Film Noir Movies

 

The quote that I chose from the first ten minutes of the documentary Film Noir that also describes a main idea in "Double Indemnity" is said by Abraham Polonsky. He is the writer and director of Force of Evil and he said, “This is what this picture is all about. How circumstances become more and more endurable, and yet you must endure.” By this quote we all know that he is referring to the movies of Film Noir. If you’ve watched Film Noir I’m sure we can agree that the film is the bad, but also the good. In Film Noir part of the film and entertainment industry takes place in the first half of the 20^th century. This film went past the confront zone of most audiences because of the time they were living on, but this is what made the film so interesting. Anyway, these kinds of movies have been known as exposing the dark side of humans. Movies like this are about drugs, crime, and sex. The kind of stuff exposed in these kind of movies was something people were not used to seeing but still managed to relate to it. For this reason is why Film Noir was successful due to the fact that it had highly sensitive subjects that connected with the viewer’s emotions. In my opinion the film Double Indemnity falls into this category because it shows all the traits that keep people entertained and leave them with questions. I picked this quote because I think it demonstrates how people who watched these films felt. 

In the film  ‘’Double Indemnity,” the character Phyllis is the typical femme fatale. She fits in the characteristics of femme fatale because everything a man desires; beautiful, smart and uses that as power. A femme fatale characteristic that is portrayed in the character Phyllis is how she can be manipulative using her beauty. For example, a femme fatale can use sex to gain power and get what she wants which at the end only gets the men in trouble. I think the character Phyllis plays a typical role of this type of character. She only lives up to all the traits that the Film Noir documentaries use to describe a femme fatale.

The tools that Film Noir uses help create a mood that has never been done in cinematic presentation. One of the elements that helped this type of movies look interesting is the lighting. It is that what creates a dark atmosphere feel to the movie. This is what made it look mysterious to the audience, also the fact that is was in black and white. It also helped made the movies show some kind of creativity. For example, the lighting was supposed to create a mood of isolation in the rooms or buildings. The sounds in these movies also created certain moods and added more suspense to Film Noir movies. However, in my opinion “Double Indemnity” did not really have good music and lighting in some parts. Although it did have some sounds that created suspense and went well with the scenes. 

The use of  “neo-noir” in movies don’t have as much black and white as the original films. However they still have some of the same features. In the movie “memento” you can see a lot of the similarities of the of Film Noir movies. For example it has the subjects of murder and controversial subjects such as having a mental person as the main character. This movie was also created differently because everything happens backwards and makes the movie a puzzle itself. In my opinion I think Christopher Nolan would agree that both films are quite similar in some way and meet at some point with the topic of Film Noir. Finally, the structure of this movie is what makes it more interesting for the audience and keeps them tentative. 

Blog Post #1 Movies

             What it is that makes a movie compelling, noteworthy, or deserving of an award?

What makes movie compelling is something that relates to the human qualities. Movies that have any  emotional, cultural, or ethical values is something that will connect individuals to what’s being portrayed in the screen. In my opinion in order for a movie to be deserving of an award the movie needs to be interesting, and easy to understand because sometimes movies can be confusing. It also needs to have a good cast that will make the movie feel like it is real and not being acted. A movie also needs action and creativity to be deserving of an award of course this should not be too exaggerated. Films should also have good sound effects and music in order to keep the audience entertained. Finally, if a movie has all these criteria it is deserving of an award to me.

In the movie “Le voyage dans la lune a trip to the moon” by Georges Méliès some of the criteria that I mentioned in the previous essay is used. The reason for this is that even though the film did not have any sound when it first came out in 1902, I still was able to find it kind of interesting when I decided to turn off the volume that had been added. For example the film had a lot of movement that kept me entertained while watching it.  In addition the fact that they have great scenes that make you want to figure out what they are doing is entertaining, since during that time there was no sound in these films. Indeed Its innovative animation and special effects are what would make this movie deserving of an award.

On the other hand, the short film “The Great Train Robbery” was not as creative as the first film. In my opinion this film is not award deserving to me because of the fact that it does not meet most of the criteria I mentioned. One of the reasons is that the actors in the movie exaggerated most of the scenes making it not feel real. The actors make it so obvious that they are acting everything out. For example, there are many scenes where a character gets hurt and it is more than obvious that nothing happened to them. Another, even though the film had a lot of movement I found it boring because of the plot that it had. Everything was too obvious. This film was not very creative and well put together. Therefore it is not deserving of an award in my opinion.

One of the movies that meets my criteria to be deserving of an award is Monsters University. The reason for this is that this movie is very creative and involves so many colors that keeps the audience entertained throughout the movie. Another, besides the fact that it’s creative the movie itself is a good story that can be enjoyed by anyone. This movie is also easy to relate to because it has real life situations even if it’s an animation movie. In my case I was able to relate to the character Mike Wasowski when he gets his dreams crushed because that has happened to me. Another thing I was able to relate too is that the mom in the movie who treats one of the characters as baby even though he’s old enough. The reason for this is that my mom still sees me as a little girl still and treats me just like the character is treated in the movie. This movie also met the criteria of having action, music, and good sound effects. The great creativity of the movie is what makes it deserving of an award.

As the second movie I picked Insidious because I enjoy watching scary movies even if I get scared. Anyway this movie could be deserving of an award because it is not exaggerated like many of the other horror movies I’ve watched before. This movie also meets all of my criteria for why a movie should deserve an award. Starting with the fact that the story is not too exaggerated but still manages to create fear and suspension in individuals. The movie also has great sound effects and music that create even more fear other than the scenes themselves. Another reason is the actors and how they do not seem to be over acting anything and just keep the movie entertaining. This movie also has good creativity when it comes to the scary scenes because everything is set at the right time. For example, the clip below shows the good sound effects, acting, and creativity that the movie has which resemble why the movie should be deserving of an award.