Film Persona

  Luis Bunuel's "L'Age d'Or" After the bizarre absurdity of " Un Chien Andalou ," I was expecting something of a similar vein with Luis Bunuel's follow-up, " L'Age d'Or ." This was certainly the case, however, I found " Un Chien Andalou " to be a far more effective experience. Don't get me wrong, " L'Age d'Or " certainly has its fill of absurdism and blatant mockery. This mockery is of both the artform itself, as well as a mockery of the bourgeoise class and the Catholic Church. That being said, " L'Age d'Or " seems to only be the little brother of the two films.  Unlike " Un Chien Andalou ," there seems to be some sort of coherent story taking place. Despite bizarre vignettes like the opening documentary about scorpions and the final vignette about a Jesus-resembled figure who emerges from a castle after 120 days of depraved orgies, the main 'story' is about a man ...

  Luis Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou" In 1917, while Luis Bunuel was attending the University of Madrid, he developed a very close relationship with soon-to-be famed painter Salvador Dali that lasted many years. After seeing Fritz Lang's " Destiny " in theaters in 1921, Bunuel decided that film was his passion. He enlisted Bunuel to help him make his first film, and using Bunuel's mother's funds, made a 16 minute film that make a significant imprint on the landscape of film all together, " Un Chien Andalou ." To describe the plot of " Un Chien Andalou " would be a difficult task, as the film has no plot in the conventional sense of the word. It features disjointed chronology, surruealist imagery, and hold no rational basis. The dream logic that Bunuel and Dali employ stems from the then-popular Freudian free association expression. The scenes in the film are tenuously related and create allow the viewer to pull abstract impressions f...

  Alexander Dovzhenko's "Earth" Alexander Dovzhenko is one of Soviet cinema's early important filmmakers, alongside his comrades Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, and Vsevolod Pudovkin. His magnum opus, 1930's " Earth " would be one of the last great silent films to come out of Soviet cinema. The film, however, was very controversial upon its release, as it actively mulled the uncertainty of collectived farming. The film centers on a small village of farmers who are split between how to view the new collectivization happening with their farms. Some denounce it and declare their resistance while others welcome it with much excitement. After the community welcomes their first tractor, they are able to harvest grain. Howerver, that night, one of the Soviet agents who endorses collectivization is killed. Upon his funeral, his father requests a secular funeral and denounces his Russian Orthodoxy, stating that his son's new ways were to be honored. During t...

  Lewis Milestone's "All Quiet on the Western Front" " All Quiet on the Western Front " was a very important film for Hollywood in 1930. At the time, sound pictures had become a new, primary focus. However, the difficulty in getting sound pictures made proved difficult. This was especially true after the financial collapse of 1929. So, the $1.25 million the film was produced for was one of the biggest gambles Hollywood had ever taken. The gamble, however, paid off. " All Quiet on the Western Front " was one of the biggest films Hollywood ever produced. It caused an even bigger fervor on the other side of the Atlantic. The film was so hated by Germany, and Nazis in particular, that many of the projections of the film were disrupted. Stink bombs were set off in the theaters as well as mice. The film was so controversial in Germany that it was eventually banned when the Nazis seized power only a couple of years later. Aside from this, " All Quiet on ...

  Robert Siodmak & Edgar G. Ulmer's "People on Sunday" The most impressive thing about " People on Sunday " is not the fact that it is a 'film without actors,' as the opening title cards suggest. It is also not that it takes it inspiration from Germany's New Objectivity Movement. It is not even the fact that a young 23-year-old Billy Wilder contributed to the film's script (before eventually leaving for America). Rather, the most impressive element of the Siodmak Brothers' " People on Sunday " is the retrospective viewpoint of the film in context with that period of time in German history.  After Germany had experienced a great fallout during World War I in the late 1910s, it was experiencing existential and economic troubles in the 1920s. By the summer of 1929, when the film was shot, the troubles were not over. In fact, they were just beginning. However, as " People on Sunday " illuminates, this era of Germany was ri...

  Jean Vigo's "L'Atalante" After watching Jean Vigo's 1933 short film " Zero for Conduct ," I was thoroughly excited for his next film, " L'Atalante ." What instilled even more excitement in me was the highly lauded praise of the film from various film appreciation platforms. Some even consider it the greatest film of the 1930s, while many others hail it as one of the greatest films of all time. Suffice to say that I was ready for something incredible. However, after watching the film, I was a little underwhelmed. The film itself was a good watch, as I found myself enjoying the twists and turns in the life of this newlywed couple. However, perhaps I hyped the film too much in my mind. So, I returned to the film a week later to reevaluate. Even still, I found myself wanting more. Perhaps this is a fault in myself, but it could be that I was looking for something far deeper. And maybe that is the point of the film anyway. The film centers on ...

  Jean Vigo's "Zero for Conduct" While watching Jean Vigo's 1933 short film, " Zero for Conduct ," I was struck by how much it has influenced future films, especially the French new wave movement of the 1960s. I believe the primary reason for this is due to the film's rebellious nature. This is obviously derived from the themes of childhood rebellion, but it seems to have so much more resonance than that. The plot of the film centers on four rebellious young boys at a boarding school. The young boys hatch a plan to revolt against their oppressive teachers and take over the school. Their plot ends up being partially successful, as they are able to cause mayhem despite not 'taking over the school.' 1933 was the year Adolf Hitler took power in Germany. By then, much of Europe had seen authoritarian uprising in many parts of the country. Despite being about boarding school students, I believe " Zero for Conduct " represents the larger point...

  Jean Vigo & Boris Kaufman's "A Propos de Nice" In 1929, Jean Vigo worked as an assistant cameraman for a small company in Nice, France. After being given $250 by his wife's father-in-law, Vigo bought himself a Debrie camera. During that summer, Vigo met Boris Kaufman, brother of Dziga Vertov, the genius filmmaker behind 1929's masterpiece " Man with a Movie Camera ." Vigo pitched an idea similar to " Man with a Movie Camera " to Kaufman. Vigo and Kaufman, along with their wives, constructed a script about the city of Nice.  Using documentary footage of real location in Nice, Vigo and Kaufman showcased the vast disparity between the frivolity and boredom of the upper-class citizens and their impoverished counterparts struggling in the slums. The film is completely silent, aside from the musical accompaniment. Its image demonstrates the day in the life of people living in Nice in 1929 and the film's editing commentates on those lives. T...

  Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy" Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film " Frenzy " was the penultimate of his career and perhaps the most Hitchcockian of his final films. It was a return to suspense, a return to the 'wrong man accused' plot device, and it was a return to London. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939 and only made two films outside of Hollywood from that point until 1970. However, with his penultimate film, he returned to the city he started making films in and returned to form one final time.  The film centers on a man who gets accused of being the 'necktie killer.' This killer has been going around London killing women with his neckties. The film is perhaps Hitchcock's most explicit film of his filmography. It not only shows very intimate scenes of rape and murder, but nudity as well. Due to the nature of some of the darker scenes, Alfred's daughter Patricia felt the film was too disturbing for her children to view for many years....

  Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" Going into Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film " The Birds ," I almost suspected that I would be watching a film that would have my eyes rolling. Birds attacking? The story seems rather silly. However, perhaps by lowered expectations allowed me to enjoy the film simply for what it is. The film comes at the very tail end of Hitchcock's career, and the idea behind the story seems to fit in perfectly with where he was at this point.  A Hitchcockian film usually consists of an everyday character going about their life who suddenly has a dramatic and often fatal incident occur. This incident forces them away from their normal life and responsibilities to address a far more existential one. It can often consist of a political conspiracy, like in " The Man Who Knew Too Much ," " The 39 Steps ," " The Lady Vanishes ," or " Notorious ." More often than not, it has to do with attempting to stop a mu...

  Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" After watching " North by Northwest ," Alfred Hitchcock's smash hit from 1959, it occured to me that the film is very much a proto-James-Bond flick. All the ingredients are there: espoinage, a suave smooth-talking protagonist, a charming antagonist, colorful locations, and a love interest who is pulled between being under control of the antagonist and her deep love and desire for the protagonist. Because of the similarities I felt that Hitchcock's 1955 film " To Catch a Thief " had with the James Bond series, " North by Northwest " would seem to act as Hitchcock's James Bond Part II. It is understandable that a James-Bond-style caper would entice many viewers. This is especially true for viewers in 1959, as that style of film had not come along quite yet. However, I personally am not particularly drawn to these espoinage-style action films. I found much of the film to be quite implausable ...