You can post your reaction to these films in the comment section if you went to the Cosford to see TOMBOY, DRIVE, or JOFFREY: MAVERICKS OF AMERICAN DANCE.
Marquia Eaddy Response Tomboy I really enjoyed this movie. When I first saw the trailer for the movie, I thought that the little girl was a boy. Since I had no prior knowledge of what the movie was about, I did not undestand why the title of the film was called "Tomboy". It was surprising to see the gender of Laure during the bathroom scene. I didn't think they would actually show her private parts since she was so young, but they did. I've never seen a nude scene by an underaged actor. That was different. I liked the humor in it. I also liked how well Zoe Heran fit the role as a boy. The little girl that played Laure's younger sister was so cute! It always amazes me how little people can act so well. How do they remember all those lines? When the time came for Laure's true identity to be revealed, I sympathized with her. I did not want her to be revealed as a girl, especially since she and Lisa had become romantically involved. I was a little upset at the mother because I believe that if Laure was happy being a boy, then let her be. If I had a daughter who wanted to be a boy, then I would let her. If that made her happy, then why not? At the same time, I was happy that Laure could finally be herself. It was safe for Laure to play a boy because she hadn't hit puberty, but once she did, she wouldn't be able to fool anyone. The boobs don't lie. Laure also would not have been able to use the boy's bathroom in school. In a way, her mom helped a great deal because things would have only gotten more complicated for Laure. It seemed like the father wasn't surprised by any of it. The mom made a big deal out of the situation. At the end of the movie, I was happy to see that Lisa was still willing to be friends with Laure. I can imagine how awkward it must have been for the two of them. I think that if the story were to continue, Laure and Lisa would still be love interests. If not in the fourth grade, then maybe later on in life.
The story of Drive is told from the first person perspective of the mysterious and nameless protagonist (i.e. the Driver), and develops through facial expressions and character interactions, rather than through lengthy dialogue. The film is shot predominantly in extended medium close-ups and close-ups. The audience’s perception of an event is shaped by the perspective of the characters. This style develops an aura of mystery and noir. More importantly, the style helps the audience enter the mind of the Driver, who appraises the other characters in the film through introspective gazes and economical and precise inquiries. Events in the film are important by themselves, and also on how they impress upon the Driver. For example, the Driver responded to Irene and Benicio with compassion. However, upon butchering one hitman, and blowing away another, the Driver responds with sadistic thrill. The Driver develops from a blank slate, into a benevolent anti-hero who is willing to kill anyone in his way. The story also develops through subtle symbolism. For example, the Driver always puts on his driving gloves when he’s about to do his “dirty work”. In addition, when he first meets Bernie, he is reluctant to shake his hand, saying his hands are dirty. Bernie also says his hands are dirty, a subtle reference to his evil nature. The following shot is of the Driver and Benicio watching cartoons. The Driver asks Benicio if he believes the cartoon is a bad guy; Benicio says yes, because he is a shark, and sharks are always bad. Even more important is the scorpion on the back of the Driver’s jacket. The scorpion is a reference to the fable of the scorpion and the frog, in which a scorpion ask a frog for assistance across a river, but halfway through, stings the frog because of its violent nature. The Driver, although a good person, is naturally inclined to kill.
Raeann Raisor TomBoy is a very touching film, especially to the LGBT community. It is by far one of the best foreign films I have seen. Close up shots dominate the film, but there are several long shots in the woods. The woods are seen as a fairy-tale kind of place. They are magical and somewhat forbidden. The naturalness of the woods is contaminated at the end with the dress. There is no background music during the film as there is in normal films, except when the Laure and Lisa are dancing in which case the music is actually playing. This provides a more realistic feel to the film making the audience better able to relate. There is an underlying theme of fear. Laure is hidden inside the house ( which is representative of “the closet”), whereas “Mikael” is free to come and go as “he” pleases. Indoors represents femininity, for example, it is inside that Jeanne is super feminine, playing in her pink tutu, in the pink room. Women/femininity is confined to that indoor space. Outdoors represents masculinity; the boys are always playing outside. Lisa is the only girl to really go outside and once she does, she is silenced. When Lisa speaks and she is outside, she speaks in a small, quiet voice. In the beginning of the film, Laure is stuck inside, looking through bars on the window. This scene reinforces the theme that women are confined inside. Once Laure goes outside for the first time, it is there that she establishes the identity of “Mikael.” The children are the redeeming factor of the film. Lisa comes to Laure’s home and asks Jeanne for “Mikael”. Once Lisa leaves, the audience can see Jeanne processing what has happened. Jeanne knows, understands, and still loves her sister, Laure. At the end of the film, after “Mikael” has been outed, Lisa meets up to start over with “him.” The last scene is essentially a redo of the first scene, except Lisa does not assume Laure is the new boy who just moved in. Lisa still talks to her friend and accepts her in the end.
Tomboy is a film i was able to relate to in many ways, first of all i am french and grew in a french home which was very similar to Laure and her family, while watching many scenes of her and her family i could see in my head the same images but with me and my family. (ex: the scene in the bathroom, kitchen, and bedrooms.)
Althoug i never pretended to be a boy i was a tomboy as a kid, only playing boy games with boys and wearing boys clothed and in a way could relate to Laure all the way from her pretending to be a boy to her mom making her wear the dress.
Throughout the movie I noticed that most shots were close up with a few long shots too, which worked out perfectly.
The actors in the film were very good especially Zoe Heran and Malonn Lévana. overall This film was very realistic maybe because there was not much music in the film and people could relate to it which made it even better,
I had not seen Drive before, and I wish that I had been spared the experience of seeing it once. I felt that Drive was a terrible film, one of which no person should be forced to suffer through. I will only briefly mention how terrible it was to listen to the conversations. After an absurdly long pause, Ryan Gosling would respond and you wish that he had just stayed mute as his responses often made the conversation more awkward that it already was. Overall I felt that there were two major things wrong with it. They were as follows, it lacked any humanistic emotion, and it was unoriginal. With regards to the first aspect, of lacking any humanistic emotion, I felt that all characters were merely shells. They lacked anything beyond a shell that would show that they are human. Throughout the film, one is supposed to be rooting for Ryan Gosling’s character, the un-named driver. However, this protagonist could easily be considered an antagonist in another film or storyline. At one point, he is sitting with Benecio (Kaden Leos), and Benecio while watching cartoons says “He’s the bad guy.” Gosling response of “How do you know?” was replied by “Because he is a shark.” This is an interesting conversation as children are led to believe someone is good or bad in cartoons and movies by the colors that they wear. Those that wear white are traditionally the good guys, whereas those that wear black are the bad guys. However, in this movie, Gosling wears a white jacket throughout most of the movie. Yet he is far from being the good guy. In this movie, we see Gosling kill more people than any other character. In addition to murder, we see him abet two different larceny accounts, grand theft auto, numerous traffic violations, running from the police (resisting arrest), and adultery. No other character on screen commits as many crimes. Yet throughout the movie, Gosling never shows one bit of emotion whether it is remorse, or guilt, or even excitement. He does all things stone cold, completely expressionless. He isn’t the only one either. It seems that people show emotion very rarely in this film.
To address the second issue, there is not a single creative aspect that is new or unique to this film. Obviously car chase scenes are nothing new, but movies still find ways to make theirs unique. Some movies do this via explosions, some do it via gun fight, and some do it through car stunts such as drifting (an example of this is Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift where the car chases stand out because of this unique driving style). Drive lacks any sort of memorable car driving scene that stands out. Beyond the car chases Gosling’s character is a fusion of two movies, Fight Club and The Godfather. Gosling’s character, who is nameless throughout the film and yet the main character, is a page directly out of the nameless person in fight club. Gosling’s character plunge deeper into the criminal world until he kills the man that started the whole thing directly mirrors that of the nameless man in fight club who starts off as a good society man, ending with terrorist acts until he kills Tyler Durden. Yet Gosling’s character also parallels Michael in The Godfather. His reluctance to really get involved in big crime until it impacts his family is taken right off the pages from Mario Puzo. In fact, Drive directly has a tribute to The Godfather. The very last time Michael sees his wife in The Godfather, he tells her about his business, and then she walks out the door and the iconic image of the door shutting her out is what the audience is left with. Much the same, Gosling finally tells Irene (Carey Mulligan) about his involvement in the heist that resulted in her husband’s death and then they step into an elevator. After kicking a man’s face in, Irene steps out and the last time that Gosling sees her elevator doors shut and she is separated from Gosling and his business. Overall, I would not recommend to anyone that they watch this movie. The movie seems to not know which genre it wants to be. If it was an action film, it needs more action, if it is a drama, it needs less gore, and if it was a romantic story, it needs less action. I cannot understand why it would win any awards at all. The fact that it did win an award at the Cannes Film Festival, to me sends the message that the Cannes Film Festival awards are not awards whose value carry any weight.
Tomboy. First of all,this movie is really beautiful!! I want to say something from the aspect of scenario,the most splendid point from this story is it has a perfect balance of dramatics and realities,childhood is a precious memory in everyone's heart,this makes the main idea and the main chain of this movie attractive,but nowadays the fact is too many movies are about childhood this also establishes a challenge for Tomboy to standout from all these movies. The music plays a essential role in whole movie which is also a key point of the balance.All the songs insert in Tomboy are bright and remind me about the innocent memory of my childhood,but the story of Tomboy is subtle,when the story compose with the innocent music result a immature beautiful innocent childhood drama which is infrequent. If we are talking about it at a psychology aspect,I think the reason of Laure desires for being a boy is not only the personality of her own,but also about her relatives.through many minutia we can easily realize Laure loves her family very much,she like hugging with her mom and dad,talk to the baby in her mother's barrie,take care of her sister.But her mom is keep expressing that she wants a boy or predict the baby would be a boy.Also,when the younger sister of Laure knew the secret of her older sister she seemed was very proud of that,she told the other girl how great is having a brother rather than a sister.The atmosphere of Laure's family also push her get the thought of being or pretending like a boy.
Tomboy can be seen as a coming of age transgender story that revolves around the life of a ten year old and pre pubescent girl named Laure whose family moves to a new neighborhood in the outskirts of Paris. Laure who acts and demonstrates girlish qualities in her new home, shows boyish qualities with her new friends outside of home. She later takes on the identity of “Michael” fooling her friends (of who are mostly boys) in order to possibly fit in. Instead of fitting in, this only singles her out when they realize her true identity. After watching Tomboy, I felt that watching the trailer three times before actually seeing the movie helped in understanding the background of the film and didn’t give away too many of the main scenes.
Many of the shots were filmed using the close up shot where the camera is focused mostly on Laure’s facial expressions. This is not only on Laure but her younger sister as well. This shows the contrast in their different behaviors. With Laure being only ten years old she is still developing and adapting to her new environment. Several scenes show Laure outdoors with nature which becomes a symbol for Laure’s growth and development and revealed the aspect of nature versus nurture which I think played an important role.
The use of color schemes played an important role throughout the film as well. Laure’s room is painted blue which people usually associate as a boy’s color. Later on, Laure is seen wearing a mixture of blue colors and red colors which could symbolize the mixed up identities of boy and girl. Even the letters in the title of the film were shown with every other letter being in red and blue. Once her mother finds out that Laure has pretended to be a boy, she becomes uneasy making Laure put on a blue dress and face her friends by telling them the truth. The fact that the dress is blue is symbolic in that it still carries some boyish attributes. Once everyone including Lisa finds out the truth, Laure sheds her identity by taking off the blue dress, going back to her original tomboy image
From the moment Tomboy begins, there’s a wave of uncertainty in the air. Judging by the lack of music, one’s immediate judgment might be that this film will take on the dark route or that it will be poignant in the sounds it chooses to make. The film brought tears to my eyes, and I was able to understand this lost child, Laure/Mikael. Tomboy emphasizes the beauty of being young and innocent and the pain of adolescence and the misconception of identity. The biggest question that the film dares to ask is whether transsexuality is a disorder or a choice. At an early age, Laure chooses to be identified as a boy, although the reasoning behind it remains vague. One of the reasons might be because she wants to make friends easily, but since Lisa’s character exists, it appears that it’s not so hard for a girl to become friends with this group of young boys. Perhaps, it’s because Laure really wants to be Mikael and that’s that. It’s not because she/he is sincerely confused, but is aware of the choice he’s making. The film remains realistic by portraying the mother’s confusion and uneasiness with her daughter pretending to be a boy. But the outright humiliation she brings forth as a result makes me nauseous. I wanted Laure to continue being Mikael, although the mother is slightly right. How would Laure keep this going when school started? Her name wasn’t Mikael and it would probably have been much worse, because the lie would have gone on much longer. The relationship between Laure and Jeanne is very beautiful and stayed with me the most after the film. In the majority of films nowadays, young siblings are usually very bitter with one another, constantly wrecking havoc on the others’ lives. But Jeanne was accepting of Laure’s choice to be a boy and lied for her too. The film was perfect as a whole. I can picture it being shown to younger audiences, because I feel this is something kids need to learn about, because it’s going on in schools worldwide. If this film was shown and the teachers encouraged their students to be more accepting, the suicide rate would go down. The film is about choices and it’s parallel to real life and the choices we make as humans.
Marquia Eaddy Drive I really liked this movie beacause it surprised me by how good it was. When I saw the trailer, I thought that the movie would be full of action and hard core car chase scenes. I also thought that the movie was going to be about a stunt double who falls in love with a girl. I don't usually like action movies because I am a fan of horror movies, so I really like and appreciate when I see a movie outside of what I usually go for that is really good! The soundtrack for Drive was absoltely amazing. I was watching the movie while thinking, "Wow, I really like these songs." I downloaded the whole soundtrack as soon as I got home.
The reason why I like this movie so much is because it reminds me of Grand Theft Auto's Vice City. Everything about the movie reminded me of GTA: Vice City, which is one of my favorite games. From the 80's feel and the drama created with the mafia to the music, Drive shared similarities with that video game. In GTA, there was a drug deal that went terribly wrong and in Drive, Ryan Gosling got mixed up in a robbery gone wrong. Both of the characters had to deal with the consequences involving the mafia and a lot of people died from it because of them being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
To me, Drive was GTA: Vice City in the form of a movie. I loved the scenes where the driver would kill someone and the scene would be full of gore and death. I was not expecting the girl that appeared in the trailer to get her head blown off the way she did, but it was awesome. Those mafia men had no mercy in this film and I loved it. The driver was a really good guy. He went through all of that trouble over a million dollars and didn't even keep the money at the end. I would have at least taken some of it for my pain and suffering. At the same time, I wonder if he did take the money would someone have come looking for him? He killed all of the major people who were trying to cover up their mistake. Ryan Gosling did the right thing because he gave the man his money, even though he killed him in the end.
Drive Wow – this word was in mind when I went out of the cinema. I had no expectation on this movie as many people told I wouldn’t like it. It would be too aggressive, too brutal, and too unemotional for me. Moreover, I didn’t like the trailer, as it was a mixture of action scenes without any logical connections; but, with dumb dialogues. However, I liked the movie a lot. Or to put it in other words, Drive is the best movie of 2011. For me, the movie has a perfect balance of emotion, action, love, and calmness. The director Nicolas Winding Refn didn’t rely on one side only. For example, this mixture is perfectly obvious in the elevator scene. At first, the Driver (Ryan Gosling) kisses his fiancé Irene (Carey Mulligan). Suddenly, he beats the killer in the elevator to death. He is in such a rage that he kicks brutally on the man’s head and, finally, breaks his face. I was quite moved by this scene as it describes how complicated the emotions of the driver are. He doesn’t say much, he keeps his emotions inside. Only with the sexual attraction toward Irene he shows his emotions. The impression that he is an empty shell, as one could get because he has no name, is wrong. I was fascinated by this change. It transformed the driver into a fascinating character which one usually finds in video games (Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row). Besides this impressive character, I enjoyed the marvelous performance of the actors which were more than realistic and satisfying. But, the movie would have been nothing without the great soundtrack. Every music title fits to the scene and stresses the emotions (as in the party night, where the driver and Irene are departed but would like to be together). Besides this, none music title was played in brutal action scenes. One could take the scene of Blanche (Christina Hendricks) who was shot by a shotgun in the restroom as a good example. One could only hear the sputtering of the blood which shocked me a lot. Finally, the movie touched and moved me, and I honestly don’t understand why Drive was nominated for one Oscar only. The actors and director did an excellent job, and this should have been appreciated more. I am fascinated by this movie and will watch it again for sure.
Drive I went into Drive not knowing if I would like it or not, based more on what I had heard beforehand rather than the trailers, etc. I have a tendency to dislike people going through crazes - for example, I thought Ryan Gosling was interesting (more for his looks than his acting) when he first started getting popular with The Notebook and all, but now that he's "all the rage" I actually kind of find him irritating - it's just a vibe he gives off. I like him, and yet he puts me off. This movie didn't really help that impression - his acting was great, but something to me was just off, which is possibly linked more to the character than the actor, but he tends to play those silent stare-y characters in his movies that I've seen and while those characters can be very interesting and engaging, they tend to go either way - either they bring you in and make you wonder what's going on underneath, or they put you off and distance you but not in a meant-to-be-the-character kind of way but rather the I-don't-wanna-watch-you-skevy-feelings kind of way.
The movie itself was engaging but the soundtrack kind of threw me. I knew based on the previews that it was gonna have an '80s vibe but I wish it would've picked one way or the other - to switch from Dark Knight-like engaging energized "this is cool" kinda scores to songs typical of indie art (possibly '80s - wasn't alive, so not 100% sure) films is an interesting choice, but it was similar to the issue of the movie itself - it was trying to be two very separate things.
On the one hand, you had the VERY slow scenes that were all about the long looks, which are fine, but they went on WAY to long, and the dialogue that was there was even SLOWER - I'm all for pauses that make sense, but those breaks between what Ryan would say and what Carey would say was OH MY GOD MOVE IT ALONG ALREADY. I guess this was more a result of me not being as invested in their story as I would be with other characters being together - with them, I found I just didn't care - it was like either do something or don't, but make up your frelling mind.
I also think people made a much bigger deal out of the blood and violence then was necessary - there really was very little gore and it really wasn't that violent. And unlike what was mentioned in class about not expecting it from this kind of film, I don't get surprised by gore in any kind of movie - don't overexaggerate something that isn't there. I had more issue with the nudity than the gore.
Overall, it didn't make me want my money back - it was actually pretty good - but I'm finding I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole film - I didn't love it, I didn't hate it - it just was.
Drive has now become another one of my favorite movies. The acting was spot on, the directing was well executed, and the screenplay is amazing. Each character was developed properly and each one added insight into the plot and added only what was necessary to advance the plot line. I sure appreciated the artistic take on an action film that involves action yet is much more focused on the characters and the plot rather than just how many car crashes can be fit into a two hour time period. I think that the chemistry between Cary Mulligan and Ryan Gosling (two of my favorite actors at the moment) was perfect. It was not lovey-dovey as many cinematic relationships are, but was more subtle (enter Gosling’s repeated cheeky smiles he cannot hold back from seeing Mulligan, which were some of his only real emotional breaks from his very stern representation), and was almost awkward to watch at times, but you do become lost in the moment like they are. The relationship felt real, without having to be over done. The storyline itself was great in that it unfolds, generally, as an action movie should, yet there are some surprises that do take you aback. The music chosen for the movie was spot on, creating the types of emotion necessary.
Overall this movie was amazing and I would recommend seeing very strongly.
Tomboy is an amazing coming of age tale about discovering one’s gender and sexual orientation. Despite being in subtitles, the movie still flowed nicely and the transition from reading to watching became seamless. This was aided by the acting, even as a silent film the acting would have created enough emotion and universal feeling to connect with any viewer. The main actress Zoe Heran did a spectacular job creating real emotion that projects universal understanding. The screenplay was great, the dialogue was generally only used when necessary which was better in my opinion because that brings the viewer more focused on the facial and body expressions of the characters rather than paying attention to unnecessary lines that do not aid the plot or storyline or development of the characters. The director also did a fantastic job with creating perfect shots that were seamless and smooth and easy to follow and depicted each scene brilliantly. There was not much music involved in the movie which for some may make the movie boring, but for others, including myself, made the movie more realistic and down-to-earth. The only criticism I have with the movie was the ending of the bathtub scene. I felt it unnecessary to show a 10 year old girl's lower private parts. It did not really add enough to justify exposing such a young girl. Other than that critique, the movie was spot on and enjoyable and emotionally engaging. This will remain one of my favorite movies as it was executed fabulously from so many aspects.
Tomboy was a very pleasantly surprising film for me. I honestly did not know what to expect going into this film, but I loved it. I connected to the film a very unexpected way. I did not expect a connection to the film in many ways at all, but I feel that spoke not only to a coming of age process but also to the family dynamic. Personally, being very close with my own older sister, the relationship between the sisters touched me deeply. The film could have really spoken to anyone who watched it. There were so many different dynamics to the film that while it was not action packed it was highly engaging and interesting. I would love to see this film again, and highly recommend it. One of the most interesting dynamics of the film, to me, was the fact that the audience was constantly expecting the worst. They were waiting for the dramatic, heart wrenching moment where something awful was going to happen. But, other than the one moment in the woods when the young girl is humiliated by her "friends," there was never the horrifying moment that is sadly so often seen in these types of situations. While it was an emotional film, I was very happy with the different path the director took in that they didn't make it a tragic or sudden ending, I feel that it was very realistic in this way. I think that the director touched many people in a very effective way and I will be sure to watch this film again!
Tomboy tells the story of Laure, a young girl who moves into a new apartment complex in a new town with her family. At first, especially if you have no prior knowledge of the plot, it is uncertain whether or not Laure is a girl-- her name and gender are not even mentioned until further into the film. Laure introduces herself to her new friends as "Michael" and tries her best to fit in with the boys. However, she immediately hits it off with another girl her age, Lisa, and the two develop feelings for one another. Throughout this coming of age story, Laure is faced with challenges of self, sexual, and gender identity. I immediately developed a deep connection with the film, especially with Laure's character. I truly, deeply felt for her through her questioning and identity struggles.
I was particularly heart broken when Laure's mother discovers her big secret and basically forces Laure to put on a dress and go around individually to her friends to show that she is a girl. Deep down, her mother is only trying to protect her daughter from teasing and bullying. It is seen through the duration of the film that Laure's parents are completely open minded and supportive of Laure's tomboy lifestyle, but after discovering the secret, her mom knows if Laure's friends discover the truth, she'll only be ridiculed and teased. The only solution Laure's mom could come up with was to just admit that she had lied to her friends, which was absolutely devistating for Laure. Luckily Lisa is eventually understanding and they are able to continue being friends.
The directing and acting in Tomboy is absolutely supurb and I will definitely recommend this film to anyone.
The film "Tomboy" is an endearing coming of age film. The main character Laure is at first an ambiguous figure and one cannot tell if it is a young girl or a young boy. We come to find that she is an indeed a young girl, through the close interaction with her little sister and their sharing in their evening bath time ritual. Laure is such a touching character, as you see the close protective relationship she has with her younger sister. Her patience with her little sister is a vital part of the film; which leads Laure into having to protect her sister from another boy who has pushed her. Additionally, Laure develops a close relationship with a young girl in the building named Lisa. It could be seen as Laure having lesbian tendencies toward Lisa. Yet I feel that the crush is more of a friendship and Laure just felt comfortable with Lisa. Also, Lisa did initiate the kiss, believing that Laure was a sensitive boy, “not like the others”. Laure as a young girl just wants to play the boy games and fit in with the boys, and knows that girls are excluded from such play. When Laure’s mother makes her wear a dress and confront the other kids dressed as a girl your heart really goes out to Laure. We also feel a sense of fear for Laure when she is confronted in the forest by the gang of boys, questioning her gender. However, in the end Laure’s friendship with Lisa is restored, being that it was truly their personalities and not their gender that lead them to each other.
The film “Joffrey” is about the trials and tribulations of starting, maintaining and growing The Joffrey Ballet, the first American ballet troupe.
This was a fascinating story about Robert Joffrey and his co-founder, partner and lover Gerald Arpino. The reason this film has such significance is because Joffrey modernized the way we look at ballet. Before Joffrey the ballet was very traditional with strict Russian technique.
The film starts in the 1950s, with a young Robert Joffrey fascinated by ballet, and taking ballet lessons. He meets an older Gerald Arpino, who looks to be the antithesis of a dancer, yet he too becomes interested in the art. Together they start the Joffrey Ballet, with Joffrey initially being the teacher and Arpino the choreographer. As the time progresses Joffrey becomes the man behind the scenes, keeping the ballet afloat, with Arpino concentrating on the choreography. The film goes into their funding woes with Rebekah Harkness and her attempted coup of their ballet. Harkness had been the primary benefactor of the ballet and decided to no longer fund the ballet. Joffrey was unable to pay his dancers for six months, so they went with Harkness and her new ballet. Yet, Joffrey eventually started back up, and got his ballet up and running again. Upon Joffrey’s passing away, the board attempts to oust Arpino as the director of the ballet. However, Arpino prevails and finds a new home and the next generation of dancers for the company.
This was really a story about following your dreams and overcoming obstacles. The Joffrey Ballet is still going strong today, with its home in Chicago. Many well known professionals came out of the Joffrey Ballet, including Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp and Martha Graham. I believe that Joffrey’s legacy will continue to effect many generations to come.
The film "Tomboy tells the story of young girl in the midst of finding her identity during pre-adolescence. Laure finds herself in a new city with new kids, and she doesn't hesitate to take the opportunity to introduce herself as a boy named Mikael. As Mikael, Laure is just another one of the boys. The only one who knows her secret is her younger sister, Jeanne. I thought one of the most heart-warming qualities of the film was the loving relationship between Laure and Jeanne. Laure would always watch out for Jeanne and take care of her. In return, Jeanne always looked forward to spending time with Laure and promised to keep Laure's secret safe. While this movie was enjoyable to watch, it wasn't necessarily a very fast movie. There was a very relaxed feel to the movie, highlighted by the nature of the family. The two sisters obviously showed a lot of love for each other. The father was a playful father who looked out for his two daughters, particularly Laure. The mother, while strict when it came to making Laure confess her true identity, was usually kind and understanding. The only exception to this very laid back mood was the scene where Mikael and Lisa are dancing to crazy music in Lisa's room. There was a tension between Mikael and Lisa that probably moved the movie along the most. The climax of the movie was when Laure had to come clean about her identity to Lisa. I really liked the ending of the movie as it went full-circle and ended with Laure and Lisa introducing themselves to each other again. This time the introductions were done the way they should've been done the first time around.
"Drive" featured Ryan Gosling as movie stunt man driver. The trailer we watched in class advertised the movie as an action flick that had the plot line where Gosling rises from unknown Hollywood stunt driver to professional racer with hints of violence. Instead, the movie focused on a robbery gone wrong that results in Gosling's character fleeing from his pursuers. This film did a lot of cool things that made it stand out from a regular Friday night flick. For starters, Gosling's character is never given a name. I thought this gave him a mysterious feel which complemented the idea that we didn't know who he was or where he came from. There wasn't much dialogue in this movie, which I thought was really interesting. Sometimes, gestures say more than what words can say, and this movie capitalized on that principle. While not much was said between Gosling's and Carey Mulligan's character, it was not hard to notice the sexual tension between them. I thought it was an interesting choice to cast Gosling in the lead role because you usually think of him as a lead in a romantic film like "The Notebook," "Crazy, Stupid Love," or "Blue Valentine." Nevertheless, he fit the role, although I feel like there is a plethora of actors who could've have fit in this role. I was not particularly fond of the intense violence of this movie. While I do believe violence is necessary in a film like this, the directors went above and beyond with the amount of gore in this film. It was extremely hard to watch a woman's head get blown open by a shot gun or a man's head get stomped on to the point that only blood remains. That was the only thing negative I have to say about this film. While this movie certainly isn't for everyone, it does do a lot of cool things.
This was one of my favorite films of the year. I went into this film with same sort of expectation that most people had. I thought it would it be this high-paced action thriller that the trailers seemed to portray. I can understand people coming away from it disappointed, but I appreciated being surprised by it. The movie overall felt like one long music video. I wasn’t born in the 80’s, but I left the film wishing I would have been. The soundtrack was amazing, and I loved the 80’s synthesizer europop. Generally, I am not really a fan of that genre of music, but the way the film tied the music to the shots were great. I came away with a greater appreciation for it. The slow motion walk while Ryan Gosling carries the boy back to the apartment, the scene with him and bald mask walking towards the door of Nino’s pizza, and the opening credits while Gosling drives around late at night. All those little seemingly inconsequential scenes stuck with me, more so than the violent ones. The character of the driver as being this mysterious and brooding person with a penchant for immense violence when triggered was very well played by Gosling. I think he did a great job with the subtlety that the character required. Going back to the violence, it was also something that was somewhat unexpected. The extent of it, that is. It almost had the sort of gratuitousness that you find in a Tarantino film. Scenes like the face stomping in the elevator come to mind, but scenes like that seem crucial to explaining the character of the driver. You start to question how this sort of rage came to him, and you never get any kind of resolve. You end with not really knowing a whole lot about the origin of the driver, but you know that he’s a person just trying to be good and trying to do the right thing. In my mind, again, the slow pacing to me seems to be the mark of these art-house style films, if Drive is considered that. Shots like the dragged out one in the end where you’re not sure if he’s dead or not come to mind. I’m not saying it should have been tight with a quicker pace, and I’m not really criticizing this sort of cinematography. It’s just something that I am a little unfamiliar with because I don’t have as much experience with the more independent, artistic types of movies, though films like this compel me to expand my cinema catalogue.
This film is unlike any coming of age story that I have ever seen. I don’t know if an American film exploring these themes of identity as it concerns LGBT would garner much success. I would like to see an adaptation, just to know that there was some effort in American cinema to shed light on this issue in a humanistic way. Saying that, though, I believe this French film did an incredible job. It didn’t seem over the top or too heavy handed with a strong social message. It was actually a very simple and pure film about this child, and I think if there is any message in the film it’s that there really is no difference with people. Children are children no matter their orientation or identity. There is nothing strange or really that different, and I think that’s a powerful message. Everyone just wants to find a way to belong and connect with others. I really enjoy the ending where the girl continues to maintain her friendship with Laure. It’s good to show that if children can overcome their predisposed notion of those who are transgender, why can’t adults? As great a job this girl did as Laure/Michael with all the depth that it required, my favorite was the little sister. She was the cutest little girl ever, and she reminded me of my little cousins.
“I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive.” This is Ryan Gosling’s character speaking about himself and oversimplifying himself and the movie. My friend had led me to believe that the main character was a “dumb mute,” thereby leading me to expect that the movie would revolve around a simple brute in a cheesy action movie. How wrong I was. At its most basic level, the plot of the film depicts a guy who is a movie stuntman by day and a robbery getaway driver at night who also happens to get involved with a criminal conspiracy and hopes to avenge a woman whom he loves. That would be the main description on the Wikipedia page for the film. However, the movie explores a very rich character, one who hardly speaks but conveys his complex personality through a mixture of his eye movements, body language, and actions. In a way, he is perfectly suited for the silent films of yore. Audiences frequently forget that good acting goes beyond merely smooth delivery of lines. Much in the same way that we form our opinions and understandings of other people through these combinations, so might we when assessing movie characters. Aesthetically, the movie has a gritty yet flashy atmosphere to it. The nighttime scenes seem somewhat glitzy while the daytime ones have more of a somber and lonesome feel to them. Moreover, many close-ups of the film put us in touch directly with the characters, momentarily distracting us from the stupendous set pieces. Finally, the soundtrack is amazing, with its heavy emphasis on synth-beats, and it is a shame that an Oscar nomination did not happen for the soundtrack or the film.
TOM BOY: For those who thought homosexuals were influenced into their decisions through media, parenting, friends and so on, Tomboy is a great example of a movie that shows how early on the conflicting feelings truly are. Even though the movie is about a young 10-year-old girl who is mistaken for a boy by the other children in the neighborhood and continues to lead them on by thinking she is one, I believe this story is about her relationship with her sister. Laure and Jeanne share a moving bond that, I believe, made the movie as great as it is. I believe that Jeanne is Laure strength, backbone, shoulder to cry on, and so on.
I do not like the way the mother is portrayed in the story. In the modern society we live today, and with the girl who already dresses like a boy at home, I find it unlikely for the mother to act the way she did forcing Laure to wear a dress and confront the other children as girl. I also believe the father to be misleading. He teaches he’s daughter to drive, drink bear and do all these “boyish” activities that may manipulate the audience to wonder if he was her influence in being a tomboy, when truly, it all comes from within herself.
The use of the inside versus outside shots is interesting. When Laurie is inside, she is usually with her sister or mother, but when she leaves the house, she can act the way she wants to, free from her mother’s eyes. Interestingly, all the women seem to be trapped inside the boundaries of the house, Laurie, Jeanne, their mother and the mother of the other kids. The men, on the contrary, are usually outside playing around and being free. This account could symbolize how, for Laurie, living, as a boy is what her mind and body considers as freedom.
Drive Seeing Drive at the Cosford Cinema was the second time I had gone to the movie, the first being when it was released in theaters. I was thrilled that the Cosford Cinema showed Drive, as I had very much enjoyed it the first time and was looking forward to watching it again. Drive adopts a unique blend of action, drama, and romance to create a powerful film that captivates audiences and makes for a solid cinematic feature. Nicolas Winding Refn does a masterful job of creating an interesting cross between genres, just enough in the way of car chases and violence to appeal to those hoping for an adrenaline rush or a taste of gore, plenty of intrigue for those who enjoy dramas, and just enough of a romantic touch to appeal to those who like that sort of thing in their films. While each of the three elements are present, none are overpowering, so as not to put off any large fields of the audience. The characters in Drive are interesting. None are particularly appealing, but it is still rather easy for the audience to feel at least some empathy for them, but not so much that the deaths of characters (of which there are quite a few) create a roller coaster of emotion throughout the film. The somewhat detached nature of the characters falls away, however, when the driver and Irene’s romantic storyline surfaces, and the audience can feel, if only for a few minutes, the love that forms between the mysterious, quiet driver and his neighbor. This creates for a pleasant respite between scenes of violence and dramatic dialogue, slowing down the movie, but not to the extent that it becomes dry or dull. The soundtrack of Drive also plays an important part in the film and its effect on the audience. The soundtrack isn’t strident and fast-paced enough to be for a pure action film but it isn’t lyrical enough to be for a romance film. Instead, the soundtrack, mostly composed by Cliff Martinez, balances the two, emphasizing neither of the two predominant genres, but rather blending them together into something unique. Drive is a powerful film that can captivate audiences and make them very interested in the story taking place before their eyes. The movie is one of my favorites and I find it disappointing that it didn’t receive more awards, as it did a solid job of blending genres and creating a unique moviegoing experience.
See Sabu's "driving", a very pleasant surprise, used to seeing the story of his fate of a strike that hapless, "driving" down gives Jack a warm heart. Trapeze of "projectile" see human Jiaoruan, "Pirates of the letter of Love" to see who SOUL, "Mad Monday" out and out crazy, "bad monkey" disguising the bad luck, unlucky hero three cars and six of the collision, the viewer's physical and psychological suffering intolerable. See the "driving" down Sudden Impact, comfortable light wind loyalty to a sense of really rare treat. Sabu likes to play a domino-like chain reaction, we thought just the doom Doutou leaching cold water to see much more, such as the hero-like close your eyes, Let it be! Not think will be confirmed "bad the magic hand of blessing dependency ": the three of robbing a bank of large sums of money was taken away by accomplices thief, and they hijacked the car driver's hero, dining in a restaurant, a small fry blackmail. Man towards the door ready to alarm has been affected by headache disorders plagued drivers headache, and has no intention of knocking over a glass of wine, causing the typical Saab style chain reaction, and finally headlong into the abdomen of the small fry is a customer of a ballpoint pen, which made person laughs from the results, it touches on the fate of (or Sabu) and four open a well-intentioned joke. Three thief to catch up with associates, took the money robbed to cock on a very unresponsive car. We thought it was a black head encounter story, think of the start of a period out of the dark journey. A roaming car, carrying four hapless or bitter or sad memories, because the cock all the coincidences, everyone deadlock but can be untied. First Terajima played "Angry Young Men" Thieves, see the lead singer of a club drug malaise, while the audience is soulless zombie, So responsibility seizures, scolding each other for survival value, and was wheeled into contention under center of the stage, simply lamb into the mouthpiece to continue his litanies of "Moral Education" curse to the fun at the "F-Chuck the F-Chuck! F-Chuck!" non-stop, the audience has not changed awake may not conceivable, anyway, he's shouting very punk musical accompaniment, the audience Guys and Dolls' d appear to be more to the High of a rock star was born in Sri Lanka! The original lead singer's girlfriend autopay, and thus he from the greenwood career doing the promising star to go.
I really liked this movie. When I first saw the shortcuts, I was really confused to whether this was a little boy who was gay or if the story had another plot. Once I got to see the movie and I learned that it was a girl who was pretending to be a boy I was amazed because I never expected this outcome. This movie is so subtle that it was hard to realize that Laure was really a lesbian and as a matter of fact this little girl is embarrassed to admit that she in fact is a lesbian. Tomboy, which shows a little girl trying to find her identity and sexual orientation, has a very simple plot. Nevertheless, it keeps the audience interested and concentrated. A beautiful familiar relationship is shown in the different scenes. The sweetest relationship is between Laure and her 6 year old sister Jeanne. They were really close and they supported each other. For example, when Jeanne finds out of her older sister’s secret, she does not go and tell her mother but rather stands by her and turns it into something amusing. We can also see how even though Laure’s mother gets mad when she finds out about Laure’s secret, she supports her and teaches her about honesty by making her say the truth to her friends. Zoe Heran the main actress did an amazing job in portraying the emotions of a girl her age discovering her identity. I found interesting that the movie did not had a great quantity of dialogue but rather the actions had a great importance in giving the audience clues to understand plot of the movie. For example, when we see Zoe cannot pee in front of her friends because she is a boy or when she make a boy like swim suit with a fake penus.
When I watched Drive at the Cosford, it was the second time I had seen the movie. Drive was my favorite movie of the year and it was that more apparent after I watched it again. To start off I am a big fan of Ryan Gosling and I thought that he did a fantastic job in the movie while barely speaking. He doesn't say much and I think this is well done by the director. I was confused at times when I watched this movie the first time but when I watched it for the second time I all those questions were answered. The soundtrack to this movie is also fantastic. I loved it and it went so well with the movie. I thought that the casting was also done well for this movie. Everyone plays their role well. However, the thing that really was weird for me in this movie was the gore. It just came out of nowhere. When I watched it at the Cosford everyone would laugh whenever there was a scene with a lot of gore. This bothered me a lot. I would recommend this movie to anyone as I found it to be a great one.
TOMBOY The motion picture Tomboy from 2011, directed by Celine Sciamma is about a girl struggling finding her own identity. I didn’t have too high expectations about the movie, although the trailer made me wonder what was this boys secret. However, it turns out that the little boy in the movie actually is a girl. When her family moves to a new town, she finally sees the opportunity to start the life she always wanted, as a boy. The movie is showing how stereotypes are playing a great role in the society, and how people react when people are being different than what’s considered as "normal". By showing very emotional scenes, as for example the scene where the kids are forcing the main character to pull down her shorts to prove that she is not a boy, the audience becomes aware of the main characters emotional struggle. I find it interesting that the main character chose to cut her hair short and starting fights to prove her identity as a boy. Again, this is showing the great part of stereotypes in the society. The way her mother reacted to the whole situation was devastating to watch. Her reaction was fear, and this proves how important the message in this movie is, we need to get some knowledge about this to help people that are struggling with their own identity, instead of attacking them and make them feel like freaks. Even though I found the movie very interesting with some important social problems, I am not sure I would recommend this to others. Yes, the movie can make you think critically, as we need more knowledge to understand and accept what’s ''different", and the mother and her little sister portrays a great contrast to this. As mentioned, the mom is handling this situation very badly, but her little sister is appreciating the tomboy as a person, she doesn’t require any expectations except love and care. After seeing the movie, I believe the director wants to portray some sides of the society, and I believe he successfully managed that. However, I am not sure I will ever recommend this movie.
Before watching movie, I thought the movie “Drive” would have a lot of scenes of car racing or police chasing. However, contrary to expectation, I couldn’t see any that kinds of scene. Except beginning part, it is hard to see car racing parts. Instead, there were many scenes that driver drives his car moderately or stops somewhere. There are many parts that the major character waits in his car and sees outside to figure out what is going on. Such scenes lead me to have extreme tension since they feel like something would be happened. Also, the movie “Drive” includes many scenes of brutality. For instance, the main character killed people with hammer or smashed someone’s head horribly. It is easy to see blood and damaged bodies. Because of this cruelty, I got nervous more when there is quiet and dark scene since I expected atrocious thing would happen soon. Moreover, the song played in movie helped me more concentrated on the movie. Its soundtrack was awesome. After watching “Drive”, I realized how soundtrack is important for movies. There was one scene that major character was with his lover and enemy in same elevator. When he fought with that enemy to protect her, one peaceful song was played. It was pretty cruel scene. However, because of the song, even that cruel scene looked like beautiful scene for me.
When I walked into the movie Drive I had some expectations for how the movie would turn out. I thought that this was going to be the normal pretty boy goes cool action movie. There will be a girl the main character falls for who is tragically taken. Later the main character will try to help said husband but things go wrong then the husband dies leaving the main character to save the woman’s life. This is all usually done with a minimal amount of violence and gore. This assumption proved true for the first hour of the movie. Moments later my expectations were broken by a scene of extreme violence. I mention this because it was a huge shock moment. If the movie had been that violent until that point I think I wouldn’t have even thought of it, but because it was so calm this scene felt entirely out of place as did another scene when the main character literally stomps someone’s head off. These two scenes felt entirely out of place in a strange manner that could be conveyed as either completely wrong or just humorous. The most important shot in this movie was close ups of Gosling’s face. This is because the nameless main character has so few lines. It is his facial expressions that convey his character. This, along with his namelessness, is important because Gosling’s character starts off as a blank slate in the movie, but becomes human as the movie continues. In the beginning he does many things and talks with people, but he conveys no emotion and never seems to have a position on anything. As the movie goes on he starts showing facial expressions and shows that he is in fact a real human being. This idea is further shown by the song playing at the end that simply repeats the phrase, “A real human being, and a real hero.”
I think that the movie Tomboy was very humane and caring in the way it shows Laura's life. The movie presents the tomboyish Laura, who behaves like a boy, plays with boys all the time, and developed a relationship with a girl Lisa. But Laura's behaviors were not worried too much by her mother and father, who were unlike lots of parents. The movie also shows in a non-judging way of how things should be - what Laura should do (behave like a girl), and neither does it imply the perception of "how thing should turn out" by showing Laura's suffer from being unique. All the movie does is that it narrates the story of Laura as if it happens in real like, nothing is being valued or even suggested. And in the end, Laura's mother forced her to telling everyone the truth that she is a girl, mainly because of the truth that Laura can't deceit people forever. So I was thinking would her mom force her to confess if she could manage to pretend forever. I think it also shows that Laura's mother is very fair and supporting to her kid. I think if we can view things that are not usual - say homosexual and gender identification issues, in a accepting way, everyone is going to feel more love and inclusion, so they will lead a more enjoyable life.
Laure is the girl who wants to be a boy. She acts like if she were a boy so that play soccer very well. Also, she wants to get attention from Lisa and not to disappoint her, she tries to love Lisa as a boy. Laure seems like a real boy because I mistook her for typical boy at the first time. She likes to play soccer with other boys and swim in the lake. These things are the very boy thing which is active sports. So that is why other children think Laure as a boy. I think it is ridiculous that girls have to be shy and inactive and boys have to be courageous and active. When her mother found out that she pretends to be a boy, she got really mad about that fact and forced her to dress girlish clothes. If I were her mother, I would not do such a thing which could hurt daughter’s heart. Laure needs her time to adapt to girl’s world and build her own identity. Although it is very important for children to set their sex identity, parents may give them freedom to act in way that they want. During that period, children can realize which attitude they should have after childhood and they also can have managing time while discussing many things with friends and parents. Watching this movie, I can think in children’s view and criticize adult’s world which always children.
I thought the movie “Tomboy” was a fascinating story about a little girl confused about her identity. It was a very observational movie that didn’t have much music overall, but it really emphasized the importance on the dialogue and the atmosphere. I thought the director presented the story very benevolently, and selected talented actors that truly delivered in very believable performances. Overall there were definitely funny sequences within the movie, especially between Mikael and her sister. It was also surprising to me that Ana turned about to be a female, because I actually initially thought she was a boy that was just feminine. Throughout the movie, there were mainly two areas filmed within the movie, which were the house she lived in with her family and the woods where she played with the other neighborhood children. In the woods more importantly, she was able to live another life pretending to be a boy, and is accepted as what she desires to be. While in her house, her parents wanted her to act more feminine and even to wear dresses to confirm her as more a female. She eventually gains respect from the boys, through playing soccer, showing that she could fight, and swimming alongside them. The movie depicted the fact that she wanted this to be her reality very well, as she made an entirely false identity as Mikael with intentions of being known as a boy by everyone in the community. Her sister was clearly her best friend throughout the whole movie who kept her secret from her parents, and appreciated her sticking up for her from bullies. This movie also touched on society placing stereotypes on individuals to act a certain way, which is the reason why she is easily able to fool the other and given a label by them as masculine. Although her mother was confused about her daughter wanting to become a boy, forcing her reveal that she was actually a girl must about been very humiliating.
Laure is a tomboy, woman but acts like a guy. Moving in new village, Laure introduces herself as a guy Michael to her new friends. Her friends cannot notice that Laure (Michael) is woman although she plays soccer with taking off shirt since she has skinny body. Even, Laure swims together with guy by camouflaging with clay. However, her normal life as a guy starts to mess up after meeting with Lisa thinking Laure is a guy. Being with Lisa most of time, Laura fall in love with her. In other words, a girl loves with another girl. Even if Laure’s younger sister, Jeane, know this fact, Laure pass a crisis well immediately. Always, in movie, there is a conflict. One day, her parent found that Laure’s friends know Laure as a guy, Michael. After that, Laure’s mom forces Laure to wear one peace and visits each her friends to let them know that Laure is a girl not a guy. During such process, Laure got confused more about her sexuality and tormented. But, at last part, Laure accepts her as a girl and introduces her again as Laure not Michael to her friend Lisa. In this movie, there are not that many communications and trouble between people. This movie just makes me follow story with only Laure’s external appearance such as face expression, voice tone and gesture. Even if it deals with homosexuality, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable but more understandable for Laure’s feeling.
Laura moved to a new home with his parents and sister, with cut short hair, wear boys clothes, looks like a tomboy, she is to introduce yourself to new partners, more simply hide the identity of the girl.She play with the boys swimming, topless, play enjoyable, more real girl and a hair fluttering sprouted out of the ambiguous feelings. Gender identity in the innocent world of childhood, does not seem the most important thing.Thus more than Laura, her sister is also willing to "lying". A brother than a sister, domineering, because my brother is a "sister" can not be entrusted to listen to a sense of security. The child's thinking, so simply straightforward, but it also points to the men in that capacity for our initial growth, how to establish a dominant position.Laura in the future, still have the right to choose whether to continue to do, "Laura". It is important that, when she once again make a choice, is not a naive dream of childhood, and really understand ourselves, go to the choices they need to be the one who. So the ultimate point of sex is still the "I" this subject. Know themselves, recognize and accept their own, each child a lesson in life must initially
It is a movie talking about problems of homosexual, on the other words, it is a announcement of many homosexual people, it said what the afraid to say, showed the misunderstands that usually happen in their world. The leading actress Laure is a tomboy, she is a girl facially but a boy internally, because she is young, even from her outlook it is hard to recognize her gender. She moved in a new place with her family and met some new friends( most of them are boys),when first time the met, Laure introduces herself as a boy to them. Because of her outlook, Her friends cannot figure the secret out, by the way they invited Laure to play many sports with them, like soccer, swimming, very man game. When playing with her new friends, Laure always willfully hide her real gender. Unfortunately, Laure’s new life was messed up by a girl named Lisa came through in her life. Through to be a closet friend of Lisa, Laura was crushed on her, but Lisa still misunderstand laure is a boy. Finally, the truth was revealed accidentally by a friend of Laure, and found by her parents, she began to suffering the treatment like every homo people from her parents, they forced her to live like a girl and let her friends know it , her privacy was deprived, Laure is facing the crisis. During the process, Laure began to accept she is a girl and introduce herself again to her friend.
To be honest, I do not think Laura to the lack of gender awareness. Posing as a boy, every detail of her doing well, such as the first observation of the performance of boys and then mixed with the boys play together; Lisa asked her name and immediately thought of a male pseudonym; Another example is the swimsuit to the male The style did not forget stuffed plasticine. She is very mature, and also well aware that men and women are different. So in the end she hi do not like Lisa do? Is that fell in love with Lisa to make her male identity "is more real, or so psychologically as a genuine boys fell in love with Lisa it? I saw the movie a shot, I have no problem. My interpretation is that Lisa Ken asked that question to prove that she did not hate Laura, and Laura answered his real name, real female names into a smile, by the apprehension, because the lens side, we can not see Laura opposite lisa smile (my personal idea). For this reason, to make Laura laugh. Laura is like Lisa, out of genuine rather than due to gender, perhaps Laura did not know before, but in the end she understood, although this may have some differences and adult love. The courage to face their own female identity, she has gone through a threshold of life, Lisa has accepted this, which indicates that her newborn.
In fact, the problem of juvenile and there is no problem, no problem with her family, the film is not the mentality of the children to discuss. Director from start to finish did not investigate the reasons she became a tomboy, but trying to show through the details of a little girl, tomboy mentality and behavior, the behavior demonstrated in the sun, plainly, does not have the slightest bit sick. I believe that no one will produce films and want to rush to correct the behavior of Laura. If we think that the video Laura, her parents treat the approach of these things, can only prove our vision, our growth, full of a variety of environment distorts our We are the genuine problem youths.
DRIVE I must say that if you are a lover of music, Drive will blow your mind. Of course I must also comment on the camera angles, coloring and apparent lack of dialogue, but still, the music is amazing. Artists such as Kavinsky, College, and Cliff Martinez among others make up the score of this movie. The movie practically has no dialogue. The characters communicated through expressions. The mood of the scene is set with the music; therefore dialogue is not even necessary to get the message and morals of this movie across. This movie brings us back to the time when silent movies were accompanied by orchestras or a simple piano conveying a lot of emotion, more even then logical thinking and reasoning. The camera angles are sick! They convey the main character’s isolation as well as loneliness. They make us feel entrapped and at the same time in danger, the same way the main characters feels this way. The close-up on the character’s faces, especially with Ryan Gosling, give us the intimate relationship necessary due to the lack of dialogue. I do believe that this movie is mostly style rather than content. It is so overly stylistic, saturated and musically wonderful that it fits into the category of this new wave of stylistic movies. Ryan Gosling has been in a handful of movies in the past year, all considered big. He has been doing a wonderful performance, especially in Ides of March where his character is so serious, and stunning. In Drive, he doesn’t even have (almost) any lines but still illustrates everything he is thinking perfectly through his facial expression, something hard for an actor to master. I did love this movie and believe that it should be on everyone’s watch list
DRIVE Matthew Head If I had to choose one word to describe this film it would be surprising. Drive was thrilling as I expected it to be however it was also very understated. The trailer gave the impression that this was going to be another Hollywood action blockbuster, even though I was surprised I enjoyed the change of pase. Ryan Gosling's character was very similar to Daniel Craig's interpretation of James Bond. I think that this movie reveals how unimportant dialogue actually is in a movie. On the other hand, he had so little dialogue that while watching the movie I often thought to myself "He really does not have a lot of dialogue, like almost none." My first impression of the movie was this feels like a very long short film. Ryan was very collected the for the majority of the movie, which was why it surprised me so much when Ryan boot stomped the guy in the elevator or smashed one of the 'bad guy"'s hands to pieces. During the elevator scene the audience started to laugh, this is because even though the scene out of context was horrific, in context it was so out of place that it seemed ridiculous. Overall this was my favorite movie that I have watched in this class. I think to say that this movie is so good is because of the acting, I think there are many Hollywood actors who could have played this role equivalently well. This movie was so good because of the music and editing. The music gave this movie the dark and mysterious feel that it had.
I often enjoy foreign films because they remind me of my home in my birth country of Belgium. Since I spent the first decade there I thought back often of my child hood which was in a very similar style of culture for Laura. The area she was in seemed a little more secluded. I enjoyed this aspect of the movie because I would think of my friends and how we did the same things and how my mom would act the same way. My critique on the movie itself is very different. I came out of the movie a little emotional which is hopefully what they were aiming to do. I think the relationship between Lisa and Laure ended up being a little too weird because I don't think Laure was gay. The way the mom reacted was the same mine would if something similar ever happened and I couldn't imagine what Laure was going through. That being said the child actors in this movie were all exceptionally talented especially Zoe Heran herself. A very good story that was very well executed in my opinion.
Drive was a crazy and fun movie. Although full of actors and production I could see why Drive was regarded as more of an indie style film. As mentioned in class the trailer absolutely ruined the viewers perception on Drive. I became very invested in the characters as they tried killing each other. The camera work in this movie I thought was very good. What I still don't understand was the comedy seen by the audience I was with in the movie. What I thought was thrilling action had the cinema laughing. Perhaps it was overdone sometimes which may have caused people to laugh instead of realize the power of Ryan Goslings actions. I thought Drive had a good camera crew and acting crew and a very very good story. I can almost say it was my favorite movie that I have seen for class because of the compelling acting and camera angles. Sure the movie was a little unrealistic and not how the real world would operate but I enjoyed and found value in watching Drive.
I thought this film named Drive just like a regular American film, crashing, violence, and heroes, before I came into the cinema. On the contrary, it was deeper, much deeper, much more than this. I can also figure the American elements at the starting part, however, undoubtedly, it is a film that described the whole story clearly, like a lodestone, it attracts the audience crazily, let them grudge to leave one step, even go to restroom. Except the works of director, the leading actor named Ryan Gosling perfectly depicted the mind of the major character in the film, like he is the man who was experiencing this nightmare. Undeniably, it is a truly American style film, but there are many components new in this film, I had a totally different feeling when watching it. Like someone put the new wine in an old glass, you never know the taste unless trying it, however, after seeing this film, we are going to think about our safety in America. Anyway, I am convinced by this film, even the action movie that is most hated for me, can still be shot like this special way, like a classic fiction, every word in it catches the readers’ hearts, no exception.
TOMBOY Matthew Head All I could think about while watching this movie was how much I had wished I had not seen the trailer. After I had watched the trailer I was too curious about when the turning point was going to come in the film. All of the technical aspects of this movie were superb, especially the acting. At the end of the film I realized how incredible it was that a girl that young gave such an emotional performance. Although it may be easy to assume that Laura was homosexual I think that there is a strong possibility that Laura may have felt that it was easier to fit in and have friends if you are a boy. However this film also made me think of how hard it would be to be homosexual in a society that is not comfortable with homosexuality. I think that one of the most endearing parts of the movie is the relationship between Laura and her sister. This relationship makes me feel that even if Laura becomes an outcast she will still be able to fall back on someone. The ending of this movie brought hope to me that Laura would be able to live happily, however it is still pretty open ended.
Stardust Memories It is actually a nice change for Woody Allen, even it took a price of losing some audience, but it is a nice attempt. As far as I am concerned, this film is truly emotional, it is really for art, to many close- up shots were used in this film to show the actors’ emotion, sorrow, and happiness. It is a nice tragedy, led the memories of love of many audience. During the whole film, Woody’s eyes are magic, controlled our tempers, if you do not have a patience, give this movie up, maybe it is not fit for most of people, but there are always some few loyal audiences are able to read this film, I said “ read”.
May be it is so hard to a comedy actor to change his image on screen, even he is crying that is going to make you laugh, like the realized blocks in our daily life, to be successful on one hand means you are a loser on the other hand On one hand. However, this movie is telling us, to break the constrains will surprise you so much, you never know what is waiting for you in the future.
Wow. I was very surprised after watching drive. The movie was very two sided, in the sense that it was very subtle (not much dialogue), but at certain point very graphic and not subtle. Also when reflecting on it, the movie seems to be a few days in the life of Ryan Gosling's character. It sort of seems as the characters journey into darkness, over a short time period. He kills, then he kills more, and more brutally as well. But dose he do it in the name of love? Or is it a darkness and vengeance that "drives" him.
I also enjoyed the cinematography of this film. The use of close ups, and slow motion filming were enjoyable, and interesting. I also liked the detail of the storyline, from what car he picks to do his first heist, to knowing that the ball game would be letting out so he could blend in.
I felt that this movie made the audience think about the story, and made the audience pay attention since there was so little dialogue.
The only negative for me was the blood. I thought that in some instances the blood was a little to much. I would have enjoyed a little less gore. The amount of killing was ok, but the amount of blood shone, was a little much.
Drive was one of my favorite movies I have seen in a long time. Since it was recommended to me by a trusted friend, I decided it would be worth a try and I was extremely happy I decided to do so. One of the things that made Drive very unique but also incredibly engaging was the lack of dialogue. The main character, played by Ryan Gosling, barely speaks at all throughout the first forty five minutes of the movie or so, yet the combination of a great soundtrack and excellent non-verbal acting kept the audience extremely engaged. Then, about two-thirds of the way through the movie, some extremely brutal violence starts taking place, and that is when I became hooked, as I was already enjoying the movie even though little was happening. The goriness used makes the action scenes much more vivid and give it a realistic feel, such as Christina Hendricks’ character having her head blown off with a shotgun, or Gosling’s character stomping a man’s skull in inside of an elevator. The movie also benefits from stellar acting in virtually all of the roles, with one of my favorite actors, Bryan Cranston, playing the role of the boss and mentor of Gosling, and Ron Pearlman as an excellent villain. Overall, I thought Drive was great and actually have watched it again since.
Huan Liu Tomboy Well, the movie basically talked about the young girl Lauren whose family just moved to a new area. She was young. Her body hasn't develope the feature of female yet. So she mistakenly was treated like a boy, playing soccer, running without top shirt and swimming naked with all her peers. At the moment she named herself Michael is the point her life that starts to make a difference.She kind of just feel close to that girl Lisa as her good friend. She psychologically treated herself as a boy. That's how the move creates an argument of sexual awareness. It is really interesting and surprising that the movie showed her pubic area directly to all the audience. As a young actor, I feel she might be taken advantage by the director somehow. The movie also give a positive answer about the humanity. In the end of the film, all the boys just formed a circle and agreed Lisa to check her gender privately. It is a film which confirmed the innocent in people's age.
This movie really had an impact in me and I really liked it. “Tomboy” is a movie that was made in 2011 by the director Céline Sciamma and deals with a very touching topic. Laure (Zoé Héran), is a 10-year-old girl that presents herself as a boy by the name of Michael. When I first saw the trailer I got a bit confused on what really happened to the little kid, but after seeing the entire movie I now realized that Michael was really a girl. I consider this topic to be a bit controversial not only because it deals with a delicate topic, which is the sexual preference of a little girl, but also because it portrays a reality in which our society is getting immerse. I am still quite undecided on how I feel in regards to the casting of a little girl. Zoé Héran is a very talented actress however being exposed at such young age might be a little bit to much in my personal opinion. Nonetheless, I considered this movie to be a very well elaborated film that enabled the director to deliver the message in a very unique way. I think that most of the components that were utilize in this production helped enhance the entire film.
Right after watching this film, I felt horrible and disgusting. Actually, I expected many driving scenes of car racing like conventional action movies. However, It was full of murdering, violence and gun-shooting. Besides it lacks conversation between characters so I could not understand the feeling of main characters. I felt very unhappy about the scenes where the main character killed people violently smashing someone’s head with lots of blood. I think if there is a need to show these bloody scenes because It is too much for the film to express character’s emotions. But I liked songs in the movie. It helped me focus on movie scenes and make me concentrate on the film. Actually, until now I can not understand the male character’s goal of those cruel behaviors. Is that only because of love for a female character? I felt confused while watching movie in all time. Sometimes, I thought he is very crazy and has no mercy.
I was really touched by this movie. It is definitely one of the best movies I have seen. At first I thought the movie was going to be the typical movie were there is a new kid in town and he is trying to fit in. I was shocked when I realized that Mikeal was actually Laure, a ten-year-old girl. My feelings were really involved and mixed up. I had a connection with “him” I understood how he felt and why he did it. I’m glad he found a love in that new town. Lisa was welcoming and they had that connection, I felt it. I was scared for her to reveal her true identity. Even though I dress as a girl and stuff, I have always wanted to be a guy. I like outside activities and I like the way they act and dress, so I can say I have sort of lived through something similar in my life. At the end I was tranquil to see how Laure could be herself and she was confortable. I was surprised on seeing a movie with young actors and all of the genders mix up, it’s the first time I see a film like this. They had a lot of close ups which was important because they wanted to show us specifically what was going on with that character. I think of the film as really straight forward, the music was innocent and childish but at the same time it was chosen to play at specific part of the movie. Sometimes no noise is better sound than any other. I can somehow relate this to Angelina Jolies child. She likes to dress and act as a boy, and so many people have criticized. In todays world and always I’ve believed that whatever makes each individual happy they should do. I think this movie is beautiful and well done the acting was impressive.
Drive I was expecting more of an action movie when I first saw the trailer, however, it turns out that the part that looked like an action movie was totally different and irrelevant (to me) from the rest of the movie. I have to say that I was quite disappointed when the movie ended. I was expecting something exciting the entire time, however, I haven’t seen any till the end of the movie. The main actor in the movie is a guy that has a good heart and is willing to help others in trouble, however, this “habit” eventually got him into a big mass, even endangered his life. Personally, I don’t like this kind of personality. You can help out when you can, however, not to get yourself into trouble. You should be able to tell when the good-heart get you killed. One should first take care of himself before he could care others. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to my friend. I didn’t really get the point after I saw the movie. It seems to be a simple tragic love story, which isn’t even romantic, with some action scenes.
Drive C04997305 Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive has been one of the more surprising films I have seen over the past year. I went into the film with a confused variety of anticipations based on the trailer which seemed to present your typical action film, Gosling’s recent string of romantic roles, and Refn’s directorial past (mainly Pusher). What I got instead was better than anything I could have expected. Drive is a mix of tense dramatic thriller with a love story (think taxi driver meets sixteen candles, a strange combination I know but somehow Refn pulls it off seamlessly) presented in a well executed homage to the 80s. Gosling plays the role of the Driver who’s quiet innocence deteriorates as the film progresses. In the beginning we are introduced to his criminal profession but his relationship with Irene and her son Benicio seems to put that part of him out of the audiences mind. It is not until the gorey failed attempt on his life that we are reminded about the full nature of his character. Refn uses the Driver’s white jacket as a metaphor for his loss of innocence with it becoming progressively more bloodstained as the movie goes on. Overall Drive has been one of my favorite films over the past year. The film is lifted by strong supporting performance of Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. Refn left his stamp on this film and has added another classic to his credit.
I want to say a few words of plot, the most brilliant point from the story is that it has a perfect balance of dramatics and reality, childhood is a kind of precious memory in everybody's heart, this makes the main idea and main chain of the film attractive, but now the fact is too much of the movie is about the childhood it also established a challenge, wild standout from all the movie. In fact there is no problem to youth, her family has no problem, this film is not for people to debate the attitude of children. Director from beginning to end will not be investigated for her become a tomboy reasons, but trying to detail to show a little girl of psychology and behavior of tomboy, all this behavior showed in the sunshine, plainly, do not have a morbid state. I believe that no one will see a little produce want to rush in to correct Laura behavior. If we think the film has a problem, Laura has a problem, her parents treat these things processing method has a problem, it only proves that our eyes have problems, our growth full of problems distort our environment. We are the true problem young.
Before watching this movie, I figured it would be a knock-off of Jason Statham's "Transporter" series. It was difficult for me to believe that such a similar plot would be able to be interpreted differently, even by a different director and cast. Alas, I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh, abstract approach to this storyline.
The driver in this story was a very mysterious character. He was never addressed by a name, and he hardly uttered a word for the majority of the movie. He showed little to no emotion except when the few people he cared about were threatened. But this turned out to be an awesome part of his character. And it really shows his inner intensity when he finally snaps at his enemies after almost a full film of calm-demeanor.
I found this movie to just be very realistic. The dialogue uses much space to let the viewer interpret what the characters are thinking, and gives the characters a non-cinematic awkwardness that I really enjoyed. It was a nice change of pace from the typical action movie.
The ending was slightly cliche, as they left it open-ended. The viewer has to interpret whether the driver survives the stab and drives off into the horizon, or whether it is symbolic for his death. It is still an effective ending, in my opinion, and it gives the audience the opportunity to end the story how they want.
I wasn't enthralled by this film in particular. It was kind of slow and saddening for my tastes. I was under the impression that Laure accepted being called a boy, because she was too embarrassed to correct the assumptions and be seen for who she truly was.
It is not healthy for a ten-year-old to recognize herself as a trans-gender. I think that it is important to be true to who you are, and Laure did not appear to be very confident in who she was. This caused me to clash with this film a little.
I like the relationship between Laure and her sister, Jeanne, though. They understand each other very well, and I feel as if Jeanne is Laure's only true friend.
Marquia Eaddy
ReplyDeleteResponse
Tomboy
I really enjoyed this movie. When I first saw the trailer for the movie, I thought that the little girl was a boy. Since I had no prior knowledge of what the movie was about, I did not undestand why the title of the film was called "Tomboy". It was surprising to see the gender of Laure during the bathroom scene. I didn't think they would actually show her private parts since she was so young, but they did. I've never seen a nude scene by an underaged actor. That was different. I liked the humor in it. I also liked how well Zoe Heran fit the role as a boy. The little girl that played Laure's younger sister was so cute! It always amazes me how little people can act so well. How do they remember all those lines?
When the time came for Laure's true identity to be revealed, I sympathized with her. I did not want her to be revealed as a girl, especially since she and Lisa had become romantically involved. I was a little upset at the mother because I believe that if Laure was happy being a boy, then let her be. If I had a daughter who wanted to be a boy, then I would let her. If that made her happy, then why not? At the same time, I was happy that Laure could finally be herself. It was safe for Laure to play a boy because she hadn't hit puberty, but once she did, she wouldn't be able to fool anyone. The boobs don't lie. Laure also would not have been able to use the boy's bathroom in school.
In a way, her mom helped a great deal because things would have only gotten more complicated for Laure. It seemed like the father wasn't surprised by any of it. The mom made a big deal out of the situation. At the end of the movie, I was happy to see that Lisa was still willing to be friends with Laure. I can imagine how awkward it must have been for the two of them. I think that if the story were to continue, Laure and Lisa would still be love interests. If not in the fourth grade, then maybe later on in life.
The story of Drive is told from the first person perspective of the mysterious and nameless protagonist (i.e. the Driver), and develops through facial expressions and character interactions, rather than through lengthy dialogue. The film is shot predominantly in extended medium close-ups and close-ups. The audience’s perception of an event is shaped by the perspective of the characters. This style develops an aura of mystery and noir. More importantly, the style helps the audience enter the mind of the Driver, who appraises the other characters in the film through introspective gazes and economical and precise inquiries. Events in the film are important by themselves, and also on how they impress upon the Driver. For example, the Driver responded to Irene and Benicio with compassion. However, upon butchering one hitman, and blowing away another, the Driver responds with sadistic thrill. The Driver develops from a blank slate, into a benevolent anti-hero who is willing to kill anyone in his way. The story also develops through subtle symbolism. For example, the Driver always puts on his driving gloves when he’s about to do his “dirty work”. In addition, when he first meets Bernie, he is reluctant to shake his hand, saying his hands are dirty. Bernie also says his hands are dirty, a subtle reference to his evil nature. The following shot is of the Driver and Benicio watching cartoons. The Driver asks Benicio if he believes the cartoon is a bad guy; Benicio says yes, because he is a shark, and sharks are always bad. Even more important is the scorpion on the back of the Driver’s jacket. The scorpion is a reference to the fable of the scorpion and the frog, in which a scorpion ask a frog for assistance across a river, but halfway through, stings the frog because of its violent nature. The Driver, although a good person, is naturally inclined to kill.
ReplyDeleteRaeann Raisor
ReplyDeleteTomBoy is a very touching film, especially to the LGBT community. It is by far one of the best foreign films I have seen. Close up shots dominate the film, but there are several long shots in the woods. The woods are seen as a fairy-tale kind of place. They are magical and somewhat forbidden. The naturalness of the woods is contaminated at the end with the dress. There is no background music during the film as there is in normal films, except when the Laure and Lisa are dancing in which case the music is actually playing. This provides a more realistic feel to the film making the audience better able to relate.
There is an underlying theme of fear. Laure is hidden inside the house ( which is representative of “the closet”), whereas “Mikael” is free to come and go as “he” pleases. Indoors represents femininity, for example, it is inside that Jeanne is super feminine, playing in her pink tutu, in the pink room. Women/femininity is confined to that indoor space. Outdoors represents masculinity; the boys are always playing outside. Lisa is the only girl to really go outside and once she does, she is silenced. When Lisa speaks and she is outside, she speaks in a small, quiet voice. In the beginning of the film, Laure is stuck inside, looking through bars on the window. This scene reinforces the theme that women are confined inside. Once Laure goes outside for the first time, it is there that she establishes the identity of “Mikael.”
The children are the redeeming factor of the film. Lisa comes to Laure’s home and asks Jeanne for “Mikael”. Once Lisa leaves, the audience can see Jeanne processing what has happened. Jeanne knows, understands, and still loves her sister, Laure.
At the end of the film, after “Mikael” has been outed, Lisa meets up to start over with “him.” The last scene is essentially a redo of the first scene, except Lisa does not assume Laure is the new boy who just moved in. Lisa still talks to her friend and accepts her in the end.
Pauline Markowicz
ReplyDeleteTomboy is a film i was able to relate to in many ways, first of all i am french and grew in a french home which was very similar to Laure and her family, while watching many scenes of her and her family i could see in my head the same images but with me and my family. (ex: the scene in the bathroom, kitchen, and bedrooms.)
Althoug i never pretended to be a boy i was a tomboy as a kid, only playing boy games with boys and wearing boys clothed and in a way could relate to Laure all the way from her pretending to be a boy to her mom making her wear the dress.
Throughout the movie I noticed that most shots were close up with a few long shots too, which worked out perfectly.
The actors in the film were very good especially Zoe Heran and Malonn Lévana.
overall This film was very realistic maybe because there was not much music in the film and people could relate to it which made it even better,
Drive (Part 1/2):
ReplyDeleteI had not seen Drive before, and I wish that I had been spared the experience of seeing it once. I felt that Drive was a terrible film, one of which no person should be forced to suffer through. I will only briefly mention how terrible it was to listen to the conversations. After an absurdly long pause, Ryan Gosling would respond and you wish that he had just stayed mute as his responses often made the conversation more awkward that it already was. Overall I felt that there were two major things wrong with it. They were as follows, it lacked any humanistic emotion, and it was unoriginal.
With regards to the first aspect, of lacking any humanistic emotion, I felt that all characters were merely shells. They lacked anything beyond a shell that would show that they are human. Throughout the film, one is supposed to be rooting for Ryan Gosling’s character, the un-named driver. However, this protagonist could easily be considered an antagonist in another film or storyline. At one point, he is sitting with Benecio (Kaden Leos), and Benecio while watching cartoons says “He’s the bad guy.” Gosling response of “How do you know?” was replied by “Because he is a shark.” This is an interesting conversation as children are led to believe someone is good or bad in cartoons and movies by the colors that they wear. Those that wear white are traditionally the good guys, whereas those that wear black are the bad guys. However, in this movie, Gosling wears a white jacket throughout most of the movie. Yet he is far from being the good guy. In this movie, we see Gosling kill more people than any other character. In addition to murder, we see him abet two different larceny accounts, grand theft auto, numerous traffic violations, running from the police (resisting arrest), and adultery. No other character on screen commits as many crimes. Yet throughout the movie, Gosling never shows one bit of emotion whether it is remorse, or guilt, or even excitement. He does all things stone cold, completely expressionless. He isn’t the only one either. It seems that people show emotion very rarely in this film.
Drive (Part 2/2):
ReplyDeleteTo address the second issue, there is not a single creative aspect that is new or unique to this film. Obviously car chase scenes are nothing new, but movies still find ways to make theirs unique. Some movies do this via explosions, some do it via gun fight, and some do it through car stunts such as drifting (an example of this is Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift where the car chases stand out because of this unique driving style). Drive lacks any sort of memorable car driving scene that stands out. Beyond the car chases Gosling’s character is a fusion of two movies, Fight Club and The Godfather. Gosling’s character, who is nameless throughout the film and yet the main character, is a page directly out of the nameless person in fight club. Gosling’s character plunge deeper into the criminal world until he kills the man that started the whole thing directly mirrors that of the nameless man in fight club who starts off as a good society man, ending with terrorist acts until he kills Tyler Durden. Yet Gosling’s character also parallels Michael in The Godfather. His reluctance to really get involved in big crime until it impacts his family is taken right off the pages from Mario Puzo. In fact, Drive directly has a tribute to The Godfather. The very last time Michael sees his wife in The Godfather, he tells her about his business, and then she walks out the door and the iconic image of the door shutting her out is what the audience is left with. Much the same, Gosling finally tells Irene (Carey Mulligan) about his involvement in the heist that resulted in her husband’s death and then they step into an elevator. After kicking a man’s face in, Irene steps out and the last time that Gosling sees her elevator doors shut and she is separated from Gosling and his business.
Overall, I would not recommend to anyone that they watch this movie. The movie seems to not know which genre it wants to be. If it was an action film, it needs more action, if it is a drama, it needs less gore, and if it was a romantic story, it needs less action. I cannot understand why it would win any awards at all. The fact that it did win an award at the Cannes Film Festival, to me sends the message that the Cannes Film Festival awards are not awards whose value carry any weight.
Tomboy.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all,this movie is really beautiful!!
I want to say something from the aspect of scenario,the most splendid point from this story is it has a perfect balance of dramatics and realities,childhood is a precious memory in everyone's heart,this makes the main idea and the main chain of this movie attractive,but nowadays the fact is too many movies are about childhood this also establishes a challenge for Tomboy to standout from all these movies.
The music plays a essential role in whole movie which is also a key point of the balance.All the songs insert in Tomboy are bright and remind me about the innocent memory of my childhood,but the story of Tomboy is subtle,when the story compose with the innocent music result a immature beautiful innocent childhood drama which is infrequent.
If we are talking about it at a psychology aspect,I think the reason of Laure desires for being a boy is not only the personality of her own,but also about her relatives.through many minutia we can easily realize Laure loves her family very much,she like hugging with her mom and dad,talk to the baby in her mother's barrie,take care of her sister.But her mom is keep expressing that she wants a boy or predict the baby would be a boy.Also,when the younger sister of Laure knew the secret of her older sister she seemed was very proud of that,she told the other girl how great is having a brother rather than a sister.The atmosphere of Laure's family also push her get the thought of being or pretending like a boy.
Tomboy can be seen as a coming of age transgender story that revolves around the life of a ten year old and pre pubescent girl named Laure whose family moves to a new neighborhood in the outskirts of Paris. Laure who acts and demonstrates girlish qualities in her new home, shows boyish qualities with her new friends outside of home. She later takes on the identity of “Michael” fooling her friends (of who are mostly boys) in order to possibly fit in. Instead of fitting in, this only singles her out when they realize her true identity. After watching Tomboy, I felt that watching the trailer three times before actually seeing the movie helped in understanding the background of the film and didn’t give away too many of the main scenes.
ReplyDeleteMany of the shots were filmed using the close up shot where the camera is focused mostly on Laure’s facial expressions. This is not only on Laure but her younger sister as well. This shows the contrast in their different behaviors. With Laure being only ten years old she is still developing and adapting to her new environment. Several scenes show Laure outdoors with nature which becomes a symbol for Laure’s growth and development and revealed the aspect of nature versus nurture which I think played an important role.
The use of color schemes played an important role throughout the film as well. Laure’s room is painted blue which people usually associate as a boy’s color. Later on, Laure is seen wearing a mixture of blue colors and red colors which could symbolize the mixed up identities of boy and girl. Even the letters in the title of the film were shown with every other letter being in red and blue. Once her mother finds out that Laure has pretended to be a boy, she becomes uneasy making Laure put on a blue dress and face her friends by telling them the truth. The fact that the dress is blue is symbolic in that it still carries some boyish attributes. Once everyone including Lisa finds out the truth, Laure sheds her identity by taking off the blue dress, going back to her original tomboy image
TOMBOY
ReplyDeleteFrom the moment Tomboy begins, there’s a wave of uncertainty in the air. Judging by the lack of music, one’s immediate judgment might be that this film will take on the dark route or that it will be poignant in the sounds it chooses to make. The film brought tears to my eyes, and I was able to understand this lost child, Laure/Mikael. Tomboy emphasizes the beauty of being young and innocent and the pain of adolescence and the misconception of identity.
The biggest question that the film dares to ask is whether transsexuality is a disorder or a choice. At an early age, Laure chooses to be identified as a boy, although the reasoning behind it remains vague. One of the reasons might be because she wants to make friends easily, but since Lisa’s character exists, it appears that it’s not so hard for a girl to become friends with this group of young boys. Perhaps, it’s because Laure really wants to be Mikael and that’s that. It’s not because she/he is sincerely confused, but is aware of the choice he’s making.
The film remains realistic by portraying the mother’s confusion and uneasiness with her daughter pretending to be a boy. But the outright humiliation she brings forth as a result makes me nauseous. I wanted Laure to continue being Mikael, although the mother is slightly right. How would Laure keep this going when school started? Her name wasn’t Mikael and it would probably have been much worse, because the lie would have gone on much longer.
The relationship between Laure and Jeanne is very beautiful and stayed with me the most after the film. In the majority of films nowadays, young siblings are usually very bitter with one another, constantly wrecking havoc on the others’ lives. But Jeanne was accepting of Laure’s choice to be a boy and lied for her too.
The film was perfect as a whole. I can picture it being shown to younger audiences, because I feel this is something kids need to learn about, because it’s going on in schools worldwide. If this film was shown and the teachers encouraged their students to be more accepting, the suicide rate would go down. The film is about choices and it’s parallel to real life and the choices we make as humans.
Marquia Eaddy
ReplyDeleteDrive
I really liked this movie beacause it surprised me by how good it was. When I saw the trailer, I thought that the movie would be full of action and hard core car chase scenes. I also thought that the movie was going to be about a stunt double who falls in love with a girl. I don't usually like action movies because I am a fan of horror movies, so I really like and appreciate when I see a movie outside of what I usually go for that is really good! The soundtrack for Drive was absoltely amazing. I was watching the movie while thinking, "Wow, I really like these songs." I downloaded the whole soundtrack as soon as I got home.
The reason why I like this movie so much is because it reminds me of Grand Theft Auto's Vice City. Everything about the movie reminded me of GTA: Vice City, which is one of my favorite games. From the 80's feel and the drama created with the mafia to the music, Drive shared similarities with that video game. In GTA, there was a drug deal that went terribly wrong and in Drive, Ryan Gosling got mixed up in a robbery gone wrong. Both of the characters had to deal with the consequences involving the mafia and a lot of people died from it because of them being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
To me, Drive was GTA: Vice City in the form of a movie. I loved the scenes where the driver would kill someone and the scene would be full of gore and death. I was not expecting the girl that appeared in the trailer to get her head blown off the way she did, but it was awesome. Those mafia men had no mercy in this film and I loved it. The driver was a really good guy. He went through all of that trouble over a million dollars and didn't even keep the money at the end. I would have at least taken some of it for my pain and suffering. At the same time, I wonder if he did take the money would someone have come looking for him? He killed all of the major people who were trying to cover up their mistake. Ryan Gosling did the right thing because he gave the man his money, even though he killed him in the end.
Drive
ReplyDeleteWow – this word was in mind when I went out of the cinema. I had no expectation on this movie as many people told I wouldn’t like it. It would be too aggressive, too brutal, and too unemotional for me. Moreover, I didn’t like the trailer, as it was a mixture of action scenes without any logical connections; but, with dumb dialogues. However, I liked the movie a lot. Or to put it in other words, Drive is the best movie of 2011.
For me, the movie has a perfect balance of emotion, action, love, and calmness. The director Nicolas Winding Refn didn’t rely on one side only. For example, this mixture is perfectly obvious in the elevator scene. At first, the Driver (Ryan Gosling) kisses his fiancé Irene (Carey Mulligan). Suddenly, he beats the killer in the elevator to death. He is in such a rage that he kicks brutally on the man’s head and, finally, breaks his face. I was quite moved by this scene as it describes how complicated the emotions of the driver are. He doesn’t say much, he keeps his emotions inside. Only with the sexual attraction toward Irene he shows his emotions. The impression that he is an empty shell, as one could get because he has no name, is wrong. I was fascinated by this change. It transformed the driver into a fascinating character which one usually finds in video games (Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row).
Besides this impressive character, I enjoyed the marvelous performance of the actors which were more than realistic and satisfying. But, the movie would have been nothing without the great soundtrack. Every music title fits to the scene and stresses the emotions (as in the party night, where the driver and Irene are departed but would like to be together). Besides this, none music title was played in brutal action scenes. One could take the scene of Blanche (Christina Hendricks) who was shot by a shotgun in the restroom as a good example. One could only hear the sputtering of the blood which shocked me a lot.
Finally, the movie touched and moved me, and I honestly don’t understand why Drive was nominated for one Oscar only. The actors and director did an excellent job, and this should have been appreciated more. I am fascinated by this movie and will watch it again for sure.
Drive
ReplyDeleteI went into Drive not knowing if I would like it or not, based more on what I had heard beforehand rather than the trailers, etc. I have a tendency to dislike people going through crazes - for example, I thought Ryan Gosling was interesting (more for his looks than his acting) when he first started getting popular with The Notebook and all, but now that he's "all the rage" I actually kind of find him irritating - it's just a vibe he gives off. I like him, and yet he puts me off. This movie didn't really help that impression - his acting was great, but something to me was just off, which is possibly linked more to the character than the actor, but he tends to play those silent stare-y characters in his movies that I've seen and while those characters can be very interesting and engaging, they tend to go either way - either they bring you in and make you wonder what's going on underneath, or they put you off and distance you but not in a meant-to-be-the-character kind of way but rather the I-don't-wanna-watch-you-skevy-feelings kind of way.
The movie itself was engaging but the soundtrack kind of threw me. I knew based on the previews that it was gonna have an '80s vibe but I wish it would've picked one way or the other - to switch from Dark Knight-like engaging energized "this is cool" kinda scores to songs typical of indie art (possibly '80s - wasn't alive, so not 100% sure) films is an interesting choice, but it was similar to the issue of the movie itself - it was trying to be two very separate things.
On the one hand, you had the VERY slow scenes that were all about the long looks, which are fine, but they went on WAY to long, and the dialogue that was there was even SLOWER - I'm all for pauses that make sense, but those breaks between what Ryan would say and what Carey would say was OH MY GOD MOVE IT ALONG ALREADY. I guess this was more a result of me not being as invested in their story as I would be with other characters being together - with them, I found I just didn't care - it was like either do something or don't, but make up your frelling mind.
I also think people made a much bigger deal out of the blood and violence then was necessary - there really was very little gore and it really wasn't that violent. And unlike what was mentioned in class about not expecting it from this kind of film, I don't get surprised by gore in any kind of movie - don't overexaggerate something that isn't there. I had more issue with the nudity than the gore.
Overall, it didn't make me want my money back - it was actually pretty good - but I'm finding I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole film - I didn't love it, I didn't hate it - it just was.
Jeffrey Kaminski
ReplyDeleteDrive
Drive has now become another one of my favorite movies. The acting was spot on, the directing was well executed, and the screenplay is amazing. Each character was developed properly and each one added insight into the plot and added only what was necessary to advance the plot line. I sure appreciated the artistic take on an action film that involves action yet is much more focused on the characters and the plot rather than just how many car crashes can be fit into a two hour time period. I think that the chemistry between Cary Mulligan and Ryan Gosling (two of my favorite actors at the moment) was perfect. It was not lovey-dovey as many cinematic relationships are, but was more subtle (enter Gosling’s repeated cheeky smiles he cannot hold back from seeing Mulligan, which were some of his only real emotional breaks from his very stern representation), and was almost awkward to watch at times, but you do become lost in the moment like they are. The relationship felt real, without having to be over done. The storyline itself was great in that it unfolds, generally, as an action movie should, yet there are some surprises that do take you aback. The music chosen for the movie was spot on, creating the types of emotion necessary.
Overall this movie was amazing and I would recommend seeing very strongly.
Jeffrey Kaminski
ReplyDeleteTomboy
Tomboy is an amazing coming of age tale about discovering one’s gender and sexual orientation. Despite being in subtitles, the movie still flowed nicely and the transition from reading to watching became seamless. This was aided by the acting, even as a silent film the acting would have created enough emotion and universal feeling to connect with any viewer. The main actress Zoe Heran did a spectacular job creating real emotion that projects universal understanding. The screenplay was great, the dialogue was generally only used when necessary which was better in my opinion because that brings the viewer more focused on the facial and body expressions of the characters rather than paying attention to unnecessary lines that do not aid the plot or storyline or development of the characters. The director also did a fantastic job with creating perfect shots that were seamless and smooth and easy to follow and depicted each scene brilliantly. There was not much music involved in the movie which for some may make the movie boring, but for others, including myself, made the movie more realistic and down-to-earth. The only criticism I have with the movie was the ending of the bathtub scene. I felt it unnecessary to show a 10 year old girl's lower private parts. It did not really add enough to justify exposing such a young girl. Other than that critique, the movie was spot on and enjoyable and emotionally engaging.
This will remain one of my favorite movies as it was executed fabulously from so many aspects.
Jennifer Locey
ReplyDeleteTomboy was a very pleasantly surprising film for me. I honestly did not know what to expect going into this film, but I loved it. I connected to the film a very unexpected way. I did not expect a connection to the film in many ways at all, but I feel that spoke not only to a coming of age process but also to the family dynamic. Personally, being very close with my own older sister, the relationship between the sisters touched me deeply. The film could have really spoken to anyone who watched it. There were so many different dynamics to the film that while it was not action packed it was highly engaging and interesting. I would love to see this film again, and highly recommend it. One of the most interesting dynamics of the film, to me, was the fact that the audience was constantly expecting the worst. They were waiting for the dramatic, heart wrenching moment where something awful was going to happen. But, other than the one moment in the woods when the young girl is humiliated by her "friends," there was never the horrifying moment that is sadly so often seen in these types of situations. While it was an emotional film, I was very happy with the different path the director took in that they didn't make it a tragic or sudden ending, I feel that it was very realistic in this way. I think that the director touched many people in a very effective way and I will be sure to watch this film again!
Caroline Espe
ReplyDeleteTomboy
Tomboy tells the story of Laure, a young girl who moves into a new apartment complex in a new town with her family. At first, especially if you have no prior knowledge of the plot, it is uncertain whether or not Laure is a girl-- her name and gender are not even mentioned until further into the film. Laure introduces herself to her new friends as "Michael" and tries her best to fit in with the boys. However, she immediately hits it off with another girl her age, Lisa, and the two develop feelings for one another. Throughout this coming of age story, Laure is faced with challenges of self, sexual, and gender identity. I immediately developed a deep connection with the film, especially with Laure's character. I truly, deeply felt for her through her questioning and identity struggles.
I was particularly heart broken when Laure's mother discovers her big secret and basically forces Laure to put on a dress and go around individually to her friends to show that she is a girl. Deep down, her mother is only trying to protect her daughter from teasing and bullying. It is seen through the duration of the film that Laure's parents are completely open minded and supportive of Laure's tomboy lifestyle, but after discovering the secret, her mom knows if Laure's friends discover the truth, she'll only be ridiculed and teased. The only solution Laure's mom could come up with was to just admit that she had lied to her friends, which was absolutely devistating for Laure. Luckily Lisa is eventually understanding and they are able to continue being friends.
The directing and acting in Tomboy is absolutely supurb and I will definitely recommend this film to anyone.
Tomboy
ReplyDeleteThe film "Tomboy" is an endearing coming of age film. The main character Laure is at first an ambiguous figure and one cannot tell if it is a young girl or a young boy. We come to find that she is an indeed a young girl, through the close interaction with her little sister and their sharing in their evening bath time ritual. Laure is such a touching character, as you see the close protective relationship she has with her younger sister. Her patience with her little sister is a vital part of the film; which leads Laure into having to protect her sister from another boy who has pushed her. Additionally, Laure develops a close relationship with a young girl in the building named Lisa. It could be seen as Laure having lesbian tendencies toward Lisa. Yet I feel that the crush is more of a friendship and Laure just felt comfortable with Lisa. Also, Lisa did initiate the kiss, believing that Laure was a sensitive boy, “not like the others”. Laure as a young girl just wants to play the boy games and fit in with the boys, and knows that girls are excluded from such play. When Laure’s mother makes her wear a dress and confront the other kids dressed as a girl your heart really goes out to Laure. We also feel a sense of fear for Laure when she is confronted in the forest by the gang of boys, questioning her gender. However, in the end Laure’s friendship with Lisa is restored, being that it was truly their personalities and not their gender that lead them to each other.
Joffrey
ReplyDeleteThe film “Joffrey” is about the trials and tribulations of starting, maintaining and growing The Joffrey Ballet, the first American ballet troupe.
This was a fascinating story about Robert Joffrey and his co-founder, partner and lover Gerald Arpino. The reason this film has such significance is because Joffrey modernized the way we look at ballet. Before Joffrey the ballet was very traditional with strict Russian technique.
The film starts in the 1950s, with a young Robert Joffrey fascinated by ballet, and taking ballet lessons. He meets an older Gerald Arpino, who looks to be the antithesis of a dancer, yet he too becomes interested in the art. Together they start the Joffrey Ballet, with Joffrey initially being the teacher and Arpino the choreographer. As the time progresses Joffrey becomes the man behind the scenes, keeping the ballet afloat, with Arpino concentrating on the choreography. The film goes into their funding woes with Rebekah Harkness and her attempted coup of their ballet. Harkness had been the primary benefactor of the ballet and decided to no longer fund the ballet. Joffrey was unable to pay his dancers for six months, so they went with Harkness and her new ballet. Yet, Joffrey eventually started back up, and got his ballet up and running again. Upon Joffrey’s passing away, the board attempts to oust Arpino as the director of the ballet. However, Arpino prevails and finds a new home and the next generation of dancers for the company.
This was really a story about following your dreams and overcoming obstacles. The Joffrey Ballet is still going strong today, with its home in Chicago. Many well known professionals came out of the Joffrey Ballet, including Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp and Martha Graham. I believe that Joffrey’s legacy will continue to effect many generations to come.
Tomboy
ReplyDeleteThe film "Tomboy tells the story of young girl in the midst of finding her identity during pre-adolescence. Laure finds herself in a new city with new kids, and she doesn't hesitate to take the opportunity to introduce herself as a boy named Mikael. As Mikael, Laure is just another one of the boys. The only one who knows her secret is her younger sister, Jeanne. I thought one of the most heart-warming qualities of the film was the loving relationship between Laure and Jeanne. Laure would always watch out for Jeanne and take care of her. In return, Jeanne always looked forward to spending time with Laure and promised to keep Laure's secret safe. While this movie was enjoyable to watch, it wasn't necessarily a very fast movie. There was a very relaxed feel to the movie, highlighted by the nature of the family. The two sisters obviously showed a lot of love for each other. The father was a playful father who looked out for his two daughters, particularly Laure. The mother, while strict when it came to making Laure confess her true identity, was usually kind and understanding. The only exception to this very laid back mood was the scene where Mikael and Lisa are dancing to crazy music in Lisa's room. There was a tension between Mikael and Lisa that probably moved the movie along the most. The climax of the movie was when Laure had to come clean about her identity to Lisa. I really liked the ending of the movie as it went full-circle and ended with Laure and Lisa introducing themselves to each other again. This time the introductions were done the way they should've been done the first time around.
Drive
ReplyDelete"Drive" featured Ryan Gosling as movie stunt man driver. The trailer we watched in class advertised the movie as an action flick that had the plot line where Gosling rises from unknown Hollywood stunt driver to professional racer with hints of violence. Instead, the movie focused on a robbery gone wrong that results in Gosling's character fleeing from his pursuers. This film did a lot of cool things that made it stand out from a regular Friday night flick. For starters, Gosling's character is never given a name. I thought this gave him a mysterious feel which complemented the idea that we didn't know who he was or where he came from. There wasn't much dialogue in this movie, which I thought was really interesting. Sometimes, gestures say more than what words can say, and this movie capitalized on that principle. While not much was said between Gosling's and Carey Mulligan's character, it was not hard to notice the sexual tension between them.
I thought it was an interesting choice to cast Gosling in the lead role because you usually think of him as a lead in a romantic film like "The Notebook," "Crazy, Stupid Love," or "Blue Valentine." Nevertheless, he fit the role, although I feel like there is a plethora of actors who could've have fit in this role.
I was not particularly fond of the intense violence of this movie. While I do believe violence is necessary in a film like this, the directors went above and beyond with the amount of gore in this film. It was extremely hard to watch a woman's head get blown open by a shot gun or a man's head get stomped on to the point that only blood remains. That was the only thing negative I have to say about this film. While this movie certainly isn't for everyone, it does do a lot of cool things.
Drive
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favorite films of the year. I went into this film with same sort of expectation that most people had. I thought it would it be this high-paced action thriller that the trailers seemed to portray. I can understand people coming away from it disappointed, but I appreciated being surprised by it. The movie overall felt like one long music video. I wasn’t born in the 80’s, but I left the film wishing I would have been. The soundtrack was amazing, and I loved the 80’s synthesizer europop. Generally, I am not really a fan of that genre of music, but the way the film tied the music to the shots were great. I came away with a greater appreciation for it. The slow motion walk while Ryan Gosling carries the boy back to the apartment, the scene with him and bald mask walking towards the door of Nino’s pizza, and the opening credits while Gosling drives around late at night. All those little seemingly inconsequential scenes stuck with me, more so than the violent ones. The character of the driver as being this mysterious and brooding person with a penchant for immense violence when triggered was very well played by Gosling. I think he did a great job with the subtlety that the character required. Going back to the violence, it was also something that was somewhat unexpected. The extent of it, that is. It almost had the sort of gratuitousness that you find in a Tarantino film. Scenes like the face stomping in the elevator come to mind, but scenes like that seem crucial to explaining the character of the driver. You start to question how this sort of rage came to him, and you never get any kind of resolve. You end with not really knowing a whole lot about the origin of the driver, but you know that he’s a person just trying to be good and trying to do the right thing. In my mind, again, the slow pacing to me seems to be the mark of these art-house style films, if Drive is considered that. Shots like the dragged out one in the end where you’re not sure if he’s dead or not come to mind. I’m not saying it should have been tight with a quicker pace, and I’m not really criticizing this sort of cinematography. It’s just something that I am a little unfamiliar with because I don’t have as much experience with the more independent, artistic types of movies, though films like this compel me to expand my cinema catalogue.
Tomboy
ReplyDeleteThis film is unlike any coming of age story that I have ever seen. I don’t know if an American film exploring these themes of identity as it concerns LGBT would garner much success. I would like to see an adaptation, just to know that there was some effort in American cinema to shed light on this issue in a humanistic way. Saying that, though, I believe this French film did an incredible job. It didn’t seem over the top or too heavy handed with a strong social message. It was actually a very simple and pure film about this child, and I think if there is any message in the film it’s that there really is no difference with people. Children are children no matter their orientation or identity. There is nothing strange or really that different, and I think that’s a powerful message. Everyone just wants to find a way to belong and connect with others. I really enjoy the ending where the girl continues to maintain her friendship with Laure. It’s good to show that if children can overcome their predisposed notion of those who are transgender, why can’t adults? As great a job this girl did as Laure/Michael with all the depth that it required, my favorite was the little sister. She was the cutest little girl ever, and she reminded me of my little cousins.
DRIVE
ReplyDelete“I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive.” This is Ryan Gosling’s character speaking about himself and oversimplifying himself and the movie.
My friend had led me to believe that the main character was a “dumb mute,” thereby leading me to expect that the movie would revolve around a simple brute in a cheesy action movie. How wrong I was. At its most basic level, the plot of the film depicts a guy who is a movie stuntman by day and a robbery getaway driver at night who also happens to get involved with a criminal conspiracy and hopes to avenge a woman whom he loves.
That would be the main description on the Wikipedia page for the film. However, the movie explores a very rich character, one who hardly speaks but conveys his complex personality through a mixture of his eye movements, body language, and actions. In a way, he is perfectly suited for the silent films of yore. Audiences frequently forget that good acting goes beyond merely smooth delivery of lines. Much in the same way that we form our opinions and understandings of other people through these combinations, so might we when assessing movie characters.
Aesthetically, the movie has a gritty yet flashy atmosphere to it. The nighttime scenes seem somewhat glitzy while the daytime ones have more of a somber and lonesome feel to them. Moreover, many close-ups of the film put us in touch directly with the characters, momentarily distracting us from the stupendous set pieces. Finally, the soundtrack is amazing, with its heavy emphasis on synth-beats, and it is a shame that an Oscar nomination did not happen for the soundtrack or the film.
TOM BOY:
ReplyDeleteFor those who thought homosexuals were influenced into their decisions through media, parenting, friends and so on, Tomboy is a great example of a movie that shows how early on the conflicting feelings truly are. Even though the movie is about a young 10-year-old girl who is mistaken for a boy by the other children in the neighborhood and continues to lead them on by thinking she is one, I believe this story is about her relationship with her sister. Laure and Jeanne share a moving bond that, I believe, made the movie as great as it is. I believe that Jeanne is Laure strength, backbone, shoulder to cry on, and so on.
I do not like the way the mother is portrayed in the story. In the modern society we live today, and with the girl who already dresses like a boy at home, I find it unlikely for the mother to act the way she did forcing Laure to wear a dress and confront the other children as girl. I also believe the father to be misleading. He teaches he’s daughter to drive, drink bear and do all these “boyish” activities that may manipulate the audience to wonder if he was her influence in being a tomboy, when truly, it all comes from within herself.
The use of the inside versus outside shots is interesting. When Laurie is inside, she is usually with her sister or mother, but when she leaves the house, she can act the way she wants to, free from her mother’s eyes. Interestingly, all the women seem to be trapped inside the boundaries of the house, Laurie, Jeanne, their mother and the mother of the other kids. The men, on the contrary, are usually outside playing around and being free. This account could symbolize how, for Laurie, living, as a boy is what her mind and body considers as freedom.
Drive
ReplyDeleteSeeing Drive at the Cosford Cinema was the second time I had gone to the movie, the first being when it was released in theaters. I was thrilled that the Cosford Cinema showed Drive, as I had very much enjoyed it the first time and was looking forward to watching it again.
Drive adopts a unique blend of action, drama, and romance to create a powerful film that captivates audiences and makes for a solid cinematic feature. Nicolas Winding Refn does a masterful job of creating an interesting cross between genres, just enough in the way of car chases and violence to appeal to those hoping for an adrenaline rush or a taste of gore, plenty of intrigue for those who enjoy dramas, and just enough of a romantic touch to appeal to those who like that sort of thing in their films. While each of the three elements are present, none are overpowering, so as not to put off any large fields of the audience.
The characters in Drive are interesting. None are particularly appealing, but it is still rather easy for the audience to feel at least some empathy for them, but not so much that the deaths of characters (of which there are quite a few) create a roller coaster of emotion throughout the film. The somewhat detached nature of the characters falls away, however, when the driver and Irene’s romantic storyline surfaces, and the audience can feel, if only for a few minutes, the love that forms between the mysterious, quiet driver and his neighbor. This creates for a pleasant respite between scenes of violence and dramatic dialogue, slowing down the movie, but not to the extent that it becomes dry or dull.
The soundtrack of Drive also plays an important part in the film and its effect on the audience. The soundtrack isn’t strident and fast-paced enough to be for a pure action film but it isn’t lyrical enough to be for a romance film. Instead, the soundtrack, mostly composed by Cliff Martinez, balances the two, emphasizing neither of the two predominant genres, but rather blending them together into something unique.
Drive is a powerful film that can captivate audiences and make them very interested in the story taking place before their eyes. The movie is one of my favorites and I find it disappointing that it didn’t receive more awards, as it did a solid job of blending genres and creating a unique moviegoing experience.
See Sabu's "driving", a very pleasant surprise, used to seeing the story of his fate of a strike that hapless, "driving" down gives Jack a warm heart. Trapeze of "projectile" see human Jiaoruan, "Pirates of the letter of Love" to see who SOUL, "Mad Monday" out and out crazy, "bad monkey" disguising the bad luck, unlucky hero three cars and six of the collision, the viewer's physical and psychological suffering intolerable. See the "driving" down Sudden Impact, comfortable light wind loyalty to a sense of really rare treat.
ReplyDeleteSabu likes to play a domino-like chain reaction, we thought just the doom Doutou leaching cold water to see much more, such as the hero-like close your eyes, Let it be! Not think will be confirmed "bad the magic hand of blessing dependency ": the three of robbing a bank of large sums of money was taken away by accomplices thief, and they hijacked the car driver's hero, dining in a restaurant, a small fry blackmail. Man towards the door ready to alarm has been affected by headache disorders plagued drivers headache, and has no intention of knocking over a glass of wine, causing the typical Saab style chain reaction, and finally headlong into the abdomen of the small fry is a customer of a ballpoint pen, which made person laughs from the results, it touches on the fate of (or Sabu) and four open a well-intentioned joke.
Three thief to catch up with associates, took the money robbed to cock on a very unresponsive car. We thought it was a black head encounter story, think of the start of a period out of the dark journey. A roaming car, carrying four hapless or bitter or sad memories, because the cock all the coincidences, everyone deadlock but can be untied. First Terajima played "Angry Young Men" Thieves, see the lead singer of a club drug malaise, while the audience is soulless zombie, So responsibility seizures, scolding each other for survival value, and was wheeled into contention under center of the stage, simply lamb into the mouthpiece to continue his litanies of "Moral Education" curse to the fun at the "F-Chuck the F-Chuck! F-Chuck!" non-stop, the audience has not changed awake may not conceivable, anyway, he's shouting very punk musical accompaniment, the audience Guys and Dolls' d appear to be more to the High of a rock star was born in Sri Lanka! The original lead singer's girlfriend autopay, and thus he from the greenwood career doing the promising star to go.
TOMBOY
ReplyDeleteI really liked this movie. When I first saw the shortcuts, I was really confused to whether this was a little boy who was gay or if the story had another plot. Once I got to see the movie and I learned that it was a girl who was pretending to be a boy I was amazed because I never expected this outcome. This movie is so subtle that it was hard to realize that Laure was really a lesbian and as a matter of fact this little girl is embarrassed to admit that she in fact is a lesbian. Tomboy, which shows a little girl trying to find her identity and sexual orientation, has a very simple plot. Nevertheless, it keeps the audience interested and concentrated. A beautiful familiar relationship is shown in the different scenes. The sweetest relationship is between Laure and her 6 year old sister Jeanne. They were really close and they supported each other. For example, when Jeanne finds out of her older sister’s secret, she does not go and tell her mother but rather stands by her and turns it into something amusing. We can also see how even though Laure’s mother gets mad when she finds out about Laure’s secret, she supports her and teaches her about honesty by making her say the truth to her friends. Zoe Heran the main actress did an amazing job in portraying the emotions of a girl her age discovering her identity. I found interesting that the movie did not had a great quantity of dialogue but rather the actions had a great importance in giving the audience clues to understand plot of the movie. For example, when we see Zoe cannot pee in front of her friends because she is a boy or when she make a boy like swim suit with a fake penus.
Drive
ReplyDeleteWhen I watched Drive at the Cosford, it was the second time I had seen the movie. Drive was my favorite movie of the year and it was that more apparent after I watched it again. To start off I am a big fan of Ryan Gosling and I thought that he did a fantastic job in the movie while barely speaking. He doesn't say much and I think this is well done by the director. I was confused at times when I watched this movie the first time but when I watched it for the second time I all those questions were answered. The soundtrack to this movie is also fantastic. I loved it and it went so well with the movie. I thought that the casting was also done well for this movie. Everyone plays their role well. However, the thing that really was weird for me in this movie was the gore. It just came out of nowhere. When I watched it at the Cosford everyone would laugh whenever there was a scene with a lot of gore. This bothered me a lot. I would recommend this movie to anyone as I found it to be a great one.
TOMBOY
ReplyDeleteThe motion picture Tomboy from 2011, directed by Celine Sciamma is about a girl struggling finding her own identity. I didn’t have too high expectations about the movie, although the trailer made me wonder what was this boys secret. However, it turns out that the little boy in the movie actually is a girl. When her family moves to a new town, she finally sees the opportunity to start the life she always wanted, as a boy. The movie is showing how stereotypes are playing a great role in the society, and how people react when people are being different than what’s considered as "normal". By showing very emotional scenes, as for example the scene where the kids are forcing the main character to pull down her shorts to prove that she is not a boy, the audience becomes aware of the main characters emotional struggle. I find it interesting that the main character chose to cut her hair short and starting fights to prove her identity as a boy. Again, this is showing the great part of stereotypes in the society. The way her mother reacted to the whole situation was devastating to watch. Her reaction was fear, and this proves how important the message in this movie is, we need to get some knowledge about this to help people that are struggling with their own identity, instead of attacking them and make them feel like freaks. Even though I found the movie very interesting with some important social problems, I am not sure I would recommend this to others. Yes, the movie can make you think critically, as we need more knowledge to understand and accept what’s ''different", and the mother and her little sister portrays a great contrast to this. As mentioned, the mom is handling this situation very badly, but her little sister is appreciating the tomboy as a person, she doesn’t require any expectations except love and care. After seeing the movie, I believe the director wants to portray some sides of the society, and I believe he successfully managed that. However, I am not sure I will ever recommend this movie.
Drive
ReplyDeleteBefore watching movie, I thought the movie “Drive” would have a lot of scenes of car racing or police chasing. However, contrary to expectation, I couldn’t see any that kinds of scene. Except beginning part, it is hard to see car racing parts. Instead, there were many scenes that driver drives his car moderately or stops somewhere. There are many parts that the major character waits in his car and sees outside to figure out what is going on. Such scenes lead me to have extreme tension since they feel like something would be happened. Also, the movie “Drive” includes many scenes of brutality. For instance, the main character killed people with hammer or smashed someone’s head horribly. It is easy to see blood and damaged bodies. Because of this cruelty, I got nervous more when there is quiet and dark scene since I expected atrocious thing would happen soon. Moreover, the song played in movie helped me more concentrated on the movie. Its soundtrack was awesome. After watching “Drive”, I realized how soundtrack is important for movies. There was one scene that major character was with his lover and enemy in same elevator. When he fought with that enemy to protect her, one peaceful song was played. It was pretty cruel scene. However, because of the song, even that cruel scene looked like beautiful scene for me.
Michael Lerer
ReplyDeleteWhen I walked into the movie Drive I had some expectations for how the movie would turn out. I thought that this was going to be the normal pretty boy goes cool action movie. There will be a girl the main character falls for who is tragically taken. Later the main character will try to help said husband but things go wrong then the husband dies leaving the main character to save the woman’s life. This is all usually done with a minimal amount of violence and gore. This assumption proved true for the first hour of the movie. Moments later my expectations were broken by a scene of extreme violence. I mention this because it was a huge shock moment. If the movie had been that violent until that point I think I wouldn’t have even thought of it, but because it was so calm this scene felt entirely out of place as did another scene when the main character literally stomps someone’s head off. These two scenes felt entirely out of place in a strange manner that could be conveyed as either completely wrong or just humorous.
The most important shot in this movie was close ups of Gosling’s face. This is because the nameless main character has so few lines. It is his facial expressions that convey his character. This, along with his namelessness, is important because Gosling’s character starts off as a blank slate in the movie, but becomes human as the movie continues. In the beginning he does many things and talks with people, but he conveys no emotion and never seems to have a position on anything. As the movie goes on he starts showing facial expressions and shows that he is in fact a real human being. This idea is further shown by the song playing at the end that simply repeats the phrase, “A real human being, and a real hero.”
I think that the movie Tomboy was very humane and caring in the way it shows Laura's life. The movie presents the tomboyish Laura, who behaves like a boy, plays with boys all the time, and developed a relationship with a girl Lisa. But Laura's behaviors were not worried too much by her mother and father, who were unlike lots of parents. The movie also shows in a non-judging way of how things should be - what Laura should do (behave like a girl), and neither does it imply the perception of "how thing should turn out" by showing Laura's suffer from being unique. All the movie does is that it narrates the story of Laura as if it happens in real like, nothing is being valued or even suggested. And in the end, Laura's mother forced her to telling everyone the truth that she is a girl, mainly because of the truth that Laura can't deceit people forever. So I was thinking would her mom force her to confess if she could manage to pretend forever. I think it also shows that Laura's mother is very fair and supporting to her kid. I think if we can view things that are not usual - say homosexual and gender identification issues, in a accepting way, everyone is going to feel more love and inclusion, so they will lead a more enjoyable life.
ReplyDeleteLaure is the girl who wants to be a boy. She acts like if she were a boy so that play soccer very well. Also, she wants to get attention from Lisa and not to disappoint her, she tries to love Lisa as a boy. Laure seems like a real boy because I mistook her for typical boy at the first time. She likes to play soccer with other boys and swim in the lake. These things are the very boy thing which is active sports. So that is why other children think Laure as a boy. I think it is ridiculous that girls have to be shy and inactive and boys have to be courageous and active. When her mother found out that she pretends to be a boy, she got really mad about that fact and forced her to dress girlish clothes. If I were her mother, I would not do such a thing which could hurt daughter’s heart. Laure needs her time to adapt to girl’s world and build her own identity. Although it is very important for children to set their sex identity, parents may give them freedom to act in way that they want. During that period, children can realize which attitude they should have after childhood and they also can have managing time while discussing many things with friends and parents. Watching this movie, I can think in children’s view and criticize adult’s world which always children.
ReplyDeleteTOMBOY
ReplyDeleteNate Jennings
I thought the movie “Tomboy” was a fascinating story about a little girl confused about her identity. It was a very observational movie that didn’t have much music overall, but it really emphasized the importance on the dialogue and the atmosphere. I thought the director presented the story very benevolently, and selected talented actors that truly delivered in very believable performances. Overall there were definitely funny sequences within the movie, especially between Mikael and her sister. It was also surprising to me that Ana turned about to be a female, because I actually initially thought she was a boy that was just feminine. Throughout the movie, there were mainly two areas filmed within the movie, which were the house she lived in with her family and the woods where she played with the other neighborhood children. In the woods more importantly, she was able to live another life pretending to be a boy, and is accepted as what she desires to be. While in her house, her parents wanted her to act more feminine and even to wear dresses to confirm her as more a female. She eventually gains respect from the boys, through playing soccer, showing that she could fight, and swimming alongside them. The movie depicted the fact that she wanted this to be her reality very well, as she made an entirely false identity as Mikael with intentions of being known as a boy by everyone in the community. Her sister was clearly her best friend throughout the whole movie who kept her secret from her parents, and appreciated her sticking up for her from bullies. This movie also touched on society placing stereotypes on individuals to act a certain way, which is the reason why she is easily able to fool the other and given a label by them as masculine. Although her mother was confused about her daughter wanting to become a boy, forcing her reveal that she was actually a girl must about been very humiliating.
“Tom Boy”
ReplyDeleteLaure is a tomboy, woman but acts like a guy. Moving in new village, Laure introduces herself as a guy Michael to her new friends. Her friends cannot notice that Laure (Michael) is woman although she plays soccer with taking off shirt since she has skinny body. Even, Laure swims together with guy by camouflaging with clay. However, her normal life as a guy starts to mess up after meeting with Lisa thinking Laure is a guy. Being with Lisa most of time, Laura fall in love with her. In other words, a girl loves with another girl. Even if Laure’s younger sister, Jeane, know this fact, Laure pass a crisis well immediately. Always, in movie, there is a conflict. One day, her parent found that Laure’s friends know Laure as a guy, Michael. After that, Laure’s mom forces Laure to wear one peace and visits each her friends to let them know that Laure is a girl not a guy. During such process, Laure got confused more about her sexuality and tormented. But, at last part, Laure accepts her as a girl and introduces her again as Laure not Michael to her friend Lisa. In this movie, there are not that many communications and trouble between people. This movie just makes me follow story with only Laure’s external appearance such as face expression, voice tone and gesture. Even if it deals with homosexuality, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable but more understandable for Laure’s feeling.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTomboy
ReplyDeleteLaura moved to a new home with his parents and sister, with cut short hair, wear boys clothes, looks like a tomboy, she is to introduce yourself to new partners, more simply hide the identity of the girl.She play with the boys swimming, topless, play enjoyable, more real girl and a hair fluttering sprouted out of the ambiguous feelings. Gender identity in the innocent world of childhood, does not seem the most important thing.Thus more than Laura, her sister is also willing to "lying". A brother than a sister, domineering, because my brother is a "sister" can not be entrusted to listen to a sense of security. The child's thinking, so simply straightforward, but it also points to the men in that capacity for our initial growth, how to establish a dominant position.Laura in the future, still have the right to choose whether to continue to do, "Laura". It is important that, when she once again make a choice, is not a naive dream of childhood, and really understand ourselves, go to the choices they need to be the one who. So the ultimate point of sex is still the "I" this subject. Know themselves, recognize and accept their own, each child a lesson in life must initially
It is a movie talking about problems of homosexual, on the other words, it is a announcement of many homosexual people, it said what the afraid to say, showed the misunderstands that usually happen in their world. The leading actress Laure is a tomboy, she is a girl facially but a boy internally, because she is young, even from her outlook it is hard to recognize her gender. She moved in a new place with her family and met some new friends( most of them are boys),when first time the met, Laure introduces herself as a boy to them. Because of her outlook, Her friends cannot figure the secret out, by the way they invited Laure to play many sports with them, like soccer, swimming, very man game. When playing with her new friends, Laure always willfully hide her real gender. Unfortunately, Laure’s new life was messed up by a girl named Lisa came through in her life. Through to be a closet friend of Lisa, Laura was crushed on her, but Lisa still misunderstand laure is a boy. Finally, the truth was revealed accidentally by a friend of Laure, and found by her parents, she began to suffering the treatment like every homo people from her parents, they forced her to live like a girl and let her friends know it , her privacy was deprived, Laure is facing the crisis. During the process, Laure began to accept she is a girl and introduce herself again to her friend.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I do not think Laura to the lack of gender awareness. Posing as a boy, every detail of her doing well, such as the first observation of the performance of boys and then mixed with the boys play together; Lisa asked her name and immediately thought of a male pseudonym; Another example is the swimsuit to the male The style did not forget stuffed plasticine. She is very mature, and also well aware that men and women are different. So in the end she hi do not like Lisa do? Is that fell in love with Lisa to make her male identity "is more real, or so psychologically as a genuine boys fell in love with Lisa it? I saw the movie a shot, I have no problem. My interpretation is that Lisa Ken asked that question to prove that she did not hate Laura, and Laura answered his real name, real female names into a smile, by the apprehension, because the lens side, we can not see Laura opposite lisa smile (my personal idea). For this reason, to make Laura laugh. Laura is like Lisa, out of genuine rather than due to gender, perhaps Laura did not know before, but in the end she understood, although this may have some differences and adult love. The courage to face their own female identity, she has gone through a threshold of life, Lisa has accepted this, which indicates that her newborn.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the problem of juvenile and there is no problem, no problem with her family, the film is not the mentality of the children to discuss. Director from start to finish did not investigate the reasons she became a tomboy, but trying to show through the details of a little girl, tomboy mentality and behavior, the behavior demonstrated in the sun, plainly, does not have the slightest bit sick. I believe that no one will produce films and want to rush to correct the behavior of Laura. If we think that the video Laura, her parents treat the approach of these things, can only prove our vision, our growth, full of a variety of environment distorts our We are the genuine problem youths.
DRIVE
ReplyDeleteI must say that if you are a lover of music, Drive will blow your mind. Of course I must also comment on the camera angles, coloring and apparent lack of dialogue, but still, the music is amazing. Artists such as Kavinsky, College, and Cliff Martinez among others make up the score of this movie.
The movie practically has no dialogue. The characters communicated through expressions. The mood of the scene is set with the music; therefore dialogue is not even necessary to get the message and morals of this movie across. This movie brings us back to the time when silent movies were accompanied by orchestras or a simple piano conveying a lot of emotion, more even then logical thinking and reasoning.
The camera angles are sick! They convey the main character’s isolation as well as loneliness. They make us feel entrapped and at the same time in danger, the same way the main characters feels this way. The close-up on the character’s faces, especially with Ryan Gosling, give us the intimate relationship necessary due to the lack of dialogue.
I do believe that this movie is mostly style rather than content. It is so overly stylistic, saturated and musically wonderful that it fits into the category of this new wave of stylistic movies.
Ryan Gosling has been in a handful of movies in the past year, all considered big. He has been doing a wonderful performance, especially in Ides of March where his character is so serious, and stunning. In Drive, he doesn’t even have (almost) any lines but still illustrates everything he is thinking perfectly through his facial expression, something hard for an actor to master.
I did love this movie and believe that it should be on everyone’s watch list
DRIVE
ReplyDeleteMatthew Head
If I had to choose one word to describe this film it would be surprising. Drive was thrilling as I expected it to be however it was also very understated. The trailer gave the impression that this was going to be another Hollywood action blockbuster, even though I was surprised I enjoyed the change of pase. Ryan Gosling's character was very similar to Daniel Craig's interpretation of James Bond. I think that this movie reveals how unimportant dialogue actually is in a movie. On the other hand, he had so little dialogue that while watching the movie I often thought to myself "He really does not have a lot of dialogue, like almost none." My first impression of the movie was this feels like a very long short film. Ryan was very collected the for the majority of the movie, which was why it surprised me so much when Ryan boot stomped the guy in the elevator or smashed one of the 'bad guy"'s hands to pieces. During the elevator scene the audience started to laugh, this is because even though the scene out of context was horrific, in context it was so out of place that it seemed ridiculous. Overall this was my favorite movie that I have watched in this class. I think to say that this movie is so good is because of the acting, I think there are many Hollywood actors who could have played this role equivalently well. This movie was so good because of the music and editing. The music gave this movie the dark and mysterious feel that it had.
Tomboy
ReplyDeleteI often enjoy foreign films because they remind me of my home in my birth country of Belgium. Since I spent the first decade there I thought back often of my child hood which was in a very similar style of culture for Laura. The area she was in seemed a little more secluded. I enjoyed this aspect of the movie because I would think of my friends and how we did the same things and how my mom would act the same way. My critique on the movie itself is very different. I came out of the movie a little emotional which is hopefully what they were aiming to do. I think the relationship between Lisa and Laure ended up being a little too weird because I don't think Laure was gay. The way the mom reacted was the same mine would if something similar ever happened and I couldn't imagine what Laure was going through. That being said the child actors in this movie were all exceptionally talented especially Zoe Heran herself. A very good story that was very well executed in my opinion.
Drive
ReplyDeleteDrive was a crazy and fun movie. Although full of actors and production I could see why Drive was regarded as more of an indie style film. As mentioned in class the trailer absolutely ruined the viewers perception on Drive. I became very invested in the characters as they tried killing each other. The camera work in this movie I thought was very good. What I still don't understand was the comedy seen by the audience I was with in the movie. What I thought was thrilling action had the cinema laughing. Perhaps it was overdone sometimes which may have caused people to laugh instead of realize the power of Ryan Goslings actions. I thought Drive had a good camera crew and acting crew and a very very good story. I can almost say it was my favorite movie that I have seen for class because of the compelling acting and camera angles. Sure the movie was a little unrealistic and not how the real world would operate but I enjoyed and found value in watching Drive.
I thought this film named Drive just like a regular American film, crashing, violence, and heroes, before I came into the cinema. On the contrary, it was deeper, much deeper, much more than this. I can also figure the American elements at the starting part, however, undoubtedly, it is a film that described the whole story clearly, like a lodestone, it attracts the audience crazily, let them grudge to leave one step, even go to restroom. Except the works of director, the leading actor named Ryan Gosling perfectly depicted the mind of the major character in the film, like he is the man who was experiencing this nightmare. Undeniably, it is a truly American style film, but there are many components new in this film, I had a totally different feeling when watching it. Like someone put the new wine in an old glass, you never know the taste unless trying it, however, after seeing this film, we are going to think about our safety in America. Anyway, I am convinced by this film, even the action movie that is most hated for me, can still be shot like this special way, like a classic fiction, every word in it catches the readers’ hearts, no exception.
ReplyDeleteTOMBOY
ReplyDeleteMatthew Head
All I could think about while watching this movie was how much I had wished I had not seen the trailer. After I had watched the trailer I was too curious about when the turning point was going to come in the film. All of the technical aspects of this movie were superb, especially the acting. At the end of the film I realized how incredible it was that a girl that young gave such an emotional performance. Although it may be easy to assume that Laura was homosexual I think that there is a strong possibility that Laura may have felt that it was easier to fit in and have friends if you are a boy. However this film also made me think of how hard it would be to be homosexual in a society that is not comfortable with homosexuality. I think that one of the most endearing parts of the movie is the relationship between Laura and her sister. This relationship makes me feel that even if Laura becomes an outcast she will still be able to fall back on someone. The ending of this movie brought hope to me that Laura would be able to live happily, however it is still pretty open ended.
Stardust Memories
ReplyDeleteIt is actually a nice change for Woody Allen, even it took a price of losing some audience, but it is a nice attempt. As far as I am concerned, this film is truly emotional, it is really for art, to many close- up shots were used in this film to show the actors’ emotion, sorrow, and happiness. It is a nice tragedy, led the memories of love of many audience. During the whole film, Woody’s eyes are magic, controlled our tempers, if you do not have a patience, give this movie up, maybe it is not fit for most of people, but there are always some few loyal audiences are able to read this film, I said “ read”.
May be it is so hard to a comedy actor to change his image on screen, even he is crying that is going to make you laugh, like the realized blocks in our daily life, to be successful on one hand means you are a loser on the other hand On one hand. However, this movie is telling us, to break the constrains will surprise you so much, you never know what is waiting for you in the future.
Nathanael Skinner
ReplyDeleteDrive
Wow. I was very surprised after watching drive. The movie was very two sided, in the sense that it was very subtle (not much dialogue), but at certain point very graphic and not subtle. Also when reflecting on it, the movie seems to be a few days in the life of Ryan Gosling's character. It sort of seems as the characters journey into darkness, over a short time period. He kills, then he kills more, and more brutally as well. But dose he do it in the name of love? Or is it a darkness and vengeance that "drives" him.
I also enjoyed the cinematography of this film. The use of close ups, and slow motion filming were enjoyable, and interesting. I also liked the detail of the storyline, from what car he picks to do his first heist, to knowing that the ball game would be letting out so he could blend in.
I felt that this movie made the audience think about the story, and made the audience pay attention since there was so little dialogue.
The only negative for me was the blood. I thought that in some instances the blood was a little to much. I would have enjoyed a little less gore. The amount of killing was ok, but the amount of blood shone, was a little much.
Drive was one of my favorite movies I have seen in a long time. Since it was recommended to me by a trusted friend, I decided it would be worth a try and I was extremely happy I decided to do so. One of the things that made Drive very unique but also incredibly engaging was the lack of dialogue. The main character, played by Ryan Gosling, barely speaks at all throughout the first forty five minutes of the movie or so, yet the combination of a great soundtrack and excellent non-verbal acting kept the audience extremely engaged. Then, about two-thirds of the way through the movie, some extremely brutal violence starts taking place, and that is when I became hooked, as I was already enjoying the movie even though little was happening. The goriness used makes the action scenes much more vivid and give it a realistic feel, such as Christina Hendricks’ character having her head blown off with a shotgun, or Gosling’s character stomping a man’s skull in inside of an elevator. The movie also benefits from stellar acting in virtually all of the roles, with one of my favorite actors, Bryan Cranston, playing the role of the boss and mentor of Gosling, and Ron Pearlman as an excellent villain. Overall, I thought Drive was great and actually have watched it again since.
ReplyDeleteHuan Liu
ReplyDeleteTomboy
Well, the movie basically talked about the young girl Lauren whose family just moved to a new area. She was young. Her body hasn't develope the feature of female yet. So she mistakenly was treated like a boy, playing soccer, running without top shirt and swimming naked with all her peers. At the moment she named herself Michael is the point her life that starts to make a difference.She kind of just feel close to that girl Lisa as her good friend. She psychologically treated herself as a boy. That's how the move creates an argument of sexual awareness.
It is really interesting and surprising that the movie showed her pubic area directly to all the audience. As a young actor, I feel she might be taken advantage by the director somehow.
The movie also give a positive answer about the humanity. In the end of the film, all the boys just formed a circle and agreed Lisa to check her gender privately.
It is a film which confirmed the innocent in people's age.
TOMBOY
ReplyDeleteThis movie really had an impact in me and I really liked it. “Tomboy” is a movie that was made in 2011 by the director Céline Sciamma and deals with a very touching topic. Laure (Zoé Héran), is a 10-year-old girl that presents herself as a boy by the name of Michael. When I first saw the trailer I got a bit confused on what really happened to the little kid, but after seeing the entire movie I now realized that Michael was really a girl. I consider this topic to be a bit controversial not only because it deals with a delicate topic, which is the sexual preference of a little girl, but also because it portrays a reality in which our society is getting immerse. I am still quite undecided on how I feel in regards to the casting of a little girl. Zoé Héran is a very talented actress however being exposed at such young age might be a little bit to much in my personal opinion. Nonetheless, I considered this movie to be a very well elaborated film that enabled the director to deliver the message in a very unique way. I think that most of the components that were utilize in this production helped enhance the entire film.
Ximena Manrique
Drive
ReplyDeleteRight after watching this film, I felt horrible and disgusting. Actually, I expected many driving scenes of car racing like conventional action movies. However, It was full of murdering, violence and gun-shooting. Besides it lacks conversation between characters so I could not understand the feeling of main characters.
I felt very unhappy about the scenes where the main character killed people violently smashing someone’s head with lots of blood. I think if there is a need to show these bloody scenes because It is too much for the film to express character’s emotions. But I liked songs in the movie. It helped me focus on movie scenes and make me concentrate on the film.
Actually, until now I can not understand the male character’s goal of those cruel behaviors. Is that only because of love for a female character? I felt confused while watching movie in all time. Sometimes, I thought he is very crazy and has no mercy.
Tomboy
ReplyDeleteI was really touched by this movie. It is definitely one of the best movies I have seen. At first I thought the movie was going to be the typical movie were there is a new kid in town and he is trying to fit in. I was shocked when I realized that Mikeal was actually Laure, a ten-year-old girl. My feelings were really involved and mixed up. I had a connection with “him” I understood how he felt and why he did it. I’m glad he found a love in that new town. Lisa was welcoming and they had that connection, I felt it. I was scared for her to reveal her true identity. Even though I dress as a girl and stuff, I have always wanted to be a guy. I like outside activities and I like the way they act and dress, so I can say I have sort of lived through something similar in my life. At the end I was tranquil to see how Laure could be herself and she was confortable. I was surprised on seeing a movie with young actors and all of the genders mix up, it’s the first time I see a film like this. They had a lot of close ups which was important because they wanted to show us specifically what was going on with that character. I think of the film as really straight forward, the music was innocent and childish but at the same time it was chosen to play at specific part of the movie. Sometimes no noise is better sound than any other. I can somehow relate this to Angelina Jolies child. She likes to dress and act as a boy, and so many people have criticized. In todays world and always I’ve believed that whatever makes each individual happy they should do. I think this movie is beautiful and well done the acting was impressive.
Michelle Yidios
Drive
ReplyDeleteI was expecting more of an action movie when I first saw the trailer, however, it turns out that the part that looked like an action movie was totally different and irrelevant (to me) from the rest of the movie. I have to say that I was quite disappointed when the movie ended. I was expecting something exciting the entire time, however, I haven’t seen any till the end of the movie. The main actor in the movie is a guy that has a good heart and is willing to help others in trouble, however, this “habit” eventually got him into a big mass, even endangered his life. Personally, I don’t like this kind of personality. You can help out when you can, however, not to get yourself into trouble. You should be able to tell when the good-heart get you killed. One should first take care of himself before he could care others. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to my friend. I didn’t really get the point after I saw the movie. It seems to be a simple tragic love story, which isn’t even romantic, with some action scenes.
Drive
ReplyDeleteC04997305
Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive has been one of the more surprising films I have seen over the past year. I went into the film with a confused variety of anticipations based on the trailer which seemed to present your typical action film, Gosling’s recent string of romantic roles, and Refn’s directorial past (mainly Pusher). What I got instead was better than anything I could have expected. Drive is a mix of tense dramatic thriller with a love story (think taxi driver meets sixteen candles, a strange combination I know but somehow Refn pulls it off seamlessly) presented in a well executed homage to the 80s.
Gosling plays the role of the Driver who’s quiet innocence deteriorates as the film progresses. In the beginning we are introduced to his criminal profession but his relationship with Irene and her son Benicio seems to put that part of him out of the audiences mind. It is not until the gorey failed attempt on his life that we are reminded about the full nature of his character. Refn uses the Driver’s white jacket as a metaphor for his loss of innocence with it becoming progressively more bloodstained as the movie goes on.
Overall Drive has been one of my favorite films over the past year. The film is lifted by strong supporting performance of Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. Refn left his stamp on this film and has added another classic to his credit.
I want to say a few words of plot, the most brilliant point from the story is that it has a perfect balance of dramatics and reality, childhood is a kind of precious memory in everybody's heart, this makes the main idea and main chain of the film attractive, but now the fact is too much of the movie is about the childhood it also established a challenge, wild standout from all the movie.
ReplyDeleteIn fact there is no problem to youth, her family has no problem, this film is not for people to debate the attitude of children. Director from beginning to end will not be investigated for her become a tomboy reasons, but trying to detail to show a little girl of psychology and behavior of tomboy, all this behavior showed in the sunshine, plainly, do not have a morbid state. I believe that no one will see a little produce want to rush in to correct Laura behavior. If we think the film has a problem, Laura has a problem, her parents treat these things processing method has a problem, it only proves that our eyes have problems, our growth full of problems distort our environment. We are the true problem young.
DRIVE
ReplyDeleteBefore watching this movie, I figured it would be a knock-off of Jason Statham's "Transporter" series. It was difficult for me to believe that such a similar plot would be able to be interpreted differently, even by a different director and cast. Alas, I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh, abstract approach to this storyline.
The driver in this story was a very mysterious character. He was never addressed by a name, and he hardly uttered a word for the majority of the movie. He showed little to no emotion except when the few people he cared about were threatened. But this turned out to be an awesome part of his character. And it really shows his inner intensity when he finally snaps at his enemies after almost a full film of calm-demeanor.
I found this movie to just be very realistic. The dialogue uses much space to let the viewer interpret what the characters are thinking, and gives the characters a non-cinematic awkwardness that I really enjoyed. It was a nice change of pace from the typical action movie.
The ending was slightly cliche, as they left it open-ended. The viewer has to interpret whether the driver survives the stab and drives off into the horizon, or whether it is symbolic for his death. It is still an effective ending, in my opinion, and it gives the audience the opportunity to end the story how they want.
TOMBOY
ReplyDeleteI wasn't enthralled by this film in particular. It was kind of slow and saddening for my tastes. I was under the impression that Laure accepted being called a boy, because she was too embarrassed to correct the assumptions and be seen for who she truly was.
It is not healthy for a ten-year-old to recognize herself as a trans-gender. I think that it is important to be true to who you are, and Laure did not appear to be very confident in who she was. This caused me to clash with this film a little.
I like the relationship between Laure and her sister, Jeanne, though. They understand each other very well, and I feel as if Jeanne is Laure's only true friend.