Moulin Rouge! is the story of an English writer that falls in love with one of the performers at Moulin Rouge, a cabaret in Paris, France, known as the birthplace of modern can-can dance. The building is easily recognizable with its red windmill on its roof. The film is known for its over the top spectacles. The filmmakers wanted to express the same thrill and excitement that people in 1899 felt when at Moulin Rouge. Though the film is set in 1899, the movie has a very modern feel and it uses popular songs from the 20th century. This was done to appeal to a modern audience and to make the main character, Christian, appear ahead of his time as a writer and musician. Since the film uses modern music, it took nearly two years to secure all the rights to the songs.

The entire movie incorporates ideas of music, dance, theater, sex and modern thinking. The costumes in the film emphasize the sheer shock value and sensationalism of Moulin Rouge. The outfits were seductive, shocking, and considered scandalous at the time. The film introduces outfits that depict erotic stereotypes of french maids, schoolgirls, dominatrixes, cross dressers, baby dolls, and most notably, can-can girls. Nicole Kidman, who played Satine in the film, was fitted into a corset that was tightened so tight that she broke a rib trying to achieve an 18 inch waist. She also tore her knee cartilage and injured her ribs twice during the filming of the dance numbers.

During dance numbers within the film, the camera movement makes the audience dizzy. The camera is spun around at a fast pace in multiple parts of the movie, but it is mostly found in the dance numbers. As far as the lighting is concerned, they are extremely bright and a bit over the top. The idea here was to express the awe that people must have felt at the time when they saw these lights, since it was a fairly new thing at the time. Powerful green and blue lights are seen throughout the film. All of the film’s Paris was mostly computer generated. The digital creation was influenced by collages of Paris that were made before filming. Special effects in the film included the scene Christian is seen drinking absinthe. He hallucinates a green fairy that zooms across the scene and writes out words in green lettering.

Overall, most of the film seems over the top with its bright lights, fast camera movements and costumes, but that’s what makes it a great film to watch. It’s visually appealing and the story is engaging. Most of the information regarding the film was found in the site below: http://cinema.com/articles/407/moulin-rouge-production-notes.phtml

Memories of Matsuko directed by Tetsuya Nakashima is about the life of Matsuko Kawajiri as her nephew, Sho, pieces together her past after she is murdered. The film uses music to tell pieces of the story, but it isn’t a conventional musical. The movie focuses on the men in Matsuko’s life, starting with her father. As a child, Matsuko saw that her father favored her sister, Kumi, and was often sad because of her illness. Matsuko craved her father’s attention and when her and her father went to an amusement park, she learned how to obtain it. They saw performers on stage making funny faces and Matsuko decided to make the same face in order to make her father smile. During the scene at the amusement park, the song that is playing is Candy Tree by Rin Oikawa. The song is cheery for the first few lines. Oikawa sings about this perfect place but then the song takes a bit of a dark turn. She sings about not being proud, and that she never found what she dreamed of, but even though things were not as expected, she would continue to go forward and look for her “prince charming”. I think this song represents Matsuko’s story.

Matsuko and her father seem to maintain a decent relationship until an incident that happened while she was a junior high teacher. Due to the actions of her student, Yoichi Ryu, a chain of events led to her having to leave her job as a teacher. Even though Matsuko had good intentions, she lost everything she cared about. Long after the incident, Matsuko met her brother at the same amusement park she had gone to with her father as a child. A girl group on the stage sings USO by Risa Ai during this scene. Her brother asks her what she wants and she tells him that she wants nothing. He then asks her if she is living with a man and she tells him that she is living with a writer that’s kind. After this, the girl group is shown as they sing “Liar! Liar! Liar!”, which I thought was clever since none of the things Matsuko told her brother were true. Before Matsuko and her brother part, she learns of her father’s death. When her brother has walked away, the lyrics in the song playing are “What do I need to do to earn your love?” and then Matsuko is shown singing the next line “Please tell me”.

Matsuko returns home to her boyfriend, Tetsuya, with the money she was given and he beats her. Later, Matsuko finds the words “Forgive me for being born” written on a piece of paper and Tetsuya is not there. She runs outside in the rain and when she finds Tetsuya, she watches as he is hit by a train. Six months after, Matsuko becomes the mistress of Taeko Okano, a writer that considered Tetsuya his rival. When Matsuko is with Okano, the song that plays is Happy Wednesday by Miki Nakatani. The song is very cheery, and Matsuko acts as if her life is perfect, but in reality it’s not. Okano eventually leaves Matsuko and reveals that he didn’t love her and had only wanted what Tetsuya had. After Okano leaves she cries and has flashbacks of events from her past as the song Walking on Springtime by Barbara Borra plays. This song also plays later on after she killed a man and she decided to end her life too but changed her mind.

When Matsuko goes to prison, What is a Life by Ai is sung by the women in prison. This scene plays out like a scene in a conventional musical. The song is about wanting to live for love and Matsuko looks forward to her love life after she gets out. While in prison, she becomes friends with Megumi Sawamura. Megumi plays a major role in helping Sho understand who his aunt was. In one scene, Candy Tree plays in the background and Megumi tells Sho, “Every little girl dreams of being Snow White, Cinderella, of living in a fairy tale. Then we wake up one day and see our white swan has become a black crow. One life is all we get. If it’s a fairy tale, it’s a cruel one”. I enjoyed this quote, and I thought it went well with the song. Later on in the film when Matsuko is living alone, the trash bags in her room turn to black birds and I was reminded of this quote.

Something to mention is that the song Feeling Good by Michael Buble often plays when Megumi or Ryu are in a scene. The song seems to coincide well with their lifestyles. Ryu was an interesting character in the film. He comes back into Matsuko’s life years after being responsible for her losing her job and he becomes her lover, but he’s also a yakuza. Also, while watching the film I noticed that Matsuko said, in romanized form, “Aishiteru” towards Ryu at one point and this immediately jumped out at me. It means “I love you”, but from what I have always heard it is rarely used since it’s the utmost level of affection and is usually only used for special occasions. Another interesting thing is that when Ryu is in prison, he is told “God forgives the sinful and loves them unconditionally” so he decided that Matsuko is his God.

The last thing I want to touch on is the jpop band that is mentioned in the film. The band in the film is Hikaru Genji, and they are named after the main character of The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, which is a pretty good book. My seventh grade history teacher recommended it to me, so it’s been a while since I’ve read it. Anyway, Matsuko became infatuated with one of the members in this band. Most of the men in her life treated her poorly, and so I could understand why she became obsessed with an idol. They are portrayed as perfect beings and they try to maintain a clean image. Matsuko saw him as this perfect man and she sent him a letter, but like all the men in her life, he let her down, even though Matsuko never met him. This made me feel really sad for Matsuko. This movie in general was sad, but it’s probably one of the best films I’ve ever watched.

There Will Be Blood is a film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson that’s loosely based off of Upton Sinclair’s novel, Oil! The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis and I know him for his ability to pull of many kinds of accents. In the films that I have seen him in he does a late 19th century upper class American accent in The Age of Innocence, a 17th century New England accent in The Crucible, a 19th century New York accent in Gangs of New York, and a 19th century Kentucky/Indiana accent in Lincoln. Day-Lewis is considered to be a method actor, and his known for doing extensive research and going beyond what is necessary for roles. I watched a few interviews of him talking about different roles he’s had in films and from what I could tell he was respectful and kind of soft-spoken, nothing like his role in There Will Be Blood. In the film he played as Daniel Plainview, an oil man that will go to great lengths to get what he wants.

Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday, played by Paul Dano, are the most compelling characters within the film. Daniel adopted a boy after his father was killed at a drilling company and claimed him as his own, using him as a business partner to lure in people with his phrase, “I’m a family man”. Eli Sunday is the pastor of The Church of the Third Revelation and claims to be some sort of prophet. Both characters are frauds and they’re not likable characters, but the actors pulled the roles off exceptionally well and were very believable. Paul Dano only had a small amount of time to prepare for his role as Eli, but I never would have guessed that since he did so well under the circumstances.

The most interesting thing about Daniel and Eli is the fact that you never know what to be believe and what not to believe. I could never tell if something they said was genuine or not. There were scenes when Daniel seemed caring of his adopted son and others where he seemed like he could care less and was only using him. I couldn’t tell if he really didn’t care or if he was purposefully pushing his son away and making him believe that he felt that way. When his adopted son visited him towards the end of the movie, Daniel mocked him and told him that he was only using him. He appeared to be heartless, and his son walked away and claimed that he was glad that he wasn’t his real son. It could be possible that he didn’t care but I think Daniel pushed his son away because he thought his son deserved better. Eli was very passionate about the church and fulfilled the role as a prophet. He was over the top and Daniel even stated that he put on “one hell of a good show”. Though I knew he was faking the whole thing, he did put on a performance and I think if I was there I would have been fooled like the rest of the people in the church.

The dynamic between Daniel and Eli was pretty interesting. They absolutely hated each other and there were a few scenes that included the two characters that I really liked. When Daniels son became deaf after a gas blowout, Daniel approaches Eli and physically attacks him, pulling him through the mud and humiliating him. Eli had blamed the gas blowout on the fact that it wasn’t blessed and Daniel was pretty frustrated, so what he did was kind of justifiable, but the most interesting part in the scene is Eli’s screams as he’s being beaten. They were high pitched and they sounded kind of demonic. In another scene, Eli baptizes Daniel, but not without striking and humiliating him first. The most interesting scene between the two, though, is at the end of the movie. Eli goes to Daniel with a deal for drilling rights on William Bandy’s property, but Daniel tells him he will only accept if Eli claims he is a false prophet. Eli does so, but Daniel admits that the property is worthless. After an argument, Daniel chases Eli around his bowling alley and beats him to death with a bowling pin. Though the movie wasn’t a horror film, there were themes and music that made it feel as if it was. The characters, Eli and Daniel, were a bit sinister and the movie was a bit unsettling, mainly due to the good acting in the film.

I don’t think I have ever watched a movie that felt more ‘human’. The movie showed a lot of human elements through the story. The film overall evokes emotion from the audience. There were themes of vulnerability and hope that were easy to relate to. The characters in the film were one of the major components that made me feel so submerged into the story. Theo was determined to get Kee and her child to safety, because he had hope. Hope is what drives people to do things, even if the world around them is bleak, as is the case in this film. Julian only came to Theo after many years, because she needed help. This act was pretty selfish and I didn’t like her at first because of this, but when it came to the scene where her and Theo were doing the ping pong trick, I began to dislike her less. It made me happy to see others having fun and being happy together. In that moment I forgot about how gloomy the rest of the world was in the film. Kee was in a tough position and scared, but she showed her humorous side in the scene where Theo asked who the father of the baby was and she replied she was a virgin. Jasper also showed off his sense of humor, and this made the film more engaging. I think most people respond well to humor. Jasper and Milenka helped Theo and Kee in the film, even risking their lives for them. When it comes to children, most people will risk their lives for them even if they’re strangers. This is a very human thing to do. The characters’ personalities and their interactions made the film feel very real and relatable.

Another aspect that made the film feel realistic was the way the camera was a bit shaky at times and how it felt like a documentary. In some scenes I felt like I was the one behind the camera and that I was following the characters around. There were no narrations and the camera would drift from the main story and show off the surroundings. This was shown in the beginning of the film when Theo walked out a door turning left while the camera turned right. The surrounding area was shown off and then the camera began to follow Theo as he walked down the street. Another reason why it felt as if I was following Theo around was because of some of the sounds in the film. In one scene Theo can hear some of the other characters through his open window. Then when he walks out of the room, he can no longer hear them until he is downstairs by a open door as they begin to walk in. When the other characters go into another room and close the door, Theo can no longer hear them. When Theo goes outside and hides against the wall by the window that the other characters are at, he can hear them again. Most scenes it felt as if I was following Theo around, and that’s why I only got to see and hear what he did.

The most interesting of all the scenes in the film was the one where Theo and Kee, with her baby in her hands, were shown walking out of the war zone as everyone else just stared. Everyone was surprised and in awe. I thought the war would not continue after this, but it actually did.

I’ve heard about silent films, obviously, but I had never watched one, aside from thirty second clips in the YouTube videos shown in class. Watching silent films never sounded very appealing to me, but for one to be able to convey a story without words is admirable. I thought A Trip to the Moon was pretty interesting, despite my beliefs about such films beforehand. What I really liked about the film was the matte painted backgrounds. They just looked really nice, and I’m sure a lot of time was put into making them since they were so detailed. I also thought that the special effects makeup was done nicely. I almost thought they were actually older gentlemen until they started doing acrobatic type stuff. I also enjoyed the added color and background music, even though this wasn’t a part of the original. The color emphasized the fun attitude of the film, and I thought the music was pretty engaging. What I noticed about the film is how dramatic the expressions and movements of the people were. I expected that, and I found dramatic aspects charming. I’m not sure how to express what I want to say, but the film had this cute, quirky attitude that I think only a silent film could pull off.

I had not seen the original Star Wars before class, but I’m pretty glad that I got the chance to watch it. I could see why someone would want to make changes to a past film, especially with new technologies that are available. Stories, songs, and plays change over time. If you compare the way a story was told in the 1600s versus today, it would be completely different. As time goes on we change things to make them “better”. I don’t see much of an issue with changes being made to films, such as with Star Wars, and maybe that’s because I’m not passionate about films. I do think the original version that we watched in class was better, and I don’t have a specific reason as to why I think this, but it had a certain charm. Some may argue whether it’s okay to recreate someone else’s painting or sculpture, and I think this is similar to re-editing films (correct me if I’m wrong, though). I don’t know the correct answer, and I can understand both sides of the arguments. My opinion on the Star Wars special editions, though, is that they probably didn’t need to happen. I’m pretty sure most people enjoyed the originals perfectly fine and from what I’ve read online most fans that have seen the originals believe that they are better.

Before watching Memento in class, I had never heard of it before and I didn’t really know what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. I had never seen a movie that went backwards, but I had seen movies that switched between grey-scale and color sequences. Memento was really interesting, though, because there were color sequences that went backwards, and grey-scale sequences that went forwards. The movie would switch between color and grey-scale until the end when the two sequences met in time. While I thought this was extremely interesting and engaging, it was also confusing. It’s one of those movies that I am definitely going to need to watch a second and maybe a third time so I can notice details that I didn’t the first time.

Throughout the movie, I never knew who to and I questioned everything that happened and all that was being said. Even after watching the movie, I am confused as to what was real or not. To an extent I could understand how frustrated Leonard must have felt. I don’t think the movie would have been the same if I didn’t. The movie was good because I was able to empathize with the main character. If the movie was played in chronological order, the audience probably wouldn’t feel frustrated and confused. It would have been harder to understand Leonard’s condition.

This movie kind of reminded me of Total Recall because, like in Memento, I questioned what I should believe. My dad and I still argue about whether it was reality or just a dream. I do kind of like when a movie leaves things up for the audience to decide, but at the same time I hate it. I want to know the explicit answer, but I also think that not everything has one. It’s always interesting when a movie leaves me questioning things, though.

I haven’t cried during a film since Kung Fu Panda 2, which was in 2011 when I was 9 but after watching Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, I was left emotionally exhausted. The documentary directed by Kurt Kuenne was one that really affected me. I believe that this was due to the interviews that were within the film. Before the film if you told me Andrew Bagby was murdered, I would think little of it. I don’t know Bagby and people die all the time. I hear about death every single day on the news, and it’s not an exaggeration. I think it is fair to say that a good amount of people are desensitized to death because of the media. When you know little of a situation, it is easy to be indifferent but often times once you gain more information your attitude changes and you form a bias.

The interviews were the most compelling part of the film and those parts of the film received a greater response from me. When I watched the interviewees as they smiled, I smiled and when they cried, I cried, as well. Other art mediums wouldn’t have been able to receive such a response from me. Watching interviews, you can see the expressions that the people are making and you can hear the tone in their voice. I could empathize with them because of those things.

I reacted most strongly to David and Kathleen. I can’t even imagine losing a son and then losing a grandson not long after. I admired how hard they tried to gain custody of Zachary. They put up with quite a bit, and I don’t think I would have had that much will power, if I’m being honest. David and Kathleen put their faith into the legal system, but all their efforts ended up being pointless, which is heartbreaking. I can only imagine all the regrets that they have and all the “what ifs”. It is extremely hard to watch others in pain, but I think one of the worse things for me is to watch people as they express their regrets. It’s not fair that such bad things happened to good people.

The film itself felt very personal, as if it was something I wasn’t meant to see. I know the documentary was originally going to be for Zachary, but Kuenne decided to release the film publicly, due to his death. While the documentary was informative, it really focused on the people and how they felt. I’ve never seen a documentary like this one. It felt a bit aggressive, and “in your face”. There was a message that Kuenne wanted to get across. I know I was supposed to see how the legal system failed the Bagby family. I was inclined to believe that something had to be done so these events don’t repeat themselves. I felt this way because of how the events impacted the friends and family of Bagby. Kuenne’s approach would make most people sympathize with the family, and so his point got across fairly well.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton