Rio Bravo

Conforming to the classic Western genre, Rio Bravo displays several long shots and the character isolated in the landscape and western terrain. The Western genre is defined as a story that portrays the desolate and hard life of frontier families, as they are faced with change and conflicts with a greater force. A true western embodies the spirit, struggle and demise of the new frontier. Fitting to the stereotypical definition of the classic western hero, the film features men in cowboy hats, with cowboy boots and spurs. It also features the usage of rifles, and guns in general, the classic sheriff’s badge, and an infamous saloon fight. There is also the usage of horses for transportation and a desolate and widespread frontier in which the story takes place. The main character, and hero of the film, Chance is portrayed as the all-powerful and influential sheriff who isn’t afraid to turn down a fight and remains dominant, refusing the aid of fellow allies unless necessary. There are almost no close-up shots and the film is shot in the same location, with the men always carrying a gun, and concluding with a happy ending. The film pretty much fits all the parameters of the Western genre, except for the fact that the hero doesn’t go riding off into the sunset at the conclusion of the film, but this element isn’t really crucial to the genre. In the end, the hero was victorious, Chance wins over the girl and all the conflicts are resolved.

Mon Oncle

The film, Mon Oncle (1958), is about a man, Monsieur Hulot, and his day to day experiences involving his sister and brother-in-law. Director Jacques Tati implements a rather unique filming style, focusing more on actions and displaying the lifestyles of the characters with music and sound effects, rather than telling the story in the typical manner with dialogue. None of the characters speak until about 6 minutes or so into the film and yet the audience still feels engaged and fully up to speed with what is occurring even though there is no narration. It begins by showing the town and the meticulous activities of its residents, and then introduces the main character, Hulot, shortly after introducing dialogue into the story. The film focuses on the themes of modernization and progress. The Arpel’s are living in an immensely modernized home with all sorts of gadgets that Hulot just doesn’t understand. Hulot is trying to fit in to the rapidly progressing lifestyle in the city and even tries to get a job, which results in failure. Tati created a comedic film about the rapid modernization in the world and how the simple man has to adapt to the changes.

Tati certainly focused his efforts as a filmmaker on details and content. Every scene was planned out perfectly so that Tati could capture the right shot, thus conveying his desired effect on the audience. One specific example was when the man in the market got his pants soaking wet. A car drives through a puddle, splashing water on half the man’s pants.  Then Hulot rides his bike through the puddle and you can see that there is a mechanism in the puddle that sprays the rest of the man’s pants with water. Tati wanted to get the right comedic effect out of the scene, and when the bike was incapable of producing his desired splash factor he implemented the effect on his own. Though it seems that Tati has a somewhat A.D.D. methodology for filmmaking, it isn’t really justifiable since his corrections aren’t exactly subtle.

Sherman's March

McElwee is such an innocently mediocre, yet comedic filmmaker, which makes people want to see a film about his life. In the film Sherman’s March, he started out with the initial goal of creating a film documenting General Sherman’s march to the south, and ended up with a personal documentary about his search for romance and love following the same path as Sherman from Boston down south. It isn’t just a documentary about his life; it is a story about finding true love. His is deterred from his original mission when he stops in New York and his girlfriend breaks up with him. Overcome with sadness and grief, McElwee sets out on a new mission to see if he can find love in the south, meeting several old friends along the way. 

Sherman’s March is different than any other documentary that I have watched. The filming style is unique and one would think that you would get bored watching a story about an average guy traveling down south, but it is actually entertaining to watch. This film expresses the idea that it does not take much to produce a documentary. Sure, McElwee’s story was unique but anyone with a camera has the capability to make a personal documentary about their insights and exploits. It just depends on the writer’s commitment to the project as to whether or not it is going to be successful. It is basically McElwee’s positive outlook and intriguing personality that makes him a charismatic protagonist in his personal documentary. His commitment, philosophy, and personality combined ultimately gained him success in the film.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The film Exit Through the Gift Shop sends the message that you shouldn’t be afraid to follow your dreams, no matter how random or unlikely they seem. Theirry Guetta, the man whose footage is displayed in Banksy’s documentary, spent his days recording every single event in his life. One day he decides to start filming graffiti artists in Los Angeles. He compiled boxes upon boxes of footage that sat around unwatched, until Banksy finally convinces him to create a documentary displaying the work of all the well-known graffiti artists in the world he had captured footage of. After 6 months Guetta had completed his documentary; basically, a film containing choppy footage and no words, deemed incomprehensible. Though Banksy is a shady guy, I trust the way the film was pieced together and I agree with everything he was saying in his documentary, which is a lot better than what Guetta attempted to create. 

The documentary was supposed to be about Guetta’s adventures through the streets and all the footage he captured of various graffiti artists, but Banksy turns around and makes his own documentary boasting his own work and undermines Guetta's integrity. It basically makes Guetta seem like an idiot, as if he is a failure at filmmaking and got lucky in promoting himself as a street artist. Overall, the documentary was a lot different than all the other historical ones out there, but it was pretty good. It was such an odd film but the story was funny. It complemented the true artists out there while showing what kind of a guy Guetta is. Guetta starts out on one mission, to film graffiti artists, and ends up putting everything on the line for something completely different, his own graffiti artist lifestyle and art show. He is so easily influenced by the ones around him that it is truly entertaining to watch.

When Harry Met Sally

When Harry Met Sally follows several of the clichés of the romantic comedy genre. Harry is the carefree guy who befriends Sally, the friend of his girlfriend who lets him tag along on her drive to New York City, the most common setting for romantic films. In the beginning, Sally hates Harry and is glad when they make it to the city and part ways. After meeting up a few brief times throughout the span of about 10 years the two become closer and grow to be great friends, one of the most popular clichés in romantic films. Harry and Sally become best friends, there for each other in good times and bad, going out to eat and talking on the phone on numerous occasions. 

At one point in the film, Sally is at a low point in her life and with the convincing of her best girlfriend, Marie, she complies with her subtle feelings for Harry and the two end up sleeping together. They view it as a mistake and go on with their lives as friends; another cliché, in that the two friends are almost about to get in to the relationship the audience is expecting and rooting for, and they don’t. It isn’t until the conclusion of the film that they become more than friends and actually have a romantic relationship, the classic happy ending. 

In comparison to all the other romantic comedies out there, When Harry Met Sally can most definitely stand the test of time as something to be judges as artistic in the distant future. Despite the implementation of several romantic comedy clichés, it is ultimately a great story that uses these clichés in a not so obvious and monotonous way. These clichés make the genre what it is, and a great romantic comedy wouldn’t be successful without applying some of these techniques, it is just the way that they are incorporated in the film that will make or break its success.

The Thin Red Line

Without a plot a film is just a series of events occurring in a somewhat organized manner. The goal of filmmaking is to create a film that tells a story and engages the audience, setting a mood and forcing the audience to think and follow the storyline. In the film The Thin Red Line director Terrence Malick did the exact opposite. His film conveyed no plot what so ever.

The filmmaker is responsible for successfully expressing their plots and underlying subplots to make a film seem much more intriguing and well as the ability fully engage and immerse the audience through the power of visual story telling. It is ultimately the filmmaker’s responsibility to keep the audience in mind when creating a work of art, since the films are ultimately produced for the audience’s viewing pleasure. The greatest of film stories are able to convey the filmmaker’s inner thoughts in a subtle and captivating way, though the filmmaker shouldn’t go so far as to compromise the integrity of their film just to please the audience. A story shouldn’t be written purely on the principle of audience acceptance, but to some extent it is acceptable to make changes to comply with the views of society.

The nature of the production of The Thin Red Line was unpredictable and seemingly unorganized. There were odd segments of video, such as the alligator entering the water at the opening of the film and the struggling baby bird, which seemed to have no real significance or relation to the progression of the film. Malick failed in the aspect of creating a vision in filmmaking, but that’s not to say the film was a failure. True it has no real plot, but it has a decent story behind it that makes it an acceptable but lacking film.

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is a mythical tale based around the Spanish Civil War. The key point that made this film enjoyable and entertaining to watch was the fact that there is a constant struggle between reality and fantasy. The fantasy world allows the main character, Ofelia, to escape from her nightmarish reality; there needs to be a sense of realism or else the story would seem too unreal and out of the question. The slight attachment to realism makes the film’s storyline seem possible in the real world. Writer/Director, Guillermo del Toro, successfully implemented the themes of obedience/disobedience, such as obeying stepparents in the classic tale of Cinderella as well as Stepmom, and sacrifice for the greater good, as implemented in The Terminator and Titanic. 

Ofelia is a young girl who grew up by her mother’s side after the death of her father. She cares for her mother greatly and is obedient towards her, never arguing but she has a tendency to run off and disappear for hours at a time which worries her mother. Despite her negative feelings toward her new father, Capitan Vidal, Ofelia respects him to please her mother, who only wishes to provide for her daughter and soon-to-be son. Capitan Vidal does not stand for disobedience and is a very controlling fascist leader who wants everything done his way and seems to care about nothing but the birth of his son. As far as sacrifice goes, Ofelia’s mother sacrifices her life for her son, and in the end Ofelia sacrifices her own life for her little brother, thus completing the final task necessary to claim her throne. Although Ofelia dies in our world, her spirit lives on in her father’s kingdom, her fairy-tale land where she is truly happy.