Dir. Vesevolod Pudovkin (1925)
Not rated Chess Fever is an early Russian short film/comedy about a woman who leaves her chess crazed fiancee because he loves chess more than he loves her. Chess is the talk of the town in the setting of this short film, as there is a chess tournament going on with the world champion. The woman is waiting for her fiancee to come over, but he is unfortunately late because he was at said tournament. When he arrives, the woman looks through his pockets and finds chess pieces and a miniature chess board. She throws them all out the window, and breaks up with him in a fit of anger. She cannot believe that her husband would really put chess before her. Later, she is so heartbroken about her break up that she decides killing herself is the only way out. She stops at a local drug store and asks for the most poisonous thing they have. Just as she is about to drink the poison, a man comes up to her and she vents about her hatred of chess. He agrees, saying he does not understand all the hubbub of this board game. She is happy that she has finally met someone who hates chess as much as her, but then PLOT TWIST, she ends up GOING to the chess tournament! She watches the riveting game being played by the world champion, and finally understands the hype about chess. She reunites with her fiancee, apologizing for being so ignorant to the game before. She then suggests they play a round. The man pulls a tiny chess board necklace from under his shirt, as one does. Rule #1: always be prepared for a chess game. They then hold and kiss each other, happy in their relationship due to a new love of chess. Even though this film is incredibly short, it is a quintessential Russian formalist film. It is a montage of events that focuses on a certain characters' emotion (the woman) throughout the whole film. It is directed by Pudovkin, and it is a very typical Pudovkin film given his common themes in movies directed by him. It is pretty obvious that Pudovkin was inspired by DW Griffith; the style and structure of the films are almost identical. Both show a sequence/montage of events with the frequent use of title cards for dialogue from the characters. Pudovkin focused on emotions, which is evident because the viewer is following the emotions of the heartbroken woman. We watch her become angry (because of chess), suicidal (because of chess), and then finally happy (because she found a mutual chess hater, then fell back in love with her chess loving fiancee). It was truly an emotional rollercoaster. I did enjoy this film, mostly because it was so silly and I spent most of the time deciding which title card I wanted to use as the thumbnail for this post. The soundtrack also made it fairly enjoyable, even though it is not even close to the original soundtrack, which you can just tell by listening. It did actually fit the movie and plot line though, so it wasn't annoying. I would recommend this film to anyone who REALLY loves chess, I guess. For a short film, it was pretty amusing.
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Dir. David O. Russell (2012)
Rated R Silver Linings Playbook is about a man named Pat, who after catching his wife cheating on him and suffering from a mental breakdown landing him in a mental institution, tries to build his life back up again. He has just been released from the hospital, and is now living at home with his parents. He is still not in great shape; he is constantly thinking about his ex-wife Nikki and ways to better himself to win her back. He reads her assigned summer teaching books and violates the restraining order she has against him to ask around about her. She is all he thinks about. He is still traumatized from catching Nikki cheating on him with her co-worker, and the incident sometimes replays in his head and causes him to have violent outbursts. He means well, but he is still causing his parents a lot of trouble and one night even gets in a screaming fight with them that ends with him and his father in a violent fight. This all changes when he meets Tiffany, his best friend Ronnie's wife's younger sister who has just gone through a traumatic experience as well. She is a recent widow after her husband was hit by a car and killed, and she is also in a very unfortunate situation. Pat and Tiffany's relationship is rocky at first, since all Pat can think about is his ex-wife and also has no filter on what he says. He constantly offends Tiffany and brings up her dead husband. He also tries to justify that he is not as mentally ill as Tiffany, and he comes up with as many excuses as he can as to why she is crazy and he is normal. They are too alike to get along. Their relationship changes when Tiffany agrees to send a letter to Nikki from Pat, though this would break the law and violate the restraining order. Her condition is that Pat must do something for her in return, so she makes him enter a dance competition with her. All while this is happening, Pat is struggling to keep a good relationship with his parents, who don't want him to have anything to do with Tiffany or Nikki and just want him to spend time with them and bond over watching their favorite team, the Eagles, play football. A couple days before the competition, Tiffany tells Pat that Nikki has written Pat a letter back. In the letter, Nikki tells Pat that she is glad he contacted her and is happy that he is doing better. However, she wants to keep the restraining order until she feels safe and thinks it is better that they live out their lives separated. Pat is heartbroken, and needs his space away from Tiffany. When he returns home, his father is having a meltdown because the Eagles have lost, causing him to lose a bet between him and a neighbor, and he blames it all on his son not being there. This sends Pat over the edge, and he quits the competition. After the bet is lost, Pat's dad and neighbor decide to make a double or nothing bet for a chance for Pat to win his money back. They decide to make a parlay, and that if the Eagles win their next game as well as Pat and Tiffany get at least a score of 5 on the competition, Pat's father will win his money back. Knowing that there is almost no chance Pat will do the competition now, Tiffany and his father persuade him to do it by lying and saying that Nikki will be there. At the competition, Pat is so excited to see Nikki, but what Tiffany does not know is that Pat has figured out that the letter from Nikki was actually written by Tiffany. He doesn't say anything to her, so when Nikki actually shows up at the competition, Tiffany has a panic attack. Pat drags her on stage and they do their dance, earning an average score of 5. The Eagles also won the game, so Pat's father wins double his money. After, Pat walks right up to Nikki and they have a long conversation. Tiffany runs out of the building, thinking that he is talking to Nikki about the letter. Then, Pat is seen running after Tiffany. He gives her a letter saying he knew it was her who wrote the letter all along, and he tells her that he loves her. The movie ends with Pat and Tiffany watching an Eagles game with Pat's family, happy and in love. I loved this movie. It's my second time watching it, the first time being around two years ago, so it was good to get a reminder of how good this movie is. I know a lot of people talk highly about this movie and it can seem kind of overrated, but I think it is talked about so highly rightfully. It is a romantic (somewhat) comedy, but the characters and situation is so flawed and twisted. It shows two people who are really struggling in life end up in a good situation. I loved how their relationship was so complicated and imperfect. It was completely unromantic until the very end. Though there are other movies that do a lot better job of depicting mental illness, I feel that this movie does justice to a lot of aspects of mental illness. It doesn't go fully in depth, but it does a good job in my opinion of depicting how hard it can be to have stable and healthy relationships when you are suffering from illnesses such as BPD like Pat is. My favorite scene in the movie is outside the movie theatre when Pat and Tiffany are fighting, and Pat starts hearing the wedding song in his head. The camera starts spinning and the background blurs, and the song is the only thing Pat can hear while everyone is shouting around him. It shows how Pat is still controlled by the experience with his ex-wife and how the song still controls him. It is not the only instance in the film where Pat has a breakdown from just hearing the song alone. I also love the outcome of the film, because Tiffany and Pat are both such flawed characters and they can heal together from the experiences they have had. This movie is eye opening and heartwarming, and I recommend it highly. Dir. David O. Russell (2013)
Rated R Alas, the frantic binge watching of (almost) all the movies made by the director I have chosen to write a 10 page paper on begins. I thought I would start with this movie, one that I originally tried to watch when I was a lot younger and going through my "I love Jennifer Lawrence I have to watch every movie she has ever been in" phase, but then realized I understood almost none of it and proceeded to fall asleep about 30 minutes into it. I got through the entire movie this time! And also enjoyed parts of it. To be honest, I didn't love it. I'm kind of relieved, because I've been giving way too many cheery and positive reviews on my blog recently. Why did I not love it? Mostly because this movie was 2 and 1/2 hours when it didn't need to be. The plot got long and boring in the middle; my mom fell asleep and I was having a lot of trouble to remain focused. I feel that movies revolving around money fraud/complex crimes and stuff like that has to have a quick and snappy plot to keep people's attention, or else people will start dozing off because they have no idea what's going on. That's from my experience, at least. What I liked about the movie: the acting of Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, particularly Lawrence. As before mentioned, I went through a huge Lawrence phase around the time that The Hunger Games movie came out, but part of my liking towards her still stands true today. I think she is a very talented actress (and so must O. Russell, since he casts her in a pretty good heap of his movies). She is funny and dramatic in this movie and made me laugh. She was, in my opinion, the most entertaining part. I also loved Amy Adams, because she is one of my favorite female actors and I think she does an amazing job in almost every movie she is in. Two good and strong female actors made this movie go up for me. I also loved the cinematography (I know I say this for a lot of movies, but this one is pretty too, ok). The colors added so much to the story. This film really made 70s mafia culture seem elegant. Another positive thing: it had a good ending (for most of the characters). I think it had the best outcome given everything that happens in the movie. Did the good outweigh the bad in this movie? I would say that they are pretty equal. As much as I loved the acting and the filming of it, I did get bored in the middle. This movie was not one that kept me entertained the whole time. This is also not my preferred genre of films, so this movie might be a home run for people who love crime/mob movies. Dir. Kenneth Branagh (2017)
Rated PG-13 Based on a novel by Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express is about exactly what it sounds like it is about. A murder takes place on a luxurious train after it has been derailed by an avalanche. Not to fear, for detective Hurcule Poirot is on board and is there to solve the mystery. I didn't know that Murder on the Orient Express was originally written by Christie, so as I was watching I was thinking, "wow, I am getting serious And Then There Were None vibes. Weird." Alas, my ~extremely~ insightful remarks were confirmed after the movie was over and my dad mentioned that it was based off an Agatha Christie book. I have never seen the original film, so I cannot speak for how well the remake did compared to it, but I can say that I loved virtually everything about this movie. It was a complicated plot which forced me to pay attention the entire time. Also, it was one of the most aesthetically pleasing films I have seen in my life. It made me want to teleport into the 20s-30s and be on this train (without the murder, though). The color, scenery, and overall cinematography was incredible. Anyone who loves art in films would be sure to love this movie.I also loved the cast. (Leslie Odom Jr. from Hamilton. NBD.) They played their characters so well, giving them each such a complex backstory with so much emotion and they all tied together at the end. I recognized a lot of faces of the celebrities in the movie, but I forgot who they were as they played their role. I always appreciate that. As for the story line, I was enthralled the whole time. Usually, with mysteries, it can be easy to get bored during the in between parts of the movie (after the murder or whatever causes the mystery has happened, and before it is solved). However, this movie was interesting from start to finish. I didn't catch myself zoning out while watching it, which I sometimes do. At thanksgiving dinner, I caught my uncle talking about this movie and how disappointed he was with it. He said it was a dull remake that 'didn't have a lot of motion'. My uncle has in fact seen the original film, so maybe he is right in that it is dull compared to the first one. I disagree with his opinion however, because I found nothing about this movie to be dull. I highly recommend it and really enjoyed it. Dir. M. Night Shyamalan (2016) Rated PG-13 The very first time I ever saw the preview for Split, I thought it was going to be terrifyingly disturbing and I vowed that I would never watch it. Months later, here I am, writing a review for this movie. I credit this bold move of mine to taking film. I'm broadening my horizons now, are you proud of me!? It doesn't matter. I'm proud. Anyways, I did somewhat enjoy this movie. For me, whenever I watch a horror film, I never pay attention to whether I enjoyed it or not. I'm always focusing on whether or not I am going to make it out without nightmares, and so far, there have been none. The thing that I liked about this movie the most: the acting skills of James McAvoy. The thing I liked the least: the ending. This was the first movie (I think) that I have ever seen starring McAvoy, and he was brilliant. To play a character with DID would undoubtedly be incredibly challenging. I was so fascinated watching him morph into the different personalities, particularly Patricia and Hedwig. The personalities were definitely what brought the horror aspect to the film. I have no complaints on the character(s) of Kevin (McAvoy), and I was really just consumed with watching him the whole time, which is why I largely liked this movie a lot. The part that I thought was weak were the high school girls (Casey et al.), but they were pretty irrelevant to the film. (But there was a character who had my name! That's pretty rare.) I thought that their acting made the film seem more juvenile for some reason. Also, the ending. SPOILERS: At the very end, everything was going fine and dandy until Bruce Willis came out of no where. I guess if you have seen Unbreakable the ending would have made a lot of sense, but for someone who has not, I was totally confused. Split is apparently the sequel to Unbreakable, and in the third movie Willis will fight both The Horde (Kevin/villain in this movie) and the antagonist in Unbreakable. It's not that I hated that ending, but I was not expecting it at all and didn't know that Split was a sequel to anything. I have also never seen Unbreakable, so I didn't understand it. The ending didn't take anything away from the plot, though, which I really liked. Essentially, all the parts that I didn't like about the movie did not outweigh by any means what I liked. It wasn't nearly as scary as I was expecting it to be, but instead it was just fascinating. Ever since I took psychology, I have been interested in dissociative and psychotic disorders, so it was really cool to see a movie that depicts the scarier side of human psychology so well. In conclusion (I never know how to end these), I enjoyed this movie, though I was expecting the opposite, so I am really glad that I watched it.
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AuthorCasey Land Archives
January 2018
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