The Wanderers

Slacker (1991) – un commentaire sur le chômage aux États Unis.

Nous pouvons comparer la situation des jeunes chômeurs en France, aux chômeurs l’âge entre 18 et 25 ans qui vivent dans la ville de Austin, Texas.

Malgré la pauvreté répandue, les jeunes sont romanesques, comme s’ils errent à travers leurs vies sans les inquiètes, ou sans concerner des conséquences de pauvreté. Or, l’argent n’est pas respecté dans le même sens qu’il est maintenant.  Ce qui replace notre révérence de l’argent est la révérence de connaissance. 'Faut-il qu'on travaille pour avoir soit une bonne ou riche qualité,  de vie?' est la question pertinente. C’est la norme que chaque individu qui est montré en parlant, en marchant, nous raconte leurs idées qui brillent. La marge est étroite entre la folie et l’intelligence. Le mouvement du film donne l’espace aux caractères qui veulent s’exprimer dans une manière libre. Ce que le réalisateur engendre c’est une culture de questionnement. Les débats sont tranquilles et subtils. Oui, on peut disputer une idée mais le discours n’est pas agressif, en outre, il coule comme un fleuve, sinueux quand une pierre se présente, - qui ressemble un stimulus ou un statistique qui peut changer une théorie d’un homme.

 

La première conversation s’agit des multiples univers. Cette idée explique pourquoi le récit change si souvent entre les différents gens. Pendant un homme explore une certaine idée, en fermant les autres possibilités qu’il pensait, ces idées, puis, se sont donnés aux autres gens à considérer. Quand ils quittent les bâtiments, en voyageant hors de la scène, ils emmènent les idées inexplorées. La fluidité des pensées est une chose belle à voir, et il décrit comment on peut être influencé par quelqu’un dans une façon innocente.

Au long du film, la journée se met à finir. La mise en scène augmente la palpabilité des émotions. Ce sentiment s’élève avec le soleil couchant. La lumière chaud et jaune se lave partout, les rues sont trempées avec l’atmosphère qui rendent même ceux qui n’ont jamais vécu dans cet âge, réminiscents. La fatigue est une chose qui beaucoup des réalisateurs évitent, parce que il pourrait rendre ennuyeux le film. Par ailleurs, Linklater, savoure la paresse de ses personnages. Il ne cache pas le fait que rien se passe dans son film. Mais, contrairement aux autres réalisateurs qui dépendent lourdement sur l’action et les effets spéciaux, Linklater utilise la scenario de soutenir l’intérêt des spectateurs. Les mots intéressants et amusants sont dits avec un accent qui met l’accent sur les voyelles longues. Autant qu’il embête les personnes plus âgées, les jeunes le trouve à la mode et branché de parler d’une voix traînante.

Le film Slacker, a imprimé sa marque sur l’histoire des films. Non seulement est la structure assez moderne et avant-garde, le prémisse (oui, on peut remarquer les influences,) mais le terme ‘slacker’, à côté des images des les jeunes qui traînent en fumant, en parlant, en étant politique mais sans prendre beaucoup d’action directe, a été défini comme résultat du film. Linklater exploitent ses talents uniques, le fait qu’il n’est jamais allé au collège du film, démontre qu’il n’a jamais appris les techniques et formules qu’on vous exige. Au lieu, il est mené par son jugement du cœur, et sa confiance en le dialogue spontané.  Nettement, le film est organique, et l’humeur visuelle se présente mieux. Tous ses éléments contribuent à la création d’un film très stimulant mais douloureux en ce qui concerne de désir ardent qui imprègne à travers le film.

Ces jeunes veulent se définir, mais à cause d’une pénurie des fonds,  ils sont les branches de virevoltant, en roulant dans le vent. Ni nous, ni eux-mêmes se connaissent.

****

Life out of balance

Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Koyaanisqatsi, est le premier film realisé par Godfrey Reggio, et ce film certainement cimente son héritage dans le monde du film. Ce film répresente le terre, essentiellement, USA, en toute sa gloire, sans ignorer aussi le contraire; le pauvreté abjét. En démontrant la nature magnificent, dans les scènes premières, on peut comparer comment on voit la beauté de notre monde avec l'absence des humaines. Or, avec la présence des humaines, est-qu'il y a la même beauté, ou peut-être, est-qu'il y a plus?



Ce film ne cherche pas un sens ou un signification. Au début, la réalisateur a voulu n'avoir rien comme titre. Il est ainsi approprié que il a choisi Koyaanisqatsi. Le spectateur n'est pas donné un façon dans laquelle il doit regarder le film. Il se peut qu'il soit un sérénade à la technologie et la modernité, ou un hymne pour la vitesse des cités et leurs régenerations? La seule clé est que la mot derive d'un langue Hopi, parlé par les indigènes qui habitent en Arizona, un langue ancien. Reggio présente l'idée que les états unis ont un histoire, mais ils avaient préféré de créer un nouveau monde, et utiliser les résources naturels sams cesse. Conséquemment marquent le terre, dans n'importe quel façon ils choisissent. Les images sur l'écran montrent comment la terre est exploité, apparemment très aggressif. Les machines déchirent le sol et la violence est illustrée à travers les explosions nombreuses.

Cela semble très moche, en outre, je crois que c'est la composition qui le fait si belle. Le rythme du film est dicté par la vitesse des scènes. Avec 'time-lapse', les nuages coulent gracieusement sus les montagnes forts et les ombres sous les nuages rougissent l'image. À mon avis, c'est le long duré des quelques scènes qui donne l'impression que les scènes accélerés sont en réalité plus lentes. Il est une illusion intéressante. C'est la prolongement des coleurs et les lumières des voitures, ou des fenêtres, qui augment cette abstraction. Toutefois les aspects visuelles define beaucoup de le rythme, il est aussi la musique. Le compositeur, Philip Glass, a une maîtrise de la marcottage des morceaux dont chacun s'entrelace. Pour chaque chapitre, la melodie commence avec une note dramatique, et des cuivres grognait comme un tremblement de terre.

Ce qui est le meilleure élément, c'est la mode, et la couleur du film qui est synonyme avec les années soixante dix. Les scènes avec les gens sont faits plus fascinant pour moi parce qu'ils évoquent un sens de nostalgie que je peut sentir, même si je n'avait pas encore été née. Plus important, les scènes de Monument Valley provoquent les sentiments de la Sublime, une émotion très enracinée dans mon esprit et mon âme. Est qu'il est claire que les films western aient inspiré ce film, en plus, que les autres films dans la future soient inspiré par le talent artistique des réalisateurs. Enfin, ce film preuve comment on peut rendre quelque chose belle avec un plutôt petit somme d'argent.

*****

Teenage psyche

Beyond Clueless (2014)

In a repetitive cycle of clips 'sampled' from a myriad of high school films, Beyond Clueless opens with a scene we all are familiar with. Opening credits: a walk into the folorn high school, the sun drenched high school, the castle-like high school. The bell rings. A scatter of kids walking through the corridors is shown in another montage.

These kids all have a similar purpose - to survive high school using their individual skills they cultivated in elementary and middle school. Separated by their characteristics and physical attributes, the distinctions between the teens are made clear by the differences in survival tactics.
It is defining moment in each movie when the main characters are seen walking through the locker lined corridor. The viewer analyses their dress, their entourage, their posture and we can determine if they're a jock, a geek, a freak, a plastic, a dweeb, a burn out, or even, - a rare treat: an individual. You can furthermore categorise all of these into two separate groups if you ask the question; do they stand out, or blend in?

The director Charlie Lyne explains...
Charlie: The corridor walk is like the Elizabethan prologue of the teen movie, introducing each of the key players with an incredible degree of emblematic precision.
Right, there’s a certain iconography to it that you don’t fully realize until you see them all together. '

High school movies are traditionally American therefore from a British teen's point of view, the films perhaps are even more reveered as our schools are different so we look on the American high school more objectively. In America, the experiences are familiar, but more brash. The cliques are also similar but more clearly segregated. The confrontation is (eventually/usually) up front. Therefore the ambiguety of British 'senior school' is explained more obviously for the lost british teenager though American high school movies. One's personal angst may be momentarily relieved as one indulges in watching others social strife. One may feel empowered if they see a character or a stereotype they connect with.

It is interesting to find out that the director is in fact 'a 24 year old freelance journalist and filmmaker. He is editor of Ultra Culture, a UK-based movie blog, and home entertainment columnist for The Guardian.' Since he was 13, teen movies accompanied his life, so it is easier to understand where the nostalgic, but critcially analytical perspective derives, from.

Some directors try to use their film  to explain the uncomfortable and forced upon, social mess 'as described by the geeks or dweebs'. Other directors may maniuplate the plot to give clarity as to why some girls or boys ascend up the fragile social ladder, as they exploit the fragilities and insecurities of the students 'below'. Beyond Clueless beautifully collates a sort of tessalating pattern through the series of clips. Similarly we could describe it as a kaleidoscope, as the shimmering and hazy shots, captured by the soft tones of 90's video cameras, fall into place and create a dazling repeated image, similar to some of the drug infused sights of many of the characters, in films such as Dazed & Confused or 'Cruel Intensions'.

The film is narrated by Fairuza Balk of 'The Craft'.

With this knowledge, the film automatically is infused with a more cynical stance, as the overlayed words have an air of wisdom, or a warning tone, as people who have seen The Craft know the struggles our character/actor has endured. We learn very quickly that teenage life is painful, despite the facade of beauty that some of the kids uphold, or how sunny California may be. Nevertheless, the stereotypical teen angst and fustration manifests itself so strongly as the teenager grows more self indulgent (not maliciously, just through inevitable circumstances) and believes that their struggles are unique to themselves. Beyond Clueless rejects this notion as we see so many clips of the same motifs. The film becomes this hypnotic, aesthetic daze soundtracked by the (English) band Summer Camp, who's music, if visually imagined, is a summer day vieled in this thin sheet of sugary baby pink and glittered tissue paper.

With clips from more than 200 films from the 90s - 2000s, Beyond Clueless is an editorial artwork. What is impressive, is the climax of destruction that is the 'problem' in a basic story skeleton. The teenage stereotype is self destructive, as we implode in on ourselves through our insecurities, or our actions (dramatised in teen horror films) become extremely harmful to others. Scientifically the teenage years are when hormones are uncontrolled as they try to connect themselves to the correct receptors, and create the basis for adult relationships. Meanwhile, a conflict between desire, restraint and rules arises, and proves problematic.

Also, the risk appraisal is weaker during later teen years, so the consequences are more drastic we we strive to experiment with experiences - walking blindly through this social confusion of school, and even worse/better - parties. The only beacons of hope are in fact double edged. The infamous symbol of American house parties is the red plastic cup, which is bright and attracts our struggling teens to its content for which they find solace; alcohol - reducing our inhibitions to a mear white line on the ground which the teenage dizzily
steps over. However, in order to balance out extreme angst, one needs extreme drinking, for which the consequences are dire, but again extremely common in Beyond Clueless; puking.

The 80s John Hughes teen movie is a cinematic relic, the 90s introduced darker themes, and harder characters, but the 2000s made them blasé. The evolution of the teen movie carries on in the 2010s, to films like the 'Bling Ring (2013)' where our culture is banale and naive. However, this essay movie on the subject is excellent and knowlegable viewers can rummage through the motifs to see many films they have seen, and have yet to find.

****

SPIES!!!!

No Way Out (1987)


No Way Out is a stunning film, aurally, visually, as shown by this publicity photograph above, and the plot is quite mesmerising. The film's storyline is loosely based on the 1948s original - The Big Clock,  however the events have been updated to reflect the political climate in American at the time of shooting; a brief ascension in cold war tensions, and also reflects the modernised mode of warfare; the interface of technology.

Sean Young, Blade Runner (Susan Atwell in the film) compliments the films desaturated late 80s/90s glow so beautifully. Her playful attitude is almost sparkly like champagne or jewellery. It is therefore appropriate that both main characters, Tom Farrell, and US Secretary of Defence David Brice value Susan as a stylish and very necessary accessory. Yet, it is Farrell, who meet Susan at an inaugural ball, and falls for her glittering allure. There begins one of the films storylines, a romance which is youthful and free, as the two characters drive in open top cars and sail in expensive yachts. Tom Farrell (Kevin Kostner) is beautifully laid back and happy when he is with Susan, again shown by the photo above, with Kostner - hands in pocket and a coy smile. This is why the mysterious events which follow have so much tension, as they contrast such a blissful start to a film. (Regardless of the ambiguous starting 5 minutes whereby the premise of the movie is set - secret organisations and spies).

The freedom that exists in Farrell's life is suddenly throttled as he moves into a position under the direction of the mysterious duo of David Brice (Gene Hackman) and Scott Pritchard (Will Patton). It is worrying to see the power of the US army, therefore the 'guardians of the free world', sitting and scheming in an expensive cafe, residing like Gods above hallowed diplomatic ground of Washington DC. Yes, as protectors of democracy it is beguiling to see such drama being so insular, with scandals able to be closeted, and bypass regulated organisations such as the FBI. The white suits of the US navy are interesting costumes as they keep the audience reminded that Farrell has seemingly full allegiance to the US. This allegiance is important when weeding out a mole - a Russian spy - who lurks around the Pentagon. There is an indistinction at times whether this 'Yuri' a computer virus, a secret file or is an actual person; a double agent. One of the most terrifying concepts in times of war, a double agent can infiltrate anywhere and the knowledge of a mole raises the claustrophobic atmosphere of mistrust to levels of suffocation. Speaking on computers, one of the other very interesting concepts from the point of view of a 21st century viewer is that the slowness of the computers is almost farsical compared to today, however the fact that most of the investigatory department are so rapt with their ability despite the length and ardous nature of procedure, that the audience becomes equally excited as well.

As a thriller No Way Out is certainly thrilling, yet at times slightly too obvious however this doesn't detract from the other beauties of the film - the visual juxtaposition between the outside American and the insular world of the pentagon. Chases, that compliment the plot, and the searching of the building by witnesses highlight this feeling. The sharp corporate suits and naval uniform glare in the North American daylight. Atmospheres are important as they act as a curtain to cloud the audience in the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing, and consequently being totally unaware of upcoming twists. Hitchcock mastered this and now his technique has shown to be very influential and successful. The music almost sounds Hitchcockian, with uneasy harmonies, and creeping melodies. It would not be anything if it were not composed in the infamous 1980s fashion, using heavy synths and percussion pads.

 

80s beauty

I didn't expect this film to be so good
*****

Anti-Nam Propoganda

M*A*S*H (1970)

War; Korean, Vietnam, wherever, there is always going to be events that challenge the perseverance of the human spirit. Constant contact with death, nihilism, and conflicting ideas of being carefree yet having a duty to staying alert and responsible at all times are called into question by Director Robert Altman. He interrogates these problems however in a way that was unique to American cinema before this time. This was a progressive way to attack the Hollywood formulaic approach to producing war propaganda films, therefore MASH took the form of black, satirical comedy. For this movie one really has to understand the context. 1970s America had been given a decade to be shocked and appalled by the events in Vietnam; the government conscripts mere boys to get blown up by crazed commanders, or to go mad in the jungle heat. Drugs, and lack of army regulation/protocol was rife as efficient communication in Vietnam was impossible. The citizens back home were exhausted by getting blasted with moralistic propaganda which conflicted heavily with the reality of defeats and the futility of war. Protesting was very current however sometimes the best form of protest is through subversive humour. Seeing as the film is set in Korea rather than Vietnam, the controversy is surpressed so the presiding studios didn't have a reason to prevent the film from being released. Korean war is again about controlling emerging communist states. M*A*S*H at times feels almost apologetic for American being so domineering over less economically developed countries. As a protest film M*A*S*H was and still is a success.

The most moral problem is that Captain Hawkeye Pierce and his comrades in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital are cynical about army process, they are snide about authority and unashamedly lust for women. Despite being described as complete liabilities to the efficient handling of the wounded in Korea, they are in fact highly skilled surgeons and integral to the success of the hospital. Luckily most of the other soldiers and leaders of the hospital think similiarly to 'Hawkeye' and his friends, who therefore get away with a lot, and consequently the comedy works so smoothly. Their approach to life and confrontation, however is never greatly malicious, it is always with dry wit. They are almost too funny to laugh at. The overt nature of the farce increases as the film progresses, the film breaks down in plot structure, yet still clings together and resultantly is hilarious. (Just like, in the American football scene, the MASH football team increases in casualties yet still emerge victorious).

Altman uses interesting techniques to realise his low budget masterpiece to the audience. The dialogue, which actually was quite controversial - the script and scriptwriter were ignored and Altman encouraged improvisation - is natural, especially in the way there is a constant murmer, and interruption is frequent. The motif of orders becoming convoluted by overlayed voices amusing yet also thought provoking and prevalent to the conmunication crisis in Vietnam. There is no structure and it shows how the army is just a group of people who communicate with each other, sharing, then applying their initiative, rather than taking direction solely from the top, who are safe in Washington. "They always have more fun"

The young actors (Donald Sutherland) and those making their debut were thrust into a spontaneous atmosphere whereby the way the film was actually filmed was just as disorderly as the actual M*A*S*H camp itself. Scenes were set up and Altman would probe in with his wide angled camera, zooming in on improvised dialogue and real interaction between characters. The film however is linked together by the speakers that convey the days orders and announcements. Again this is satirized as the speaker begins to stutter and the actual content is really quite odd when you stop and think. They are even used quite deviously to hilarious effect (won't reveal because I'm sure you don't want spoilers).

The sexism is not even problematic for a femenist viewer like me, I have to accept it, and it is actually hilarious because you have to empathize with the desolate atmosphere of war. Religion is also a subject of mockery. The way that some army generals actually believed that they were doing God's bidding, that they would be saved by praying is shocking to the unassuming public. Death is normalized and no way is it religiously spiritual. The opening overture even gives suicide a melody. It is even more incredible as the song is even catchy.


The American population love buddy movies and this is equally great with its dastardly duo of Hawkeye and Trapper John (Elliot Gould). Hawkeye is a great character with his winks and sardonic attitude, which I believe may have influenced Wes Anderson's fantastic Mr Fox. Mr Fox is even as resourceful and inventive despite being equally antagonizing.

The ending, unlike most hollywood war epics, it does not end on a patriotic, jingoistic. Instead you hardly realise it end. It sort of peters out in a melancholic sort of way. You don't want the film to ever end despite know that wars must come to a close and soldiers must go home.

*****