Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) November 15, 2008

I wanted to right about this in relation to my power section. This feature length documentary was made by michael more and was relesed 3 years after the events of 9/11 shook the world. Michael Moore wanted to try and get to the truth behind the events of that day.  There have been lots of conspiracy theories come out over that day and this was Michael Moores attempt to voice his concerns. I think that this documentary doesn’t get to the bottom of anything but it does tell you some interesting things about that 9/11. I wanted to put this in because I think it is a great documentary that shows how the government and the powers that be control us and can control what we think by putting being restrictive on what they tell us.

Michael Moore also uses this documentary to expose how the Bush administration pushed the war in Iraq and Afganisian on us by using 9/11 as an excuse. I think that this documentary is designed to get the American people to think about their Government and how they control the people. The interesting thing is that it did better in the US then it did abroad. I would have thought that this would have been the other way round as I wouldn’t have thought  that the American people would have wanted to see a film that spoke out against the Government. This shows how angry the American people were at the government when they did all these things.

Box office figures from: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fahrenheit911.htm (lasted update: 28 October 2004)

Information on Fahernheit 9/11 from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361596/ (website visited 15th November 2008 11:51)

(Video Added: 19th September 2006)

Eternal Sunshine (of a spotless mind) (2004) November 4, 2008

This is a film made by Micheal Gondry starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. Its about a couple and how they develop a relationship. Then when they break up they want to forget each other so they have there memories of that person erased. The story follows Josh through his mind as he is having Clementine erased from his memories as he tires to hide her in his memories that don’t involve her. Eventually erasing the memory of her completely. The film is a points hard to follow as it is an anti-narrative. It then shows how they meet up again when they have both had there memories erased.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/

(website visited: 10:37 4th November 2008 )

I wanted to put this  film in because it directly relates to memory and memory loss. And who if we erase the memory of someone to get rid of the pain. There is a section of the film where he goes into the clinic and you see the people there they are mostly trying to forget people or animals that have died like a family pet. I think this film shows how that if you did have your memories of a certain event erased then you wouldn’t be able to feel anything for that event. It also shows us how memories are directly related to the way we feel about things.

(Video added: 23rd December 2006)

A Zed and two Naughts (1985) November 3, 2008

The is a piece by Peter Greenaway. Its about a car crash where two women die. It happens ouside a Zoo thats where the film gets its name from. For me the music is something that makes this film move as fast as it does. the music composed by Michael Nyman helps tell the story and whats going on in the film. The film starts off with a car crash and the men who’s wives have died visiting the scene and the one remaining surviver of the crash. The two brothers who have both lost their wives then move on to trying to deal with their grief by looking at the decay of roting animals in the zoo.

http://petergreenaway.org.uk/zoo.htm

(visited:15:06 3rd Novemeber 2008 )

I think that the music and sound effect help the way this film is presented.  I also think that the way that this film is shot is a lot like a picture. Alot of the frames are set up like photos espically the ones that were taken outside of the Zoo. I think that this fits well into memory because memory is a big part of grief and its usually the happy memories that get you through greif. It is memories of those people that get you through that stage in your life. It is also the memories of those people that make you feel sad because without the memories you wouldnt know how to feel.

Train Of Freedom October 31, 2008

The Train of freedom is a documentary by Karina Correa. It is a documentary about a train which runs from a town in the Centre of Kosovo to a town near the border with Sierra. The train used to run from Greece to Germany but was forced to close most of the line. It now operates just a small part of that in Kosovo. The documentary focuses on and around the train itself and you see the people that drive the train and the people that travel on the train. The film focuses on the subject of Tolerance in a post war Kosovo.  Karina said that she wanted to find a subject for her documentary that was universal and she thought that this was the best way to do that by covering a subject that everyone can tell you a little bit about.

I really enjoyed watching the documentary and the way that this documentary was shot. I enjoyed feeling like I knew the people on the trains. I also like the way that you never hear any of the question being asked but you can see peoples reaction to the questions. I also like the way you got to see the two different sides to the train system and that she brought in narrative by introducing the two train drivers and got them to tell the story of what goes on in the train.

http://www.trainoffreedom.com/index.html

(visited: 11:31 1/11/08 )

(viedo added 05/05/08 )

The Women (2008) October 29, 2008

The film ‘The women’ is about a group of friends that support each other when one of them finds out that her husband is cheating on her. I wanted to mention this film because I thought it was really different and unique. The reason I thought it was unique is because it had no men in it at all. This was untill one of them has a baby at the end and its a boy. I really thought that this take on it was unique and I really good and new way to make the film. I would love to do a film with only women in it. However I think it would be a good selling point to women if they told you that in the trailor but they don’t. They only tell you that its a film about women.

The trailor.

I think that I could use this idea in one of my projects. I think that it is so individual and unique and I don’t think anyone has done it before.

The Last of England (1987) October 23, 2008

Derek Jarman’s the last of England is the directors personal view of the decline of England during the Thatcher government. This film is fast pace and has a series of quick cuts and moves very quickly. I didn’t really like this film as it was too fast pace for me and I found it hard to keep track of. I reminded me a bit of the first 10 minutes of Moulin Rouge which also makes me feel a bit ill. I don’t like the way the picture jolts around and it is too fast pace for my liking.

However I did like the sound on the piece, i think that having someone with a calming voice over the image really has made it dramatic and the pictures that you see are very jollity and quick the voice over is not.

The voice over on this film is very calming and acts as a counter to the images that you see. Some of the image that you see are also very disturbing and can be quite upsetting. I think this film has met its aims of provoking and disturbing into the point where people want to do something about it.

I think that this film was a new way of looking at film, and that it did make a statement back then to go against the Government of that time. The film comes from some of Jarmans own experience, the experience he had of his father working in bomber planes during WWII. His inspiration came from his own background again.

I think that alot of the good work of today comes from drawing on your own past experiences and passions. Alot of the work done by current artist and past artist draws on there own experiance of how life works. I think that this is possible a good place for me to start when thinking about my final Project.

Cinéma Vérité October 21, 2008

Cinéma Vérité

Cinéma Vérité for me is one of my favourite films types that I have come across. I really enjoy watching the observational style documentary and I think that I could be really interesting to incorporate some sort of Cinéma Vérité style into my final project. I really like the incredible simple way that it show film and the simple way that it documents things.

Research on Cinéma Vérité

The War Room

This document is about Bill Clinton as a senator running for US president. It follows him from The primaries right up to the election itself. This film was made in 1992 by D A Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. The whole film is available on youtube but here is the first part to watch.

They use a fly on the wall style documentary to get into part of the election that you wouldn’t be able to get into these days. They follow Bill Clinton into some of the most intimate parts of his election. I like this kind of film because it shows the truth about something or a situation like that, it would be interesting to see a film like that about the current presidential candidates. I also believe that a film like this one can make or break your campaign.

The film itself was actually made by universal studios, I find this very interesting as I wouldn’t have thought that a film that show a predential election in such detail would be made by such a big name company. I really love the way the film just observes the event and doesnt intefer with what going on, they are trying to get back to the truth of cinema. It even shows the mistakes that people make at the press comfrences and things like that. I really enjoyed watching this kind of documentary and I hope that I could make an observational docutmentary like the war room which I find really interesting.

 

Jan Svankmajer: Little Otik and Alice October 15, 2008

Alice and Little Otik follow the use the same surreal processes to create there films. Little Otik uses stop motion to create a tree branch that looks like a child. Alice is a combination of stop motion and live action to create a film that follows the Alice in Wonderland story.
I don’t really like either of these films but this is why I chose to write about them, I’m not really a big fan of stop motion. I thought that the techniques used are really interesting. I like the way that in Alice the live action is mixed with animation but I think it is just the interesting twist that he puts into these stories that scares me.
In little otik the section with the old man thinking about feeling up the little girl, makes me not want to watch the film.
Things like this really make you think about the morals that are displayed in this film and it really put me off watching little otik. The long frame stop motion also really puts me off watching it to, I think this is because I can’t stand the strangeness of the film that doesn’t have a still picture and a normal narrative.

The Five Obstructions- Lans Von Trier and Jorgan Leth October 3, 2008

 

I thought that the five obstruction was an interesting film about how you can challenge the way we use are skills as film makers by using certain restriction on each piece. Lans Von Trier really challenges Jorgan Leth to push him out of his comfort zone. I think that he produced his best work while under these restrictions. The second obstruction for me was the hardest one to watch as it really challenges the way I look at things. It made me think about conventional ways of film making and how it changed Leth when Trier challenged his usual conventions.