There is almost nothing that makes my job easier as an interviewer than asking questions of an actor who is confident in his/her abilities and is able to present himself/herself as a well-rounded, talented, fascinating human being. In Lisa Temple 's case, that is exactly what she did with the questions she recently agreed to answer. She offered fresh insight into her early passions, her notable works, and her upbeat outlook on the industry as a whole. One of my favorite headshots! One of my…
“Crash” is a drama film from 2004; Paul Haggis has produced and directed the movie. The film is set in L.A, a city with a cultural mix of every nationality. There are several main characters, including Shaun Toub as Farhad, Bahar Soomekh as Dorri, Sandra Bullock as Jean Cabot, Brendan Fraser as Rick Cabot, Matt Dillon as Officer Ryan, Terrance Howard as Cameron Thayer, Thandie Newton as Christine Thayer, Ludacris as Anthony, Larenz Tate as Peter and Michael Peña as Daniel. The film is truly…
were still political imperatives to be voiced and rights to be claimed. Van Peebles was aware of this. His protagonist explicitly backs these demands by succouring Momo twice and dubbing him “our future.” The Panthers got his message and stormed the cinema houses to watch his nervy story of a “brother who is getting the Man’s foot outta his ass.” Sweetback did resonate with the anxieties and aspirations of black citizens at that time to such an extent that Huey P. Newton (1942-1989), the Party…
Cinematic minimalism is comprised of a deliberate removal or absence of the typical clutter that often weighs on Hollywood-style narratives, differentiated by the lack of content rather than the presence of it. “It” is here summed up as the mise en scéne (everything within the frame) of the film, as well as the positioning of the camera and sound. Ozu shows a mastery of storytelling in deciding how to utilise camera angles, setting, and dialogue to accompany and surround a story he was well…
Photography is the key element of mise en scene that determines how an audience will interpret the visual information in film. Orson Welles used the photography of his 1941 film Citizen Kane to emphasize aspects of the film he wanted viewers to focus on, and to remove non-essential information from the frame. This was accomplished through various camera tequniques including manipulation of angles and proxemity. Approaching the end of the film there is a scene just after Susan (played by Dorothy…
The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) is undoubtedly one of the most notorious and successful tales ever told. The trilogy has earned around three billion US dollars and nominated for more than 800 film awards winning 425 of them, 17 of which were Academy Awards. This astronomical level of success has made Lord of the Rings a pop culture staple. Through the lenses of culture studies, the trilogy will be dissected critically to evaluate its success through the three main theories of popular culture.…
The Tree of Life is a subtle film that intricately links together the world while discussing vast concepts. One such concept, the way of nature, is personified through Brad Pitt’s character; he is a man who acts in primal animalistic ways, and consistently lets these emotions get the better of him. This motif has been explored in many films prior to Terrence Malick’s masterpiece and previous directors’ efforts by no means come close to the beauty of Malick’s film. Many of the films of the…
In the 1990s, there was an increase in females who worked in the film industry. The entry of women into more significant roles such as producers and directors led to a change in direction of women films and the development of contemporary “chick flicks” (Hollinger, 2012). The popularity of the genre can be observed through its economic success. In her article “From Chick Flicks to Millennial Blockbuster: Spinning Female-Driven Narratives into Franchises”, York (2010) describes the progress and…
Bubble, Melancholia, and Whitey were all released in day-and-date format, but that is not their only point of similarity. To begin, Bubble and Whitey both lack star studded casts. For Bubble this choice was likely made for two reasons; amateur actors gave a more authentic feel to the town about a small town, and it was an experimental film that did not need to specifically do well. Soderbergh had already been promised a contract for several additional films no matter the outcome of the first.…
The movie industry in India is definitely undergoing changes to cater to modern mindsets of younger generation who are more liberalized. In the past, movies tend to be portrayed more stereotypes such as gender, storytelling and culture. However, with revolutions in the information and communications technology, Indian movies are becoming more diasporic, taking into account the audiences outside India. Hence, this idea intrigued us into the issue of stereotypes and if any changes in the…