2004
Opening Image:
21 March 2014
19 March 2014
18 March 2014
17 March 2014
Hunger
Dir. Steve McQueen
2008
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Steve McQueen opens his film detailing the hunger strike instigated in the Maze prison by Bobby Sands with a chaotic image of protest. We at first only see abstracted movement and hear a deafening rattle. Slowly we realize the image is that of a trash can lid, slammed repeatedly against the ground; there are other lids too, a whole army of them, pounded against the ground by a group of determined protesters. It's an arresting way to start the film, and stands in stark contrast to the next 15 or so minutes, in which very little action appears on screen. We're prepared for the violence that occurs later on in the film by this opening, however, and prepared for polemic nature of the film: after all, it starts with a protest.
2008
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Steve McQueen opens his film detailing the hunger strike instigated in the Maze prison by Bobby Sands with a chaotic image of protest. We at first only see abstracted movement and hear a deafening rattle. Slowly we realize the image is that of a trash can lid, slammed repeatedly against the ground; there are other lids too, a whole army of them, pounded against the ground by a group of determined protesters. It's an arresting way to start the film, and stands in stark contrast to the next 15 or so minutes, in which very little action appears on screen. We're prepared for the violence that occurs later on in the film by this opening, however, and prepared for polemic nature of the film: after all, it starts with a protest.
16 March 2014
A Serious Man
Dir. Joel and Ethan Cohen
2009
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
"Accept the mystery," says the parent of a student trying to bribe the beleaguered teacher, Larry Gopnik. Larry struggles to find meaning to find a reason behind all his troubles: his divorce, his troubled brother, his lack of answers from his spiritual leaders. The Cohens open and close their film with images of weather, symbolizing the lack of ability humans really have to control their own destiny. Why, really, does snow fall, or tornados whirl? Does it have to do with the actions of the mortals on this planet? Is it punishment from a divine being or simply pressure systems? Ultimately, the answer is unknowable.
2009
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
"Accept the mystery," says the parent of a student trying to bribe the beleaguered teacher, Larry Gopnik. Larry struggles to find meaning to find a reason behind all his troubles: his divorce, his troubled brother, his lack of answers from his spiritual leaders. The Cohens open and close their film with images of weather, symbolizing the lack of ability humans really have to control their own destiny. Why, really, does snow fall, or tornados whirl? Does it have to do with the actions of the mortals on this planet? Is it punishment from a divine being or simply pressure systems? Ultimately, the answer is unknowable.
15 March 2014
14 March 2014
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone
Dir. Chris Columbus
2001
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
2001
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
We start the seven year, 8-film journey charting Harry Potter's development from neglected, underfed, friendless and underprivileged to his ascension as a knowledgable, capable and person-of-import here, looking up into a bleak night sky with a sign announcing the plainness of his origins. It's always there, in the back of Harry's (and by extension, the audience's mind), that Harry came from an ordinary (and, in many respects quite unhealthy) place; and it's somewhere he could always slide back into. Indeed, each film begins with him again back at Privet drive. But, inside this opening image is embedded a clue to his potential, a magical owl; a person in animal form who is looking out for him. Indeed, in the final shot the angle has changed; we are above the clatter of the world and looking straight at the distant magical castle. We are inspired to dream as Harry dreams: that no matter our origins and previous traumas and no matter our tendency to return to them, we have a greater potential, and, perhaps, we have loved ones looking out after us.
13 March 2014
The Hunt for Red October
Dir. John McTiernan
1990
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
1990
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
"It's cold this morning," the XO remarks to the Captain. The captain agrees. "Cold, and hard." We see the cold and feel the harsh reality of the environment in this opening shot, symbolically standing in for the cold and hard regime under which the XO and Captain live; a regime from which they are planning to defect. At the end we see a teddy bear, purchased to accompany Jack Ryan's daughter's existing bear, showing he is close to returning to domestic tranquility. But the bear too points us to the comfort that the Captain now feels, away from the "cold and hard" place he left.
12 March 2014
11 March 2014
Killing Them Softly
Dir. Andrew Dominik
2012
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Opening with the detritus of campaign promises: banners, posters, stickers and all the other accouterments of a hard-fought political campaign. And it's all just so much trash now, trash that the characters never seem to rise above. Closing with the hard-working earnest face of a killer spouting the lines: "America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fuckin' pay me." Cynical? Certainly. Accurate? Depressingly so.
2012
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Opening with the detritus of campaign promises: banners, posters, stickers and all the other accouterments of a hard-fought political campaign. And it's all just so much trash now, trash that the characters never seem to rise above. Closing with the hard-working earnest face of a killer spouting the lines: "America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fuckin' pay me." Cynical? Certainly. Accurate? Depressingly so.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)