Film: Tapping A Little Heart Out

The film that I choose for my final presentation is my favorite film of all time and one that is very special and important to me. Save the Last Dance was produced by Thomas Carter, released on January 12, 2001, and starred Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington and Terry Kinney. This particular film is one that I choose for a very personal reason, my mother and I viewed this film when it came out on VHS tape until four in the morning on repeat almost a year and a half, to the date, before she passed away. The scene that I choose from this film is the second Julliard audition scene where Julia Stiles character, Sarah reactions for a chance to go to The Juilliard School after her high school graduation to further peruse her dance

I chose to do my paper on the movie Sweet Nothing in My Ear. The movie was about a child who was born hearing and ended up going deaf, so his parents had to deliberate on whether or not they wanted to get him a cochlear implant. The wife Laura (played by Marlee Matlin) is deaf and her husband Dan is hearing. The movie is centered around Laura and Dan’s struggle to decide if a cochlear implant is what’s best for their son Adam. It doesn’t help Laura make the decision when her parents are both deaf, and her father is basically prejudiced against the hearing culture.

Barb Cratzville is the very passive and insecure wife of Tom Cratzville who struggles with balancing her roles as a mother and a wife. As a person, Barb is lost in her life and seems to have a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. She tolerates her husband's behavior even though she knows that he could potentially harm their entire family. She knows that her husband’s addiction is getting out of hand but she does not leave the relationship and disregards what her sister has to say about it. Often time’s people who are experiencing domestic abuse are afraid to speak out because they are afraid of what their partner might do to them. In the film, Soft is the Heart of a Child, Tom pushes Barb in the midst of his anger and rage but she does not seem too phased by his actions. This action indicated that Barb is used to being abused by her husband however, she continues to stay with him. Barb continues her relationship with Tom because she does not want to feel like her family is broken. She thinks that if they are able to present themselves as the perfect family to the outside world then all of the trauma that is occurring within the family won’t seem as severe.

Cry, the Beloved Country is a moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom. They live in an Africa torn apart by racial tensions and hate. It is based on a work of love and hope, courage, and endurance, and deals with the dignity of man. The author lived and died (1992) in South Africa and was one of the greatest writers of that country. His other works include Too Late the Phalarope, Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful, and Tales from a Troubled Land.

Mise-en-scène is a French term meaning “put into the scene” or “onstage”. It refers to elements of a movie scene that are put in position before a film begins and are employed in certain ways once the filming does begin. For this investigation, I am going to show contrasts and similarities in reference to mise-en-scène and location, and what they add to a film using the Director; Danny Boyle, and his films, The Beach, 28 Days Later and 127 Hours.

I particularly like the scene where Jenny blasts the song and begins rapping alongside the artist. That scene spoke volumes about the type of person Jenny was. That seemed to be her way of breaking the ice and passing time, while Gary kept the same look of irritation on his

The attempt to do an intervention with Katie is fraught with ups and downs. Sharon, in the pre-intervention meeting is raked across the coals by the interventionist for projecting her own issues onto Katie. Katie’s susceptibility and learned behavior can be traced back to her mother, and too, the abandonment of her children-a poignant fact that Sharon and Katie are both aware of. Perhaps Katie is able to see through her mother’s attempt to make herself feel better, rather than deal with Katie’s situation, perhaps Katie just is beyond other’s opinions of her choices carrying any importance to her.

The Banksy, triumphed multi-award, and 2010 Sundance Film Festival winning documentary, “Exit through the Gift Shop” gives an interesting insight of the underground and unknown world of street art and viewing societies understanding of modern art. The documentary trails the life of a curious French immigrant Terry Guetta, who has a passion for filming everything in sight from his family to local street artists. Following these street artists such as Shepherd Fairey and eventually Banksy himself around for most his time, he developed an interest in the art scene. As a full time accomplice, Terry Guetta later develops into this premature artist by using and being inspired by the famous art of others. The documentary early on sparks the questions of what is art and who poses the authority to define good art?

Throughout the film Barrymore used many different camera angles but most common was the technique of panning from the ground following through to the main character’s face. I feel this angle, or shot, was used the most throughout the film and depicts the coming of age of Bliss. The concept of growing up and finding one’s self is portrayed by the camera angle growing from the ground up just as a young adult must do. The scene with Bliss’s boots shows how hard it is for her to be different and not her mother’s dreams. Something as simple as buying boots turns into a life changing moment for Bliss. Although the act of buying the boots was a trivial purchase, this scene opens the world to Bliss as roller derby allows her personal growth by the

The three films we watched each had a different representation of “reality.” Each of the films also used a different form of media to depict that “reality.” Truth in Numbers showed reality through the internet which was the easiest to manipulate, because anyone can go in and change an entry to whatever they would like. In The Lives of Others “reality” was depicted by what Weisler typed up in each entry. The Conversation had the least manipulative media of the three, which was voice recordings making it nearly impossible to alter the truth of what was said.

The third most essential element is dedication. You have to be dedicated to doing something in order to succeed. “People on the path to greatness realize they won’t be feeling up to do the work each and every day. There will be days where you want to sleep in, avoid doing your work, or keep yourself distracted” (Awoskia). This is saying that you have to stick with whatever it is you want to succeed at and push the obstacles that are in your way along the path.

Collateral beauty is start with the talking of Howard. He said that how the purpose of life is about connection. He said that “We are here to connect .Life is about people.”

Connections between people today never had a limit in society. No one is really is bothered by who forms relationships with whoever and who goes where on a social scale. But not too long ago, the relationship between two people in South Africa was judged based on what races the two individuals were apart of. The inspiring film directed by John G. Alvidsen, The Power of One, demonstrates that the ‘power of one’ itself refers to the metaphorical relationship between two fighters in a boxing ring and how it represents that racial differences should not matter. Locations that brought people together, who fought in the ring together and how one person was the key to this power is what ignited the movement of the races being united as one.

At first I had low expectations for this movie but i was very surprised with how much I liked The Fundamentals of Caring. Paul Rudd and Craig Roberts with funny and charming performances and the chemistry really made the film worthwhile. I thought Selena Gomez's performance was solid as well. I found the movie to be very well made and I was quite happy with getting to watch it on Netflix.

The Minority Report is a film that tries to stop crimes before they happen, with the enlistment of 3 teen pre-cogs. These pre-cogs predict future murders and the authorities swoop in and arrest the would-be murders, before they have the chance of committing the crime. Even thing goes great until Anderton, a cop played by Tom Cruise, is suspected. Written by Philip K. Dick and then turned to film by Steven Spielberg in 2002, the short story to film became a success. Though there are many differences between the book and the movie, one would think Steven Spielberg would not be able to grab audience’s attention, but with his skills, Spielberg went above and beyond all measures. Many times, novels to films end up being either a great hit