LLED 439: Performance Text and Film

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Year: 2006
Director: David Frankel

Brief Synopsis: Journalist, Andy, has just been hired to work for a fashion magazine. Her boss is unbearably demanding, and Andy must learn how to accommodate all of her obscure requests.

Rational: I know this movie isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it’s just one of my favourites. I really love both Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, and I thought it would be a bit of a challenge for myself to look into the analysis of a film that isn’t necessarily known for, or dependant on its use of lighting, camera manipulation, etc.

Film: Macbeth

Year: 2015

Director: Justin Kurzel

Synopsis: The story of Macbeth, using the original Shakespearean script, and set in the era of the original play as well (Medieval Scotland).

I chose this film because I thought it was a great film adaptation of Macbeth. I was impressed with the cinematography and the acting.

I was also especially impressed with the way they used the original text from Shakespeare’s play, and set it in Medieval Scotland, and still pulled off an amazing modern film.

500 Days of Summer (2009)

Director: Marc Webb

Synopsis: Tom Hansen tells his unconventional love story in 500 Days of Summer. The movie jumps around the 500 days he knew her, reliving the high and the low points.

Rationale: I chose this movie because it’s a rom com but “it’s not a love story”. I love when movies defy genre expectations and from the first scene’s insistence that it is not a love story, to the jumping, unstable timeline, the movie talks about love but doesn’t have to tie it together in a neat, hollywood, happily-ever-after bow. I chose this scene itself because it powerfully shows the feeling of expectations not meeting reality using purely cinematic elements and little dialogue. 

Sin City (2005) by Frank Miller

Synopsis: This movie is an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel. The movie focuses on a number of characters that are loosely associated with each other though they don’t all know each other. The centre pin that links all of them together is the city that they live in, Sin City. This is a neo-noir film which focuses on both sides of the law, showcasing classic noir tropes.

Film: Inception (2010)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Synopsis: Dom Cobb is a thief with the rare ability to enter people’s dreams and steal their secrets from their subconscious. His skill has made him a hot commodity in the world of corporate espionage but has also cost him everything he loves. Cobb gets a chance at redemption when he is offered a seemingly impossible task: Plant an idea in someone’s mind. If he succeeds, it will be the perfect crime, but a dangerous enemy anticipates Cobb’s every move.

Characters: Arthur – Dom Cobb’s right hand man, a part of the team Dom assembled to complete his masterful plan. Yusuf – another member of the team who formulates the drugs and is the driver in the scene.

Rationale: I chose this scene because when I first watched this movie it really stuck out to me how fascinating and aesthetically pleasing it was. The use of camera angles, the slow motion effects and how dramatic the scene were the reasons for choosing this cut.

Title: 20th Century Women

Year: 2016

Director: Mike Mills (Beginners, 2010; Thumbsucker, 2005)

Synopsis: A mother, Dorothea Fields, asks for help from two other women to help raise her son, Jamie. The two women are Abbie, a punk and an artist – and Julie, a sexually and socially progressive teenager. William is a tenant, along with Abbie, in the Field’s home; he is a carpenter and a mechanic. The film takes place in 1979, Santa Barbara, California.

Rationale: Aesthecially strong film which I quite enjoyed.

Film: Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Synopsis: Kill Bill is a revenge drama that follows the character of The Bride (Uma Thurman) as she takes steps to enact revenge upon the former members of a gang that killed her entire wedding party and tried to kill her during her wedding rehearsal. The scene I selected is the scene in which The Bride confronts one of her attempted murderers–a former gang member named Copperhead, played by Vivica A Fox.

Characters: The Bride–attempted murder victim bent on revenge. Copperhead–former gang member who assisted in the mass murder of The Bride’s wedding party and the attempted murder of The Bride herself.

Rationale: I chose this film because of the rich cinematic value (Tarantino being such a cinephile), and because of the easily identifiable tropes contained within the scene. Tarantino is a fan of diverse, recognizable angles and forms of lighting, and many of those are evident within this scene.

Film: Oldboy (2003)

Director: Chan-wook Park

Synopsis: Oldboy is a South Korean mystery-thriller neo-noir film. The film follows the story of Oh Dae-su, who is imprisoned in a cell which resembles a hotel room for 15 years without knowing the identity of his captor or his captor’s motives. When he is finally released, (he pops out of a suitcase on top of a buiding) Dae-su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and violence as he tries to track down the one who imprisoned him.

Characters: Oh Dae-su, the main protagonist who has been imprisoned for about 15 years. Lee Woo-jin, the man behind Oh Dae-su’s imprisonment and Mi-do, Dae-su’s love interest.

Rationale: I chose this film, not only for its unique cinematography and interesting storyline, but it’s one of the first Korean movies I watched while I was living for four years in South Korea. This particular scene stood out for the interesting cuts and camera angles.

Film: Marshland (2014)

Director: Alberto Rodriguez

Synopsis: Set Spain in 1980, against the backdrop of the death of Francisco Franco and the country’s transition from Fascism to democracy, the film follows a missing persons investigation. Two detectives from Madrid are dispatched to a marshland village in the Deep South of Spain to find two missing girls, and uncover more than one shocking conspiracy.

Characters: Juan – an older, seemingly lackadaisical detective from Madrid, Pedro – a younger detective who has essentially been exiled from Madrid for criticizing the military government.

Rationale: I chose this scene, the first scene in the movie, because I think it perfectly sets up the rest of the story. It shows us everything we need to know about the setting, the characters and their relationships in about two minutes, with almost no dialogue. Even though it’s in a foreign language, viewers are given all the information they need through Rodriguez’s careful use of the camera.