2007
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Showing posts with label Drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drama. Show all posts
14 December 2015
02 December 2015
11 November 2015
03 November 2015
22 October 2015
17 September 2015
03 September 2015
04 August 2015
29 July 2015
The Spirit of the Beehive
El EspÃritu de la Colmena
Dir. Victor Erice
1973
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Dir. Victor Erice
1973
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
23 December 2011
08 December 2011
Young Mr. Lincoln
Dir. John Ford
1939
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
1939
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
The opening image's composition leads our eyes to the store made of logs in the background, recalling the story of Lincoln's own mythic birth in a log cabin in the woods. We are immediately cued in to recognize both the reality of Lincoln and his legend. The final shot shows an almost comical iconic image of Lincoln, top-hat and all, but portrayed with dignity ready to face the looming storm.
01 September 2011
Wild Strawberries
Dir. Ingmar Bergman
1957
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
We are left to ponder a life. Does the finality of that image haunt us or give us hope? Or is there a sort of hope in the knowledge that one cannot changed a life now lived? What emotion is on that face? Is it fear, pain, sorrow, satisfaction, happiness? I can't tell; but I think that when we feel it, we know.
1957
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
We are left to ponder a life. Does the finality of that image haunt us or give us hope? Or is there a sort of hope in the knowledge that one cannot changed a life now lived? What emotion is on that face? Is it fear, pain, sorrow, satisfaction, happiness? I can't tell; but I think that when we feel it, we know.
26 May 2011
25 May 2011
The Thin Red Line
Dir. Terrence Malick
1998
I guess I'll go ahead and work through the rest of Malick's films in the lead-up to his latest, The Tree of Life.
Opening Image
Closing Image:
1998
I guess I'll go ahead and work through the rest of Malick's films in the lead-up to his latest, The Tree of Life.
Opening Image
Closing Image:
24 May 2011
The New World
Dir. Terrence Malick
2005
This is from the DVD (Theatrical) Cut. I'll post from the "Extended Cut" when I can get access to it.
Sorry for the inordinate amount of time I've been away from this project. In honor of The Tree of Life taking the Palme D'or this year I'll restart this series with one of my favorite all time films.
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Water serves an important purpose in The New World. We first see the "Naturals" frolicking in it. John Smith, similarly, attempts to cover himself with water as he looks up at the sky from his place in the brig. Later, John Smith has a violent confrontation with the "Naturals" that will eventually lead to his acceptance into their village while fighting in knee-deep water. At the end, Pocahontas explores her new world in England and frolics around a large man-made pond on the grounds of the estate. After her death, the camera moves across the great waters to return to the Americas. We see more images of streams, lakes and rivers all before finally looking hopefully upwards; almost an inverse of the opening image, looking clearly at the real image of tree and sky that were only reflected in the beginning.
2005
This is from the DVD (Theatrical) Cut. I'll post from the "Extended Cut" when I can get access to it.
Sorry for the inordinate amount of time I've been away from this project. In honor of The Tree of Life taking the Palme D'or this year I'll restart this series with one of my favorite all time films.
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Water serves an important purpose in The New World. We first see the "Naturals" frolicking in it. John Smith, similarly, attempts to cover himself with water as he looks up at the sky from his place in the brig. Later, John Smith has a violent confrontation with the "Naturals" that will eventually lead to his acceptance into their village while fighting in knee-deep water. At the end, Pocahontas explores her new world in England and frolics around a large man-made pond on the grounds of the estate. After her death, the camera moves across the great waters to return to the Americas. We see more images of streams, lakes and rivers all before finally looking hopefully upwards; almost an inverse of the opening image, looking clearly at the real image of tree and sky that were only reflected in the beginning.
05 April 2011
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Dir. Werner Herzog
2009
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Water has both a destructive and redemptive quality in Herzog's universe. McDonagh is symbolically baptized at the beginning of the film as he jumps into the water to save a forgotten prisoner. But this is not a baptism of purity; he jumps into the filthy, snake-ridden flood water of the Hurricane Katrina calamity. We watch as McDonagh sinks lower and lower throughout the film. In one of the first post-prologue sequences he chastises a fellow officer for using rough interrogation techniques on an informant. Several days later McDonagh himself deprives an old woman of her oxygen tank to get the information he wants. He sinks deeper and deeper. During the last act, as things miraculously fall into place for him, we are forced to question the veracity of the film. Are these coincidental events real? Are they simply the product of his drug-addled mind? No clue is given in the last shot, but we are reminded both of how far McDonagh has sunk and of his cleansing baptism in the muddy water.
2009
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Water has both a destructive and redemptive quality in Herzog's universe. McDonagh is symbolically baptized at the beginning of the film as he jumps into the water to save a forgotten prisoner. But this is not a baptism of purity; he jumps into the filthy, snake-ridden flood water of the Hurricane Katrina calamity. We watch as McDonagh sinks lower and lower throughout the film. In one of the first post-prologue sequences he chastises a fellow officer for using rough interrogation techniques on an informant. Several days later McDonagh himself deprives an old woman of her oxygen tank to get the information he wants. He sinks deeper and deeper. During the last act, as things miraculously fall into place for him, we are forced to question the veracity of the film. Are these coincidental events real? Are they simply the product of his drug-addled mind? No clue is given in the last shot, but we are reminded both of how far McDonagh has sunk and of his cleansing baptism in the muddy water.
21 March 2011
17 March 2011
The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Dir. Ken Loach
2006
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
An image of freedom contrasted with a profound image of loss.
What has been lost during the Irish "Troubles?" Loach demonstrates the cost of the violent civil war that has ripped this family apart. A sense of innocence that can never be regained and a sense of freedom that can never again be found.
2006
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
An image of freedom contrasted with a profound image of loss.
What has been lost during the Irish "Troubles?" Loach demonstrates the cost of the violent civil war that has ripped this family apart. A sense of innocence that can never be regained and a sense of freedom that can never again be found.
15 March 2011
Solaris
Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
1972
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Tarkovsky is far more interested in Earth than he is in any form of outer space. The theme is reflected at the end in Kris Kelvin's "Island of Memory" home. Looking down just as gently; the horizon framed completely out, the island drifts along like reeds in a riverbed. The things worth remembering are those things that are tactile--just beneath the water.
1972
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Tarkovsky is far more interested in Earth than he is in any form of outer space. The theme is reflected at the end in Kris Kelvin's "Island of Memory" home. Looking down just as gently; the horizon framed completely out, the island drifts along like reeds in a riverbed. The things worth remembering are those things that are tactile--just beneath the water.
14 March 2011
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Dir. Carl Th. Dreyer
1928
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Starting with the hands that orchestrate her death, by the film's final frame Dreyer has fully implicated the dogmatic Church in the demise of Joan of Arc. The last shot is also a slow tilt up, the flames rising above the cross to empty sky, showing that, whatever her contemporaries thought of her, Dreyer shows she has a different destination than they had planned.
1928
Opening Image:
Closing Image:
Starting with the hands that orchestrate her death, by the film's final frame Dreyer has fully implicated the dogmatic Church in the demise of Joan of Arc. The last shot is also a slow tilt up, the flames rising above the cross to empty sky, showing that, whatever her contemporaries thought of her, Dreyer shows she has a different destination than they had planned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)