Guess who's coming to dinner.

Guess who's coming to dinner (Stanley Kramer, 1967) is a film about a happy young couple that has to face with a problem: The lack of understanding of their families. John (Sidney Poitier) is a black doctor. Joey (Katharine Houghton) a white student.

Their determination to stay together (Specially Joey's) can be seen in all the film. The couple appears together in almost every shot. And if there are more people, they appear side by side.

When there is a tense situatios, John appears alone. For example, when he is confronted with Joey's father (Spencer Tracy)

Mr Drayton has much more importance than Ms Drayton (Katharine Hepburn). This can be seen in composition. Usually, she appears in a second place. This is related to the power that he has in John's decision. 

The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day (James Ivory, 1993) deals with two different points. The first, the love story between Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) and Mr Stevens (Anthony Hopkins). The second, a part of the II World War history.

The detailed interior decoration, the customes, every single picture.. Everything is described in great detail.

Mise-en-scène gives us also some details about the character's feelings. The fresh flowers Miss Kenton tryes to place in Mr Stevens's office are a sign of what she is really trying to do. She wants to enter in Mr Stevens's grey life. But, at first, he does not allow it.

In some scenes it is clear that there is a great distance between them, they do not know how to come close.

To finish, you can not miss the famous scene. 

A Bronx tale

A Bronx Tale (Robert De Niro, 1993) is a film about gangsters. You expect Robert De Niro acting as the respectable mob moss, but instead of this you see him as Lorenzo, a devoted father.

 

One of the things I liked of this movie was the figure of Calogero (Francis Capra (9), Lillo Brancato (17)) as narrator.

The film deals with Calogero's indecision. One the one hand, his father. An honest hard-working Italian man. The boy loves his father, and he understands what he tryies to teach him. But he sees him as a worker who is never going to make any progress. One the other hand, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri) a ganster who Calogero has admire all his life. He wears elegant suits and he is respected by all the men in the neightbourd. 

This can be seen, for example, in their customs.

I think this film is clearly influenced by Scorsese's cinema. For example, the street scenes have certain paralellism with Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990) or Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980).

 

Also, I loved the scene when Colagero meets Jane (Taral Hicks). Editing plays an important role there, since we know what's going to happen sooner or later. 

Thanks to V, an authentic De Niro's fan.

Annie Hall

We are told, as students of "Comentario de textos audiovisuales en inglés I" (Something like "An introduction to Film Studies")  that films have certain rules. For example, a character does never look at the camera directly. These non-written rules are followed in almost every film.

Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977) is not a typical film. I do not know a lot about cinema, and I have not seen a lot of 70s' films, but I think it was a breath of fresh air.

To begin: Annie Hall's opening. Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) shows some of his ideas about life. The film uses a lot of devices in order to show how actually characters think, feel, what are their desires and complexes.

 

 

Some scenes, as the animated one, or the scene in which Marshall Mcluhan suddenly appears in the cinema are simply delirious and extremely original.

In the familiar lunch, Alvy thinks he is seen as a Jewish stereotype. This is a device that let us knowing that Alvy is feeling observed and judged.

The Adventures of Tintin

 The Adventures of Tintin (Steven Spielberg, 2011) is an impressive 3D animated film.

I has the advantages of an animated film (everything is possible) and the ones of a traditional film (Some scenes seem real).

This film is directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson. Both of them are ones of the most influential film personalities. The likelihood of it success is strong.

With regard to mise-en-scène and filming, the film is amazing. The use of high or low angle, the light, editing.. everything convey different meanings. The film is never boring.

The Perfect Man

I hate-love romantic comedies. When I'm watching one of them I know there will be the same trite situations. Usually, I hate interpretations and the end of the film can be predict only watching the trailer, but still I do not change channel. Besides, I have an excuse for watching The Perfect Man (Mark Rosman, 2005), it was Sunday afternoon!

The question is: How a romantic comedy can be even more corny that they usually are?

The answer is: Not one, but TWO love stories.

Holly (Hilary Duff) is a teen who wants her mother (Heather Locklear) to cheer up, since she keeps on dating the wrong men. So Holly thinks the best idea is inventig an secret admirer.

There are some "signs" in the film that tell us what is going to happen. For example, in a dialogue between Holly and Amy (Vanessa Lengiens), we can hear Adam's (Ben Feldman) voice: Eventually, lies are discovered.

Definitely, I would not recommed it, I do not like spending 90 minutes knowing what is going to happen at the end. Unless you have nothing better to do on a Sunday's afternoon. 

American Beauty

American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999)

The film begins with an introduction by Lester (Kevin Spacey), the father in the protagonist family. This is because in certain moments of the film, reality is shown to us as Lester  sees it. For example, in the scene where his daughter's friend, Angela (Mena Suvari) dances insinuating only for him (That is what he imagines). Or when, later, he dreams about her.

I wish films had more devices like this, since they show us how a character is really living a situation. Reality is important in order to understand what's happening in general, but, individually, dreams and wishes may be even more important.

In Jane (Thora Birch) and Ricky's (Wes Bentley) relationship they exchange ideas and speak about their problems. One of the things that proves the intimacy they have is that they record themselves, for example, speaking. This is something important for Ricky. Some of the most beautiful moments in his life are recorded and he watchs them again and again.

I really like this film. I think this is because there is no "The good and the bad". People is shown as they really are. Their hopes, their fears, their worries and their secrets. It is real.

The last song

The Last Song (Julie Anne Robinson, 2010) is a very predictable film. Once again, "boy meets girl", they fall in love, then something happens but love triumphs over any problem.

I am surprised by the scene when Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) is looking for a dress for the wedding. I do not mean that this scene is shoking or innovate, but trit. It appears in a large number of films, as in Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, 1990)

The soundtrack has a great importance. It is used in some scenes to emphasize emotions, and in others, simply to the viewer to keep on attention. Almost all the time a song is in the air.

Últimas tardes con Teresa.

Últimas tardes con Teresa (Gonzalo Herralde, 1984) takes place a summer in the late 50s, in Barcelona.

I did not like Últimas tardes con Teresa. It is a slow film and I did not like the long shots depicting Manolo's (Ángel Alcázar) life.

Besides, I do not like this kind of stories of "Bad boy meets good girl".

The great difference between Teresa (Maribel Martín), the rich girl, and Maruja (Patricia Adriani) can be seen, for example, in costumes. Teresa wears elegant dresses while Maruja wears an uniform. As Teresa is a student who has left-wing views in the Francois Spain, she lends her customes. Maybe she does that only to feel better with herself or to convince herself that she is not only a bourgueois.

I think Manolo's character is incomprehensible, but this may be because of the Ángel Alcázar's interpretation. When the film finishes I do not really know what happened and which the characters' motivations and impulsions were.

The only thing I liked about this film was the nostalgic soundtrack.

Blog

Blog (Elena Trapé, 2010) is a film about a group of classmates. They are insecure about their bodies, studies, boys.. In short, they are teenagers. They make a decission: To get pregnant at the same time.

The most of the film appears like recorded by the girls themselves, there are a lot of abrupt camera movements. This increases the feeling of being witness of something real, and not a film. In my opinion, this is also because in this way we get the impression that these girls maybe do not really know what effects can their plan has.

I liked the interpretations very much, I think they are very natural. Specially, in the confessions they do to their webcams.

Sex and Lucía

Lucía y el sexo (Julio Medem, 2001) is a compilation of crossed stories. Gradually, Lucía (Paz Vega), Elena (Nawja Nimri) and Belén (Elena Anaya) realize they are connected by a man, Lorenzo (Tristán Ulloa).

There are several characteristics of Medem's cinema that make him a director that I really like. I do not think of his films as a perfect example of good cinema, but I like him because he has a very personal style and I like the kind of stories he chooses.

- The irregular use of time is one of these typical characteristics of Medem's films. Sex and Lucía does not have a chronological order. The action of the film takes place in very different moments of the complete story. The information is given little by little. 

- The use of light in the film is extreme, we get very illuminated or very dark shots.

- Recurrent themes: strange connections between characters, the tricks of fate and love..

The thing I liked least about the film was the scene when Lorenzo and Elena's daughter is attacked by the dog. The only way in which we realize she has died is in the following scene, when the girl swims in the sea. This is a kind of return to the place their parents where together.

The beginning of Lucía and Lorenzo's relationship. Their complicity is the same as the one Ana and Otto had in Los Amantes del Círculo Polar (Julio Medem, 1998)

The Godfather

The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola,1972) is probably the most famous film about Mafia.

I was impressed by the use of colour and lighting in the film.

The film starts with a father's account of what happened to his daughter. It is not a beutiful history. There is soft quality of the light and top lighting here. During all the scene, the light only comes from the chandelier of the room and from the outside, through the gaps of the shutter. It is a very dark scene (tense situation) that contrast with the hard light in the wedding scene (a joyful day). 

-Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.

There is a lot of scenes throught the film where key light produces a very hard light. So, we have faces divided into shadow and light. The scenes where family appears are soft. This is because there are two sides in these men's lifes. This dichotomy darkness/light encapsulates the figure of Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). The "job" is hard and they may be criminals and probably murderers, but at the same time they are loving fathers and they just do it because their family. That is the most important thing is their lifes.

A good-natured grandfather.. or not?

This film is about a family of the Italian community in USA. Well, also about the Mafia controlled by Italian families. As we can see in the scene of the wedding, they dress like American, but they keep following Italian traditions. 

The Michael's (Al Pacino) flight to Italy shows the viewer the origins of this family. The return to origins is a great excuse to compare the US and Italy. Tradition, people, social conventions, customes.. everything is different.

Music has an important role. It gives importance to the fragment in which it appears and also an emotion of homesickness.

I liked the it very much. I think it is one of those films you do not have to miss if you want to know a little of the history of cinema.

Curiosities: There is allutions to this film in a lot of films and tv programmes. A lot of Mafia films, like Prizzi's Honor (John Huston, 1985); Requiem for a dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000), and some tv programmes as The Sopranos and The Simpsons.

When Harry met Sally.

When Harry met Sally (Rob Reiner, 1989) is said to be one of the best romantic comedies ever. And, in my opinion, it surely is. 

It breaks with the cliché "boy meets girl". It is true that the film starts with the classic "boy meets girl" but they do not fall in love at first sight, they do not even become friends. In the first part of the film the characters meet at different points in their lifes.  We can clearly see it in the change of their hairstyles and costumes, it is not only about their individual look but about the mood of the time. 

It is not until some years later when they do become friends. But, are they just that? Harry (Billy Cristal) does not really think a man and a woman can have a non-romantic relation, but they are friends. Is this really a romcom?

The divided screen when they are watching Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) at the same time but each of them at their home let us see how their friendship grows, sharing a lot of moments, becoming a support for each other... as friends. Don't be fooled, this is a romantic commedy. Proof of it are the close-up shots.

Do they look like friends?

They still think they are friends but the viewer knows the truth: Harry and Sally always appear together, face to face or side by side, appart from the rest of the world. In their bubble.

The famous scene when Sally (Meg Ryan) fakes an orgasm.

In the first part of the film we get shots in which both main characters are onscreen, but in the last third of the film we get close-up or medium shots where only one character appears. The other is offscreen but he/she is still present.

Throughout the film there is an interesting device: An old couple tell how they met and how they fell in love. In my opinion this is disconcerting. By one side, you get the two friends who think they are just friends, and the viewer might begin to think so too, but then these old couples remain the viewer that love happens. In Hollywood love always happens.