Film Analysis

 CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972) Cries and Whispers is a 1972 Swedish period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Its themes include faith, the female psyche, and the search for meaning in suffering, and academics have found biblical allusions. Unlike previous Bergman films, it uses saturated color, red in particular.  The film, set in a mansion at the end of the 19th century, is about three sisters and a servant who struggle with the terminal cancer of one of the sisters. The servant is close to her, while the other two sisters confront their emotional distance from each other. So as I mentioned, cries and whispers are mainly about the death of Agnes, a young woman who has cancer. As the film starts, we can see the disease is greedily eating away at her insides and causing her moments of tremendous suffering. We could see that at times, Agnes could barely breathe. She even wakes up from sleep crying in pain and begging for a cure. The process of dying is really trauma...

 RASHOMON (1950) Rashomon is a 1950’s psychological thriller/crime film directed by Akira Kurosawa and working closely with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. This film is famous for its plot device, which involves multiple characters, providing subjective, alternative, selfish, and contradictory versions of the same event. Rashomon is the first Japanese film to gain international recognition.  The two characters, the noblemen and the noblewoman were going through a forest. Suddenly the Bandit interrupts them, stops them, and then rapes the woman and then the bandit and the woman do something to the nobleman. The nobleman dies, but here we don't really know who killed him. So in the film Rashomon you get to see four different stories of who might have killed the nobleman. This particular thing is also called the “Rashomon Effect”, where the same story is told from four different perspectives and has four different endings. There’s no way to reconcile these stories. Rashomon is al...

 HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (1959) The 1959 feature film "Hiroshima Mon Amour" directed by the French filmmaker Alain Resnais tells us the story of a woman, on a short stay in Hiroshima to shoot a film about peace. While there she had a 36-hour affair with a Japanese Architect. While the two were together, they discussed their past traumas of the war. Her ill-fated romance with a German soldier who was murdered and the whole thing resulted in shame and abuse by cutting her hair, punishing her, and locking her in the basement, by her French neighbors. The man also shared how badly he was affected by the loss of his family during the bombing of his hometown Hiroshima.  As the film continues, flashbacks to the past intrude uninvited into the narrative, as memories often can, in our lives. So in a scene where the twitching hand of the Japanese Architecture reminds the woman of the dying moments of her lost lover. So you see that our past is constantly in dialogue with our present and th...

TOKYO STORY (1953) The Tokyo Story, directed by Yasujirō Ozu, is a timeless classic and is widely considered a masterpiece of Japanese cinema. Even though the film has a minimalistic story, this film has turned out to be a magnificent one. In this film, Ozu contrasts the concerns and distractions of both the younger and the older generation with a gentle sadness and a wry insight. Despite being regarded as the best achievement of Ozu’s career, Tokyo Story did not receive the title of being a masterpiece immediately. Released in 1953, the movie took several years to gain recognition and distribution around the world. It was initially considered as “Too Japanese” for the worldwide market. The film is basically divided into two parts. The first one focuses on how the elderly couple goes to visit their children and grandchildren in Tokyo. They arrived in Tokyo hoping to spend time with their eldest son Koichi, their daughter Shige, and their widowed daughter-in-law Noriko (Haruko Harako). ...

 Varda by Agnès Varda (2019) “Varda” by Agnes Varda is a documentary film by the French director Agnès Varda, who passed away in March 2019. Agnès Varda was the only female filmmaker of the French new wave and was also described as the most beloved and significant director throughout her life. Varda was her final film wherein she gives us an in-depth understanding of her working methods and life. Agnès talks about her experiences on set as a director while making a film, the hard work behind the camera, and the overall journey of a filmmaker. Her explanation of why she did things in a certain way was very enlightening. Discussion of her philosophy and her methods, the reasons and methods of her films, is incisive and inspiring.  In this documentary, she discusses her classics, such as the temporally dexterous “Cleo from 5 to 7” or “Vagabond. In this film, we also get to look at her photography, which is another aspect of his talent. Photography plays a vital role in her l...

 JULES AND JIM (1962) Released in 1962, Jules and Jim is a French film directed by François Truffaut. This film is a french new wave film and it basically centers on a love triangle between two best friends (Jim and Jules) and a woman they love (Catherine). Let’s talk about the characters. Jules is an Australian immigrant in France. He is very intellectual and shy. Jim is a french man who is very straightforward. Catherine is a modern woman and is difficult to read and she does what she wants. She doesn't try to let any rules or social norms hold her down. Catherine’s character especially is redeemed by the strength of her affections. She changes her mind as easily as the weather, conforming to an incomprehensible code of ethics all her own. These three are carefree youthful spirits full of playfulness.  Jules and Jim both have playful personalities. They do everything together, like going to the gym, having massages, visiting the local bars. These two also bond over art, poet...

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)  Released in 2012, Moonrise Kingdom Written and Directed by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola is a Comedic-Drama film that is crafted with authentic drama and some contemporary flavors. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for best original screenplay. Basically, Moonrise Kingdom is an adventure movie that breathes the air of freedom and curiosity. The film can be described as a coming of age story, and here Wes Anderson emphasizes the coming of age through his quirky characters and comedic dialect. This film also showcases the rebellion and outlandish maturity of two introverted teens, desperately searching for an accepting world, family and relationship.  The Moonrise Kingdom revolves around the story of two kids, Sam who is a 12-year-old orphan who is also an expert in scouting, and Suzy, who is fierce and quirky. Anderson defines the identities of these two stroppy, rebellious characters by fabricating adult-like humor and scenes dramatized...

 Introduction to Film Studies. (Notes) • In 19th-century cinema lived in multiple forms. Some were slowly emerging and some were slowly dying. • Cinema was made without sound and music still became famous in the world. • In 1878 Eadweard Muybridge perfected the large-scale panorama of San Francisco, entering early photographic studies of motion. • In the late nineteenth-century cinema emerged from the diverse world of toys and machines that created an illusion of movement. • Thomas Edison's Kinetography and Cinematography recorded the first film. • Etienne Jules Marrey helped with chronophotography that suggested the way of thinking about time and motion for successive frames. Why study films? • Studying films reveal the dimensions of various aspects that are deeply social, historical, industrial, technological, philosophical, political, aesthetic, psychological, and personal. • The study of cinema is like pursuing a historical hydra with tentacles reaching all aspects of individua...

Things I would do if the world was going to end. What will you do if the world is going to end in 2 days? So after reading this question, the first thing that came to my mind is will I be able to do all the things in these few hours? There are so many things in my mind that I want to do before the world ends. But I think the resulting panic would make it difficult for me to enjoy the things I want to do for the last time. There would be chaos everywhere, everyone would be tense, even me, but I would spend my whole day making the most out of it.  The first thing I would do after waking up is go for a walk on the beach. The beach is my favorite place so I would definitely go there. I would walk around the beach, see the sun peeking over the waves, play in the water, enjoy the cool breeze, and watch the sunrise over the ocean because it’s one of the most beautiful wonders of nature.  Then I would catch up with my friends, grab a coffee from my favourite coffee shop and sit with m...