The Salt of Life was an interesting type of movie. Although slow at times, I enjoyed watching this lighthearted Italian foreign film. It is focused around this older man, Gianni, who is desperately trying to find a lover. While focusing on this, he is forced to balance his life between taking care of his pain in the ass mother and his family. I felt this film is sending a message to people still desperately trying to hold on to their youth, when in reality they are not young anymore. Gianni goes after these women that are half his age and think of him more as a grandfather. More then once in the movie, he is shown in the mirror trying to hold up the bags under his eyes in order to appear younger. In another scene he is trying to get fit by doing yoga, but ends up getting stuck in a position. He is realizing that he is not the young man he thinks he is.
His mother in the film provides most of the comedy in the film in various different scenes. She gives the movie more of a light-hearted feel. The scene with her and her friends playing poker happened to be very funny. Another important message I got out of it, is the fact that you only live once so you might as well go for it. Although being shut down, Gianni keeps on trying and never gives up like most would after a certain amount of time. Overall, I thought the directing was really good and really enjoyed watching this movie.
The Salt of Life was the most interesting film I have ever seen regarding the elderly. I really enjoyed the film because of all the humorous parts regarding male menopause. I also feel like the film can be so related to for most people its very believable and I really liked that about the film. Sometimes I felt that the film did get a little boring at times or might have seemed slow but then a few scenes later there would be a really funny scene with Gianni’s mother Valarie calling him over to fix the television. I feel that my favorite parts in them movie would definitely be the scene when Gianni’s mother have nothing in the refrigerator but wine and another scene would be Gianni getting fit for date with his mother’s friend daughter. At times I really felt for the Gianni character at times he played a really pitiful role. The move it just goes to show that your innocence is something that you should truly cherish because before you know it, it will be over.
I’m afraid to say that I haven’t seen a Charlie Chaplin movie before. Finally, I had the opportunity. And it was fantastic! I loved the work of the German Filminstitut to “recycle” the movie as it was in 1925 and to combine it with the music of the 1942’s edition. The music underlines every emotion in the movie. Therefore, it makes the comic scenes funnier, and the cheerless scenes sadder. I haven’t experienced this power of music before. Sure, it was a silent movie. But, “The Artist” wasn’t as impressive as “The Gold Rush”, for example. The story is easy to follow, and the love story is extremely cute. Due to the silence of the movie, everything is overreacted. So, every emotion is hyperbolic in order that every person in the audience can get it. Because of this, sometimes the movie was ridiculous. But, overall it was funny and somehow sweet. And due to the overacting, everyone can understand the movie, also if they can’t read English. This makes the movie so lovely and entertaining. I enjoyed my time with this movie. For sure, I’ll watch another Chaplin movie soon. This movie has awakened my interest in his work.
The Salt of Life is a funny and down to earth depiction of the male mid-life crisis. Gianni Di Gregorio does a fantastic job of touching upon numerous aspects of male aging: repressed sexual anxiety, disillusionment as a result of endless responsibility, the uncomfortable transition from late adulthood to senility, and above all a chronic lack of love from women and family. Even more impressive is how Gregorio is able to effectively convey controversial motifs of adultery and death without succumbing to graphic sex scenes and melodrama. As a whole, the narrative is very easy to follow. However, that doesn’t mean it should be dismissed. The narrative is original in that few movies depict the mid-life crisis as an unfortunate consequence of the breakdown of aging. Giovanni Brandori ditto Gianni is easy to sympathize with. He really cares about his mother, even though she takes his monetary support for granted. Furthermore, his wife enables his extramarital lust because she doesn’t sleep with him anymore. In addition, Giovanni is a caring albeit passive father. Of course, the superb acting makes it easier to relate to Giovanni. It’s also worth commending Gregorio for directing, writing, and acting in the film. Valeria De Franciscis also did a fantastic job as his mother as did Alfonso Santagata as his best friend. The ending, although unexpected, is good too. Giovanni’s mind is a mystery for the majority of the movie, but the ending is a relieving explosion of repressed emotions that help us understand that Giovanni mainly wants attention and affection. Editing is traditional as is the cinematography. The costuming helped to portray young women as beautiful goddesses in the eyes of Giovanni, and also helped to paint Giovanni as a man in limbo between autonomous adulthood and dejected old age. Overall, I enjoyed the film. It’s lighthearted and fun, but at the same time addresses critical topics.
The Gold Rush is a masterpiece of cinema. Charlie Chaplin truly shines as the cinematic genius of his time. It’s amazing how timeless this film is. This film made me laugh and cry, which is something few mainstream movies make me do. The visual effects of the film are incredible, considering the film was made in 1925. A mere tilt of the camera created a strong sense of dread, effectively conveying the precarious position of the cabin on the cliff. In fact, the cabin develops a life of its own. It is the intermediary between the lone prospector and big Jim Mckay, and the plot device that brings the lone prospector exorbitant wealth. Moreover, the lone prospector develops into a three-dimensional character. His positive outlook contrasts with the oppressive environment and society in which he functions. He is nearly killed, and suffers from a broken heart, but his perseverance ultimately triumphs. In addition, Charlie Chaplin should be commended for his prowess at inciting pathos purely through pantomime and physiognomy. Mise-en-scene and cinematography by themselves convey as much emotion as any amount of dialog. In addition, his improvisation, such as the dancing potato sequence, is a tour de force. The film also contains elements that are ahead of its time. Many shots make use of the rule of thirds. Lighting helpes express emotions such as sadness and joy. The set is incredible and believable; it also elucidates a sense of isolation and oppression. The editing is mostly traditional, but transitions to quick cuts during the action sequences. I really admire the film; it’s a testament to the power of filmmaking.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie "The Gold Rush" from a story and plot point of view. However, visually, I found it hard to watch.
I think that I really enjoyed "The Gold Rush" partially due to the comedic, over the top actions of Charlie Chaplin, but also because it is a story that people can relate to. Especially as I complete college and I am looking to make my mark in the world, it was a familiar mood setting in the beginning which has everyone trying to become rich and successful but most are not going to make it. As Charlie Chaplin's character struggles not only to be successful and rich, but as he falls in love it is something that everyone no matter what generation can relate to. In fact, the only part that I did not like was the end. While I am happy that the tramp found his true love and was able to be with her, she had treated him horribly throughout the entire movie right up until the last five minutes. I would have been much more satisfied if he had blown her off because he realized she wasn't worth him.
I had stated earlier that visually, I found the movie hard to watch. I don't know if this is because it was on 35 mm film, or the cinematography of the film. I found that when it was just text on the screen there was a 3D effect almost to looking at the screen which gave me a headache. In addition, the film is edited to be very quick cuts, which also contributed to my headache. Despite the visuals not being appealing, I did enjoy this movie overall.
The Gold Rush, starring Charlie Chaplin, is a very different type of film in comparison to the ones I am used to watching it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I had the misconception that I would not like it since it was a silent film. Charlie Chaplin goes to the Yukon to partake in the Gold Rush and there are a series of humorous events that make the audience believe they are part of the film. Even though the actor is silent, I felt I could empathize and identify myself with Charlie Chaplin’s actions. I also really enjoyed the music, since it flowed with the characters and the setting. It is an extremely thought provoking and emotive film which in a silent way, interacts with the audience. I perceive his to be a comedy, since I was very entertained, which demonstrates the symbols of the obstacles in life one needs to overcome. I believe I was able to appreciate and thoroughly enjoy a new genre of film. I particularly like the scene where Chaplin is consuming his meal with a fork and shoelaces. It is a humor that is not seen nowadays. After having seen this movie, I am interested in seeing more like this one.
When I saw the trailer I was really excited about watching this film, it looked funny and very entertaining. Then I went to see it but it was not that great, although it was still good in my opinion. It was funny and all, especially Gianni. He is a 50 year old guy that wants to be young again, he is attracted to a lot of different younger women even though he has a family and all. It is as if he all of a sudden refuses to be old and starts to try to change, like when he does exercise and buys new nice clothes. He is retired, and drinks a lot. The movie is about his life with women actually, how he sees other younger women but cannot do anything about it, while has to take care od his family, his mom in particular. His mom is quite funny, who calls him all the time for him to go and take care of some stupid things really. She is something else. When her nurse is not there, Christina, she calls Gianni. I felt that the movie was very slow, especially at the beginning. It was as if it was going nowhere, there was no drama or anything. To me, it started to become like an empty movie; I still feel that way. I do not really see like a turning point in the film. I just do not find a plot to which the movie revolves around. It was like just getting to know what the life of this old man was now that he was retired; there was really nothing special. Nonetheless, it sill made me laugh at times and definitely entertained me.
In China, there is an ancient saying: Sixty Hua Jia (Hua Jia means a cycle of sixty years indicating it was rare/not easy for someone to enter that age), however thanks to the advanced medical technology, to live in one’s sixties is no longer a rare thing nowadays. The movie focuses on the psychological changes and related his daily activities of Gianni, an old man who entered in his sixties; telling the story of his feeling of happy and lost in his age by comedy. After his retiring, everything seemed to be sweet trouble in Gianni’s life. Gianni’s 80-year-old mother has a fleshpot that her fridge was stuffed with champagnes worth 150 Euros and she hired a family nurse who is hot and smoking; however, she still needed Gianni to take care of her and her friends everyday; Gianni’s wife threw everything to him; Gianni’s daughter had been engaging in a complicated relationship with her ex-boyfriend for a while and her ex still lived with them, Gianni has nothing to do that he spends his time with his ex-son-in-law; Gianni ran his dog everyday just because he wanted to “run into” his sexy neighbor everyday; Gianni met his childhood sweetheart at his mothers’ friend’s place, after failing to date her out Gianni remembered his old lover…the list goes on. At the end of the movie, Gianni’s ex-son-in-law asked him what he was thinking about. Gianni imagined in his mind that his sexy neighbor was walking towards him, the hot nurse was serving him for breakfast and the pretty twin sisters were playing with him…Quite impressed about how simple a 60-year-old guy’s dream could be. Maybe they just need more company and love. I’m going to pet my father when I go back to china.
At first, I was a little turned off by going to see a film about an elderly man loving the younger women but after seeing it, I wasn't disappointed. Gianni was struggling with the fact that women do not look at him the same way he used to because he is older. With a lot of time on his hands now that he is retired, he begins working out and trying to brush up on his skills on picking up women. Throughout the film he is constantly checking women out. This film was entertaining with Gianni having a good sense of humor. The film revolves around Gianni and the women around him. There's his wife, whom he separated from but she does not mind his search for younger women. We also get to see Gianni's relationship with his daughter. My favorite character was Gianni's mother. She was always calling him up for little tasks such as fixing the tv. He would always come immediately showing how much of a "mama's boy" he is. He is constantly walking his neighbor's dog just to be around another attractive younger girl. He even has a thing for his mother's nurse, who has no interest in him at all. He even revisits the past by meeting up with exes but these relationships are not pursued. Even though he faces disappointment realizing age does matter when it comes to these younger girls, he does not give up hope. Overall, this Italian film was not bad.
I have to admit – I was kind of biased going into this film. As much as I wanted to keep an open mind, I still couldn’t help it – the judgments were there. It wasn’t even just that it was a silent film – and I have nothing against black and white – it was more the type of comedy in these kinds of films I held pre-notions of. I am not a lover necessarily of physical or slapstick comedy – you would never catch me watching The Three Stooges for example – and based on what I had seen of Charlie Chaplin’s silent films, which is limited to the usual pop culture clips and such, that seemed to be the general sense of humor throughout. Granted, they are silent films, rendering any possibility of verbal or witty type of comedy non-existent, so it’s not like I went into the film expecting that – I’m not that nuts.
The one film of Charlie Chaplin’s I had previously seen before this was The Great Dictator, which is not a silent film. And while it isn’t exactly on my top 10 list, I didn’t necessarily think it was bad. I just find there are two types of old films – those that FEEL old, and those that stand the test of time and give you that “good movie” feeling, regardless of when they were made or when or how many times you watched them. The Gold Rush just wasn’t one of those films for me. I see its value, and I can appreciate what it offers to people to whose taste it appeals, and I don’t even think it was bad – there’s just no real need for me to see it again.
I found both the acting and the plot of the Salt of Life humorous. Giovanni is a caring son, father and husband, but never seems to get anything in return for his efforts. He starts on a journey to reward himself with a mistress, which ends up being more difficult than he thought – this is probably because cheating on his wife or hurting his daughter or mother would go against his caring disposition.
While I do not advocate cheating, I do think the women in his life should have been more appreciative of what he does for them. His mother spends his money on expensive champagne and wastes it by only drinking half a bottle. His wife makes him run errands for her. His daughter still lives with him, has her boyfriend basically live there too, and throws parties in his home. I think they know that his good deeds are easily taken advantage of and that he is pushover. His kind nature even extends to the other women he attempts to impress.
In the midst of trying to impress all these women and regain a bit of youth, Giovani lands himself drinking a drugged beverage intended for another girl, tripped out, wandering the streets for an entire night with his neighbors dog. I found this to be the most comedic scene because he accomplishes a youthful experience, but in no way was it rewarding.
“The Salt of Life” is an Italian film about an aging man, Gianni, coming to terms with a life that is disappointing him. While I only notice that most foreign films are foreign because of the language, the culture that “The Salt of Life” depicts is noticeably not American. There is an opening montage of Gianni checking out very younger women that lasts about thirty seconds too long for the film to be American. Italian culture is much more comfortable with an older man pursuing younger women as a means of proving his virility. In America, we only accept such behavior from millionaires, not average men like Gianni. I might have been put off had any of Gianni’s attempts actually succeeded but Gianni’s fumbling and failure make him more endearingly pathetic than perverted. Aside from the sex issue, I think the film being foreign allowed it delve further into the issue of male aging. I think America is still a bit too squeamish about aging for such a film. However, “The Salt of Life” explores the subject in depth. I found it a captivating premise for a movie. I was surprised at how the film dealt with the subject with both sensitivity and humor. The character of Gianni was relatable and very well-acted. I enjoyed the film and enjoyed learning about another culture.
I actually never had the chance to watch a Charlie Chaplin film, but “The Gold Rush” wasn’t a bad place to start. This was one of my favorite movies I’ve seen at the Cosford Cinema, not only because of this amazing film, but also due to the accompaniment of an original score by music students. Although, I originally thought a silent film would be somewhat boring, I really enjoyed the overemphasized facial expressions, and that the actual story was more important than the dialogue. It is amazing how much this film directly interacts with the audience even with it being silent. However, the incorporation of the music was very entertaining, and it completely followed the pace of the film. In addition, I think the audience and myself took this film as an hilarious comedy film, with constant laughter throughout the entire film. I also was able to relate to his character because he just wants to be successful in life and he falls in love with a girl that he really cares about. In terms of the quality of the film, I thought it being on 35 mm film allowed it to have originality and it provided the audience with an interesting film watching experience. The set designs seen within the film fit perfectly with the story and I thought the characters used these spaces perfectly for comedy. Some examples include the lodge fighting scene, and the scene in the dance floor when the dog was attached to his belt. There are also countless times where he incorporated humor that isn’t seen today as much including eating the shoe for thanksgiving dinner, trying to rock the house back into place when it was falling of the ledge of the mountain, or even the New Years Eve’s dream scene when he was playing with his food. Everything also just seemed to flawlessly transition together between the different sets and scenes. After seeing this movie, I definitely will start watching other Charlie Chaplin films and also give other silent films a chance.
The Salt of Life was a fairly funny movie that is definitely worth seeing, but will not make any top ten lists soon. When I saw the trailer for it, I was expecting an Italian version of the 40 Year Old Virgin. The movies do have some similarities, but overall I didn’t really get the point of Salt of Life. Was the main character supposed to get laid? Was he supposed to get married to any of the women? The women themselves seemed to come out of nowhere and I did not know why he was with them. That didn’t really keep me from enjoying the movie though because it’s a comedy and the movie did its job of making me laugh a couple of times. The ending montage that goes through his head was hilarious and when the movie ended I sat there laughing saying “what did I just watch?” The movie is not a 40 Year Old Virgin, it is more of the nicest guy ever gets overworked and underappreciated. It is really fun to watch and it feels like a lot of the characters are people the viewer would know. The daughter’s jobless boyfriend is a great comic relief. This movie is great for a few laughs, but not much more than that. Just sit back and enjoy the characters and their moments. Trying to find a point to the plot or examine the characters too deeply is pointless because of the pace the movie goes.
GOLD RUSH
I had never seen a silent movie before, so going into Gold Rush I expected to be very bored. However, I could not have been more surprised and pleased by what I saw. Just because the movie was made almost a century ago, does not mean it doesn’t appeal to almost every sense of the viewer. The story lines used are very similar to some that we see today. The idea of a guy trying to become rich, but becoming sidetracked by love is constantly seen today. Chaplin is a master actor because he is able to bring vastly different emotions to the screen without speaking. The music also helps the viewer feel like they are keeping up with the story. Chaplin’s body language shows how he falls in love, which I think a lot of present day actors could learn from. This movie is a great comedy, but also has some pretty advanced cut techniques. They are really noticeable, so I feel like that means the movie doesn’t flow very well. In addition, seeing the movie on 35 MM was different. I didn’t think I would notice the difference but I did. It did not take away from the film it just made a visual difference. Nevertheless, the comedy though makes this film an all time classic. It has some classic story elements and hilarious gestures by Chaplin, showing why he is a timeless actor. The movie is black and white with no dialogue, but Chaplin is still able to make a great movie.
I had the opportunity to play cello for the score to this film, written by one of my good friends from the music school. Although I did not really have a chance to watch the film, as I was occupied with playing the music, I recognize that most of the audience members enjoyed the film. The traditional story of a man striving for the American Dream of growing rich and having a life of success is one that everyone can relate to. The fact that it is very difficult to reach this goal is also present. It was entertaining to watch Charlie try to attract his love even though I do feel about the way she treated him. Despite the fact that he really should have moved past her and on with his life, he persisted. At the end of the movie he finally gets the girl and everything is right with the world. I enjoy slapstick comedy, so I was glad to see that this film used many of the traditional elements found in such genre. It was a little strange that the film was shot in 35mm, but it didn’t seem that jarring, at least from what I was able to see. Overall, it was a good experience and I was glad to help my friends from the music school out.
Salt of Life The trailer made it seem like this would be a funny and entertaining move but this was definitely not a movie I was crazy about, partly because it was slow at points and partly I just am not a fan of foreign films. It’s not that it was a horrible movie but not too much good either. There were some funny parts throughout the movie with Gianni and his mother. Gianni is trying as hard as he can to hold on to his youth and it makes you think about being a 20-year-old college student and to live it up now. You don’t want a mid life crisis like Gianni, especially while trying to handle everything he has on his plate. He feels he is deprived from sex, has so much to take care of, wants to feel loved, and just be young again. I feel as though he did feel he just needed some fun and to be young, but looking at younger women isn’t te best way to do it. Although his mom had funny moments in the movie, I feel like beside those moments it was a sort of pointless movie to watch and I really didn’t get much out of it.
The Gold Rush I have never seen on my own any Charlie Chaplin movie, any move that was supposed to be silent, or made in the 1920s. I don’t know if it is my 21st century attitude or that I don’t know film at all but I cannot bring myself to appreciate those kind of movies or enjoy watching them. Even the music doesn’t do much for me. This was supposed to be a funny, cute movie. I think the emotions and reactions are just too over the top to be enjoyable. No one would ever do that in real life and to me it seems like those types of reactions should be on baby videos so babies can understand it. Not full length films. Charlie Chaplin is an amazing actor for what he was supposed to be doing and for the 20s this was shot very well with a very good set. One thing I do find cool about silent movies is that you can have a room of different generations and nationalities and most people will all get the same thing out the film with the desire to be wealthy and successful while trying to find love as well. I think most people would admit they want to be rich and find love.
I went into the Gold Rush never seeing a Charlie Chaplin film before, but was aware of his legendary legacy. I was always told that he was a comedic genius and a fantastic storyteller, so I had high expectations from the start. Despite this, I still left the theater with a big smile on my face. Chaplin’s character, the lone prospector goes out to Alaska to try a strike it rich, while meeting some friendly (and not so friendly) people along the way. The Gold Rush has a certain charm to it that would have been ruined had it been made in a post silent movies era. Chaplin manages to make his character very likeable without having to say a single word. I think that if we knew what was going on in his head the entire time through full-blown dialogue scenes, it would be less fun for the audience because we wouldn’t be able to interpret it in our own way. Obviously because it’s difficult to have funny one-liners and conversations in a silent comedy, much of the humor has to come through in the form of physical comedy, and people were not kidding when they told me Chaplin is the master of that art. His comedic timing is spot on, and it’s easy to see why people refer to him as one of the greats. The student who composed the original score for the movie did a fantastic job. The music seemed to fit perfectly with the scenes, and if I didn’t know better, I might have thought that was the score that went with the film when it originally came out. This was a great experience.
Gold rush a silent film in 1925 Produced and directed by Charlie Chaplin. This film takes place in Alaska where the main character Charlie "The Lone Prospector" finds himself sharing a remote cabin with two other prospectors Big Jim McKay and Black Larsen in the constant search for gold but Larsen is a murderer and thief. In which Charlie soon finds that out after Larsen attempts to ambush him but dies in and avalanche accident leaving Big Jim with memory lose. Meanwhile, Charlie has fallen in love, with a saloon girl named Georgia who doesn't give him the time of day. Charlie and Georgia meet, and then Charlie invites the girl to New Year's Eve dinner in the cabin that he is tending for a local prospector. In which Georgia forgets all about the dinner and doesn't show up. The next day, Big Jim arrives in town and is shaken out of his amnesia when he spots Charlie. Hoping that Charlie will help him find his mountain of gold. as the cabin blown by the wind to a mountain precipice, leans precariously over the edge and Charlie, clinging to the floor, develops a sudden case of hiccups! The cabin slides down the side of the mountain, landing directly upon Big Jim's gold strike. Charlie and Big Jim head back to the States as wealthy men. Also along side is Georgia who is unaware that Charlie has struck it rich and thinks that he's a stowaway. She offers to hide him from the authorities, and it is at this point that Charlie and Georgia discover that they're truly in love with one another. There is more than mere laughter in "The Gold Rush." This film was very enjoyable romance/comedy. It is a concrete and straightforward story and as specter I can appreciate film that is easy to understand.
The Salt of Life I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie The Salt of Life. The Salt of Life is the story about an elderly man named Giovanni. Giovanni is a very funny man and the story follows him through his daily life. Giovanni is in the middle of his mid-life (maybe more towards end of life) crisis and we learn the struggles he faces through a humorous movie. Giovanni’s largest struggle is with the women in his life. His wife does not sleep with him anymore, is constantly busy and always bosses him around. Through their interaction you can tell that she constantly belittles him and that there marriage is no longer happy. Because of this Giovanni is constantly eyeing up other woman in his day-to-day activities. An older man checking out every girl that comes by him is a sight to see and very hilarious. Giovanni’s mother is also constantly bothering him as well be it financially or by constantly calling him over to fix the smallest of problems. As a male viewer I could somewhat sympathize with Giovanni and really felt bad that he was treated like this by the important women in his life. He only wanted love and affection but got the opposite. The Salt of Life was a very humorous and entertaining story. Erik Rueckle-c10166645
Having never seen a Charlie Chaplin film before, I was curious and unsure what to expect when I first entered the movie theater. The movie turned out to be hilarious from the beginning and all the way through. Before the movie began, Professor Delellis gave a brief introduction about the film. In this, he stated that Chaplin had originally destroyed the original version of the film through a great number of cuts. The version that we watched was a restored version that had been re-edited to be as close to the original as possible and new subtitles had been added. Knowing this, made me question why Chaplin would want to destroy his own film. My best guess was that he was unhappy with the final product.
The Gold Rush was also the first of Chaplin’s films to be converted into a sound version years later and the restored version also has a degraded quality to the clips. Additionally, the editing is not very continuous and smooth; there are many parts where the screen is black indicating that a frame is missing or the picture is shaking. During the screening, UM students performed live music to accompany the silent film, which definitely enhanced the experience as a whole.
From the film, I learned more about Chaplin and that he was not simply a famous actor. He was also a talented writer, director and producer, all of which were evident throughout the film. Additionally, a lot of Chaplin’s dialogue and his comedic sketches had a unique style about them. This style differs greatly from traditional slapstick comedy by playing on absurdity and have no doubt influenced films produced afterward.
Gold Rush Gold Rush is a silent film by Charlie Chaplin. I have seen silent films before such as The Artist, which I thought was a fantastic movie, but this one was different. I was expecting this to be a really funny movie because that is what I had heard about all of Charlie Chaplin's movies but I guess the silence of it made me not like it that much. In the movie, the main character goes to Alaska to try to get rich. He also encounters many obstacles along the way and the only reason I enjoyed this movie was because it was interesting to not hear the main character say a word yet be entertained by his actions. The director did a great job of making the movie flow and not be too slow at any point in time. I do have to say that Charlie Chaplin's humor was good. I laughed during the movie and his physical comedy is one of the best I've seen. The music that the kid was performing was pretty awesome. It synched up well with the movie and actually made it a more enjoyable movie. It was an interesting experience and a good one at that.
The Salt of Life is a very apt title for this film. It was a pleasant movie, but did not keep my attention throughout. I liked the premise because the viewer knows that this moral dilemma occurs in every man’s life at some point or another. The dilemma: realizing that you are old and can not attract the younger, good-looking women and whether or not to have a mistress. The movie does a great job with alluring the audience with all the voluptuous things Rome has to offer: food, wine, clothing and scenery. Most notably though is the women. The cinematography is great as the audience observes the women just as Gianni does; like these Roman women are almost at the level of goddesses. Gianni’s mood is generally depressing throughout, but to deter the consistent depression, the film creates lively, contrasting characters to surround Gianni. Overall, the story is simply not in-depth enough and not grabbing enough to really keep the movie going throughout the entire 90 minutes. Also, The Salt of Life just sort of ends in an abrupt fashion, leaving the audience to wonder, is that all?
Out of all the cultural events at the Cosford, Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush was probably my favorite. Charlie Chaplin was absolutely delightful, and even though the movie was made in 1925 and the humor back then was vastly different than modern humor, I still laughed many times during the movie. It was interesting to watch a movie without any dialogue. No dialogue made the acting and facial expressions much more defined and important. An added element that positively contributed to the film was background music, making the movie more lively and fun to watch. Its obvious how well Chaplin is able to effectively tell a story through his many emotions and physicality. The close-up was also used to highlight Chaplin’s expressions, specifically when Chaplin, or the Tramp, sees his newfound love of his life. The camerawork is also interesting as the camera barely moves throughout the movie. For being filmed in 1925, the movie seems advanced through the chicken scene and the setting is well constructed.
This movie was interesting to watch, mainly because I have never seen an Italian movie and I am very fond of Italy because I spent a lot of summer months studying in Florence. The characters are funny, the relationship between Gianni and his mother is hilarious. I really liked Gianni’s character mainly because he is noble, very noble. He is a great dad, tries to be a great husband, and excellent son, an extraordinary neighbor and most importantly he tries really hard to be a good person. Through the movie, this character maintains his calmness and serenity, even though the women in his live literally drove him CRAZY. The movie has some comedy in it, but I wouldn’t categorize it as a funny movie. Maybe that’s one thing that I did not like about it. When I saw the trailer, I build up my expectations, expecting to see a funny funny comedy. And that’s not, by any means, what I watched. I felt sympathy with this movie because I could somehow relate my family with the characters, and that is one thing I really like about movies. There are some funny parts, some kind of sad parts, and others are just plain boring. But overall the movie is decent, and I would recommend it to a friend. Rebeca Drucker
The Salt of Life was a bit of a disappointment for me, as the trailer I had seen had made it seem like it was a comedy, when in reality I found it to be more of a drama and an observational piece than anything else. That being said, the movie was well acted, as the main character plays the role of an older man who is trying to have an affair with a younger woman, and most of the jokes come from him being unable to even get the attention of any of the younger women. At one point, he is literally surrounded by beautiful women and is noticed by none of them. Similar to We Have a Pope, I had trouble relating to the film as it dealt with life observations of an old man, and it seems to have a reflective quality that is difficult to relate to as a twenty-two year old. For example, Giani, the main character, makes many observations basically watching these young women unnoticed, yet I’m not sure his observations apply as much to the mindset of a younger man. He also sees tons and tons of beautiful women, but I question if that is just us seeing the women through his eyes, because as an old man pretty much every younger woman must look beautiful to him on some degree. Overall, I had trouble relating to pretty much any part of the film and didn’t really find too much humor in it, but I did not hate it, mainly because Giani was a likeable character and there were a few funny parts.
The Gold Rush was my first silent movie watched. I’m glad it was because it has inspired me in wanting to create, script, direct and edit my own silent movie. Charles Chaplin is the earlier version of our Mr. Bean—a silent, funny, goofy and distracted character. Different then Mr. Bean, Charles Chaplin seems to show true emotions of happiness and sadness when he gets hurt and is ignored by his love. Even though the movie is about a lonely miner who got stuck in a snowstorm, the movie deals a lot with the theme of love. Even though Georgia, his love only appears in the middle of movie, his love for her is still the most important element in his movie. The music is also very important to the actions in the movie. Since the movie is silent, every important event, action scene, romantic scene, needs the aid of music to convey certain emotions on us. The music was well produced and perfectly fit the different moments in the movie. Georgia is an interesting character. She seems mean and snobby in all the of the first scenes she appears in. She then realizes her mistake and rudeness and tries to fix it at the end of the movie. Even though she changes near the end of the movie, I still dislike her because of the sympathetic feelings I have grown towards Charlie Chaplin’s character. He plays it so well and conveys emotion so perfectly that it is impossible to feel an emotional connection towards him.
The Gold Rush is the first and only Chaplin movie I have ever seen. The movie was in black and white and it was silent; there were short lines of dialogue inserted between takes to help guide the viewer. Also, the movie was very funny. Occasionally, one character would see the other as food and chase him around until he realized he wasn’t food. The lines of dialogue inserted helped me understand how much they wanted food and how much time had passed. Also, when the house is hanging and about to fall, it was very unrealistic and something that would be seen in a cartoon but it was funny because of the great performances given by the actors. In addition, I noticed that the film was mostly made up of long shots and medium shots. The score was great and accompanied the action perfectly. The music helped set the mood and emotion of what was happening in the film. This was a very different film compared to the films I usually see. At first I thought I was going to be very bored throughout the entire film because I had never seen a silent film. However, to my surprise, I ended up enjoying it and laughing.
The Salt of Life was a very repetitive film. However, the repetition helped make the point that the film was trying to make. Throughout the film we see Gianni interacting with different women: his daughter, mother, wife, neighbor, among others. He tries to attract women but he fails every time he tries. His life seems disappointing and traumatizing for a man. It seemed as if he had nothing to do the entire day and he had failed at life. He was used and unappreciated by the women in his life, especially his mother. She would make him go to her house for insignificant things such as plugging in the TV and taking food out into the garden where she plays cards with her friends. The entire movie is about his non-intimate interactions with other women and his attempts to making them intimate. It was not entertaining to watch. I was very disappointed because the trailer made it seem like a good and funny movie, but it wasn’t. The only funny parts of the film were when Gianni’s daughter’s boyfriend appeared, and it wasn’t often. The movie would have been a lot better if there had been a lot of comedy in it. I would not recommend this movie and I would definitely not watch it again.
The Gold Rush was a totally new experience for me. Never before have I actually watched a silent film, and a full one to say the least. The fact that Charlie Chaplain was the main character was enough to make me want to see it. After hearing so much about this film icon and legend, I had to see this. His impact is so widely talked about and now I totally understand why. In a silent film, the hardest part is obviously to connect emotionally with the audience. Charlie Chaplain was a master at portraying his emotions of yearning and love for his girl in Georgia. While stuck in the middle of a snowstorm, another key element was the music. The music in the movie did a very good job of setting the mood and undertones that carried along with the dramatic themes of the film. The score paired with Charlie Chaplain's portrayal of emotions created setting unlike any other. I thought I was in the silent world sent back by a time machine. After watching this film, I now have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the silent films, and the actual talent of many actors during this time period.
THE SALT OF LIFE I wasn't too sure what to expect when I heard about this movie. The previews made this movie look like it was a comedy but I think this movie was going for somewhat of a more serious tone. The movie is mainly about how a man transitions from a midlife crisis into senior life. He goes through many ups and downs but overall is able to accomplish what he set out to do. The setting for this movie, in my opinion, was beautiful and I really loved all of the backdrops used. Unfortunately, this man seems like he had so many troubles in his life and that it was hard for him to get through them or that he did not live life to his fullest ability. Overall, the cinematography in this movie was beautiful and the acting was great but I think it should be more comedic and I don't think I would watch it again. Alexandra Ball C07809270
GOLD RUSH Going into this movie, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I have never seen a Chaplin film before and didn't know how the much I would understand from a silent film. I was very pleased with the inserts of dialogue because those snippets really helped me follow along with the plot line. Another key to making this movie a success was definitely the music. The music always sets a tone in all movies, but when there is no dialogue from the actors, the music has an even bigger impact on the flow of the movie. I really appreciated the score and how much it contributed to making the movie believable. Overall, this film was much better than I expected and even made me want to watch another silent film. I really enjoyed being able to see a performance by such a legendary actor and would definitely recommend this movie to a friend. Alexandra Ball C07809270
I really enjoyed this movie. For one thing, the setting was great. I love Italy and Italians and the fact that the entire movie was Italian and involved ordinary everyday Italians instantly endeared it to me. Gianni was a likeable character, too. It was not a very heavy movie, but his story was light yet compelling. It took me a while to come around to the idea that his whole goal was to cheat on his wife, but, given that every older male character seemed to have a mistress and think of them as status symbols, I guess it is just a cultural thing in Italy. The friendship between Gianni and his daughter’s boyfriend was also a nice touch, especially with all the daughter’s talk of dumping the boyfriend soon. Finally, the movie had a great ending. If Gianni wasn’t actually going to find himself a mistress, going on a hallucinogenic trip through the streets of Rome while walking a dog was a pretty great consolation prize. That trip created a lot of laughs and really ended the movie on a high note. Overall, I really enjoyed The Salt of Life. Sometimes it’s nice to just see something lighthearted, with a lot of beautiful women and a foreign culture that culminates in a hilarious drug trip.
The film had it's ups and downs for me. At times it was interesting, fun and lighthearted. Focusing on an elderly man, Gianni, who during retirement has decided to search for love once again. His life consists of taking care of his mother and looking after his other family members. At other times, the movie was long and slow, which made it difficult to stay focused and interested. The film was easy to relate to in that it reflected life in general instead of a major turning point or having a great deal of change. Even though the premise is that he's trying to cheat on his wife, the movie as a whole is sweet and light hearted rather than the typical darker side and consequences of being unfaithful.
The character of the mother really helped to bring in a great deal of comic relief. Through her one could get the sense that every moment in life should be treasured and enjoyed. While Gianni's desire for both love and attention are relatable. A really nice film, overall, which could be enjoyed by anyone.
The Salt Of Life is another era in my movie viewing history. I was surprised and actually starts to think about myself if I met the situation Gianni in. He is in the dawn of his life. He is getting old. He doesn't sleep with his wife. He still have motivation to get other girls but lack in energy to actually to do that in real.He gets phone call from his mom 24/7 just for stupid little thing in the daily life for example moving the TV cable to get a clear image.
The end of the movie is very funny because he was drugged by some party drink and walking in the nowhere almost the entire night.
The ideal life of Gianni in the end is living like a playboy. Get served by all the different beautiful women in his life. Probably that is how people do stuffs in Italy. It is interesting to see the will of an old man in Gianni's age.
I must admit that I ended up enjoying "Gold Rush" more than I would have ever thought. I had never seen a Charlie Chaplin film before and was a bit skeptical that I would enjoy a silent film. In the end I found it to be quite a charming movie. It was interesting to see how sound effects were so over-exaggerrated since there was no actual dialogue. That definitely helped with the comedic aspect of the film. My favorite part of the film was the relationship with Chaplin's character and his crush, Georgia. I thought it was very cute how much he liked her. Chaplin did a good job getting the audience to root for his character. I felt so bad for him when Georgia and her girlfriends stood him up on New Year's Eve. Another scene I enjoyed was when Chaplin went around shoveling houses for money. It was very humorous to watch him shovel the snow away from one house and than pile it up on the next one. The movie was definitely a lot funnier than I thought it would be. I enjoyed watching the facial expressions of all the characters throughout the film. That is something that you do not notice as much in movies with actual dialogue. I did find that the movie could have been shortened about twenty minutes. Some scenes ran on a bit too long. Overall I found it a very pleasant viewing experience and I was definitely rooting for Chaplin in the end when he struck gold and made it rich.
I found this film to be very interesting especially since it takes place here in Miami. I have not seen many films set here so it was fun to see places in the movie that I have actually been near. This film is definitely on the serious side and does not have a happy ending. The movie just sort of ends, which I actually found made it more realistic. The film follows several different characters, who are all immigrants and shows them trying to make something big out of their lives in Miami. I found it accurate that so many people move to America thinking success will come easy, but instead are left with a lot of hardship. The shaky camera movements bothered me a bit, but overall left the gritty feeling that the directors were after. The fact that the camera acts like the eyes of the characters I found to be pretty unique. It did however at some times leave me a little confused as to what was going on. A lot of the camera angles were focused downward when a character was walking and that left me a little frustrated that I could not see anymore of what was happening. It did do a good job at making the audience in the frame of mind as the character, though. I especially liked when the focus was placed on the dog, so the scenes were shot in black and white to simulate how a dog would actual see his surroundings. That was something that I definitely hadn't seen before. I also found the scene of the girl bingeing and purging to be quite disturbing. It was definitely effective at showing the realities of eating disorders. Overall I enjoyed the film and would even consider watching it again. It used some creative elements that I have not seen in many movies before.
The Gold Rush was the first Chaplin movie I have ever seen. It was a good thing I went. It was a black and white silent film that from what I heard embodies the spirit of Chaplin. I found it extremely interested how a movie so old, using a format such as black and white with no sound could be positively received by both me and the 70 year old man watching it beside me. It was very comedic in a way I would describe as cartoon for adults.
The movie is about a miner who is trapped in a snowstorm and his attempts to weather the storm. Once he does he meets a girl in the town by the name of Georgia who he immediately falls head over heels for, which is funny because she has absolutely no interest in him and even uses him as a punch line but he is too blind to see. Eventually he becomes rich because the man he weathered the snow storm with finds a gold depository and the two of them become the beneficiaries, it is at this time he reconnects with Georgia and the two click.
Another great part of the showing of this film was the score performed by the UM students. At first it was hard to focus on the film while there was a light and about 10 people performing in my peripherals but once you got used to that it attended a tremendous amount to the film. The music fit perfectly and if there was ever another event like this at the Cosford I would surely go.
Compared to some of the other movies I saw at the Cosford this year, the salt of life was very light-hearted and easy going movie. The pacing of the movie may have been slow at certain junctures but apart from that, Gianni was a very likable, relatable, and also funny character. You feel for the man’s loss. He is eagerly trying to hold on to his youth but there are certain forces at hand that he can do nothing about and he tries to cope with these forces in his way, sometimes fighting them, sometimes ignoring them, and then sometimes pretending like they are not happening all together. The supporting cast was also great, especially Gianni’s mother. This is a genre of film that you don’t see very often stateside, with most movies focusing on a predominantly younger audience and few movies actually focus on the theme of growing old. But it is a predominant portion of our lives, and something that we don’t like thinking about especially if when we get to this age we aren’t what we want to be because it is a lot harder to change your life at that juncture.
"The Salt of Life" is an irreverent and quirky comedy about love and growing old. While I certainly am not in the target demographic for this film, I still managed to enjoy Gianni's search through Italy to find some extracurricular love. The movie definently relies on humor and narrative to contrast Gianni' boring post retirement life with the active lives of the women around him. The colorful sets, production design, and location of Italy all added to the visual enjoyment of the film and gave the comedy a colorful pop. However, this film seems to fall into the all-style-no-substance category.
While it was funny and the geriatric audience around me enjoyed "The Salt of Life", the movie had no real meaning or substance. I couldn't see any real theme or message to take away from the story, although that may be because I am not Italian or past middle age. The sudden end to the film, while funny (in fact, Gianni' daydream about all the women was probably my favorite sequence of the film), offered no conclusion to his quest for love. Nor can the viewer take away a moral, such as live in the moment or cherish those you have near you. Just as Gianni is left with the same situation he had at the begining of the film, I was left in the same state as I entered the film.
The Gold Rush was a funny film. I'm not into silent films; however, this film found ways to make me laugh and smile. Charlie can be compared to Mr. Bean. The two are always doing something ridiculous. The sound effects and music added some spice to the film. This kind of made me feel like I was at the circus watching a group of clowns performing or even a group of mimes. The Gold rush is definitely a masterpiece and will do a great job at humoring you when you're in a bad mood. I can definietly see myself watching this film again. Charlie Chaplin definitely connected with the audience in this film. The actors facial expression also made the film interesting. This film really made my day. I needed a good laugh.
The Salt of Life is the perfect example of what some middle-aged men go through when the have a mid-life crisis and need some excitement in their lives. Di Gregorio was a nursemaid to his mother and was the house-husband to his wife. His daughter was sloppy and he did not like her boyfirend. All he wanted to do was live his life. He needed a new young thing to keep him happy. Sadly, this happens in reality and a lot more men are leaving their wives and families for younger women because they want to be young again and are tired of their boring life. The women seemed to love to flaunt themselves, so I am guessing that beauty played a big role in this film. To me, this film can be compared to reality, because people go through a lot to find themselves and to liven up their lives. I would watch this film again and recommend it to a friend.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a very interesting story. And it was also interesting to read the background information that inspired the film. This hunting film gets under your skin and keeps you wanting to find out more. Lisbeth gives an amazing performance. The action level is high. The film relied more on the performances than the problem-solving, and delivered a complicated performance that tattooed Lisbeth Salander straight onto the brain. The sexual abuse drama gave it a nice touch. It was unique to see how the film focused more on the hero then the villian. I enjoyed watching this movie and would definietly watch it again.
The Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteThe Salt of Life was an interesting type of movie. Although slow at times, I enjoyed watching this lighthearted Italian foreign film. It is focused around this older man, Gianni, who is desperately trying to find a lover. While focusing on this, he is forced to balance his life between taking care of his pain in the ass mother and his family. I felt this film is sending a message to people still desperately trying to hold on to their youth, when in reality they are not young anymore. Gianni goes after these women that are half his age and think of him more as a grandfather. More then once in the movie, he is shown in the mirror trying to hold up the bags under his eyes in order to appear younger. In another scene he is trying to get fit by doing yoga, but ends up getting stuck in a position. He is realizing that he is not the young man he thinks he is.
His mother in the film provides most of the comedy in the film in various different scenes. She gives the movie more of a light-hearted feel. The scene with her and her friends playing poker happened to be very funny. Another important message I got out of it, is the fact that you only live once so you might as well go for it. Although being shut down, Gianni keeps on trying and never gives up like most would after a certain amount of time. Overall, I thought the directing was really good and really enjoyed watching this movie.
The Salt of Life was the most interesting film I have ever seen regarding the elderly. I really enjoyed the film because of all the humorous parts regarding male menopause. I also feel like the film can be so related to for most people its very believable and I really liked that about the film. Sometimes I felt that the film did get a little boring at times or might have seemed slow but then a few scenes later there would be a really funny scene with Gianni’s mother Valarie calling him over to fix the television. I feel that my favorite parts in them movie would definitely be the scene when Gianni’s mother have nothing in the refrigerator but wine and another scene would be Gianni getting fit for date with his mother’s friend daughter. At times I really felt for the Gianni character at times he played a really pitiful role.
ReplyDeleteThe move it just goes to show that your innocence is something that you should truly cherish because before you know it, it will be over.
The Gold Rush
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid to say that I haven’t seen a Charlie Chaplin movie before. Finally, I had the opportunity. And it was fantastic! I loved the work of the German Filminstitut to “recycle” the movie as it was in 1925 and to combine it with the music of the 1942’s edition. The music underlines every emotion in the movie. Therefore, it makes the comic scenes funnier, and the cheerless scenes sadder. I haven’t experienced this power of music before. Sure, it was a silent movie. But, “The Artist” wasn’t as impressive as “The Gold Rush”, for example.
The story is easy to follow, and the love story is extremely cute. Due to the silence of the movie, everything is overreacted. So, every emotion is hyperbolic in order that every person in the audience can get it. Because of this, sometimes the movie was ridiculous. But, overall it was funny and somehow sweet. And due to the overacting, everyone can understand the movie, also if they can’t read English. This makes the movie so lovely and entertaining.
I enjoyed my time with this movie. For sure, I’ll watch another Chaplin movie soon. This movie has awakened my interest in his work.
The Salt of Life is a funny and down to earth depiction of the male mid-life crisis. Gianni Di Gregorio does a fantastic job of touching upon numerous aspects of male aging: repressed sexual anxiety, disillusionment as a result of endless responsibility, the uncomfortable transition from late adulthood to senility, and above all a chronic lack of love from women and family. Even more impressive is how Gregorio is able to effectively convey controversial motifs of adultery and death without succumbing to graphic sex scenes and melodrama. As a whole, the narrative is very easy to follow. However, that doesn’t mean it should be dismissed. The narrative is original in that few movies depict the mid-life crisis as an unfortunate consequence of the breakdown of aging. Giovanni Brandori ditto Gianni is easy to sympathize with. He really cares about his mother, even though she takes his monetary support for granted. Furthermore, his wife enables his extramarital lust because she doesn’t sleep with him anymore. In addition, Giovanni is a caring albeit passive father. Of course, the superb acting makes it easier to relate to Giovanni. It’s also worth commending Gregorio for directing, writing, and acting in the film. Valeria De Franciscis also did a fantastic job as his mother as did Alfonso Santagata as his best friend. The ending, although unexpected, is good too. Giovanni’s mind is a mystery for the majority of the movie, but the ending is a relieving explosion of repressed emotions that help us understand that Giovanni mainly wants attention and affection. Editing is traditional as is the cinematography. The costuming helped to portray young women as beautiful goddesses in the eyes of Giovanni, and also helped to paint Giovanni as a man in limbo between autonomous adulthood and dejected old age. Overall, I enjoyed the film. It’s lighthearted and fun, but at the same time addresses critical topics.
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Rush is a masterpiece of cinema. Charlie Chaplin truly shines as the cinematic genius of his time. It’s amazing how timeless this film is. This film made me laugh and cry, which is something few mainstream movies make me do. The visual effects of the film are incredible, considering the film was made in 1925. A mere tilt of the camera created a strong sense of dread, effectively conveying the precarious position of the cabin on the cliff. In fact, the cabin develops a life of its own. It is the intermediary between the lone prospector and big Jim Mckay, and the plot device that brings the lone prospector exorbitant wealth. Moreover, the lone prospector develops into a three-dimensional character. His positive outlook contrasts with the oppressive environment and society in which he functions. He is nearly killed, and suffers from a broken heart, but his perseverance ultimately triumphs. In addition, Charlie Chaplin should be commended for his prowess at inciting pathos purely through pantomime and physiognomy. Mise-en-scene and cinematography by themselves convey as much emotion as any amount of dialog. In addition, his improvisation, such as the dancing potato sequence, is a tour de force. The film also contains elements that are ahead of its time. Many shots make use of the rule of thirds. Lighting helpes express emotions such as sadness and joy. The set is incredible and believable; it also elucidates a sense of isolation and oppression. The editing is mostly traditional, but transitions to quick cuts during the action sequences. I really admire the film; it’s a testament to the power of filmmaking.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed the movie "The Gold Rush" from a story and plot point of view. However, visually, I found it hard to watch.
ReplyDeleteI think that I really enjoyed "The Gold Rush" partially due to the comedic, over the top actions of Charlie Chaplin, but also because it is a story that people can relate to. Especially as I complete college and I am looking to make my mark in the world, it was a familiar mood setting in the beginning which has everyone trying to become rich and successful but most are not going to make it. As Charlie Chaplin's character struggles not only to be successful and rich, but as he falls in love it is something that everyone no matter what generation can relate to. In fact, the only part that I did not like was the end. While I am happy that the tramp found his true love and was able to be with her, she had treated him horribly throughout the entire movie right up until the last five minutes. I would have been much more satisfied if he had blown her off because he realized she wasn't worth him.
I had stated earlier that visually, I found the movie hard to watch. I don't know if this is because it was on 35 mm film, or the cinematography of the film. I found that when it was just text on the screen there was a 3D effect almost to looking at the screen which gave me a headache. In addition, the film is edited to be very quick cuts, which also contributed to my headache. Despite the visuals not being appealing, I did enjoy this movie overall.
The Gold Rush, starring Charlie Chaplin, is a very different type of film in comparison to the ones I am used to watching it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I had the misconception that I would not like it since it was a silent film. Charlie Chaplin goes to the Yukon to partake in the Gold Rush and there are a series of humorous events that make the audience believe they are part of the film. Even though the actor is silent, I felt I could empathize and identify myself with Charlie Chaplin’s actions. I also really enjoyed the music, since it flowed with the characters and the setting. It is an extremely thought provoking and emotive film which in a silent way, interacts with the audience. I perceive his to be a comedy, since I was very entertained, which demonstrates the symbols of the obstacles in life one needs to overcome. I believe I was able to appreciate and thoroughly enjoy a new genre of film. I particularly like the scene where Chaplin is consuming his meal with a fork and shoelaces. It is a humor that is not seen nowadays. After having seen this movie, I am interested in seeing more like this one.
ReplyDeleteThe Salt Of Life
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the trailer I was really excited about watching this film, it looked funny and very entertaining. Then I went to see it but it was not that great, although it was still good in my opinion. It was funny and all, especially Gianni. He is a 50 year old guy that wants to be young again, he is attracted to a lot of different younger women even though he has a family and all. It is as if he all of a sudden refuses to be old and starts to try to change, like when he does exercise and buys new nice clothes. He is retired, and drinks a lot. The movie is about his life with women actually, how he sees other younger women but cannot do anything about it, while has to take care od his family, his mom in particular. His mom is quite funny, who calls him all the time for him to go and take care of some stupid things really. She is something else. When her nurse is not there, Christina, she calls Gianni. I felt that the movie was very slow, especially at the beginning. It was as if it was going nowhere, there was no drama or anything. To me, it started to become like an empty movie; I still feel that way. I do not really see like a turning point in the film. I just do not find a plot to which the movie revolves around. It was like just getting to know what the life of this old man was now that he was retired; there was really nothing special. Nonetheless, it sill made me laugh at times and definitely entertained me.
Feng Yang
ReplyDeleteC06087996
THE SALT OF LIFE
In China, there is an ancient saying: Sixty Hua Jia (Hua Jia means a cycle of sixty years indicating it was rare/not easy for someone to enter that age), however thanks to the advanced medical technology, to live in one’s sixties is no longer a rare thing nowadays. The movie focuses on the psychological changes and related his daily activities of Gianni, an old man who entered in his sixties; telling the story of his feeling of happy and lost in his age by comedy. After his retiring, everything seemed to be sweet trouble in Gianni’s life. Gianni’s 80-year-old mother has a fleshpot that her fridge was stuffed with champagnes worth 150 Euros and she hired a family nurse who is hot and smoking; however, she still needed Gianni to take care of her and her friends everyday; Gianni’s wife threw everything to him; Gianni’s daughter had been engaging in a complicated relationship with her ex-boyfriend for a while and her ex still lived with them, Gianni has nothing to do that he spends his time with his ex-son-in-law; Gianni ran his dog everyday just because he wanted to “run into” his sexy neighbor everyday; Gianni met his childhood sweetheart at his mothers’ friend’s place, after failing to date her out Gianni remembered his old lover…the list goes on. At the end of the movie, Gianni’s ex-son-in-law asked him what he was thinking about. Gianni imagined in his mind that his sexy neighbor was walking towards him, the hot nurse was serving him for breakfast and the pretty twin sisters were playing with him…Quite impressed about how simple a 60-year-old guy’s dream could be. Maybe they just need more company and love. I’m going to pet my father when I go back to china.
The Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteAt first, I was a little turned off by going to see a film about an elderly man loving the younger women but after seeing it, I wasn't disappointed. Gianni was struggling with the fact that women do not look at him the same way he used to because he is older. With a lot of time on his hands now that he is retired, he begins working out and trying to brush up on his skills on picking up women. Throughout the film he is constantly checking women out. This film was entertaining with Gianni having a good sense of humor. The film revolves around Gianni and the women around him. There's his wife, whom he separated from but she does not mind his search for younger women. We also get to see Gianni's relationship with his daughter. My favorite character was Gianni's mother. She was always calling him up for little tasks such as fixing the tv. He would always come immediately showing how much of a "mama's boy" he is. He is constantly walking his neighbor's dog just to be around another attractive younger girl. He even has a thing for his mother's nurse, who has no interest in him at all. He even revisits the past by meeting up with exes but these relationships are not pursued. Even though he faces disappointment realizing age does matter when it comes to these younger girls, he does not give up hope. Overall, this Italian film was not bad.
THE GOLD RUSH – ERICA GOTTFRIED
ReplyDeleteI have to admit – I was kind of biased going into this film. As much as I wanted to keep an open mind, I still couldn’t help it – the judgments were there. It wasn’t even just that it was a silent film – and I have nothing against black and white – it was more the type of comedy in these kinds of films I held pre-notions of. I am not a lover necessarily of physical or slapstick comedy – you would never catch me watching The Three Stooges for example – and based on what I had seen of Charlie Chaplin’s silent films, which is limited to the usual pop culture clips and such, that seemed to be the general sense of humor throughout. Granted, they are silent films, rendering any possibility of verbal or witty type of comedy non-existent, so it’s not like I went into the film expecting that – I’m not that nuts.
The one film of Charlie Chaplin’s I had previously seen before this was The Great Dictator, which is not a silent film. And while it isn’t exactly on my top 10 list, I didn’t necessarily think it was bad. I just find there are two types of old films – those that FEEL old, and those that stand the test of time and give you that “good movie” feeling, regardless of when they were made or when or how many times you watched them. The Gold Rush just wasn’t one of those films for me. I see its value, and I can appreciate what it offers to people to whose taste it appeals, and I don’t even think it was bad – there’s just no real need for me to see it again.
The Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteHolly Bensur
C09668372
I found both the acting and the plot of the Salt of Life humorous. Giovanni is a caring son, father and husband, but never seems to get anything in return for his efforts. He starts on a journey to reward himself with a mistress, which ends up being more difficult than he thought – this is probably because cheating on his wife or hurting his daughter or mother would go against his caring disposition.
While I do not advocate cheating, I do think the women in his life should have been more appreciative of what he does for them. His mother spends his money on expensive champagne and wastes it by only drinking half a bottle. His wife makes him run errands for her. His daughter still lives with him, has her boyfriend basically live there too, and throws parties in his home. I think they know that his good deeds are easily taken advantage of and that he is pushover. His kind nature even extends to the other women he attempts to impress.
In the midst of trying to impress all these women and regain a bit of youth, Giovani lands himself drinking a drugged beverage intended for another girl, tripped out, wandering the streets for an entire night with his neighbors dog. I found this to be the most comedic scene because he accomplishes a youthful experience, but in no way was it rewarding.
“The Salt of Life” is an Italian film about an aging man, Gianni, coming to terms with a life that is disappointing him. While I only notice that most foreign films are foreign because of the language, the culture that “The Salt of Life” depicts is noticeably not American. There is an opening montage of Gianni checking out very younger women that lasts about thirty seconds too long for the film to be American. Italian culture is much more comfortable with an older man pursuing younger women as a means of proving his virility. In America, we only accept such behavior from millionaires, not average men like Gianni. I might have been put off had any of Gianni’s attempts actually succeeded but Gianni’s fumbling and failure make him more endearingly pathetic than perverted.
ReplyDeleteAside from the sex issue, I think the film being foreign allowed it delve further into the issue of male aging. I think America is still a bit too squeamish about aging for such a film. However, “The Salt of Life” explores the subject in depth. I found it a captivating premise for a movie. I was surprised at how the film dealt with the subject with both sensitivity and humor. The character of Gianni was relatable and very well-acted. I enjoyed the film and enjoyed learning about another culture.
The Gold Rush
ReplyDeleteNate Jennings
I actually never had the chance to watch a Charlie Chaplin film, but “The Gold Rush” wasn’t a bad place to start. This was one of my favorite movies I’ve seen at the Cosford Cinema, not only because of this amazing film, but also due to the accompaniment of an original score by music students. Although, I originally thought a silent film would be somewhat boring, I really enjoyed the overemphasized facial expressions, and that the actual story was more important than the dialogue. It is amazing how much this film directly interacts with the audience even with it being silent. However, the incorporation of the music was very entertaining, and it completely followed the pace of the film. In addition, I think the audience and myself took this film as an hilarious comedy film, with constant laughter throughout the entire film. I also was able to relate to his character because he just wants to be successful in life and he falls in love with a girl that he really cares about. In terms of the quality of the film, I thought it being on 35 mm film allowed it to have originality and it provided the audience with an interesting film watching experience. The set designs seen within the film fit perfectly with the story and I thought the characters used these spaces perfectly for comedy. Some examples include the lodge fighting scene, and the scene in the dance floor when the dog was attached to his belt. There are also countless times where he incorporated humor that isn’t seen today as much including eating the shoe for thanksgiving dinner, trying to rock the house back into place when it was falling of the ledge of the mountain, or even the New Years Eve’s dream scene when he was playing with his food. Everything also just seemed to flawlessly transition together between the different sets and scenes. After seeing this movie, I definitely will start watching other Charlie Chaplin films and also give other silent films a chance.
SALT OF LIFE
ReplyDeleteThe Salt of Life was a fairly funny movie that is definitely worth seeing, but will not make any top ten lists soon. When I saw the trailer for it, I was expecting an Italian version of the 40 Year Old Virgin. The movies do have some similarities, but overall I didn’t really get the point of Salt of Life. Was the main character supposed to get laid? Was he supposed to get married to any of the women? The women themselves seemed to come out of nowhere and I did not know why he was with them. That didn’t really keep me from enjoying the movie though because it’s a comedy and the movie did its job of making me laugh a couple of times. The ending montage that goes through his head was hilarious and when the movie ended I sat there laughing saying “what did I just watch?” The movie is not a 40 Year Old Virgin, it is more of the nicest guy ever gets overworked and underappreciated. It is really fun to watch and it feels like a lot of the characters are people the viewer would know. The daughter’s jobless boyfriend is a great comic relief. This movie is great for a few laughs, but not much more than that. Just sit back and enjoy the characters and their moments. Trying to find a point to the plot or examine the characters too deeply is pointless because of the pace the movie goes.
GOLD RUSH
I had never seen a silent movie before, so going into Gold Rush I expected to be very bored. However, I could not have been more surprised and pleased by what I saw. Just because the movie was made almost a century ago, does not mean it doesn’t appeal to almost every sense of the viewer. The story lines used are very similar to some that we see today. The idea of a guy trying to become rich, but becoming sidetracked by love is constantly seen today. Chaplin is a master actor because he is able to bring vastly different emotions to the screen without speaking. The music also helps the viewer feel like they are keeping up with the story. Chaplin’s body language shows how he falls in love, which I think a lot of present day actors could learn from. This movie is a great comedy, but also has some pretty advanced cut techniques. They are really noticeable, so I feel like that means the movie doesn’t flow very well. In addition, seeing the movie on 35 MM was different. I didn’t think I would notice the difference but I did. It did not take away from the film it just made a visual difference. Nevertheless, the comedy though makes this film an all time classic. It has some classic story elements and hilarious gestures by Chaplin, showing why he is a timeless actor. The movie is black and white with no dialogue, but Chaplin is still able to make a great movie.
GOLD RUSH
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to play cello for the score to this film, written by one of my good friends from the music school. Although I did not really have a chance to watch the film, as I was occupied with playing the music, I recognize that most of the audience members enjoyed the film. The traditional story of a man striving for the American Dream of growing rich and having a life of success is one that everyone can relate to. The fact that it is very difficult to reach this goal is also present. It was entertaining to watch Charlie try to attract his love even though I do feel about the way she treated him. Despite the fact that he really should have moved past her and on with his life, he persisted. At the end of the movie he finally gets the girl and everything is right with the world. I enjoy slapstick comedy, so I was glad to see that this film used many of the traditional elements found in such genre. It was a little strange that the film was shot in 35mm, but it didn’t seem that jarring, at least from what I was able to see. Overall, it was a good experience and I was glad to help my friends from the music school out.
Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteThe trailer made it seem like this would be a funny and entertaining move but this was definitely not a movie I was crazy about, partly because it was slow at points and partly I just am not a fan of foreign films. It’s not that it was a horrible movie but not too much good either. There were some funny parts throughout the movie with Gianni and his mother. Gianni is trying as hard as he can to hold on to his youth and it makes you think about being a 20-year-old college student and to live it up now. You don’t want a mid life crisis like Gianni, especially while trying to handle everything he has on his plate. He feels he is deprived from sex, has so much to take care of, wants to feel loved, and just be young again. I feel as though he did feel he just needed some fun and to be young, but looking at younger women isn’t te best way to do it. Although his mom had funny moments in the movie, I feel like beside those moments it was a sort of pointless movie to watch and I really didn’t get much out of it.
The Gold Rush
I have never seen on my own any Charlie Chaplin movie, any move that was supposed to be silent, or made in the 1920s. I don’t know if it is my 21st century attitude or that I don’t know film at all but I cannot bring myself to appreciate those kind of movies or enjoy watching them. Even the music doesn’t do much for me. This was supposed to be a funny, cute movie. I think the emotions and reactions are just too over the top to be enjoyable. No one would ever do that in real life and to me it seems like those types of reactions should be on baby videos so babies can understand it. Not full length films. Charlie Chaplin is an amazing actor for what he was supposed to be doing and for the 20s this was shot very well with a very good set. One thing I do find cool about silent movies is that you can have a room of different generations and nationalities and most people will all get the same thing out the film with the desire to be wealthy and successful while trying to find love as well. I think most people would admit they want to be rich and find love.
I went into the Gold Rush never seeing a Charlie Chaplin film before, but was aware of his legendary legacy. I was always told that he was a comedic genius and a fantastic storyteller, so I had high expectations from the start. Despite this, I still left the theater with a big smile on my face. Chaplin’s character, the lone prospector goes out to Alaska to try a strike it rich, while meeting some friendly (and not so friendly) people along the way. The Gold Rush has a certain charm to it that would have been ruined had it been made in a post silent movies era. Chaplin manages to make his character very likeable without having to say a single word. I think that if we knew what was going on in his head the entire time through full-blown dialogue scenes, it would be less fun for the audience because we wouldn’t be able to interpret it in our own way.
ReplyDeleteObviously because it’s difficult to have funny one-liners and conversations in a silent comedy, much of the humor has to come through in the form of physical comedy, and people were not kidding when they told me Chaplin is the master of that art. His comedic timing is spot on, and it’s easy to see why people refer to him as one of the greats. The student who composed the original score for the movie did a fantastic job. The music seemed to fit perfectly with the scenes, and if I didn’t know better, I might have thought that was the score that went with the film when it originally came out. This was a great experience.
Gold rush a silent film in 1925 Produced and directed by Charlie Chaplin. This film takes place in Alaska where the main character Charlie "The Lone Prospector" finds himself sharing a remote cabin with two other prospectors Big Jim McKay and Black Larsen in the constant search for gold but Larsen is a murderer and thief. In which Charlie soon finds that out after Larsen attempts to ambush him but dies in and avalanche accident leaving Big Jim with memory lose. Meanwhile, Charlie has fallen in love, with a saloon girl named Georgia who doesn't give him the time of day. Charlie and Georgia meet, and then Charlie invites the girl to New Year's Eve dinner in the cabin that he is tending for a local prospector. In which Georgia forgets all about the dinner and doesn't show up. The next day, Big Jim arrives in town and is shaken out of his amnesia when he spots Charlie. Hoping that Charlie will help him find his mountain of gold. as the cabin blown by the wind to a mountain precipice, leans precariously over the edge and Charlie, clinging to the floor, develops a sudden case of hiccups! The cabin slides down the side of the mountain, landing directly upon Big Jim's gold strike. Charlie and Big Jim head back to the States as wealthy men. Also along side is Georgia who is unaware that Charlie has struck it rich and thinks that he's a stowaway. She offers to hide him from the authorities, and it is at this point that Charlie and Georgia discover that they're truly in love with one another. There is more than mere laughter in "The Gold Rush." This film was very enjoyable romance/comedy. It is a concrete and straightforward story and as specter I can appreciate film that is easy to understand.
ReplyDeleteThe Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie The Salt of Life. The Salt of Life is the story about an elderly man named Giovanni. Giovanni is a very funny man and the story follows him through his daily life. Giovanni is in the middle of his mid-life (maybe more towards end of life) crisis and we learn the struggles he faces through a humorous movie. Giovanni’s largest struggle is with the women in his life. His wife does not sleep with him anymore, is constantly busy and always bosses him around. Through their interaction you can tell that she constantly belittles him and that there marriage is no longer happy. Because of this Giovanni is constantly eyeing up other woman in his day-to-day activities. An older man checking out every girl that comes by him is a sight to see and very hilarious. Giovanni’s mother is also constantly bothering him as well be it financially or by constantly calling him over to fix the smallest of problems. As a male viewer I could somewhat sympathize with Giovanni and really felt bad that he was treated like this by the important women in his life. He only wanted love and affection but got the opposite. The Salt of Life was a very humorous and entertaining story.
Erik Rueckle-c10166645
The Gold Rush
ReplyDeleteHaving never seen a Charlie Chaplin film before, I was curious and unsure what to expect when I first entered the movie theater. The movie turned out to be hilarious from the beginning and all the way through. Before the movie began, Professor Delellis gave a brief introduction about the film. In this, he stated that Chaplin had originally destroyed the original version of the film through a great number of cuts. The version that we watched was a restored version that had been re-edited to be as close to the original as possible and new subtitles had been added. Knowing this, made me question why Chaplin would want to destroy his own film. My best guess was that he was unhappy with the final product.
The Gold Rush was also the first of Chaplin’s films to be converted into a sound version years later and the restored version also has a degraded quality to the clips. Additionally, the editing is not very continuous and smooth; there are many parts where the screen is black indicating that a frame is missing or the picture is shaking. During the screening, UM students performed live music to accompany the silent film, which definitely enhanced the experience as a whole.
From the film, I learned more about Chaplin and that he was not simply a famous actor. He was also a talented writer, director and producer, all of which were evident throughout the film. Additionally, a lot of Chaplin’s dialogue and his comedic sketches had a unique style about them. This style differs greatly from traditional slapstick comedy by playing on absurdity and have no doubt influenced films produced afterward.
Devika Boodhoo - C06517157
Gold Rush
ReplyDeleteGold Rush is a silent film by Charlie Chaplin. I have seen silent films before such as The Artist, which I thought was a fantastic movie, but this one was different. I was expecting this to be a really funny movie because that is what I had heard about all of Charlie Chaplin's movies but I guess the silence of it made me not like it that much. In the movie, the main character goes to Alaska to try to get rich. He also encounters many obstacles along the way and the only reason I enjoyed this movie was because it was interesting to not hear the main character say a word yet be entertained by his actions. The director did a great job of making the movie flow and not be too slow at any point in time.
I do have to say that Charlie Chaplin's humor was good. I laughed during the movie and his physical comedy is one of the best I've seen. The music that the kid was performing was pretty awesome. It synched up well with the movie and actually made it a more enjoyable movie.
It was an interesting experience and a good one at that.
The Salt of Life:
ReplyDeleteThe Salt of Life is a very apt title for this film. It was a pleasant movie, but did not keep my attention throughout. I liked the premise because the viewer knows that this moral dilemma occurs in every man’s life at some point or another. The dilemma: realizing that you are old and can not attract the younger, good-looking women and whether or not to have a mistress. The movie does a great job with alluring the audience with all the voluptuous things Rome has to offer: food, wine, clothing and scenery. Most notably though is the women. The cinematography is great as the audience observes the women just as Gianni does; like these Roman women are almost at the level of goddesses. Gianni’s mood is generally depressing throughout, but to deter the consistent depression, the film creates lively, contrasting characters to surround Gianni. Overall, the story is simply not in-depth enough and not grabbing enough to really keep the movie going throughout the entire 90 minutes. Also, The Salt of Life just sort of ends in an abrupt fashion, leaving the audience to wonder, is that all?
Gold Rush:
ReplyDeleteOut of all the cultural events at the Cosford, Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush was probably my favorite. Charlie Chaplin was absolutely delightful, and even though the movie was made in 1925 and the humor back then was vastly different than modern humor, I still laughed many times during the movie. It was interesting to watch a movie without any dialogue. No dialogue made the acting and facial expressions much more defined and important. An added element that positively contributed to the film was background music, making the movie more lively and fun to watch. Its obvious how well Chaplin is able to effectively tell a story through his many emotions and physicality. The close-up was also used to highlight Chaplin’s expressions, specifically when Chaplin, or the Tramp, sees his newfound love of his life. The camerawork is also interesting as the camera barely moves throughout the movie. For being filmed in 1925, the movie seems advanced through the chicken scene and the setting is well constructed.
The Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteThis movie was interesting to watch, mainly because I have never seen an Italian movie and I am very fond of Italy because I spent a lot of summer months studying in Florence. The characters are funny, the relationship between Gianni and his mother is hilarious. I really liked Gianni’s character mainly because he is noble, very noble. He is a great dad, tries to be a great husband, and excellent son, an extraordinary neighbor and most importantly he tries really hard to be a good person. Through the movie, this character maintains his calmness and serenity, even though the women in his live literally drove him CRAZY.
The movie has some comedy in it, but I wouldn’t categorize it as a funny movie. Maybe that’s one thing that I did not like about it. When I saw the trailer, I build up my expectations, expecting to see a funny funny comedy. And that’s not, by any means, what I watched.
I felt sympathy with this movie because I could somehow relate my family with the characters, and that is one thing I really like about movies.
There are some funny parts, some kind of sad parts, and others are just plain boring. But overall the movie is decent, and I would recommend it to a friend.
Rebeca Drucker
The Salt of Life was a bit of a disappointment for me, as the trailer I had seen had made it seem like it was a comedy, when in reality I found it to be more of a drama and an observational piece than anything else. That being said, the movie was well acted, as the main character plays the role of an older man who is trying to have an affair with a younger woman, and most of the jokes come from him being unable to even get the attention of any of the younger women. At one point, he is literally surrounded by beautiful women and is noticed by none of them. Similar to We Have a Pope, I had trouble relating to the film as it dealt with life observations of an old man, and it seems to have a reflective quality that is difficult to relate to as a twenty-two year old. For example, Giani, the main character, makes many observations basically watching these young women unnoticed, yet I’m not sure his observations apply as much to the mindset of a younger man. He also sees tons and tons of beautiful women, but I question if that is just us seeing the women through his eyes, because as an old man pretty much every younger woman must look beautiful to him on some degree. Overall, I had trouble relating to pretty much any part of the film and didn’t really find too much humor in it, but I did not hate it, mainly because Giani was a likeable character and there were a few funny parts.
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Rush was my first silent movie watched. I’m glad it was because it has inspired me in wanting to create, script, direct and edit my own silent movie.
ReplyDeleteCharles Chaplin is the earlier version of our Mr. Bean—a silent, funny, goofy and distracted character. Different then Mr. Bean, Charles Chaplin seems to show true emotions of happiness and sadness when he gets hurt and is ignored by his love.
Even though the movie is about a lonely miner who got stuck in a snowstorm, the movie deals a lot with the theme of love. Even though Georgia, his love only appears in the middle of movie, his love for her is still the most important element in his movie.
The music is also very important to the actions in the movie. Since the movie is silent, every important event, action scene, romantic scene, needs the aid of music to convey certain emotions on us. The music was well produced and perfectly fit the different moments in the movie.
Georgia is an interesting character. She seems mean and snobby in all the of the first scenes she appears in. She then realizes her mistake and rudeness and tries to fix it at the end of the movie. Even though she changes near the end of the movie, I still dislike her because of the sympathetic feelings I have grown towards Charlie Chaplin’s character. He plays it so well and conveys emotion so perfectly that it is impossible to feel an emotional connection towards him.
The Gold Rush is the first and only Chaplin movie I have ever seen. The movie was in black and white and it was silent; there were short lines of dialogue inserted between takes to help guide the viewer. Also, the movie was very funny. Occasionally, one character would see the other as food and chase him around until he realized he wasn’t food. The lines of dialogue inserted helped me understand how much they wanted food and how much time had passed. Also, when the house is hanging and about to fall, it was very unrealistic and something that would be seen in a cartoon but it was funny because of the great performances given by the actors. In addition, I noticed that the film was mostly made up of long shots and medium shots. The score was great and accompanied the action perfectly. The music helped set the mood and emotion of what was happening in the film. This was a very different film compared to the films I usually see. At first I thought I was going to be very bored throughout the entire film because I had never seen a silent film. However, to my surprise, I ended up enjoying it and laughing.
ReplyDeleteThe Salt of Life was a very repetitive film. However, the repetition helped make the point that the film was trying to make. Throughout the film we see Gianni interacting with different women: his daughter, mother, wife, neighbor, among others. He tries to attract women but he fails every time he tries. His life seems disappointing and traumatizing for a man. It seemed as if he had nothing to do the entire day and he had failed at life. He was used and unappreciated by the women in his life, especially his mother. She would make him go to her house for insignificant things such as plugging in the TV and taking food out into the garden where she plays cards with her friends. The entire movie is about his non-intimate interactions with other women and his attempts to making them intimate. It was not entertaining to watch. I was very disappointed because the trailer made it seem like a good and funny movie, but it wasn’t. The only funny parts of the film were when Gianni’s daughter’s boyfriend appeared, and it wasn’t often. The movie would have been a lot better if there had been a lot of comedy in it. I would not recommend this movie and I would definitely not watch it again.
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Rush was a totally new experience for me. Never before have I actually watched a silent film, and a full one to say the least. The fact that Charlie Chaplain was the main character was enough to make me want to see it. After hearing so much about this film icon and legend, I had to see this. His impact is so widely talked about and now I totally understand why. In a silent film, the hardest part is obviously to connect emotionally with the audience. Charlie Chaplain was a master at portraying his emotions of yearning and love for his girl in Georgia. While stuck in the middle of a snowstorm, another key element was the music. The music in the movie did a very good job of setting the mood and undertones that carried along with the dramatic themes of the film. The score paired with Charlie Chaplain's portrayal of emotions created setting unlike any other. I thought I was in the silent world sent back by a time machine. After watching this film, I now have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the silent films, and the actual talent of many actors during this time period.
ReplyDeleteTHE SALT OF LIFE
ReplyDeleteI wasn't too sure what to expect when I heard about this movie. The previews made this movie look like it was a comedy but I think this movie was going for somewhat of a more serious tone. The movie is mainly about how a man transitions from a midlife crisis into senior life. He goes through many ups and downs but overall is able to accomplish what he set out to do. The setting for this movie, in my opinion, was beautiful and I really loved all of the backdrops used. Unfortunately, this man seems like he had so many troubles in his life and that it was hard for him to get through them or that he did not live life to his fullest ability. Overall, the cinematography in this movie was beautiful and the acting was great but I think it should be more comedic and I don't think I would watch it again.
Alexandra Ball
C07809270
GOLD RUSH
ReplyDeleteGoing into this movie, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I have never seen a Chaplin film before and didn't know how the much I would understand from a silent film. I was very pleased with the inserts of dialogue because those snippets really helped me follow along with the plot line. Another key to making this movie a success was definitely the music. The music always sets a tone in all movies, but when there is no dialogue from the actors, the music has an even bigger impact on the flow of the movie. I really appreciated the score and how much it contributed to making the movie believable. Overall, this film was much better than I expected and even made me want to watch another silent film. I really enjoyed being able to see a performance by such a legendary actor and would definitely recommend this movie to a friend.
Alexandra Ball
C07809270
The Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this movie. For one thing, the setting was great. I love Italy and Italians and the fact that the entire movie was Italian and involved ordinary everyday Italians instantly endeared it to me. Gianni was a likeable character, too. It was not a very heavy movie, but his story was light yet compelling. It took me a while to come around to the idea that his whole goal was to cheat on his wife, but, given that every older male character seemed to have a mistress and think of them as status symbols, I guess it is just a cultural thing in Italy. The friendship between Gianni and his daughter’s boyfriend was also a nice touch, especially with all the daughter’s talk of dumping the boyfriend soon. Finally, the movie had a great ending. If Gianni wasn’t actually going to find himself a mistress, going on a hallucinogenic trip through the streets of Rome while walking a dog was a pretty great consolation prize. That trip created a lot of laughs and really ended the movie on a high note. Overall, I really enjoyed The Salt of Life. Sometimes it’s nice to just see something lighthearted, with a lot of beautiful women and a foreign culture that culminates in a hilarious drug trip.
John David Agliano
C05580571
The Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteThe film had it's ups and downs for me. At times it was interesting, fun and lighthearted. Focusing on an elderly man, Gianni, who during retirement has decided to search for love once again. His life consists of taking care of his mother and looking after his other family members. At other times, the movie was long and slow, which made it difficult to stay focused and interested. The film was easy to relate to in that it reflected life in general instead of a major turning point or having a great deal of change. Even though the premise is that he's trying to cheat on his wife, the movie as a whole is sweet and light hearted rather than the typical darker side and consequences of being unfaithful.
The character of the mother really helped to bring in a great deal of comic relief. Through her one could get the sense that every moment in life should be treasured and enjoyed. While Gianni's desire for both love and attention are relatable.
A really nice film, overall, which could be enjoyed by anyone.
c06517157
DeleteThe Salt Of Life is another era in my movie viewing history. I was surprised and actually starts to think about myself if I met the situation Gianni in. He is in the dawn of his life. He is getting old. He doesn't sleep with his wife. He still have motivation to get other girls but lack in energy to actually to do that in real.He gets phone call from his mom 24/7 just for stupid little thing in the daily life for example moving the TV cable to get a clear image.
ReplyDeleteThe end of the movie is very funny because he was drugged by some party drink and walking in the nowhere almost the entire night.
The ideal life of Gianni in the end is living like a playboy. Get served by all the different beautiful women in his life. Probably that is how people do stuffs in Italy. It is interesting to see the will of an old man in Gianni's age.
"Gold Rush"
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I ended up enjoying "Gold Rush" more than I would have ever thought. I had never seen a Charlie Chaplin film before and was a bit skeptical that I would enjoy a silent film. In the end I found it to be quite a charming movie. It was interesting to see how sound effects were so over-exaggerrated since there was no actual dialogue. That definitely helped with the comedic aspect of the film. My favorite part of the film was the relationship with Chaplin's character and his crush, Georgia. I thought it was very cute how much he liked her. Chaplin did a good job getting the audience to root for his character. I felt so bad for him when Georgia and her girlfriends stood him up on New Year's Eve. Another scene I enjoyed was when Chaplin went around shoveling houses for money. It was very humorous to watch him shovel the snow away from one house and than pile it up on the next one. The movie was definitely a lot funnier than I thought it would be. I enjoyed watching the facial expressions of all the characters throughout the film. That is something that you do not notice as much in movies with actual dialogue. I did find that the movie could have been shortened about twenty minutes. Some scenes ran on a bit too long. Overall I found it a very pleasant viewing experience and I was definitely rooting for Chaplin in the end when he struck gold and made it rich.
"Historias De La Urbe"
ReplyDeleteI found this film to be very interesting especially since it takes place here in Miami. I have not seen many films set here so it was fun to see places in the movie that I have actually been near. This film is definitely on the serious side and does not have a happy ending. The movie just sort of ends, which I actually found made it more realistic. The film follows several different characters, who are all immigrants and shows them trying to make something big out of their lives in Miami. I found it accurate that so many people move to America thinking success will come easy, but instead are left with a lot of hardship. The shaky camera movements bothered me a bit, but overall left the gritty feeling that the directors were after. The fact that the camera acts like the eyes of the characters I found to be pretty unique. It did however at some times leave me a little confused as to what was going on. A lot of the camera angles were focused downward when a character was walking and that left me a little frustrated that I could not see anymore of what was happening. It did do a good job at making the audience in the frame of mind as the character, though. I especially liked when the focus was placed on the dog, so the scenes were shot in black and white to simulate how a dog would actual see his surroundings. That was something that I definitely hadn't seen before. I also found the scene of the girl bingeing and purging to be quite disturbing. It was definitely effective at showing the realities of eating disorders. Overall I enjoyed the film and would even consider watching it again. It used some creative elements that I have not seen in many movies before.
The Gold Rush was the first Chaplin movie I have ever seen. It was a good thing I went. It was a black and white silent film that from what I heard embodies the spirit of Chaplin. I found it extremely interested how a movie so old, using a format such as black and white with no sound could be positively received by both me and the 70 year old man watching it beside me. It was very comedic in a way I would describe as cartoon for adults.
ReplyDeleteThe movie is about a miner who is trapped in a snowstorm and his attempts to weather the storm. Once he does he meets a girl in the town by the name of Georgia who he immediately falls head over heels for, which is funny because she has absolutely no interest in him and even uses him as a punch line but he is too blind to see. Eventually he becomes rich because the man he weathered the snow storm with finds a gold depository and the two of them become the beneficiaries, it is at this time he reconnects with Georgia and the two click.
Another great part of the showing of this film was the score performed by the UM students. At first it was hard to focus on the film while there was a light and about 10 people performing in my peripherals but once you got used to that it attended a tremendous amount to the film. The music fit perfectly and if there was ever another event like this at the Cosford I would surely go.
Salt of Life
ReplyDeleteCompared to some of the other movies I saw at the Cosford this year, the salt of life was very light-hearted and easy going movie. The pacing of the movie may have been slow at certain junctures but apart from that, Gianni was a very likable, relatable, and also funny character. You feel for the man’s loss.
He is eagerly trying to hold on to his youth but there are certain forces at hand that he can do nothing about and he tries to cope with these forces in his way, sometimes fighting them, sometimes ignoring them, and then sometimes pretending like they are not happening all together.
The supporting cast was also great, especially Gianni’s mother. This is a genre of film that you don’t see very often stateside, with most movies focusing on a predominantly younger audience and few movies actually focus on the theme of growing old. But it is a predominant portion of our lives, and something that we don’t like thinking about especially if when we get to this age we aren’t what we want to be because it is a lot harder to change your life at that juncture.
"The Salt of Life" is an irreverent and quirky comedy about love and growing old. While I certainly am not in the target demographic for this film, I still managed to enjoy Gianni's search through Italy to find some extracurricular love. The movie definently relies on humor and narrative to contrast Gianni' boring post retirement life with the active lives of the women around him. The colorful sets, production design, and location of Italy all added to the visual enjoyment of the film and gave the comedy a colorful pop. However, this film seems to fall into the all-style-no-substance category.
ReplyDeleteWhile it was funny and the geriatric audience around me enjoyed "The Salt of Life", the movie had no real meaning or substance. I couldn't see any real theme or message to take away from the story, although that may be because I am not Italian or past middle age. The sudden end to the film, while funny (in fact, Gianni' daydream about all the women was probably my favorite sequence of the film), offered no conclusion to his quest for love. Nor can the viewer take away a moral, such as live in the moment or cherish those you have near you. Just as Gianni is left with the same situation he had at the begining of the film, I was left in the same state as I entered the film.
The Gold Rush was a funny film. I'm not into silent films; however, this film found ways to make me laugh and smile. Charlie can be compared to Mr. Bean. The two are always doing something ridiculous. The sound effects and music added some spice to the film. This kind of made me feel like I was at the circus watching a group of clowns performing or even a group of mimes. The Gold rush is definitely a masterpiece and will do a great job at humoring you when you're in a bad mood. I can definietly see myself watching this film again. Charlie Chaplin definitely connected with the audience in this film. The actors facial expression also made the film interesting. This film really made my day. I needed a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteWephnirva Nonord
C07404423
The Salt of Life is the perfect example of what some middle-aged men go through when the have a mid-life crisis and need some excitement in their lives. Di Gregorio was a nursemaid to his mother and was the house-husband to his wife. His daughter was sloppy and he did not like her boyfirend. All he wanted to do was live his life. He needed a new young thing to keep him happy. Sadly, this happens in reality and a lot more men are leaving their wives and families for younger women because they want to be young again and are tired of their boring life. The women seemed to love to flaunt themselves, so I am guessing that beauty played a big role in this film. To me, this film can be compared to reality, because people go through a lot to find themselves and to liven up their lives. I would watch this film again and recommend it to a friend.
ReplyDeleteWephnirva Nonord
C07404423
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a very interesting story. And it was also interesting to read the background information that inspired the film. This hunting film gets under your skin and keeps you wanting to find out more. Lisbeth gives an amazing performance. The action level is high. The film relied more on the performances than the problem-solving, and delivered a complicated performance that tattooed Lisbeth Salander straight onto the brain. The sexual abuse drama gave it a nice touch. It was unique to see how the film focused more on the hero then the villian. I enjoyed watching this movie and would definietly watch it again.
ReplyDeleteWephnirva Nonord
C07404423