Undertow

Undertow is a film that seems to reflect two disparate themes: the first half of the film focuses on a mini-family drama, but after the death of the father the film changes tone, turning into a chase film that continues until the end of the film.

There is also a  fairytale-like theme throughout the story, which shows itself through the tale of the gold, through the sheddinng of blood, as well as in the slightly mythical characters that he meets. The climax of the movie is in the final confrontation between Chris and Deel in which Chris throws the gold into the river, bringing the journey of the gold and its inherant greed to its conclusion.


These themes of mysticism is contrasted with the realism of the film-making, which is especially noticable in the opening sequence. This sequence has periodic freeze frames with the brightness and contrast heightened, which brings out the gritty realism of the film. This constant pausing of the film helps to show the audience that there may be more to this sequence and this film than meets the eye. The music also helps to enhance this feeling of otherness and of something hidden.


The film ends with Tim popping a balloon, which can be interpretated one of two ways. It can either signify Chris' return to reality and normality, a return to love and compassion and the way his life was before his fathers death, or it could signify his death, and the final scenes are simply a hallucination, similar to his life flashing before his eyes.

Lost in Translation

'Lost in Translation' is supposedly a movie exploring the relationship between two people who meet in a strange country, and connect through mutual feelings of loneliness and confusion. However, this supposed relationship did not come across in the film. The overwhelming emotion that I got from both actors was one of apathy. I couldn't get any sense of what drew the two characters together. Yes, they were supposed to be lonely and both experiencing cultural dissonance, but the pacing of the movie is so slow and the characters so passive that I do not feel much emotional involvement with their plight.


Of course, this passiveness and lack of any discernible chemistry or plot could also be described as intentional, and imperative to the telling of the story. The apathy that the characters give off is to show how lost, confused and unfulfilled their lives are. Unfortunately their apathy does not make me have any emotional investment in the characters or their journey to overcome their isolation.

In the film, wide or very wide shots are used to emphasise the emotional state of the characters, specifically their aloneness. When the characters are in a crowd, or if they are in a landscape, these types of shots are often used, with the character taking up very little of the frame. Since the characters, specifically Charlotte, are so small within the large, empty frame, it reinforces that feeling of being small and adrift.

In the climatic scene near the end of the film, where Bob sees Charlotte in the crowd, a very wide shot is used to show their embrace. In the hustle and bustle of the crowds, an empty space exists around the two characters, perhaps showing that even though they are physically in the city, they are not really a part of it.

While I personally did not like this film, it is very hard to review it critically without admitting that a lot of the things that I did not like can be explained away as intentional and helping to set the theme and tone of the film.

Toy Story 3 Film Review

This film review situated in the Sydney Morning Herald has a slightly different structure to many other reviews I have seen. It uses the first five paragraphs to give a brief background about the company, director and some of the other creative forces who worked on this film, compare it to other films in the same genre, give and overview of the previous movies in the franchise, and also takes the time to praise the originality, quality and ambition of the movies. The review then takes a more conventional turn, giving a brief overview of the plot of the movie, and then goes into deconstructing some of the themes in the movie.

While this is a fairly lengthy (for the internet) review, there is really very little written about the actual movie and whether, based on the storytelling and narrative, it is a good movie. However that is not to say that The Sydney Morning Herald slams this movie. Quite the opposite, the language used in this review, words such as "a crowning achievement for Pixar", "the incredible energy and ingenuity of childhood" and "Lasseter is the closest thing to a genius in American cinema" show that the reviewer has a high respect and liking for this film.

While it may not quite follow the conventions of a traditional review, I think that is more of a consequence of the medium it is written on. In a world where everyone can be published, what you need to stay ahead on the internet is something different, something unique, with insights that not everyone else can offer, which is what this review delivers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Sydney Morning Herald, viewed 25 Feb 2011 <http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/toy-story-3-20100616-yga5.html>