valentin's film blog

  Shaun of the dead Opening scene  At the start of this scene we get a direct shot of Shaun staring right into the camera almost breaking the fourth wall, and immediately asserting the main character of the film. The setting is dark and almost depressing. Shaun’s attention is then caught by Lizzie, his girlfriend, as she is talking to him about how she isn’t happy in their relationship and feels like it is being made very difficult by Shaun’s friend, Ed.  This situation is then highlighted by Ed interrupting Lizzie after every sentence further proving this uncomfortable situation in which Shaun is in the middle of, especially with Lizzie’s friends too on the other side, showing how Shaun is trapped between this dilemma of maturing and growing up, or staying the same as in his college years just like Ed. In this scene Lizzie says “I sound like your mother” which inflates the situation and provokes Lizzie’s friends to start asking multiple questions but not letting Shaun fo...

  No country for old men opening scenes   The film opens with very still and quiet shots of an arid and deserted environment. We follow the narration of Sheriff Bell and we’re instantly connected to this charismatic mysterious character.  Our first introduction to Chigurh is a back shot of him against the police car which prevents the audience from connecting to this character immediately giving him this menacing and ominous aura. We get to see a shot of his weapon which suggests the importance this might later have in the story. He isn’t focused on until we get a clear shot of his face on the floor while strangling a police officer to death, this instantly portrays him to the audience as the main antagonist and evil force in the story. Abs the way he proceeds to get rid of the blood so causally suggests that this is a common thing for him in a almost sociopathic way.  Chigurh wears an all black uniform, which completely contrast with the yellowish beige tone of the ...

  Do you find the ending of the film to be satisfying resolution ?  Why ? Not at all, it’s not the ending I expected from an American western movie, very anticlimactic in my opinion. But that doesn’t mean I generally disliked this decision.  How were you expecting the film to end ?   I expected a bigger ending with a duel between the ‘ main character ‘ and the main antagonist of the movie. A more clear ending for the movie.  Why do you feel the Coen Brothers decided to have their main protagonist killed offscreen , and then avoid a final climax between Sheriff Bell and Chigurh ?  Consider the effect on the audience in terms of expectations of genre and narrative,  and the  themes of  law and order v criminality , good v evil , heroism etc. I feel like the Coen brothers chose to take this path for the ending to make it more ambiguous and realistic, not necessarily seen from the point of view of an audience but a in real life point of view...

  The ‘ Western Genre ‘   Set in the old American West 1850s to end of 19th century  Set in arid environments usually  White pioneers vs Indians  guns  Lots of violence  Outlaws, bandits, thieves  Saloons  Dilemma Moral drama  Duels  Native Americans  Horse riding  Sheriffs  Shootouts  American civil war 

  Apocalypse now final scenes   In the final scenes of Apocalypse now we basically see the fate of Kurtz granted by Willard and how Willard’s mind is then affected by everything that has happened. Kurtz has assimilated that these are his final moments and that Willard is there to kill him, this is accompanied by intertwined shots of the animal being sacrificed, almost insinuating that the death of Kurtz is ritualistic and something that was meant to happen as this ritual of killing the animal is a tradition. This mixed with the heavy music and sounds being displayed in the background makes this scene a complete chaos but at the same time orchestrated amazingly, almost like the conclusion of the movie. Willard also has a great quote “ They train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write 'fuck' on their airplanes because it's obscene ” which is basically just a big critique on society as a whole, and how what’s morally wrong is alway...

  CAPTAIN FANTASTIC: opening scene analysis The film opens with very wide and open shots of a forest, showing how majestic nature is, putting into perspective how tiny we are compared to bigger things in our world. It also gives the sense that it is very separated from an urban society already creating the idea for the audience that our main protagonists might be isolated form society as we know it.  The first couple scenes start in media res they are filmed in a way that puts the audience in a completely new environment, as we see a deer being hunted down by something which we don’t know yet what it is. This makes the audience put themselves in the perspective of the deer since we’re almost experiencing this in first person and we also don’t know what’s hunting us. When the family comes out we see they are covered in mud, this choice of costume is great since this still keeps in our head that danger is still there, if it had been a normal human, the audience could immediately...