Response to: The Last Seduction

The Last Seduction (1994) at first seems to follow the classic Film Noir structure. It uses the three main themes of money, sex and murder. It has a fall guy, a femme fatale and her husband, the victim. It even makes a couple of casual references to the classic Film Noir Double Indemnity. But this film also completely diverts from classic Film Noir. Whereas in the classic Film Noir, the fall guy would always be the main protagonist. In The Last Seduction, Bridget, the femme fatale, is the protagonist, and you feel no sympathy for the fall guy, whereas in Double Indemnity, Walter is both the protagonist and the fall guy, and you do feel sympathy (to some extent) for him.
I personally thought that this film was a good homage to classic Noir. I also thought that whilst the ending scene was clever, and a twist I did not see coming, I felt it could have been handled more appropriately. Most viewers know what rape looks like, and whilst showing it explicitly is shocking, I felt this wasn't done to be shocking, it was just done because they didn't think of a way to make it shocking without showing it.

Microanalysis of Double Indemnity: 'How fast was I going, Officer?'

Double Indemnity is the story of an insurance salesman who is seduced by a conniving woman into a scheme to murder her husband and make it look like an accident in order to collect upon his impressive life insurance policy. It stars Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson, Fred Macmurray as Walter Neff , and Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes. The film was made in 1944 and was directed by Billy Wilder.
This scene takes place not long after the start of the film, with Neff having arrived at the Dietrichson house for the first time. It begins as he waits for Phyllis to finish dressing and join him in the sitting room. Neff is a typical film noir protagonist - up until the events of the film he is a very ordinary man. He is the 'fall guy':the one that will take the blame for the crimes orchestrated by Phyllis. He believes he is in love with her, and she with him - but the truth is the exact opposite. Neff is simply in love with the idea of helping a pretty damsel in distress, and Phyllis just wants to be free of her husband and to get the insurance money, and will do anything to get there. Phyllis is a classic film noir femme fatale - she knows what she wants and she knows how to get there.
This links to the three vital elements that are needed for a successful Film Noir - Sex, Murder and Money. Phyllis uses her sexuality to seduce Neff in order to get him to help her kill her husband, so she can get her hands on the $100,000 insurance money.
Venetian blinds were often used in Film Noir to create different atmospheres, and in this case they are used to cast shadows across the room to create an effect of bars. This could symbolise two things: One, that the Dietrichson House is a cage, to trap Neff. Two, the bars symbolise how Neff will end up in jail.
The photos of Mr. and Lola Dietrichson are bathed in a white light. White light is often used in movies to symbolise goodness and purity. The fact that Phyllis is not there indicates her true nature.

Love Hate (2009) review

Love Hate is a short film starring Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell. Whishaw plays Tom, a kind, polite, somewhat socially awkward charity worker, and Atwell plays Hate - literally the personification of Tom's hate that he's been repressing for years. This creates a bizarre, darkly comic and surreal scenario.
When Hate arrives into Tom's mundane boring life - where he tries to be a 'nice guy' - she is everything that he is not. She is loud, confident, cynical, blunt. When the two first converse, he mutters, and stumbles over his words, while she is bold. Their differences are reflected in their wardrobe - and this stage, Tom wears loose, neutral clothing, with the only splash of colour being his orange charity t-shirt. Hate dresses in more risqué clothes, in deeper shades and harsher fabrics.
Slowly, Hate starts to get to Tom. Tom starts to feel Joy in being wicked, revelling in his pent up disgust. She manipulates him, making him watch as she tears his favourite teddy apart alongside his life.
As Hate takes over more and more of his life, Tom becomes an entirely different person. He dresses in darker colours and behaves in a similar way to Hate. At one point, when he is lying on the floor in pain, Hate comes along and kicks him several times. When he asks her why, she responds by asking him if he had ever heard of self-hate.
Love Hate creatively explores the balance one must have to live a pyschologically balanced life. The reason Hate has so much power over Tom is that he has repressed her for so long, she has not been allowed to be let out and dealt with, She has simply grown and grown. You can't live a Hate free life, but, as Tom found out to his peril, that doesn't mean Hate should be allowed to control you.

Profile on: Maggie Smith

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, CH, DBE has had a career in stage film and television that has spanned over sixty years, making her début (on stage) in 1952. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire(DBE) in the 1990 New Year Honours for services to the performing arts, and Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour(CH) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
Smith was born on 28th December 1934, in Romford, Essex, England. When she was 18 her career began on stage at the Oxford Playhouse. For her work on stage, she has won five Best Actress Evening Standard Awards, and one Tony. She has played many TV roles, such as Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice and David Copperfield. Her most well known television appearance, however, is in ITV's Downton Abbey, as Violet Crawley.
Maggie Smith has been married, twice, once to Robert Stephens (1967), with whom she had two children, the actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens. The couple divorced in 1974, and a year later she married the playwright Beverley Cross.
In January 1988, she was diagnosed with Graves Disease, and in 2007 was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she made a full recovery from birth.
She first drew praise on screen for the crime film Nowhere to Go - which resulted in her first BAFTA nomination. In 1965 she played Desdamona in Othello, for which she recieved an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination.
Maggie Smith has two Academy Awards, one for Best Actress in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and the other for Best Supporting Actress for California Suite. Alongside nominations for Travels With My Aunt, A Room with a View and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, this means she has been nominated six times. Other notable films include Death on the Nile, Sister Act, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and of course, her role as Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise.
Her most recent films are Gnomeo and Juliet (Lady Blueberry), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and it's sequel, Quartet, My Old Lady and The Lady in the Van, adapted from the play of the same name, in which Smith plays the Lady in the Van, who lived on Alan Bennet's drive for 15 years. Smith has played the role twice before, and while promoting the films, appeared on a chat show for the first time in 42 years.

How Music is used in the Beginning of August Rush

The very beginning of the film before there has even been any screen time, is the quiet drone of a few notes whilst dialogue is spoken very clearly about the music being all around. Then, as the black screen dissolves to the corn swaying, you realise the pulsating of the notes is in time with the swaying of the corn. Deeper base notes come in as we zoom out to the corn field in it's entirety, symbolising the large mass of objects we see. The music pulsates faster as Evan raises his hand to conduct the corn and the music he hears in it, almost as though the very movement of his own hand is creating music.
As we pull over the corn, now swirling in circles around Evan, like he is their commanding force, windchimes come in, accompinied by a shot of several stalks moving alongside the windchimes, as though the drone is the corn in it's entirety, but the windchimes are the individual stalks.
The music once again seems to rise and fall with Evan's hands. As we pull out even further over the swirling, twisting field, strings come in. This motif appears in August's Rhapsody at the end, so is a way to link the start and end of the film together.

How editing is used in the first car chase in The Man From U.N.C.L.E

The scene starts with Illya's car pulling into frame next to Gaby and Napoleon's car. The camera cuts between three shots very quickly - extreme close ups of Illya, Napoleon and Gaby. Then, chosing to cut away from Gaby and Napoleon, the two characters sharing diologue at this moment, the camera cuts to a tilt of Illya, the object of discussion, from his face to the gun beside him. We then continue to alternating between closeups of Gaby and Napoleon, and then a shot of Illya's hand on the wheel of the car, and Illya's Face. Then, as the two gunshots ring out, we see them first from Illya's window and POV, and in the next split-second, we cut to Napoleon's (the shooter) POV. This illustrates the closeness of the scene and helps the scene feel quite tight.
Just as the gunshot fades away we cut to the outside of the cars, a shot from behind. This, like the gunshots, almost shakes the viewer awake, the scene is no longer close together, like a conversation, it's now pulled about and you know the car chase proper has begun. However, the camera shots are still being cut together very quickly, creating a feeling of speed.
As the camera cuts to a shot of the exterior of the side of the car, it doesn't jump cut to Illya's car behind them, instead the camera pulls out incredibly quickly, then pulls in to Napoleon and Gaby's car, then pulls out and pulls in to Illya's car. This lack of editing creates an interesting affect that would not have been achieved had the editing been there. If the film had cut between Gaby's car, both cars, Illya's car and both cars again, then the viewer would have thought nothing of it, it would have been what they subconsciouly expected. But take away the editing, and you get an altogether different effect.

Narrative Theory in Seven

Structure and Plot are used to great effect in Seven. Plot, to summarise, is what happens within the film, for example the plot of Seven is a serial killer, John Doe (Kevin Spacey) commits murders that are connected to the seven deadly sins,whilst two detectives try to find him, before the serial killer is shot by Detective Mills (Brad Pitt). Structure is how the information is given to the viewer, i.e.. in Seven, we only know as much as Mills and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) know - as if we are actually working the case with the two detectives. This is especially powerful in the ending of the film, when it is revealed that Mills is Wrath, Doe is Envy, and he has killed Mills' wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow). Throughout the film, we see hints of the anger that lies beneath the surface of Mills', for example when Doe pretends to be a journalist he reacts violently towards him, hinting that he was Wrath, but in the ending, when Doe reveals that he is Envy, I had not seen that coming, as they had been very guarded about Doe's character beforehand, another example of Structure, we had almost no indication of Doe's character and motivation until he turned himself in. This also contributed to the narrative theory as Doe's character was unknown until almost the end.

By contrast, we knew the two detectives very well. Somerset was a veteran cop who wanted to retire, had never pulled a gun/shot someone, whereas Mills, the rookie, had. The two cops had a binary opposition, in that as well as their experience with guns in the field, and their age and experience in general, Somerset is calm, reserved and can handle situations calmly and professionally, however Mills is un-experienced, quick to anger and dislikes being told what to do. Doe exploits this in order to fulfil his plans.

The way the cinematography is used in Seven creates a very claustrophobic effect, it's almost constantly raining, which effects the mise-en-scene as this means the lighting is often very low-key, which adds to the closeness of the film. It feels quite cramped, as the detectives have little to no room to move to try to outwit Doe, as he is always one step ahead of them. The only time this is any different is at the end, when they are out of the city and into the country in an open field. This could reflect the fact that the detectives thought they had solved the case and caught Doe, which was of course, not the case.

How Mise-en-Scene is used in: Les Miserables

Setting:
Setting is a vital part in Les Mis. It helps show the binary opposition between the rich and the poor - an example of this being the contrast between Marius' lodgings and his grandfathers house. Setting is also used to demonstrate the hardships of life in 18th Century France, everywhere you go there are people dying on the streets, and the over all effect of the rotten housing and the poverty is a very bleak, almost grey overtone to the film. This also contrasts with the setting for Marius and Cosette's wedding - The scene is bright and happy, and the scenery echoes that. This is also used effectively at the end of the film when protagonist Jean Valjean dies and ascends to Heaven. The setting is noticebly cleaner and brighter, there is also more colour than before. This is illustrates the freedom from poverty, hatred and everything bad that comes with death.

Costume and Makeup:
Costume and Makeup is also used in Les Mis to illustrate the difference between rich and poor. It is used particularly well to illustrate the differences between Cosette and Eponine. Near the start of the film, a young eponine is showed being showered in affection by her parents, the Thenardier's, and she is wearing a royal blue bonnet, in comparison with Cosette, who is abused by the same couple and kept in rags. Later in the film, Cosette wears expensive silk dresses, and is cared for by her adoptive father, whilst Eponine wears rags, has messy hair and is only used as a pawn in her parents scams.

Props:
The Bishop's silver Candlesticks serve as a vitally important symbol within Les Mis. They symbolise second chances, change, and forgiveness.

Lighting:
Lighting is used to show the bleakness and darkness in the film - When something tragic has happened, the lighting is lowkey, often only lit by candles. If there is a happier moment, the lighting is bright and highkey. A good example of this is the epilogue. When Valjean dies, the church is dark and lit with lowkey lighting, but when he moves on to Heaven, it is highkey lighting.

Figure Expression:
Figure expression is important in any musical, but is especially important in the Les Mis Song 'One Day More'. Due to the many characters singing at different times, the use of figure expression is important to understand the emotions the characters are feeling.

How the beginning of 10 Rillington Place is affected by the setting

The movie starts with a shot of the street sign, Rillington Place, as ominous music plays in the background. Music anchors the film, and this music makes you think of evil ,of murder. As the credits end, the camera pans down away from the sign into the street as an air raid siren sounds. This quite clearly tells us we are in the Second World War before subtitles appear confirming this by telling us we are in London of 1944. As we pan along  Place, the character of Muriel shines a torch onto no. 10 Rillington Place. The way the camera hovers over the numbers of the house showes us clearly this is the title house. Suddenly, Mr Christie appears, peeking omninously through the blackout curtains. As he opens the door, there is nothing but darkness, to echo the horrors within. It is also worth noting that Mr Christie is very softly spoken, which shows a kind of quiet menace that he radiates throughout the opening.
Inside 10 Rillington Place, it is bare, dismal, and almost entirely made of wood and rope. His kitchrn has only a few items in it, and a chair made out of rope and pieces of wood. The overall effect is not a pleasent on, which reflects the home owner. The scene does not have highkey nor lowkey lighting, but it is probably closer to lowkey lighting.
After the unpleasentness that then follows in the kitchen, we leave into his garden. Like the rest of his house, we see that it is rather bare and dismal. It looks like all war time gardens, with one exception, in the hole he is digging for Muriel, we can see in the corner another foot. As it is not skeletal or even vaguely decomposing, we can determine that this was quite recent.
This is where the opening ends, but from this we can see that setting is vital to create the quietly menacing aura of 10 Rillington Place.