Shoot the Piano Player

As I continue to watch French New Wave movies, I seem to only continue to grow in love for them. I really do find these types of movies to be very interesting and unique. I can definitely see why so many people have admired these movies over the years; the one thing I can't seem to figure out is why the French New Wave movement didn't last longer. Shoot the Piano Player only helped the above come more true. In a great attempt to take extremely unique thing and bring them together resulted in a great movie for cinema of all times.

I must say while I wasn't disappointed in Shoot the Piano Player, The 400 Blows was a better movie to me. With both by Truffaut, though, you aren't bound to go in a wrong direction. Again, it was hard for me to find something that truly irritated me or that I didn't like. A few things I found interesting about the movie were centered around the characters and their development. I like how the camera really gives a true form of the development of the characters, each playing a crucial role in the story. No, it doesn't necessarily show them developing from one type of person to another but it certainly shows us how they affect the story and develop within the story, especially Charlie. And then while we see him develop through the camera, we see him develop (and express himself) through his piano. It's almost like a triple effect. While mentioning Charlie, I think he (Charles Aznavour) did an excellent job in playing his role and acting, along with the several other actors and actresses in the film.

Without knowing this movie was a French New Wave movie, I would've probably guessed it was one by the way the movie was directed and put out to the audience. I clearly saw many aspects of what a French New Wave movie is all about: expression through the camera and film on a topic close and dear to the director. We see the total expression of many things through Shoot the Piano Player. The main point I saw and got from it was a clear show of the relationships of a human's life, in this case to his art, significant others, family, and all the relationships he endured and had to accomplish things within. When researching the movie a little, I found what I thought I would - the explanation for the movie stated as one which a man hides from his crazy life by doing the only thing he knows how to do, which allows him to escape the past. I don't think the movie completely shows us about how we, as people, can be affected and fall into what Charlie did in the movie. I think it also opens up the other side of the view as we can see what being the people influencing others is like, sometimes good and sometimes bad. This was certainly an eye opener for all stages of our personal and daily lives.

In a way, I wish we could spend the rest of the year on the French New Wave unit, especially Truffaut, but I look forward to seeing some other types of movies, as long as they compare in greatness to Shoot the Piano Player and other French New Wave movies.

-Kevin

The 400 Blows

After watching The 400 Blows, in French, Les Quatre Cent Coups, I can now see why many consider it one of the best French New Wave movies ever made. Although black and white, it only added to the film more. The fact that the language was French also made the film unique, as it wasn't in the typical English and sound we are used to hearing nowadays.

I really couldn't find one thing that I disliked about The 400 Blows, and that is not usual for me. Everything seemed to fall in line. The cast was great; sure, you could say the acting was a little melodramatic but then again, it is hard to find acting back in the day that isn't melodramatic. I thought that the director did an excellent job of taking this simple storyline of a child who misbehaves a lot and turning it into a grand movie. This is something we see a lot of today – children misbehaving, and we really never think anything of it. We just blow it off as one of those un-disciplined children, but The 400 Blows shows no discipline at its best. At the same time, though, the movie makes you feel sorry for the troublesome kid, encouraging you to almost egg him on to continue to do more bad stuff. That is where the movie suckered me in. While I knew that the boy was doing wrong and saw that side of the story, I wanted to see him succeed to see what was to gappen next, both in his crime and in his punishment. To be able to do that to a viewer takes a really well-focused film, and I think The 400 Blows fits into that category perfectly. Along with the above, I also shockingly enjoyed the film in French. I think it added to the effect the movie put across. I typically do not like to read subtitles, as I’d rather focus on the movie totally, but it was neat in this case.

A French New Wave movie is a movie in which the director expresses their thoughts, usually dealing with something happening in society at the current time, through the camera to put a thought in the mind of the viewer. There is no question that The 400 Blows falls under this category. After researching the movie because I found it interesting and wanted to learn a little more, I found that this was Francois Truffaut’s, the director, type of film autobiography. This movie was his expression of many events of his life. As well, this was the movie that not only opened up French New Wave cinema to the rest of society but actually fueled the era itself. I also found it pretty interesting that the title actually means raising hell as a French idiomatic expression.

If the movies we keep watching in this French New Wave unit continue to compare to The 400 Blows, I think I will truly like this set of movies. It’s through movies like these that my whole opinion on older movies takes a drastic turn and change.

-Kevin

Seven (Se7en)

This movie is one of those movies that I don't have any problem writing about and could probably go on days and days about all of the neat things about it. Seven, also known as Se7en, was a very upbeat and intense movie. Combining all of the factors we have been learning throughout last year with an excellent storyline, this movie was one that everyone should see, regardless if he or she is studying film or not.

Maybe it's just me because it is consistent with me for every movie, but once again, I had a hard time getting into the movie in the beginning and figuring out what was going on. I look back at the beginning now and think how in the world did I miss that or not get that. It all connected obviously when I realized the movie was based on the seven deadly sins and murders surrounding the sins. Anyways, as for the storyline, I have to commend the writing and directing cast. This was one of the best storylines I think we have seen on film this year. Taking something the world can really relate to and putting it into context was really neat. Not to mention, the way the storyline was brought across was even better. Once again, this movie had a great set of actors and actresses. From the small parts to the big parts, the whole movie came together very well and was portrayed in excellent to get across a great point.

My favorite thing about Seven was its ability to do something very few modern movies can do. A typical modern movie talks about the same old stories dealing with love and outrageous violence or something of the like, using no sense of good movie technique except for the "Hollywood Way." Seven, on the other hand, went above and beyond that. It applied concepts of movies that have been used in the oldest movies we have seen. It didn't focus on the Hollywood technique but on real film technique. There were quite a few differences I saw but two that I thought were pretty major.

The first that really stuck out to me was that this movie had a theme and storyline that meant something. Instead of focusing on a typical storyline that means nothing at all, Seven portrayed a great theme. Taking the seven deadly sins, something all of us can relate to at some point, and putting them into perspective was a major sign. It even made me kind of think about the things I do that fall under all of those categories; everytime I saw one of the murders and therefore one of the sins, I kind of felt guilty at the same time, knowing some time or another I probably committed that. So, for this reason, the main point is that the storyline and theme had value and wasn't just pure imagination.

The other thing that stuck out to me was Seven's use of technique, especially under the Film Noir category. I saw quite a few similarities to Seven and other movies, but even more under the Film Noir movies. In a typical Film Noir movie, you have a story based in crime, crazy plots and twists to the crimes, a femme fatale (woman causing the downfall of the man), and the story looked at from the criminal's perspective. In each of those facts comes some show in Seven. Seven was a movie based on crime that was definitely crazy and twisted up; this was definitely not your typical murder story nor something we would normally see on the news at night in reference to a murder. I also saw Seven as a movie that we saw from the murder's eyes; we saw his plan unfold and eventually succeed and exactly what his plan was all about. Finally, we also see a mini femme fatale in the young detective himself but also in the young detective's wife. I see the young detective as the femme fatale, except as a man, for the older detective. While the older detective was going through a downtime, when the young detective screws it all up, I see the older detective going down too. At the same time, we see the young detective's wife as the femme fatale because her being caught up with the murder eventually causes the downfall of her husband, who eventually blows away any chance of defeating the criminal.

All in all, I think Seven was an excellent movie to show. I loved it and I think it is a movie that really shows a lot. Not only did it take us on a unique movie ride, but it also did so in a unique way, using things that a typical movie of today rarely uses.

-Kevin

The Big Lebowski

In a movie that I compare to Bubba Hotep in how absurd it was, The Big Lebowski was an extremely interesting movie, both in entertainment and film style. I really enjoyed it and thought it did a good job in portraying a story through the technique and characters. Also, for a movie that we were to look for similarities between it and The Big Sleep as well as Film Noir, I really had a hard time concentrating on looking for that, being distracted by the movie in general.

There were a lot of neat things about The Big Lebowski. In addition to hearing the many different ways to say the f word, I had a good time experiencing the movie on a whole. I liked the cast a lot and the setting always seemed to fit the movie and what was going on perfectly. What I really liked about this movie was that it didn't have to be too complex of a movie, meaning that we didn't need all these special effects and major actors or actresses to have a quality, modern movie. Other things that were also very solid in The Big Lebowski was its ability to keep the viewer interested, not only in their language and how funny they were acting but the actual story and how the story played out through the characters and therefore from the camera.

While in the Film Noir movie, we watched this movie to compare it to The Big Sleep, which has been said to have quite a few similarities. One of the major similarities was the "mock role" of the general in The Big Sleep to the big Lebowski in the movie. Along with that, the other two characters that mocked each other's role was the Dude and Bogey, especially whenever they are around their bosses, which was the general for Bogey and the big Lebowski for the Dude. I also saw another similarity in the storyline. What I mean by this is not necessairily that the stories matched each other, but more that they both started off with this one goal in mind and eventually it branched out into a bunch of different stories, some fitting and some random. The Big Lebowski, in this case was easier to follow and understand. And of course, both movies left you hanging, wondering what happend here and there and basically everywhere. Anyways, for me, I really only saw a few similarities between the two movies, although I did see a few more similarities between a typical Film Noir movie and The Big Lebowski. This is why you can basically name this movie a modern Film Noir movie, if there is such a thing.

As I mentioned earlier, I did not like the ending. I still have so many unanswered questions - What happend to Jesus? Did they win the bowling tournament? What did they get out of the whole deal? Did they gain any money? Did he get his rug back? Is his room tied together now? Did the Big Lebowski get what was coming for him? Did the guy looking for his money sing like he did in Buffalo '66? So many questions, so little answers...

Regardless, The Big Lebowski was quite a movie to stick into the curriculum. I enjoyed it and thought it was very fitting to what we were discussing because even though I didn't catch numerous similarities in the two movies mentioned above, there were quite a few. This is neat because it is interesting how film is so continious and just keeps growing, but growing out of what started it, including movies like The Big Sleep.

-Kevin

The Big Sleep

This was an interesting movie to start out the second semester, one that I actually liked in many aspects as well. As we begin the unit on Film Noir, I am excited to see what other movies there are that are considered this type because I liked this type of setting and environment. I like the darkened, paceful, stormy feel during a movie and these movies tend to stay in that style. The Big Sleep was one of those movies. With the whole Film Noir going on, The Big Sleep helped show me not only more about the style but more about film itself.

There was one thing that distracted me a bit, and I hope it is not common in these films. Like most of the viewers of this movie, I could not follow all of the storylines. When I thought I figured out one of them, another one popped into the story and the one I had been trying to figure out was never really solved and stated. This really bothered me because I had a hard time following the movie, but it did allow me to focus on more of what a Film Noir movie is. I easily related this movie and this type of movie to the German Expressionism movies. Like the German Expressionist movies, the storylines were hard to totally figure out and the environment remained the same; it just seemed like these directors had more green to put into the movie. Overall, though, like I mentioned, I like this low-key and black and white style of films, especially when a lot just seems to be fitting perfect.

Obviously, my likes outweighed my dislikes for The Big Sleep. At first, I wasn't a fan and not because it wasn't color but because I couldn't seem to get into the movie and focus on the theme. Once I put interest into it, I realized that what was showing was pretty neat, although the storyline was way out of whack. This is a prime example of a time when I wish directors and writers would've written down about each movie they worked on what exactly everything was all about. While I do like to watch a movie and try to interpret it myself, this movie was nearly impossible to do so. Another thing I realized in these Film Noir movies is there similarity to German Expressionist movies in the introducing of actual film technique. Since these movies were made back then as well when film technique was coming out, it is interesting to see it being used as comparison to later films that we have watched.

There were two things that were without a doubt my favorite. One of them is obvious - the environment and atmosphere of the movie. The way the movie went about was so smooth, excluding the storyline, and the flow was so excellent inside of the surrounding figures and things. The other thing was without a doubt the actors and actresses. These people were great. While they worked around a complex subject, they made the movie that much better. Both Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were perfect fit for the role that was played. Doing exactly what they needed to do to pull off their part in a Film Noir movie, they are the main reasons, along with the first favorite, that I like these types of movies.

The ending, well, was your typical ending and needed to come before my brain blew up trying to figure out what was exactly going on, but The Big Sleep was a great movie to start off the semester and the Film Noir unit. In regards to a movie I found interesting and actually comical at times, I am curious to see more similar to it in the category.

-Kevin

The 2006 Kimberlys

I am proud to announce the inaugural year of The Kimberlys®. Having nothing to do with the Oscars, this award show was created to actually give out awards that mean something and don't go to a bunch of rich people who just want to put something else on their accomplishment shelf. These awards go to the brightest of the bright and the best of the best in the film world of all ages and time.

THE 2006 KIMBERLYS

*Nominees are listed with the winner in italics and noted as winner.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Anthony Perkins (Psycho)

Max Schreck (Shadow of the Vampire)
Winner: John Malkovich (Shadow of the Vampire)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Christina Ricci (Buffalo '66)

Natalie Portman (Garden State)

Winner: Janet Leigh (Psycho)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

John Russell (Psycho)

Lou Bogue (Shadow of the Vampire)

Winner: Daniel Pearl (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [1974])

BEST COSTUMES

Shadow of the Vampire
Nosferatu
Winner: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

BEST DIRECTOR

Nicholas Roge

Fritz Lang

Winner: Alfred Hitchcock

BEST FILM EDITING AND USE OF TECHNIQUE

Citizen Kane

Frenzy

Winner: Don't Look Now

BEST SET

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Nosferatu

Winner: Citizen Kane

BEST MAKEUP

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Nosferatu

Winner: Shadow of the Vampire

BEST CAST

Shadow of the Vampire

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Winner: Psycho

BEST STORYLINE

Buffalo '66

Rope

Winner: Frenzy

BEST PICTURE

Buffalo '66 (directed by Vincent Gallo)

Garden State (directed by Zach Braff)

Runner-Up: Don't Look Now (directed by Nicholas Roge)

Winner: Rope (directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

©2006 Fiya Guillory, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Kimberlys® is a registered trademark and service mark of Fiya Guillory, Inc.

-Kevin

1st Semester of Film Studies

I must say that it has been a blast in the first semester of Film Studies. I have learned numerous things about film, things that I never even knew about. It has been a cool half year with a lot of interesting things both in film and in the classroom. The movies have been awesome, the teaching has been great (although this instructor is crazy...), and what I have gotten out of Film Studies is really neat. I look forward to another fun semester of this class come January.

-Kevin

Rope

I don't think there was a better way to end the year than with the film, Rope. Not only did this movie become my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, but it also became one of my favorites from this year of class. Hitchcock once again hits the thumb on the nail with the film and his directing technique within it. He does his name well with a really neat movie.

I think a lot of my liking of this movie came from the fact that it had the simplest storyline of any movie we have seen this year, but it was presented in the most unique way. Hitchcock took a simple murder story and added so many factors to keep the viewer, especially me, very interested. This is contributed to a lot of things he did so perfectly in this movie.

On the contrary, I thought the actors and actresses and the acting fit really well with the movie. I can see where someone would be coming from thinking the acting, especially the two main characters, is a little absurd, but I think that it is done on purpose to overemphasize the absurd thinking they did in their shananigans. So, I thought that they did a good job in playing their suspicious yet high class attitudes. As for the other characters, I thought they fit in just perfect as well. James Stewart did a way better job in Rope than he did in Rear Window. He was very interesting in Rope and really did a good job in keeping the suspense rolling throughout the film. A few other good actors and actresses were Janet and Kenneth, both of whom the storyline relied on in reference to being closely associated in some form with the person killed in the film, David. These two really keep a lot interesting enhancing the story to a higher level. Overall, though, this could be one of Hitchcock's best casts.

This movie was a big leap for Hitchcock in the film world. While it was his first color movie, coming out in 1948, it was also a new technique use for Hitchcock. While he still did use the basic film technique everyone knows about very well, he used this new technique of very few cuts. He filmed and filmed and filmed and stopped rarely. Although this was probably a pain with mistakes and things like that, the film itself looks great all together.

As I stated earlier, this is definitely one of my favorite storylines. Hitchcock uses this simple murder story about two guys strangling a friend so that they can commit the perfect murder and satisfy their intellectual self and lets it branch out into all of these crazy and sick, yet awesome things. The way he did this well was his perfect way of connecting the set with the characters, the characters with each other, and the whole cast with the basic murder storyline. Because of his execution of this, the simple plot was turned into an exciting one.

Although it is deemed as one of Hitchcock's weirder movies, I think it represents him a lot and was obviously a big step for him in many categories of film. Rope was a very well-done and intriguing movie from start to finish that lets one wonder at the next party what the chest in the room contains.

-Kevin