EMPIRE
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=7119
The review begins with a star rating of the film. Empire rated the film 3 stars (good). The opening paragraph gives a very brief outline of the films plot. Empire summed the film up in two lines, "Amongst the dilapidated tenement blocks of Coney Island, a mother and son descend separately into drug addiction."
The following paragraph gives an introduction to the concept of the "drug movie" which is the films sub-genre. It gave examples of films that made huge impacts in Hollywood such as 'The Trip' and 'Reefer Madness'. The reviewer then begins to criticise the director Darren Aronofsky by saying the film doesn't have up to his previous film 'Pi'. He says Requiem for a Dream adds little to the preachy sub-genre.
Rather than complimenting the actors performance the reviewer instead briefly comments on the two main characters role in the film and refers to their individual downward spirals as " a lazy plot."
The reviewer then talks about how people hale Aronofsky to be a "real filmmaker" but agai criticises his work saying that he is "busy gettig high on his own style." The reviewer uses this pun to give a negative reception of the film by using conventional factors of the film genre. This was done by the use of the word "high"
In the final parapragh the reviewer compares the film and states that his new "superficial elements" of fil aking does not suit the outdated book. The reviewer says that the film is depressing and predictibale. The fial verdict makes you not want to watch the film is the reviewer labels it as "not quite the masterpiece it was hailed to be" and it is given a three star rating.
The reviewer adopts a conversational tone which makes it seem as if he is directily talking to us as the readers. "You will want to look away, you may want to laugh." is an example. By doing this we are able to accept his personal opinion. Whilst doing this he uses very formal laguage which shows the opinion is given by an intellectual
TOTAL FILMS
http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/requiem-for-a-dream
The review begins with a four star rating which straight away indicates that the review will give positive commentary on the film.
On the side of the key information is given e.g. film rating, release date, main cast and director.
In the first opening paragraph the reviewer comments on the common themes brough up in the original novel "Requim For A Dream" by Hubert Selby Jr . The reviewer then compliments the fact that Darren Aronofsky had major success with his previous film Pi, and comments oin his belief that "Requim For A Dream" continues the success.
The bulk of the review focuses on mainly the visual aspects of the film (i.e. the acting and CG Effects) and brands the direction and performances as "Oscar-deservingly outstanding." The reviewer also says he likes Aronofsky's chose of editing, using split screens for multiple view points of the characters. Out of all the cast he singles out acctress Ellen Burstyn who he says "convingly portrays her lonely, pathetic character." He also says the overall cast performance is "all-too-believable" which again shows he thinks highly of the cast performance throughout the film.
The review ends with a positive four line verdict. The reviewer again praises how Aronofsky managed to make a dark and negative story look visually amazing. He says the film is able to "drag you through Hell and still make you glad you took the tour." which implys it can give a negative experiance as well as good, but overall he thinks the film is good.
FILM4
http://www.film4.com/reviews/2000/requiem-for-a-dream
Out of the three reviews this one is the shortes tin length.
The review begins with a star rating for the reviewer and a user rating (users give their own personal ratings then an overall mean rating is given). Film4 gave a zero star rating where as the user rating is 5 which shows a huge contrast in audience reaction compared to the main review. The rating highlights the following review will be negative
The first sentence/introductory paragraph just explains that the film is an adaption of the Hubert Selby Jr. novel.
The following paragraph then summarises the plot and highlight each of the main cast members roles in the film. For example it reads "Sara (Burstyn), a self-consciously overweight widow, is addicted to TV, chocolate and 'diet pills'.
The third paragragh seems to riducle the film, labelling it as a "contemporary fairy tale" and calls the main
characters drug addiction on the film a "parody of TV addiction". The reviewer does comment on Aronosky's good use of rich colours and editing effects such as slow motion and timelapse which he carried on from the other film 'Pi'. However that is the only positives he seems to draw from the film
The final verdict reads "A visually adventurous cautionary tale that continues to linger in the system long after the credits roll," which implys the film is hard hitting. This short verdict shows the reviewer never had a huge deal to comment on about the film. However, it does seem as if he likes the film a bit, even though it was given a low rating
Showing posts with label Malachi Davis-Barzey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malachi Davis-Barzey. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Annotation of Film Poster(Malachi Davis-Barzey)
.At The top of the poster there is critical acclaim by the Los Angeles Time saying "Brilliant, A Work Of Art" which is used to help sell the poster with positive feedback. Seeing as the poster has critical acclaim this indicates that the poster was released after the official release date of the film.
.The poster is split in two halves, with the an eye on top and the four main characters at the bottom.
Four characters all look lost, starring in different directions. Could suggest that the characters are all in a lost state of mind.
.The dilated pupil can connote to deep thoughts as the film is titled "Requiem for a Dream" and dreams are thoughts. It can also be connoted to drug use as pupils dilate with drug use.
REQUIEM in large font because requiem means "to celebrate for a death" so it emphasis on killed dreams. The word "dream" is writtenin red which makes it stand out and connotes danger, blood and other bad elements again emphasising on the killed dreams.
.Above the title it reads "From the director of π" and under the title it reads "A film by Darren Aronofsky" which means they are using the director Darren Aronofsky as a USP.
.The four main cast members names are placed at the top of the poster in a small font. This means less emphasis is put on the cast meaning they are not being used as much as tghe director to sell the film.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Textual Analysis (Malachi Davis-Barzey)
Title: Requiem for a Dream
Date of Release: 19 January 2001 (UK)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Genre: Drama (Social Realist)
The film has a multi-strand narrative therefore there is more than one equilibrium disruption and restored equilibrium for the characters. Sara Goldfarb receives a phonecall from her favourite game show informing her that she has been invited to be a guest on the show which is her equilibrium. In the excitement from receiving the call she puts on an old red dress, however , it no longer fits her so she goes on a diet. Ultimately the diet doesn't work so she subscribes to diet pills. Sara gets addicted to the pills which is the disruption. She begins to have many hallucinations and breaks down immensely and is entered into hospital.
Her son Harry and his best friend Tyrone enter the drug-trade in order to raise money to open a clothes store Harry's girlfriend Marions designs. This is there equilibrium as all goes well for them and they gradually raise the funds needed. Tyrone ends up in the middle of a wrong drug deal which ends up in a person being assinated and Tyrone taken to prison. Harry uses half of the raised money to bail him out which causes a disruption as they don't have the money. In a depressive state they all end up being addicted to various kinds of drugs and their life's go downhill just like Sara Goldfarb.
Equilibrium is restored for all of them but not in a peaceful manner. Sara is taken into a mental institution and undergoes electroconvulsive therapy to take her of the drug addiction. The large deal of drug abuse to Harry infects his arm and it needs amputating. He is taken to a hospital prison, which ultimately takes him away from drug use and the cold street life which in a sense is an equilibrium for him.Tyrone is given manual labour work to compensate by the government whereas Marion finds her money and fuels her dream and addiction via prostitution. Although none of there final outcomes are positive it is still an equilibrium because their individual problems are corrected.
The narrative of the film is closed. As the viewers we get to see how all the four respective characters get hooked onto drugs and how it shattered their dreams. There is no gaps in the narrative leaving no cliff-hangers and self judgement, this is what makes it a closed narrative. It is also told in chronological order
The Binary Opposition theory can be applied to Requiem for a Dream. All the characters aim for a good future but use a bad substance to get them there. In the case of Harry and Tyrone they use drugs in order to raise money for a good future and get out of the negative environment. There good intentions are met by the use of a bad substance which are opposite to each other. It could be seen that they have a pshycological battle of good future vs drug addiction. The fusion of the two ultimately creates a bad life rather than the good which they originally aimed for.
The characters are typical to the genre because generally in a drama film an event occurs which detours the normal life pattern, sending them into a near depressive state. In this film every character life detours for the worse, sending them into a depressive state due to drug use. The characters represent the underclass as none of them are employed. In drug influenced social realist dramas it is more than likely that the main characters will be of the working or underclass. As the characters in this film are all a part of the underclass it meets this convention.
The film is set in New York so all the characters speak with the American to reflect the location. They dress represents the social classes in New York as well. For example Tyrone wears baggy jeans, sweatshirts, trainers and tracksuits which reflects the urban culture in New York which he represents. Whereas Sara wears long house dressses, wide frame glasses and has curly hair similar to most pensioners.
The majority of the sound in the film is diagetic for example the conversations between one another. However there are non-diagetic sounds in the film. Background music of violins is played during every scene where one of the characters are feeling low. For example when Tyrone is being chased by police the vilion music is played whilst we see him in a distraught state. As the background music goes along with the image the sound is parrellel non-diagetic sound.
This is the violion non-diagetic music which is played frequently in the film whenever a low moment has reached http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmijKjosplM
Sound was also used effectively at one stage when Sara goes to the doctors for more diet pills. To show her hallucinations her speech is slurred and in a low pitch, whereas the doctors speech is speeded up and in a high pitch. This was used to emphasis the fact that her state of mind was not correct.
The director opted to generally use straight cuts for the majority of the transitions in the film. Reason being is that dramas mirror real life and social problems that real everyday people will face, therefore the simpilist transition is the most affective. Whenever the individual characters begin to use drugs in the movie quick montages consiting of close ups of them preparing the drugs, the substances travelling through their bodies and extreme close up of their eyes are used. The quick montages may have beenused to reflect the jumpy stateof which the characters are in after being influenced by use of drugs.
Here is one of the examples from the film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCQdmYNSSMU&feature=related
There is a sequence in the film of which Sara goes into big hallucination which is show effectively via the use of camera shots and movement along with lighting and mise-en-scene. It begins with a POV shot of her walking into her living room. The camera is shakey to mirror her being unstable. the camera then changes to a low angle shot of her so we can see her face properly and how it has been effected by drug use. The camera is still shakey at this point. The camera tracks her movement around the room, shakey still. There is a high angle shot long shot of the pills spilled all over her table. The lighting is mostly low key but on occasions changes to high key as the living room lamp flickers. There is a whip pan long shot accross the room showing how messy the house has become due to her drug addiction. This is also again her POV. the camera then returns to the low angle close up tracking of her walking. She goes into the hallway and there is a part where she stands directly under a light
The image of her standing under the light resembles a halo which connotes that she is still innocent, not aware of her actions of her drug use as she used them for a good cause.
There is then a very long shot of the kitchen fridge jumping. The fridge jumping was in her mind, the drug abuse has made her scared of the fridge as she is trying to lose weight and the fear of gaining weight makes her scared of food, hence why the fridge jumped. We then see another tracked close up of her face btu running away from the fridge and the camera again is very shaky to mimmick her unstable state and fear
Date of Release: 19 January 2001 (UK)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Genre: Drama (Social Realist)
The film has a multi-strand narrative therefore there is more than one equilibrium disruption and restored equilibrium for the characters. Sara Goldfarb receives a phonecall from her favourite game show informing her that she has been invited to be a guest on the show which is her equilibrium. In the excitement from receiving the call she puts on an old red dress, however , it no longer fits her so she goes on a diet. Ultimately the diet doesn't work so she subscribes to diet pills. Sara gets addicted to the pills which is the disruption. She begins to have many hallucinations and breaks down immensely and is entered into hospital.
Her son Harry and his best friend Tyrone enter the drug-trade in order to raise money to open a clothes store Harry's girlfriend Marions designs. This is there equilibrium as all goes well for them and they gradually raise the funds needed. Tyrone ends up in the middle of a wrong drug deal which ends up in a person being assinated and Tyrone taken to prison. Harry uses half of the raised money to bail him out which causes a disruption as they don't have the money. In a depressive state they all end up being addicted to various kinds of drugs and their life's go downhill just like Sara Goldfarb.
Equilibrium is restored for all of them but not in a peaceful manner. Sara is taken into a mental institution and undergoes electroconvulsive therapy to take her of the drug addiction. The large deal of drug abuse to Harry infects his arm and it needs amputating. He is taken to a hospital prison, which ultimately takes him away from drug use and the cold street life which in a sense is an equilibrium for him.Tyrone is given manual labour work to compensate by the government whereas Marion finds her money and fuels her dream and addiction via prostitution. Although none of there final outcomes are positive it is still an equilibrium because their individual problems are corrected.
The narrative of the film is closed. As the viewers we get to see how all the four respective characters get hooked onto drugs and how it shattered their dreams. There is no gaps in the narrative leaving no cliff-hangers and self judgement, this is what makes it a closed narrative. It is also told in chronological order
The Binary Opposition theory can be applied to Requiem for a Dream. All the characters aim for a good future but use a bad substance to get them there. In the case of Harry and Tyrone they use drugs in order to raise money for a good future and get out of the negative environment. There good intentions are met by the use of a bad substance which are opposite to each other. It could be seen that they have a pshycological battle of good future vs drug addiction. The fusion of the two ultimately creates a bad life rather than the good which they originally aimed for.
The characters are typical to the genre because generally in a drama film an event occurs which detours the normal life pattern, sending them into a near depressive state. In this film every character life detours for the worse, sending them into a depressive state due to drug use. The characters represent the underclass as none of them are employed. In drug influenced social realist dramas it is more than likely that the main characters will be of the working or underclass. As the characters in this film are all a part of the underclass it meets this convention.
The film is set in New York so all the characters speak with the American to reflect the location. They dress represents the social classes in New York as well. For example Tyrone wears baggy jeans, sweatshirts, trainers and tracksuits which reflects the urban culture in New York which he represents. Whereas Sara wears long house dressses, wide frame glasses and has curly hair similar to most pensioners.
The majority of the sound in the film is diagetic for example the conversations between one another. However there are non-diagetic sounds in the film. Background music of violins is played during every scene where one of the characters are feeling low. For example when Tyrone is being chased by police the vilion music is played whilst we see him in a distraught state. As the background music goes along with the image the sound is parrellel non-diagetic sound.
This is the violion non-diagetic music which is played frequently in the film whenever a low moment has reached http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmijKjosplM
Sound was also used effectively at one stage when Sara goes to the doctors for more diet pills. To show her hallucinations her speech is slurred and in a low pitch, whereas the doctors speech is speeded up and in a high pitch. This was used to emphasis the fact that her state of mind was not correct.
The director opted to generally use straight cuts for the majority of the transitions in the film. Reason being is that dramas mirror real life and social problems that real everyday people will face, therefore the simpilist transition is the most affective. Whenever the individual characters begin to use drugs in the movie quick montages consiting of close ups of them preparing the drugs, the substances travelling through their bodies and extreme close up of their eyes are used. The quick montages may have beenused to reflect the jumpy stateof which the characters are in after being influenced by use of drugs.
Here is one of the examples from the film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCQdmYNSSMU&feature=related
There is a sequence in the film of which Sara goes into big hallucination which is show effectively via the use of camera shots and movement along with lighting and mise-en-scene. It begins with a POV shot of her walking into her living room. The camera is shakey to mirror her being unstable. the camera then changes to a low angle shot of her so we can see her face properly and how it has been effected by drug use. The camera is still shakey at this point. The camera tracks her movement around the room, shakey still. There is a high angle shot long shot of the pills spilled all over her table. The lighting is mostly low key but on occasions changes to high key as the living room lamp flickers. There is a whip pan long shot accross the room showing how messy the house has become due to her drug addiction. This is also again her POV. the camera then returns to the low angle close up tracking of her walking. She goes into the hallway and there is a part where she stands directly under a light
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