Presented in an engaging and intensely graphic visual style, Waltz with Bashir uses the medium of fluid animation to present layers of history and effectively communicate concepts surrounding how we deal with trauma. Often referencing traumatic events that which current society did not encounter directly themselves, Waltz with Bashir triumphs in the struggle against ethical and visual implications of animated form, evoking a strong emotional response in its visual style. A vector based, frame by frame animation technique was used to present a re-enactment of the events that took place; referencing live-action footage as visual reference for the stand-alone animation process. The opening scene of the film sets up the dramatic visual style; as the camera tracks along, rabid dogs run loose on the streets of Beirut. Initially just one dog running towards the camera, eyes wide and vicious, swiftly multiplies into a pack of dogs, snarling and drooling; tearing through the highly stylised war-torn streets. This dramatized, surrealist scene we later find is actually a visual interpretation of a nightmare that Folman’s friend Boaz has connected to his experiences from the war in Lebanon. Typically a convention used in narrative film, Folman’s process removes us from the reality in the film because of its surrealist animated form and we become lost in the spectacle of animation. This allows the feature’s concepts to be depicted in a more objective way; albeit the subjective nature of
The film Moonlight was released October 21, 2016. Moonlight is all African American cast, and was awarded over 25 awards including the Academy Award for best picture. This film is a coming of age story that follows the dramatic ups and downs of the life of Chiron, a young Africa American man growing up in Miami. The plot begins from the time he is in elementary school to the time he reaches adulthood. The plot is structured in three stages of the life of Chiron and touches on the topics of the struggle of dysfunctional households via socialization, sexuality and sexual identity, physical and emotion abuse, and the process of accepting ones self.
The vision Christopher Nolan had for The Prestige (2006) was to add to the outbreak of street magician film, whilst playing a large dramatic subplot equal in grandeur to the magical performances within the film. In the final sequence of the film, I will analyse how the cinematography and sound resolves the plot so that it summarises the themes present in the film, whilst also invoking a response from the audience. Nolan predominantly uses close up shots, non-diegetic sound (music) and dialogue collaboratively to convey the dramatic, personal subplot of the characters and their relationships, whilst appealing to the audience bringing forth an emotional response from the audience. The heavy, slow, dramatic atmosphere of the ending sequence uses various techniques to summarise and uncover the underlying mysteries of the events throughout the film and consolidate themes introduced during the exposition.
Princess films are beloved classics that range from the beloved Disney franchise, to live action films such as the Princess Diaries, to historical tales as those seen is polish films. No matter what the format or genre these films typically have a prince searching for his love the princess and contain recurring scenes. The film The Princess Bride offers a new comedic approach to this classic genre. While scholars have explored how princess films are able to succeed through the use ideas such as nostalgia or nationalism, The Princess Bride succeeds through the use of comedy. Through the use of comedic devices such as mistaken identity, absurdity, and good old-fashioned slapstick comedy, The Princess Bride is able to parody the traditional
This is a criticism of Moonlight, a film directed by Barry Jenkins. It is a coming-of-age story, telling the journey of a young gay black man named Chiron. Through linear character development the film follows a young Chiron from adolescence into adulthood while growing up with alpha males in Miamis black ghettos. The Story is told in three parts, with a different actor playing the lead role in each section: a young Chiron named “Little”, as a teen named “Chiron”, and an adult named “Black”. Despite a compelling lead performance by Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, and its great soundtrack, Moonlight falls flat and never gets out of the shadow of its typical cliche plot, all the while, the film continued to never overcome the obstacle of
The Roaring Twenties were a very important time in America’s history. I chose this topic to discuss because I think it brought about many great changes, especially for women. Women were finally able to break away from tradition. They wore shorter dresses, cut their hair short, and expressed themselves more. Some women also enjoyed dancing and became flappers. This is one of the first times women have been able to do things like this, which I think is extremely important. The only downfall of the 1920’s was prohibition, which outlawed alcohol. I’m not really sure why they outlawed it during this time period. This was supposed to be the era of fun and prosperity, and many people drink for fun. However, this did not stop people from drinking,
The Australian cinema in the 1960’s failed to communicate with the audience due to their lack of promotional messages that weren’t disseminated. Media is formed by cultural, political, economic and social conditions. These influenced or even directed its characteristics and its intended meaning. After a devastating blow to the film industry in the 1960’s, filmmakers of Australia had stopped creating and making quality Australian films. However, the Australian New Wave brought a revival of the Australian film industry during the 70's, 80's and 90’s. It introduced Australian qualities into film, including larrikinism, mateship and a classless social hierarchy. The Castle and Gallipoli confirm, promote and explore features of Australian identity
Italian Neorealism was a movement of art, which strived to illustrate the normal lives of the ordinary, working class people in post war Rome, usually with the use of non-professional actors. As one of the best Italian Neorealist film, Bicycle Thieves showed an absolute depiction of the war’s impact on daily life and exposed a world in which sufferings, unkindness and corruption jeopardized the rationality of human beings and action of men (Schoonover). By utilizing a depressing and gloomy cinematography, De Sica implies the somber lives of the poor and their crisis in losing their self-identity and moral conscience as a result of parochial society that make a fetish of personal belongings as a mode of social acceptance. By examining the cinematography, ‘mise-en-scene’ and events in the film, the daily struggles of the working class in post war Rome can be seen through the crisis of masculinity, class struggle, ethical dilemma and a profoundly patriarchal society.
Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing is able to effectively explore the problem of racial conflict in America by skilfully manipulating cinematic devices such as staging, narrative, cinematography, editing and sound. The concentration and emphasis on characters' certain physical attributes with the use of photography and camera framing, the fast pace editing style and manipulation of sound all contribute to film's overall meaning. In analysing the short sequence beginning with a small girl drawing a chalk painting on the road and ending with Sal, the local pizzeria owner, making Radio Raheem, "a hulking misunderstood home-boy" , two slices of pizza, these devices are seen to illustrate the hostility between Black and Italian working
Casablanca, the crowning achievement of director Michael Curtiz, which was released in 1942, is a film that had to work against the pressing concerns associated with World War II to stay relevant in both cinematic and general audiences. The writing, which was done by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, had to be inspirational yet uncontroversial. With actors like Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund, Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, and Paul Henreid as the French revolutionary Victor Laszlo, Casablanca has a respectable cast. The movie initially appears to fit the film noir genre because of its smoky backdrops with muted colors,
Cinderella Man was an incredibly magnificent and uplifting film that followed the life of the “Bulldog”, later entitled “Cinderella Man”, starring Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock, the American heavyweight boxer. Primarily, Cinderella Man embodies strength and willpower as once-undefeated heavyweight fighter, Braddock’s loses started to rapidly accumulate, so bad that he was released from his boxing contract and was merciless impeded from fighting. Correspondingly, deprived of work the bulldog began to undertake hard labor during the Great Depression to counterbalance myriad bills and overdue payments. Moreover, Braddock and his wife Mae together had three children to nourish. Correspondingly, years later, Joe Gould played by Paul Giamatti, was Braddock’s old boxing manager and contracted him one last concluding fight, which he won. Hence, the Bulldog started to train again and James J. Braddock was reborn after countless winning comebacks. Ultimately, Jimmy undergoes a fairy tale rise from a poor local fighter to the heavyweight-boxing champion of the world.
The movie Bashu: A Little Stranger, is a heartwarming commentary written and directed by Bahram Beizai in 1989 on the effects of war, love, and racism in a small village community in Iran. Beizai challenges the widely accepted Iranian identity through stars Susan Taslimi as Naii, Bashu’s adopted mother and Adnan Afravian as Bashu. The film boasts a simple plot, yet the societal critiques are strong and apparent. It takes place during the Iraq-Iran war, a war brought forth from long standing border conflicts and fears of revolution. Many critics agree that Bashu is a timeless film. Although produced in 1989, this situation could happen at any point in time.
Film noirs describe pessimistic films associated with black and white visual styles, crime fiction, and dark themes. Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 film noir directed by Billy Wilder. Sunset Boulevard presents many themes that are common with the genre film noir, but also introduces some differences from the typical movie in that genre.
The media focuses a lot on the concept of race; as a result, it generates knowledge and popular discourses about racial issues. People learn about racial prejudices and privileges through the media (Cammarota, 2011). Detailed analyses of discursive examples can help show and reconstruct the discursive production and reproduction of racial discourses in the media. Therefore, I will use critical discourse analysis (CDA) to critically analyze a movie titled Save the Last Dance within the framework of race using the CDA tools utilized by Huckin (1995) in Discourse Analysis. Using CDA, this article aims to deconstruct the racial discourses represented in Save the Last Dance by directing attention to some of the ways the movie portrays popular discourses and social imaginations of race. I will discuss the implications that the images of race in the movie are generating and putting out on larger, on-going dominant discourses. I will also discuss the significance of my analysis. Before I start the analysis, it is essential to understand both the meaning of race and CDA, but also how CDA can be used to deconstruct racial discourses.
Moonlight is an American drama film that chronicles the life of African-American male Chiron, who is being raised by a careless mother in a harsh Miami neighbourhood. Its most prominent themes are love, stereotypes and identity. The filmmakers create meaning from these through combining different elements of aesthetics (the style or look of a motion picture). Aesthetic effect refers to the practise of using different elements of a film (mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography and editing) to generate film form.
Analyze This is a hilarious, feel good movie about two men from different backgrounds living completely opposite lifestyles. Through a series of very funny, random and bizarre moments they form a memorable friendship together. The movie came to theatres in 1999, was directed by Harold Ramis and included a cast full of some of Hollywood’s brightest stars. It begins with two gangsters leaving a café, discussing their plans to attend a meeting involving the countries major crime bosses. One gangster goes back in the café to get a toothpick and at the same time the other gangster is killed from a drive-by shooting. The movie’s plot is based upon the surviving gangster seeking out a psychiatrist to help with his emotional