Experimental film

When first introduced to the film 'un chein Andalou' by Luis Bunuel I was confused mainly because I see things literally, like the close up on the hand with a hole in the middle with ants leaving the hole, I saw that as a hole in a hand and some ants leaving the hole but others saw religious connotations with it. I also didn't enjoy that there was no links with what was happening with the characters in the film, for example with the women outside holding the box with the hand inside the shots were going back and forth to the women and the people inside and to me it looks like the man is wanting the cars to run the women outside over but there wasn't actually a link between the two. 

The second films that I have looked at is 'Fireworks' by Kenneth Anger was easier for me to understand and I enjoyed how this film was very personal to Anger's feelings at the time, this is shown through the fragmented shots of the sailor's arms, chest and back as he flexed his muscles in front of Kenneth and also when the sailors are walking the shots are mainly focused on the couch as they passed the camera. I also liked the references to being fulfilled after coming out and being yourself, this is shown through the scene where he set a firework off in his trousers and then it transforming into a Christmas tree on top of his head as a sign of rebellion towards religion and conforming. Also at the end there is a close up shot of a hand which is now complete as opposed to the start when a couple of fingers where missing.
The third film 'Scorpion Rising' by Kenneth Anger had similar religious references such as the shots of christian symbols such as a picture of Jesus and the film clips of Jesus and his disciples and the Nazi flag, which suggests the gay society in this film rebelling against the religions that dictate to them. But also there are similarities between these religions and their view points, they discriminate towards the people they don't agree with and there is always a leader. I like the start with the man building his bike, which shows that he has a love for what he enjoys and the things that define him.   

How far does Chungking Express differ from the other urban stories you have studied for this topic ?

How far does Chungking Express differ from the other urban stories you have studied for this topic ?

Chungking Express (1994) differs from the other films I have studied because the narrative focuses more on the theme of loneliness and being unable to sustain a relationship. This is shown through the scene where cop 663 is giving feelings to inanimate objects, through the mise en scene the audience can see that he is making a soap, polar bear teddy and a dish cloth feelings which he is feeling because his girlfriend left him, he can't not deal with the change. 'I told you not to cry. When will you stop crying? one must be strong and tough.' This is because of how Hong Kong was changing at this time because it was coming towards the end of them being an independent state, this happened in 1997. This is similar to La Haine (1995) in the scene where the three boys Vinz, Hubert and Said are at an art exhibit and they cannot talk to the women there, they resort back to violence and vulgar language. But what is similar with City of God (2002) is being able to start a relationship but it either breaks or there is something in the way this is seen through Shaggy and Bernice. Shaggy is killed by cops when trying to escape. Also Benny and Angelica who want to live together away from the Favelas, Benny is also killed by someone which starts a gang war.

Chungking Express also differs from the other films in the sense that the roles of the characters the the power they have is reversed. The women have more power and are able to move on with their lives. Also in the second story the women has a name 'Faye' where the men have a number which everyone gets wrong. This power reversal is seen in the montage sequence when Faye is in cop 663's apartment and she is slowly changing things to change him. This is effective because what is happening in Hong Kong at the time. This role is played a little in City of God (2002) in Bernice's house where she has more power and through the mise en scene the audience can see that the house is tidy and clean but the power that Bernice once had is soon lost to the world they live in. The women in La Haine (1995) are seen as domestic, motherly figures and they are rarely shown in the film. The women in Princesas (2005) think they have all the power because they say when, where and how much but the women are all willing to change to suit the men's needs to get more money. This is shown through Caye's character who is saving up to get a boob job and she also changes her hair to get more men.

Presentation Script 3

Presentation script

To what extent does the theme of loss as a narrative device define Christopher Nolan as an auteur?

Projector: Display an image of Christopher Nolan

Speaker: 'An auteur is a director who manifests a consistency of style and theme across his or her films.' [9] If this is the definition of an auteur then I believe that Christopher Nolan is in fact an auteur, due to his continual use of narrative devices and themes of psychological tumours, mainly loss across his films. Christopher Nolan is a director that uses similar themes and character roles/ types. For example, Film Noir's Femme Fatale and non linear narratives. There are other elements which could contribute to Christopher Nolan being an auteur such as working with his brother but I will discuss them later. Christopher Nolan has made a name for himself with his latest blockbusters such as the Batman trilogy and 'Inception' [3]. But he was displaying his techniques long before he was noticed by Warner Brothers with films like 'Following' 'Insomnia' and 'Memento' [2].


Projector: Display scene from 'The Prestige' [1] with a helpful quote (01:53:35-01:55:36) 

Speaker: After Batman Begins Christopher Nolan went on to film 'The Prestige' [1] which also displays a lot of his themes and techniques, although this film is not one of his own pieces, being an adaptation of a novel. Christopher Nolan has found similar themes that work well with his style within the narrative. In 'The Prestige' [1] he uses the theme of loss to challenge the audience, and a non linear structure as a the narrative device in order to leave the audience in the dark for most of the film. In this film both the main characters have suffered loss. Alfred Borden (Bale) is the more psychological and ... as this character suffers loss in a deeper sense, suffering the loss of his wife who committed suicide, the loss of some of his fingers after being shot off in a magic act, loss of his brother and lastly the loss of identity. In order to create the perfect magic trick one of the Borden twins doesn't have his true identity, as the twins take turns playing either Alfred Borden or Fallon. In this scene you have seen Borden confronts Angier and explains about his life and magic trick 'simple maybe but never easy, there's nothing easy about two men sharing one life' [1] this displays Christopher Nolan's recurring theme of psychological loss and is shown in a montage sequence 'we each had half of a full life, which was enough for us. But not for them' [1]. Also Christopher Nolan explains what has happened through mise en scene in the montage, he shows the two brothers behind the trick and switching make up in order for them to play the part. Robert Angier (Jackman) suffers the loss of his wife who drowned in one of their acts, this sends him down the path of revenge. [00:23:05-00:24:35]

Projector:  Display scene from 'Memento' [2] (00:15:34-00:16:17)


Speaker: The film that got Christopher Nolan noticed by film production companies was 'Memento' [2] which is another one of the films I have chosen to help me argue my point that Christopher Nolan is an auteur becuase similar to his other films the theme of loss is used as a narrative device to make the film interesting. Once again this film has a different narrative structure 'You cannot remove a scene from the film because each scene depends on its relationship between the preceding scene and the one that follows, it is total linear it's just reversed' say Christopher Nolan [2] and the main character has suffered different types of loss. Leonard (Pearce) has suffered the loss of his wife who was murdered and this sends him on a revenge mission, much like Robert Angier in 'The Prestige' [1]. This is also an genre convention for Film Noir, which influences Christopher Nolan's filming style. But also Leonard suffers with short term memory loss, when he and his wife was being attacked he got hit on the head. This plays a big part in the narrative and the development of the character, 'The noir-ish indie feature starred Guy Pearce as an amnesiac man who relies on Polaroids and copious note-taking while seeking vengeance.' [4]. This results in Leonard never truly knowing the whole truth and will accept whatever truth is in front of him. In the scene I have just shown Leonard is talking on the phone, he is talking about Sammy Jenkis which is the person he uses to explain his condition. In this scene Leonard talks about how he has structure to his life by taking notes and having a system but most of all a purpose for life. Through the mise en scene the audience can see his tattoos of all the facts he has collected about his wife murderer but only once he looks in the mirror do they see his purpose 'John G. raped and murdered my wife' while this is being shown to the audience Leonard actually states 'I'm disciplined and organized, I use habit and routine to make my life possible, Sammy had no drive no reason to make it work, me, yeah I've got a reason' [2].

Projector: Display scene from 'Inception' [3] (01:13:08- 01:18:49)

Speaker: The same themes are displayed in his later work 'Inception' [3]. The main character Cobb has suffered the loss of his wife who couldn't accept what was reality, he then cannot see his children because of his wife. Christopher Nolan leaves the ending up to the audience and makes them question what reality is. Much like with 'Memento' [2] which makes the audience question whether they can trust their own memories,is it fact or has it been distorted over time and with other people's influence 'Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts.' These themes are displayed to the audience in a fantasy style of dreams and the sociological aspects to a person's sub conscience. Christopher Nolan uses the theme of loss to ask these questions. In this scene you have just seen Cobb is explaining to Ariadne what happened to his wife and how it affected his life now. Even though his wife has died she still appears on missions as Cobb's projection and she threatens the people that he works with. I have used this scene because it shows a lot of the elements of his continuing theme of loss to develop his characters. Aldo his use of montage to almost fill in the gaps that the audience do not know, in this sequence it is jumping through time from the past to the present to explain and gain knowledge in both times, this is similar to 'The Prestige' [1].

Speaker: From the description of an auteur and the evidence that I have shown you, I do believe that Christopher Nolan is an auteur.

'Total devotion to his art, utter self sacrifice' [1][00:16:42-00:16:52]