How Godard's stylistic decisions
have been changed since the beginning of the French New Wave movement? The
intellectual quotes, the cinematic references, Einsteinian montage influences,
Godard intertitles, and the disoriented /confusing cuts are still important
parts of his style. While he tries to be innovative in using 3D film such as
using the concept of superimposition not on the screen but on the lenses of the
glasses, the desire to switch to video images become key element in creating
his last cinematic text. In comparison with his fascinations in the
earliest films, his obsessions are not about Marxist ideology anymore.
His concerns are mostly focused on the reliability and authenticity of images
and sounds. The characterization, the cause-and-effect narrative, and the
resolution at the end of the film are not the terms that Godard refers to while
he makes his oeuvre. Review: Morad Sadeghi
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Adieu au Langage
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Prometheus
Ridley Scott's film, Prometheus,
represents the maturity of the director's style in its narrative and formal
structures. The thematic construction of the film remains allegiant to the
conventional forms of storytelling recurred in the former Alien movies while
the film is a prequel to the Alien series. Many of these similar patterns are
the references that help the audience to explore the undercurrent layers of the
narrative. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) is a scientist whose motivation to
find out about the origin and "Engineers" persuades her to control
the narrative at the end of the film. In terms of having survival instinct, her
character is very similar to Ripley's in Alien (1979). Shaw has a strong
character that reminds the audience of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in
Alien movies. Not surprisingly, she can leave the planet while David
(Micheal Fassbinder), the robot, helps her to pilot the spaceship. (Another
reference to the end of Aliens (1986, James Cameron)). Review By: Morad Sadeghi
Gone Girl
Fincher's film is well structured
and established around the voice-over narrative of the female protagonist
and her inner thoughts and memories. The film is an adaptation of
Gillian Flynn's novel which is devoted to the literary text.
The narrative of the film is enriched of flash backs of the
couple's lifestyle and relationship. The audience mostly self-identifies with
the female protagonist's subjective world. The shift of the female subjectivity
to the male protagonist happens to be completed close to the final sequences of
the film when Amy finally murders and kills her ex-boyfriend in a sex
scene. The ending of the film is ambiguous. Although the couple accepts to live
together, the potentialities of betraying, murdering, and cheating are
still there. We do not know if Nick knows about his wife, but the shadow
of a doubt raises the question that who will be controlling the narrative and
how. Nick or Amy? Review by Morad Sadeghi
The Congress
Stylistically, The Congress demonstrates
a significant departure from Waltz with Bashir (2008, Ari
Folman). The film is a combination of the animated sections and the real
setting. The setting is dynamically harmonious with the animated section. This
is Folman's fourth film. The narrative of the film revolves around the
progressive technology for future Hollywood. Though the film hints at the
corruption of corporate capitalism, the world of cinema in future is
subtly represented by choosing the animation art. Folman's film is very much a
fantasy/ science fiction film (influenced by Stanislaw Lem's novel, The
Futurological Congress). The choice of animation for the world of the
future allows the audience to maneuver in the realm of the
imagination. Not only does the director depict the
protagonist's adventure but he emphasizes her responsibility towards her
family and her concern for the future of the world of art and artist.
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
38th Montreal World Film Festival
http://www.ffm-montreal.org
The 38th World Film Festival in Montreal was a special event that drew the attention of critics in Montreal and worldwide to the fertile field of cinematic materials. The festival program was precisely organized to have a group of films that represented "film" as the dominant art medium. The films provided a broad spectrum of narratives that constituted various forms and conventions. To reveal the mode of discourse in the criticism hidden in these reviews, the focus is aimed toward the films that are chosen as the particular examples for narrative and formal analysis.
Salaud, on t'aime (Bastard, we love you)(2014, Claude Lelouch)
Claude Lelouch's film does not necessarily lie in the category of the best films, but it is a good film. The film deals with themes such as guilt, parental mistakes, professionalism, friendships, and family values. The film succeeds in creating an atmosphere in which the specificity of form and the mode of production achieve a balance. To avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to say that the comparisons between generations, or in other words generational conflicts are used as a means of establishing the end of masculine values. The end of the film is the reconciliation between an irresponsible father and his daughters. Though the new generation is right in criticizing the old one, they carry the burden of guilt as well.
Sakurasaku( Blossom Bloom) (2014, Mitsutoshi Tanaka)
The film does not succeed visually and narratively to foreground the respect for the lost Japanese family values, the criticism of the modern lifestyles in the urban cities, and the encouragement of the new generation to appreciate the past. The sentimentality of the moments, the lack of visual style, and the poor narrative structure in the film help us to avoid any unnecessary mode of criticism that involves some misunderstanding and can be interpretatively wrong.
Jack Strong (2014, William Pasikovsky)
The director succeeds in creating the Cold War atmosphere, terror, and anxiety, but the narrative style is chaotic and the characterization is weak. The film narrative articulates the dichotomy of duty and choice. The ambiguous ending makes us think about how the film tries to construct the sense of impossibility of political liberation and freedom. The problematic status of the protagonist's national identity presents a coherent image of Poland as a nation and as an ideological political system.
Tokyo the City of Glass (2014, Kazuhiro Tranishi)
Transformation of the body and masculine anxiety are the main themes that construct the narrative of the film. The film is filled with homosexuality and homoeroticism. Yukio Mishima's Confessions of A Mask, Gustave Mahler's Adagietto from the fifth symphony, and Tokyo Gay District are all references that characterize the queer perspective of the film. The director succeeds in creating a detective story that deals with the problematic sexual identity and the sense of guilt.
New Territories (2014, Fabianny Deschamps)
The film is visually stunning. The voice over narrative and the stylistic analysis of the film make us believe that the audiovisual structure of the cinematic text is influenced by documentary style and horror/serial killer films. The immigration from Chinese village to Hong Kong provides a storyline in which the controlling of the body and the searching for the body become key elements in narrating the ghost story. The director succeeds in representing a dark film in which the social political structure of the Chinese village is partly criticized and evaluated.
Perro Guardian (2014, Baccha Caravedo)
Interestingly, the picture reminds us of Le Samurai (1967, Jean-Pierre Melvile) and The Professional (1994, Luc Besson). Like the protagonists in those films, the male character is a lonely person who is a professional killer. His religious belief is what is emphasized in the film symbolically and explicitly. The film remains unforgettable for, among other things, the expression of a wide range of religious feelings and emotions that help to build the character though the ending is ambiguous.
Closer to the Moon (2014, Nae Caranfil)
Closer to the Moon is a good film that is well structured. The passions and thoughts in the film are synthesized as the adequate expression of satirical ideas against the political system. The film is filled with many references and homages to the film, particularly as the medium such as homage to Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock) in the scene in which the characters look through a binocular or telescope and observe the things that happen in the apartments in front of them. Doris Day's song as the diegetic score is another reference to the film medium, and the film in film structure of the script is foregrounded by the emphasis on the acting.
They are all Dead(2014, Beatriz Sanchis)
The director's strategy to make a film about agoraphobia does not succeed in creating a subtle expressive cinematic text. The film thematically follows the ideas about art, sexuality, family responsibility, and guilt. Two types of maternity are compared: the real mother who feels responsible for everything and another one who has agoraphobia and feels guilty about her brother's death. According to the director's interview, the Mexican point of view about death is what the director tries to emphasize in the film. The ending of the film is positive, optimistic, and full of light though the threatening presence of death is always with the characters.
Chagall-Malevich(2013, Alexander Mitta)
Many shots in the film remind us of Chagall and Malevich's paintings. The narrative is precisely devoted to the revolutionary period when Chagall spent his life in Russia. At the same time, the joys of freedom and creativity accompanied by colors found in Chagall's paintings are reflected in the images. The film debates the beginning of the art of social realism in the first years of the Russian Revolution. Chagall individualism is criticized by the followers of Malevich abstract political art. The ending of the film is insightful and symbolic. The idea of flying and floating into the sky founded in Chagall's paintings becomes alive and gives the cinematic text a sense of playful and spiritual meaning. Chagall's realm of kingdom is sky and Malevich one is the earth.
Field of Dogs(2014, Lech Majewski)
Field of Dogs is a very good film. The narrative structure is dreamful and symbolic. There are many moments in the film where one can find Tarkovsky's influences. For example, there is a scene in which the wall is bleeding and has a heartbeat that reminds us of the dream scene in Mirror (1975, Trakovsky). In another scene, we see two bodies making love together while they are floating in the air which is similar to what Tarkovsky was doing in Sacrifice (1986, Tarkovsky). Finally, at the end of the film, we see that water is falling from the ceiling of a church which brings into our mind what Tarkovsky was doing with water in dream sequences in Mirror or Stalker(1979, Tarkovsky).
Cap Nostalgie (2014, Izuru Narushima)
The narrative of the film suggests that life is always changing and what is going to be left behind is the sense of nostalgia that makes us aware of the fragility of life and ultimately of the impossibility of immortality. The film succeeds in creating a perspective of life that puts the meaning of love, death, and friendship under question and investigation in such a simple way that draws attention to the transcendental concepts. What is valued as a mark of artistic achievement is the director's choices to represent the characters' styles of life as faithfully as possible.
Review By: Morad sadeghi
Thursday, 21 August 2014
Chaplin & Keaton
Contrasting the Visual Style between Chaplin & Keaton
It is necessary to carry out the
right analysis of stylistic complexities between two great comedians Chaplin
and Keaton if one, as the critic, has a desire enthusiastically to satisfy the
curiosity of the readers which gravitates their insistence to understand more
about technical and aesthetic mode of production. Chaplin's silent screen
comedy is filled with the humanism and compassion of proletarian and
sub-proletarian culture. His intellectual insight is almost underrated or even
dismissed in critical analysis and evaluation aesthetic in film comedy. The
romantic-sentimental character of Chaplin's tramp can be detected as the strong
element of egocentricity which reveals his different point of view of comic
characterization between his work and that of other comedians such as Keaton's.
Indeed, Keaton's character can represent a type of realism on the screen that
works with his intuition and unconscious decisions confronting the machinery
infrastructures, the absurdities of daily life and the quality of the creativity
process. Both Chaplin's and Keaton's acrobatic skills and pantomime
routines has the strong dramatic effect on their definition of mise-en
scene and set design. On the contrary, Keaton's anti-sentimental approach to
the narrative progress and storyline appears to flourish among the authentic
locales, costumes and props which has counterbalance with
Chaplin's artificiality of the set and the stage.
Chaplin's tendency to use the static camera, medium shots and very ordinary
stylistic fashion of editing in his silent films intensifies the importance of
little tramp's characterization and his gags through his visual style. In
contrary, Keaton's superiority and skill as the director of his films gives a
profound dimension to his artistic creativity. His knowledge about editing
principles of the medium, the aesthetic of camera movement with respect to
manipulating the epic style of the decors and the mathematical calculation of
every extraordinary scenes and gags in balance with architecture of mise-en scene
provide extensively and successfully an unique and original style of
comedy which invites the spectators to be a part of creative process.
To highlight and intensify Chaplin's spatial theatricality and his sense of
timing to perform the gags portray a virtual and dream world atmosphere right
in the middle of environmental presentation of reality. His gags help him to
liberate a sense of freedom against the claustrophobic framework. The whole
process of theatrical performance in front of camera forces the spectator to
identify with the tramp even though the situation is pathetic. At the same
time, his characteristic sentimentality within his highly aristocratic taste
spontaneously creates a meticulous contrast between Chaplin's real character in
his life and the representation of his tramp in the images of his films. In
fact,
Chaplin's tramp imposes his domination on the structure of the mise-en scene
and proves his superiority by manipulating and controlling his gags on the
characters, props and environment. Everything in Chaplin's mise-en scene from
camera position, camera movement and rhythm of editing to characterization
and gag suggests the tramp's great skill to deal with situation and to
overcome effectively on tragic material and hostile moments in the context.
Aesthetically, his centralization in the perspective of the frame heightens his
importance as the fundamental and existential center of focus. Compared with
Chaplin, Keaton's unconscious response to the chaotic universe surrounded
around his character suggest his strong and intolerable struggle to survive
against on and off-screen mise-en scene which impose their domination on him.
The superficiality of the fragile world of context and its superiority on
Keaton remain a key element regardless of its savagery to his straightforward
narrative. The episodic structure of the story helps him to establish the right
strategic stance against the irrationality of occurrences by experimenting of
the trial and the error technique like an engineer.
Chaplin's fidelity to the principles of storytelling in Victorian literary
tradition enforces him to be a follower and the disciple of D.W. Griffith. For
that reason, Chaplin's camera is always prepared and aware to catch a glimpse
in a close up or transfer and transpose the spectator's center of focus
temporally and spatially to another realm of narrative.
Not surprisingly, his use of close up to highlight and intensify the
romanticism and sentimentality of the moments, his parallel editing to match
the coincidences between two different occurrences and finally his analytical
method of editing are considered as the reincarnation of Griffith stylistic
method of film editing. In contrast, Keaton's vigorous and dynamic method of
acting and moving in the frame substitute his jumping in risky situation for
rapid cutting of the images or using the special effects. His physical
engagement with the realistic elements of mise-en scene creates the chaotic
atmosphere in which Keaton must struggle to chaos and disorder to regenerate a
surrealistic balance between old form of socio-political world and new form of
ambiguous utopia. The desire to use long shot in his sequences, the obsession
to place the camera in multiple locations and the avoidance of creating emotion
by close ups form the new rules and conventions for his aesthetic style. In
fact, as McCaffrey states in his book: " The vigor of Keaton in his heyday
was far removed from sentimentality. His little clown was a struggling, dead-panned
dunce who looked to the horizon...But this agile, mechanical doll struggled
doggedly, often swinging by his teeth and fingernails, to fight the obstacle
that confronted him; and he won by weird, comic ingenuity" (McCaffrey,
84). Keaton's body with its acrobatic flexibility and a bundle of energy saves
the audience a sense of continuity which produces immediately an
interconnection between the spectator and Keaton's practical jokes and gags.
Chaplin always restricts himself in the theatricality and artificiality of the
scenes and sometimes unrealistic mise-en scene such as the dream sequence
in The Kid (1921) and the hallucinated cabin sequence
in Gold Rush (1925). In contrary, Keaton executes his
stories in the developed and expanded space of the realistic detail as
McCaffrey continues to observe: "And while it would seem to be a
personality trait of being too concerned with realistic detail that might work
against the comic spirit, Keaton was able to make his type of realism work in
his favor" (McCaffrey , 85).Keaton's outstanding movement inside the frame
is a manifestation to define a new aesthetic style through which the paternal
structure of the meaning has to entirely change the monotonous and routine way
of representing the images to the visualizing the shocked and surprised
moments.
Chaplin's acting style helps to the audience to develop his imagination on the
stage in terms of creating a fantastic dreamful and invisible world. His self-conscious
pantomime is always forcing the spectator to imagine the virtual reality which
does not exist in the mise-en scene. His highly inventive choreography of
his movements and dynamism in the scenes is the only principal element which
provides a good substitution for his lack of interest to use the motion picture
medium effectively. In contrary, Keaton creates many of his clever comic scenes
with the props which exist in the mise-en scene. His avoidance to falsify the
spectator with the non-realism of the set reveals his obsession with democratic
and liberal way of the image representation. Keaton's self-unconscious using of
camera movement, shooting on locations and special effects never create a
cliché, and his vaudevillian skills is highly gifted talent in calculating the
laughter. Even in their self reflexive response to the cinema as the medium and
art, the two comedians pay the homage to the whole process of film making in
two different stylistic and analytical mode of representation: Chaplin by
appearing as the ordinary tramp in the car race in front of the camera of
reporters in Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) and Keaton
by appearing in the dream sequence of Sherlock Junior (1924)
through which the process of editing in the film industry is mocked and
ridiculed in the surrealistic structure of mise-en scene.
The function of camera in Keaton's films sometimes is the part of the gag, and
it participates in the creating of mise-en scene and the progress of the linear
narrative. For Chaplin, the camera is only the recorder as McCaffrey mentions
in his book "He(Chaplin)was suspicious of 'Camera Tricks', as he
called them, and wanted the camera only to serve as a recorder of the
action" (McCaffrey,131).Chaplin's position of camera and its distance to
the stage is always constant, but Keaton sometimes moves and take positions in
different locations to create the climactic moments. Keaton’s tendency to move
his camera lies in his inevitable need to shoot the dynamic scenes. The
initiative manipulation of the editing in Keaton's films creates the graphic
rhythm which concentrates on the expansion of the narrative. In contrary, for
Chaplin the editing is considered as the complex process which sometimes
interferes with the total mode of production and his expectation of medium as
McCaffrey indicates in his book: "Robert Payne believed such an editing (In
Chaplin film) was a serious weakness that marred the work because the union of
little tramp and the girl was an improbable resolution" (McCaffrey, 41).
In terms of composition, the continuity of time and space and the expanding of
senses of awareness to each side of the screen and in the space behind the
camera is the principal element in Keaton's aesthetic style. For Chaplin, the
successful scenes have the restricted dimension inside of the frame. The
characteristic representation of the tramp is the only principal element which
celebrates his considerable skill to deal with dramatic and theatrical elements
of the stage.
Chaplin and Keaton were contemporary comedians who began their careers with the
medium from two different schools. Chaplin started his job with Mac Sennett and
Keaton collaborated with fatty Arbuckle. Chaplin's creativity in using
the possibilities of new medium with Mac Sennette's group of artists is
restricted to his pantomime, gestures and grimaces in the theatrical
composition. he sometimes addresses the spectator with staring right to the
camera and tries to share with him the claustrophobic emotional effects of the
situation. As Max Linder expressed in his writings: " Chaplin works with
the camera with the minutest care...but the secret is not the mechanical
work..." (Manvell, 108). The mechanical work is not privileged as a before
the acting and characterization in Chaplin's skill of pantomime. In contrary,
in Keaton's addressing of camera as the spectator's look the absurdity of the
situation is meant to be emphasized and underlined spectator's look. In fact,
Keaton's body is destined to be characteristic in the composition to cooperate
with his mind as Moews mentions in his book: " What is automated, they
reveal, is a conscious being, whose mind and feelings remain his even while his
body enacts a fated routine in which he is doomed to failure (Moews, 10). For
Chaplin, the body is the absolute harmony with character's self consciousness
and his mind.
Keaton's comedy, his gags and his hardworking pantomime as his biography
demonstrated are mostly those of the performing arts of Keaton's vaudeville
childhood, and then the years of collaboration with Arbuckle were the moments
for him to become familiar with the medium of film and its mode of production.
Chaplin's comedy, his gags and his professional theatrical acting on the stage
are mostly of the performing arts of his Dickensian childhood with the parents
in London and then the years of difficult phase in the pioneer period of
getting acquainted with Mac Sennette and the possibilities of film as the new
medium. Chaplin's admiration for Victorian literary tradition and his childhood
experiences would probably have connection with his visual style and his
absolute need for frequent periods of isolation during his life. Keaton's
alienation with the mechanical world of 20th century and his surrealistic
self-centered world of his films deteriorated the relationship between the
logic of daily life and the absurdity of its chaotic situation.
Manvell, Roger. Chaplin Little, Brown & Company, Boston 1974.
Mowes, Daniel Keaton: The Silent Features Close up University
of California Press: Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1977.
W, McCaffrey, Donald Great Comedians: Chaplin, LIoyd, Keaton,
Langdon A.S. Barnes & Co. New York, 1968.
By: Morad Sadeghi
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Boyhood
Is Boyhood a good film?
The focus of the film's narrative is the transformation of a naïve boy, Mason
(Ellar Coltrane), into a college student whose sense of self and
maturity are particularly received by the critics as the refusal of the
parental mistakes. His observations as an observant aggravate the sense of
humor, playfulness, irritation, futility, and entrapment. In the beginning, his
mother (Patricia Arquette) is a devoted and responsible character
who fails in finding the right mate. Because she fails in choosing the
right husband, Mason and his sister, Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), must pass
through the difficulties. His father (Ethan Hawk) seems to be lovely
and the radical critic of contemporary politics, but his chaotic lifestyle and
sense of irresponsibility prohibit him from being a true father figure.
Finally, he marries a woman whose father and mother are probably
religious. They even give a Bible and Gun to Mason as gifts of his
birthday. In contrast to the earlier sequences, it seems that Mason's
mother and father are going to grow up and become matured. His
father becomes more responsible at the end of the film and his
mother accepts her loneliness and learns to live with her solitude (Without
husband).
However, the film is not a masterpiece. Linklater's lack of style and
visible manifestation reassure us that the film is hardly capable of
offering us a stylistic insight. The simplicity of narrative, style,
and characterization sometimes produce the opposite effect. It looks as if the
whole sense of complicated confrontation between boyhood and adulthood is lost
among the philosophical dialogues or educational remarks. The poor acting and
lack of strong mise-en-scene not only cast doubt on the characterizations and
the visual style but also have negative impact on the film textual
surface. Moreover, the dialogues sometimes have flaws and Samantha's
character is going to lose its importance in the middle of the narrative.
Of course, in contrast with the director's earlier films, Boyhood is
still a better film. The coherent structure of the narrative which
emphasizes the relativity of truth in everyday life and the director's
success in working with children which makes the first part of the film
unique are substantial. Also, the majority of critics believe that
Linklater succeeds in creating a narrative which is simple but profoundly
complicated. They even consider his lack of style and simplicity of
narrative the specific techniques used to bring up the complex subjects in
the simplest way to the screen. Though the film succeeds in satisfying the
audience in many ways, the acting style and the formalistic structure of
the film's narrative foreshadow the flaws and failures that prohibit us from
calling it a masterpiece.
Review by Morad Sadeghi