Children of Men

The 2006 Sci-Fi/Thriller/Drama Children of Men was directed by Alfonso Cuaron - the director of Y Tu Mama Tambien. The screenplay was written by a team of five writers: Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby. The original story, however, comes from The Children of Men, a novel by P. D. James.

The film has a very documentary feel to it; the opening titles and the end credits are both black screens with big, white, block text with the background noise being the sound of children playing. The plot is set in the near-future, a future where women have become infertile. There have been no children born for 18 years, and the youngest person on Earth has just been killed. Suddenly Theo Faron (played by Clive Owen) finds himself in the middle of a chaotic rescue mission. His ex-wife (played by Julianne Moore) enlists his help to bring a young girl from the city to the shore so she can catch a boat to the mysterious "Human Project." It turns out that the young girl, Kee, is pregnant; she is a precious commodity and some people plan to use the baby as a beacon of hope for the world. They would put the baby in potential harm, because being the world's youngest person automatically forces the baby into the limelight.

Theo has to help Kee escape from the people who want to use her, from the police who believe them to be terrorists, and the prison that they willingly break into in order to get closer to the shore. The cameras are hand-held cameras; in shots when Theo is running, the camera follows him bumping over the road. The plot also has a semi-conclusion, but ends in a very abrupt manner. Rather than fading out of the scene into the end credits, it cuts immediately from the scene to a black screen with the white block letters that say Children of Men. It is a creative film that takes an interesting approach to the subject of infertility. It uses interesting camera angles and sounds; for example, in the beginning, when Theo is near a bomb that explodes, the high pitch ringing in his ears continues through several of the following scenes. Julianne Moore's character explains that the sound he hears is part of his ear that is dying, and he will never be able to hear that pitch again.

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, Y Tu Mama Tambien, is one of the films we watched in class. During the film, I (being rather sheltered) felt my mouth drop open; some of the scenes were more intense than I had seen in or expected from a foreign film. During our class discussion after the film, we talked about the overarching themes and ideas. I agree with the idea that Luisa matured and grew throughout the film. In the beginning, she took a quiz in a magazine that said she was a woman who was afraid to embrace freedom (or something to that effect). When she decided to call Tenoch and Julio and go with them to the beach, she took a small step toward freedom. She continued to take small steps throughout the plot: she calls and leaves a "note" for her husband; she sleeps with both of the guys; she gets out of the car and starts walking (meaning she is not afraid to be alone); and most importantly, she decides to stay at the beach. In the beginning, she defines her character, and through the movie, she decides to challenge the definition. I think the shot of her floating in the ocean, with the narrator saying that she decided to stay, is a very powerful shot. It puts an image to the self-empowerment that Luisa has slowly gained.

Father Goose

So, to continue my tradition of writing about classic Hollywood cinema (my favorite genre), I rented Father Goose, directed by Ralph Nelson. Released in 1964, it won an Oscar for its screenplay/story; the original story was written by S. H. Barnett and the film's screenplay was written by Peter Stone and Frank Tarloff.

The film stars Cary Grant as Walter Eckland, a grouchy isolationist who agrees to live alone on an island, working for the army watching for foreign planes. In return, he gets all of the whisky he could possibly drink. My favorite of his lines is "Let me tell you I am not a father figure. I am not a brother figure or an uncle figure or a cousin figure. In fact, the only figure I intend being is a total stranger figure." It sums up his character in the beginning of the movie. Things go unaccording to his plans when a plane carrying a French teacher and seven students crashes nearby and they are forced to take up residency in Mr. Eckland's one-room shack - forcing him to retreat to the cabin of his non-functional boat. He is not one for socializing with little girls, and comedy ensues when he has to interact with them, and their pretty, and snobbish, French teacher Catherine Frenau. My favorite of the students is Harriet, or Harry as she prefers to be called.

One of my favorite scenes takes place in the cabin. While out walking with one of her students, Madame Frenau is "bitten" by a "snake." Her student rushes down to Mr. Eckland's boat, worried that the bite may have been poisonous. Eckland makes all of the students wait outside while he calls the army headquarters, asking about the types of snakes that live on the island. He makes a small incision on Catherine's leg and sucks the poison out. Then he hears back from the army; it is bad news. All of the snakes that live on the island are deadly. They tell him to make Catherine as comfortable as possible. The rest of the scene is really funny. Eckland gives Catherine a lot of whisky, hoping that it will ease her pain and they drunkingly talk about a variety of subjects.

I had never seen this movie before, but now I consider it one of my favorites. If you feel like light-hearted, classic comedy, I strongly recommend this movie!

Touch of Evil

Orson Welles is a forced to be reckoned with in his 1958 film Touch of Evil. For this movie, he takes on the role of director, screenplay writer, as well as playing the crooked police captain, Hank Quinlan. The film is based on a novel by Whit Masterson, Badge of Evil; and it uses two uncredited screenplay writers, Paul Monash and Franklin Coen who contributed to additional scenes and reshoots.

The film stars Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh as newlyweds on their honeymoon in a town on the United States-Mexican border. Heston, playing Ramon Miguel "Mike" Vargas, is one of Mexico's leading narcotics detectives. When a car explosion is pinned on a young Mexican, Vargas gets involved in the case, putting his new wife, Susie (Leigh) in harms way. He digs deeper into Quinlan's past, and the deeper he gets, the more corrupted Quinlan appears.

As is characteristic of films noir, the plot twists and turns in various directions, leaving the audience in suspense until the very end. It features other characteristics of mystery movies and films noir, like the use of lighting and shadows and the use of eerie music by Hanry Mancini.

The Big Sleep

In the 1946 theatrical version of The Big Sleep, Humphrey Bogart plays private detective Philip Marlowe, hired by the Sternwood family to investigate the disappearance of a family friend, and other strange occurances. The further Marlowe digs into the case, the more confusing it gets. Based on a novel by Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep's screenplay was written by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman. It was directed by Howard Hawks.

Vivian, the elder Sternwood daughter, played by Lauren Bacall, is not too fond of Detective Marlowe in the beginning. She is, herself, a complex mystery of a woman, but eventually, Marlowe befriends her. In fact, the more he learns about her, the more the two develop feelings for one another. The younger Sternwood, Carmen, is also a puzzling character. She is the wilder of the two Sternwoods; she drinks and flirts, and makes a habit of coyly chewing on her thumb, a habit Marlowe tries to rid her of.

By the end of the movie, the plot has twisted and turned in so many directions it is hard to keep up with the story line. It is definitely a plot-driven movie, with romance added in where ever it can fit. Marlowe befriend a book store worker, and a cab driver before eventually falling for Lauren Bacall's character.

It is an excellent example of a film noir, revolving around a private detective, two femmes fatales, and a murder mystery. It was interesting, although at times, hard to keep up with.

Paths of Glory

The 1957 black-and-white film Paths of Glory stars Kirk Douglas as French army Colonel Dax. The script is based on a novel with the same name by Humphrey Cobb; the text was revised for the film by director/writer Stanley Kubick, and screenplay writers Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson. This film has been toted as "One of the greatest anti-war films ever made."

It focuses on Colonel Dax's regiment of soldiers stationed near Ant Hill. They have informed by the generals that they are to attack the Germans and take over Ant Hill the next morning. This mission looms as an impossible task for the tired soldiers, weary from all of their other battles. The generals also inform the regiment that they will not be able to have any back-up support until the night after they are supposed to take Ant Hill. Colonel Dax tells the general that it is not possible; that it is a suicide mission. Dax asks what the mortality expectancy is and the General is very non-chalant when he answers that they expect over 50% of the soldiers to die on this mission. The general also threatens to remove Dax from his position and put him on mandatory rest because of his negative attitude, but Dax apologizes, and tries to rally the troops' spirits.

When the mission goes poorly, and the men are forced to retreat or stay and die in the field, the watching General orders that the artillary open fire on their own soldiers. He says that they are cowards and will either die from German bullets, or they will die from French ones. The battery commander refuses to do so without written consent from the General. Instead, the general has three men selected at random to act as example to the regiment. The three men are sentenced to be killed by firing squad for their cowardice and refusal to follow orders. Dax tries to defend the men, but gets shut down by the people sitting over the court marshal.

The men end up being killed, and the general is fired for trying to fire artillery on his own troops. Colonel Dax is offered a promotion, but he refuses to take it. The movie is truly an anti-war film; it shows examples of stupidity in battle. The men have been forced on a suicide mission by generals that were unwilling to see their immenent failure. They show some of the leading officers for the hipocrites that they are. I think that it was interesting that the film opened with the French national anthem, and ended with a female German POW singing a German song.

It was a good, but depressing, movie.

Charade

My sister always says that I am a movie snob when it comes to remakes; and I guess I kind of am. When I saw the preview a few years ago for The Truth About Charlie, the plot sounded vaguely familiar. My mom told me it was the remake of an older Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant movie called Charade. And proof that I am a snob... I couldn't sit through The Truth About Charlie.

I have seen Charade before, but I have only ever watched it superficially - I have never tried to closely analyze it. Released in 1963, the film was directed by Stanley Donen, which surprised me because it seems like it would have been a Hitchcock film. It is the story of a woman (Hepburn) being followed by her husband's murderers. The four men are coming after money that her husband stole, and they believe she has in her possession. It has plot twists and turns as Cary Grant's character confesses he is not one person, but another, and another, and another. These twists allow for one of Hepburn's more famous lines from this movie (in fact, it was used in Pretty Woman) - "Oh I love you Adam, Alex, Peter, Brian, whatever your name is, I love you! I hope we have a lot of boys and we can name them all after you!" The film uses close-ups on the actors' faces to show their sudden understanding of something; it uses interesting angles on some of the shots to create more suspense (like when Hepburn is running from Dyle, or hiding in the theater). It is really similar to Hitchcock's films, and is a really good, classical thriller. I recommend it highly (and not just because I love Audrey Hepburn).

PS... I am working on not being so snobby about remakes. :)

The Number 23

The Number 23, starring Jim Carrey, is considered a thriller/drama/mystery. Directed by Joel Schumacher, it is the story of Walter Sparrow (Carrey). Sparrow is an average man, happily married, unhappily employed as a dog catcher. On his birthday, he is running late to pick up his wife because of a stray dog at a Chinese Restaurant. While his wife waits, she goes into a bookstore and finds a paperback novel, The Number 23 by Topsy Kretts. She flips through it, finds it interesting, and buys it for Walter.
The book tells the story of a detective called Fingerling. The more Walter reads, the more it begins to resemble his own life. Fingerling is sent on a case to an apartment where a young woman is about to hang herself. He tries to calm her down and find out why she wants to kill herself. She tells him that she is being haunted by the number 23. It appears everywhere, even in her name and in her words. Walter leaves the apartment, thinking that he has convinced her not to harm herself, only to have her land in front of him on the street - she has thrown herself off of her balcony. As the story continues, Walter becomes more and more convinced that the writer is writing about him; he begins to look for the number 23 everywhere. He finds it in his license number, his social security number, and his birthday. The number starts to cause paranoia in Walter. In the story, Fingerling kills his girlfriend. He begins to worry that he will hurt his wife.
I don't want to give away the end of the movie, so I will stop with the plot here; but the cinematography of the film is also worth discussing. The color Red appears multiple times in the movie in striking ways. The book itself is red; Walter's wife paints the living room "blood red" -which stands out against the otherwise neutral colored house; Walter is bitten by a dog and begins to bleed, and the red is very striking against his khaki uniform. When they are showing the life of Fingerling, the scenes are all darker than when showing Walter. Both Fingerling and his girlfriend wear a lot of black, while Walter and his wife wear more neutral colors. Fingerling's story has a film noir feeling about it; Walter's life is more of a thriller.
I was pleasantly surprised by the film; I was not sure that Jim Carrey would be able to play such a serious, paranoid character, but he did really well. The color scheme and the use of different angles and jump-cuts between scenes really added an air of mystery and anticipation to the film.

Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is the 1959 tale of two men on the run from the Chicago mafia, directed by Billy Wilder. It is a musical comedy, whose music is non-integrated into the plot. The story follows two men who have witnessed a multiple-murder committed by the mob and have to leave town disguised as members of an all-girl band. This film is a mix between a backstage and a backyard musical; that is to say that the films shows some of the rehearsals necessary to the band's performance, but it also follows the traditional boy-meets-girl scenario. The musical numbers are not fully-choreographed, in fact, the only music in the movie is being performed by bands in a concert-type setting.

Marilyn Monroe plays the blond ditz (for lack of a better word) Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, a girl looking for a rich man to fall in love with. Tony Curtis's Joe/ Josephine falls for Sugar, and a humorous plot unfolds with Curtis trying to negotiate being a girl while having a relationship as a man. His friend, Jack Lemmon's character, Jerry/ Daphne helps to facilitate Curtis's tangled romance while staying disguised, hidden from Spats Colombo and his gang.

The costuming in the film is really important to the plot. It is the costuming that allows Curtis and Lemmon to join the girls' band, and it is joining the girls' band that allows Curtis to meet Monroe. Monroe's costumes, too, are important to the film. Her day-to-day costumes are nothing too extreme, but the dresses she wears for her performances and her dates are extremely revealing, emphasizing her femininity. Her character is a ditzy gold-digger, looking for a man rich enough to marry and take care of her. Her clothes further her characterization.

The film takes a comedic look at the dangerous side of life in Chicago during the Prohibition.

I Was a Male War Bride

As another example of classic, post-war Hollywood, I watched Howard Hawks's 1949 movie I Was a Male War Bride. Starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan, this movie is a humorous look at wartime love stories. A captain in the French army, Henri Rochard (Grant) is assigned to work with American Lieutenant Catherine Gates (Sheridan). During their assignments together, they get into a series of hilarious situations. They develop a friendship, and from that, they fall in love and decide to get married.

After being married three times - once by the American army, once by the German government, and once by Henri's pastor - the couple is interrupted on their honeymoon by a fellow American officer. Catherine's unit is returning to the United States, and without time to apply for a passport for Henri, they have to find a way to get him into the United States. Henri has to apply as an "alien spouse of female military personnel, en route to the United States...", or in other words, a war bride.

Differing from movies like Casablanca, the situations that the Rochards have to go through to be together make I Was a Male War Bride a comical movie about post-war love overseas.

Out of the Past

Out of the Past is the first film noir movie I had ever seen, and I must admit, I was slightly hesitant about it. I always thought films noir would be cheesy and overdone, but this one in particular was really good. It had a darker, edgier point of view than I was used to seeing in older movies. I guess I never watched movies as closely as I did with Out of the Past. I noticed, within this film, smaller details that added to the overall mood. For example, the casting directors made an interesting choice in casting the leading lady Kathie Moffat. Jane Greer, with dark hair to match her character's personality, fills the role of the femme fatale perfectly. She is beautiful, seductive, and as powerful and manipulative as her male counterparts.

In a similar way, Virginia Huston looks and plays the role of the trusting, blond-haired girlfriend Ann Miller. She looks the picture of innocence, willing to believe any story Jeff tells and to forgive him of his past. She wears mainly light-colored clothing, while Jane Greer wears increasingly darker clothes, as her true nature is further discovered. It is ironic that Kathie's final outfit resembles a nun's habit although she has just killed Whit. She takes control of the situation, thus reversing the gender stereotypes. Women are assumed to be the weaker sex, naive and innocent. Men are thought to be stronger, smarter, and more powerful. Kathie takes that power from both Whit and Jeff, as well as from Jeff's partner. She reverses the gender ideas facing women, proving that women can be just as cunning as men. However, the problem with femmes fatale is that they almost always die at the end of the movie. Kathie's story does not end differently. She causes, and dies in, a car accident after realizing that Jeff has set her up to be caught by the police.

Kathie's dying is not something that the audience mourns. Jeff, however, also dies in the accident. This is felt through the audience. Jeff is the one who tried to change for the better; he is the main character and the one that people most connect with. The movie, however, has a very moral theme to it. Jeff is not technically a good guy; he has done bad things in his past. His death is the writer's way of making peace with the world.

I was wrong to be hesitant about films noir. I like the style, the drama, and the overarching moral theme. Out of the Past was a really interesting look into the genre, and because of it, I cannot wait to see more films like it.