HERO (2002)

On a quest of revenge, a nameless warrior ventures to kill the king and bring justice to his murdered family. Around this short, focused plot, Quentin Tarantino builds his masterpiece of film: Hero. The beauty of the film is extraordinary, possibly standing alone. Intense coloration is present throughout the film. Bright red traditional Chinese Garments soar in the wind along with a backdrop of pure yellow leaves in one scene, while others contrast soft greens with a range of tranquil purples. As the plot skillfully twists as characters give their takes on events that have previously occurred, the camera captures every angle of the story imaginable. Close ups on faces during concentration, above, below, behind, in front of, moving alongside, next to, and beneath battling warriors, long shots of the Chinese landscape, all work into the film to capture the entirety of a scene. Every aspect of Hero works to produce a level of intricacy similar to the calligraphy central to the story line of the film.

Drawing from its historical past, Hero draws heavily from local aspects of Chinese ideals and culture. Integrity and honor are traditional Chinese themes central to the main plot. Also, the film reveals many characteristically Chinese amusements such as Martial Arts, a form of Chinese Chess, calligraphy, and Chinese instruments and song. Also, in respect to the local nature of the film, a specific scene is worthy of mentioning, where a present day issue of China dealing with language is discussed. When the nameless warrior tells the king of his encounter with Broken Sword, he tells the King that he wanted Broken Sword to scribe the 19th variation of a certain word, in order to find his weaknesses. The king responds saying,” 19 variations of a single word? No wonder no one can communicate.” This issue of communication throughout China is still discussed today with hundreds of dialects of Chinese language found within the country.

Although predominantly local film, global trends work their way in to the film through the use of camera techniques in slow motion fight sequences similar to American films such as the Matrix. The film is not restricted to a local audience, however, due to the action packed fight scenes, beauty of coloration and shot composition, and the film’s enticing narrative twists.

Swades: We the People

Swades: We the People is a Bollywood film about a young Indian man named Mohan who lives and works for NASA in the United States. On the anniversary of the death of his parents, Mohan’s sadness invokes guilt for not taking care of the next closest person to him, his childhood caretaker Kaveriamma, who resides in India. Mohan decided to go to India and bring back Kaveriamma. His quest to bring back his other mother brought him to a village where the quality and ways of life changed the way he perceived his homeland and at the same time find love, which caused him to want to make a difference in the village.

Some of the cultures and customs in Swades are typical of not just India but many Asian countries. The young, independent minded Gita who Mohan fell in love with was being set up for marriage. Arrange marriage has been part of many Asian cultures such as China, and Swades shows that it still exists. Gita had turned down the marriage proposal, because her husband and his family expected her to stop teaching and be a house wife after marriage. Though many Asian cultures are starting to treat women as equal, it is still a common belief that the primary duties of women are in the home.

This film is not typical of Hollywood films. Besides the obvious that Swades has a lot of traditional music and musical, Swades’ theme is different. In many Hollywood films, the conflict is usually about a good guy who tries to stop the bad guys through physical might. In Swades, the hero was an educated man who engineered a small hydroelectric generator to bring power to the village. This shows that education in India is highly praised.

The film also has a subtle message that Indian living abroad should return to India and contribute to solve India’s social and economically problems. This is evident in the film ending as Mohan struggles to return to the US and stay in India. The final musical claims all who leave the motherland will eventually return.

Combination of an extreme close-up and panning shot to set up an intimate setting.
This was shot in a documentary type style.

In this shot, I experimented with using a dolly to move through a hallway up to a hat that has fallen on the floor. The dolly allows the camera to start at a position where the object is unidentifiable and move in until the hat is seen up close with focus on the cross icon. Also, a ghost trail effect was added to enhance the mystery and create the effect of mystery and suspense. Rollerblades were used as the dolly mechanism.

Over the Shoulder

Point of View

This clip creates a false point of view. The first shot is a close up of Hung's face. You can see that he is looking at something. Then the camera cuts to the window, and the audience assume Hung was looking out the window. Then the camera cuts back to Hung's stare but then tilt to the right, revealing that the whole time, Hung had his back to the window. (LAM DVD - Point of View, Ch. 4; Editing technique: Kuleshov Experiment, Ch. 6)

"Amores Perros" Review

"Amores Perros" is a Mexican film directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and set in Mexico City. Much like the British hit "Snatch" this film follows three seemingly unrelated plot lines that all intersect with an accident at the end of the film.
We first follow Octavio in his struggles to help support his brother’s wife. As he finds out that his dog has a talent for killing he decides to use him to win money dog fighting. We then switch to follow Valeria, a professional model. She falls on hard times when a sudden health problem causes her to leave modeling and stresses her relationship with her lover Daniel. Finally we also see the story of El Chivo. After he leaves his wife and daughter he is forced to live in a shack with his dogs. Like Octavio, El Chivo turns to vice in order to make his living, taking up a job as a hit man. These three stories are seemingly autonomous of each other until a car crash between them causes more problems for them all.
One commonality we see throughout the film however is the presence of dogs. Each character is very affectionate for their dogs, almost as if they were family. It seems as though Inarritu is trying to comment on society. As we see dogs compete in the dog fighting ring, fighting for their lives and honor it reminds us of humans in their constant class struggle to try and rise to the top. Feeling the loyalty to their masters the dogs in ring fight fiercely. Similarly we see humans as well struggling to support their loved ones, sometimes as seen in "Amores Perros" even in despicable ways such as robbing and killing.
"Amores Perros" is especially enjoyable because it contains many global themes. The mise en scene clearly helps describe both a poor, destitute Mexico as well as a decadent, luxurious one. This is a class struggle we are all familiar with in America. As mentioned before the savageness and violence of the dogs seems to comment on the reality of the cold world. Most important however is the theme of love and loss. We see Valeria's relationship disintegrate after a crash takes her leg and her career. Octavio participates in dog fighting to support eloping with his brother's wife but in the end is turned down. El Chico is probably the greatest story of woe. He is haunted because he had to abandon his daughter years earlier. He lives in a shack with a pack of stray dogs which he gives his love and affection to. After he saves Octavio's dog it kills El Chico's stray dog friends causing El Chico further loss. This theme can be traced back to Lord Tennyson who was quoted in the 19th Century saying "tis' better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." Even if you agree or not you can certainly appreciate how important the theme of lost love was to people back then, today and will be in the future.