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.

Film Review of Leeds University- The Forgotten Hit, Indecision and Farwell Charlie Power.

The Forgotten Hit.

The Forgotten Hit was a good short film. The story and the plot twist were planned out very well. I liked how there was not much dialogue so the audience could focus more on the facial expressions and the story itself. The music itself worked well creating an atmosphere of tension and suspense. The pace of the film was good, however at some points I felt it dragged and I wanted it to pick up the pace, but then again I feel the pace worked alright. The twist at the end of the story worked really well to the story and also an unexpected twist as well.




Indecision.

Indecision I feel had a alright story plot, which you could follow. It was about a man and a women in love, but the man felt like he was pretending so decided to leave her, however he then had mixed feelings on what to do. In this film a special effect is used by the camera. Both actors were sat in different places, but the camera was flipping like a coin,360 degrees in to the ground and up the other side, which felt to me as this was showing the feelings of either the man, women or both and it confused me, but yet it worked. Throughout the film though, the characters do not speak and you have a narrator talking over and guiding you through the story of emotions and feelings. I feel that yes the story was ok but what I enjoyed about it was the camera flipping 360 degrees.




Farwell Charlie Power

Farwell Charlie Power had a good story plot. I understood what was going on, who the characters were and the plot. I could tell that the main character had learning difficulties, by the way the actor played him, by stuttering his words, always being naughty, hyper and happy, but you could tell he was a handful as well. I love how the setting was set, in the countryside, by the hills and houses.
This piece of film was quite long, however it took the audience on a journey through this young man's life but also his mother's and how she is suffering trying to look after her son. We can see after her son accidentally kills her husband, how she struggles looking after him everyday. Yet the ending completely changes the mood which is lovely.

Film response to "Seven"

The film "Seven" is a thriller and crime film, about two detectives who are on a serial killer case, however, this serial killer used the seven deadly sins to get a message across. 

"Seven" for me, was such an intense film. It had me throughout the whole film on the edge and it had my focus. It is quite graphic, but it paints the picture of what is going on  and by doing this, visualizing the graphics of the murders realistic as possible. I loved how throughout the film, you could never get away from the dark and gloom of the urban city, because this showed the audience that this is life, no matter what. I also love how throughout the film, we did not know who the killer was until right at the end, which was quite a shock, but this ending made me question myself, on why the murderer was doing this and what was he up to? I also thought that, by this ending, the two detectives were his last murders!

Morgan Freeman and brad Pitt both played the characters very well. Morgan's character was the detective of the crime and his character always looked at the crimes in a different way, he always looked 'outside the box' or 'the bigger picture' to try and understand what these murders were trying to say. Pitts' character, Mills, suited him very well. Mills is a determined character and is totally opposite to Detective Summerset. Mills could think outside of the box, because he is too focused on just trying to get the killer in. He, at first, does not look deeply into the crime scenes, just brushes a few looks around, so both of these characters worked well with each other because Summerset taught Mills to look at 'the bigger picture.' They were an odd couple but they worked brilliant in the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUQ6AF9MTcY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsTUFuj4qwY

Review of 'Silent Hill- Revelation'

Silent Hill is about a girl who keeps getting these horrible nightmares, asleep or awake, she knows something is after her.

What I love about Silent Hill is mostly the tension building throughout the whole film, but also the creatures from Silent Hill and the way things disappear. The story is a good story, but what makes it better is the when absurd things happen around the main character and the audience are shown snippets of these creatures and close up detail of these characters.

When we arrived in Silent Hill, I loved the atmosphere, all we could hear was her footsteps, the wind and the church bell, which set an uneasy atmosphere which worked really well, because it made me feel that there was going to be a jump scare. I also loved when we got to see more of these creatures that lived in Silent Hill and they were so weird, creepy, eerie, something different for a change.

I just can not think of anything else to say about this film apart from you would have to watch it then you can decide for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnclXPSlA2I

Review of 'Hansel and Gretel, Witch Hunters'

This film is about the story most of us know about a bother and a sister are taken into the woods to die, but come across a house made of sweets, which inside hides a witch, which uses Gretel as her slave as tries to fatten up Hansel. However Gretel manages to push the witch into the oven and the story ended there. Yet did you not question yourself on what happened next to them? Well the film interprets what happened to them.

Years on, we discover Hansel and Gretel are well known 'Witch Hunters' and we travel with them on their journey to a particular town to get rid of these witches.

Right at the start of the film, I was drawn into it. The way the lighting was used to set the surroundings for the characters, the set and the music or sounds, to set an eerie atmosphere. I also love how we were not shown what their Mother said to her children before she told her husband to take them into the woods. This straight away makes the audience judge her, because of the fairy tale that she is the evil mum and so the camera interprets this to the audience to make them think she is evil, when we discover something later on.

I love all the action/ fighting scenes throughout the film, but also with quite a lot of gore, which makes it feel realistic and the music fitted all different types of action/ fighting scenes. It depends though if you love the dark fairy tales and gore then this is a really good film to watch and it is so gripping throughout the whole film, it keeps you on the ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAzqMhVHh0c

Film response to "Misery"

Where do is start? Misery in my opinion is a very intense, dark and twisted film, which is what makes the film much more exciting and interesting. What I love about the film is the way everything is set, the theme, lighting, sound, costumes, everything. The  two main characters are represented very well. Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is a famous writer of the books "Misery", quite calm and relaxed and Annie Wilks (Kathy Bates) is his no.1 fan. When theses two meet, the whole atmosphere changes when we first meet Annie. I love how when we , the audience, are introduced to her, she has this innocent look about her, perhaps the way she is dressed or perhaps by the cross she wears, Annie change's the mood with her present. When the film gets intense, it gets a lot more interesting, the way Annie's attitudes changes when she snaps at the swearing from the book, just one little thing changes the way we think of Annie. I love when the film starts to unravel, everything was intense and suddenly we find out what Annie is really like when she finds out Paul kills off Misery, Annie turns into a psycho. We see Annie has two personalities and the audience is shown both of her sides. I love how Annie is portrayed just by her clothes, wearing knitted jumpers, the way she smiles in a disturbing way, but also her home. It looks very heart warming however this is only in the room Paul Sheldon is in. When we are shown the rest of the house, everything is a contrast, it is all dark and mysterious. Kathy Bates plays Annie so well, the way her expressions increased my heartbeat, she made me feel very scared. James Caan also played Paul very well by making me panic on the actions he was doing trying to break free from Annie's house. His facial expressions were very believable especially when Annie smashed his ankles with a hammer, the way his expressed that pain made sink and squirm, making me feel his pain. What I also love is how the title "Misery" in a way is an actual theme running throughout the film because it links to how Paul feels whilst trapped in Annie's house, but also links to how Annie feels, how she has always felt. Overall "Misery" is a film I would defiantly watch again, there is so much more to describe about the film but you must watch it to understand the thrill and excitement of "Misery."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er409TsEc_I

Introduction for AS Film Studies

Favourite Film-Phantom of the Opera, CATS, Sweeney Todd, Nightmare before Christmas, Edward Scissor hands, Alice in Wonderland,  Fantasia-  It is very hard to decide which one.

Favourite Actor- Johnny Depp/ Helen Bonham Carter

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POCgSRVvf0

Favourite Director- Tim Burton

Favourite British Film- Harry Potter

Why I chose Film Studies- I chose Films Studies because I want to hopefully be able to go into film incase other things in life fail. I did film studies in year 9 which really got me interested into the 'Filming World' and since then,  I've wanted to be behind the camera, or editing. So the reason why I have chosen to do Film Studies is because I want  to hopefully to gain more experience about films because I just love different genres of films and I want to be apart something and say 'I did that bit.'