City of God

Movie: City of God, 2002; 130 min

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Actors: Alexandre Rodrigues, Matheus Nachtergaele, Leandro Firmino

Summary: The story follows two boys who grow up in the same slum neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro but lead different lives as they grow older. Later on, the stories of Rocket, an aspiring photographer, and Li’l Zé, a gang leader/drug dealer, intertwine during drug wars in the City of God.

Question 1: What significance does the chicken at the beginning of the film have?

The film begins with a montage series of choppy cuts of knives being sharpened, cutting vegetables, and slaughtering chickens for a meal. One brown chicken continues to appear throughout the sequence where other chickens are being slaughtered right in front of it. The chicken becomes aware of his deadly fate and lets himself free. Even though the chicken is free from the tie around his foot, he is now running away from a group of hoodlums with guns in their hands, shooting after it as if their guns were toys. This chicken serves as a symbol for all the people who are slaughtered by the relentless hoodlums. Once these unfortunate people become aware that their life is in danger by the hoodlums, they attempt to escape and run away. But most of the time, the hoodlums will find and kill the people whom they pursue. With the chicken in the context of the story, the opening scene serves as a precursor to what will happen throughout the film.

Question 2: What role does the camera play at the end of the film? What unique effect does the director use pertaining to the camera?

Rocket, along with his new camera, happens to be present during a monumental/final battle in the war between the two drug gangs in the City of God. With his camera, Rocket captures pictures that will guarantee him an opportunity for a steady job, something a majority of the people in the City of God does not have. The camera offers Rocket an escape from his world of violence and death. Rocket also captures photographs of the policeman taking bribes from Li’l Zé. These photographs could either make him go down in history for revealing the injustice of the police system, or they could be the end of him because they go against the police. The last set of photographs Rocket takes are of Li’l Zé after he is shot multiple times by the Runts with their new guns. As Rocket walks from his observation point to where Li’l Zé lays face-down on the ground, the director purposely makes the shot as if seen through a camera lens kept on in between pictures; a lens that is not pointed at anything specific. The shot through a camera lens stops once a photo is snapped of Li’l Zé.

Cinema Paradiso

Movie: Cinema Paradiso, 1988; 155 min

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Actors: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili

Summary: A successful filmmaker, Salvatore Di Vita, recalls his childhood living in a small Italian town and falling in love with movies at the local theater. The death of his good friend, the theater’s projectionist, brings back his memories.

Question 1: Describe the first movie showing at the local theater. What purpose does the director seem to have in this scene and how does he achieve it?

            The first scene of a movie showing at the local theater is one of many throughout the entire film. This scene, however, is significant because it helps captivate the audience and brings them into the theater with its patrons. The director’s objective with this scene seems to be to bring the audience into the theater and make them feel like they are actually there feeling the magic of the movies that the patrons feel. The multiple panning shots of the audience and close-ups on different patrons, and especially Toto, give the film’s audience a feeling of actually being there because they can see everyone else’s reactions to what is being shown on the movie screen. The theater audience also interacts with the movies shown on screen by making Indian noises at the John Wayne cowboy trailer, laughing together at Charlie Chaplin, and complaining when the movie cuts right before a kissing scene. Even though the theater environment differs greatly from that of present day movie theaters, the film’s audience can actually feel like they are there right when the movies were becoming popular.

Question 2: How does the director transition Toto from a child to a teenager? What is significant about this scene?

            After the theater fire, Alfredo becomes blind and can no longer work the movie projector. The only other person who knows how is Toto, who takes on the job at a very young age. Toto’s transition occurs when Antonio places his hand over Toto’s face as he talks about how important sight is to a person. When Antonio takes his hand off Toto’s face, the boy is now a teenager still working in the projection booth. This transition shows that the strong relationship between Toto and Antonio and Toto’s job and passion for movies still has not changed after all these years. The transition can also serve as a metaphor that life and childhood moves by quickly. 

Breathless

Movie: Breathless, 1960; 87 min

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Actors: Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg

Summary: The story follows Michel, a criminal on the run for shooting a policeman. Michael attempts to persuade his American girlfriend, Patricia, to run away to Italy with him.

Question 1: How does the unique narrating style at the beginning of the film contribute to the plot?

            At the beginning of the film, Michel is talking to someone, but this person is never addressed. It is soon realized that he is in fact talking to the audience as he steals a car and drives away. The car scene is seen though Michel’s eyes as he drives along the countryside road in his new, stolen car. As he drives, Michel continues to talk to the camera/audience. This narrating style can be suggestive of Michel’s personality. For example, because he talks to someone who is not actually there in front of him, it is suggested that Michel does not enjoy being alone. This unique narrating style gives the sense that Michel is not alone even though in reality he is the only one in the stolen car.

Question 2: How does the director’s use of multiple cuts and a choppy style contribute to the story?

            The film, at first, seems to be very choppy with cuts. There are many more cuts in each scene compared to the average film. These choppy cuts maybe seem like poor filmmaking, but they are actually the opposite. The director uses these multiple cuts to contribute to the story. The film is “breathless” in French, and the multiple cuts evoke a feeling of attempting to catch one’s breath. They create a fast paced tension—like a quickened heart beat in some sorts. The choppy cuts make the audience feel the stress of being pursued, a feeling that the principal character constantly feels. This choppy style is an example of a film director’s purpose in every one of his shots and cuts. 

Dreams

Movie: Dreams, 1990; 119 min

Director: Akira Kurosowa

Actors: Akira Terao, Martin Scorsese, Mitsunori Isaki, Chisho Ryu, Mieko Harada

Summary: The film is comprised of eight different, imaginative dreams that are shown in this order: Sunshine Through The Rain, The Peach Orchard, The Blizzard, The Tunnel, Crows, Mount Fuji in Red, The Weeping Demon, Village of the Watermills.

Question 1: What is the purpose for the absence of music during a majority of the blizzard dream?

Although the blizzard has multiple dream-like qualities—for example, the random woman in the middle of the blizzard—the absence of music causes the dream to seem very real. The director and composer accomplish this by only including the white noise of the blizzard, without any accompaniment of a musical score. This absence of sound makes the dream feel like more of a reality because in a real blizzard, the sound is so intense that all anyone would be able to hear is a loud white noise. Without including a musical score for the majority of the scene, the director and composer succeed in making the audience question if this dream is different from the others and if this blizzard is not a dream, but reality. Another approach can be that the blizzard is reality, and when the score comes in towards the middle of the scene, this is when the dream occurs. In other words, the entire story is not a dream, but the dream occurs within the blizzard.

Question 2: How does the director bring the man into VanGough’s world during the painting/museum scene?

The dream starts with a man admiring VanGough’s paintings at a museum. All of a sudden, the man is within one of the painting’s settings. The director makes it obvious that the new place is VanGough’s world because all of the colors are vibrant and the places are recognizable in some of VanGough’s famous works of art. For example, the man walks to the haystacks and past colorful houses and bridges. Also, the director uses an interesting technique to bring the man into a new world by using green screen technology to make the man look as if he walks through pathways in some of VanGough’s paintings. This interesting cinematic technique brings the audience into the paintings and as well, it intensifies the dream to make it more extreme yet also magical at the same time

Rules of the Game

Movie: The Rules of the Game, 1939; 106 min

Director: John Renoir

Actors: Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Marcel Dalio, Jean Renoir, Julien Carette

Summary: The story focuses on wealthy French life at the beginning of World War II. It follows the wealthy and their servants in their game of love.

Question 1: Explain a scene where source music is used to portray the life of the wealthy during the time.

            Source music is used throughout the film – when a band is playing, when people are singing; it is heard/seen anytime the source of the music can be recognized on screen. One specific scene where source music is used occurs when the man and the maid are standing in one of the expensively furnished rooms in the affluent household. The source of the music comes from the record player that the two play in the room. As the music plays, the man and maid run around the room laughing and smiling. The music coming from the record player has an upbeat rhythm. This upbeat rhythm, along with the laughing and running around, portrays the carefree and privileged life of the wealthy people living in the mansion.

Question 2: During the hunt scene, what techniques does the director use to make the audience feel like they are taking part in the hunt?

            The scene begins with men walking through the forest, hitting the trees to make the rabbits come out. As the camera follows the men, it also follows the rabbits that are soon to be hunted. The director’s use of this series of tracking shots gives the audience a sense that they are walking alongside the men and taking part in the adventure of the hunt. Instead of simply showing the hunt, the director uses the tracking shots during the preparation of the hunt (which is using noise to get the rabbits out of hiding). These tracking shots build up to the excitement of the hunt, bringing the audience into the scene at the same time. The scene ends with loud gunshots going off and rabbits and peasants are seen falling to the ground. The hunt has begun and by this point the audience feels like they are taking part in the excitement due to the director’s use of tracking shots at the beginning of the scene.

The Godfather Part II

Movie: The Godfather Part II, 1974; 200 min

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Actors: Al Pachino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro

Summary: As Michael, the new Don Corleone, expands his control over his syndicate that stretches from Nevada to pre-revolutionary Cuba, the past story of his father, Vito, is portrayed.

Question 1: Discuss how the connection between Michael with his father Don Vito Corleone is portrayed at the beginning of the film.

Similarities between the first and second films can be seen in the opening of the second film. Both films begin with a family gathering/celebration where people come in to see the Don of the Corleone family at the time. In the second film, Michael has taken the place of his father as the head of the family. During a large celebration at his mansion, people come to Michael’s office to ask the Don for advice and help. The way Michael conducts his meetings is similar to that of how his father conducted meetings in the first film. Coppola uses these connections and similarities between Michael and his father to portray Michael’s new role as the head of the family. He has now taken his father’s place and has his shoes to fill; this is why Michael starts to conduct his affairs similar to how his father did at the family celebration.

Question 2: Discuss the importance of mise en scene and wardrobe in the film.

This film takes place in two different eras: the past when Don Vito is young, and the present when Michael is the head of the family. Mise en scene is especially important to the film because it tells the audience that the time period has changed and a different storyline is beginning or continuing. Wardrobe can tell a great deal about the time period and also about what stages the characters are in at each time of their life. For example, it is recognizable that Don Vito has not yet become successful when he is wearing less expensive clothes and is still working in the local store. Also, the setting tells what stage Vito is in his life because before he becomes successful he lives in a small apartment with his family and with little belongings. Mise en scene also sets apart the more recent time period in the film when Michael is the head of the family. Michael’s home and clothing are both proof of his success and wealth, unlike his father before he became the Don. Without mise en scene in wardrobe and setting, there would be no way for the audience to differentiate between the two time periods of the film.

Raging Bull

Movie: Raging Bull, 1980; 129 min

Director: Martin Scorsese

Actors: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci

Summary: The story of Jake La Motta, an emotionally unstable boxer, unfolds as his career progresses but his life outside the ring slowly becomes destroyed.

Question 1: Opera music plays at certain points throughout the film. At what points does the music play and why? Give specific examples.

Opera music is played throughout the entire film. It opens the film with the credits along with a slow motion scene of a fighter in the ring. The opera music sets a calming and peaceful tone to the scene, but it is actually used to serve as a contrast to the danger of the fighting that occurs in the boxing ring. When the music is played at the beginning of the film, it makes it seem as though the boxer is dancing instead of fighting. The opera music continues throughout the film, especially during times of chaos and fighting. It plays during Jay’s boxing matches and also during a bar fight with Joey. The music is interesting because it is such a contrast to the scenes in which it plays during. This contrast between the music and what is happening in the scenes might be used to calm the intensity of the scene/fights, or it could also be used to add to the intensity because opera music would not typically be played during a fight.

Question 2: Give an analysis on the fight scene montage.  How does the director portray this sequence of shots differently compared to the rest of the film?

The major fight scene montage is different than other scenes in the film due to the fact that it is a montage and it also incorporates scenes in color. The fight is to opera music, as if the boxers are dancing together in the ring. Instead of the shots flowing together, they are broken up into stills, creating more of a montage feel. This technique is used to contrast the other fight scenes in the film because this scene is one of the more major ones. The quick and sharp changes between the shots of the fight give a sense of chaos and tension to the audience. Also incorporated into the fight scene montage are home videos of Joey’s wedding, of Jay and Vicki together, and of the family. What makes these videos different from the rest of the film is that they are the only shots that are shot in color. The contrast between the black and white of the film to the color of the home videos portrays the fact that Jay’s life would be brighter if he values his family over his bleak, black and white life as a boxer.