Young and attractive Harrison Ford takes us on a journey in the past to the future in the sci-fi film Blade Runner. Blade Runner, released in 1982, follows Ford in the year 2019 as a detective on the hunt for scientifically constructed people, known as replicants, who are out to kill retired cops, also known as blade runners. Ford is hired to eliminate these deviant beings and the film shows his triumphs, obstacles, and everything in between.
This film get receives a 6/10 from me. I did not really understand what was going on in the beginning of the film and that left me feeling like i needed to play catch up or pause the film and read some review. Doesn't seem like a big deal but i was present from the beginning of the film until the end; there is no reason i should feel lost or confused. There are certain mediums filmmakers and directors use to grasp and maintain a viewer's interest and this movie did not do that well for me. I appreciate the plot and the acting but the film moved a little slower than i would have liked and being confused for a prolonged period of time is no fun.
It was very interesting to see the way the people in the 80’s imagined and portrayed the future. The film had a very typical idea of what the future would be. Living and viewing the film in 2014 makes it a bit comical, I wish I could have seen it in the 80’s or before the futuristic theme became so predictable. There were the inevitable flying cars, bright and intense lights everywhere, overly crowded streets, and dramatic outfits. The actors were super pale, super blonde, and super intense; obviously characteristics that we would not see in the year 2019, at least not all of them combined in that way.
Once I was done being distracted by how far off the film portrayed the future I was able to appreciate the art present. It is always nice to see how creative people can get with just the idea of the future. Considering how similar representations of the future are in film I believe it is safe to say the ideas stem from some common place. I am not sure what that common place is or where it can be found but its existence is inevitable. Feeding off that, will films follow suit? Or will they step outside the norm and test the waters?
I wish I could say that Blade Runner tested the waters but I am unable to think that way because of all the films I have seen in my life showing the future to be this over the top scientific society. With this in mind I couldn't help but think of the hype around this film back in its time. I remember wanting to see the reactions of viewers when the film was first released. What kind of crowd gravitated towards this film? Were they impressed? How did Hollywood react to it? We know the film was good or at least noteworthy based on its presence in this new age but what was it like when it was fresh. Ahhh, I’d pay money to sit in a movie theater or in a car and watch this movie in the 1980s!
After this film I can say that science fiction will definitely receive a different respect from me. I used to just write it off uninterested but there is something about Blade Runner that teases my interest. Needless to say my curiosity will be fed. I may stray away from the futuristic themes and that may be difficult but I believe there is hope. And hey, who is to say I will not find futuristic films that are not over the top but just right?!?!
Sources (1) First Picture -- Harrison Ford http://asidpk.deviantart.com/art/Blade-Runner-Wallpaper-254008164 (2) Second Picture -- Futuristic World Of Blade Runner http://derekwinnert.com/blade-runner-classic-film-review-30/ (3) Third Picture -- 1980's Drive In Theater http://eerie-indiana.blogspot.com/2013/07/an-abandoned-rural-drive-in.html
In Groundhog day Bill Murray plays a sarcastic narcissistic newscaster. The movie follows Murray on his travels to a little town to broadcast the annual Groundhog Day event where he will spend countless days reliving the same day. Throughout the movie Murray tries to figure out, indirectly and directly, the secret message or action necessary to set him free from repeating the same day over and over. His peers have no idea that the same day presents itself with changes only made by the differences he brings to the days himself.
The obvious theme in this movie is repetition. In our text, the author describes repetition like so, “Like order and duration, then, repetition serves not only as a means of relaying story information, but also as a signal that a particular event has a meaning or significance that should be acknowledged in our interpretation and analysis.” With movies like Groundhog Day, where the movie repeats the same day again and again throughout the whole movie, it can sometimes to be difficult to see the importance within the repetition. There are even instances where the day changes so greatly that I would need to remind myself that it was the same day but it has just taken a drastic turn. I felt as though my interpretation and analysis of Groundhog Day was clouded by my lack of interest in the film and the not so obvious message of “he is an asshole and when he starts being nice his life will continue”. Don’t get me wrong, I love a typical asshole that gets what he deserves after multiple failed attempts but this movie just did not do it for me. The repetition was annoying and his progress was so prolonged that I was impatiently waiting for the movie to end.
Now I cannot just spend my whole review bashing this film so I will offer some different approaches that, in my mind, would have made this film way more enjoyable. Instead of Murray reliving the same day, he would progress onto the new day but some mishap or regression back into his old ways would leave him stuck within the new day causing him to repeat it until a different achievement was made. This of course would happen after all of his reckless and inevitable actions like stealing money, having a speed chase with the police, and all of the other ridiculous things he did. Come on, there is no way we all wouldn’t have done the same thing.
The overall message I received from this film was that your life won’t progress until you are “your best”. “Your best” being the socially constructed idea that nice people who are genuine with selfless intentions will not be stuck spending days reliving their mistakes. Murray attempted to act genuine throughout the film and was not successful progressing onto the new day but when he accepted his fate that change may never come he wakes up to the highly anticipated next day.
American Beauty was directed by Sam Mendes in 1999 starring Kevin Spacey as the main character. The film also casts Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari, and Wes Bentley. In the film Spacey is portrayed as a pathetic, unhappy, sarcastic smart ass. The film follows Spacey’s family while they deal with their individual changes, their struggles as a family, and the interactions they have with the people they have allowed into their lives. Throughout the film red roses are used as a metaphor that I understood to stand for passion, lust, desire, and intimacy.
One of the early scenes shows Spacey’s character masturbating in the shower after he explains how dissatisfied he is in his everyday life. Spacey explains that his time in the shower masturbating would be the highlight or high point of his day. I believe there is already a negative connotation/association with masturbation and while watching I could not help but notice the film reinforcing that message. As if regular, happy sexually active people do not masturbate. At that moment I decided to correlate positive characteristics with Spacey’s character instead of looking at him as low life and that made him a very enjoyable person to relate with. I found myself appreciating his character. He was not afraid to show how unhappy he was in his life and I respected that. Of course my feelings towards this character continued to grow (positively) as he became more confident and aggressive at taking control of his life.
The metaphor of red roses was brilliant in the film. They would show up in sometimes the most unexpected ways. Two examples of this was when Spacey and his wife went to support their daughter who was a cheerleader at a high school basketball game. Spacey, and the camera, focus in on his daughter’s best friend, who he is immediately attracted to from first sight, and imagines her performing a sexual dance. Close to the end of the dance she begins to unzip her cheerleading jacket about to reveal her breasts but instead hundreds of red rose pedals come out of her jacket. Spacey’s character imagines this dance to be as sexual as it is in his mind but right when the time comes to imagine her breasts red roses appear. Another example in the film was when Spacey and Suvari were in the kitchen and he envisions a very hot scene where they make out. As soon as the embrace ends Spacey has something in his mouth, what could it be? Of course it is a red rose pedal. To me, the roses define the desire Spacey wants to feel with Suvari and the roses showing up every time he imagines a sexual encounter with her also allow me to think of desire and lust. These roses never show up when Spacey thinks of his wife or when they almost become intimate, which is very rare even close to never, in the film. The metaphor was very sexualized to me. The film being called American Beauty made me think of red roses being an American beauty.
In 2000 the Coen brothers released the film O Brother Where Art Thou starring George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson. The men are criminals who escape from jail and hit the free road running. The movie follows the leading actors through their hilarious and reckless adventure to uncover a hidden treasure and to stay covered from the jail house chains they have escaped from. The film has loose references to the Greek tale and in my review I will focus on one of the similarities between the story of the Odyssey and the Coen brother’s film.
Before I discuss the similarities I want to touch upon the role of men and women in this film. Throughout the whole film I found the majority of the men to seem arrogant, dominant, and impulsive while the women seemed manipulative, demanding, and shallow. Take Clooney’s character for example, he was always willing to take the lead regardless if he was fit to do so and maintained his own agenda throughout the film dragging his companions into every corner of trouble. Just to clarify, his companions also possessed these qualities and also had their fair share of trouble making but some less than others. I will use Clooney’s ex-wife/wife in the film as my manipulative and shallow mascot for the women in this film. She lied to her daughters about their father being alive and when Clooney confessed his devotion to her and their children, she responds by pointing out how wealthy her new fiancé is and how he will be able to support them unlike Clooney. She also has lied to her daughters telling them that their father was hit by a train to avoid the shameful conversations about Clooney’s whereabouts otherwise. The value of family and respect meant nothing to her but the value of money was everything.
Back to the Greek similarities, the correlation I will discuss is found in the scene when Turturro hears the voices of three women while driving with his companions. Turturro obnoxiously wants out of the car and follows the voices until he sees three beautiful women sitting on rocks and washing clothes. The women are singing in perfect harmony luring the men closer and closer. The scene was referencing the singing Sirens.
The sirens would sing their seductive songs and the men who heard their song would follow the voices leading them to their death. The men would crash their ships into rocks or drown trying to swim to the women. In the Coen film, the women were singing “Go To Sleep Little Baby”. The men were powerless to the siren’s song. Clooney could barely form sentences and his companions did not even attempt to speak when the women approached. Like the story, the men listened to the song and lost more than they had hoped to gain. What I enjoyed most about this reference was how pure the women looked, even I wanted to follow their voices, their dark hair and soft skin would have lured us all down to the water. Something is to be said about things that look too good to be true.
Beauty is the ultimate kryptonite to men who have become unfamiliar to the sight of a woman. The women in the water looked sweet but sang their song with a power only noticed by men in control. These men had become companions because they were chained to each other, they were not friends but partners on a mission. The end of the road was not seeming near causing the men to become agitated and weak making it even easier for the women to cast their spell. Unlike the Greek story, the men did not meet their death as a result of the women’s song but instead lost a friend. Convinced their friend had turned into a toad the two other men continued on their hunt for the hidden treasure unsure how to bring their friend back to his original form. It was not very clear to me exactly how Turturro’s character lost his clothes or how he got caught by the sheriff but one thing was for sure; nothing good comes from singing women in water.
References *Sites are in the order of the photos shown above (1) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/ (2) http://news.moviefone.com/2010/05/01/scenes-we-love-o-brother-where-art-thou/ (3) http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/sirens-mythology.html (4) http://mistercomfypants.blogspot.com/2012/02/o-brother-where-art-thou.html