Memento Blog

Memento was a very interesting film. One of the things it talked about was the nature of memory. Obviously memory was a huge part of the film because of Leonard's condition of short term memory loss, but it was a more important part of the film than that. It is said in the film that memories are easily distorted, and manipulated. They aren't records, but impressions. It seems as if Leonard is able to distort, or block some of his own memories. He was able to block out that he really accidentally killed his wife, and that she really had diabetes, because of the guilt he had. In order to do so he distorted his real memory of giving his wife an injection so that he remembered pinching her in the thigh instead. I think he really can't remember most things, but with some things he just pushes them aside. In the end he decided to manipulate himself into thinking that Teddy was the one who killed his wife, just so he would have someone to chase. Just like Teddy said he is lying to himself to keep himself happy. Just like that he has built up his own reality, and nobody else can be let in. This is not really related to the blog at all, but I just thought I would put it out there that Memento was one of my favorite movies that we watched so far.

Kiss Me Deadly Blog

Kiss Me Deadly was a very interesting movie, with a very bizarre ending. The box with nuclear stuff in it was odd, and very unrealistic. I feel as if the thing Mike Hammer was hunting should have been something more realistic. It would have made much more sense for that time period, and the movie would have been a little bit more clear. I also found it annoying that you didn't find out what Mike was searching for until the end. I think there should have been at least a vague notion of what he was looking for. I guess the point of that was for mystery though, which I will admit made the movie interesting. I liked Kiss Me Deadly way more than Double Indemnity. It was way more interesting to watch, and the characters showed way more emotion. I think the film was a good choice to watch for the film noir unit.

Double Indemnity Blog

The first movie I watched from the film noir unit was Double Indemnity. The movie revolved around plots, and scandal. I would say that this film is a good example of film noir. One of the tell tail signs was the low key lighting. Very seldom in the movie was there high key lighting. The scenes were shadowy, and there was contrast between light and dark. The contrast I saw was minimal, but it was still there. Lighting had a big effect on the movie. The darkness helped show how dismal and dark the plot was. There was also use of venetian blinds, which made the movie seem more mysterious. It also made the scene more interesting to pay attention to. Another way this film was a good example of film noir was the fact that the characters were corrupt, there was a very negative tone, and in the end the main characters are doomed. I found it interesting that the movie focused mostly on the bad guys. The exceptions to this rule being Keyes, and Lola. They were good in the movie, and they were included to develop the plot. Most of the other good people such as the guy seen on the train were only featured in the movie twice. Another key element present of film noir in the film was the voice over narration. Throughout the whole movie Walter is heard narrorating. It is made known from the beginning of the film that Walter confesses. This is done so he is able to do the voice over narration, thus being able to explain everything about the movie more. Because of this, the movie goes in depth more about the emotions Walter feels. It builds more on him as a character, so the audience can understand him better. Personally I wasn't very fond of this movie, but that doesn't make it any less of a good example of what film noir really is.

Groundhog Day Blog

Something I noticed in the movie Groundhog Day that differs from other comedies was the character of Rita. She differs greatly from other comedy heroins. She was way more complex, and I think that added quite a bit to the film. One way she differed was that she was smart. She actually used her head, and didn't go running around like a bimbo like Susan from Bringing up Baby. Rita was focused on the job at hand throughout most of the movie. Her main goal seemed to be getting the broadcast done and to enjoy some of the festivities of the festival. At first she had absolutely no interest in Phil romantically, but in the end he won her over. A lot of times in other romantic comedies it is the woman that is chasing the man. She also was calm most of the time. In many other romantic comedies the girl is loud, bubbly, and somewhat annoying. I think that the fact that Rita was a more developed character made the movie that much more interesting to watch. Her calmness also made a bigger contrast to everyone else's hyper up beat attitudes.