Art of Film

Last minute Blog Number 12:

ART OF FILM ROCKS!!!!!

Casablanca

I would like to first talk about what I saw in the first 40 minutes of Casablanca - up to the point in which we are first introduced to Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo. Some of my classmates in my Art of Film class have said that these first 40 minutes were boring. This reminds me of a technique characteristic of Shakespeare. Shakespeare used to make the first scene unimportant so that people can walk in late. However, I don't think that this is the case with Casablanca at all. I rather enjoyed the first 40 minutes. Why? Because it created an extremely interesting setting and a strong charachter.

The setting created in Casablanca is that of a town that is the equivalence of purgatory. People who seek to flee to glorious America find them selves in a bustling black-market-dealing town. In this town many people have found their niche and are content to remain in Casablanca. To me this is an extremely interesting setting.

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a man who has found his niche as the owner of a popular restaurant. His character becomes a man who has an enormous amount of power in his setting, but whose power has nothing to do with government or the law. His character is expanded when he turns away a rich french customer. From this instance we discover that he is a man who uses his power virtuously and not just for wealth. When Sammy chooses to remain in Rick's hotel despite an offer of double the pay, we discover that Rick is a man who people want to be around. Rick's display of virtue is strengthened by his similarity to Sammy. To me this is an extremely interesting character. Watching both his character and his setting develop was enjoyable, not boring. This unique mixture of an interesting character and setting made me excited to see the rest of the film. It removed any natural skepticism I have against old films.

In addition, it is not as if nothing happens during these 40 minutes. Stolen passports from two dead Frenchmen are left in Rick's possession - their owner having been imprisoned. The police fill his restaurant and their is an expected arrival of a man against the law who could really use those passports.

Having said this, I do believe that the plot was furthered extensively by the montage about Rick and Ilsa's love for each other. However, like I said, the first 40 minutes are for creating the setting and the opportunity for an interesting plot. The montage is where the plot actually emerges.

Just an anecdote: This montage changed my knowledge of what a montage is

I realize now that it can be series of flashbacks that interrupt the film as well

as the traditional strip of scenes with cheesy music playing in the background.

The plot that has emerged is very interesting and leaves alot of room for guesswork. Why did Ilsa leave Rick? Who is Victor Lazlo? Why is the Titles name synonymous with the White House? Your guess is as good as mine.

Superbad

The hilariousness of this movie has been talked about for a year. Finally I got around to seeing it. It was wonderful. Some parts of the movie were immature. These parts of the movie were my guilty pleasures. There was a lot of filthy humor but there was also intelligent humor.

Held against movies like Van Wilder 2: The rise of Taj, Superbad is a king of its genre. It depicted what to me would be an ideal high school senior year evening, and it depicted three different types from three different perspectives.

The movie is constantly bombarding the audience with jokes and funny situations. Conflicts and obstacles are numerous. On the one hand there is the overall obstacle of fitting in to the social scene. This creates conflicts with classmates and leads the the obstacle of buying alcohol without being 21. This then leads to conflicts with police and people at other parties. Then on top of it all there are the conflicts between Evan and Seth (the two main characters). Evan got into Dartmouth and Seth didn't. Seth feels like Evan is abandoning him. He also takes his anger out on Mclovin who did get into Dartmouth.

Jonah Hill is hilarious and Michael Cera's humor is indescribable. They make you remember some of your more awkward high school years (which is not too difficult for me considering that my more awkward high school years were last week).

Superbad loses some points because it is always easy to get laughs from humor about sex and drugs. These laughs are cheap laughs. As leader of improv troupe I explain improv's universal goal of integrity. Staying away from humor about sex and drugs leads to smarter humor and smarter improv that can be more enjoyable to both audience and improviser.

Final Rating: 4.5

Van Wilder: Rhe Rise of Taj

Possibly the worst movie I've seen in a while. I don't think this movie made it to theatres, and I can see why.

The plot is about an out casted teachers assistant who brings his league of out casted students to the top of a prestigious college. The problem is, the movie just didn't make sense. The out casts each find their own special skill in competing in the "Hastings Cup" competition. Although the movie takes place during modern times, for some reason the head students are an aristocracy. The plot was contrived and obvious, the jokes were cliche and classless, and the characters were mockeries of themselves.

This movie follows a genre that I often have mixed reviews about. I would describe it as slapstick/dirty comedy. While some of these movies can be well thought out and contain some intelligent humor (ie: Superbad, which I will be blogging about next), often these movies come out dry and insensitive. For instance this movie relied on the similar ethnicity's/characteristics of two of the main characters.

Sadie (played by Holly Davidson) is an immodest cockney English girl. While Seamus (played by Glenn Barry) plays an angry Irishman. The movie often resorted to these characters for jokes.

The movie predictably becomes a rivalry between Taj Badalandabad (played by Kal Penn) and Pip Everett (Daniel Percival). Naturally the underdog wins the Hastings cup, steals Pip's girlfriend and lives happilly ever after.

The movie was just awful in general and is not worth further explanation.

Final rating: 1.5

Do the Right Thing (Ending)

Although I've already created an overall post for Do the Right Thing, the topic of the ending is enough to create another.

Spike Lee questions people's prejudice by questioning which topic abnormal atrocity lingered more on our minds. He believed that the large amount of discussion about Mookie's decision shows racism because people cared more about a broken window then the death of a man.

I do believe that the reviews Spike Lee read were quite racist. The suggestion that the movie would spark riots amongst black communities was outrageous. However, I disagree with the idea that if Mookies wrong is more prominent in one's mind than the wrong of the policeman, that person is racist.

Mookie is a main character. We see most of the movie through his eyes. We have a deep understanding of his relationship with Sal. We only see the policemen once before the riot, and we have no insight into their relationship with Radio Raheem. While the policemen's actions were disgusting and Radio's death left me speechless, the emotion caused by Radio's death was quickly replaced by confusion. Mookie completely goes against any relationship that had been established in prior scenes. A conundrum like this tends to linger a bit more. Furthermore, the destruction of Sal's pizzeria lasted much longer than Radio's death scene and came after Radio's death scene. It is not surprising to me that people tended to remember that part better than the part of Radio's death. In addition, the destruction of a window is much more pleasant than the death of a human, so it is natural that a viewer will try to shut the death out of their mind.

Do the Right Thing

In away Do the Right Thing was a lot like Elephant. This is because the characters were developed extensively and for a long time before the plot escalated. I enjoyed this film more than Elephant because it had a goal. To me the goal was to show racism that existed in a poor town and how in poorer towns racism can get out of hand. Truthfully its goal is more profound than that, but attempting to lay my finger on its exact lesson would not do it justice. I can only guess that Spike Lee wanted to show how everyone is a little bit racist and even if you think you aren't pressure situations can push people over the edge.

For me, Do the Right Thing was a window into a life that I have never and can never know. One film aspect I noticed was how canted angle was used. It was used for almost every time we saw Radio Raheem especially when his music came into contact with Sal. Canted angles were used for pretty much every situation of conflict. It was used when Da Mayor was talking to Mother Sister, but once they had reconciled with each other, it stopped being used.

Another thing I noticed was that whenver someone was being racist or directly insulting another person, they did so directly into the camera. It seems to me that this was Spike Lee's attempt at forcing you into the shoes of a victim of race. The comments were directed at the viewer. I think this attempt failed.

Final Rating: 4.0 (maybe even a little lower)

Stranger than Fiction

We all know what type of films Will Ferrel normally does. Films like Anchorman, Step Brothers, Blades of Glory, and ect. His most well known and common character is ridiculous and unrealistic. Clearly it should stay in comedies.

However, easy as it may be to act in those type of comedies, that does not make Will Ferrell a bad actor. I recently stumbled across Stranger than Fiction. After a few minutes of watching I completely forgot that the actor was Will Ferrell.

His wonderful performance in this movie shows a diversity that I was previously unaware of. Stranger than Fiction is a hybrid comedy/drama. Much like pursuit of happiness - another movie a enjoyed - it takes you through a roller coaster ride of emotion. Specifically from sadness and pending tragedy to that happily ever after ending that we have become so used to in our childhood.

This movie utilized a powerful situation that surprisingly enough is akin to one used in the 7th book of the Harry Potter series. First it establishes a connection with the character and enables the viewer to feel what the character (Harold Crick in this case) feels. Then it presents the character with knowledge of his upcoming death, and has the character figure out how to accept his fate. The emotions associated with this situation are extremely powerful, and Stranger than Fiction allows the viewer to feel this same emotion.

Stranger than Fiction has deep story lines that revolve around an abstract situation. It allows you to feel the beauty of a tragedy, yet still leaves you feeling warm inside. Overall i give it a 4.5.

Hot Fuzz

Today I saw Hot Fuzz, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. To me, Hot Fuzz is half action, half comedy, half dark comedy/thriller. I stumbled upon it while flipping through the channels. I had no previous knowledge about it. In fact the main reason i became engrossed by it was because Simon Pegg looked exactly like a friend of mine.

Hot Fuzz was extremely entertaining. It started off as a normal cop movie in which the new cop is on to a murder, but the veterans are ignorantly skeptical. It then, however, takes a big twist into one mans quest to end a psychotic plot to rid a town of all imperfections. Hot fuzz is a clever movie that i recommend. On a 5 point scale: 4.2.

Perfume

I recently saw this movie and enjoyed it immensely. In part of Spirited Away the cartoonist manage to show smell. We discussed how difficult it is to show smell in a movie. Now imagine a movie in which the entire plot line is based off of smell, and imagine this done magnificently. You now have a toe in the water of understanding how wonderful Perfume is.

Some of Perfume's supporting actors are particularly famous. Dustin Hoffman plays Giuseppe Baldini, a washed up perfumer whose discovery of Jean-Babtiste Grenoulle (Ben Whishaw) revitalizes his career. Alan Rickman plays Richis, the father of Laura (Rachel Hurd-Wood). More about these two characters might give away too much about the movie.

To complete this wonderful cast, Tom Tykwer choose someone unexpected. Instead of choosing actors like Brad Pitt or Leornardo Dicaprio, who both wanted to be the star of this film, Tykwer choose Ben Whishaw. Although Whishaw hasn't been in many other movies and hasn't made that big a name for himself, he played Jean-Babtiste Grenoulle perfectly. His acting made the movie great.

Perfume is set in 18th century France. It is centered around the life of Jean-Babtiste Grenoulle, the man with the best sense of smell that has ever existed. Grenoulle is quite eccentric and his smell becomes his life.

Perfume combines violence and nudity, two aspects of the movie that are necessary to the plot. It is rated R for "Aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images." I was fine with the extremely long length of the movie because I enjoyed it so much that I didn't want it to end. On a 5 point scale I rate this movie close to the top. I place it somewhere between a 4.8 and a 4.9. The only reasons it lost any points was because there were minute ridiculosities and at times it seemed a little contrived. However, I am quite a structured thinker so its slightly contrived nature didn't bother me.

I am not sure what genre to place Perfume in. You might call it a drama; you might call it a thriller. You might call it dark comedy; you might even call it a tragedy. I prefer to just call it amazing.