DanTheCineManiac’s blog

            I cannot believe Hero turned out to be one of the best action movies I have ever seen!  I thought the Matrix Trilogy did a fantastic job with their fight scenes and they don’t even compare to the ones in this movie.  I don’t know much about martial arts but the way in which the characters moved and the way it was presented was so creative.  Fighting on the water, protecting the calligraphers from arrows, and slicing all the scrolls and still catching the cup of water were all very memorable and astonishing scenes.

            If the action scenes could be topped by only one thing it would be the story’s plot line.  At first the audience is presented with the Nameless man who appears to want to ensure the Emperor’s safety by killing three of his most treacherous assassins.  However, after Nameless tells the story the Emperor knows that the story has to be false because he was almost assassinated by one of them and knows they are not weak minded.  Once the Emperor realizes the truth he knows that Nameless has a move that is unable to be countered and will surely kill him.  However, Nameless cannot go through with the murder because he believes in what the Emperor is trying to achieve.  This shifty plot had me intrigued the whole time.

            After the movie finished I thought a lot about what the film tried to express about revenge and the greater good.  Surely all of the assassins could have killed the emperor together, but what would have their revenge have meant.  The side they were fighting for did not have any hope at uniting the country.  As a result of this Emperor’s death the wars would have kept raging on and more people would die.  Alternatively, if the assassins quit their endeavor then the country would eventually be unified.  More people would die but hopefully it would be far less than if the wars continued for hundreds of years.  I agree with Nameless being honored as a Hero for making a sacrifice like his, is one to be honored, even if he’s their enemy. 

           Not One Less is a confusing film in the sense of its purpose.  I never really understood the plot enough to follow the movie.  I understood that a very young girl comes to teach several students in hopes to get 50 yen for her efforts.  However, she will only receive this money if she doesn’t lose a single student.  Of course being the terrible teacher that she is, she loses more than one student.  Yet, losing students is the only real thing that inspires her to actually teach.  With the troublesome student missing she quizzes the class on math knowledge that enables them to decide on their actions.

I feel like this movie has far more local aspects then global aspects.  Never before had a seen such a place that would treasure items such as chalk or paper.  In the United States such amenities are customary and we often take them for granted.  Without a simple thin like chalk the teacher would have no way of conveying the lesson.  Furthermore the structure of school is not the same.  Clearly from viewing the film each grade level is largely accountable for the same material.  I’m not sure how everyone stays on the same page but I know as a student it would be extremely difficult.

The final item I would like to discuss concerning this film was when the little boy was asked what he’d taken from his experience in the city and he responded, “I’ll never forget having to beg for food.”  If there is anything anyone takes away from the movie I believe it would be that point.  Begging for food is the lowest one can possibly get on the social ladder. This occurring to the ‘wise guy’ in class provides a perfect example of how one always needs to reevaluate their situation and realize that they’re lucky to be where they are.  The valuable lesson the little boy gained is far more important that any information he could have possibly learned in class.

            Swades was full of many global and local aspects.  If you were a native Indian you could definitely relate to the setting.  India is an overpopulated country that doesn’t have the necessary infrastructure to support such a large population.  As a result many do not have the modern day amenities.  Food itself is hard to come by, let alone electricity.  Mohan takes it upon himself to right several of these wrongs.  He works to get more children educated and brings electricity to the city.  His motto is really ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’. 

            Global aspects are clearly presented with the contradiction between Mohan’s American life and Indian life.  Often American’s take many things for granted and it’s often hard to realize there are still people living in a completely different world.  An example of this is how the post master doesn’t even understand the concepts of the internet.  Sheltered far away from civilization, I feel like these people become too detached from society and their failure to keep up only digs them a bigger hole.  A man who was once a weaver could no longer weave because he has been made inefficient compared to a machine.  Another point that the movie made that frustrated me was how the wise men of the village questioned what America has to fall back on since Indians have their culture and traditions.  After hearing this I immediately thought of a conversation from The Good Shepherd:

Joseph Palmi: Let me ask you something... we Italians, we got our families, and we got the church; the Irish, they have the homeland, Jews their tradition; even the niggers, they got their music. What about you people, Mr. Wilson, what do you have?
Edward Wilson: The United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting.     

I always thought that was a clever statement and that’s probably how I’d respond to those village elders.  I know culture and tradition are important to Indians but like Mohan says in the movie, at times it holds people back from real progress.

            Lastly, I’d like to discuss how real the film was.  I honestly find it extremely hard to believe that Mohan could just drop everything.  What will he do for money?  The only way he could even pay for the electricity unit was spending money out of his own pocket.  I’m sure that money will dry up and then what good will he do?  One can’t just drop everything and go.  He has a house, a car, insurance, bills, etc.  No sensible person would ever do this.

             Within the first few minutes of Monsoon Wedding, I thought I was back in my Calculus II class because I could barely understand the characters’ English through their thick Indian accents.  I don’t want to say I learned a lot about Indian culture from the movie because I don’t feel like Indian culture is too far from home.  Being at Tech I’m exposed to a lot of different people, including people of Indian dissent and so I’ve already been mildly exposed to their culture but this movie opened my eyes to things I never really thought about before. 

            Personally, I look at India as a third world nation and the fact that the United States has begun outsourcing there, bringing with it American ways, customs, and other standards of living, I always thought would be welcomed.  However, during Monsoon Wedding one could easily see that Indians are very proud people that hold onto their culture strongly.  The talk-show debate discussed whether or not certain aspects of television should be censored in order to prevent a degrading of morals in India.  To me the whole discussion was crazy.  It’s a person’s choice whether or not to watch a program.  Sure certain stations can be restricted to young children but everyone deserves the freedom to choose.  Censoring or outright rejecting American culture in order to preserve their own seems bizarre to me.

            Another bias I have towards Indians is that I’ve always thought their music was absolutely, by far, the most terrible sounding noise that has ever existed.  I just never understood how they put up with it.  It sounds so ridiculous to me.  But now after seeing this movie and seeing how music is so entwined in their culture, I guess I understand why they like it.  Seeing the subtitles to the songs also helped a lot too because obviously to a foreigner it all just sounds like weird noises.  I guess you could say I’m more tolerant of their music now, but I still don’t like it.  

            Crook brother is killed; dogfighter brother kills friend and is heartbroken; cheating father leaves from family for a hot model who loses her leg; daughter gets money under her pillow instead of a dad; two brothers fight over a gun to kill the other.  Did I miss anything? To say the least Amores Perros is an interesting movie.  The entangled plot that doesn’t follow a chronological timeline is clever in the fact that all the main characters are connected by a car crash.  However, what have I gained from watching this film?  Maybe the only moral to be derived is that money, greed, and selfishness corrupts all.

            I had trouble connecting with the film.  I think it would be hard for any America to see themselves in any of these situations.  Dog fighting is taboo in our culture, you can’t easily rob a convenience store, and you don’t normally see too many hit men.  Other than cheating, I don’t think this film has many global aspects for an audience to connect to. 

            I don’t desire to be labeled as the MTV generation that can’t appreciate a good film lasting more than two hours, but this film is too long for reasons other than my attention span alone.  For the type of film this is, one with intertwined stories, it’s absolutely necessary for the directors and editors to not deviate from the overall plotline.  All too often I found myself watching scenes that were exaggerated and prolonged unnecessarily.  Looking for the dog is a great example.  The dog under the floorboard took up almost fifteen minutes of screen time.  It’s not that my attention span is too short it’s putting ridiculous scenes like these into the movie. Dog lost. Dog evades. Dog saved.

            The low budget film, Run Lola Run is featured as a defining cinematic moment for German cinema.  Never before had a German film challenged Hollywood in the box offices.  The non-linear narrative elements and fast pace, exciting style mimics that of Hollywood, but takes on a personality of its own, unique to the German cinema.  The audience is conjured to believe that life has the ability of being distorted and adjusted.  There are an endless amount of possibilities.  This romantic notion makes an interesting commentary for a country that has continuing social divisions and historical assumptions.  The local aspects of Run Lola Run are evident in the film as Lola encounters all walks of life in a city that has an immense historical significance and for a country still seeking it’s identify.

            In order to understand the local aspects of Run Lola Run, one must look to Germany’s history in order to get a broad look at where the country has come from and the direction in which it is going.  Germany, once a world superpower, fell from first world status after the allied defeat of the nation following World War II.  The capital city of Berlin was divided into sectors, the most notorious being the division between the east and the west controlled by Russia and the allied powers, respectively.  Each country, responsible for the rebuilding of their sector, had the ability to choose their own approach of reconstruction.  The allied powers instituted a system of capitalism while Russia remained steadfast in their communist ideals.  The system of capitalism took off, while communism crippled the eastern half of Berlin.  Once the wall was torn down in 1989, Germany had to re-incorporate the impoverished east with the thriving west, a complicated economic and social shift still relevant in German culture.

            For a film to make such an enormous impact on the prestige of the German film industry, it is important to not only note what is evident but also what is missing.  The setting of the film is, in large part, the streets of Berlin.  However, despite this historically rich city, not once was an icon of Germany filmed. “There are no images, static or flashing, of the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Gedächtniskirche, or the Potsdamer Platz” (Koepnick).  It doesn’t raise questions about the difficulties in the reunification effort such as the displacement of people, unemployment, and poverty.  Tykwer, the director, leaves out these significant aspects leaving one to conclude that he did not wish to focus on the “many layers of problematic German history”(Peary).

            One of the major themes of Run Lola Run is that the viewer is cautioned when believing what they see.  This complements the ambiguity of the Berlin setting Tykwer employs.  The economic and political upheavals that occurred when Berlin was reunited carried with it social implications that Tykwer may not have wanted to put on screen.  Already Germany is judged based on historical assumptions and media representation.  As a result, parallel to the plot of the movie, Tykwer transforms Berlin into a place where anything can happen.  In the film, Lola alters the direction of her life in order to help her boyfriend Manni.  Similarly, Tykwer creates a city devoid of the crime and poverty where Berlin itself is almost perceived as an illusion.

            The opening scene provides a metaphor for the city of Berlin from the perspective of Lola.  The camera wonders in and out of the crowd of “faceless men and women, occasionally picking out individuals whose paths Lola will cross during her three races against the clock” (Lauer).  The whole time the people are silent and the only difference that distinguishes them from the ‘anonymous mass’ was their brief encounter with Lola.  Later in the film, streets are mysteriously empty and the buildings are unoriginal and uniform.  “For [Lola], as the security guard suggests, the city is the space in which she must play a game, the prize taking precedence over engagement with the individuals she meets during her race”(Clarke).

            Henri Lefebvre in his 1974 study entitled The Production of Space suggests, “the fragmentation of the urban environment can be attributed to the workings of the capitalist system”(Lefebvre).  He argues that the capitalist system is constructed in a way where everything is fuctunalized, so that each space can become an interchangeable piece in a global system.  This relates to Lola because she seems to have a capitalist attitude of space: 

“First, she has a clear financial goal; second, she links together spaces which would otherwise remain incoherent in order to reach that goal; finally, each of the locations she passes through is an interchangeable element which she instrumentalists in order to achieve her aim” (Clarke). 

To Lola each place in the city is a different part of the puzzle.  In the final run she doesn’t succeed by running faster but succeeds by adding a new destination, the casino.   She is molding her own world.   

            Not only does the film encompass these local aspects but every character involved in the film seems to represent an individual social niche.  In a male dominated society, portraying Lola as the dominant character offers an interesting perspective.  Lola is decisive, immediately wanting to take action when Manni calls upon her looking for her help.  In her journey she encounters a sharp-tongued housewife, a homeless person, the youth with his stolen bicycle, and the business man Mr. Meier in his expensive car.  Tykwer adds depth to the movie when he shows the five still framed snap shots of their future which change in each story depending upon minor differences in the circumstances of their encounters with Lola. 

            Although some of the alternate realities depicted individuals winning fortunes, getting married, or having a religious rebirth, there were several occasions where the alternate reality portrayed actual realities in the German culture.  One such instance occurred with the housewife.  Living in abject poverty social workers came and took her baby away, leaving her to go on and steal back a baby that wasn’t her own.  This horrible reality was an all too familiar occurrence in the early years of the reunification.  With the relatively modern west trying to incorporate the impoverished east, certain social values and practices that had not developed in the east were thrust upon the people living there.  Social welfare was one of the practices put into effect to hopefully raise the quality of life.  Although it was effective, it had its victims.  Another example was the adolescent who stole the bike.  Due to the “division between social classes that existed in Berlin crime rates skyrocketed with the destruction of the wall”(Bergen-Aurand).  With such a high rate of unemployment with half the city no longer living under communism, people were left to resort to thievery.  All of these social implications may go unnoticed by a foreigner watching the film but these images remain largely relevant in German culture.

            Lola was placed in socially unfamiliar positions that suggest the bias of society in general.  Finding Lola, a middle class woman assisting in a supermarket robbery and a bank robbery “challenges the stereotypes about who commit crimes and why”(Langdon).  Furthermore the police that respond to the supermarket and bank robberies mismanage both of them.  In the supermarket robbery, Lola is accidentally shot when she makes a sudden movement to throw the bag of money into the air.  She was also scurried away from the scene because the police did not suspect a middle class woman to be robbing the bank.  This makes an important comment on German culture, that all too often the criminals are people that one would never suspect.

            The moviegoer has the ability to see a little into German history and the development of its film industry by viewing the local aspects in Run Lola Run.  Successful films are ones that people can connect to.  Run Lola Run attributes much of its success in Germany through its ability to resonate in the minds of the people there.  Its uncharacteristic excitement doesn’t hurt either.  Emerging from a tarnished past, the future of German cinema looks bright.

Works Cited

Bergen-Aurand, Brian. “RUN LOLA RUN (LOLA RENNT).” Radical Teacher 2005: p42-43.
               EBSCOhost. Academic Search Complete. Georgia Tech Library, Atlanta, Georgia. 29
               February 2008.

<http://www.library.gatech.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=19644340&site=ehost-live >.

Clarke, David. German Cinema: Since Unification. New York: Continuum International

               Publishing Group, 2006.

Koepnick, Lutz. “Free Fallin’: Tom Tykwer and the Aesthetic of Deceleration and Dislocation.”

Germanic Review 2007: p7-24. EBSCOhost. Academic Search Complete. Georgia Tech Library, Atlanta, Georgia.. 29 February 2008.

<http://www.library.gatech.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=24944410&site=ehost-live>.

Langdon, Matt. “rev. of Run Lola Run.” IF MAGAZINE. 18 June 1999. 29 February 2008.
            <http://ifmagazine.ifctv.com/reviews/review.asp?reviewID=117>.

Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1991.

Lauer, A. Robert. “Run Lola Run at the dawn of postmodernity.” Simile Feb 2003: Vol. 3 Issue

1. EBSCOhost. Academic Search Complete. Georgia Tech Library, Atlanta, Georgia.. 29 February 2008. <http://www.library.gatech.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=10358329&site=ehost-live>.

Peary, Gerald. “rev. of Run Lola Run, dir. Tom Tykwer.” Boston Phoenix Online. 5 July 1999.  29 February 2008. <http://weeklywire.com/filmvault/boston/r/runlolarun1.html>.

            The Wind Will Carry Us was a stylistically interesting film for me.  Since I’m obviously use to Hollywood films where the plot is squeezed into a 120 minute time slot, action and dialog is typically fast paced.  Even though the plot moved at a slow place, I enjoyed having the time to gaze off into the background of the shot and admire the serene scenery.  This wide camera angle may have had a more local impact, allowing a native viewer to see the beauty of their own country and connect better with it.  Although, it’s interesting to note that the people in this village probably wouldn’t be the ones seeing this movie.

            An interesting element to this film was the battle between good and evil, right and wrong.  Throughout the movie ‘the engineer’ battles with whether waiting for a woman to die and take advantage of her funeral was a morally correct thing to do.  He asks the child, put in the place of innocence, to judge him.  Even though the child says he is good, the engineer continues to exploit the village to finalize his report.  Examples of his deviousness include tipping the turtle on its back and also leaving the man buried alive instead of immediately helping him. 

            The boy had two wishes: to do well in school and for the old woman to get better.  Since the engineer was hoping for the old woman to die, I noticed that he made an effort to help the boy to better in school.  At one point, he unnecessarily called the boy out of class to apologize and then ask him if there are any questions he did not know.  I felt like all of this showed that his conscience was getting to him.

            Lastly, I didn’t really feel satisfied with the ending.  I was upset that the engineer didn’t have a morally awakening moment in a place surrounded by God’s beauty.  I assumed that his questioning of right and wrong would lead him down the right path.  However, in the end he caved to greed and desire capturing the sacred funeral ritual.   

            No Man’s Land wasn’t the most entertaining film, taking place in a trench caught in between the Bosnian and Serbian trenches, but it makes an interesting comment on the role in which media plays in war.  When the Bosnian solder, Ciki and the Siberian soldier, Nino first come into contact they argue about not only who started the war but the manner in which each side was fighting.  Each accused the other of horrible atrocities that the other knew nothing about, nor had ever witnessed.  I attribute the misunderstandings to propaganda.  An example of this that occurs in the movie was when Nino was asked by Jane Livingston whether he was the one who placed the mine under the man.  Having no prior background of the situation, if he had answered the question truthfully anyone especially a Bosnian watching the program would be enraged by the seemingly dastardly act.  However, it’s not entirely the Bosnian’s fault.  It’s the nature of war and the ultimate goal of any war is to defeat the other side.  I don’t believe that these negative aspects of war, broadcasted to millions, will help relieve any tension.  Right before he dies, Ciki asks, “Does our misery pay well,” to the reporters and I believe this summarizes the negative side of media during war.

            Although the media does have these negatives, it does have some redeeming qualities.  During the film there was a reluctance to act on the part of the UN.  It was the first time that both sides agreed on anything and what was the response of the head UN official but to tell them that the other side would not agree to a cease fire.  The news reporters were able to influence the situation so that some action would occur. 

            Overall, I think the message of this film is that war is never really the answer to anything.  Nothing gets solved and situations are only made worse.  If the two sides sat down and talked to each other directly without the help of a third party, there would be no miscommunication and maybe terms could be met.      

                Underground was an intriguing film in the way it approached the complexity and destructiveness of war.  After being occupied by the Germans, Blacky and Marco team up as arms dealers for the Yugoslavian repels who resist the occupation.  Throughout this period of time the movie is satirically funny almost masking the reality and severity of the situation both Blacky and Marco were in.  When the war was targeted against a foreign aggressor it was easy to make the call between the good guys and the bad guys.  However, as I will discuss, this line becomes harder to define later on in the movie.

            In the beginning of the film, Blacky and Marco always seemed to be fighting for their country of Yugoslavia, however, once Germany leaves the country, the reaction Marco should have had was to tell Blacky that their efforts had been successful.  Regardless if Marco’s motivation behind keeping his best friend in the dark (literally), was the lust for the actress or the greed of making a profit, his reason to sell arms was no longer in the interest of Yugoslavia, but his own selfish intentions.

            Once Tito falls from power, the semi-antonymous divisions of Yugoslavia fight for control of the country and as a result Yugoslavia collapses in on itself.  One of the most poignantly delivered lines that I believe summarizes civil war in general was made by Marco when he remarked, crippled after being beaten with a cane, “A war is not a war, until a brother kills his brother.”  Using this comment as an example, I would say that the overall message of the film is a global one.  You do not need to be a Yugoslavian to understand the theme of the destructiveness of civil war and how it tears the country apart turning countrymen against countrymen, brother against brother.  The saddest part of any war is seeing the innocent youth fall victim to it.     

My Sassy Girl was a difficult movie for me to sit through but, upon its conclusion, it left me with a feeling of satisfaction.  The best part about this film was the characters.  A reoccurring theme was that the girl, whose name was never given in the movie, was never Gyun-woo’s type, yet he felt himself attracted to her.  She couldn’t have been more perfectly wrong for any man.  She did things like ask him what he wanted to eat and then re-order for him saying that it wasn’t healthy.  Another instance of her being too overbearing was how she always ordered Gyun-who to do something and finished with ‘you’re dead’, if you don’t.  Although all of this was over the top and dramatic, it was amazing to see Gyun-who appreciate all her little quirks and love her anyway.

One particular item that I appreciated in the film was the fact that no matter what happened; neither of the main characters was affectionate with one another.  If this film was produced in the United States there would have had to have been moments when the two characters shared a dramatic kiss.  Instances of where this dramatic kiss should have occurred when she found him in the subway or during the last scene when the two become reunited.  However, it was nice not to see the two of them making-out because for some reason when they both held hands at the very end, secretly under the table, it said it all. 

The only other movie to surprise me in the end like this was The Sixth Sense.  My Sassy Girl was so drawn out and dynamic, with all the little quarrels going on that the whole time, I neglected that his aunt wanted to introduce him to a girl.  It seemed so insignificant at the time and yet in the end, I felt a wave of relief knowing that the writer of the movie couldn’t have ended the film any better.  Due to the awesome ending to this movie, I’d actually recommend people see this movie.