black maids and white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s. The story is really told from three perspectives, Aibileen and Minny are Black women, both maids, and Skeeter is the nickname of Eugenia Phelan, daughter of a prominent White family. Skeeter has just finished school and hopes to become a writer. In general, the relationship between the Black maids and the White employers is six sided: On one side we have the White employers who have three views: 1) Their personal and private beliefs that can range from extreme scorn and bias to kindness regarding race; 2) Their public persona that must have the "proper" attitude about Blacks and "the help," and 3) Their employer attitude, which is condescending and parental. The Black view also has three segments: 1) Their personal and private beliefs that usually range from understanding not all Whites are the same and an extreme love and empathy for the White children for whom they care; 2) The public persona that is deferential, polite, and stoic to their White bosses; and 3) Their attitude and view among the Black community, which usually separates the "poor and ignorant but rich" White souls from the Black view of family and common sense. All in all, the relationship is contentious, phony, and based on economic advantage.
“Everybody loves babies”, a trademark quote from the documentary movie “Babies” features an insight on the many reasons babies are loved. Although many documentaries are narrated, director Thomas Balmès uses a different approach by eliminating a voiceover. By manifesting this film without narration, he focuses on a learning technique all babies go through in their early stages of life. Aiming for viewers to learn from observation, as babies do, we are left to focus on the babies, their environment and interactions. Through subtitles, this film reveals the different locations the footage of the four newborns are from. By viewing the babies different upbringings from different cultures, we learn how the various lifestyles of each culture impacts a child’s development. The babies are Hattie from California, Mari from Japan, Bayar from Mongolia, and Ponijao from Namibia.The film shows the infancy and toddlerhood period of the babies as well as their development physically, cognitively, and socially.
In the film Babies, 4 infants are being observed for the first two years of their lives. Each babies comes from different culture, which shows how the various customs can impact the child’s development. Ponijao is the youngest one in his family and lives in a village in Opuwo Namibia. Bayar lives in Bayanchandmachi, Mongolia. Mari is the first child of a couple who lives in Tokyo Japan, and Hattie lives in Sans Francisco California. The film shows the babies develop cognitively, physically and socially-emotionally, during the infancy and toddler years. The Infancy and toddlerhood period is from birth to 2 years. “This period brings dramatic changes in the body and brain that support the emergence of a wide array of motor, perceptual, and intellectual capacities” (Berk & Meyers, 2016, p.6).