Tuesday, May 8, 2007
"The Piano Teacher" Film Diary
“The Piano Teacher”, known as “La Pianiste” in France, was released in 2001 and was directed by Michael Haneke. “The Piano Teacher” is about Erika, who teaches piano lessons for a living. She lives with her mother who to say she has a dysfunctional relationship, is an understatement. An example of this dysfunctional relationship is in one of the very first scenes of the film, where Erika comes home, it appears to be late, and finds her mother waiting up for her. Erika is a middle-aged woman and not a teenager or child. Her mother violently erupts at her, they slap each other, and her mother rips her dress. The even stranger thing is that they sleep in the same bed every night, as if they were married. As a piano teacher, Erika is flat out mean and treats many of her students very poorly. She torments one of the younger boys who takes lessons with her, and in another disturbing scene, she puts broken glass in the pockets of a little girl at a recital. Erika becomes attracted to one of her students, Walter, and Walter becomes attracted to Erika. They have a strange relationship, where Erika wants him to hurt her sexually. Erika is also very sexually repressed and sexually disturbed. At one point in the film, she goes to a peep show, just to go into the booth and smell the semen filled tissues that were discarded by other men. At another point in the film, she attempts to have sex with her mother, is that dysfunctional? And finally, she goes to the drive-in movie’s just to walk around and find couples being intimate. When she was caught, she ran off.
The main theme of “The Piano Teacher” is that Erika is mentally disturbed, sexually disturbed, and sexually repressed. The dysfunctional relationship with her mother was also a main theme of “The Piano Teacher”.
I hated this film. I felt that it was very slow, and quite frankly I just didn’t “get it”. I say I didn’t “get it” because this film won many awards and I quite frankly thought that “The Piano Teacher” was just trying to be shocking. I also feel that many of the people who loved “The Piano Teacher” loved it because it was shocking and not necessarily because it was a good film. Of course, being an art film the word shocking should be replaced with disturbing, because then it sounds like it is artsy. The acting in “The Piano Teacher”, however was good. The actress who played Erika sold me on the idea that she should be institutionalized for a long period of time. I didn’t particularly like that actor that played Walter, to me he just came off as being one of the elitist French guys that gives the French a bad name.
The main theme of “The Piano Teacher” is that Erika is mentally disturbed, sexually disturbed, and sexually repressed. The dysfunctional relationship with her mother was also a main theme of “The Piano Teacher”.
I hated this film. I felt that it was very slow, and quite frankly I just didn’t “get it”. I say I didn’t “get it” because this film won many awards and I quite frankly thought that “The Piano Teacher” was just trying to be shocking. I also feel that many of the people who loved “The Piano Teacher” loved it because it was shocking and not necessarily because it was a good film. Of course, being an art film the word shocking should be replaced with disturbing, because then it sounds like it is artsy. The acting in “The Piano Teacher”, however was good. The actress who played Erika sold me on the idea that she should be institutionalized for a long period of time. I didn’t particularly like that actor that played Walter, to me he just came off as being one of the elitist French guys that gives the French a bad name.
Friday, May 4, 2007
"Tell No One" Film Diary
“Tell No One”, released in France with the title “Ne le dis à personne” in 2006, and was directed by Guillaume Canet. The film is based off of an American novel written by Harlan Coben. The film starts out shortly after Dr. Alexander Beck and Margot Beck got married. They were skinny dipping at Lake Champlane and then suddenly she was attacked. He ran after her to try to save her, but was too late. Dr. Beck was attacked while he was running after her and woke up in a hospital room with a doctor telling him his wife was dead. As far as Dr. Beck knew, his wife was dead for eight years, and he never thought otherwise. The serial killer that was accused of the murder of Margot has always denied that particular murder. Close to the would-be eighth anniversary of Alexander and Margot, two more bodies are discovered that authorities thought were from the same serial killer that was accused of killing Margot. Then, all of a sudden, Dr. Beck got a strange email while in his office. The strange email implied that his wife Margot was still alive and began the wild goose chase that Dr. Beck was going to have to endure to get to his wife…if she really is alive. The police then re-opened the case of Margot’s murder, and Dr. Beck was the top suspect. Someone planted evidence in his house connecting Dr. Beck to another murder. Dr. Beck had no other choice but to run from the police, as it could possibly be his only chance to meet up with his wife…if she really is alive. Dr. Beck got help from a gangster whose kid he had taken care of at the pediatricians office. After that there were so many twists and turns that you have to see it for yourself. I can’t even remember all of the twists in the plot of “Tell No One”!
The main theme of “Tell No One” is that faith will be rewarded, and to never give up.
“Tell No One” is another one that I will put on the thumbs up list. I really enjoyed this film. If the movie wasn’t in French, you wouldn’t have known it was a French film. I guess because the novel is from America, some of that carried over into the film. It just seemed like an “American style” film, but was probably done better than any American could have done. I thought that the acting in “Tell No One” was above average but not superb. The best part of this film is the twists and turns, which as good of a script as it was, in my opinion has to be credited to Harlan Coben, author of the original novel. I thought that the film was directed well, with the best scene being the chase throughout Paris between Dr. Beck and the French police. That was the only time a chase scene on foot has been that exciting. Another scene that stood out for me from my memory, is when Dr. Beck has pretty much given up on meeting his wife, when it finally hits him that it was just another clue, and figured out the password and username to the email/website. The password had to do with a U2 concert they attended while U2’s With Or Without You plays in the background. The other scene that stood out for me was the final scene, which without ruining the film, was very, VERY powerful, and almost forced me to tears. Overall, I HIGHLY recommend “Tell No One”. It is a very powerful, well done, and most important, entertaining film.
The main theme of “Tell No One” is that faith will be rewarded, and to never give up.
“Tell No One” is another one that I will put on the thumbs up list. I really enjoyed this film. If the movie wasn’t in French, you wouldn’t have known it was a French film. I guess because the novel is from America, some of that carried over into the film. It just seemed like an “American style” film, but was probably done better than any American could have done. I thought that the acting in “Tell No One” was above average but not superb. The best part of this film is the twists and turns, which as good of a script as it was, in my opinion has to be credited to Harlan Coben, author of the original novel. I thought that the film was directed well, with the best scene being the chase throughout Paris between Dr. Beck and the French police. That was the only time a chase scene on foot has been that exciting. Another scene that stood out for me from my memory, is when Dr. Beck has pretty much given up on meeting his wife, when it finally hits him that it was just another clue, and figured out the password and username to the email/website. The password had to do with a U2 concert they attended while U2’s With Or Without You plays in the background. The other scene that stood out for me was the final scene, which without ruining the film, was very, VERY powerful, and almost forced me to tears. Overall, I HIGHLY recommend “Tell No One”. It is a very powerful, well done, and most important, entertaining film.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
"Amelie" Film Diary
“Amelie” was filmed in 2001, and was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The title of the movie in France was “Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain”. “Amelie” is about Amelie (how appropriate) from Montmartre, Paris, France. Amelie’s father thinks that she has a heart condition because every time he would give her a check-up, her heart would start racing. Her heart was racing because she was excited because that is the only time her father would touch her. Amelie’s mother died when she was a young girl from a freak accident when someone jumped off of the Notre Dame Cathedral and landed on Amelie’s mother. When Amelie grows up, she becomes a waitress at a small café in Montmartre called “The Two Windmills” (I visited this when I was in Paris!). Amelie gave up on romantic relationships after several failed experiences in bed with men. Shortly after Princess Diana’s death, Amelie found a small metal box that was hidden beneath a tile in her bathroom. It appeared to be some ones childhood memory’s inside the box. Amelie decided to hunt down the person that the box belonged to. If he was happy and grateful, she would help other people, and if he wasn’t happy and grateful, too bad. When she finally did hunt down the man the box belonged to, at first he didn’t seem grateful, but after following him to a bar, she found out he indeed was grateful. Amelie then made the decision that she would spend the rest of her free time helping people. She helped her father, who she wanted to travel the world, by placing gnomes throughout the world, hoping he would start traveling the world. She helped two of her coworkers and friends by setting them up. She helps Nino by returning his book of photos, and later helps him by secretly setting him up to meet the man in all of his photos that he has collected from the photo machines, who ended up being the photo machine repairman. She also helps the man that worked at the vegetable stand, by getting revenge on his boss who treated him like garbage, and letting the man stand out. Amelie ends up falling in love with Nino, and set up several opportunities for him to meet her, but was too shy to go through with the meetings. They eventually got together, when Amelie’s friends decide to help her, and live a life in love, happily ever after.
The overall theme of “Amelie” was that if you do good things, and help people, good things will happen to you, and when you need help, your friends will be there to help you.
I absolutely loved this movie. It is hard to describe the way this movie was shot and the flow of this movie in words, but I will try (although I am sure I won’t do it justice). First of all, the movie is shot in a way that almost made it feel like a fairy tale. There were some very interesting special effects used in “Amelie”, although they weren’t necessarily used often, and definitely weren’t overused. The special effects, I believe were used to give it that fairy tale feel. I think that even describing “Amelie” as a modern day fairy tale would be appropriate, because the story structure is similar to a fairy tale. “Amelie” was a fun movie to watch, and flowed wonderfully. The movie went by very quickly, which after watching “The Piano Teacher” and “Blue” is a godsend. But “Amelie” felt like the kind of movie that I didn’t want to end. It really was a feel good movie. No one can say that “Amelie” was a rip-off of another film, because it was just filled with originality. For a movie that didn’t have a very deep storyline, it did a great job of tying together all of the characters and all of the storylines throughout the movie. There were no loose ends in this film.
The overall theme of “Amelie” was that if you do good things, and help people, good things will happen to you, and when you need help, your friends will be there to help you.
I absolutely loved this movie. It is hard to describe the way this movie was shot and the flow of this movie in words, but I will try (although I am sure I won’t do it justice). First of all, the movie is shot in a way that almost made it feel like a fairy tale. There were some very interesting special effects used in “Amelie”, although they weren’t necessarily used often, and definitely weren’t overused. The special effects, I believe were used to give it that fairy tale feel. I think that even describing “Amelie” as a modern day fairy tale would be appropriate, because the story structure is similar to a fairy tale. “Amelie” was a fun movie to watch, and flowed wonderfully. The movie went by very quickly, which after watching “The Piano Teacher” and “Blue” is a godsend. But “Amelie” felt like the kind of movie that I didn’t want to end. It really was a feel good movie. No one can say that “Amelie” was a rip-off of another film, because it was just filled with originality. For a movie that didn’t have a very deep storyline, it did a great job of tying together all of the characters and all of the storylines throughout the movie. There were no loose ends in this film.
"Blue" Film Diary
“Blue”, also known as “Trois couleurs: Bleu” in France was filmed in 1993 and was directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski . “Blue” is part of the “Three Colors Trilogy”. The colors of the three color trilogy are “Red”, “White”, and “Blue”. The film starts out when Julie gets in a car accident with her husband Patrice and her daughter in the car. Julie is the only one that survived the car accident. She wakes up in a hospital and attempts to commit suicide, but couldn’t go through with it. When she gets out of the hospital, she has Patrices friend Oliver go to Patrices office to clear out all of his personal belongings. Included in those personal belongings was what Patrice had written so far for his next big musical piece. The only thing Julie takes from all of her husbands things was these blue hanging beads. Olivier sleeps with Julie eventually, and strangely keeps the mattress. Oliver wanted to finish the musical piece, and Julie wanted to help him. She wanted to help him anonymously and he said that he wouldn’t let her help unless she took the credit. Oliver also brings up the fact that Patrice had a mistress who was a lawyer. She finds her and then finds out that she is pregnant with Patrices baby. Although somewhat upset to hear about the affair, she generously offers her the house that she moved out of.
There were several things worth noting about this movie. It was implied that Julie was the one who was writing all of her husbands music. Her husband Patrice was a world renowned conductor and music writer. The score that would play throughout the movie was Patrices unfinished masterpiece. The film at many times seemed to have a blue tint to it. This movie didn’t have a lot of dialogue in it. Krzysztof Kieslowski did an excellent job at letting many of his scenes speak for themselves. He did a phenomenal job of using non verbal communication. The lack of dialogue, however did make the film move slow. It didn’t move slow in the sense that I kept looking at the clock wondering when the film was going to end. It moved slow in the sense that it felt like for the most part, nothing really happened in the film. I do understand that “Blue” is an art film, but quite frankly I don’t watch a ton of art films, and maybe I just don’t “get” it. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate this film at all, I just feel like I didn’t always understand what was trying to be expressed in the film. It was by no means NEARLY as slow as “The Piano Teacher”. I also felt like the ending left too much of the story to be told. The whole film was focused around Patrices final masterpiece, and the credits started rolling and the story was left open ended and unfinished in my opinion. Visually, however, the film was beautiful. “Blue” had excellent cinematography and I think that this is why it got away with having such little dialogue. Overall, I definitely recommend watching this film and if you are a fan of art films or foreign films, you will love “Blue”.
There were several things worth noting about this movie. It was implied that Julie was the one who was writing all of her husbands music. Her husband Patrice was a world renowned conductor and music writer. The score that would play throughout the movie was Patrices unfinished masterpiece. The film at many times seemed to have a blue tint to it. This movie didn’t have a lot of dialogue in it. Krzysztof Kieslowski did an excellent job at letting many of his scenes speak for themselves. He did a phenomenal job of using non verbal communication. The lack of dialogue, however did make the film move slow. It didn’t move slow in the sense that I kept looking at the clock wondering when the film was going to end. It moved slow in the sense that it felt like for the most part, nothing really happened in the film. I do understand that “Blue” is an art film, but quite frankly I don’t watch a ton of art films, and maybe I just don’t “get” it. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate this film at all, I just feel like I didn’t always understand what was trying to be expressed in the film. It was by no means NEARLY as slow as “The Piano Teacher”. I also felt like the ending left too much of the story to be told. The whole film was focused around Patrices final masterpiece, and the credits started rolling and the story was left open ended and unfinished in my opinion. Visually, however, the film was beautiful. “Blue” had excellent cinematography and I think that this is why it got away with having such little dialogue. Overall, I definitely recommend watching this film and if you are a fan of art films or foreign films, you will love “Blue”.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
"La Femme Nikita" Film Diary
Summary
“La Femme Nikita”, is titled “Nikita” in France and was directed by Luc Besson, the same director that made one of my favorite films, “Leon: The Professional”. The film starts out when Nikita stays in the back of a van while her friends rob a convenience store owned by one of the friends. There is a shootout and everybody she was with dies. A cop comes up to her to see if she was okay and Nikita shoots the cop in the face. Nikita is sent to jail where she was causing even more trouble, and she was sentenced to life in prison by the judge. Next, Nikita is in a room, thinking she is getting a lethal injection. She wakes up and is in a plain white room with a man (Bob) sitting there waiting for her to wake up. When she wakes up she wasn’t sure where she was and thought she was in heaven. Bob explains that he works for the French government and that the French government had made everybody, including her friends and family think she was dead. Bob explained that if she would work for the French government as an assassin, she would be able to live, if not, she would die. Nikita thought about it and decided she would rather live rather than die and started her training. She trained for three years until Bob was told that she only had a couple of weeks left to become an agent. Bob took her out to dinner at a nice restaurant, which turned out to be a setup. He gave her a gun, wrapped up as a twenty-third birthday present and told her she had twelve bullets to kill several people and get out of the restaurant alive. He told her to leave the restaurant through a window in the bathroom. After she had killed whom she was supposed to, their bodyguards came running in after Nikita. When she got into the bathroom to escape, she found out that the window was boarded up with bricks and there was no way to escape. She went through the kitchen, and after a long gunfight, escaped through a garbage chute. When she got back to the agency, she found out that the assignment was a test to see if she was capable of being an agent or an assassin. She was told she would be called upon in six months for her first assignment. She found a place to live and was on her own. She met a man named Marco at the grocery store, which she fell in love with. Fast forward six months later and she was called upon her first assignment. She had to pretend she was part of room service at a hotel and deliver a tray of food to a room that was laced with explosives. Marco kept asking about her friends and family so she had Bob over to dinner and he pretended like he was her uncle. He gave them a trip to Italy and said it was for their engagement, however it was a setup for an assignment. Once they got there, she was given instructions to use a sniper rifle from the bathroom of their hotel room to murder someone. Her next assignment was to get some embassy documents from a man who was a powerful figure for another country. She drugged him and had found an imposter to pretend he was him. They called in another assassin to help, who ended up killing the imposter. She got his information and went to his office at the embassy to get the documents. Another gunfight broke out and the assassin that she called in to help was shot and later on died. The movie ended with Marco knowing that she was an agent for the French government. Marco was then talking to Bob, the agent that trained Nikita, and gave him all of the stuff he found of hers relating to her government work. The film ended with them sitting there talking, Bob saying how she stole embassy documents and there was nothing he could do to help her.
Main Issues Portrayed In Film
One of the main issues portrayed in the film is Nikita trying to find herself. When the film starts she was nineteen years old and was very irresponsible and immature. She essentially matured and grew up a lot longer than the three years she was in training. She went from being a tomboy and not caring about herself or her looks to becoming a beautiful woman. When she left the agency and was on her own, she was very confused. From what I could tell, she had never lived on her own before. When she went to the grocery store, she didn’t know what to buy. She followed another woman around and bought everything she bought. From what I could tell, Marco was her first boyfriend.
Reaction
Overall, I really enjoyed “La Femme Nikita”. Being an action junkie, I wish there was one or two more action scenes in the film. I thought the film was very well made, and as I said in the summary, I really enjoyed one of the directors other films, “Leon: The Professional”. I thought the script was written well, even subtle things like when three years past, they didn’t just tell you, they made you think about it by knowing she was turning twenty in a week and the next thing you know it was her twenty-third birthday. Some of the camera movement and directing was very good. I especially enjoyed some of the action scenes when the camera would be the bullet flying across the room. I also thought the acting was very good in the film. I was hoping for a better and less open-ended ending.
“La Femme Nikita”, is titled “Nikita” in France and was directed by Luc Besson, the same director that made one of my favorite films, “Leon: The Professional”. The film starts out when Nikita stays in the back of a van while her friends rob a convenience store owned by one of the friends. There is a shootout and everybody she was with dies. A cop comes up to her to see if she was okay and Nikita shoots the cop in the face. Nikita is sent to jail where she was causing even more trouble, and she was sentenced to life in prison by the judge. Next, Nikita is in a room, thinking she is getting a lethal injection. She wakes up and is in a plain white room with a man (Bob) sitting there waiting for her to wake up. When she wakes up she wasn’t sure where she was and thought she was in heaven. Bob explains that he works for the French government and that the French government had made everybody, including her friends and family think she was dead. Bob explained that if she would work for the French government as an assassin, she would be able to live, if not, she would die. Nikita thought about it and decided she would rather live rather than die and started her training. She trained for three years until Bob was told that she only had a couple of weeks left to become an agent. Bob took her out to dinner at a nice restaurant, which turned out to be a setup. He gave her a gun, wrapped up as a twenty-third birthday present and told her she had twelve bullets to kill several people and get out of the restaurant alive. He told her to leave the restaurant through a window in the bathroom. After she had killed whom she was supposed to, their bodyguards came running in after Nikita. When she got into the bathroom to escape, she found out that the window was boarded up with bricks and there was no way to escape. She went through the kitchen, and after a long gunfight, escaped through a garbage chute. When she got back to the agency, she found out that the assignment was a test to see if she was capable of being an agent or an assassin. She was told she would be called upon in six months for her first assignment. She found a place to live and was on her own. She met a man named Marco at the grocery store, which she fell in love with. Fast forward six months later and she was called upon her first assignment. She had to pretend she was part of room service at a hotel and deliver a tray of food to a room that was laced with explosives. Marco kept asking about her friends and family so she had Bob over to dinner and he pretended like he was her uncle. He gave them a trip to Italy and said it was for their engagement, however it was a setup for an assignment. Once they got there, she was given instructions to use a sniper rifle from the bathroom of their hotel room to murder someone. Her next assignment was to get some embassy documents from a man who was a powerful figure for another country. She drugged him and had found an imposter to pretend he was him. They called in another assassin to help, who ended up killing the imposter. She got his information and went to his office at the embassy to get the documents. Another gunfight broke out and the assassin that she called in to help was shot and later on died. The movie ended with Marco knowing that she was an agent for the French government. Marco was then talking to Bob, the agent that trained Nikita, and gave him all of the stuff he found of hers relating to her government work. The film ended with them sitting there talking, Bob saying how she stole embassy documents and there was nothing he could do to help her.
Main Issues Portrayed In Film
One of the main issues portrayed in the film is Nikita trying to find herself. When the film starts she was nineteen years old and was very irresponsible and immature. She essentially matured and grew up a lot longer than the three years she was in training. She went from being a tomboy and not caring about herself or her looks to becoming a beautiful woman. When she left the agency and was on her own, she was very confused. From what I could tell, she had never lived on her own before. When she went to the grocery store, she didn’t know what to buy. She followed another woman around and bought everything she bought. From what I could tell, Marco was her first boyfriend.
Reaction
Overall, I really enjoyed “La Femme Nikita”. Being an action junkie, I wish there was one or two more action scenes in the film. I thought the film was very well made, and as I said in the summary, I really enjoyed one of the directors other films, “Leon: The Professional”. I thought the script was written well, even subtle things like when three years past, they didn’t just tell you, they made you think about it by knowing she was turning twenty in a week and the next thing you know it was her twenty-third birthday. Some of the camera movement and directing was very good. I especially enjoyed some of the action scenes when the camera would be the bullet flying across the room. I also thought the acting was very good in the film. I was hoping for a better and less open-ended ending.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Lack of Updates
Sorry I haven't updated my blog much during my trip...I was so busy all the time. And by busy I mean drinking, playing poker, eating crappy Parisian food, eating good fast food, sleeping in a crappy hotel, and seeing the sights of Paris. Instead of doing a blog "diary" of my experiance in Paris, I am going to be updating my blog with the random thoughts, comments and experiences that I have had in the last week. Don't give up on my blog yet, and feel free to leave a comment.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Royale With Cheese - Pulp Fiction Scene
Thought this was Paris related so I figured I'd throw it up here
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Hotel Information???
Does anybody have our hotel information for the Paris trip? If so please post it as a comment or e-mail me at Dacoops3@gmail.com. I would at least like to look it up ahead of time and check out the location, etc.
What I want to see and do in Paris and more...
I am very excited to go to Paris. I have never left the country before, and never thought I would be going to Paris. There are many things I am excited about. I of course want to see all of the sights, most of which, hopefully we will be seeing on the tour. Of all of the sights in Paris, the top place I want to go to is the Eiffel Tower. I know it sounds stupid, but I don't know much about Europe or Paris and that seems to be the top landmark for Paris. I also want to see the Louvre, since it is supposed to be an amazing art museum, and I believe houses the Mona Lisa. Other things I am excited about doing in Paris is going to Disneyland Paris, and going to one of the poker clubs in Paris. I am curious about whether or not I will like the food in Paris because I am a picky eater. I don't speak one word of French either. I am a little bit worried about getting lost in Paris, but I'm sure I will be fine.
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