Zhang Yimou on "HERO"

In the article that I found by Lisa Bear,written for indiewire.com, many different elements of the film Hero were addressed. While the article starts with a synopsis of the film, it branches out into a brief formalist look at the film, comparing both shots that were used and sounds featured in the film.

Memorable for its finely-judged performances, superlative sound design and stylized visual compositions, shot by renowned Australian cinematographer Chris Doyle, this is a martial arts film that contrasts orderly military formations in wide shot with lyrical close-ups. A volley of arrows fills the skies like a swarm of bees or plague of locusts rather than the tools of warfare. Lingering shots of gleaming metal, the sonorous hiss clang and echo of a sword being unsheathed or falling to the ground evoke harmonics and reverb rather than unsightly atrocities--torn limbs and membranes or screams of pain.

The article then goes on to recount an interview that Lisa Bear had conducted of Zhang Yimou. In the interview transcript, Yimou answers questions about the film, China, and some of the color schemes in the film.

IW: How did you come up with the color changes in the film: red, white, blue and green?

ZY: "Hero" is not a traditional martial arts movie. It's very structurally presented. I like Rashomon, and thought I could use different colors to represent different parts in the movie.

IW: Why those particular colors, red, white and blue?

ZY: There's no particular meaning to each color. I just needed the colors to represent...

IW: Points of view.

ZY: Yes, yes. Each color represents a different period and different [way of telling the] story...

Overall, it is a well written article which contains many different view on the film Hero. It gives the reader an insight into the mind of Zhang Yimou and how he wanted to make the film appeal to the audience.

House of Flying Daggers

In the article that I found, the director of Hero, Zhang Yimou, gives an interview on his latest film, House of Flying Daggers. Also in this interview Yimou answers questions pertaining to the censorship and criticism that he has faced for making many of the movies he is known for. With the People's Revolution, Chinese film directors have faced censorship by the governement, therefore restricting what they can show in Chinese culture. Many films are now more marketed towards Western audiences. Another point that he makes is how the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon affected the success of his films. Yimou also answers the question as to why his films usually feature strong female leads.

Your films always feature strong female leads.
Yimou:The feudal system that has existed in China for 2000 years is very suppressing to women, and so it is very interesting to see a woman who tries to break the mould. And the women in my films often personify a deeper allegorical meaning.

Three Kings -By Scott Weinberg

I found this article through the popular site rottentomatoes.com. In it Weinberg is critical of how the director David O. Russell presents the film to the audience. He looks at the film from both an entertainment and scholarly point of view. He examines the themes that lay beneath the surface of the film, such as "patriotism, bravery and simple morality".
Weinberg even includes a small formalist analysis in the review :

"David O. Russell pulls out all his tricks, and a few of them are dazzling. While many of the standout scenes are of course action sequences, there are many ‘smaller’ scenes done seemingly with 8mm, distorted visions and bizarre camera angles. A particular standout is a rather visceral depiction how a bullet can infect ones bloodstream. There’s also a scene in which Wahlberg’s character is tied to a chair"

While this article is a review, I believe that it contains elements of many different types of analysis, including the formalist approach that I made mention of above.

Flirting With Disaster

Found through the site RottenTomatoes.com, the article that I chose was of the film Flirting with Disaster, a film directed by David O. Russell. While he is most likely better known for films such as I Heart Huckabees and Three Kings, this film had earned a grade of B+ from the well known movie critic Emanuel Levy, who has written film reviews for such magazines as Variety and Screen International.
Many of the films that David O. Russell has directed have had complex plot lines, and Flirting With Disaster is no different than the others.

An interview with Mel Gibson

In the article that I found, the author, Matt Zoller Seitz, a well known movie critic from the Dallas Observer and many other well known publications, conducts an interview with the star of the film Braveheart, Mel Gibson. As he is known as a practical joker on set, when asked the question of "What are you concerned over?", he replies with a straight face, "the paycheck". After laughing to show that he is joking, Mel goes into detail about what he is obsessing over in the film, as he not only starred in it, but also directed the film, and is even listed as a producer. Seitz then goes into a quick overview of the film. He also states, in his own opinion that many of the battle sequences filmed both before and after Braveheart, for other films, are "lucky to touch the hem of Braveheart's kilt." Seitz thinks that the success of the battle sequences is due to Gibson's attention to detail, that any other director would have been to lazy to follow through with what Mel had.
There is also a serious tone in the article that deals with Mel's personal demons, and how they have affected the tones of the films that he directs, such as Braveheart. Mel was quoted in the article for saying some very inflammatory remarks concerning homosexuals. Nevertheless, in Braveheart, Longshanks son, Edward, possessed a few flamboyantly gay tendencies.
The article contains several sides of Mel Gibson's personality, and the way it ha affected his methods of acting and directing films.

Braveheart- A look at the many sides of the film

Filmsite.org states the following for war genre films:
Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.

Bravheart has many of the necessary elements to be an action-oriented war film. The most recognizeable aspect of the film, in regards to what Filmsite mentions, is Wallace's uncanny ablility to escape or avoid altogether situations that may cause his death. He survives numerous battles and at least two assassination attempts due to the influence he had over people. However, there is a theme of male-bonding in the film, when Wallace and his lieutenants are sitting around the fire eating, and they feel comfortable enough to make racy jokes about one another.

Historical Events

Also, the film makes reference to many historical events in the film, such as the Battle of Stirling Bridge between the armies of England and Scotland. In the film, the battle takes place nowhere near a bridge, being as it would have been to hard to film such a big battle in such a restricting setting. Also, the "battle" was more of an ambush of the english, not an instance where the two armies lined up facing each other and charged, according to wikipedia. There are a number of historical inaccuracies in the film. These inaccuricies resulted from the flim being changed in order to give the movie a better outcome. The details may also have been altered due to the fact that the basis of the film is from a poet named Blind Harry, who wrote the poem some time after Wallace's death. Whatever the reason for these inaccuracies, they remain in the film nevertheless, altering the perception of many who view the film, obscuring their knowledge of histroy.

The article on Bravheart can be viewed at this web address :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braveheart

Ideology in Mississippi Burning

The article that I found was written by Alan Smithee. This name is a pseudonym used by Hollywood directors from 1968 to 1999 in order to write about films which had seen their creative control of the film wrested from them. The author felt that in this movie brought to the attention of the audience the ideological beliefs and following of the people in the "KKK" during the 1960's.

"Mississippi Burning brings out precisely the imperviousness of a Southern community to change - the intractability of economic and social oppression. At a time when the anti-liberal values of small town America still seem in the ascendant, and when the Supreme Court is whittling away at the achievements of the 1960's, the films underlying message is that all those battles have to be fought again and much harder than before."

During the film, the popular beliefs held by the men who killed the activists. It also brings to attention the beliefs of the two "G-men", played by William Dafoe and Gene Hackman. The head to head competition of the ideological beliefs of the two sides in the conflict represents the "political" views of the many people involved in the battle in the small town.

Formalist Themes in Kubrik's Films,

The article that I found to fufill a formalist approcah to film was from a website for Stanley Kubrick, a well known director in Hollywood. The article, for the most part, deals with different elements of mise-en-scene in many of Kubrick's films. Different items are mentioned and their significance explained.

On board of the B-52 bomber piloted by Major T.J. "King" Kong in DR. STRANGELOVE Stanley Kubrick placed as a symbol of the Cold War the curious Survival Kit. During a security check on the flight Major Kong reads out loud the list of the Kit's contents: "Survival Kit contents check. In them you will find: one 45 caliber automatic, two boxes of ammunition, four day's concentrated emergency rations, one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills, one miniature combination Rooshan phrase book and Bible, one hundred dollars in rubles, one hundred dollars in gold, nine packs of chewing gum, one issue of prophylactics, three lipsticks, three pairs of nylon stockings - shoot, a fellah could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff ...".

The article is formalist because of the mise-en-scence, in this case the "survival kit", relates the film to the feelings of the era, the Cold War. Kubrick is well known for inserting either a character or an object that somehow relates the film to present day feelings on present day world moods. Full Metal Jacket is an example of such a film, with the attitude of the soliders, in some cases madness, reflecting the mood of many American GIs who were serving in the war.

"Braveheart" Anti-English??

The article that I am writing about concerns the anti-English sentiments that the film "Bravehear"t stirred up after it's release. In Scotland, many youths who viewed the film screamed anti-English remarks during the viewing of the film.
Colin McArthur, the author of Brigadoon, Braveheart and the Scots: Distortions of Scotland in Hollywood Cinema says that

“It’s incredible the way that the film has percolated into Scottish imagination,” he says. “The political effects are truly pernicious. It’s a xenophobic film. With young men in particular, it has done terrible things to their attitude towards England.”

The article also makes mention of the fact that the movie is very anti-establishment. This led to more problems, as a KKK website made use of this fact. This website asks the reader to

“Put yourself in Mel Gibson’s character . . . and imagine how you might react when pushed far enough. This may give you a sense of why the Klan was formed . . . In Braveheart, it was Wallace’s troops; in the South it was the Klan. All groups fighting for liberty against a tyrannical, overpowering force.”

Many groups have tried to play on the success of the film, many to less-than-honorable ends. Be that as it may, "Braveheart" is a film that brought forth a character that many can identify with, one who opposes the political system thrust upon him.

Casino

In this article, the author looks at Martin Scorsese's direction of the movie Casino. Jerry Saravia, the author, is a recognized author of many works on numerous sites. These sites include RottenTomatoes.com, imdb.com, and many more recognized movie sites. While he has posted both reviews and articles, the piece that I chose was both part article and part synopsis of the film. The article appeared on a geocities.com page.The author criticized the predictable camera work of Scorsese.

"His signature camera moves were all there, including extensive Steadicam work, zoom-ins, fast tracking shots, etc."

However, the whole part of the article is a glowing critique of Scorsese's triumph in directing the movie. The only drawback was the length of the movie. He felt that the length of the film was too long for audiences to stay interested.

"Another drawback may have been the length of the film and the immorality of the story - not many will sit still for a 170-minute movie unless it is Titanic or Lord of the Rings. A nearly three-hour elegy about the mob is not exactly brisk, sentimental entertainment - Scorsese may be too heavy-hearted and unsentimental for most audiences."

The author of the article compares this Scorsese film to others that he had made. He also mentions that Scorsese's own experiences lent an authenticity to the film.

Shawshank Redemption

The focus of this review of the film "The Shawshank Redemption" is about the "innocent man in prison" theme. However, this film takes it in a different direction. While most prison films are centered around the yearning to escape from behind bars, this film shows many inmates adapting and accepting their place in prison. There are also example s of the inability of those same inmates to adapt back to the cutoms of society after being in prison for so long. Tragically one man is unable to cope and ends up committing suicide. This "innocent man in prison" theme takes a turn when Andy Dufresne, helps all of the guilty men to better themselves while in prison. He never gives up hope that his innocence will be proven. The presentation of this theme makes the movie one of the best prison movies that I have ever seen.

Crash

Corrigan uses the recent hit film Crash as a reference in his book. I for one had seen the film, but for those who haven't, here is some background information.
Crash is a great film, in my opinion. The way that the different parts of the film are brought together was great. Throughout the film, different forms of racism take place. It didn't matter what race, ethnicity, or even social class the character came from. At one time or another, each character has to come to recognize their racist beliefs, and they have to face those problems head on. I for one was impressed with the way the film turned out.
The link that I have posted leads to a brief overview of the film and its plotline according to www.imdb.com. There are also links to a trailer as well as trivia about the film.

Dazed and Confused

The film that I chose to find information about was Richard Linklater's cult classic, Dazed and Confused. There are two storylines central to the film. One involves the hazing of incoming freshman by the new seniors at the high school, and the way that one young man, Mitch Kramer deals with it and the unexpected popularity that he achieves because of it. The other deals with star quarterback, Randall "Pink" Floyd, and his decision on whether to give into his coaches and sign a pledge saying that he won't do anything illegal over the summer. He feels that he is being treate wrongly and tries to figure out what he wants to do as the day progresses. The two main characters in the movie share some aspects in common.They were both hazed after playing baseball, both were viciously hazed by the top seniors, and both have major problems to deal with during the course of the film.

I have provided a link to the film information on www.imdb.com, but I also wanted to provide another link which I found very informative, information pertaining to specific details about many of the characters in this film. Here is the second link
http://www.dazed-and-confused.net/