Film Final 2 Films Flashcards
Touki Bouki
Director: Djibril Diop Mambety
Year: 1973
Themes: Cinema Novo, third cinema, connection to French new wave, aesthetics of hunger, post-colonial themes/identity, depictions of Africa, non-professional actors, sound/music
Other Qualities: Ousmane Sembene
Experimental Films: Dog Star Man
Director: Stan Brakhage
Year: 1962
What: about creation of the universe
Experimental Films: Lapis
Director: James Whitney
Year: 1966
What: imitating meditation, symmetry, space, Buddhist, peace, focus
Experimental Films: Report
Director: Bruce Conner
Year: 1967
What: Kennedy assassination film
Experimental Film: Scorpio Rising
Director: Kenneth Anger
Year: 1963
What: homoeroticism, motorcycle culture
Experimental Films: Kustom Kar Kommadoes
Director: Kenneth Anger
Year: 1965
What: challenges notions of masculinity
Experimental Films: Hold Me While I’m Naked
Director: George Kuchar
Year: 1966
What: “camp” parody of Hollywood filmmaking
Experimental Films: Take Off
Director: Gunvor Nelson
Year: 1972
What: looking at society’s view of women
Experimental Films: Lemon
Director: Hollis Frampton
Year: 1969
What: sun/texture/light analysis of a lemon
Experimental Films: Necrology
Director: Standish Lawder
Year: 1970
What: study of death film, 2 distinct halves (Bifurcated)
Experimental Films: Viennale Psycho
Director: Martin Arnold
Year: 1997
What: shower scene from psycho with different edits
Primary
Director: Robert Drew
Year: 1960s
Themes: early documentary film, direct cinema, free roaming camera, showing not telling, no voice overs, political film, broadcasted on TV
Comparison to Breathless:
Free roaming, camera distracted from main characters, new camera, fluid camera, un-staged, world through camera
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Director: John Ford
Year: 1962
Themes: Time where Hollywood was self-reflexive (Singing in the Rain, 1952) Emphasis on landscape, John Wayne: a hero between 2 worlds, unconventional hero (Jimmy Stewart) not even hero, and feminine, western about America, production style, ideological/political issues, studio shooting, no Native Americans
Night of The Living Dead
Director: George A. Romero
Year: 1968
Themes: gory, violent, social/political movie, shows victims more than zombies, small budget, new wave horror 2nd wave, new zombie, hero is wrong, during time film could not be released in Hollywood, voodoo zombies vs. new zombies, ineffective government, black male lead
Relationship to Psycho: desperation, bad luck, no “why?” just is, characters are normal, female lead switch to male lead, hero is wrong, political commentary
Killer of Sheep
Director: Charles Burnett
Year: 1977
Themes: neorealism, L.A. Rebellion film, cannon film, too 7 years to make history, movie as symphony not narrative, French new wave influence, released then restored and became a classic, poetic film, art cinema?
Taxi Driver
Director: Martin Scorsese
Year: 1976
Themes: unconventional film, focus always on Travis, jump cuts, ambiguity, unsettling, trauma of war, unsympathetic but still center of attention lead, loner, taxi as isolation, attention through violence, unreliable narrator, shot/counter shot, theme song, European art cinema inspiration, ambiguous ending, Italian neorealism, unknown psychology, improvised dialogue
Other Qualities: very successful, made in Hollywood but shot in NY, flexible Hollywood in 70s, Regan shooter inspired by movie
Similarity to Persona: ambiguity, mask scene, uncomfortableness, moral issues
Relationship to great train robbery: attraction, 4th wall broken, gun pointed at audience
The Shining
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Year: 1980
Themes: Only Kubrick horror film, earliest films to use Steadicam, one of most overly analyzed films of film history, inspired by Psycho, modernity, ambiguity, hotel/space as character, uncanny, intellectual uncertainty, deja-vu, unfamiliar in a familiar place, loss of boundaries, German Expressionism, forced exposure, dissolution of human nature and family ties
Other Qualities: Takes place in Colorado, shot in English studio, some location shooting in Oregon/Montana, adaption of Stephen King novel, King hated movie
Close encounters of the Third Kind
Director: Steven Spielberg
Year: 1977
Themes: big production, many different cuts released over time, return to 50s science fiction, optimistic, but disturbing, disillusion of family ties (night of the living dead), “cinephile” spirit
Brazil
Director: Terry Gilliam
Year: 1985
Themes: Biggest budget film for Terry, commercial failure, Failure of science, intellect, influenced by 1984 and Brave New World, Pessimistic view of modernity, fail of technology and society, Steampunk aesthetics: old and new tech blended together
