Film response to: Scorned (2013)

Scorned, directed by Mark Jones, is about a girl called Sadie, played by AnneLynne McCord, who goes away on a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, however, she discovers that he is cheating on her with her best friend, so Sadie decides to discipline them both, by torturing them, giving them the pain she went through as a child, due to killing her own sister.

Scorned, in my opinion, had my attention right away. From the opening scene, we are introduced to a house in a storm, with a man waking up, with a women in tears. In the conversation, we are told that he is cheating on her, in which I straight away felt sympathy for Sadie, but then the scene changes to what happened a couple of hours before, which led back to the opening scene, in which showed me that there was defiantly something odd with Sadie overall, which was a mystery. When introduced back to the opening scene, we are then introduced to the REAL Sadie. She invites the girl he is cheating on, her best friend, round after she sent a text saying that he has dumped her and the house was free, leaving the real juice to begin, with her forcing them both to have sex in front of her, electrocution, bone breaking (with the influence from the film misery) and blood splatter. I'm not normally the one to squint at scenes like this, but in the way AnneLynne played Sadie, in such a psychotic and twisted way, I was quite disturbed, because the story line, I felt, was very good. However this is only my opinion. There are a few things I have left only, purely for you to watch and decide for yourself.

Here is a little trailer for the film- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDmiJCSrKgQ

 

Fiddler on the roof

 

 

Fiddler on the roof is set in 1905, Russia, in a little Jewish town, mainly focusing on Tevye, a strong willed farther of five daughters, but also how he has to maintain his family,  following their Jewish traditions, whilst outsiders try to influence them, to break their tradition and follow the outside world. His three oldest daughters, however, convinced him and they break the tradition, by marrying the ones they love. The consequence of this though, is that in the end, the whole village is forced to leave their homes by the Russian Government.

 

 

 

In my opinion of Fiddler on the roof,  I did enjoy the whole story line, however, there were times in which I did not really know what was going on, such as the beginning, I had no idea on when it was set, or what was happening at the time in Russia, as a scene takes place within Russia itself, with protesters which are attacked by an army. I also found it quite hard to understand a few of the characters names as well, but then again it may of just been myself who could not hear them properly. However despite these few points, I still got a concept of the story line, which I cut a lot out from the opening paragraph, in that it told the story of how a Jewish village lived away from the world, not caring what the outside world did, but only following their Jewish tradition, reference to the song 'tradition', but how the film focused on one particular family, with a strong willed dad and his five daughters. We are introduced to Tevye, a milkman, who seems to enjoy his life, though poor. Tevye leads the audience on a journey, at first singing a song called 'tradition' telling the audience about their religion in the town, but also how new things are swept aside because they do not like change. However, the story then starts to take a turn since he invites a stranger to join them with their 'Sabbath' meal, in which his eldest daughter falls in love with him. The story then continues to turn on his family, as his other two eldest daughters follow, going against their tradition of life, in which Tevye goes back and forward to the audience about it all, but also blaming God, asking him questions. Though what I truly love about this film, is that it has a few serious scene, but overall a happy, singing, dancing film, but when the ending arrives, it hits you like a ton of bricks, literally. I remember my smile just being smacked off my face because of the ending. The ending is where one of Tevye's friends had joined the Russian army and told them to abandon their village and move away, meaning that each and every village member went their own separate ways, including Tevye's three eldest daughters. This hit me because, throughout the film, you could see the community had a strong relationship with everyone, always laughing and smiling and to see it taken away from them just like that, was just devastating. No music, just a gentle wind and fog and you watch the happiness disappear with the community slipping into the fog.

 

Overall I personally think this film does have a lot of history to tell the audience, however, for me to personally understand the story itself, I need to watch it over a few more times, as I had to look up the synopsis for the time it was set, but I just love the whole concept of the story from beginning to end, despite if I don't understand what is going on all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QegNUOg2ajE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

À bout de soufflé (Breathless) Film response

A bout de soufflé (breathless) was a new wave of cinema around 1959/1960, including hand held cameras, real location settings and no studio based scenes, natural lighting, along with neon lights, un common editing and lastly the main protagonist who is anti-hero.


Breathless was a very interesting film to watch and understand at first, following the main protagonist around Paris, moving from one women to the next, taking money, stealing cars, just like an everyday situation. However his main reason for being constantly on the move is because he 'accidently' shot a police officer, in which the hunt is on for the protagonist, Michel, to be captured. Whilst following Michel, we are introduced to an American journalist, Patricia Franchini, who is confused on her love for Michel, so decides to join him to run away together to Italy. What I love about this film was the ending in which, I was convinced their love for one another grew, however Patricia called the police on Michel telling them exactly where he was, because she decided she was not in love with him at all, which is an unusual ending, in which not many people would be used to, because this was a new film, from the French, as Hollywood's structure was a male protagonist, and a villain, along with an understanding storyline and suitable ending. However this film is a complete contrast with Michel as the main protagonist, but an anti-hero, along with scenes talking about daily life, or seducing men/women.


Overall though difficult to understand at first, the film did make sense and it was interesting to watch, as we are used to a set structure within the film industry, so it was nice to see something bizarre made, but worked.


































 

Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown film response

The film is about a women who has recently broken up with her lover, Ivan, but does not know why, so she decides to find out. Her journey starts to become complicated with her friend running from the law, her lover's son  and fiancée visit her house to view it, in which the Ivan's son is roped in, police arrive at her house because a serious phone call was made about a terrorist attack  and her lovers psychotic wife is out to kill Ivan.

 

For a 'world cinema' film, by Pedro Almodóvar, in Spanish, I did enjoy this film. The story line, though complicated at times, was, in my case, simple to understand. It had my attention from the start, with no dull moments and showing many emotional states and relationship issues  that international women can relate to, as it is  female heavy. However I feel that I cannot write anything else about this film because I am not sure whether or not that I have fully understood the whole context or any of the themes/issues involved within this story, though I enjoyed it, I still feel I am missing out a lot of information, but then again that may just be me.