Rebel Without a Cause

Please read Roger Ebert's Great Movies essay on Rebel Without a Cause. In 2 paragraphs, please discuss the following quote:

"Like its hero, Rebel Without a Cause desperately wants to say something and doesn't know what it is. If it did know, it would lose its fascination. More perhaps than it realized, it is a subversive document of its time."

Early in his essay, Ebert claims that "the film has not aged well." Do you agree or disagree? Give me a paragraph that tells me why.

Fight the Power!

Choose one director we've studied over the past year and a half and discuss his influence on Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. I want you to discuss this in 2 paragraphs. In your third paragraph, I want to hear your reaction to this film, especially the ending. What do you think Lee is trying to say? Did you like it? How did the film make you feel?

Chungking Express

In 2 meaty paragraphs, compare and contrast the cinematic styles of Chungking Express and a film of your choice from the French New Wave.

Due: Wednesday, 3/21

Man on Wire

Think about the narrative style in Man on Wire. Discuss this style of narrative in terms of its genre, the documentary. Spend 2 paragraphs on this. Now think about a film that, in your opinion, has a similar narrative style. It may be from any genre you please. Spend 1 paragraph comparing the two films.

Due: Wednesday, March 14.

Grey Gardens

I hope you enjoyed meeting Edith and Little Edie Beale. They are two of my favorite people in cinema.

Describe how the Maysles present the Beale women cinematically. You may discuss both sound and visuals. Take a 5-minute scene and analyze it both in how the women are portrayed (i.e. what makes them tick). Please also take a paragraph to examine the scene through a feminist lens. Minimum: 3 meaty paragraphs. If you incorporate a quote from the interview with the Maysles, I will give you a few extra points.

This is Spinal Tap

OK, everyone:

Please write one paragraph (make it something you'd be proud of, please) and discuss how This Is Spinal Tap contributed to television shows today. Think about shows like The Office. Extra credit to anyone who adds their favorite Tap lyrics.

You get an extra day. Due: Thursday, February 16.

Blog Response--Manhattan

Think about the last three films we have watched, including Woody Allen's Manhattan, and the filmmakers' choice to use black and white film instead of color. Discuss, in cinematic terms, why you think Woody Allen chose to make his film in black and white. Think about any implied meaning he is trying to convey and how his film does so. Would it have been a different film if it had been in color? Your response should be at least 3 paragraphs and should discuss the film's mise-en-scene, camera work, and sound.

Due: Friday, February 3, 2012.

Blog Response--Breathless

Read this article. Choose a scene in Breathless and respond to the following quote. Be sure to write at least 2 paragraphs. Respond to each others' posts.

Here's the quote:

This basic sequence of events is the minimal thread of continuity that holds the filmic narrative together. However, causal development and character motivation in the traditional sense are relatively loose. While the film does not reject narrative conventions as a whole, it goes a long way towards weakening the tight-knit structure and explanatory mechanisms affiliated with dominant narrative. The film's visual construction works even more aggressively against conventional film style. It systematically departs from the aesthetic guidelines and rules defined by continuity editing, relying variously on long-take sequences (often shot with hand-held camera) and jump cutting.

Fantastic Web Site for Cinephiles

Movie Title Stills Collection

Some Like It Hot!

Read these three articles--Ebert's, "Masterpiece: Some Like it Hot,"and this one.

Then, in a thoughtful, articulate, and carefully proofread two paragraphs or more, pick a scene from the movie and offer a close textual analysis of it, citing from the articles to support your points. Requirements: 2 paragraphs (minimum), 3 citations, and extra credit if you offer a second post that comments on one of your colleagues' comments.

Blog Response--Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a film about many things, but overall, it is about the theme of isolation and focuses on one particular loner in a big city who can be construed as an antihero. It is a film that draws from many genres: the Western, horror, noir, and was also influenced by the films of the Italians (DeSica, Rosselini, Fellini).

Discuss in at least two paragraphs, the themes of isolation and/or the antihero and how Scorsese’s film is influenced by the different genres and by the Italians.

Due: January 3

Blog Response--Amarcord

Because I've been sick ever since we finished this film, I'd like to apologize for the tardiness of this assignment.

This should be easy. Choose a scene in the film and analyze it in depth. Be sure to discuss its sociocultural influences, why you chose the scene, and how the scene relates to the film as a whole. Your response should be thoughtful and along the lines of what you will do next month. Be thorough.

Due: Wednesday, 12/21

Blog Response--La Strada

Roger Ebert says:


"It is Quinn's performance that holds up best, because it is the simplest. Zampano is not much more intelligent than Gelsomina.

Life has made him a brute and an outcast, with one dumb trick (breaking a chain by expanding his chest muscles), and a memorized line of patter that was perhaps supplied to him by a circus owner years before. His tragedy is that he loves Gelsomina and does not know it, and that is the central tragedy for many of Fellini's characters: They are always turning away from the warmth and safety of those who understand them, to seek restlessly in the barren world."

Fellini has given us a film about outcasts. How do the roles of these outcasts reflect on each other? Do you see any signs of redemption? Choose a character and examine how that character redeems him or herself and how that character is presented as an outcast by society. Be mindful of all of Fellini's symbolism! Do this in at least 2 hearty paragraphs.

Scorsese's Hugo

This is a terrible interview, but I just wanted to note that you all won't be among the "young" who don't know the origins of film...

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389111n&tag=strip

...for this you should be proud.

Oh, and if you haven't read the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, you should. It will take you about an hour.

Tying it all together...

Think about the three films we've watched so far in this unit--Let the Right One In, Ringu, and The Shining, and choose 2 to use in your essay. Choose one of these two prompts:

• Examine all aspects of mise-en-scene. Lighting, composition, set, properties, etc. This would include colors as well. Discuss the concept of "monster" through the mise-en-scene in each film. This exercise is going to help prepare you for your Independent Study and your Oral Presentation. Examine CLOSELY and offer me many details and examples. Think about what the director is trying to say IMPLICITLY. Tie both films in with each other. Discuss similarities and differences in the mise-en-scene in both films. Please do this in 4 well-developed paragraphs.

OR

• Choose a five-minute scene in both films and examine the role of women and how they are portrayed in your selected scenes and in the films as a whole. Be sure to discuss this topic CINEMATICALLY. How does the director show us? Do this in 4 well-developed paragraphs.

Have fun with this one. Be prepared for Alien next week!

Ringu

Remember how to look at a film through a feminist lens? Choose a five-minute scene in Ringu and examine the role of women and how they are portrayed in your selected scene and the film as a whole. Be sure to discuss this topic CINEMATICALLY. How does the director show us? Do this in 3 well-developed paragraphs.

Horror Mise-en-scene

I want you to think about the mise-en-scene in Let the Right One In. Examine all aspects of mise-en-scene. Lighting, composition, set, properties, etc. This would include colors as well. Discuss the concept of "monster" through the mise-en-scene in the film. This exercise is going to help prepare you for your Independent Study. Examine CLOSELY and offer me many details and examples. Think about what the director is trying to say IMPLICITLY. Please do this in 2 well-developed paragraphs.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

OK, guys. I am posting this a little late, so you get an extra night to work on it. Your responses are due on Tuesday, September 20. If you are having difficulties with Blogger, email me your responses. Please do try to post to the blog because I want to see you guys commenting on each other's comments. You get bonus points from me if you comment twice or more. Once as your response and once (or more) as a response to one of your colleagues.

Please choose one essay prompt and write at least 2-3 well-developed paragraphs.

Essay #1: From Roger Ebert's essay on The Passion of Joan of Arc:

"There is not one single establishing shot in all of "The Passion of Joan of Arc,'' which is filmed entirely in closeups and medium shots, creating fearful intimacy between Joan and her tormentors. Nor are there easily read visual links between shots. In his brilliant shot-by-shot analysis of the film, David Bordwell of the University of Wisconsin concludes: "Of the film's over 1,500 cuts, fewer than 30 carry a figure or object over from one shot to another; and fewer than 15 constitute genuine matches on action.''


 Many avant garde films also do not have matches on action or carryover shots. Compare The Passion of Joan of Arc to one of the avant garde films we watched in regards to editing and mise en scene.


Essay #2: From the Ib Monty article I gave you:


"When the film was released, the close-up technique was regarded as shocking. Dreyer defended his method by stating: ‘‘The records give a shattering impression on the ways in which the trial was a conspir- acy of the judges against the solitary Jeanne, bravely defending herself against men who displayed a devilish cunning to trap her in their net. This conspiracy could be conveyed on the screen only through the huge close-ups, that exposed, with merciless realism, the callous cynicism of the judges hidden behind hypocritical compassion— and on the other hand there had to be equally huge close-ups of Jeanne, whose pure features would reveal that she alone found strength in her faith in God.’’ As in all of Dreyer’s major films the style grew out of the theme of the film. In La passion de Jeanne d’Arc Dreyer wanted ‘‘to move the audience so that they would themselves feel the suffering that Jeanne endured.’’ It was by using close-up that Dreyer could ‘‘lead the audience all the way into the hearts and guts of Jeanne and the judges.’’

Agree or disagree with this quote.

I look forward to reading your responses!

Avant Garde Cinema

Please post your answers to the Avant Garde screening sheet. Watch and write about all three films. Films are Le Retour a la Raison, Entr'acte, and Le Ballet Mecanique. If you are interested in watching other avant garde films, click here.

Independent Study Topics

OK. I know I dropped the ball last night. Sorry this wasn't posted until now!

Please post your overarching topic and your four films. Please comment and help your colleagues as well...