Robyn Matthews AS Film Barrington My Brother The Devil Review 11/26/2014

My Brother the Devil(2012) is directed and written by  Sally El Hosaini. This is a drama that explores the social realism of drug dealing and crime in Hackney, London. The themes expressed throughout the film are family, unity. Friendship, betrayal,  greed, love and sexuality. There is a great cast, not a single complaint about it. The young actors are convincing through expressing their emotions and reactions to the effects of gangland. What the producer wanted to show is the under layer of society where kidsa as young as 16 feel they are ahead of their time and maturity levels has excelled; so they  get involved in the lowest of the hierarchy of drug dealers and their rivalry in an effort to make it big or make it out.

In the beginning of the film, (Mo) Fady Elsayed, is mugged of his brother Rashid’s (James Floyd) large amount of weed and his own trainers, Right from the beginning you are made aware of the violence and risks when involved in these types of movements and already in the first few minuits the danger the characters involved are made clear.

Mo clearly is influenced by Rashid’s movements, as he sees him as a role model… given that it is his older brother. You also see in the first scenes of thew film Rashid placing ten pounds into his mother’s purse. This changes our perspective on Rashid instantly as you see he only had his families wellbeing at heart. This scene is mimicked in the latter half of the film when Mo copies his brother’s previous actions and places an excessive amount also into his mother’s purse. The repetition of this scene highlights the motif behind the film and that the acts these brothers have become involved with are only to move forward in life and protect the ones they love.

The mis en scene of the film is fantastic. For example the costumes make the film believe able the dealers all have their expensive trainers which is a direct effect of the money they are earning. This makes the viewer believe that they are wealthy people and justifies why they enter the trade. Furthermore it is clear that Rashid and Mo are originally from Egypt as Rashid often wears a tartan scarf which are commonly used in that country. This provides the view with an additional background story and allows them to interpret some of their life before the film.

In todorov’s theory he believe that all films begin with an equilibrium, in this case, Mo finishing school and receiving a television from his older brother, Rashid. This was then disrupted by Rashid allowing Mo to pick up some drugs for himself, when this happened and the incident happened where Mo was mugged the equilibrium was disrupted. After this Mo got involved in dealing and it was noticed by the girl who had just moved in she stated “I don’t like it when you hang around with them”. This made us aware of the dangers involved with this business. The equilibrium was then finally restored when Rashid demanded Mo was not involved.

There was another equilibrium also happening throughout the film It started with Rash loving his girlfriend. The equilibrium was later disrupted when he got a job in photography and he couldn’t see her as much. This was noticed when Sayyid (Saïd Taghmaoui) the friend whom he was hired by kissed him one day at work. Rashid tried to restore the equilibrium by having sexual intercourse with his girlfriend however this did not restore the equilibrium. The thing that did restore it was Rashid realising that he perhaps was gay and it was finally restored when Rashid accepted his sexuality and removed himself from all the drugs and crime.

AS film Robyn Matthews First draft

Nebraska (2013) directed by Alexander Payne is a black and white comedic drama with themes of insanity, love, nurture, jealousy and greed. An old Married man, Woody Grant, played by Bruce Dern is indefatigable in seeking his million dollar reward from a unofficial Pamphlet. 

At the beginning of my chosen scene there is a mid-shot of Woody’s son looking up at him. This initially implies to the viewer that he is above Woody physically and metaphorically. This technique is significant in defying the hierarchy of the film as it highlights the directors emotions on how the characters see each other and how they want to be portrayed. The next shot is of Woody, evidently the son is looking down on him while he is in the hospital bed giving the opposite effect from the previous shot. As these shots are consecutive it creates a larger contrast and creates a more vivid interpretation from the directors mind set and how the characters insecurities and displayed.

In these few shots the camera is steady showing that it is on a tripod. The shots alter between a mid-shot of the son, a mid shot of Woody and an over the shoulder shot of the son displaying the back off Woody’s head and the hospital bed. This last shot gives a sense of involvement with in the conversation and gives the viewer a sense of engagement.

This scene is in black and white. It isn't so common that modern day films will use this type of cinematography as modern film has developed the stereotype that the best films are the ones with the most CGI and biggest explosives and colour. However, for the film Nebraska, I agree that the monochrome affect seconded the message presented in the narrative.

Here is a mid shot of Woody Grant. I feel this shot imparticularly is very well thought out as Woody's facial expressions and emotions are clearly presented as he is looking straight past the camera man. You can see the frustration in his face assumably caused by the lingering thought of his unclaimed prize. Behind him you can see the train tracks and at first sight you would assume he was in some sort of danger. This was purposely done by the director as he wanted to display how Woody's health and endless determination is putting him at risk. Furthermore the image blurs the further it goes into the distance insinuating that there is no way Woody can return from the state he is in as his past is no longer intact. His mental state is so fix stated on the present the past is only a blur to him. In addition the sky appears quite bright making Woody appear darker; this is unusual as this suggests Woody is also in a dark place and the light, possibly heaven, is creeping top behind him and he is unaware of his situation because he never looks behind.

My own Rom Com proposal

Robyn Matthews A-level film
My proposal

The idea I have for my film is a romantic comedy with a touch of social realism and drama. The main character will be a "19" year old girl who wants to explore life to its fully capacity even though she's not ready to see these parts of life just yet. She finds the only work that will take her and runs away from her foster parents to live on her own in big New York.

My film will have themes of violence, promiscuous nature, love, maturity and pyscological disorders. All seems standard in this film until you reach the end and a significant fact changes the lives of this 19 year old girl and her new boyfriend whom is also nineteen.

Film Studies Robyn Matthews 11/11/2014

My Proposal

The film I have chosen to do my essay on and analyse is Nebraska directed(2013) by Alexander Payne. I feel this is a good film as it involves a lot of context and is relevant to many real life synarios. It explores the affects of mental illness on an elderly man and how this psychological problem is his way of showing his fear of death.

The particular scene I had chosen is quite comedic. It is where they are at a railway tracks looking for the old man's teeth with his son. They both participate in a jokingly feud involving a lot of dark humour. I feel this scene is significant as it shows how these common illnesses can easily be jokes about by their hosts as they have learnt to live with them; I also feel this scene is perfect for my analysis as it is easy to recreate. This is because there isn't any CGI used or special affects that will be hard to recreate with the facilities given. The black and white film used will also give me a lot of substance to discuss and talk about in my analysis. Alexander Payne is also a popular director and allows me to have a variety of film to compare Nebraska to.

Nebraska film review

Robyn Matthews Film studies review 11/06/2014

Nebraska

Nebraska is a black and white directed by Alexander Payne, circling an old family man (Woody) and his obsession with winning the lottery after he receives a phoney “winning ticket”. His concerned son agrees to take him to Nebraska from Montana to prevent this obsession spiralling out of control and ending tragically. This is a social realism drama with comedic assets embedded in the script it explores themes of love, hate, jealousy, forgiveness and insanity.

The shooting of this film was done with digital cameras and anamorphic lenses to create the black and white affect. Personally I despise black and white films as they don’t create a vivid image in my head of the characters and setting, however, after dreading the beginning when I had noticed this, it became clear to me that this affect emphasised the man’s condition as he couldn’t see the full picture and other people’s opinions. It created a pleasant use of the imagination and allowed the viewer to fill in the missing details such as, what they were wearing, how rich they would determine by the amount of golden accessories and minor details such as them.

June Squibb the wife of Woody, Kate Grant was one of the key characters in the film for me personally. Her dark humour and cruelty towards woody lightened the mood and reassured the viewer that this was a down to earth, relatable film which expressed common problems many older people go through.

David Grant: How did she die?

Kate Grant: Saw herself in the mirror one day.

This is a key example of June’s characters witty humour as she is always expressing herself openly and cracking jokes to lighten the mood.

I deeply enjoyed this film and would definitely recommend it to people who have an open mind to feel good movies that explore common issue in families throughout the world. However I do feel that this is not every body’s cup of tea and those who don’t pay attention to the minor details directors and writer put into their movies would not enjoy this as they wouldn’t fully understand the deeper meaning.

Amelie film review

Robyn Matthews Film Studies review

Amelie

Amelie is a French film in complete subtitles. It was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet in 2001 starring Audrey Tautou as Amelie. This is a romantic comedy that explores themes of love, dark humour, mystery and suspense. Amelie is a young frail girl who’s lack of contact with other people has forced her to devote her life to helping others while she dreams in her perfect world.

The most successful part of the movie I feel myself, is the first act: Amelie's childhood. This is when all the fantasy and naivety work best. There is a voiceover which introduces us to Amelie's parents and gives us a humorous update of their likes and dislikes. By doing this Jean-Pierre is able to show the viewer how Amelie feels about her parents in a condescending irrational way, however, it gives us the hallucination  that we grew up as a member of the family as we know all the random details only a close family member would recognise.

The soundtrack to Amélie was composed by Yann Tiersen. He remained relatively unknown outside France until the release of Amélie in 2001. French film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet had something else in mind for the film score, but one day one of his production assistants put on one of Tiersen CD’s and the director loved it he felt it did justice for the film and envisioned the certain image in his head that he had wanted to be projected into the movie. Jeunet bought all of Tiersen's albums, and then contacted him to see if the Breton composer was interested in writing the film score for Amélie

The budget for this this film was a small $10 million and it took a massive $173,921,95 at box office. This was one of the most famous films in France during this time and it was only released in France, Australia, Britain and America in cinemas, however copies of the film were very popular world wide. This was a huge success for the French film industry as they got their foot in the door and was noticed by America… where all the large Hollywood films are produced.

There is a particular scene in this film that spikes my interest. The shots the director uses make it interesting and the narrative drags the attention of the audience. “Amelie had a strange feeling of absolute harmony. It’s a perfect moment soft light…a scent in the air a quiet murmur of the city. She breaths deeply life is simple and clear. A surge of love and an urge to help mankind come over her” This is the narration that is subtitles below a mid shot of Amelie walking. We have a clear vision of the expression on her face which reinforces the subtitles and alerts us of her peace at this current moment. We follow her walking however we cannot see infront of her only behind; this suggest that she is intent on moving forward as she does not once hesitate to look behind her. A close up of a blind man is made clear as we can see the back of his head and a busy road infront of him. The camera shot then zooms into a close up if Amelies face, next an over the shoulder shot is used to show us walking behind as she approaches the disables man. She alerts him that she is going to help him cross the road and not only does she do that but she describes every little detail most people wouldn’t see as she esorts him such as the “that florists laughing he has crinkly eyes”.

This scene is beautiful to me as we can see the innocence in Amelies description she goes out of her way to make some ones day better and help them on their way. The shots are perfectly times as we are shown life how she would see. We have a close up of the blind man to grab our attention as it did to herself. Many people would look past but Jean-Pierre felt it was necessary to highlight how little gestures make peoples days better and this magnified Amelies kind heart and passion for helping others.

I loved this film. The subtitles I feel made It better as myself, as a viewer, had to think extra hard on the plot and sometimes missed key scenes as I was still reading. I feel though that this was purposely done as I would have overlooked the details Amelie saw. This film was really heart warming and the subtle dark humour made it entertaining to watch. I would definitely recommend this film to others.