SCENE-THESIS

➤The Value of Being There: La Strada

➤Last Dance with Life: The Godfather - Part III

➤Blade Runner: The Future We Got

➤From 00’s Eyes Only: Bond on the edge through the moving image

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VIEWS ON THE ANDROID-SCENE

Image
After canonizing its future with an opening crawl, the first shots of “Blade Runner” together give us an idea of the society we encounter in the film. This window into the world of the story consists of two types of shots: aerial wides of a futuristic Los Angeles, and the close-up of an eye upon which this city-scape is reflected. Before revealing its part in a chain of establishing shots leading into the first scene of the narrative, the eye is a disembodied one, floating (almost) among and above the city lights.  The eye could have been introduced right before revealing the body it represents, but director Ridley Scott and editor Terry Rawlings chose to intercut between these two polar opposites of shot sizes for a few exchanges, a dialogue and reinforcement of association. We can tell from the appearance of the eye - wide open -, and the reflection of the city on it that it is a vigilant one. Would this vigilant eye belong to an android or human, based on what we were told by th...
Read more

LAST DANCE WITH LIFE: THE GODFATHER - PART III

Image
Separated by 15 years from its predecessors, The Godfather - Part III (1990) arrived in theaters three decades ago. Its director, Francis Ford Coppola, states that his original intention was not to continue the story beyond the two parts made in 1972 and 1974, and that this new work emerged as an epilogue. While it isn’t narratively essential for the story, such finale manages to respect the integrity of the unit already established by its preceding films while also justifying its own existence. The movie portrays the fall of Michael, former leader of the Corleone criminal family, in his late years. Ill and tired of remaining involved in illegitimate businesses, he seeks to bond with his two children and ex-wife, from whom he is estranged. The ending (spoiler alert) delivers the definitive hit, as Michael loses his daughter (played by Sofia Coppola, daughter of the director, in a role with which, in a certain way, he hands her to world) in an attempt on his life as he exits the opera ...
Read more

PUSHING TO SEE, PUSHING TO LIVE

Image
Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” boldly takes a team of astronauts into another galaxy, holding onto the idea that love for their dear ones is what motivates and draws them (moves them) to fulfill their finding of a new home for humanity. The editing, by Lee Smith and accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s frenetic piano score, aids this portrayal. After the team is deceived by Dr. Mann, an astronaut who had been living on an ice planet for years and sent them a signal (to be rescued rather than to confirm his planet as habitable), he damages mission pilot Cooper’s spacesuit in an attempt to take control of the ship. As Cooper lays in the middle of the frozen land and calls for help, the action is briefly intercut with a flashback to his final conversation with his daughter Murphy. We begin with an over-the-shoulder shot of two arms from different people (father and daughter), each holding a watch. Starting on this frame reinforces a sense of urgency, the image of clocks ticking suggesting tim...
Read more