Breathless

Watching Jean-Luc Godard's 1959 film Breathless was certainly a unique experience. Although the movie had a relatively simple plot and minimal (if any) character development, the editing and empty dialogue were entertaining enough. While it seemed as though the other students in my film class didn't like the movie, or couldn't follow it, I strangely enjoyed Breathless.

There were several aspects of the film I enjoyed, and a lot of it had to do with the editing style. Godard included jerky cuts and lopped off any excess shots of in-between movements, creating a film that you have to piece together in your mind. I really like the style, because it forces the casual movie-watcher to analyze the film and consciously understand what is going on. I also really enjoyed the disjointed dialogue between the two main characters (a French criminal and an American student living in Paris), which was somewhat surreal in a whimsical way. It had no real impact on the outcome of the story and added no meaning to anything, but it was at least humorous.

Even though I enjoyed the movie for its artistic merit, I probably would not recommend it for general audiences. It takes too much attention and thought to watch just for fun, but is entertaining in an unconventional sense that I really appreciated.

Mise en Scene in "Do the Right Thing"

There are many approaches to discussing mise en scene in Do the Right Thing, but I think the color on the film's set was my favorite aspect. There seemed to be multidimensional purpose for Spike Lee's choice in colors of costumes, props, and setting. The yellow tones and punches of red color conveyed the physical temperature of the scenes, yet also seemed to have deeper symbolic meanings.

Do the Right Thing takes place on a Brooklyn street in the middle of a summer heatwave. Spike Lee captured this feeling of extreme heat partially through the use of theatrically bright and vivid colors on costumes, props, and buildings. For example, there are several scenes of a group of three men sitting against an unnaturally bright red wall, which had been painted that color specifically for the film. I think this was able to establish the tone of the film and force the audience to almost feel the heat themselves.

I think the setting of a sweltering summer day (and Lee's achievement in mise en scene to convey that heat) was ideal for the situations presented in the film. The plot addresses intense racial tension and anger that eventually erupts in riots and murder, similar to an extreme heatwave.

Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. The cinematography, set design, acting, dialogue, and loose plot were so original that it caught me completely offguard. This was the first Spike Lee "joint" I had seen, and it far exceeded my expectations.

Every aspect of this film was amazing to me. I really appreciate when film directors and writers step outside the box to create unique movies, and Lee did this to the fullest extent. I loved how he was able to capture the atmosphere of a heated (weather-wise and emotionally) New York City neighborhood in the midst of racial tension. Lee's expertise was able to transform a seemingly average day-in-the-life of a pizza delivery boy into a complex exploration of the struggles of racism in America. He presented these issues with a cinematographic style that made Do The Right Thing a real work of art in addition to being a social commentary.

Acting in The Godfather

Acting can be the deciding factor in determining the authenticity of a film's mise en scene. Most general audiences are focused on the actors, whose abilities are critical to how emotionally involved we become. Obviously, all the aspects of mise en scene must cohesively bring about the "reality" of the film, but the acting ability of Marlon Brando in The Godfather was extraordinary in bringing the story to life.

Marlon Brando was incredible in his portrayal as Don Corleone, a role which won him a Best Actor Academy Award. Obviously, I believe this award was extremely well-deserved. I have seen him act in many movies, and in The Godfather he was able to once again completely transform his appearance and personality to an unbelievable level. Although at the onset of the movie, it was hard to ignore that it was just Brando acting (because of his star-stature), but after a couple minutes of sliding into the film's reality, it was just "Don Corleone" on screen to me. I thought his idea to use a mouthpiece to alter his voice (he originally used cotton wool stuffed into his cheeks during his screen tests) was very intelligent. It muffled his normal voice and made him sound slightly older, a good choice to play the mob boss. The appearance of the mouth-piece also separated the audience from the real Marlon Brando and molded him into a completely alternate figure, who only exists in the film. In hindsight, it was incredible how comfortable Brando seemed in the role of Don Corleone. Although perhaps insignificant in relation to the overall plot, the scene where Corleone is sitting in the chair stroking a cat, while simultaneously planning the illegal mob activity, is probably one of my favorites. Brando is able to juxtapose warmth and affection with the cruel reality of his characters' existence, all by just sitting comfortably in a chair. Overall, I don't think I could imagine anyone completing the mise en scene of The Godfather the way Marlon Brando did.

The Godfather

My expectations for The Godfather were obviously extremely high, since its widely considered to be possibly the best film ever made. So I was obviously surprised to have conflicting opinions on the film. While I appreciated the obvious achievement in film making, I don't think it will ever be one of my favorite movies.

I'm going to start off with what I did love about the movie. I think it would have been far too easy for a lot of these characters to be static and stereotypical roles, but I was surprised to find the portrayals of the Italian mafia were extremely dynamic and multidimensional. I'm not going to rave about Marlon Brando, because that would take me far too long, so I am going to focus more on Al Pacino as Michael Corleone. Besides Ocean's Thirteen (which I don't think really counts), this was the first time I ever saw Al Pacino in a movie, and it was certainly an impressive introduction to his talents. He was able to portray a myriad of emotions with a mostly stoic facial expression. (side note: I was also shocked at how good-looking Al Pacino used to be! I never would have guessed.) I also really appreciated the complexity of the interesting plot, which was able to hold my attention for the full length of the [very long] movie. I became so involved that I never even tried to guess what was going to happen, although in hindsight it wouldn't have mattered if I had tried. It definitely was anything but predictable.

The reason this would never be my favorite movie is because I was very distracted by the negative portrayal of women in The Godfather. Every female character was either manipulated by their husband, physically or verbally abused, or completely unable to have a sense of free will. Diane Keaton's character Kay patiently waited years for Michael to come home, had two seconds of independent thought when she questioned the methods of the Corleone family, but was immediately labeled as naive and then accepted his marriage proposal. Obviously Connie Corleone/Rizzi was abused by her husband, but never was able to leave her husband, and had to be defended by her brother. Mrs. Corleone is hardly ever even present, unless she's serving a meal. Michael's first wife Apollionia is portrayed first as a silent object, then a ridiculous child ("Watch me drive! Come on!"). In the scheme of the film-making mastery, this may be only a minor flaw, but it bothered me enough that this definitely won't be one of my favorite movies (although now I understand why it's considered such a "guy movie")