The depictions of urban environment in Fallen Angels (1996) by Wong Kar Wai and Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965) are far from being realistic. Despite the temporal gap between the making of the two films, the cities featured in Alphaville and Fallen Angels can be compared by the atmosphere of bewilderment, fear and loneliness. Alphaville, which is imagined by Godard within the 1960s Paris, as well as Wong's Hong Kong, are the cities that embody their inhabitants' worst nightmares and often serve as a hostile space which is unable to provide neither the sense of security nor the possibility of escape. The directors build up the nightmarish quality of their cities through the use of various filming techniques, such as artificial lighting, …show more content…
As one of the big advantages of the film is colour, Wong Kar Wai employs colour in almost every possible which adds to the image of the city as a surreal dark fantasy. The title of the film reminds of the biblical story of Adam and Eve, thus making Wong's city an interpretation of hell on the Earth, as Teo describes it: “...a more apocalyptic New Testament vision of angels who left their first estate and descended into the hell of the city, reserved in everlasting chains under darkness awaiting judgement day.”4 The hell-like quality is once again reflected in the film's lighting: the red filters in various moments of the narrative resemble the torturous flames of hell that the characters are forced to endure. For example, the scene where Michelle comes to the bar and plays the track '1818' that is chosen by Lai to tell her about the end of their partnership, is lit with red, reflecting her pain and sexual frustration that can never be satisfied. Furthermore, the nightmare cities in the two films are characterised with unstable space, that continually transforms and changes. This is especially distinct in Wong's portrayal of Hong Kong in Fallen Angels, as one of the film's reviewers mentioned: “Space also fractures, folds, and reforms (picture three-dimensional Mobius strips) when chronology's spatial correlate, contiguity, is likewise cast aside...”5 This is employed through the …show more content…
In other words, post-modern cities such as Alphaville and Wong Kar Wai's Hong Kong emphasise the gap between humanity and machinery, suggesting how at times the high speed of life and technical development is not beneficial for a human anymore. Stephen Teo points out to the reality of Hong Kong's postmodernism by highlighting “Hong Kong's special position as a postmodern city perched between East and West”6 which sets the city as a complex space that compromises between the two modern concepts. It is further clear from Wong's comments on his chose of Wanchai area since it is “a bizarre mixture of modern buildings and some very old ones.”7 Furthermore, post-modern cities are characterised by the oppressive images of modernity, such as Alpha60 in Alphaville – the artificial intelligence that possesses almost complete control over the citizens through surveillance, constructing a sort of totalitarian nightmare. In both Wong's and Godard's representation, the life in the society dominated by speed and machinery is bound to make humanity unhappy. Firstly, the idea of speed is key to post-modern reality of the films, as evident from Ackbar Abas' argument on the director's take on it: “In Wong's cinema, speed (like politics) is also represented obliquely, in terms of the characters barely conscious social adjustments or maladjustments to the new speed-dominated cultural space, a space that seems
“Fallen Angels”, written by Walter Dean Myers, is a novel that tells about the story of young boys going into battle during the Vietnam War. There are many themes in “Fallen Angels” but the main theme is the loss of innocence. The title makes reference to these themes. And the boys in the book have dreams of losing their virginity and drinking alcohol for the first time. They are thrown into a harsh reality when they are shown the trials of war. In the end, they understand that the movies that depict heroicness and honor are just images of a false idea; that war is full of chaos and horror.
After experiencing a traumatic car crash, Michelle, the protagonist of director Dan Trachtenberg’s film 10 Cloverfield Lane, wakes up in an underground bunker owned by a man named Howard. Howard claims to have saved her from a widespread chemical attack that has contaminated the air, with his bunker being the only place to take refuge for the next couple of years. Yet as the film progresses, Howard’s controlling and threatening demeanor eventually brings Michelle to escape, allowing her to come across the actuality of the situation outside the isolated bunker. Throughout the production, Trachtenberg arranges close frames, manipulates the camera’s focus, and chooses specific lighting to create an ominous tone that mystifies and disturbs viewers.
Lee Daniel’s Precious is a movie centered around Precious Jones, a 16-year-old overweight black girl living in Harlem, New York. The movie begins when she is in public school pregnant with her second child by her father. Because Precious is pregnant, the principle recommends an alternative school for her. At home, Precious is a servant to her mother, Mary, who is physically, emotionally, verbally, and sexually abusing her. Mary constantly tells Precious that she is not good enough and that no one will ever want her. At times of distress, Precious tends to dissociate and fantasize about another life where she is a blonde white girl. She wants to be famous and loved by all. Precious arrives at the alternative school hardly knowing how to read or write. She gets placed in a class of girls with a dedicated teacher, Ms. Rain. Ms. Rain asks each student to write in a journal every day, and she will write back to their letters. This is the first time in the movie when Precious feels very
In the film, symbolism was everywhere. In the beginning of the film, the pictures of the city were in black and white and dull shades, giving the city a gloomy look. The camera angles made the cars in the city appear tiny, and the buildings appear very large to symbolize how small everything was amongst the city. The interiors of the office buildings and the panic symbolized that there was no way out. The soundtrack of the film was symbolic to the tension of the film. The darkness of visual composition of the lighting in the film, symbolized the darkness of the human nature in the story.
We have much to learn from Mike Davis, CITY OF QUARTZ (Vintage, 1992) who discusses the paradoxical effects that the representations of Los Angeles in hardboiled novels and their translation into film noir cinema had on the image and myth of that city.
As the camera cuts away from the room where Xiao Yun’s mourners grieve in solemn silence, it returns to the skyscraper featured early in the film. The camera tilts gently upward, directing its gaze higher and higher as more of the skyscraper comes into view. The film, its exposure of proletarian suffering complete, arises from the slums and returns its gaze to the higher levels of society – to the bourgeois audience itself. Street Angel has explored the hardships of proletarian life with contagious sympathy, melodramatically criticizing the capitalism that defined 1930s Shanghai.
Saw is a American horror film directed by James Wan. The film is about a killer who calls himself the Jigsaw. He kills and/or “teaches” his victims to respect life. He watches his victims and then abducts them when learning their problems in life.
The Bad and The Beautiful (1952) and State and Main (2000) are films within films that unmask Hollywood Cinema as a dream factory and expose the grotesque, veneer hidden by the luxury of stars. The Bad and the Beautiful, directed by Vincent Minnelli, is a black and white film narrated in flashback form. The films theatrical nature requires more close-ups than wide-screen shots to capture the character’s psychological turmoil. For example, Fred and Jonathan’s car ride is captured in a close-up to signify their friendship; however their relationship deteriorates after Jonathan’s deceit. While the camera zooms out, Fred stands alone motionless. Here, Fred is captured from a distance at eye-level and he becomes ostracized by the film industry and
From the silent epic of Fritz Lang Metropolis (1927) to Ridley’s Scott’s spectacular Blade Runner (1982) the connection between architecture and film has always been intimate. The most apparent concepts that connect these two films are the overall visuals of both films and their vision of city of the future. The futuristic city of both Scott and Lang are distinct in their landscapes, geography, and social structure. These two films sought to envision a future where technology was the basis by which society functioned. Technology was the culture and the cities would crumble without it (Will Brooker). Metropolis and Blade Runner uses the themes relationships among female sexuality and male vision, and technology. However, Gender roles and technology seems to be the most important part in both films.
District 9 is a film that takes us into a realm of a different world from the one that we know now. It combines extraterrestrial life with immense science fiction to illustrate a story we could only imagine to ever actually occur. Although it was created for entertainment purposes, the motion picture can be compared to many different types of individuals and situations. District 9 displays many underlying concepts throughout the movie about racism, prejudice and discrimination. While studying and analyzing the plot and characters, these concepts became more translucent to me, the viewer. This paper will discuss the treatment of District 9 residents and equate their treatment to people with disabilities.
Sex, love, depression, guilt, trust, all are topics presented in this remarkably well written and performed drama. The Flick, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Annie Baker, serves to provide a social commentary which will leave the audience deep in thought well after the curtain closes. Emporia State Universities Production of this masterpiece was a masterpiece in itself, from the stunningly genuine portrayal of the characters of Avery and Rose, to the realism found within the set, every aspect of the production was superb.
Band of Brothers is a ten part, eleven hour mini series directed by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The series aired on HBO in 2001 and is based on the book by Stephen Ambrose by the same title.
All of us most probably wish and strive to work towards a certain dream, goal, or utter accomplishment. When so is done, we experience satisfaction and happiness. Ups and downs are bound to be encountered throughout our journey, however, once we reach our goals, immense awards shower the hard work which has lead us to our dreams. In Joe Johnson's "October Sky", just is shown with a dynamic and shifting emotional environment with suspense and exitement, as part of the film adaption of the award winning memoir "Rocket Boys" (also known as October Sky) by Homer Hickam, Jr. Based on a true story, this biographical motion picture follows Homer Hickam, Jr, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik in
Portrayals of Biblical figures is nothing new, but this seemingly new trend of cinematically filling in Biblical gaps of history - as it were - most certainly is. In particular, Noah, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and Risen have each taken it upon itself to add flair to well documented scripture - as a means to reenact some of the most famous moments in the Bible.
It is impossible to talk about a Wes Anderson movie without acknowledging its stunning color palettes and quirky storytelling style. In one of his most exemplary works, Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson uses a warm color scheme that blends bright and desaturated colors that ranges from golden yellow, vermillion red, creamy beige, light brown, to even a hint of teal. His color scheme, which is reflected throughout the film’s props, sets, costumes, title design, and camera filters, effectively evokes nostalgia, establishes the summer-like, dreamy mood of the film, and creates a distinct contrast between the different moral values of his characters. However, in the chaotic stormy escape scene and in the costume of Social Services, the visual design deviates greatly from the film’s primarily warm color palette and instead, immerse their visual elements in a deep, dark blue color to show the contrasts in the mood of the story as well as the attitudes of the characters. Overall, Anderson’s visual