"GIles' Film Blog>

Film studies student. Reviewing films and writing opinion pieces about films.

[j-ftes]

[keatonhensonwords]

Visit Original Link

Happy Birthday BD

[keatonhensonwords]

Visit Original Link

[keatonhensonwords]

[jodeus]

[itsgifi]

The Machinist Review

The Machinist is the harrowing dark thriller directed by Brad Anderson. The story is focused on the struggles of the deeply traumatised lathe operator Trevor Reznik.  Trevor suffers from severe insomnia, claiming that he hasn’t slept in a year and has lost an enormous amount of weight. Despite all of this Trevor’s life seems to be relatively normal until an accident at work and the appearance of mysterious notes around his apartment turn his world upside down. Trevor begins to doubt the existence of the world around him and his behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and dangerous. This makes the film’s already dark tone become much more tense in the lead up to its climactic and revealing finale. Somewhat distressing at points the Machinist is about as far from a light hearted romp as is possible to get but the brilliant depth of the story and the great sacrifices made by Christian Bale to play Trevor make this film a beautifully dark piece of art essential to anyone who enjoys films where not everything is as it seems.  

[itsgifi]

The Machinist- Shot By Shot analysis

1. In this shot we see a Medium Close Up of Trevor Reznik eating fried chicken. The greedy way he scoffs the food creates a sense of unease as the viewer knows he is severely underweight and now we don’t know why as we can see he eats as well as anyone else might. Compared to most of the film the lighting is fairly High Key with Trevor being well lit, this makes his home feel like a safe place for Trevor as the outside world is much more shadowy. The only sound in this shot is the diegetic sound of him eating this tells us that right now the only thing on Trevor’s mind is his food.

2. The shot then changes to an Over The Shoulder Close up as Trevor stops eating to open the post on his table. The viewer is allowed to clearly see that this a Final Notice for the payment of Trevor’s utility bills. This leaves us in no doubt of the dire straits Trevor is in and how the trouble he is having at work means a lot to his future. The shot is still fairly well lit with Trevor being silhouetted and put out of focus by the close up nature of this shot. This draws all of our attention to this bill making clear to the viewer that this is an important detail in the films plot. There is no sound in this shot other than the diegetic rustling of the paper and the heavy breathing and swallowing of Trevor.

3. The next shot we see is another over the shoulder shot, this time of Trevor writing himself a reminder to “pay utilities!”. The fact that Trevor reminds himself of something as important as his final notice on his utility bill by writing a post-it clearly points out to the viewer what a frantic mind Trevor has. The shot is still well lit to show clearly what he is writing and the only sound is the diegetic sound of his pencil scratchily writing this reminder.

4.Trevor then gets up to stick his post-it on the fridge which gives our next shot. This is a Medium Close Up of Trevor looking confusedly at he fridge. The relatively High Key lighting cast long shadows over the gaunt face of Trevor extenuating his skinniness and reminding us what a mentally troubled person we are looking at. The only sound in this shot is the diegetic sound of his fridge whirring away, this gets disturbingly louder as Trevor leans towards the object he is so confused over creating the same sense of tension that a crescendo in a non-diegetic piece of music would. 

5. In the next shot we finally get to see the cause of Trevor’s confusion as the shot moves to a Close Up of the face of his fridge, this shows us that what Trevor was looking at was another post-it. The post-it has an unfinished game of Hangman drawn on it in a bold black pen. This confuses us as so far Trevor’s notes have only been reminders scrawled in thin pencils. The nature of this note reminds the viewer of the dark nature of the film. By this time the diegetic noise of his fridge is completely over bearing and no other sounds can be heard over it. This makes this shot very hard to watch without feeling a little uneasy and confused. 

[keatonhensonwords]

Visit Original Link

[shortfilmmasterpieces]

Tune for Two

[itsgifi]

Taxi Driver

As one of the most iconic films in modern cinema it's no surprise that Taxi Driver has retained it's poignancy and weathered as well as it's then up and coming director Martin Scorsese. Following the story of insomniac Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) we get a view into his life and his growing struggles coping with the decadence and immorality of New York during the garbage strike of 1981. As a Vietnam war veteran, Travis suffers from insomnia and so decides to take up a job as a taxi driver at nights working even the most dingiest districts of the Big Apple. This gives him an unfortunately myopic view of the people around him and breeds a furious hatred of the petty criminals, pimps and druggies he meets as his fares each night. We see Travis turn from a quirky but otherwise normal and ex-marine into a mohawked, gun toting vigilante soldier of justice. Together as a duo again after Mean Streets, Scorsese's dark cinematography brilliantly highlights the dying light in the vicious world of Travis Bickle. The viewer is left feeling unsure whether to support Travis for his campaign against crime and his almost childish social awkwardness or despise him for creepiness and violent nature.  A timeless classic from a director-actor duo that would become one of the best known in cinema and a dark portrayal of the criminal underworld often glorified by Scorsese, Taxi Driver is a must see film for anyone interested in the early days of some of the biggest names in modern american cinema. 

[itsgifi]

Mis En Scene: Se7en : John Doe turns himself in.

  1. In this long establishing shot we can see Mills and Somerset walking behind the cars to their police offices. For one of the first times in the film it is not raining and so the lighting is relatively high key for the film. However the misery made synonymous with the weather is apparent from the puddles at the road side and the sound of car's splashing through them as they pass our protagonists. Cutting above the sound of the passing car's is the dialogue between Mills and Somerset.

2. The establishing shot (1) is cut by the entrance of a taxi from the left, turning the shot into a medium close up as a man steps out of the taxi. As he does the tense music that has so far been almost unnoticeable playing in the background is amplified above the background noise creating a great sense of tension. The man stepping out of the taxi has smart trousers and shoes which makes him seem, for the moment, fairly unremarkable.

3.The shot is then cut to a long shot of the police offices as Mills and Somerset are tracked as they walk. The scene is relatively busy with many people walking by in the foreground of the shot and the sound is mostly just the chatting of police staff but the tense music remains in the background to keep our guard up. The lighting is quite high key but it is coming in from the windows so it casts a lot of dramatic shadows.

4. The camera is then changed to a medium close up of the back of the man from the taxi as he walks through the building. We can now see on his unremarkable white shirt that there is a very remarkable amount of blood splashed across his back in a violent pattern. The lighting is high key so it forms violent contrasts of shadowing under the creases. This makes the character seem dark and mysterious. Over the hustle and bustle we can hear the man muttering detective coldly in the direction of Mills and Somerset.

5. The shot remains a medium close up but switches now to one of Mills and Somerset as they climb the stairs to their private offices. We can see Mills' bandages and bruised face with stitches above his eye reminding us that these men are in a very dangerous place at the moment. The shot is quite low key in the foreground with the detectives both being half shrouded in shadow but beyond the stairs in the main atrium it is very well lit. This allows us to clearly see the man from the taxi far in the background of the shot. Above all of the chattering we now hear the man shout detective as loudly as he can violently interrupting the dialogue between Mills and Somerset.

[itsgifi]

My recreation of a shot from A History Of Violence by David Cronenberg.

[totalfilm]

Every big movie coming your way between now and 2018 (including over 150 new films)

[itsgifi]

Se7en

Seven is a stylish dark crime thriller from director David Fincher set in a nameless American city plagued by crime. The story follows two polarly opposite detectives William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and David Mills (Brad Pitt) and their quest to solve a case that’ll change both of their lives irreparably. Somerset is a weathered and world weary detective who through poor fortunes has to take one last case before he can retire after 32 years on the beat. Mills however, through his own eagerness and head strong attitude has recently moved to the area after applying to get transferred there, a decision which seems incomprehensible to Somerset. As Mills’ first case in this dark town and Somerset’s first case with the young and energetic Mills it seems at first this film may be about the power struggle between these two different but equally efficient detectives but as we find out more about the nature of these crimes we realise there is a much darker theme at play. The sickeningly twisted killer (Kevin Spacey) is killing in line with the seven cardinal sins of ancient religious literature and as Mills and Somerset set to work to catch him they realise he is not just killing to sate an appetite for death and carnage. With a clue at each murder scene leading the two men to the next victim it soon becomes apparent that there is a message behind this killer’s gruesome artwork.  Opening with gritty close ups during the investigations and culminating with a series of brilliantly terrifying isolated wide angle shots at the film’s shocking climax, all grounded into sections with the pleasingly sane domestic troubles of Mills’ beautiful and heart breakingly likeable wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow) Seven is an incredibly tense journey into evil and how evil manifests itself in modern society  it is no surprise that it has made it as one of the most popular crime thrillers of the last 20 years.

[itsgifi]

Seven review soon.