Se7en

This film is a 1995 American detective-psychological thriller film starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey. William Somerset, played by Morgan Freeman, is a homicide detective who is about to retire. David Mills, played by Brad Pitt, is a newly transferred homicide detective. These two become deeply involved in a serial killer case involving the seven deadly sins: lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, pride, and envy. The serial killer planned and murdered different people based on the seven deadly sins.

The overall movie was dark and shadowy. The dark and gloomy setting help build suspense and make the movie more interesting. The sounds also played a major role in building suspense and making movie come to life. Above is a scene from the movie where Detective Mills is chasing the suspect from the suspect’s apartment. The sound of the rain is missing. The traffic sounds all around the block is amplified, especially the sound of the truck that the suspect ran towards. Dramatic music playing in the background help build even more suspense making the viewer wonder what will happen next. As I was watching, I started to wonder if the suspect was going to get away or was something going to happen to the detective. I believe sound makes it more interesting and makes the movie more enjoyable. I would give this movie 4 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed the mysterious and compelling story that the film portrayed. The sounds and music make certain scenes more emotionally and better.

Royal Tenebaums

The Royal Tenenbaums is a film that tells the story of an unconventional middle class
family in New York City. It portrays three gifted siblings who experience successful youths while experiencing failure and disappoint in the future years. A theme throughout the whole movie is family. Royal Tenenbaum, the father, leaves the family and lives in a hotel for 22 years. His relationship with his family is close to nonexistent. Royal tries to mend his relationship after he is evicted from his hotel. He lies by saying he was dying of stomach cancer. The family comes together one last time. A scene from the movie I chose was the scene where, Royal and his two grandchildren are riding on the back of a garbage truck. Royal is finally getting to know his grandkids and spend time with them. This scene is meaningful because at the end of the movie, a very similar scene pops up too. The scene is exactly the same including the camera angle. The only exception is Chaz, Royal’s son, joins for the ride. In the beginning of the movie, Chaz resented his father Royal. He even sued his father for stealing from him and even got him arrested for a brief period of time. This scene relates to the theme because it shows that their relationship improved. Royal repaired his relationships with his family before passing away due to a heart attack.

12 Monkeys

This film, 12 Monkeys, is about a man time traveling back into the past to find out more about a deadly virus that killed 5 billon people. James Cole, the main character portrayed by Bruce Willis, sent back in time to collect information on this deadly virus. To earn a pardon, James Cole allowed the scientists to send him back into the past multiple time. There was a scene in this movie that references another movie, Vertigo. The scene in Vertigo that was shown was the Muir Woods scene. Judy was acting like she was possessed. Looking at the ridges of the trunk and saying when she was born and died. Talking about the past and future similar to what was happening in 12 Monkeys. Like the scene from Vertigo where Judy pretends to be blonde Madeleine, Railly transforms herself with a blonde wig. The theme throughout the movie was time. James ends up in 1990 and World War I time period, before ending up in 1996. James gets confused if he is mentally unstable or he is traveling back and forth in time. A photo and the bullet removed from his leg are the only two physical proof that he is actually traveling back in time and is not crazy. Other evidence is Cole, predicting that the child who felling in a well was hiding in a barn. Another piece of evidence was when Cole repeats the phone conversation. He was too far away to hear but he knew word for word.

The Host

The film, The Host, is about a sea monster created by the improper disposal of chemicals. I believe this movie is in a way like an anti-American movie. The movie starts off showing an American pathologist ordering his Korean assistant to dump all the toxic chemicals down the drain. The assistant reluctantly complied and dumped many bottles down the drain that led right into Han River. Through the orders of an American, the monster was created accidentally. If this never happened, the movie would have never happened. Another scene in the movie shows an American scientist with his translator, interrogating Gang-du. The scientist was pretending to care, asking him questions about his daughter. The American scientist did not believe Gang-du’s story. He believed that Gang-du was hallucinating and it was caused by the so-called virus. Even though to this point in the movie, there was no evidence of a virus, a brain biopsy was deemed necessary. This shows the cruelty and uncaringness of Americans. Also near the end of the movie, the US military’s last-ditch effort to kill the monster was to release a chemical agent called “Agent Yellow”. Despite the huge amounts of protestors, the chemical was released while the protestors were still in the area.

Symbolism

Pan’s Labyrinth is a Spanish language fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo del Torro.  Pan’s Labyrinth is an allegorical story that can be interpreted in numerous ways through the many symbols. The movie takes place in the mountains of fascist Spain at a military camp fighting against the rebels. The main character Ofelia, a young girl with a vivid imagination, travel with her pregnant mother to meet her stepfather, a heartless captain of the Spanish army. It is at this camp she learns about the reality of mortality and the meaning of self-sacrifice. The scene near the end where Ofelia steals her brother from Captain Vidal is very meaningful. The faun wanted her to give him the baby to obtain a drop of innocent blood. Ofelia refuses to give the baby. At this point, Captain Vidal finds Ofelia. He takes the baby back and shoots Ofelia. Ofelia’s own blood falls into the labyrinth. She protected an innocent by self-sacrificing. After sacrificing herself and completing the three tasks, she is shown in another realm where her ‘real’ parents await. Pan’s Labyrinth shows a young girl who is exposed to the severity of the real world which destroys her innocent spirit. Children have been shown to respond to a traumatic event by dissociating into a fantasy world where anything is possible.

Vertigo Blog Post #1

Romantic Delusion

Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ is a startling meditation on romantic delusion. The main character in the film, Scottie Ferguson, was easily deceived and manipulated by the people around him. His strong need for that illusive fantasy type love caused him to be oblivious to what really was going on. Midge was presented as down to earth, loving character. She was the complete opposite of Madeleine. Her character offered Scottie “real” love, which Scottie disregarded while on the search for that dreamlike love he saw in Madeleine/Judy. The character Judy pretended to be Madeleine Elster, the wife of his friend Gavin Elster. Judy was involved in the plot, created by Gavin Elster, to murder the real Madeleine Elster. Scottie fell in love with Judy without knowing who she really was. After Madeleine’s supposed suicide, Scottie could not accept the fact that Madeleine was dead. He tried to recreate her image in Judy. The screen capture above shows the scene where Scottie sees Judy’s complete transformation back to Madeleine for the first time after the suicide. This scene shows Scottie going in for a kiss. In his mind, he had brought Madeleine back from the dead. After finding out that Judy had deceived him, he takes her back to the scene of the crime, the bell tower. His drastic action to free himself from his romantic delusion and acrophobia causes him to lose his love once again. Frightened by Scottie’s actions, Judy is disoriented. She falls to her tragic death after seeing a shadowy figure who she believes may be the ghost of the real Madeleine. Scotties romantic delusion causes him to lose his love not once but twice.