Rabies Log

Title 'Rabies' being an obvious nod to the
infectious nature of violence throughout.

 Israel, for the most part, I can fairly confidently say is not particularly well known for its burgeoning cinematic community - some would argue that there are far more important matters at hand in Israel than developing this community, though I think it's fair to say that any and all works produced in this turbulent period in their history will be in one way or another a reflection on the state of the nation.

It is somewhat intriguing then, to find that 2011's Israeli helmed 'Rabies' is their first ever recognised horror, with nary a mention of the ongoing war but rather a strongly characterised Pathological look on the modern Israeli. Indeed, I believe that 'Rabies' shows a form of an Israeli cultural articulation of their collective neurosis, as fear, deception and anger all stem from the characters' collective desire to have sex and maintain a sexual relationship. Throughout the film, every characters motivation revolves around sex in its most simple form: two male best friends turn on each other after they discover they're both involved with the same woman, a couple embroiled in a seemingly unrequited incestuous love have an unexplained crazed madman in pursuit, sexual advances from a questionable police officer upon an innocent woman results in him being threatened and ultimately murdered at the hands of her jealous and protective homosexual partner - the list could extend to each and every other character too. 

It's been reported that a punch from an Israeli
man can do up to 6 times the
 damage that of the average UK male.

This all leads to an incredibly Freudian depiction that every character, perhaps ourselves too, bases their decisions solely on sexual grounds, thus revealing their most base level of humanity, their id if you will, as sex and aggression become one and the same - the sexual inclinations of the characters lead to their grim deaths, conducted by those envious of the sexual desires, fulfilled or otherwise. 

His uncontrollable itchy back
was getting somewhat out of hand.

Certainly, the films ideologies go hand in hand with this concept of innate sexuality. A common horror concept is that of the 'other', something with a difference and danger which makes us uncomfortable, and the subsequent elimination of it. Indeed, the 'other' is Rabies is without a doubt this sexual anxiety, ultimately leading to their destruction. 

An alternative view to this is that the deception and betrayal throughout is the personification of the Israeli peoples legitimate fears over their countries well being, and indeed their own too, during their time of war and unrest. Rabies certainly has more to it than simply being 'Israel's first horror film', undoubtedly digging deep into the human psyche and perhaps more specifically, an Israeli psyche. 

A Separation

Critical acclaim, for all the right reasons.

The primary theme of 2011's Iranian drama 'A Separation' is that of misery and strife at the hands of loved ones during difficult times, in particular divorce and its subsequent effects. Despite its unabashedly Iranian origin and production, it's appeal remains universal, with it perhaps being even more relevant to a western audience as I think it's fair to say that divorce is an inherent part of our culture compared to others.

Indeed, the separating couples young daughter is indirectly highlighted as the crux of the film, with every question asked and decision made with her in mind which prompts us to strongly relate and sympathise with the couple displaying a true sense of devotion to their child., which is an essentially universal human trait. In addition to our empathy with their daughter, the husband's unwell elderly Father provides an added frustration as his helplessness leads to many unfortunate situations, clearly putting the family in difficulty throughout the film. 

Family man.

Despite this, the family's refusal to give up on each other reflects a strong image of family life in Iran, that it is very hospitable and caring from beginning to end. However, this film could not have been distributed without the Iranian government's approval , which one can't help but feel as though this regulated the film's depiction of a disparagingly poor family life and thus regulated it somewhat. As opposed to this of course is the fact that the film's authenticity seems unmistakeable - it's entirely Iranian production, funding and setting is unavoidable, so it could be said that the display of devout kindness to family and their kin is an important role in Iranian life.

Another feature of Iranian life that runs concurrently with family in the film is that of class and religion. The recently employed female carer of the elderly man, later embroiled in a legal dispute with the family over an alleged attack, is forced to take the job for economical reasons as her noticeably lower class background, especially when compared to the main family,  demonstrates just how she needs the money. She is at great pains to do this work though, as she frequently seeks advice as to whether or not her work is a "sin" in relation to her strong Islamic faith. 

Opening of the film at a divorce court hearing.

This feels like a critical look at the Islamic faith and its theocracy over Iran, as she suffers over deciding what is the right thing to do, although later in the film when offered enough money to settle her and her husbands financial woes, she rejects it as she is unsure of whether or not she'd, again, be committing a sin due to the ambiguity of some facts on her behalf. 

These religious choices seem as though they don't always satisfy and adhere to your own personal needs, but ultimately drives you to execute the correct moral decision, thus painting the Islamic faith in an apparent positive light. This even sided look at the practicalities of religion provides us with a uniquely thought provoking state of mind, which I firmly see as the essential skill required in a top class director/writer.

Blue Velvet Log

I'd argue that David Lynch is the very
definition of an auteur.

i think it's fair to say that David Lynch's 1986 Blue Velvet is nothing short of a master class in surrealism. rife with symbolic imagery and suggestive shots. wrapped up in his typical 'Lynchian' perspective. 

The most prolific of these ideas is certainly that beneath a perceived idyllic society, such as "Lumberton", the one shown in Blue Velvet, sinful activities involving lust, crime and causing harm to others are ever present in every habitual ecosystem and perhaps are necessary for the surface dwelling, porcelain-like 'civilised' society function.

Blueeeeee Veleveeeet!

 This 'Wholesome America' is immediately sprung upon as the film begins, with an opening shot comprised of a serene deep blue sky, a flawlessly white picket fence and several high growing vibrant red roses. This intense 'red, white and blue' image beginning prepares us for an inevitable critique of America and American culture by Lynch, making the target and subject of his film very clear. 

As well as this, the man-made manufactured intended beauty of the picket fence backdrop against the wild and free natural beauty of the red roses shows an apparent dichotomy of our vision of American beauty: the perfectly symmetrical uniformity of the picket fence is almost stiflingly sickening when viewed beside the unpredictable and wonderful natural beauty in the roses, thus potentially demonstrating a view of Lynch's that man made creations can never match nor better natural creations, demonstrating man's inferiority to nature and natural forces, going back to the previous statement of the necessity of sinful activities - we are unable to resist.

The characters of Frank and Dorothy are something
I'll definitely return to analyse.

Another strong image shown very early on in the film is that of an incredibly close up shot of black, writhing insects underground. This is shown after several introduction shots of the slow, polite town and is seemingly used as a symbol for the unavoidable grimy, underworld of this, and every other, town. This also adds a sense of inevitable doom to the film, demonstrating to us that this "grimy underworld" will be encountered during the movie and could perhaps be extended into a metaphor for the fact that no matter where you live or were raised, you will encounter this world at one point or another.

Blue Velvet is a film I'll without a shadow of a doubt come back to explore, having barely scratched the surface in this log. 

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai Log

Love. Honour. Revenge.

Anyone would expect that a Miike Takashi directed feature, auteur of such outlandishly violent works as Ichi the Killer, remaking a 1962 film of the same name famed for its brutal depiction of Harakiri (an act of suicide via slicing open the stomach in order to regain honour for yourself, family and clan) and a subsequent revenge plot would contain copious amounts of the blood and guts he is oh so fond of in his films.

Chibiwa's 'suicide bluff' led to his self impaling
with this bamboo stick.

However, it appears the film is used as a genuine retreat from his more common practice of film making as he deviates somewhat into the highly staged Jidaigeki (period drama), with historical features and melodrama in abundance. Little violence is actually used throughout the film, thus allowing it to retain its potential shock and intensity value for when it does occur; the self committing act of harakiri upon Eita's character, Chibiwa Motome, by use of a replica bamboo sword was largely successful on its bid to make us uncomfortable and horrified by the act. So much so in fact, that a person wa reduced to passing out at the screening I attended. Without a doubt, this shows an increased awareness on Takashi's behalf of the tact which much be used in handling in violence and just how to keep it effective in creating the desired atmosphere, making for an overall more mature film and director. 

Hanshiro exacting revenge.

In contrast however, this maturity comes at a cost, as Takashi insists on developing unneccesary long, verbose character backgrounds in what could be displayed in minutes whilst still holding on to the emotional investment. Although this does raise the idea that Takashi's prior films perhpas weren't constructed constructed with excess violence in mind, but just the excess itself. Indeed, excess violence was replaced with emotional excess - Chibiwa's wife rocking back and forth holding her freshly deceased baby, Chibiwa's severed head and accompanying body arriving by courier to the house and a subsequent rage of vengeance by his Father in Law over extreme displays of violence certainly provides evidence for this theory of "excess".

51st State Log

Despite any negative reviews you may read
on The 51st State, it holds a dire metascore of 23,
Samuel L Jackson in a kilt still remains an
excellent reason to watch it.

 51st State, or Formula 51 as it's known to our touchy transatlantic cousins, the 2001 Ronnie Yu action-comedy starring Samuel L Jackson and Robert Carlyle is an odd film in the way that it is the product of so many nationalities and cultural heritages - Canadian financed, mostly shot in Britain using British actors and Yu originating from Hong Kong combines to create a truly multi-national film, in perhaps the least artistic sense of the word.

 The title I feel is a direct reference to Britain's intimate relationship with the USA as their almost goofy, younger sibling which is demonstrated in the way the film is shot and edited during the opening LA sequence, with it's glossy tint and smooth cuts, in comparison with the rest of the film which frequently uses jaunty camera angles, quick camera movement and abrupt cuts, much akin to the likes of other current British crime films, such as Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This is also reflected in the two main characters, with Samuel L Jackson acting as the mostly serious, archetypical American Gangster with high ambitions seen in countless Hollywood films and Robert Carlyle assuming the role of the painfully outspoken, daft but trustworthy wannabe British hard man.

Unfortunately, shades and goatee or not,
it still remains physically impossible
to look as cool as SLJ.

 The film is mostly comprised of throwaway gags and ineffectual plot thickeners, however, both the prologue and epilogue to the film throw in an otherwise unused element during the remainder of the film of race and the issue of racism. The film begins with Jackson's character being pulled over by a white police officer on the day of his graduation for reasons unstated (though he is seen smoking a joint) and although pleads are made for his criminal record to remain clean, the police officer retorts with "it's not the 60's any more" and thus Jackson is then shown to have been somewhat forced into a life of drug creation and therefore criminal activity.This almost legitimises his turn to crime and could perhaps symbolise the notion that although a black men can live successfully and be on their way to becoming something respectful, shown in the character's recent graduation, white men always manage to bring them back down to what perhaps many white people see as their primary occupation: crime.

He also comes in hats!

The film's ending, on the flip side of it's beginning, shows Jackson purchasing the castle of his  British ancestor's slave masters, thus his surname being McElroy despite his clear lack of British heritage. The final shot shows a fully naked Jackson walking towards his new castle, showing a brazen defiance to any racial boundaries and an overcoming of his race's subjugation to inferiority, overthrowing the previous hierarchical system, symbolised even further in the fact that his butler is white.

Cultural identity is a topic riddled throughout 51st State, perhaps due to it's multi-cultural production. However, that is the only practical theme I can ascertain from the film, though I appreciated it's British sensibilities and even more so it's British sense of humour.

A Dangerous Method Log

Knightley displaying a deceivingly
calm exterior. The first 30 seconds of the
film have her violently kicking
and screaming.

On the surface, A Dangerous Method would appear to be a stifling departure for David Cronenberg, seeing as there is nothing particularly surreal nor horrifying  on the surface of the film - a previous trademark of Cronenberg's, seen in his films Videodrome, Crash, Eastern Promises and most others.

Rather unusual then, that his 2011 produce is a period drama concerning the works and lives of Carl Jung, portrayed with a disconcerting lack of emotion by Michael Fassbender, his patient-turned-mistress  Sabina Spierlein, Kiera Knightley more than compensating for Fassbender's stiff performance as she contorts and gyrates every limb and facial feature on her road to recovery from the the then fledgling trend of hysteria in women, and Sigmund Freud, the upright, bourgeois scholar with near frightening psychoanalytical ideas on life's mysteries played by Viggo Mortensen.

Freud and Jung presumably swapping
facial hair grooming techniques.

Upon watching the film however, it increasingly became more and more evident that this was a Cronenberg feature, with his infamous 'body horror' concept appearing throughout: Knightley's character Spierlein frequently shows physical malfunctions, her jaw protruding and retracting in hesitation to prevent an outward flow of guilt, as she struggles to cope with her inner afflictions. Jung too, as he descends into a predominantly dominating sexual relationship with Spierlein, perhaps to avert his anguish at being held as second best behind Freud's leading, Father-like figure and retain some dominance in his life.

This concept of body horror, particularly in A Dangerous Metho, was reaffirmed by Cronenberg in a post-release interview with Sight and Sound, printed in their March 2012 issue, in which he states "The way a mental state manifests itself in a body has always been of interest to me. To me there is no separation between them." This therefore provides somewhat conclusive evidence,  however contrived and flexible, that A Dangerous Method is not so much as a significant change in direction for Cronenberg, but rather a change in set and scene.

Grotesque imagery needn't always be present for a Cronenberg film to to thrive on character development and physical manifestations of the mind. I'm looking at you, exploding scene (Scanners).

Headhunters Log

It's also worth noting that Headhunters is
the highest grossing film in Norway
of all time. Hollywood or not, this type
of film making is undoubtedly enjoyed
by the masses.

 

High octane thrillers, typically containing the usual ensemble of BMW's, bombs and boobs, I would say are widely regarded to be a predominantly Hollywood trademark. Therefore it comes of no surprise that 2011's Norwegian produced Headhunters, containing each and everyone of the aforementioned thriller features, already has a Hollywood remake in production.

The film was originally derived from Jo Nesbo's novel of the same name and origin, following the recent influx of Scandinavian/Baltic contemporary entertainment to the west (The Girl with the dragon Tattoo, Wallander etc.), so of course the Norwegian adaptation of a Norwegian novel immediately carries a sense of authenticity about it.

However, director Morten Tyldum himself attended New York's School of Visual Arts, his film idols are "mostly American, Coen Brothers in particular" according to an interview published at Film Journal on the 23rd of April, 2012, also stating he "likes the absurdity of violence". This all adds up to create a product of which is distinctly Hollywood influenced in more ways than one. Tyldum is also quoted as saying about the remake that  "they bought the rights for the book - not my movie" expressing his idea that these film adaptations are only differing translations of the source material and not the definitive portrayal, a thought which I believe is held particularly strong today in our age of remakes and sequels.

"Don't knock it 'till you've seen it."

The idea then, that a Hollywood remake could only pale in comparison to the original, is seemingly an incorrect one - who better to re-adapt heavily Hollywood influenced film than Hollywood itself?

My Blueberry Nights Log

Original film poster.
Note the lack of any male presence,
despite Jude Law's big name.

Being looked at in conjunction with Pasolini's 'The Cinema

of Poetry' article, I tackled My Blueberry Nights with a certain pessimistic attitude - a film with a higher ratio of artistic, thought provoking imagery to narrative, plot pushing elements could all too easy drift into the realms of the mildly dull and brain numbing, especially to a viewer raised almost exclusively on Hollywood blockbusters: a mishap since rectified.

However, upon viewing Wong Kar-wai's film, I intently sat upright as I began to realise Pasolini's idea of "im-signs" in full effect. This idea being that when an image is presented on screen for next to no narrative function what so ever, it is seen to be commonly accepted that it has been strategically placed there to provoke a feeling or relay an idea or thought from the film maker to yourself, providing for interesting viewing if used correctly, as I discovered myself at the hand of My Blueberry Nights. A favourite example of mine from the film would be the distinct close up shot of blueberry pie with cream running through it used frequently throughout the film at moments of intimacy between Jude Law's down-but-not-out character Jeremy and Norah Jones' ditsy wanderer, Elizabeth. Setting aside the obvious narrative enhancing qualities the image has (an early bond was formed between the two over an 'unwanted' blueberry pie, despite the fact that there's "nothing wrong with it" a metaphor in itself you could argue), it also provides us with strong connotations of warmth, affection and other such sensual concepts.

The infamous blueberry pie shot,
best seen in motion for the full "M&S Effect".
Note how this led to the image below, with it
even being shown briefly during the actual scene.

It verges on the explicit when the cream appears, bringing with it all of the crude sexual symbolism, and the amount of time the image is shown becomes more and more fleeting as the film progresses perhaps to show the oncoming inevitable release of desires and sexual between the two characters.

In conclusion, I believe Pasolini's "Im-signs" can be used to great effect given that they aren't liberally used to prevent their abuse. 

The film itself definitely gets a thumbs up: strong characters and interesting concepts definitely distract from the somewhat murky narrative.

And So It Begins...

 Hey there internet, quick introduction - I'm Andy Harriott, a Screenwriting and FIlm Studies student at the University of Worcester. Originally from Newcastle, the furthest North anyone dare go, I moved down to Worcester mid-September to begin my studies and so far it's been equal amounts educational and informative. Not to mention drunken, daft and deliquent having been diligent in my duties as an irresponsible student.

I've started up this blog to store my collective ideas and ramblings in one place, you'll be seeing mostly film related posts, hopefully with the theory and cohesiveness improving as the years progress.

I'll be typing up a handful of the logs that I've written so far to get the ball rolling, with a semi-regular posting schedule ensuing from thenceforth.

Feel free to comment and criticise as you please, any feedback is positive feedback.

 Andy