Daughters of the Dust

Oh boy. Daughters of the Dust is... Well, let's just say it's an acquired taste. Much like eating live insects or putting one's tongue in a light socket. I will say it's impressive how a movie that has a plot that moves forward can make you feel like absolutely nothing is happening.

Daughters of the Dust is the story of the Peazant family's crossing to the mainland. Well, actually that's not true. It's the story of the Peazant family preparing to cross to the mainland. It has some interesting dynamics, mostly around the friction between the old African ways and the new (Christian) ones. There's also some young vs. old dynamics in terms of the family itself. There's also an unborn child running around (which you might think would be exciting, but you would be wrong). There's a lot of dialogue, some unexplained visuals, and then more dialogue. Also, flute music.

I know there are people out there who can sit an enjoy this type of film, but I'm not one of them. One out of five if only because I can never have that piece of my life back. Normally I have some sort of witty warning here, but no one who is used to American film styles (and you all are) should try to watch this.

Casablanca

Casablanca is one of those films that tops everyone's lists of great films. It's easy to see why; the film is fantastic. It's a black and white film, but you should be able to get over than (If you can't, your pickier about your movies than I am. That's not a good thing). The one thing that might drive you up the wall, however is the World War Two brand of patriotism not so subtly woven into the piece. Oh, and the way the female character is totally helpless without a man to lead her around.

The movie takes place in the title city of Casablanca. It's a way-point for refugees attempting to escape the Nazis in Europe and get to America. Our hero is Rick, an America with a questionable past who runs Rick's Café Américain. He has a decent relationship with the important people of the city, including Captain Renault. The captain, despite being overdue for a kick to the face, warns Rick that an important Nazi official is coming to town. The Nazis are hoping to catch the dashing Victor Laszlo. Well, recapture, since he escaped from a concentration camp (We're left to assume the camp was run by a Colonel Wilhelm Klink*). To make matters worse, a woman from Rick's past is traveling with Laszlo.

Casablanca is awesome. I hesitate to award a six out of five, since that would make my rating system rather silly, but it's better than anything else we've watched so far. Anyone who can get past the sexism of an earlier, more stupid time will enjoy this film. Anyone else will probably tolerate it.

*Ten points to anyone who got that

Alternative Editing

The theme for this entry is editing, specifically that in the movies we've watched in the past few weeks. Run, Lola, Run and Bonnie and Clyde both played with the conventional styles of editing. We also saw a small portion of Breathless; a movie that lured those conventions into a dark ally and beat them with a two-by-four until they coughed up their lunch money. Breathless is a french art film (danger!) that saw what most film editors were doing at the time, but respectfully disagreed with their ideas of line of sight matching, 180 degree rule, and anything else that even remotely linked to "invisible" editing. It's a movie for people who like to see experiments in film and almost no one else.

Run, Lola, Run, however, works within the runs set forth by films before it. Rather playing with erratic transitions, it plays with the order of shots. The "and then" photo montages involving Jäger, Doris, and Mike are startling to say the least. The fact that the movie swaps from animation to real life seemingly without rhyme or reason is also an example of the movie's strange experiments with editing. But the thing Lola really messes around with is chronology. In your average movie, one scene leads to the next in a strong chain that leads directly to the climax. In Lola, all the scenes link together... Until suddenly we're back at the beginning. This isn't a flashback, either, this is a retelling of the story. And guess what? When that retelling ends, we get to see it a third and final time.

Bonnie and Clyde hides it's experimentation even more subtly. You wouldn't even notice anything was amiss unless you were looking for it. Every now and then, there's a cut that's just too quick or jarring. Eye lines don't always match, but they do flow. I'm not sure the 180 rule was ever violated, but I'd believe it if it was. Far removed from Lola and Breathless, this movie is reserved about it's experimentation. It saves them for it'd more important scenes; saving them for when you'll need that extra kick to get caught up in the emotion.

Bonnie and Clyde

Right behind Lola, we have Bonnie and Clyde. It's the story of two people (three guesses what their names are) who go on a mad robbery spree across the depression-era south. Along the way, they deal with complex issues like love, erectile disfunction, and banjos. Especially banjos. It's a Robin Hood tale that leads them, and the other members of the Barrel Gang, down the long road of crime and punishment.

My synopsis may seem rather short and vague, but that's only because Bonnie and Clyde has a whole lot of action and (mostly unintended) humor without actually having a complex plot. It's the age-old tale of Girl catches Boy trying to steal her mother's car, Girl runs away with Boy, Boy and Girl go on crime spree. What more is there to say? The acting's painful at times and more than one of the characters left me wishing for a horrible cliff-related accident. Still, there are worse things (like subtitles).

Bonnie and Clyde gets a four out of five, with the understanding that I'm being generous. I know a lot of people didn't like it, but I think their attitude might be different if they had been close enough to my table to hear the occasional comments that were exchanged. Banjos may never be the same again...

Run, Lola, Run

Ooooh boy. Run, Lola, Run is quite a movie. Between the thundering techno and merger of animation and live action scene, this movie is quite a ride. As usual, this movie comes with a warning: be ready to accept what this movie throws at you. This movie doesn't care about your feeble need for cohesion and continuity. Things just sort of happen in Run, Lola, Run and you need to be ready to handle them.

The movie is about Lola, a redheaded woman who has just learned that her boyfriend, Manni, is about to rob a convenience store in order to try and recover the money he lost to a homeless man on the subway. The money's so important because he was serving as a middle man on a dimon deal for a gangster named Ronnie. The only way Lola can stop him is if she gets the money herself before noon. And the only way to do that... Is to run.

Despite it's overwhelming quirks, Run, Lola, Run is a fantastic movie. It has plenty of action and the visual style is certainly entertaining, if hard to follow. It earns my second five out of five for really just being so damn awesome. Just be warned: there is about a half-second of bondage.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

While Do the Right Thing may not be set in the past, don't let that fool you into thinking it doesn't rely on Mise en Scéne. This entire movie is dedicated to making you feel the heat, no pun intended. From the loose-fitting, bright colored clothing of the characters to the brilliant red paint on the building behind ML, Willie, and Sid, Spike Lee and his team have do everything they could think of to portray the swelter. The heat of this movie is more than temperature, however. About halfway through the movie it seems like plot wandered of and we were treated to a series of hateful, slur-filled monologues by several of the characters. It's sudden, it's unexpected, and makes you feel really uncomfortable, but it works somehow. The blocks is a pressure-cooker and this scene is to bring everything that has been implied to the surface. From that point on, the cards are on the table and you can begin to see how dire circumstances really are.

When Sal confronts Buggin' and Radio, the seals locking back all that emotion begin to blow. The smashing of the boom-box is Sal's release and everyone else bursts as a result. When Radio is killed, the whole block reaches the boiling point. Even though Da Mayor is quick to jump to the aid of Sal and his sons, nothing sort of true release can satisfy them. It is Mookie who really saves their lives by turning the destructive energy on the building. His cry of "Hate!" is a clear reference to an earlier monologue from Radio about the battle between love and hate. Though hate had taken over the block for the evening, Mookie's actions ensured that it would not be as lasting a victory as it could have been. Buildings can be rebuilt after all.

Always Do The Right Thing

Do the Right thing takes place in the hottest day of the summer in Brooklyn. It tells many tightly interwoven stories going on the block, which can be disorienting if you're the kind of person who needs to keep perfect track of those things. If that happens to be the case, you need to put those feeling aside.

Do the Right Thing is easily the best movie we've see so far. It explores the ideas of racism and bias that would later be explored in Crash, but it does so without the same feeling of incrimination the later movie sports. This is a film about how extreme circumstances can push otherwise normal people much farther than they're willing to go.

Our story mainly revolves around Mookie, a young black man who's trying to make a living working at Sal's Famous Pizzeria. He's living with his sister and seems to be a bit of a deadbeat when it comes to his girlfriend and his son. The story also follows Sal, the owner of the pizzeria, and his two sons Vito and Pino. Sal is a kind man who's just trying to make a living, but Pino is openly racist. Things first begin to go awry when Mookie's friend, the aptly named Buggin' Out, decides to boycott Sal's Famous Pizzeria because the "Wall of Fame" has all italian americans and no black ones. What seems to be a silly dispute compounds with everything else on the block until... Well, why don't you just give the movie a shot?

Do the Right Thing snags an easy five out of five. It's both energetic and thought provoking without a looming moral accusation. Just remember not to get too hung up on the shifting stories; it'll all come together for the end.

Mise en Scéne in The Godfather

The Godfather is a movie that positively oozes Mise on scéne. Throughout it's nearly three hours of playtime, it commits to a presentation of the time period in which it is set. Beyond chronology, however this film commits itself to the presentation of character moods and ambitions in all of it's scenes. No where is this more apparent than in the Don's office.

The office has drawn shades and is only lit as well as necessary. The walls bear pictures of family, making it clear where priorities lie. The dominate feature of the room, however, is the desk of the Godfather. It makes a clear divide across the room, separating the one in charge from everyone else. When a more personal exchange is called for, he is the one who come out from behind the desk, not the other way around. The desk is clearly an heirloom and something of tremendous value to the Corleones. At the end of the film, we see that it is one of the absolute last things to be removed from the house.