The Godfather-Film Review

*spoiler alert.
In viewing The Godfather, there are many aspects of creating this film that involved Mise en scene. The lighting throughout the film represents the dark side of the “gangster life,” especially because the eyes of characters were mostly shadows and the costumes were always dark suits. Lighting plays a huge role in this film, specifically when used in scenes which create the “villain” in each of the characters in the Corleone family. The entire film was overall dark and gloomy. There was so many people in the Corleone family I had to keep going back to review the character sheet that was given out in class to remember who was who and which person died at this moment and who killed who and why. I never understand why all the killing was necessary, and why there were so many families involved with each other and why they all were enemies. I never grasped the main point of why everything was so murderous and how certain families were more powerful than others. All I really got out of this film was not to marry an Italian man who never tells you about his “business” and wears a black suit, because you might end up being blown up in a car. Always be honest to your spouse! Everyone was evil in this film; I couldn’t decide who was right from wrong, because in the end, all the important people died anyways.
I was able to follow the Al Pacino’s character (Michael Corleone), because at first he was not all about going into the family business, but in the end, it turns out to become the next godfather and is just as bad as his father, maybe even worse! There were so many unethical things that happened in this movie, but I guess that’s what makes it so interesting and messed up. The props in this movie were a huge part, especially when Michael kills those two men at the restaurant. It signifies Michael’s start in the family business. The costumes were important as well because it represented the dark and realistic aspect of being a mob family. They are all about the color black: black cars, black guns, and black suits; there was barely any color. The only color difference I saw was the brightness in the dresses of the wives at weddings; which was the only delightful experience in the film. These kinds of movies (dark, mobster, films) are the kinds of movies I need to see a few times till I get the full comprehension. I’m the type of person you want to punch in the face during a movie because I ask too many questions! I’ve realized that I do that for a reason because at the end of movies I don’t understand; my reactions are confused and scattered. If you’re like me, I’d recommend watching this film with someone who has already seen it plenty of times so they can walk you through it.

Analytical Review- Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is a well put together film that creates imagery and illusions to the world of war. Francis Coppola directed this film and the shots and angles show a lot of cinematography. The introduction to this film begins with a song "The End" by the Doors and it is what drew me into watching the rest of the film because it foreshadowed chaos and destruction. It begins with the main character, Captain Willard, laying in bed and thinking about past memories of his experiences in war. It first fades into a shot of large plants with brown smoke rising from the bottom of the screen. Several helicopters fly by and when they do, a huge fire explosion takes place within the fields of the green plants. After the fire explosion became transparent with a close up of Captain Willard's face appeared and he looked frightened with his bright blue eyes opening wide. Then the shot of his face overlaps with the fan on the ceiling of Willard's room. The blades were spinning so fast it sounded like helicopter propellers.
The color scheme in this sequence had a lot of orange because of the fire and black background. It was very smoky and chaotic because it was Captain Willard’s flashbacks of the Vietnam War. Then the camera pans to the right over Willard’s desk, which has a bunch of letters and a picture of his wife lying on top. As it pans from the desk to Willard’s head on his pillow with his eyes closed, it fades into more flashbacks of the war.
The lyrics of the song are very relevant to what the audience sees on the screen. The persistence of vision is amazing in this sequence. For example, when Jim Morrison (singer of The Doors), sang, “Lost in a roman...wilderness of pain and all the children are insane all the children are insane,” It goes along with the sequence of shots. It starts from Captain Willard’s head on the pillow and the transparent background of actual ‘wilderness of pain’ with the war images of explosions and forests. Then it pans over to a night stand next to Willard’s bed with a lighter, a pack of cigarettes, a glass of scotch, and a spoon lying on top. This shot is in a mobile frame as the song plays, “And all the children are insane,” at that point of the song it’s on a low angle of Willard’s head with his eyes closed and slowly moves to a close up shot of a his hand holding a cigarette. I think it can mean that the soldiers of war are the children and all of the pain and murder that he’s been through he has gone insane. The symbolism here is that he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, and got a divorce with his wife because he can’t handle living back in reality. And all he thinks about is being in the jungle when he’s not there.

Apocalypse Now- Film Review

Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now is full of tragedy and despair. It was during the Vietnam War and Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) was sent on a secret mission to assassinate one of his fellow American soldiers. A very high-respected soldier became somewhat insane over the years--Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) created his own tribe in Cambodia and he uses his "people" to enforce murder and brainwashes them by his psychotic methods. This movie was hard to follow because it’s chaotic from the first sequence to the mysterious ending. The journey of confusion arose as the movie progressed, but I was so caught up in the visuals of the film I missed the symbolism and meaning to the story. Tons of war scenes with fire explosions and carcasses everywhere was not a type of movie I enjoyed seeing because it put sadness in my heart. However, the soundtrack and beautiful cinematography caught my attention. So many different colors were used in different ways throughout the film. It was depressing but entertaining and filled with action and remorse.

Analytical Review-The Diving Bell and Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is shot in a very particular way that I’ve never seen before. It starts off right away as blurry and confusing until the point of view is clear that it is shown from a perspective of the main character. Jean-Do is lying in a hospital and the only shots that are visible are what he can see from his perspective. He is diagnosed with locked-in syndrome where he is paralyzed from head to toe, only able to blink and use his left eye. The four attributes of the Shot are clearly noticed and have a huge impact on the cinematography of the film. The framing, color, depth of field, and movement all play a huge role from the beginning to the final credits of the film.

Throughout the first hour of the film it’s all in subjective point of view of Jean-Do who only sees certain things on screen with his one eye. The entire beginning sequence is canted framing that included a lot of off screen space; which is when you can tell there is more of a scene that exists beyond the shot that it shows on screen. For example, when Celine visits Jean-Do, the framing cuts off her head and can only see her body because she isn’t directly looking into Jean-Do’s eyes. Frames like that make me sit on the edge of my seat because I just want the camera to shift a tiny bit up just so I can see her face. When the doctor is explaining to her how he can respond “yes” and “no” with a blink of an eye, he informs her that Jean-Do can only see if you look directly at him. When he walks over to the left and right of the frame, he disappears from the screen and reappears again to show her that he cannot see from those certain angles. Whenever someone speaks to Jean-Do, it’s always close-up shots of the character’s face and is in focus for the most part which gives the audience a good visual remembrance of who comes and visits Jean-Do.

The value of image is beautiful. When Jean-Do is lying in his hospital bed, the main colors that are noticed are white, red, black, and bright yellow. The hospital room is white and has red curtains and vibrant red flowers sitting next to his bed by the windowsill. Near the window there is a bright light shining in through the blinds that creates a florescent yellow. Whenever Jean-Do closes his eyes there is black and red underneath his eyelids which makes the shot more realistic as the audience was looking right through his eyes.

The way that the depth of field was produced in this film made the perspective much more realistic and understandable. The feeling of confinement and imprisonment overcomes the audience as we are trapped inside Jean-Do’s body just as he feels with his locked-in syndrome. Right when the film starts it opens with Jean-Do’s eyes opening and the blurriness of his focus goes in and out very inconsistently. Every time Jean-Do closes his eyes the screen goes black and when he opens them back up it is blurry and slowly becomes clearer. The focus is all over the place and mostly filled with dutch angles and head shots where certain people from a distance are in focus and the surroundings in the distance are out of focus.

A good example of movement in this movie was the first time we see Jean-Do in a wheel chair. He was with his lady-friend who helped him write his book up on the roof of the hospital and it was when he spelled out to her “I’ve stopped pitying myself.” This shot is meaningful because it goes from a long shot to an extreme long shot in one frame and the movement and cinematography shows that he is let free. A beautiful shot of them and their surroundings is all in focus in that extreme long shot.

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

If you're looking for a mind-blowing, intriguing and poetic film, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly is a great movie to watch. Based on a true story about a journalist/editor of Elle fashion magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby wakes up from a deep sleep to find out hes paralyzed from head to toe (this disease is called Locked-in Syndrome), with his left eye the only functional body part, he learns to communicate with the blink of his eye and is determined to write a book even under the circumstances of not having the ability to speak or move. This film shows the courage and determination of a man who is still very intelligent, and expresses himself through the caring patience of those who helped him communicate with his eye to write his book.
It's obvious that this film is an autobiography because it's shot in first person point of view and we are in Jean-Dominique's perspective the moment the film opens. Right when the movie opened it caught my attention because the filming was very limited to what you could see on the screen, since it was only what Jean-Dominque could see it was the way his body was positioned and where his one eye can look (he had to get his other eye sowed up because there was an infection). This type of filming kept me wanting more; especially because you don't get to see what Jean-Dominique looks like until you get a bit more into the film. Jean-Dominique was an excellent writer and poet and had a huge imagination. This movie goes from reality to his imagination and the shots of Jean-Dominique's imaginations were beautiful. One image that sticks out to me is when a woman was standing on a hill with trees and a huge forest in the background. Whenever his imagination scenes were over, the pleasant background music comes to an aburpt stop and goes back to a scene of reality. Although this movie is in French with english subtitles, I feel like I could understand it more that way reading the subtitles because it made me focus more on his words and what he was describing since he speaks in such metorphorical terms. I think it's easier to comprehend things when they are written out and these visuals of subtitles and images of his meanings really drew me in!