Review: Moulin Rouge

            Moulin Rouge is a film directed by Baz Lurhmann set in 1899. The main characters are Christian, a young poet and writer who falls in love with a courtesan, Satine, who works at a nightclub called the Moulin Rouge.  Satine is also in love with Christian, the only problem is Satine has already been promised to the Duke who is a wealthy patron of the club.  Satine and Christian must overcome numerous obstacles in order to be together, all while Christian tries to convince Satine that love will always conquer all.

            Moulin Rogue is a musical and I think that is perfect for this kind of story. Christian and Satine’s love is passionate and larger than life, which is shown in the over the top musical numbers. I also really liked that they used contemporary songs in a film set in the turn of the 20^th century, which symbolizes that love can stand the test of time.

The theme is love conquers all. At the end of the film Satine and Christian have overcome all the hardships placed before them and finally are together. Even though they were not together for long, due to Satine’s death love still conquered all. 

Review: Rear Window

            Rear Window is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock about an injured photographer who is wheelchair bound and resorts to spying on his neighbors for entertainment. The main characters are L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies and his girlfriend Lisa Fremont. One day, while innocently studying his neighbors Jeff observes one of the residents, Lars Thorwald, behaving suspiciously and speculates that Thorwald has murdered his wife.

The editing employed in Rear Window is one of the most powerful tools used in the film. As the audience, we can only see what Jeff is seeing through his camera lens, which leads us to believe that his suspicions of Mrs. Thorwald being viciously murdered by her own husband are accurate. Rear Window also uses the Kuleshov Effect, quickly cutting to the scenes unfolding before Jeff’s eyes and also our eyes. Throughout the film we

share Jeff’s obsession thoughts, and hypothesis, in this way his assumptions don’t seem as crazy and outlandish; we understand why he is jumping these conclusions because we are also jumping there ourselves. We know spying on people is inappropriate and violating, but when you catch a person doing an evil act is it still so wrong? Do the ends justify the means?

The theme in Rear Window is Good vs. Evil. Jeff, our protagonist is good in his core, and while spying on people is unacceptable, we do end up revealing evil in the form of deadly Mr. Thorwald.

Review: 500 Days of Summer

            500 Days of Summer is a modern romantic dramedy directed by Marc Webb. Our two main characters in the film, a love struck, romantic young man named Tom and the quirky, adventurous Summer. The film follows Tom who is falling deeper and deeper in love with Summer, all the while she reminds him that she is not looking for a serious relationship. We see their entire relationship through the point of view of Tom, his ups and downs and ultimately, the relationship’s demise. As Tom looks back on their entire relationship he realizes he was only seeing the good times and not the bad times they had and comes to the conclusion that his views about love and relationships were totally askew and unrealistic. In the end Summer points out that she was always ready for love, just not with Tom, he then meets a wonderful girl who says “he probably didn’t see her” signifying that while Tom was looking for love, he just wasn’t looking in the right place.

            I really like that the film does not go in chronological order, it flows with the quirkiness of the characters and the crazy in love sensation that’s being illustrated.

The audience is seeing Tom’s emotions as he is feeling them; the bouncing around from day to day portraying those whimsical, sparkling, lovey feelings. The film also mirrors Tom’s emotions with the lighting, in the beginning Tom is smitten and enchanted with Summer, and the lighting is bright and cheery. Consequently though, as things start going sour in the relationship, the lighting becomes darker and gloomier falling in line with Tom’s state of depression; the darkness and depression consumes him, like the morose lighting fills the screen. Tom gets wrapped up in his own feelings of bliss that he doesn’t even notice that Summer is unhappy and unfulfilled in their relationship. The use of the Kuleshov Effect portrays Tom’s crazy, irrational love sick phases, skipping from one shot to another, trying to make sense of their entire relationship.

            The theme in 500 Days of Summer is Man vs. Himself. It is a coming of age film that follows a boy in puppy love who ends up growing into a wiser man through a failed relationship.  Tom finds out that while the love of another person is warming, it will not complete you like the love you have for yourself as well as a great love that is reciprocated.

Review: Jaws

            Jaws is a 1975 suspense/thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg. The setting is in the town of Amity Island, New England. A ferocious, monster shark has been on a killing spree this summer and Martin Brody, our protagonist and the new Chief of Police, is determined to catch this beast. When one of the victims mother advertises a reward in exchange for the man-eating villain, shark hunters and fishermen descend onto the island seeking to claim their prize.

One of the components Spielberg used that I liked was not letting the audience actually see the shark until the second half of the movie. The mystery surrounding the shark created tension and terror in the community as well as in the audience. I enjoyed Spielberg’s cutting, for example when the shark attacked the second victim, Alex Kintner, we cut to Brody on the beach as he is witnessing this horrific attack. The camera dollys in as it zooms out to show Brody’s disbelief of the scene unfolding before his very eyes. The sound scape in Jaws was perfect for the film. The incomparable sounds before the monstrous shark strikes produce a frightening anxiety in the audience and confirm the impending doom that we know will befall the innocent victim. Spielberg is the “meticulous” director and that is evident in Jaws, no detail was too small for him to fret over.

I would say the main theme in Jaws is Man vs. Nature. The main character, Martin Brody must overcome this natural beast, the shark, in order to restore the island back to its relaxing summer state. And in the end Brody lodges a scuba tank in the shark’s mouth and shoots the tank blowing the shark to smithereens, therefore demonstrating that man has overcome the boorish, natural beast.