Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) - Mexican

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, Y Tu Mama Tambien is tale of betrayal in the state of mind of a boyish attachment to short term ecstasy. Cuaron's oeuvre, which also contains Children Of Men (2006) and Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004), includes the tales of boyhood potency/impotency. Through sci-fi impotency in Children Of Men Clive Owen goes through great lengths to ensure the survival of a pregnant female. Y Tu Mama Tambien is contains themes of potency, yet it shows them in a wasteful and frivolous light. Sex is casual and unsatisfactory and masturbation is usually a decent substitute.

Y Tu Mama Tambien raised a few eyebrows with its frank depictions of sex, yet its nonchalant attitude towards intercourse familiarizes us with youthful sex and the lure of promiscuity. Appropriate for a coming of age tale centered on the lives of two 17 year old friends who need nothing else aside from each other and masturbation. The inseparable lives of Tenoch and Julio (or should I say Tenulio) have been interrupted by the whimsical curiosity of Luisa who is married to Tenoch's cousin. After Tenoch's relative cheats on Luisa, she decides to take up the offer of the boys invitation to Heaven's Mouth, a fictional bay made up by Tenoch and Julio. Their road trip is coated with conversations about sex and friendship.

The most interesting and unusual stylistic touch in the film is the use of documentary style commentary on the situations past, present, and future. The sound continuously cuts out to leave room for the "Voice of God" that nurtures and guides the audiences sympathies. It mentions deaths that have already occurred in the past, like that of the roadway accident and also the fate of a fisherman whom the three main characters meet later on. This voice could be connected to the Luis Bunuel's commentary in the documentary Las Hurdes (1933) except Cuaron uses it to allude to past and future plights of the poor of Mexico and the extremely rich society's corruption. The journey that the three take is representative of Mexican third world politics in light of stagnant progressive change. Tenoch, of a wealthy background, treats Julio with pity and disgust in secret, while Julio hangs out with Tenoch for his money and status. They both war over Luisa, a relatively small beneficiary who can offer nothing to the boys but sex and a look at first world politics. The ending especially exemplifies the third world state of a country that can only receive glimpses of first world politics.

Y Tu Mama Tambien is a warming tale of corruption amongst friendship and the details of sexual experience. It will bring you to the brink of friendship and loyalty. Conceptual rules of relationships are bent, broken, and re-shapen in contemporary Mexican society and on the voyage to Heaven's Mouth.

The Seventh Seal (1957) - Swedish

While watching the film for the first time, there is a significant affinity for the tumultuous beaches and stark cliffs and beaches of Sweden. It is exhilarating because the sea seems ready to do battle with the steep rocks of the coast. Of course, this can be said to represent the mindset of our lead protagonist Antonius Block, who is in the midst of out witting death in a game of chess. The internal struggle of the knight moves the story through a long journey of death's hold on life and what that means to a God, if there ever was one.

A dark and bleak tale that lends us release in the carefree entrancement of life enjoyed by a couple of entertainers. Jof, his wife Mia, and their baby Mikael are the binary narrative to the knight's tale, and it seems appropriately so, since Block demands proof of the existence of a being he has unquestioningly served for years in the crusades. Jof's tale procures fertility, unconditional love, and stability, while Block's tale lends deceit, death, and existential obsession. It is only after he is sure of his impending doom, that he blindly asks for God's forgiveness.

Ingmar Bergman's background in theater stabilizes the actors so that they can comfortably work through existential thought, while acting naturally. It helps that Bergman's work was equally divided between the studio and the theater. He'd worked as director of the Royal Dramatic Theater in the 1960s while pumping out works like Winter Light and The Silence. The acting appears morally sound, but is confused as ever whether or not they are working towards the existence among a higher order.

A good example would be the silence of the assumed witch that speaks only to Satan. She confesses her devotion to the Devil and seems to give Block an affirmation of the existence of God, yet she resumes her silence at the stake. Jons, Block's loyal squire, argues that her silence is a realization of the fact that there is no God. Bergman's silent woman motif can be exemplified by the otherness of women in Sweden, and the organizational attitudes of a patriarchal society. Silence is often times a resistance to the established male hierarchy, and to remain silent in defiance to God can be the best way to protest religious association with the patriarch.

Amores Perros (2000) - Mexican

Alejandro Iñárritu directs this drama set in the streets of Mexico which are teeming with violence. It is made up of three stories which are connected by a catastrophic, unbelievably violent car crash. What makes it more powerful is that the film begins with the shocking car crash, assaulting the spectator with an alarming event. Many have called it the Mexican Pulp Fiction, yet it is far from the dialogue heavy, idiosyncratic, new wave feel of Pulp Fiction.

Dogs are a heavy presence in the film and it's no surprise that when man's best friend is taken away, the flawed character relationships no longer have a crutch to stand on. Their relationships begin to reveal themselves in a healing light. Any sort of burdens that had been carried throughout the relationship reveal themselves and force the characters to reflect on each other.

Through the brutal streets of Mexico, three stories of love unfold, all connected through the instance of a car crash. The incident shifts each one of their lives by introducing elements that will change each of their relationships forever. It will reveal the truth of the love they each share. The magnitude of the car crash sets the three protagonists on a collision course with who they truly are, but not in a humanist way like that of Crash (2004), it is more an animalistic, instinctive way, drawing a relationship to the dogs in the film. A film that welcomed the millennium with a bang and took an approach to love that mirrored  that of man's best friend.

Shoeshine (1946) - Italian

Italian director Vittorio De Sica explores the disintegration of a friendship between two young boys in a Italian jail for youth. Giuseppe and Pasquale are imprisoned after being falsely accused of stealing from a fortune teller while selling her American blankets. Their case isn't helped any by their purchase of an expensive horse, which they had been saving up to buy for quite some time. Giuseppe bunks with several older boys while Pasquale is cooped up with a younger crowd. It is interesting to see the peer influence on each of their environments, especially after Pasquale is fooled into revealing the truth about who was behind the robbery.

As a part of the loose push for the Italian Neorealist movement, Shoeshine uses shooting on location and the streets of a war torn Italy to express woes of the mundane through a documentary like setting. The only light that creeps in through the prison is through bars there are many instances of exterior light forming patterns around the children's cells. The fresh air and freedom of the exterior can be likened to the other presences of light. For instance, an escape is played out during the projection of news reels and a comedy set on the streets of Italy. All of these bright projected lights are constant reminders of the white horse that was purchased by the boys at the beginning of the film. It is a shadow of their boyhood attempts to have excitement and no obligations. The horse is the last physical remnant of their friendship that exists outside the prison walls.

De Sica can be praised for his display of the troubles and lives of the Italian worker. The shoeshine boys worked for low wages and mostly for the visiting American forces who still lingered in the streets of Italy. Italian Neorealism is praised for its revelation of the drama in the motions and movements of the everyday. The usual becomes ripe with emotion and contrite images of post-war Italian society. Other films of De Sica in this same vein are The Bicycle Thief (1948), Miracle In Milan (1951), and Umberto D. (1952).

Persona (1966) - Swedish

Swedish director Ingmar Bergman weaves the vastly contrasted lives of a nurse and actress together in a blaze of envy and jealousy. Elisabeth, an actress who becomes mute one day on set, is taken into the care of Nurse Alma. The head nurse advises that the both of them take a trip to her summer home in order to keep recuperate. Elisabeth's muteness serves as a template for Alma's confessions of past sins, and eventually, Alma seeks to destroy all of herself and wishes to become Elisabeth.

The editing of the film suggests a zealous adolescence by beginning with a bright light, followed by a film strip, followed by dormant figure in beds. The only one to awake is a young boy who attempts to read only to be arrested by the projected image of woman. The tactile sense in the film is also quite evident considering the boy touches the projected image of woman very attentively. This beginning has nothing to do with the overall story arc and it only wraps up the film in the end. The fast paced editing is one to jolt anyone out of their seats.

After the non-linear beginning, Elisabeth and Alma begin to discover much about each other, but Elisabeth refuses to speak, so we are mostly learning of Alma with nothing to tell us about Elisabeth aside from what Alma assumes about her. The two become very close, touching and feeling each other's hair and body's. They stare deeply into one another yet Alma really loses it later in the film, even by attempting to destroy Elisabeth with a piece of broken glass. Alma's attempts to get her to talk reach insane ends and it deconstructs each woman's persona that they've lived in their individual lifestyles. The persona's each woman takes on is a permeable veil only in that one woman may act and live like another. In a beautifully constructed scene, Elisabeth enters Alma's room in ghostlike fashion. To Alma's relief, she stands in the billowy curtains just outside staring at Alma's awakened body. They then begin to wrap feel each other's hair and wrap each other in them. Strange? Yes! Ambiguously gay? Indeed! But the scene speaks for itself in its attempts to describe the envy of one another's soul to become and engulf another. Give this film a watch. It is Bergman's masterpiece.

Goodbye Lenin! (2003) - German

I would just like to mention that there is some spoiler-ish information in the text below. Just so I don't ruin any future viewing of the film. Although, I'm sure everyone is aware that the Berlin wall does indeed fall. And with that Goodbye Lenin!

The story of political change in a divided country told through the eyes of a young man and his recently comatose mother. Alexander (Daniel Bruhl) must hide the recent political shifts in his East Berlin town from his politically active mother(Katrin Sass), since her heart is too weak and can't take any excitement.

The lengths that Alex goes to prevent his mother from knowing the truth illustrates a struggle of covering up reality for the sake of continuing a life once lived. It seems this sin runs in the family since Alex's mother also has a secret of her own that has been covered up. The theme of keeping ignorance under control taps into the psyche of the consumerist, capitalistic, and communist decree that now runs rampant through Germany after the fall of the wall. With the spread of satellite dishes, knowledge of both cultures begins to seep through East Germany rather quickly. A good instance of this is the process Alex uses to sustain his lie by making videos about West German refugees entering communist East Germany in order to pursue different, anti-capitalist lives.

I love so much about this film, but what really grabbed me in the beginning was the score written by Yann Tiersen, a French musician, who also wrote music for Amelie. For what I thought would be a comedy, which it surely is, I was met with a sorrowful mood. It was delicate but the imagery of communist Germany was very passionate and powerful, drenched in red. This combination showed me a portrait of a mother who's life and vigor were cast in red like that of the Soviet flag, and the music showed me just how dire her health was, and how fragile her body had become. This is the perfect setup for what the film would explain in the coming chapters. 

ODST Commercial

The Halo ODST commercial directed by Rupert Sanders, was my first experience with video games being transposed to the video medium. It is also the first in a series of live action commercials for each sequential Halo game. The commercial follows the path of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who's brother was killed in battle. The candle lights at the funeral look like flaming pistols and the amphitheater that the funeral takes place in is large, gray and empty, like the faces of the fellow infantryman in attendance. The boy joins the ODST ranks and goes through a nightmarishly dark and gritty boot camp. He is then jettisoned  into a scenario straight out of Saving Private Ryan.

And with that, the transition to the scene is phenomenal. Jumping from a training wall, the scene has changed to that of interior of the pod in which ODST's are implanted behind enemy lines. In another effective transition, the young boy is slashed by a brute in the face, and his scars are healed through a cut to the boy as a grown man, again attending the funeral of a fallen comrade, only this time, they are in the field of battle during the burial. In these transitions, the boys journey to manhood is rapid and immediate. The scars of battle are given quick convalescence and the entry into battle is preluded by a mental scarring of training.

To see more from Rupert Sanders and the group of directors responsible for story prevalent commercials, look to http://www.mjz.com. Among the groups other notables are Spike Jonze and Micheal Mann.

The Matrix Trilogy: Institutional Racism and Representation

The Matrix is such a hodgepodge of different influences that it seems endless the many different readings and associations one may have while viewing it. The most overt symbolism in the trilogy of films is the allegory of institutional racism. Through a series of representations inside and outside of the Matrix, there is clear allusions to the concept of institutional racism. To name a few, the most clear and obvious sign would be the Agents. They are all of the Caucasian race and they all represent the bureaucracy by wearing suits and ties. Men in black have always been associated with the government's agenda to keep a lid on conspiracies. They are the men in power, or machines, who will stop at nothing to maintain the control over a species they find inferior. Agent Smith even associates them with a parasite. Another instance of white male dominance is established in the Matrix with the pseudo-religious association with The One and the perpetuation of typical Caucasian/Western ideals of gods. Neo is the one, yet he is also white. He is the typical symbol of Christ, who's image has been used to give hope to minorities everywhere. Neo's sacrifice in The Matrix Revolutions is clear indication of Neo's Christ-like qualities. He is the white symbol of control of hope and optimism that is also essentially controlled by the system. In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo confronts another Caucasian white male who is The Architect, or in other words, God. These two depictions of God and Jesus have been circulated around the globe by the conquistadors of Spain and early Puritans of the Americas. They have become a degree of spiritual control that the machines have used to govern the outliers that live in Zion. The Matrix bleeds into the real world through associations with the pseudo-religion of the one. Zion exists because it is allowed by the machines to exist for the purpose of exiling the people attempting to destroy the chains of their bondage to an illusion of the truth.

Zion is first and foremost a ghetto. Its inhabitants are mostly minorities, the captains of their ships and armies are mostly African American, and the machines they use are primitive (compared with the society of machines). The information gap between the poor people of Zion and the machines of the surface world are vastly different and the machines are eons ahead in tech. Down to the clothes they wear, which are usually tattered and gray, and the food they eat, Tasty Wheat, which only provides what the body needs. Nothing more nothing less.

Representation in the Matrix trilogy may only promote the ideologies of the dominant race running things, but it narrates the story in a way to make us believe that something may be wrong with the system of doing things, and to not only constantly question it, but to move to erase it. Neo ends up becoming a ambassador to the machines in the final Matrix film. He attempts to reconnect with the machines by offering them a solution to their Agent Smith problem and offering them a truce. Coexistence is promoted and established in the Matrix and it is only through a clear representation of institutionalized racism and only trough the avowal of its existence can it be destroyed.

Jeff, Who Lives At Home

A product of the "mumblecore" duo Mark and Jay Duplass, their most notable to date has won me over. Their technical altercations provided by a randomly zooming close-up typical of "The Office" moves the form of the film toward the main characters philosophy-constantly search for meaning because everything happens for a reason. Their technique has been used before, but it only adds to the philosophy and aesthetic of the argument of the film.

Jason Segel (Jeff) and Ed Helms (Pat) expose a natural brotherly rivalry and emotional distance from one another that it ends up saving one another from a distinct lack of control in each others' lives. Susan Sarandon also adds to the life improvement going on in her and her children's lives by taking a chance at her job. Her acting is playfully, timid and it just goes to show she can carry the weight of a 30 yr-old in her home for so long. I highly recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of the slacker comedy because not only will it convince you that lethargy can lead to destiny, but it will fill you with warm fuzzies along the way.

Oscars Picks

Oscar season is here. There were many great contenders and they all deserve to win, but there can be only one.

Note: These are my personal opinions and not the actual results of the 2012 Oscars.

Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male): George Clooney - The Descendants

Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female): Viola Davis - The Help

Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male): Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female): Octavia Spencer - The Help

Achievement in Directing: Michel Hazanavicus - The Artist

Original Song: Man or Muppet - The Muppets

Achievement in Costume Design: Hugo

Achievement in Makeup: Albert Nobbs

Achievement in Visual Effects: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Beast Animated Feature: Rango

Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation

Achievement in Cinematography: The Tree of Life

Original Screenplay: Midnight in Paris

Adapted Screenplay: Moneyball

Best Motion Picture of the Year: The Artist

The Artist (2011) - French

The Artist is a film that reminds audiences of the beauty of silent films, and the pure innocence and joy of watching pantomime. Jean Dujardin portrays a silent film star who transcends the auditory realm through his acting. He is dropped as soon as sound comes into the picture because withe fresh new technology comes fresh new acting talent. Dujardin's portrayal of George Valentin, an artist struggling to reclaim the medium he once used to project his soul, is a heart warming and earth shattering accomplishment. Peppy Miller, played by Berenice Bejo, is the perfect representation of the sound era. She's beautiful, bright, and sympathetic to what the old silent films contributed to the art of film, yet she temporarily forgets about George when her stardom takes off.

This film can be appreciated by all audiences alike, yet, due to it's silent film appeal, cinephiles, film historians, and the older generation of movie goers will appreciate it all the more. The film is essentially a silent film, yet it uses sound in a jarring and conciliatory way. The film eventually uses sound, so to call it a silent film would be incorrect. It's more of an homage to the silent film era and it reconciles the medium's tendency to adopt new technological innovations at the cost of artistry.

The aesthetic beauty in this film was perfect. Even the aspect ratio of the film was that of a silent film. No widescreen here. There is much to the self reflexivity in the film itself and in the self destruction that Valentin puts himself and his work through. George watches himself behind the screen at the premiere of his latest film, he creates his own film, writes, directs, and acts in it, and he also meticulously browses his collection of his films. His life and work are what destroy him. He has given so much to the screen visually. Muteness in expression is the only way he can work. Even his faithful companion dog is an accomplice in the silent film star's gimmicky endeavors. When this muteness is analyzed, it becomes a self destructive love affair between George and his films, all the while sound and Peppy gain all the glory. The two clearly belong together, just as their representations of sound and movement also belong together, in perfect cinematic matrimony.

Sundance Film Festival

It's that time of year once again. I again will only be experiencing the festival from an isolated and chilled apartment in Michigan, but I no doubt will try to watch some of the films online. Here are a few films I am excited to hear about. If I could be there myself, these would be my top movies to see.

The Perception of Moving Targets
I love when films embrace the medium's true nature, to show the movement of figures through time. This film, in an experimental fashion, is divided into four chapters, each with it's own distinct characters. The aural and visual nature of film is interrogated and pushed to reveal answers to how people instinctively make meaning with a medium that is strictly movement and sound. Filmic nature's frontier is explored in this film and I love any director who attempts to explore the mysterious yet known expanses of film.

2 Days in New York
I love comedies and this one sounds like a perfect formula for laughs. Chris Rock plays Mingus, the husband of Marion in New York with their 2 mulatto children and their cat. Marion's Santa-like father, her sister and her sister's crazed boyfriend drop in randomly and test Mingus and Marion's relationship. Chris Rock's hipster New York swag fills me with joy. He is the perfect candidate for such a role and his humor bound with the vintage outlook of this hipster middle class New Yorker mindset will be one to thouroughly enjoy.

California Solo
The story begins with a washed up musician from an old 90s rock band confronted with deportation due to his Scottish status and previous drug offenses. He is arrested for a DUI and the only way for him to remain in his home is for him to prove to the bureaucrats that he will cause great emotional turmoil to some relative or loved one. Old wounds will be licked far too late and festering injuries will soon crop up in the relationships soon to be rekindled in this dramatic account of a down and out musician.

About the Pink Sky
I love cynically joyous and humorous personalities, and this particular Japanese drama delivers. Izumi is an independent high school girl who rates the newspapers with usually bad reviews. She happens upon a wallet containing 300, 000 yen (4,000 U.S. dollars) and gives the money to her financially troubled fishing buddy. Her friends force her to return the wallet to the owner Sato, a wealthy classmate. Instead of returning the money, Izumi is asked to help one of Sato's friends in the hospital by creating a newspaper with only good reviews. The sarcasm that I'm sure will be found throughout the piece is something I look forward to. Especially when situated in the beautiful country of Japan.

Dr Breakfast
I am not one to watch too many animated independent films. They remind me too much of video games, which without the tactile experience,feels like some poorly done Pixar film, but with such an interesting and surrealist plot, I will make an exception. Also, it is animated drawings, a nice little break form CGI. I like the flat nature of moving pictures and not the bulbous eye sore of some CGI short films. The plot: A man's soul bursts from his eye, leaving a soul-less deflated eyeball of a human to eat breakfast with his talking deer companions. The soul then goes on a gluttonous rampage, eating anything and everything.

For more info. check out Sundance's website. Also, watch some films online.
https://www.sundance.org/festival/

Idealism and Subject Identification

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) directed by Woody Allen is a quirky and heartwarming meditation on being a cinephile. Mia Farrow plays Cecelia, a struggling waitress who comes home to an apathetic and neanderthal for a husband, as if the Great Depression wasn't enough of a burden for her. Her only escape from her troublesome life is the cinema. The cinema then returns that love by releasing a fictional character, Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), from the screen. This film is a great example of Hollywood's idealistic display of life. It shows the relationships we hold for the characters of a non-existent world that gives a sense of fulfillment even though the cinema is built on illusion.

Cecelia eventually becomes the focus of Tom's love and the two fall immediately for each other. Yet Gil Shepard (Jeff Daniels) comes to town to banish his shadow of a personality back to the screen from whence it came. The love Cecelia shows for Tom becomes the love she shows for Gil, skewering any sense the girl had for real love and illusions. The magic of Hollywood has become so ingrained in her mind that she is unable to tell real love apart from an illusion of love.

Cecelia feels fulfilled when she goes to the movies as does everyone else, yet when Tom's character exits the screen, Cecelia is satisfied while others demand their money back, because the illusion has been destroyed, or at least proven to be real. The audience is aware of the illusion that is the cinema, yet when it becomes truly real, they demand their money back. The fulfillment involved in the cinema is an acknowledgement of the absence of the real in the cinema. When the absence is effaced, the sense of fulfillment becomes denied and the illusion destroyed.

Fight Club

One of my favorite films if not my favorite. Fight Club is wild David Fincher ride, busting at the seems with testosterone and castration.In its purest form, it shows the fetishistic tendencies of men in their prime, dissatisfied with the commercialism that has essentially become their masculinity. They are the shadows of primordial alpha males. In order to regain what has been lost because of the media and commercialism, Tyler Durden and the gang make a Fight Club as a deconstructive way to start from the foundation of man and build back up to their ancestral perfection. 

The path to deconstruction leads to a masochistic restructuring of one's projection of sexual desire on to material wealth. Instead, pain becomes a way to forget about the sexual dullness in the unfulfilled desires brought on by commercialism. Three major instances occur:

1) Tyler asks Jack to hit him as hard as he can.

2) The chemical burn scene.

3) The final scene (I won't go into detail here for fear of spoilers).

These instances are in a way fetishistic, in that the sexual desire to become full, or fulfilled, to find meaning for desire, etc. are very stimulating scenes in the movie visually (flashing montage), musically (Dust Brothers kicks in after silence), or through Fincher's masterful use of CGI.

When I say unfulfilled desire, I'm talking about the lack of actual sexual intercourse that isn't found in the sexual arousal caused by fetishes. The ideology of commercialism here is flipped on its head. Tyler in a way embodies it, and embraces it instead of striving for it. He wears fine clothes, sunglasses, and has the body of a model. Yet his ideology is the opposite of commercialism. He says never be satisfied, never be complete and let the chips fall where they may. Tyler doesn't attempt to fulfill that desire because he knows what a fruitless endeavor it is. Instead, Tyler takes the scraps from the materialistic society (like fat from liposuction clinics) and makes soap out of it to sell it back to the perfect, models of perfection in department stores. He is working through the underground to play with the idea of unfulfilled desire perepetuated by the commercial system.

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays to all. This Winter Solstice there are plenty of family animated flicks out there, but my money is going to The Adventures of Tintin. I'd rather see this over War Horse, Spielberg's other release this Christmas. I'm not a huge fan of horse movies. I know, that's no excuse, but I just can't wrap my head around plots centered around relationships with horses.

Merry Christmas!

Video Games: Are They Cinematic?

Video games have come a long way since their pixelated predecessors. They've driven to emulate cinematic camerawork and acting through cut scenes and voice acting. In ways, they are very similar to films in looks, and are basically animated films, yet we experience them in completely different ways than film. The biggest physical difference between the two is the added sensation of touch to that of the video game. Films lack this tactile detail and therefore, films lack a physically engaging aspect.  People involved in video games are challenged and this touch creates an ability to control what is going in the game through kinetic movements of the hands. Video games are all about a degree of control whereas films do not include this. They are under the control of the filmmaker and there is nothing given to the spectator. Film goers are only along for the ride, whereas gamers are very much participating in the direction of the protagonist in games. The greatest example of this would be the interactive drama Heavy Rain. The entire game is emblematic of cinema in the shots that compose the video game, yet the consequences of the game are totally under the influence of the gamer, and one person's experience may differ completely form another. Films are able to show exactly what narrative path to take and exactly what to look at and pay attention to through close-ups, camera movement, and characters. Video games can do this or hand over control to the gamer.

Video games are challenging and give physical and mental challenge to the players. Games can immerse a gamer in the reality of the protagonist in ways that films can't and also produce eclectic reactions that are caused by the tension in the game. The can cause mental stress that films can not. Frustration and denial of closure is another aspect included in video games. Since games can be paused and come back to later, closure can be delayed. Closure is also denied completely if certain aspects of the game are not completed. In Mass Effect 2, closure surrounding certain characters is denied completely if concern for their individual dilemmas are lacking. The spectator has control over whether these events may play out or not. This causes the video game to have a certain dialog between the makers of the game and the player, a dialog concerning what parts need to be shown and how each person's individual experience may differ. This variety of experiences give video games numerous outcomes and interpretations, so much so that two individuals may not even be experiencing the same game. Films allow for the view of another dimension, that of reality, objectified in all its wonder, whereas video games allow for an objectified view of challenge and experience, therefore posing certain decisions to be made by the spectator. It allows for reflection during the game rather than reflection afterward as in movies where there is no pausing, only experiencing.

Narrative and the Gender Perspective

Teresa De Lauretis has made several meaningful contributions to the studies of narrative with psychoanalytic focus on how spectators perceive narrative in film. He theories on desire and its movement of identification throughout films has allowed for a certain masking to take place when viewing films. Men and women take on these different masks when interpreting and identifying with certain aspects of the narrative in films. With this in mind I like to say something on a very unique film La Pointe Courte, directed by Agnes Varda.

De Lauretis points out that women identify both with the active agent in the film and that of the passive agent. The active agent being the male protagonist off to" rescue the princess" and the passive agent being the princess or the setting or landscape through which the male agent travels. In the film the passivity of the land is that of the  male's hometown and the agent traveling across this is both the women and the male. Since the whole premise of the film is based on the couple revealing the state of their relationship, the setting serves as a template for this journey to take place on. The female perception is taken somewhat while the male passivity is explored, since in this case the female agent is the one on "foreign soil", an unfamiliar land that is now a part of both of their lives.

I believe the state of their relationship is that of a strong bond like the one that the male holds with his hometown. The landscape is a metaphor for their relationship, stale, polluted, lackluster and full of predictability. It is inescapable and the woman now has to accept it if she wants the relationship to continue. Certain shots and editing call attention to this bond. For instance, their is a profiling of the two main character's faces in one of the film's most memorable shots with the male facing the camera while half of his face is completed with part of the women's face in a profile. This hermaphroditic visual shows the bond of the relationship in a single frame and part of  a single being or countenance. This shot happens twice with the positions of the faces being switched and it shows a being much like that of the state of the two characters' relationship. They have become bonded, much like the man and his hometown, and they have evolved into something much more than a couple enchanted by the passion of their love. They have become inseparable.

The land through which the active agent travels is a landscape shared by the two characters. It is the landscape of their bond that they've formed since they were together. It is the exploration of this land that brings on the closure at the end of the tale, which De Lauretis claims in the usual narrative is the point where the female identifies with the object of desire the "princess". This film's closure comes from a realization of a bond, one that is strong, but not as full of life as it had been in the throngs of passion. Therefore, the "rescuing of the princess" becomes less of a symbol of the triumph of the male gaze, and more so a repositioning of that gaze to one that may pertain to both sexes.

The Descendants

SPOILERS! Just a quick warning. Nothing to damaging though.

George Clooney is gives a riveting and achingly beautiful performance in this film about trust, lies, and the end of relationships. Clooney plays Matthew King, a descendant of the great King Kamehameha and sole trustee of a large plot of land on the island of Kauai. He's agreed to sell the land, but just as he does, his wife is involved in a serious boat accident. The narrative centers around the sell of the land and Matt trying to figure out the woman he never truly knew.

The film uses the unsoiled land that King is selling as something that everyone wants to happen. It's interesting how the plot develops going between Matt's realization that his wife has been cheating on him and the fact that his family is really pushing to sell the land. Along the way, Matt learns more about his children, wife, and family then he ever could have wished to know.

The Hawaiian setting is beautiful and peaceful, even though Matt King begins the story by narrating how many problems the people of Hawaii have and how it isn't different from anywhere else on Earth. This fact positions the long shots of the landscape as something that may belie it's looks. There is pain and complications hidden in the vast oceans and towering volcanoes and dense foliage. The land also serves as a visual metaphor for the family and their children that they are bearing. It is unsoiled by the masses and their problems, yet it is being put up for sale to be used by everyone. Something to be affected by everyone. Land, ownership, family honor, and trust are all themes explored by the metaphor of land in this film.

The selection of Matthew Lillard as the man who ends up stealing Matt's girl was a very good choice. His past acting in several films as the "laid back, friendly, unintelligent bro" was a character that this film had plenty of (Nick Krause's unforgettable portrayal of a typical "bro"). These past images remained in my mind and I love Matthew Lillard for these characters, but in this movie I was expecting as much. His acting was so unlike what I'm used to from him. Instead, he is a matured "bro" and he has regrets concerning the adultery he'd committed. The past stereotypes of Lillard conflicted with the image of a matured and regretful family man and this truly opened my eyes to another theme in the film: losers. Are they really just dumb or are they just like the rest of us? Prone to mistakes? I think so. The text outside of this film really made me understand the reason for having Lillard as such a large part of this movie in the final confrontation. Sid also becomes welcomed into Matt King's world when Matt finds him awake and discovers why he acts the way he does.

The Descendants is a truly funny, moving and truthful representation of life's surprises and the mess it creates when they are discovered.

Young Adult

Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody have once again teamed up on Young Adult starring Charlize Theron as that bitch in high school. Let's see what she's up to nowadays. As someone who loved Juno, I am excited to this film. Reitman aslo has Thank You For Smoking, and Up In the Air under his belt, this is going to be one that sticks out among the other generic Holiday movies.

Final Projects!

It's getting near the end of Fall Semester and my class and I are wrapping up our final projects. We chose to make a film compilation of stories centered around the theme THE END. Here is my contribution to the bunch.

http://vimeo.com/33060448