The Aviator

The Aviator documents the climatic points of the life of one of the most controversial, iconic figures in the history of the United States, Howard Hughes, aviator, film producer, director and pursuer of many other odd things. The film strives to portray accurately his dramatic life at raw. It begins by showing his lonely childhood with his mother, who nourished him with a great fear for the outside world of filthy people and diseases. Hughes grows skilled and talented as an engineer in the familiar aviation industry, and his expanding vision is demonstrated as he produces Hell’s Angels. At this point, the film shows that aviation crafting, filming and managing is the business, passion, and driving force that he does not hesitate a second to loss millions of dollars or even sacrifice his life for. He suffers of stressing and overwhelming effects brought on by his success as he obtains fame, starlets, and riches. These gradually trigger the obsessive-compulsive disorder that jumbles with his mind, however without altering a bit his tact in dealing with important business affairs.

The protagonist holds a powerfully strong character yet also a tagging along weak one. He lives with an almost boundless confidence over the control he is able to exert to run his affairs but also with a fearful shadow. Hughes is afraid of what he cannot see or control, microorganisms. Because of this, he attempts to eliminate himself completely from the possibility of illness and thus cultivates an extremely phobia over germs and bacteria. It is interesting to note, however that he is also a super daring human being. He does not fear losing money when pursuing risky business or jeopardizing his life when testing new airplanes. I suppose this might be because the previous risks involve his conscious participation whereas getting sick or just the thought of germs does not.

Katherine Hepburn plays a major role in his life as supporter and true lover. Even after breaking up romantically, they both still hold affection and fondness for each other. Katherine represents a wild challenge for Hughes’ dominating personality, one that is complementary but ultimately clashing to their relationship. Hughes’ escalating issues eventually become too much for Katherine to bear.  Any other docile and compliant woman willing to be so easily controlled like Faith Domergue and many others fail to know that if not though and tremendous in character enough they are just objects. Most women for Hughes’ are merely that, ultra beautiful objects to admire and access as needed and desired. Ava Gardner does not let herself be bought like such an object and she holds great fondness and care of Hughes. The difference between Katherine and her lies in the love they felt towards Hughes’, Gardner never truly loved him considering they never held a formal romantic relationship; it seemed to be more of a relationship in which they use each other’s position for the advantage of pleasing the public eye. It is needless to say however that Ava did care for him; she was the one who helped groomed and cleaned him back into a presentable manner to face society.

An important man in Hughes’ life is Noah who was constantly available to ease him in his attacks and say” yes”. He had business relations to Hughes’, but he did care about him too. Hughes’ was a man impossible to refuse; it is the confidence that he has towards the power of his own will that disallows him of acknowledging the worrisome parts of himself. Also, his confidence of power is what keeps him persisting for achieving the American dream of success and security hard earned through struggle and perseverance. The results of this was plain suffering, he overestimated his power of will and did not see how it could destroy him. His phobia was eating him alive; ruining his relationships, his home and sense of self was also completely monitored by the public federal and common eye.

Hughes’ illness consisted of tiny behaviors that if seen once would not have caused any kind of off reaction. The people who were close to Howard in the day to day were the ones who caught it. These tiny behaviors included washing his eyes at the thought of germs crawling to them, mentally dealing with the thought of germs crawling in his surroundings and in people that touched him or his food. It is strange that his demand for total cleanliness prevented him from seeing how he was practically living in only his own dirt when he locked himself away form the world in his personal theater. He coped with his illness by just adjusting himself, he never however signaled a professional to help him. Montages throughout the film tell of the origin and future degrading effect of his serious OCD. The phobia was a part of Hughes’; it composed his character, as it was part of him throughout his lavish and poor times.

Howard Hughes’ life portrays how powerful and contradicting, and specifically sensible the human mind can be. He carried a mental illness yet remained perfectly logical and strategic to run other affairs. Howard Hughes’ tests the boundaries of human will, often endangering himself physically and mentally. I loved the film’s visual interpretation of Hughes’ feelings in scenes such as when he is burning the clothes and is surrounded by the fiery hell of his own emotions. The telling of his story ends in 1946 considering that by this time, the major points of his life have been expressed. The sight of specific older men signals Hughes’ future. Looking at the mirror steadily, it can be inferred from Hughes’ repeating” the way of the future” that his fears are becoming real.

On Citizen Kane

     The very beginning slowly goes reeling you into only the edges of Kane's personal territory. We are zoomed into a grand castle's window after seeing a " No Tresspassing" sign. This sign functions as the audience's announce to entering into the controversial, foggy, almost impenetrable persona of Charles Foster Kane. The eerie dark atmosphere commences the mystery that will continue for the rest of the film. The audience without even seeing the past relays of his life, gets to know that this man was a very powerful and influential one to his time. Maybe he even possessed more power than what he should have ever had. Only the director's techniques, like the interplay of shadow, matte paintings, and others apart from the actor's work, sets a very informative yet strange beginning that surely captures any viewer's eye.

      In the breakfast scene, the 'dissolve' transitions allow Mr. Bernstein's account of Mr. Kane's life with his first wife to be smoothly and flowingly portrayed in a manner that specifies their changing relationship through a series of mornings. All the mornings are similar, Mr. Kane at one side of the table and his wife at the other end, yet different in tones. The first mornings their relationship seems recently blossomed and all-around charming, however as time goes by it seems Mrs.Kane feels bothered by her husband's constant absence at other times and also by his immoral affairs as a leader  journalist magnifying stories of serious political issues. Through the progression of along time, showed only in a few minutes, they both get more distant, cold, and bitter with each other. The ending of the montage is adequately finalized with a zoom out of the table, marking the distance that has developed between them because of lack of true emotional connection. 

          The word Rosebud suggests nearly the opposite of all that defines Mr. Kane's mystifying hard exterior and cold, private persona.  When I think, of rosebud I think of the color pink of course, which reminds me of healthy and happy things, rosy childhood memories and such. This thought connects instantly with the literal meaning of rosebud, the sleigh he played with before being taken away from his home and submerged into the active, non-rosy, greedy, real world. The meaning of Rosebud makes me think that his childhood was his most beloved period, which was maybe the last in which he expressed raw emotion since he clearly did not want to be disrupted from his carefree childhood fun. 

    " Rosebud" also has a variety of different meetings that branch out from the aforementioned one. Kane's childhood is the only time when he lived at his potency, bring truly happy. When he is taken away of his home, his emotional security is exchanged by financial security and it turns out to not be that satisfying. Since "rosebud" is the essence of Kane's only fulfilling life moments in childhood, the word recurs through out the film further highlighting how Kane cannot relate or connect with his reality, and even with himself in the present. The snow globe that falls at his death links with the snow in which "Rosebud" was played with. The word is said at his death and then showed burning. If there were other more subtler references I guess maybe I was not attentive enough to notice them. 

     The ending of the film is quite satisfying as the circle of stories of Kane's life is concluded with the displacement of furniture in the Kane castle. The angle of this scene is very captivating since all of Kane's statues, luxurious furnitures and others resemble the view of an incredible city with skyscrapers. The city looks abandoned and lifeless just like Kane was with inner desolation, trapped inside his own luxurious possessions. The literal meaning of "Rosebud" is revealed which ignites other connections further disclosing little by little on Kane's character.

     I enjoyed seeing the film very much. The technical aspects do not particularly impress me themselves because these are very common in modern films. I do value this film is the cause of that; its technical and story-line innovations it brought transformative significance for the film industry in general. The story-line's theme deal a lot with the exterior influences, like money and social status and stigma, strong effect on the psyche of the raw individual. Aesthetically, it is very intriguing and even beautiful, the angles and light and juxtaposed shadow inter play do not cease to be striking and subtle at the same time. The film manages to combine casual, everyday scenes ( such as the breakfast one, although lavishly) and dramatic ones as well; not being too real, for it to lack entertainment, or too fantastic, or too active, as in with too much drama.

     I agree that we are not very aware of them, but I think its because were fairly used to them in modern films.I wonder if people when the saw the film at its release felt the same. As the statement says, modern films demand that we notice their special effects because most are not looking out for what is visually exciting.  Most, or some, I am not sure what the surveys would say, would seek for the substance, in other words, all the different things the film may express, and sometimes how these connect with the viewer's personal associations. In judging a film wholly, the content is what must impact or affect, emotionally even in some way the viewer.  Special effects are an addition to the medium, I don't feel they are to be the center of attention. For that, anyone person who knows the techniques could be admired. 

DESTINO

Factor 1

     In Walt Disney's animated short film co-produced with Salvador Dali, the romantic unison of a beautiful woman and a man, both who are seemingly close yet always unreachable to eachother, is the main source of doubt. Its suspense flows along an expansive desert where shapes,objects and monuments are not in reality stable shapes,objects, and monuments. Things are contantly morphing into something else as little specks of sand, those running away with time, fly around. The woman is at many times able to touch the man, but in a matter of less than two seconds he melts, or is taken away. The constant changing of the physcial represents how nothing is what it seems to the beholder, and essentially how such things like time and distance are obtacles too great for human beings to overcome. The closest thing to doing so is accept them, however this follows the quieting of passion. The perseverant drive for the separated couple's unison is what fills the tension. Also portrayed is the unfavoring role impossibility has on unchanging, almost permanent feelings of love that do not give up on their quest for fulfillment.

Factor 2

     Man vs. Nature definetly is this short film's central theme coupled with Man vs. Self. The protagonist has to face and struggle  with all the adverse factors on the environment that halt her from fulfilling her love. Things melt and morph,times flies away and age does not miss out. The surreal ambience seves as an artistic representation to the human struggles of real life. The factors present are unchangeable and beyond the protagonists's control. The only control the protagonist and humans in general in life can manage is the personal way to perceive and deal witht the constant and permanent factors. Because of this, the underlying theme deals with the struggles within a person. Eventually, such irrefutable fate can only be come to terms with,but this in itself is a process, one that leads to personal growth and maturity.

Factor 3

     The tension builds as the protagonists trys to come to contact with her beloved fail,leading to the viewer to think the two will be forever apart. The real protagonist can be argued to be Time, since this is what holds the flow of all the elements of the film in order to incite tension in the story line. The soothing comics relief appears with some of the figure's goofy creatures. Although it has to be noted that the tension is not still and suspenful, it is very flowing and smooth. The resolution of the film comes with wha seems to be the dissaperance of the woman since at morphing into a fabric, her self as a woman vanishes. It can be concluded that her death means her unison with Time,by becoming part of it.

Pariah kept me awake all night, but not because it awaking action, suspense or anything but becasue it was late and I refused to leave yet another half-watched movie. Watching it though skype made the process way harder since the film runs rather slow, and since Skype ( I was watching with someone though it) kept falling ( I know, I can't blame the film for factors of my circumstance while watching it) . I suppose that the slowness is needed to express the struggling strain of the protagonist who is striving to define who she is among also dealing with her family's issues. In overall, the scenes are dim, with bold and unusual colors, and linger constantly with a subtle discomfort. This film is much more than just a formula-like coming of age story. It is and heartfelt, heartbreaking, still hopeful, most of all real.  The characters are round, and their characteristics go beyond their role( the lost teenager, the strict mother etc.) It is definitely, although its theme been done and its watching slow, very much worth seeing.

     Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation moved its readers downward a gray spiral of depression in frustration, empathy or sometimes a combination of both. Many people found this autobiographical memoir to be too self-absorbing, almost too indulgent,a teenage girl wallowing life's agony's as if they were only her own, yet this also classifies its prose to be extremely self- aware and honest, maybe a little too introspective. Nevertheless, the work boasts some great prose, many of which is included in its based film starring Christina Ricci, from the Adams family, with a riveting performance. The movie condenses the happenings of the book rather effectively without adding excessive active drama to compensate for what in the book would be extremely inner episodes of gloom and almost existentialist grief, a terrible grief for merely existing. I personally really liked the way this book was interpreted through its based film. Usually movies inpired by books ruin the essence conveyed in written form, while here the essence is extracted and not overmanipiulated to fit the visual requirements a movie needs to classsfiy as entertaining. The scenes are set in very dull atmospheres to reflect Lizzie's mental state. The camera rolls slowly into angles to intensify the film's emotional moment's of high tension. This film, although at times too emotionally dense, deserves praise for its intriguing scences, outstanding acting performances, and great interpreation considering its book-based background.

I would love to own the Across the Universe soundtrack, but currently I only have its "Because" version. This is truly a remarkable beautiful musical film. Its plot outstandingly flows around The Beatles' most memorable songs. It is set during the 1960's counter culture anti-war movement with young people struggling to live their stray ways together, most centered are the lovers Jude and Lucy whose connection suffers among the raging revolution. The film's forte lies solely on the musical and kind of abstract visual experience parallel to the time's rising popularity and accessibility to hallucinogens. The characters are loosely but interestingly developed and the technical logistics of the plot are considerably unrealistic. Yet, it does not fail to impress as it dramatically sweeps the audience under the tension of youthful passion amidst love, revolution, and music.