Spanish people are notoriously passionate people. From the start of the film you can see the strong family orientation they have. They are all paying respects and cleaning up the graves of their passed parents and loved one. It is part of the culture and tradition. They have many processes for death, paying respects, and unfinished business. There is also chismis, just like the Philippines. There’s ton of drama, and people like to expose others on it. Despite the cold blooded murder, it was an authentic exchange between family. Mother and daughter, sisters, family friend.

I loved Clouds of Sils Maria. It was as sad as it was mysterious. Undoubtably a more complex story, especially after viewing Heavy Trip. I was most surprised to see that Kirsten Stewart was in it, even more so with Chloe Grace Moretz.

From an analysis i wrote myself about the cinematic elements I observed this. Beyond plot and characterization, we should take into consideration the cinematic elements of this film. Sound is utilized in film to establish a mood, give a sense of location, advance the plot, and highlight character mannerisms. In Clouds of Sils Maria, majority of the songs are older, classical music. This sets the dramatic, mysterious atmosphere of the whole film. It creates a serious tone that keeps the audience’s attention into the plot. Another important aspect of the cinematic process are not only the sounds, but camera shots and their angles. This films makes use…

Heavy trip was my favorite film to watch this semester. It reminded me so much Tenacious D. An intense, scary subject with extreme comedic relief due to the script writing and the acting.They reminded me of children. A coming of age film even, except these are fully grown men. I even see parallelisms between Heavy Trip and Stepbrothers, grown men with no evident skill set and life direction, except for a self proclaimed dream.

All four of the characters are interesting and distinct from one another, something they made sure to distinguish from the beginning of the film. It was clear that the lead of the band was the underdog of society. Ridiculed and bullied as he bikes through the streets of his town. However, he was just a hardcore dude looking to rock out with his band of buddies. They had music in their heart and souls, but their…

This intense cinematic experience comes with literal rawness and passionate french characters. First you are introduced to a small family, sending their daughter off to college, which we soon learn is the school that her parents attended together. As a legacy, her reputation is at a high, especially with her popular older sister attending the school as well. She seems to be a sweet, young girl. A simple vegetarian who wants to be a vet. She has grown to love animals, and be empathetic for their emotions which she believed was the reason to her vegetarianism.

One of the more harsh aspects of the vet school is the initiation. Very gruesome and intense. She was force fed raw rabbit kidney by her own sister. I wonder why passing the initiation was so important to the older sister. Moving on, clearly it was a trigger to her carnivorous side. She gagged…

The Edukators was the least cinematically impressive film. The characters were quite unlikeable, had agro-rebellious personalities, and missed the mark for effective political statements. It begins with three struggling young adults. They have high regaurd for their mentalities and used it to justify breaking and entering the home of someone who was causing an inconvenience in the girls life. On top of that, she was cheating on her boyfriend with his best friend. It comes into question how morality might play into their lives. They look down upon elitest, wealthy political figures. However, by doing that they are putting themselves on a pedestal. They believe that they’re better than these people and who they represent. These anti-capitalists youths simply are causing trouble because they do not fit into society. Instead of using their disagreement for a creative, beautiful message, they simply disturb lives. So annoying!

Time crimes was so fun to watch. The man seemed to have a simple life. He had a wonderful new house, a huge property, and a loving wife tending to the garden. My regard for him began to decline when he began to creep on the young woman. I was a bit confused on why he so determinedly pursued her and went great lengths to discover her location. He was also quite slow in escaping the man wrapped in pink, so I would’ve thought that he died. I almost thought that the house/research area was a trap. It was strange how willing the researcher was in aiding the man who had broken into the research center.

I also have no idea how the time machine works. How would they move forward from that day? Would there be a regular timeline? Also, why was the man not freaking the hell out?…

This actually reminded me of a cartoon series on Netflix called Hilda. They have parallel Norwegian mythology on trolls. All previous knowledge I had was based off of this cartoon and I was actually excited to see how they both interpreted and applied these myths. In the cartoon, trolls were misunderstood creatures that were aggravated by humans bothering them. Their weakness was light as well and they turned to stone as well when directly exposed. Troll hunters really displayed trolls as monsters, although there was compassion as shown through the vet, and they mentioned that the trolls were simply acting out of sickness (rabies).

Although clearly CGI, I’d say that the film felt pretty authentic. Although I’m not sure if students would really go that far to pursue their passion project, It seemed very genuine, especially in how the students immaturely reacted. I was even sad to lose the Christian…

What a confusing film. I think I liked it. I’m not super sure. I know some of my classmates enjoyed it in all of its strange and weirdness. Some of my other classmates did not share the same sentiments. They didn’t appreciate the lack of logical plot lines and overlapping of themes, if there were any. It was a bit difficult to watch some of the intimate scenes that were pretty explicit.

Mr Oscar, a man who acts in several roles with no apparent cameras filming the man’s performances. Each role has no context, no further development once the scene finished. There appears to be other people engaging in actor/actress roles as well. They occasionally coincide but most of the “jobs” are done independently by Oscar. The only other constant person conscious of his roles is the chauffeur, Celine. She even “saves” him several times where one might think Oscar…

This film was the closest to the western cinematic style that we have grown so accustomed to watching. The timeline and transitions throughout the movie were quite engaging, especially with it’s historical structure. Previous films we’ve been viewing in class had an incredibly abstract shots that were either to be interpreted deeply or from a shallow perspective (as is). Surprisingly, trying to understand that a certain element of a film could really have no significant meaning was the most difficult part.

Wolfgang Becker made use of Germany’s history. He also put clear distinction between all of the main characters. Alex trying to shield his poor, ill mother from the truth of their country. Trying to shield her from this new version, this different version of Germany…

This film was the most inspirational film we’ve watched so far. The director is not happy with himself. This film was a true expression of a struggling artist with an internal battle with himself. He was just trying to satisfy others. He has a vision, but it is overshadowed by the demand. Please, please, please. His first few obstructions didn’t go beyond that. He was struggling to meet the bar standard that was being set up for him. And it was only himself that was setting the bar.

It was an amazing first obstruction. The people were lively and authentic, the music upbeat, the cigar was extra smokey. Even the monkeys gave a strong atmosphere as well as direction to where the film was going. The perfect man. What the perfect man does. How he eats, sits, and breathes. I was sad that we didn’t get to see much more…