Parallel Cinema

What makes a family “family,” is depended on the sacrifices you’re willing to make, even if it means death. As cheesy as it sounds, this is what I perceived the message to be in The Godfather: Part II by Francis Ford Coppola, but in the Cinema, the main protagonist Michael Corleone loses what matters the most to him, Family. You get to see him and his household collapse due to his obsession of the family business and you get to view this through great angles this flick has produced. The sequel…

Wide Shut in1999, like all his previous films, it was grievously misunderstood by audiences and critics alike. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story), Kubrick upholds a psychoanalytic parallel between the two, as the source story heavily borrowed from Freud’s theory of life (Eros) and death instincts (Thanatos). The task of transporting the overall historical, cultural and artistic context from the…

During the course of this semester we have examined the use of various motifs in Eastern European Cinema. We have looked at the imagery of phalluses and food, as well as the role of song and editing in each of the films. Along with the many motifs examined, there is one I have noticed was present in almost all of the films. Since the end of World War II, countries in Eastern Europe have continuously struggled with their allegiance to the communist state. Whether it be to denounce the communist…

involved in film creation. These include the production, shooting techniques and casting. Restorative nostalgia as mentioned earlier in this research, be an ‘important segmentation variable’ when it comes to choosing locations and content for modern cinema (Seongseop & Sangkyun 2017, p.1). Throughout their research Seongseop & Sangkyun (2017) document how an audience can relate to specific locations and landmarks featured in some of their favourite films. These elements also provoked the feeling…

well-known Chinese director in the 1930s. Hailed as “a masterpiece of ‘the first golden age of Chinese cinema’”, the film marked not only Wu’s directorial debut, but also “the pinnacle of [Ruan Lingyu’s] career” (Harris, 128). Ruan’s “mature, nuanced performance”, which was “subtle but at the same time powerful and rich”, proved to be a major factor in the movie’s success and lasting impact in Chinese cinema – even inspiring Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan to produce Centre Stage (1992), a…

novels (1827-1841). The freedom is the new myth to follow in the West, it is the ultimate reason in movies such as Easy Rider or Vanishing Point. Hopper (as John Ford) tries to recreate the magnificence of the western landscape, Easy Rider expands the cinema outdoors. “Easy Rider, like Breathless before, it is also interested in exploring the road as a metaphor (…) continues and establishes an icon to the genre of the road and the landscape but it is also important to recall that Easy Rider is…

of editing long shots were taken in this film, in total there are 10 edits in a movie of 80 minutes. He hides the cuts by zooming on the camera to the back of furniture or to the man’s jacket blocking the camera. He also used crisscross editing or parallel editing. This is very well done in the movie Strangers on a train, where we see Guy playing his match while Bruno is on his way to the park to place the only evidence, which could show Guy as guilty. Other editing techniques included dissolve;…

The Cry of A City of Sadness “I hope that a renewed understanding of ‘Two-two-eight’ will help everyone to finally cast away its dark shadow and to go on living with energy and vitality.” - Hou Hsiao-Hsien on his film A City of Sadness “In prison, I swore to live, for the sake of friends who had died.” - Wen-ching (played by Tony Leung, A City of Sadness) Taiwan was already undergoing significant societal and political changes in the 1980s, but perhaps the most notable was the lifting of…

In ‘Music and the Silent Film’ by Patrick Miller the writer comments that from the earliest days of the cinema, commercial films were accompanied by music. From the fairground nickelodeons where player pianos churned out popular favourites to the glittering movie palaces where large orchestras accompanied the images on the silver screen, film music flourished. Music for the movies not only heightened the emotional response to a picture, but also served the practical purpose of drowning out the…

The only source of light within the parlour comes from a small table lamp. Marion positions herself and takes a seat to the left of the lamp allowing for her to be well lit (as seen in Figure 1). She looks to be glowing slightly due to the considered key lighting. Although she has stollen money from her employer, she isn’t depicted as a ‘bad’ person through the cinematography being executed. Marion being portrayed as if engulfed in high key lighting suggests redemption, as the audience discover…