Rear Window/Disturbia EC

Renowned master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock received yet another feather in his hat when his 1954 formula for the wildly popular film Rear Window was borrowed in the making of Disturbia. Director DJ Caruso makes a bold attempt to recreate the voyeuristic film that initially captured audiences in the 1950s and his film was met with a modest box-office success in its first weekend as it doubled the expected earnings at $23 million. After having viewed this film, I would propose that the ticket sales were more indicative of clever and aggressive marketing than they were of the film’s real prowess.

While the manner in which they are confined to their houses is different, the plot stays true to Hitchcock’s narrative as we see both of our protagonists slowly grow restless within the four walls they are constrained by (a work-related injury for Jimmy Stewart and a sentencing of house arrest for Shia LaBeouf). As a result, the ever present voyeurism theme is introduced as they both find much more entertainment in watching their neighbors live their lives through a set of binoculars.

In introducing the female leads in these two movies we can see how the audiences are targeted differently. That is, Disturbia was created in an attempt to be a teen-thriller that captures the attention of a younger audience through Sarah Roemer whom Shia LaBeouf has developed a crush on as she is the “new girl-next-door”. Conversely, we have the older (albeit still very young and beautiful) Grace Kelly, a rich successful woman who cannot find love in the aristocracy. Her primary role, like that of Roemer, is aiding Jimmy Stewart in investigating his neighbors predominantly out of love for our protagonist in an effort to disprove Stewart who has already verbally confirmed that he cannot see the two together “because they are so different.” This difference in romantic storylines (or lack thereof in Disturbia’s case) coupled with awkward and cheesy lines that LaBeouf manages to deliver without complete disaster highlight the contrast between these two movies.

Even with the introduction of new technological gadgets and advanced film techniques, DJ Caruso’s Disturbia still finds itself impossibly far away from attaining the same success that Hitchcock's Rear Window was able to experience.

Experimental Films

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY

As I watched “Her Morning Elegance”, I was given a new approach to watching film which made me rethink film art in its complete lack of dialogue, forcing me to interpret the video as I saw it. This allowed for my own subjective interpretation of Oren Lavie’s work. Lavie does an exceptional job of conveying her message through the use of sound, color, and most obviously, rapid editing. In the video we see a woman sleeping alone and going about her daily business when she is passed by a man wearing all black, a complete foil to her white outfit and the blank monochromatic background. This is immediately followed by a wind gust and her getting only a red scarf to wear, implying that she is lonely in the cold without another body (such as the one that just passed by). Eventually we see them in bed together, him trying to kiss her and her stopping him. Instead, she takes his hand and they dance, followed by he and her doing less physically intimate activities, presumably to show her that he genuinely cares for her. Eventually, as they are back in bed, we see them lying opposite of each other and then in sequenced frames they come closer together, eventually touching, then holding, and finally laying together. The use of stop-motion animation allows for the viewers to see the progression of this relationship as she finds comfort with him and he is unfailingly there both with and for her.


I think the YouTube Generation has been responsible for highlighting filmmaker who is either clearly very talented or absolutely atrocious to the point of being entertaining. That is, I posit that YouTube has changed the short-film genre into one that is now more diverse in the characteristics of its art. That is, we have unlimited access to thousands of pieces of art that are essentially ranked for us. This opportunity hasn’t been available previously. What this means to me is that now the talent will speak for itself. Simply put, I believe YouTube has been beneficial in the art community because it allows true talent to be identified, whereas before, one had to make a concentrated effort to get their films seen in museums etc.

Catfish Documentary

2 brothers (Nev and Ariel Schulman) and their friend Harry decide to make a documentary about Nev's potential relationship with a girl he has met via Facebook. The documentary begins with Nev receiving a painting that imitates one of the photographs he took as a gift in the mail. He establishes contact with the painter and finds out that it is allegedly a very talented 8 year old child that is making these paintings. He also discovers, through Facebook and telephone conversations, that she has a very attractive older sister that Nev manages to initiate a relationship with.

As an audience we see Nev engage in numerous phone conversations and Facebook exchanges with Megan. Nev visibly appears to be falling for this girl, as evidenced by his facial expressions and words during the interviews conducted with him as the film progresses. However, we eventually begin to see Megan's story unravel as Nev realizes the songs she has been sending him to listen to are from various places on the internet, not her own work. Nev remains hopefully optimistic but we can see the doubt slowly creeping in as time passes. Eventually, they decide to drive to her house in Michigan and are skeptical of the stories that Megan's mom is trying to sell them in an attempt to protect Megan. It is eventually determined that the mother is responsible for fabricating the entire story as she is lonely and frustrated with her real life (she cares full-time for 2 disabled children).

This documentary poses an interesting commentary on social networking and the degree of certainty that each one of us can operate under when meeting strangers on the internet. It is also eye-opening in forcing us to question how much of a person's persona in the online world is real, as we see how one can cleverly create any image they want with enough time and effort.

Blog Post #2 - A Single Man

In Sontag's "Against Interpretation", one of her main tenants in describing successful criticism is the ability to "reveal the sensuous surface of art without mucking about in it." In reading Roger Ebert's review of A Single Man, it is my belief that he accomplishes this. That is, perhaps as a result of his profession and his audience, or possibly because he isn't arrogant enough to think his opinion the cinema-wide consensus, Ebert does a suitable job of sticking to the facts of the movie. His plot summary coupled with a few facts from the movie make the review one that gives you a taste for what you might see, yet he is reserved enough in his article that the viewer will still go in to the theater with all of their senses still intact, perhaps a bit primed, but still open for interpretation nonetheless.

I'm in agreement with Sontag in her proposal that "transparence means experiencing the luminousness of the thing in itself, of things being what they are." Because of this, I feel that Ebert's review, while certainly less subjective than others, could take a bit more care in avoiding using so many adjectives in his description of Colin Firth. That is, he should let the audience decide who George is completely, without any preconceptions.

The one element of mise-en-scene that stood out most to me throughout the film was undeniably the use of color. In the final scene, George's voice narrates over a high angle shot of his body as he dies from a heart attack on the floor. In this narration, he speaks of "those few times when I could really, truly connect with another human being", referring to it as one of "life's gifts." Tom Ford illuminates these moments brilliantly throughout the movie through the use of color. Most of the film is scene through dull colors creating a sense of dread and emptiness. However, throughout the film there are moments in which George experiences a parting from the harsh reality which he faces for the majority of his day. It is in these moments that colors are more markedly more vivid. Interaction with an innocent girl, a joyous dog, a moment of flirtation that alleviates his seemingly eternal sorrow, and, most importantly, every flashback he has concerning he and his partner during their sixteen years together. In using this technique, Ford accurately depicts the brief solace that George finds in everyday life to help him realize life is potentially still worth living.

Bound By Haiti

Bound by Haiti is an international documentary that focuses on 2 activists from backgrounds that couldn’t be any more different. Yet, by their shared convictions they form an unlikely friendship in trying to better both the people of Haiti and the country itself.

Aaron Jackson is from a privileged family in south Florida where he grew up on a resort surrounded by money and golf courses. He rejected that lifestyle and decided to dedicate his time to giving back to others. His initial contact with Haiti was in dealing with intestinal worms that has run rampant amongst the people and reportedly is affecting 80% of the total population. In the documentary, Aaron explains that he can de-worm 250 children for the price of a pack of cigarettes. The documentary does a good job of highlighting the importance and absurd simplicity of saving thousands of lives for what is essentially nickels and dimes.

John Dieubon was raised as an orphan in Port-au-Prince and spends his time speaking to the people in Haitian villages in an effort to understand and tend to their needs. One of his primary goals currently is building a school for the Haitian children to learn. You can see through clips in the documentary that he doesn’t just want the children to learn, but to not accept anything less than what they deserve. That is, to not regard themselves as 3rd-world citizens just because they live in Haiti, but instead John realizes that they are the future of Haiti and that their generation may be responsible for making huge strides in the country’s development.

Bound by Haiti is definitely a powerful documentary and does a fantastic job of gripping the reality that is Haitians lives and bringing it to an audience that is predominantly ignorant in these matters. One thing that stuck with me were the interviews conducted with those that lost loved ones in the earthquake. In recounting the events and speaking of those they lost, there was a marked lack of emotion in their voices. That’s not to say they weren’t emotionally destroyed by this, but perhaps they were still in shock or were so beaten by this way of life that they’ve learned how to cope with it in accepting that it’s just part of their lives.

Blog Assignment #1 - Enigma and Delay in Psycho

For as much as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is a mysterious psychological thriller, one could also make an argument that, in the first half of the movie at least, it's also a love story.

Marion Crane, in an attempt to be with the man she loves, takes a bit of ignorant advice from a real estate tycoon who quips that "all of life's happiness can be bought away." After stealing his $40,000 she resolves to set out to her lover's hometown in California where they can be together. Hitchcock makes the audience wonder what sacrifices must Marion endure, and, to what extent is she willing to go to make her dream happen?

The first real delay introduced by Hitchcock is that of the police officer who finds Marion's car pulled over on the side of the road and is slow and deliberate in his questioning of her. This scene is crucial for a few reasons. 1) The scene proceeds in such a way that the audience sympathizes with Marion, hoping that she'll be able to escape the questioning without conflict. This sub-conscious "rooting" for the protagonist makes the audience begin to question their own morality. After all, this is a woman who stole a small fortune from someone she hardly knows and is now running away. 2) Hitchcock uses the light/dark motif to illustrate to the audience that Marion, a seemingly good woman is slowly fading into darkness as a result of her decisions. In the previous scene we see her at peace driving in the darkness and her eyes in an almost empty lull as she drives through the night. When she is awoken by the police officer, she is forced to squint and almost rejects the daylight as it shines through over the temporary antagonist's body.

I'm of the opinion that Psycho is really more of a readerly text that it is a writerly one. Hitchcock spends the entirety of the movie both insinuating and blatantly describing the motives of his characters. He has the audience trusting him and is playing with them as their he were the puppet master. Because of this, the audience isn't responsible for thinking for themselves, instead, they are eagerly on the edge of their seats wanting to know what's going to happen next. Sure, they are free to make assumptions and predict what may happen, but because the movie is one that gabs your attention and Hitchcock pays great attention to details, one knows they might miss something should they get lost in their own thoughts. If that contention isn't enough then I offer up the psychiatrist's explanation at the end of the movie as a way of cementing the facts of the movie and leaving little to no room for interpretation by the audience.

Reviewing the reviewer: Time Magazine on Full Metal Jacket

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,964819,00.html

Richard Corliss of Time Magazine simultaneously provides a synopsis of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket while drawing attention to both thematic and visual elements the casual movie watcher may not initially consider.

In the midst of giving a general plot outline of Act I, Corliss characterizes a few of the central players in Privates Joker ("The recruit who dares to hang some John Wayne sarcasm on the drill instructor") and Gomer Pyle ("...a fat bumpkin who's dim-witted sanctity begs to be beaten into lean meat") and notes a common perception of the military in that the young recruits "will be stripped of their freedom, their pride, and their names."

Corliss also notes that in the opening act, Kubrick makes a concentrated effort with the camera to capture the entire boot camp experience. He follows the soldiers throughout the entirety of their day and, most notably, "abruptly cuts to close-ups, to study their pain head on."

Our Time reviewer also takes notice of the marked absence of color in Act II characterizing it as a "desaturated green-gray of a war zone." Noting the only exception being during times of violence as "gunfire makes a gutted warehouse flare into brilliant orange."

Corliss does nothing to spoil Act III, instead choosing to pose a few questions regarding no-win dilemmas that should serve well in pushing those sitting on the fence over to the side with seats, popcorn, and a fast forward button for squeamish viewers.

Overall, Richard Corliss does an exceptional job of illustrating the attention to detail that Stanley Kubrick is renown for. In addition, Corliss ensures the reader will come away from the review intrigued by the plot of the film without giving away concrete details while demonstrating visual literacy in offering a taste into the conflicts that are sure to captivate the more thoughtful movie watching audience.