Notorious

Notorious is yet again another great film by Alfred Hitchcock. Notorious is a film full of crime, lies, deceit, and love. The main character is Alicia whose father has recently been arrested for treason and has committed suicide in prison. Alicia is approached with an offer she cannot refuse, one that could clear her families name forever. She is approached by an agent by the name of Devlin who gives her the details on what exactly she would be doing to help the government, Alicia agrees to help him out and work to clear her families name. Alicia has quite the reputation with boos and men, and she used that reputation to get Devlin, who of course falls in love with her. Throughout the rest of the film Alicia and Devlin play around with their secret love affair, or well lack there of, and work to figure out what a man by the name of Sebastian is up to down in Rio de Janeiro. Alicia has had dealings with him in the past and uses them to get inside his home and quite quickly into his heart. Alicia and Devlin are forced to sneak around to talk to one another and to look for clues into what Sebastian is hiding. The classic traits are all here especially lies and deceit. Alicia works to clear her name but also to be the one she loves in the end. Unfortunately and fortunately I was surprised by the ending of this film, I won't give it away which means you will just have to see it. It is a great film with twists and turns that even surprised me. Notorious is not just a great film noir classic, but an Alfred Hitchcock classic in itself.

Chinatown

Chinatown is yet again another film noir classic. This film is about a private detective who goes by the name JJ Gittes who is hired to mostly find out whether or not spouses are being faithful to one another. JJ is hired by a woman posing to be one mans wife, but turns out not to be. When JJ's story goes public about the affair the real wife comes forward and everything goes crazy. A murder takes place early on in the film and JJ is determined to get to the bottom of the crime that turns out to go back a number of years, and includes a number of unexpected people. Throughout the film JJ learns of all the wrongdoings that have been going on with the water the supplies the town and surrounding areas. The film is full of lies and sexual tension, that of course gets released like every other film, but in the end the twists and turns that are revealed are shocking and questioning enough for this film to be a film noir.

This film overall is a great film. Throughout the whole time watching it I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next, and what crazy story was about to unfold. This is not a only a must see film noir film, but a must see in itself. All of the classic film noir pieces are there in one way or another and they way he film ends in itself makes it a must see.

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil is another film under the genre or style(who really knows which) of Film Noir. It is a film full of lies, deceit, murder, drugs, police corruption, and crime. The film is about a newlywed couple who are out celebrating their marriage along the US/Mexico border, when something terrible happens and Mike chooses to investigate the crime and send his new wife back to their hotel. Mike instantly goes to the crime scene and talks to a few of the other officials and then Hank shows up and the atmosphere changes. As the story unfolds throughout the film we witness the the extreme pressure and angst that some of these officials go through. We also get to witness a number of criminal acts throughout the film which call into question the morality, right and wrong, good and bad of certain individuals. Throughout the whole film there is the questions of who you can trust as well, and that in itself brings up a lot of unanswered questions, whether or not individuals have been honest in the past about what they have witnessed, and the struggle of friendship among partners who have worked together and saved each others backs for a number of years. Throughout the whole film Mike is trying to get to the bottom of the crime that was committed in the beginning of the film and he sets out to prove that person accused of the crime is not the person who committed the crime, but that Hank himself framed him for it.

This specific film is very much a film noir for a number of reasons. Most of them being the same reasons The Maltese Falcon was a film noir. The story is full of criminal acts, much of it takes place at night, the typical femme fatale (although very different from the femme fatale in Maltese Falcon), and a number of other reasons. This was a very thought provoking film, but not one that I would necessarily watch again. I found parts of it enticing, but other parts boring and repetitive. Although I may not recommend it to someone else to watch for kicks and giggles, I would have to say though that I would recommend it if someone wanted to watch a film noir film.

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is a film from 1941 and is a film noir classic. The film is about a private detective Sam Spade who helps people find what they are looking for. He has a partner Miles who is not too fond of as well. In the beginning of the film Sam is hired by a gorgeous woman by the name of Miss Wonderly, who needs his help initially needs his help to find her "sister." When Sam helps her that evening everything falls apart with his partner being killed, along with the man that Miss Wonderly wanted watched. Sam knows that instantly something is wrong and starts his search to figure out the reasoning behind all that had happened.

Sam confronts Miss Wonderly, who he finds out has been lying all along not just about her name, but about what she was really looking for. Her real name is Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and she explains the story of the Maltese falcon and that she us really on the search for that and not her sister. In the search for this falcon Sam runs into other characters such is Joel Cairo and Casper Gutman who are also after the falcon, and Sam ends up working with all them for a number of different money offers to find the falcon that is so desired by all of these different characters. By the end of the film Sam is doing everything that he can to figure out the number of murders and other crimes that have happened throughout the film, and he realizes how many people have tried to fool him as well, and when he figures out who is behind all of the scandal he has a number of mixed feelings about the outcome of the story.

The entire film is run by murder, money, sex, and greed. It is a classic film noir film because of its entire plot and setting. From the majority of the movie being shot at night on the rain soaked streets of San Fransisco, the classic 1940's wardrobe, the femme fatale because she is a damsel in distress but she is also dangerous and using her feminine mystique to get her way at times as well, with the overwhelming amount of crime and murder that is throughout the entire film as well, and the morale ambiguity that is present in each and every scene of this film.

For me personally I really enjoyed this film, it may have had something to do with Humphrey Bogart as the main character, but I really enjoyed it because there was such a pull between what was right and what was wrong for these characters, and even though most of the time they chose wrong, they knew what they were doing and that in itself was what drew me into each of the individual relationships that each character had with Sam. This film is a great film to demonstrate the classic Film Noir Style in a number of ways, and it is a film that is not only about the search for something that you desire, but about the moral pull within oneself to do what is right versus what is wrong.

Analysis of the narrative styles of Casablanca, Daughters of the Dust, and Monsoon Wedding

These three films, Casablanca, Daughters of the Dust, and Monsoon Wedding are all films that play into the importance of film narrative. There are different styles of film narrative and I will focus on the differences between the three films in the Classic Hollywood Narrative and the Alternative Narrative.

Casablanca is a film that focuses mainly on the life of Rick

Blaine. Rick is living in Casablan

ca during WWII. He owns his own cafe and has a good reputation in the town. Rick's story turns into a classic love story when he former love comes to Casablanca with her husband and everything Rick had tried so hard to forget came rushing back to him with a few notes on the piano.

Daughters of the Dust is a film that focuses mainly on a group of people, or well in this case a family of African Americans who are living in North Carolina and preparing for a big move the day after. The family has to make a decision that will in the end effect everyone, whether to move off the island or stay with the others

and the ones they love. The stories of this film are mainly told through the baby girl who is yet to be born, the grandmother, and the other women on the island.

Monsoon Wedding is a film that depicts a typical Indian family preparing for their daughters wedding day. This film is adapted from the original Bollywood style and is made to showcase all of the normal traditions that an Indian family goes through while planning a wedding. The difference in this film though is that the stories of the family are told through the majority of the characters in the film, with a small side story about the family maid and the wedding planner. This family has a lot of secrets that must come out and are told in ways that only real families can understand.

There are a number of differences among these three films that we could really get into, but then we would be here all day, so I will just point out the ones that are very important in explaining the differences in narrative styles. The main difference that stuck out to me throughout watching these three films and reading about the narrative styles is that in a classic hollywood narrative film there is usually one or two main characters that the film is focused on and that the audience really gets to know, and when watching Casablanca this was completely noticeable because the story was mainly about Rick but also at times about his past love. In Daughters of the Dust the stories of the family are told by the women of the family and a soon to be baby girl, so this film was different in how it was narrated and told by a number of women instead of just on or two. In Monsoon Wedding we run into the same issue because the stories of the Verma family are told by more than one of the characters, but instead they are told by all members of the family. These two films are both similar to one another in how they both focus on the importance of family and the number of troubles and issues that families run into on a day to day basis, without giving away too much that is. Casablanca is different from these two films and follows the Classic Hollywood Narrative styles in a number of ways.

Although these three films are so different, I cannot help but wonder why wouldn't they be so different. Not only are they all filmed at different points throughout history, but they are all depicting different cultures and beliefs. There is no question in my mind that these three films are crazy different in pretty much every way. We have the classic Americans, African Americans descended from Africa, and Indians all three are so different and focus on different things in their cultures. In Casablanca it is nothing new that yet again there was another love story it is what Americans seem to live for anymore when they go to the movies. And in the African American culture there is a great emphasis on family and having generations and generations of their family members living with them or near them always. In the Indian culture it is very typical for the family to be very close for life. That is why the arrangement of marriage is so important and common in their culture because whole families are involved in the decision of who can and will marry who.

Overall I think that after looking at these three films in a narrative way I can see the difference between classic hollywood narrative and alternative narrative. It is more common in the classic hollywood narrative to focus on an individuals story and life, and in the alternative narrative it is more common for the film to focus on groups and families and different cultures as well. These two narratives are very different in themselves and both are very important in the making of different kinds of films. The two styles that were used in these three films truly make the movies what they are.

Monsoon Wedding

Monsoon Wedding is a film about a traditional arranged Indian wedding. The film follows the
Lalit who is the father of Aditi the daughter about to be married to Hermant who lives in the US but is Indian as well. Throughout the traditional wedding preparations we see Aditi running off with the man that she was having an affair with before she was engaged to be married, but he refuses to leave his wife so Aditi is forced to end things because of that and her up and coming nuptials. As Aditis father is preparing for the wedding we meet the wedding planner Dubey who is a somewhat young single man who lives with his mother and plans weddings and events for others. We also meet the family's maid Alice who is very quiet and pretty and does exactly as she is told. Dubey and Alice end up falling in love throughout the preparations for the wedding and their story is just as beautiful as Aditis and Hermants in the end. Aditi realizes that she has to come clean with Hermant because she does not want to start a marriage based on lies, and she would rather him back at now then after the wedding. When she tells him he is very mad at first, but he realizes that their marriage can be start of a new life for both of them and tells her to decide whether or not to marry him, and from the moment she says she wants to marry him there is nothing but want and love in their eyes throughout the rest of the film.

The most moving part though in the entire film is the story of Ria, who is Aditis cousin and Lalits niece, who was sexually abused by her uncle who is Lilats brother-in-law. From the moment we see Ria and her uncle interact I could tell that there was definitely some sort of history between them, and I could tell by Ria's face that it was not good. The uncle is unfortunately the patriarch of the family and helps the family financially and in any way needed, so the idea that he had done such a terrible thing was crazy. But Ria finally realizes that it is time to tell her secret to save Aliyah from being hurt by him as well. When Lilat learns of what he did to Ria who has become like a daughter to him he does not know what to do, but when he makes a decision that will impact the family in a huge way I could not help but cry and just yearn to hug Ria and help in any way I could even though I knew it wasn't possible. Throughout the rest of the film we witness some beautiful and moving family moments that cannot help but make you want to be a part of the family as well. This is a definite must see in so many ways! I loved this movie and have actually purchased it now and it will be a great addition to movie collection. I left this film with tears running down my face and a smile as well, and of course an urge to dance! SEE IT!

Daughters of the Dust

Daughters of the Dust is a film that takes place in Ibo Landing on Sea Island off the coast of South Carolina. The film is depicting the last day that the Peazant family will all be together in Ibo Landing, as they are preparing to move to the mainland together. The family consists of a number of generations of Peazants from Nana who is the grandmother to Eli who is married to Eula who has recently been raped by a man, and will not tell her husband Eli who did this to her. Eula refuses to tell Eli because she is fearful it will ruin him and tear him apart, and although she has good intentions it only causes Eli to want more. We then meet their unborn baby girl who we see throughout the film running around with her parents, with the other children on the island, and even through the lens of the photographer at one point too. She also narrates at times in the film as well and we hear her laughter and listen to her tell us what is going on at times too. There is then Haagar who married into the Peazant family who is the mother of Iona who is in love with a young Cherokee man, St. Julien Lastchild, and Iona is planning on staying on the Island with him so they can be together. In the beginning of the film we are able to listen in on a letter that he writes to her professing his love and begging her to stay with him, and it is so moving and loving that I almost cried because you could really hear the love in his words he wrote for her.

Those characters are just the beginning there is then Yellow Mary Peazant who is returning from Cuba with her friend Trula, they are both wearing puffy dresses that are ridiculous for living on the Island, but are beautiful to them. And then there is Viola who is bringing Yellow Mary and Trula to the Island along with a photographer to photograph the Peazant family all together. Throughout the whole film we learn about all of the trials and tribulations that these Gullah women have gone through throughout their time on the Island, and we witness some very special moments between Nana and Eli as they discuss the family and how far they have come. We as the audience get to witness and learn about all that this family has gone through to get where they are then, and everything that they have gone through is so harsh that you cannot help but feel for these people and want to know more about them.

The Film Daughters of the Dust was a very hard film for me to completely understand and grasp the real story about what was really happening throughout the film. But I really wanted to give this film a chance to move me and to let me feel what was really going on in the lives of these characters as well. I am still not sure after viewing again if I still really got what the film was trying to tell us, but the story in itself was very interesting and sad and raw in so many ways. I cannot say that this is a movie that I would ever really recommend to anyone, but it is an okay film to watch if you really have the time sit and really really listen to what they are saying. The dialogue was very hard to understand throughout the film, and I think that that is a big reason why I did not understand exactly to the full extent what was really going on in the film, but I feel that if the dialogue was more clear and the film was not so all over the place I would most likely enjoy the film more and understand the significance of the film as well.

Casablanca

The film Casablanca is a classic romantic film that has been around for many many years. The film takes place during World War II in Morocco in a city called Casablanca. Casablanca is occupied by a large number of people trying to get out of Europe who go to Casablanca in hopes of finding their way to the United States. There are a number of different types of people in Casablanca at this time from refugees, to Nazi's and resistance fighters as well. There are also a good number of people who consider themselves above the law and will do anything for money and a visa.

Rick Blaine is the owner of Rick's Cafe which is the go to spot for all types. Sam is his pianist and friend from back in France. There are also a few other characters that make an appearance throughout the film, but none are as important as, Renault who is known by many titles but is basically the mayor and the 'big official' in the city. Then there is of course Ilsa, Rick's old love interest from back in France, and her husband Victor Laszlo who is a leader of the French Resistance, and is wanted by many people including Renault and the Nazi's. When Ilsa walks through the door of Rick's cafe with her husband all heads turn because she is known as one beautiful woman, and she really is. She then asks Sam to bring his piano over to her and sing a song that he has not played since their days together in France, and when he starts to play it and Rick hears it, he flips, then he sees Ilsa and is speechless at first. All those old feelings that he had for her come rushing back to him, and also to Ilsa even though she won't admit it at first.

We then find out that Victor and Ilsa are in Casablanca to get exit visas as well, and that they were supposed to meet an unruly crook who had been arrested earlier that evening at Rick's, luckily just after he gave the exit visas to Rick for safe keeping that is. Rick learns this and is torn about what to do exactly. The rest of the film shows the audience the real story about Rick and Ilsa when they were madly in love in France, while Victor was presumed dead. Ilsa struggles with listening to what her heart is telling her about Victor and Rick, and we are able witness the real love that she once shared with Rick. Being able to see how Rick was when he was with her brings a good light to him because he comes off pretty cold in the beginning of the film.

This is on of my all time favorite films, not because of the classic and beautiful love story that we witness between Rick and Ilsa, but because of the beautiful story about life during war. We are able to see who real people deal with such terrible situations in their everyday lives, and we witness the love that these people have for one another as well. This is a definite MUST SEE in my book because of the beautiful story that unfolds before our eyes. It full of every emotion that a movie should have and that is probably one of the reasons it is so good. Undying love, sadness, laughter, and even a little dislike, all feelings that are a part of real life, and that is why it is so full of life.

Analysis of Bonnie & Clyde

In the film Bonnie and Clyde a constant editing theme that is throughout the entire movie is the fast and rapid change from one character to another during any one of the scenes in the film. This starts right away in the film when we see Bonnie getting ready in her room and Clyde outside eyeing up her mothers car, and then we see it again when Bonnie is looking at Clydes gun. We witness the facial expression on both of their faces in a matter of seconds and the camera continues to go back and forth during the rest of the scene when Clyde robs a store to prove that he is a criminal and thief to Bonnie. The scene following Clyde running into the store to rob it, is the scene where he steals a car for the first time with Bonnie there. When they jump in the car and drive out of town we see Bonnie throwing herself all over Clyde and we see each of their faces as the camera goes back and forth when Clyde is trying to get Bonnie off of him. The facial expressions that Bonnie has throughout the rest of the scene are so dramatic and ones of disgust and embarrassment, and the expressions on Clydes face are off embarassment as well but also of annoyance and regret to an extent. He tells her that he is not a lover boy and that he is more there for the thrill of committing crimes and having a partner like Bonnie. He tries to make up for hurting her by telling he that she is the swellest girl in Texas and the one that is perfect for his team. I almost started to believe him there, but then I remembered that he gets her killed so that feeling flew out the window quite quickly.

During the rest of the film while Bonnie, Clyde, C.W., Buck and Blanche are committing a number of crimes we are able to witness a number of the characters facial expressions, and the different characters in an entire scene that may not all fit into one shot. During one of their first heists together we get a shot of the bank and all the people in it, and then the camera quickly moves to the gang coming in to the bank proclaiming that this is a stick-up.

We are able to see them as they are entering and the few characters that are in the shot as well, but the way that each scene is edited is great and showing the audience so much of what is going on in one scene so that we can get a feeling for who all and what all is in each scene. The matter of seconds it takes to go from one section of a scene to the next is so small and it is so cool that we can see that because there is so much to see in films such as this.

Later on in the film as the gang is fleeing from anther robbery of sorts they are found by a sherif who tries to scare them and arrest them but he is very much out numbered and there is nothing that he can really say or do to get them to surrender. When they take away his gun and start to push him around a little and so on Bonnie suggests taking a picture of her and Clyde with him so that they can send it to one of the papers. When they are posing for this picture Bonnie thinks that it would be funny for her to kiss him, and when she does he is not too happy and he spits on her after she stops kissing him. The expression on both of their faces is so surprising and full of disgust and anger that I was a little shocked, because even though she is criminal what man wouldn't want t be kissed by a pretty girl with a gun mind you. But also after the cop spit on Bonnie Clyde really freaked out and attacked him and they ended up in the river and the cop eventually on a boat all by himself handcuffed, so they were pretty ticked off with him.

It is really interesting to me how fast a camera can flash from one persons face to another, I know that ultimately there is more than one camera shooting at once, but the editing is so perfect in this film when it goes back and forth between characters. I might even say flawless at times. Throughout the rest of the film there are numerous shots that go from character to character in this film that I could not even write about all of them, we would be here all night to say the least. The editing in this film is great and I really think that it helped make the movie what it is today. I think that it really helped the audience to get in touch with each of the characters because we got to be so close up to them in this film and a face can tell you everything and the faces in this film tell so much of the story that without all of the cutting from face to face would change the movie entirely. I know that sometimes we get almost motion sick when we fly back and forth from character to character in a matter of seconds during a film, but this film wasn't really one that would make you sick, but one that would make you want to see more and more of the characters so that you could read in their facial expressions what was going to happen next, and how they really truly felt about what they were doing.

Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde is an interesting about a small town southern girl who is unhappy with the small life the she living and is looking for something exciting and new to happen in her life. Bonnie has a chance meeting with a man named Clyde who is scoping out her mothers car to hijack and she just so happens to notice that he is down there. Clyde starts to tell Bonnie all about his dark past with theft and thievery, and he tries to impress her by telling her stories from his past. Clyde entices Bonnie with his charm and guts and she is instantly interested in joining Clyde as his partner in crime to help him rob banks. Bonnie accepts without hesitation and they start their rampage immediately. They start off small to get Bonnie accustomed to what is ahead of them and they eventually start to rob banks. Throughout the rest of the film they start to ask some of the people they run into to join their team, and they eventually have C.W. Buck and Blanche who are Clyde's brother and sister-in-law join them in their efforts to rob as many backs as they can and get as much money as possible, all while killing and injuring anyone who gets in their way. The film starts out as a classic crime movie, but eventually falls into a love story between criminals who learn to need one another.

This is a film that I did not completely enjoy because I found it hard to believe the actors in their roles. It was at times funny but mostly annoying and boring. I did not really understand why Clyde was doing what he was doing in the first place, and Bonnie was so bland throughout the whole film and her annoying voice and accent were hard to listen too as well. The relationship that Clyde and Buck though is fun and very loving and you can tell that they really have a great relationship but it does tend to revolve around crime most if the time, and Blanche is quiet and doesn't really know how to act at times and almost questions what they are doing. C.W. though is a quirky character that always has the funny one liners and the weird tendencies, but he is funny at times. Overall I would not say that this is a film that I will ever watch again but it was entertaining at times, but boring and unbelievable for the most part.