WES ANDERSON

In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, in the beginning pulls the audience back in time from the present to the past to the further past. What I find quite interesting about what Wes added in the Grand Budapest is the actual importance and voice of the Author.  We first come across the Author as an older man about in his late 50’s early 60’s and then he begins talking about how he came across the story and history of the grand Budapest and then we change time period again and we go back even further. I think the main reason Wes added the role of the Author was to commemorate the work that Stefan Zweig wrote for and work towards in his books. Even when the author is younger we see him come across the owner of the hotel, Zero. And from there we go back even further in time, its like inception but also not quite at that level?

And from there we see Zero’s troubles as a working immigrant in fragile time of the 1920’s/ 1930’s when WWII was about to break out. The borders in particular were pretty intense during that time, everyone was an enemy and if you were foreign and “illegal” this set you apart from everyone else. But when watching the Grand Budapest, we see how Mr. Gustave was so much more interested in him as a person than where he came from.  And by the end of the movie we see how intense and how dark morale people are about foreigners. 

THE GRADUATE

If I were the actor for Ben in the Graduate, it would be helpful and essential that I went through a similar situation like ben. In some way shape or form. Especially when he is feeling lost and scared for his future this is very relatable to anyone in a mid-life crisis, as for ben it’s a “just graduated what do I do now?” crisis. If anything I think it would be important to focus on mood wise, be depressed. And base on Ben’s personality through out this screenplay he get’s pushed around a lot and seems to have very little confidence in himself now compared to his college life where he was active in some many activities and hobbies. With that in mind it would be good to act like I’m in a haze all the time as if I’m remembering the past the good old’ days. In the righting I also felt like he was very awkward most of the time and people were spitting words out for him.

Especially around Mrs. Robinson, I think that would be important to show how uncomfortable he is around Mrs. Robinson. But over time we see him give up even more on life. When Ben tried to have a conversation with Mrs. Robinson, I just imagined his eyes lighting up with excitement to try and know something more about her. But we see that Mrs. Robinson doesn’t want anything more than just to have sex with him. And from there we see he losses interest in her…

When Ben is with Elaine at first I want to appear as if I have no feeling for Elaine, and tried to make her dislike me as much as possible because of where I bring her and what I do. But when I realize that I really hurt Elaine, I want to show that I was all an act, because I really do care about her and I like her, but I did it for her own good. As Ben talks with Elaine more I want to express my appreciation for Elaine, because Elaine is the first person coming back home to understand what I’m going through.

VOICE AND AUTEUR THEORY- SOFIA CAPPOLA

I watched Sofia Cappola’s work for this assignment and it’s clear she has a style for leaving her work in cliffhangers. In the three movies I watch “Marie Antoinette”, “Virgin Suicides”, and “ The Bling Ring”. Personally I was most invested in Marie Antoinette and a little bit in Virgin Suicide; both were very artistically pleasing movies very unique cinematography in both, but what struck me more in Marie Antoinette is the solidified character.  We actually feel sympathy and start to understand Marie’s hardships and pains as a young woman who is isolated in a foreign country. One aspect of her life that I had real sympathy for was when she was getting criticized for not push hard enough to seduce her husband into having children with her. And that really left her and Louis in a hard spot for years.

One thing that is common in all three of the movies is message about greed. We see that with Marie the greed she has for sex, money, food, and luxuries really brings her reputation down as a ruler and eventually leads to her downfall. We also see the same thing happen in Bling Ring where these rebellious teenager want a glimpse of a life they cannot possess and take things that do not belong to them, and eventually their greed catches up with them. And in Virgin Suicide the audience sees the girls’ chance of going to the dance as a way of breaking out of their parents homes. Ultimately, because one of the daughter’s, Lex, has a desire and lust for her boyfriend, we see her clutching her freedom and this ends up being a punishment for her and ultimate isolation for the rest of the sisters.

I do think that these movies aren’t necessarily suppose to be satisfying for the viewer, but Sofia tries to tell their side of the story and bring a message out of the character’s ultimate demises.

Jim Jarmusch

Dead Man, Mystery Train, Down by Law

·      Broken people trying rediscovering themselves

·      Black and white for 2 of the films, likes to work in both

·      He also plays a lot with Cinematography holding shots that are traveling, and the shots on the characters leaves you to not have bias towards the characters.  With these long shots they also make you stay on the characters longer even in a jail cell or when having sex they make you uncomfortable.

·      Jim uses music to push the narrative and shot cuts sometimes

·      The main characters all get themselves in these weird uncomfortable scenarios that they have to break out of or escape or keeping movie forward

·      We see in all 3 films the character have a fantasy of what they want and expect in life, but then we see the true reality of the situation and what they get in return

·      The characters come from a place in which they were living comfortable lives, and then they come to a distant area and have to survive this new foreign territory ex. Japan to Tennessee, Michigan to the great west, and New Orleans City to the New Orleans Prison

·      The characters are unsatisfied with the reality they had and that’s why they go (or be taken) to a new setting. Many of the settings are in lower economic status and it shows you that they are in a bubble like a suburbia

·      The settings from each movie have been all drained of any beauty and hope

o   The movies tone of each movie seems very discouraging

o   But there is a slight humor in seeing the their expectation and seeing the reality, it feels like a sick joke in a way

·      The characters all seem to have an innocence in them and passion, which makes them admirable in that way

o   But the people they come across are so bitter and sinister that it challenges the main character and their morale

·      When we do travel we are unsure where they will end up next, and it’s concerning because they could end up somewhere even worse than before

·      Film Noir, it’s about losers and theses characters are down in there luck

·      Language Barrier force you to communicate and they push you to get out of your bubble

·      Deserted towns and places is important and as well as the characters don’t strive to be changed based on the situation and the environment that’s when they adapt.