Film Persona

  Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation of Stephen Sondheim classic musical is a technical mastery of efficiency in storytelling. Spielberg skims unnecessary bulk from the original, creating a much more structured musical. The casting is also more concise, casting a diverse cast to create the diversity the story requires. Through his direction, the story of the film is set against the backdrop of a city block being bulldozed. As the characters are inhabiting their world, the debris of bulldozed buildings surround them. This constant reminder by Spielberg of their backdrop visually creates pressure on the characters and their behavior. As their home and way of life is crumbling beneath them, the characters cannot do anything but blame each other. This also becomes pertinent to the social climate of 2021, as tensions are growing between Americans as they watch their home and way of life disintegrating beneath them. Despite these grey to...

  Fritz Lang's "Die Nibelungen" Fritz Lang's 1924 film series Die Nibelungen  is a fantasy epic that was split into two films are released separately. Part 1 dealt with the rise and fall of Siegfried while Part 2 focused on Kriemhild's revenge over her husband, Siegfried's death. The screenplay for the epic was written by Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou, who adapted the story from the German poem epic Nibelungenlied, which was written around 1200 AD.  The story itself tells the legend of Siegfried, who defeated a dragon and bathed in its blood. In the story, bathing in the blood of a dragon grants you physical immunity. However, while he was bathing, a leaf landed on his back. Because of this, there is one spot on his back that isn't immune to damage. After defeating the dragon, Siegfried goes to King Gunther and asks for his sister, Kriemhild's hand in marriage. Gunther accepts on the condition that Siegfried helps him marry Brunhild, the Queen of Ic...

  Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza" Licorice Pizza tells the coming of age story of 15 year old Gary Valentine and 25 year old Alana Kane as they navigate the San Fernando Valley in 1973. Gary, played by Cooper Hoffman, is a high school student who is constantly coming up with entrepreneurial schemes to get by. Alana, played by musician Alana Haim, has become stagnant and doesn't know which direction she should go in life. As the two try to make it in the adult world, it becomes clear that growing up is a lot more arduous than they thought. Gary tries to act like an adult through all his business schemes and they way he postures himself. He is an actor, has a PR company, a waterbed company, and a pinball arcade. He is constantly throwing himself into different ventures, trying on different hats to find out what he wants to do in life. He hangs out with his 15 year old friends but spends his free time in the 'adult' world. Alana is stuck in life. She stil...

  Jon Watt's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" The new Spider-Man: No Way Home borrows heavily from 2019's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as it expands the idea of what a Spider-Man movie could be and what Spider-Man himself could be. The most important element of the new film is Peter's reconciliation with becoming an adult and what that means. Peter, MJ, and Ned are all graduating high school and are trying to get into MIT. However, Peter must adjust to the entire world knowing his secret with the added consequences of what it means for his friends. The film is full of action, emotion, and humor. The exploration of where the Spider-Man films have been before and the possibilities of where they could go in the future are on full display in this jam-packed super-hero flick. The film is a good watch for the whole family.

  Leos Carax's "Annette" In Leos Carax's 2021 film "Annette," Adam Driver plays a comedian who 'kills' on stage, while his wife, played by Marion Cotillard, is an opera star who 'dies' every night on stage. Their new baby, a wooden puppet named Annette, has an incredible singing voice. This wild absurdist musical, written by the Sparks Brothers, has heavily divided critics. Through the twist and turns of the story, as well as the characters singing about the structure of the story itself, it makes for an intriuging viewing. 

  Fritz Lang's "Dr. Mabuse the Gambler" Fritz Lang's 1922 film " Dr. Mabuse the Gambler " offers a look at a dystopian German society that emerged after the first World War. Due to the difficutl conditions, Germany had dramatic swings in the stock market, overflowing gambling parlors, and miserable living conditions for the poorer communities. With the protagonist, Dr. Mabuse, Lang depicts a man of his own time trying to navigate the choas in order to allow himself to prosper.  The film protagonist, Dr. Mabuse, employs devious schemes to gain power in a society full of lawlessness, gambling, hyperinflation, frivolity, and choas. Using disguises and hypnosis, as well as an assortment of henchmen, Mabuse amasses a fortune through gambling and murdering. Though he is careful to cover his tracks, a resourceful police inspector, Norbert von Wenk, remains determined to capture him.  The title of the film, Dr. Mabuse der Spieler , makes use of three meanings for th...

  Fritz Lang's "Destiny" Fritz Lang, an innovater of the German Expressionist movement, was a director widely known throughout his career for his dark subject matter. He was even dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. This is partially due to the dark nature of German films after the first World War. However, Lang would continue to demonstrate his flare for darker material all throughout his career. The film that kickstarted Lang's journey into darkness was 1921's Destiny . Destiny  tells the story of a woman trying to save her husband from Death. Death takes on a physical incarnation, represented by a man dressed in black. Land created this representation based on a fever dream he experienced as a child. He recalled a dark stranger in a wide-brimmed hat, illuminated by moonlight. As Land recollects, "the horror of the dream experience combined with a kind of mystical ecstacy which gave me, boy though I still was, the complet...

  Mia Hansen-Love's "Bergman Island" Mia Hansen-Love's "Bergman Island" stars Vicky Kreips, who plays Chris, a stand-in for Hansen-Love herself. The story is about two American filmmakers who retreat to the island of Faro for the summer. Faro is the island where Ingmar Bergman lived and shot many of his films. Chris is suffering from writer's block and is attempting to use inspiration from the island to write her next film. The story becomes semi-autobiographical, as Hansen-Love illustrates with acute subtlety the dissolving relationship with her then-partner, Olivier Assayas. The stand-in for Assayas, Tim Roth's character Tony, is distributing his film to a local audience. All the while, the two character become distracted away from each other, as Chris continues to find ways to be disconnected from her partner. Not only this, they are trying to scribe their next projects. Tony seems to have no problem, as he draws inspiration from Bergman's fea...

  Paul Schrader's "The Card Counter" 2021's "The Card Counter" seesm to fit very much in the style of Paul Schrader's other films. With films like "Taxi Driver," "First Reformed," and now this film, we have a protagnoist dealing with psychological issues expressing themselves to the viewer through frequent journaling. The journaling is usually accompanied by a voiceover. With this narration, the viewer is able to understand the character's unwell mental states.  "The Card Counter"'s protagonist, William, is a man of extreme disicpline. He is an ex-soldier who travels accross the country playing in poker tournaments. He stays at local motels and wraps every item of the motel in white sheets. Will plays poker and adheres to his extreme conduct because he is trying to hold himself together. Will was expelled from the military for extreme tortue methods used on captors after the 9/11 attacks. However, Will finds some res...

  Mike Mill's "C'mon C'mon" Mike Mill's "C'mon C'mon" is a film that doesn't offer any answers to its own reflective questions. Rather it relates the viewer to its story through the human experiences happening on screen. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as an interviewer named Johnny, as he travels the country interviewing the children of America, asking them questions about the future, their community, and themselves. Johnny's semi-estranged sister, Viv, needs Johnny to take care of her 9 year old son, Jesse, while she goes to tend to the boy's father, who is seeking mental treatment.  Johnny and Jesse try to navigate the complexity of life and of their own emotions. With this picture, the viewer is able to relate to the human experiences of being a child, being a parent, and being a human being. Much like Johnny's exestential questions he asks to his child subject, the film asks those questions to the viewer through it's navigat...

  Josef von Sternberg's "Anatahan" Even though his 1957 film "Jet Pilot" was released after, "Anatahan" was the last film made by legendary director Josef von Sternberg. Sternberg made the film outside the studio stystem which allowed him the freedom to have more control over the picutre. Sternberg wrote, directed, photographed, and even narrated this all-Japanese cast film. The film had its premier at the 14th annual Venice Film Festival.  The story consists of twelve Japanese soldiers who get stranded on the island of Anatahan in 1944. The survive on the island for seven years and spend that time fighting over the island's sole woman, Keiko. Sternberg's apparent attempt is to strip down the characters to their bare humanity, so that they may shed their concepts of rank in the miliatary and monogamous marriage. The most striking scene comes at the very end, when Keiko witnesses all her fellow strandees excitedly exiting the rescue plane to see...

  Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog" Jane Campion's 2021 Western "The Power of the Dog" contemplates the changing levels of sensativity during a changing time. This theme is incredibly relevant to the changing natures of toxic masculinity and elevated sensativity of our contemporary time period. Campion adapted Thomas Savage's 1967 novel of the same name. 1967 occured during a period in which the Western genre was in full demand, overflowing and perhaps even oversaturating the market, like superhero films of the current 2020s. The Western genre did a good job representing that generation that fought in the war, and their questions on morality, individualism, and law and order. However, there is one important thematic element that is common with the Western genre, especially the later ones. The changing of the times is always a dramatic subject held within the confines of the style. The reason is because of what the old West represents as a period in A...

  Josef von Sternberg's "The Devil is a Woman" 1935's "The Devil is a Woman" is Josef von Sternberg's last outing with his lover Marlene Dietrich. Even though Sternberg did not realize it would be the last at the time, the film still seems to act as a loving farewell to his muse.  Like all of Sternberg's films, the story is simple enough. It takes place in Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century. Through a series of flashbacks, a Mexian captain recounts to a younger aristocrat his sordid affairs with the notorious seductress named Concha. The older general, Captain Costelar, warns the young bourgeious revolutionary, Antonio Galvin, to stay away from Concha, as she has ruined his life with her temptuous ways. Antonio defies the Captain and sees her anyway, only to discover that Costelar is seeing her too. The two men then gun fight over her. Captain Costelar is shot and Antonio is arrested.  Even though the Captain feels animately angered towards ...

  Josef von Sternberg's "The Scarlet Empress" The most mesmerizing thing about Josef von Sternberg's 1934 film, "The Scarlet Empress" is its set. While many criticize the historical accuracy of its story, which involved Catherine the Great's ascension to the Russian throne, the thing that keeps the film alive is its immaculate set pieces.  The story takes place in Russia during the 18th century. German noblewoman Sophia, who later becomes Catherine, travels to Moscow to marry the dimwitted Grand Duke Peter, the heir to the Russian throne. Catherine and Peter's marriage turns out to be loveless, as Peter is vile, wicked, immature, and ugly. Catherine takes on many lovers and bears a son. After an unstable Peter takes the throne, Catherine devises a plan to usurp him from his power. Von Sternberg described his film as an 'execution in style.' The film very much contains a lot of style, something incredbily important in a script so lacking. Ster...