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.