Wrong

In 2010 Quentin Dupieux released a film entitled Rubber. Rubber was the story of a common car tire that gains sentience as well as destructive telekinetic powers. This was exactly as odd as it sounds. Two years later Dupieux release his newest film Wrong. Wrong follows Dolph a man who is seemingly oblivious to the oddities surrounding him. His clock reads 7:60 every morning, a palm tree in his backyard turns into a pine tree overnight, it appears to constantly downpour in the office Dolph was fired from but still goes to every day, and other odd events. Dolphs life continues as (un)normal until one day he wakes up to find that his dog, the one true love of his life is seemingly dognapped. This leads Dolph on a quest to find whoever took his dog and encounter many strange characters on his journey. Wrong had much more of a plot line than Rubber did, but still kept up the surreal nature from it. The writing in the film was well done with lots of fantastically witty dialogue. In one scene Dolph is talking to a man named Master Chang who says he may have information on the whereabouts of Dolph's dog. Master Change discusses how only after we lose things do we truly find out how much we loved them.

Master Chang: ...I only realized I loved my face after it have been burned with acid. But it was too late. Before it was just my face! I didn't know I loved it! I only started loving it again when it have partially disappeared. Do you follow?

Dolph Springer: Not really.

Master Chang: Man gets accustomed in all to things rapidly. He gets used to everything. When you get a new jacket you are happy to wear it but that weal wears off. You get accustomed and after a few days, that jacket doesn't bring you any joy at all. On the other hand... if that jacket is stolen from you... desire ignites again inside of you. All of the sudden, you miss that jacket, and you love that jacket again. Same goes for shoes.

Wrong is a surreal, Charlie Kaufman Esque mind trip that those who aren't afraid to think differently during a movie will enjoy. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: An Unforgettable Movie

What if you could erase memories? A bad break up or traumatic event could just be wiped from your brain. Recently in my psychology class we have been discussing memories and the possibility of erasing them. There has been recent research that shows it is possible to successfully erase selective memories in lab mice. This got me thinking of one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as a couple that has each other erased from their memories. While the service offered by the company in the movie is fictional there is some science to it and the film uses a few unique techniques to show the erasing of memories.

Try recalling a memory? It is very hard for people to recall a memory with perfect details of sound and image. In some scenes like when Joel (played by Jim Carrey) talks with his neighbor in the lobby of his building, the picture quality and sound resolution of the memory starts to slip away until it is finally gone. Sometime details simply vanish around you. When Joel goes to visit Clementine (Winslet’s character) at work the books at the store begin to gradually turn white. Even faces become forgettable and unrecognizable which is seen later on the face of Joel’s doctor as he recalls him going into the medical office to get the memory erasing procedure done. In another scene, perspective and time seem to “loop.” This can be seen when Joel is chasing Clementine down the street. Joel becomes trapped by not being able to remember further details about the memory and what happened next thus the street and sidewalk gets smaller and smaller. He tries to turn and go back but by then that part of the memory is erased too!

At the end there is a great scene when the last memory is being erased and the memory (and literally the setting of the beach house) is falling apart. Joel realizes that he wants to stop everything and hold on to Clementine and these memories so he decides to try hide away these small fragments of memories left so he can remember them when he awakes from the procedure. A series of dark images begin to flash that symbolize snippets of his memories with details like sand from the beach entering into a different unrelated memory. Finally the movie ends with both of them finding out about the company and the procedure. They decide to give their relationship another shot even if it could end the same exact way. The last shots of the movie are the same shot played over and over as the movie goes to white perhaps symbolizing that the procedure was exercised again and again. Joel and Clementine are now in a state of constantly repeating their relationship like in a circle that never stops.

This movie is a very complicated yet smart film that cannot easily be summed up in one blog post. The production team even makes it easier on the audience of keeping track of the timelines, of what is a memory versus real life, and when the moment occurred in their relationship by the color of Clementine’s hair. This hair goes from blue, orange, red, green, and brown. If you have not seen this film go out and watch it. I promise it will be a movie and a memory you will never forget.

The Graduate and its Similarities with The 400 Blows

For this week’s blog post, we were asked to read a chapter from Closely Watched Films by Marilyn Fabe. In the chapter it focuses on François Truffaut’s film The 400 Blows. This autobiographical film was made by Truffaut when he was twenty-seven years old and helped launched the French New Wave, a national film moment that flourished between 1959 and 1963. While I have not seen The 400 Blows or any film that is considered part of the French New Wave era, I have seen other films that reminded one of many of the principles and styles of these unique films.

French film critic Alexandra Astruc argued that cinema was a language and could potentially be an art form as powerful as poetry or literature. Traditionally the “author” of a film is the screenwriter but New Wave theorists believe the script was only a blueprint and that the director is the artist that puts his vision into the film. However many of these New Wave films like The 400 Blows were directed by the screenwriter. This reminds me of one of my favorite writers/directors, Charlie Kaufman. While he is mostly known for his writing, his film Synecdoche, New York, which he wrote and directed, is a bizarre film about a theater struggling director attempting to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play. This movie’s title is also similar to The 400 Blows’ title because both have double meanings. The 400 Blows not only refers to the adventures of a rebel teenager but also the actual blows dealt by his parents. Kaufman’s title not only means the city of Schenectady, where much of the film is set but also the concept of synecdoche, wherein a part of something represents the whole or vice versa. Another Kaufman film, Adaptation, is similar to this Truffaut film. While The 400 Blows was autobiographical to his life, Adaptation revolves around a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman and his actual struggle of adapting the novel The Orchid Thief into a film. In case you could not tell it was based on Kaufman’s actual struggle from his life!

Reading about The 400 Blows also reminded me of the movie The Graduate. While not a perfect match there are some striking similarities between the films. First there is a shot in Truffaut’s film that focuses on the character of Antoine as he runs through the country toward the sea. The shot is all in one shot in order to be dramatically effective. The audience sees him running for a long time without the least indication of fatigue thus, we are able to experience the pure adrenaline-fueled sprint. In the ending of The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman’s character is seen running down the street in two long shots (the shots start 30 seconds in). He is determined to stop the wedding of his dream girl. Nothing will get in his way! Another similarity between the films is with both the film’s endings. In Truffaut’s film, as he is making his dash for freedom he runs to the sea. When he finally gets to the ocean he accomplishes his goal but he realizes he is trapped. In The Graduate, Benjamin succeeds in stopping Elaine’s wedding and both of them make it on to the bus to run away. But as the bus drives away their smiles fade (skip ahead to 3:40). Even though there is no dialogue some people interpret this quiet ending as both characters realizing what they just did and perhaps thinking they may have made a huge mistake. But the ending can be seen in two ways depending on the audience. One final similarity between the films again involves The Graduate’s end. Supposedly the “sobering” ending is actually from the directions the director Mike Nichols gave the actors in the moment. He was actually shouting at them to laugh during the scene but the actors were so scared that after the laughing they stopped, with looks of worry. He liked it so much he kept it in the final film. In The 400 Blows Truffaut wanted a certain actress for the part of the psychiatrist but since she was unavailable he decided to never show the psychiatrist but instead only hear her lines. Another decision made in the moment by the director!

While different people made these films during different times, there are very similar. This just proves that powerful and inspirational films can help influence future directors and filmmakers with their works just like Truffaut’s The 400 Blows influenced many movies to come.

8 1/2: Breaking the Rules and Paving the Way for the Future

For this week’s blog post, we were asked to read a chapter from Closely Watched Films by Marilyn Fabe. In the chapter it focuses on Federico Fellini’s film 8 ½. This unusual film broke a lot of the “rules” of cinema and helped pave a road for creative pieces of entertainment in the future. Overall after reading this chapter I came away with that certain “rules” of cinema could be broken with good reasons and intentions like how Fellini broke many of them in his strange and baffling film 8 ½.

8 ½ is a film about “director’s block” and tells the story of Guido Anselmi, a film director, who during the filming of his latest film, suddenly loses inspiration and worries he will not be able to finish and fail. One of the first “rules” Fellini “broke” was the non-linear story. The linear plot is constantly interrupted with Guido’s dreams, fantasies, and childhood memories that are triggered by present problems. This helps create a world of fantasy and makes it clear to the audience that this film is not about life but the make believe world of film. When first reading about this it reminded me of Christopher Nolan’s film Memento. That film is about Leonard Shelby who has anterograde amnesia searching for the killer of his wife. The film’s events are told in two separate narratives. One is told in chronological order in black and white and the other is told in color in reverse chronological order. As each sequence begins the audience is unaware of the preceding events just like the main character. Finally at the end the film’s narratives converge and everything makes a lot more sense. Memento in comparison seems a lot easier to understand and follow than 8 ½ and since I was confused during Memento I can’t even comprehend my level of confusion if I watched 8 ½.

Another “rule” 8 ½ breaks is with editing. For example objects in the background and the orientation of people in the room move from shot to shot. This disrupts the viewer’s illusion of “reality” because in real life these kinds of things would not happen. However it makes perfect sense in the film because it helps capture the disoriented process of recalling memories, which the main character is doing. Try it yourself. It is hard to pinpoint the exact location of people and objects when recalling memories. In other words “rules” are meant to be broken but only with good reasons like Fellini had.

Like Memento, 8 ½ reminded me of a lot of other movies and television shows I have seen. First it reminded me of Six Feet Under when sometimes Fellini creates dream sequences or fantasies that are not really happening. Six Feet Under would use this method all the time to show what was really going on in their characters’ heads. Overall the plot of the film reminds me of two movies; Adaptation and Tropic Thunder. Adaptation is a Charlie Kaufman film about Charlie Kaufman’s difficult struggle to adapt The Orchid Thief novel into a film. It turns out it is based on upon his actual struggle when hired to write the film’s screenplay. Tropic Thunder is about a bunch of prima donna actors who are making a Vietnam War film based on the fictional novel Tropic Thunder. When their director becomes frustrated he decides to skip the script and drop them into the middle of the jungle to survive real action and danger. In the end the making of the film becomes the actual film in the film’s reality and is a worldwide smash! Sound familiar? Between these four movies and shows it is clear to see that Fellini’s movie paved the way for future strange and creative projects. It can take just one person to change the way we think and Fellini was definitely one for many people.