Sunset Boulevard ... with Photo's

Prof. Larry Ling-hsuan Tung                                                                                       Tim Philbin

Film Blog entry # 4                                                                                                     Com 104

 

“Sunset Boulevard”

By: Billy Wilder

            Sunset Boulevard is the story of an aging silent movie star who cannot let go of her past life.  She lives in a large home on Sunset Boulevard by herself with only her servant Max and the occasional visit by some other silent film stars.  Gloria Swanson stars as Norma Desmond who was a huge star in the silent movie era.  She longs to once again be a big star in Hollywood and dreams of making a comeback in a film she has written.  One day a chance encounter with a down on his luck screenwriter named Joe Gillis played by William Holden, Norma sees a chance to live out her dream.  She convinces Joe to help her finish and revise her script to launch her comeback.  Joe reluctantly agrees to help Norma because she pays off all of his debts along with his back rent.  Joe begins to be seduced by Norma’s money as he lives in her house and she buys him clothes along with other items.  Joe comes to the realization that Norma has begun to lose some of her faculties.  At about the same time Joe also meets Betty Shaffer who works at Paramount.  She and Joe had met earlier through Joe’s agent and again from one of Joe’s friends.  They begin working on a script together from one of Joe’s old scripts that Betty had read previously.  After working together for a while, Betty begins to fall in love with Joe.  Joe decides to push Betty away because she is engaged to one of his friends and he realizes that he would lose the money from Norma.  During this time we realize that Norma has fallen for Joe and gets jealous about all the time that he is spending at Paramount with Betty.  This eventually leads Norma to shoot and kill Joe in the backyard of her home. 

                   

            The main theme of this film is a look at people and their mental state of mind.  We have Norma who is lonely and longs for her youth, success and popularity again.  We also have Joe Gillis whose luck has about run out until he finds Norma.  He uses her to regain his financial footing in life while acting as her friend.  In the end, they both use each other, one for emotional support and the other for financial.  This film shows us some of the dark sides of human nature. 

            I totally enjoyed this classic film of Billy Wilders.  It was one well written and well-acted movie.  The storyline was terrific and so were the actors and actresses.  Since I had never seen this movie before I am now very glad to say I have.  This was truly one of Hollywood’s great movies at a time when they were producing many great ones. 

Born into Brothels with photos

Prof. Larry Ling-hsuan Tung                                                                                       Tim Philbin

Film Blog entry # 5                                                                                                     Com 104

 

“Born into Brothels”

By: Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman

            This film is a documentary about the life of children whose mothers are prostitutes in the red light district of Callcuta India.  The director takes us into the children’s difficult lives as they grow up.  Many of the children have to work so that they can survive and to also provide for other siblings.  Some of the children attend school, but many of them do not go at all.  This leads to many of the children following their mothers into the same type of work.  Zana Briski, the woman who wrote the film, begins to work with some of the children by teaching them some photography skills.  Her intention is to try and see how they view their own lives through the lens of a camera.  Zana has the children venture out into the neighborhood and begin to photograph whatever they wanted.  After a short period of time she is amazed at what the children have photographed.  Many of the children were silly and made mistakes while using the cameras, but others demonstrated a real good eye for photographs.  They shot people and landscapes along with the events of their everyday life.  Zana was so truly impressed by their work that she showed the photos to her friends and colleagues.  She then decided to display their work at a gallery so that many other people in the city could also enjoy their work.  The gallery showing was successful and some of the photos were chosen to be entered in a photo contest, which would be judged in Germany.  Zana then traveled to Germany with one young boy whose pictures were picked for the finals of the contest.  The trip was a success and they all enjoyed themselves immensely especially the young boy whom had never been out of the city, no less to Germany.  Now towards the end of the film, Zana attempts to have the children enrolled in some private schools to help them further their education and to provide an escape from the life they are in now.  Some of the children go away to school, some of them are not allowed to go by parents and some in the end drop out of school and return to the slums.   

            This documentary is about an American woman, Zana Briski, working in India on a film about children of prostitutes.  She goes to India to make this film but, ends up attempting to change some of the children’s lives she works with.  She ends up helping some of them succeed and go on to schools and universities but most return to the slums.  In the end, Zana made an Oscar winning film and also changed the lives of a few children whom otherwise would not have had a chance to succeed.  The makers of this film should be congratulated for their efforts on behalf of the children that they helped.

            I very much enjoyed this film.  I had no idea what to expect when we were shown this film.  It was well written and directed and it gave the viewer insight about the lives of these children that otherwise we would never have known.  The only downside to this film was that it showed the poverty and squalor that these people endure. 

 

 

“Silence of the Lambs” with photos

Prof. Larry Ling-hsuan Tung                                                                                       Tim Philbin

Film Blog entry # 3                                                                                                     Com 104

“Silence of the Lambs”

Screenplay by: Ted Tally

 

            The story of the movie “Silence of the Lambs” begins with the viewer’s seeing the trainees at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.  We are introduced to Agent in Training, Clarice Starling, along with other trainees.  Clarice is chosen by her boss at the Academy to take on a special assignment for him.  She is delighted to have this opportunity to go on her own to a hospital for the criminally insane and meet the next character in the story, Dr. Hannibal Lector.  Dr. Lector is in jail because something inside him snapped and he began killing and eating his victims.
 

 

Thus, the name Hannibal the Cannibal was given to him.  It is never really explained to us what set Dr. Lector off to begin doing what he did.  Clarice is sent to Dr. Lector in an attempt to get his help to solve a series of murders.  The killer is known as Buffalo Bill because he kills his victims and removes their skin.  The people at the FBI are hoping that by using Clarice to speak to Dr. Lector that he might offer some insight as to whom Buffalo Bill might be.  After the daughter of a United States Senator is kidnapped by Buffalo Bill, Dr. Lector offers a deal to the FBI to help them with the case if he is relocated to a different prison facility.  When this offer is accepted by the FBI, he begins to plot his escape from captivity.  He gives Clarice bits of information about what he thinks of the Buffalo Bill case.  Clarice begins to figure out the clues that Dr. Lector is giving her and she eventually walks into the killer’s house.  After she realizes that she has found Buffalo Bill and the Senators daughter, she confronts him.  After a struggle Clarice kills Buffalo Bill and frees the Senators daughter.  While this is going on, Dr. Lector escapes from the police and FBI after killing several more people and police. 

 

The main theme of this movie is a study of psychology of the criminal minds.  It also shows the dedicated people of the police and FBI who track down these people.  I for one are glad that there are these hard working and driven people who are on our side. 

My reaction to this movie is one of terror.  I am the father of a daughter and worry about the crazy people who could possibly harm her.  This was a movie I enjoyed but it also frightened me about the fact that so many people who are living with untreated mental illness are out there.   We as a society must do more to help these individuals.  

“No Country for Old Men” with photo's

Prof. Larry Ling-hsuan Tung                                                                                       Tim Philbin
Film Blog entry # 2                                                                                                     Com 104

“No Country for Old Men”

By the Coen Brothers

            The movie begins with a hunter in West Texas who stumbles upon a drug deal that has gone awry.  As he walks around the crime scene, he finds the dead bodies of the people involved along with their dogs.  At the end of this search he finds one man badly wounded and asking for water.  He ignores the man’s plea for water or help and takes the money from the crime scene and begins to dream of a new life.  During the overnight he must have had an attack of conscious about the victims he didn’t help.  

Early the next morning he heads back out to the crime scene to see if he can help the last survivor.  He is chased by a group of criminals, who were sent there to recover the drugs and money.  He barley escapes from them with his life.  This begins a few day odyssey of him trying to avoid a group of Mexican criminals and a psychopathic killer who are trying to kill him.  The movie takes the viewers on a wild ride through Texas and Mexico as people are shot and killed repeatedly.  Tommy Lee Jones stars as the sheriff of the County where this crime has been committed.  

  He is attempting to figure out what exactly when on and who is involved.  Throughout the movie he begins to question himself about the world in which we are living and if his is past his prime.  He has thought of retiring but the events of the next few days begin to have a huge effect on him and his decision. 

            The main topic of this film is pointing out the violence associated with drugs and the gangs that operate the sale and distribution of them.  The violence that is so rampant in the inner cities and even in desolate places of west Texas is very troubling for society.  This film also shows the cost in money and human life that the drug trade has cost the government of the United States and its citizen’s. 

            I personally did not care for the film.  To me, it had many subplots that were never totally explained which left me wondering a bit.  I wish that the director had delved into more of the other characters lives and backgrounds.  I believe this would have helped to enhance the movie for me and perhaps others.  Once again this film just glamorized the senseless killing of people for no reason.  Perhaps if the film contained a little less violence and added some more character study, it would have had more appeal to me.  After hearing so much about this film when it came out, I found myself a little disappointed after seeing it. 

“Michael Moore’s Sicko” with photo's and video link

Prof. Larry Ling-hsuan Tung                                                                                       Tim Philbin

Film Blog entry # 1                                                                                                     Com 104

“Michael Moore’s Sicko”

            This film of Michael Moore’s examines the current healthcare system in the United States today.  He points out the many flaws that exist in our system and the effects that it has on people who are covered by it.  He also takes us to Europe, Canada and to Cuba; showing us their system of socialized medicine. 

We are shown all of the advantages of their system with regards to access to medical care and the availability to every one of low cost prescription drugs.  The film questions whey we cannot utilize their system here in the United States as opposed to our current system that leaves so many without some form of healthcare coverage. 

 

            The main theme of Mr. Moore’s movie is to point out the differences in the two types of healthcare systems.  The second theme of the movie shows the effects of this on a society of having total coverage as opposed to having little or no coverage at all.  Throughout the movie, he questions why Americans cannot receive the same healthcare as Europeans.  He states his case and gives us all of his reasons as to why we do not use the European system here in the United States. 

 

After watching this film, I was truly amazed at what a crazy healthcare system we have here in America.  I could not believe that citizens of this country could be forced to sell their homes to pay medical bills.  This was a completely surreal event that I had not ever experienced for myself.  In my life I have been fortunate to always have good medical coverage for myself and my family.  It is truly time for the people of this country to pressure our elected officials to begin to change our healthcare system to benefit more of our citizens.  If we use what is good about our system and add some of the European ideas, I believe we could make a vast improvement to our country.  Healthcare plans should be made available to everyone at reasonable costs so that no one would be left uncovered.  I also understand that Mr. Moore is an extreme left wing person and that his movies reflect this.  In the case of this movie, I feel that he is right on the money with his views. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOZmvaFfjtk&feature=player_detailpage