Bastard druggy or tragic victim? The movie focuses on a young man’s narrative story who is called “Fuckhead” by all of his friends and his tragically stupid choices he makes throughout his life. We follow him as he chases after the heroine shooting Michelle, the women he loves and introduces him to drugs. The plot unfolds as the two go from living in Iowa and Chicago and have mishaps including an unwanted pregnancy and an overdose that leads to Michelle’s untimely death in a hotel room. Fuck head finally goes to rehab and through his tragic situations starts to find himself. The movie jumps between Fuckhead dreams, hallucination and reality. This movie won countless awards including the Ecumenical Award at the 1999 Venice Film Festival.
This movie can also be seen as a stomach turning movie full of disturbing events. One scene depicts a middle age gentle man coming into the hospital that Fuckhead works at with a hunting knife jabbed into his right eye by his wife. Jack Blacks character, high on pills, then pulls the knife out of his head and walks into the hospital lobby holding it as its dripping blood. Another disturbing scene comes when Fuckhead accidently sits on a bag full of baby rabbits and squashes them to death. Although you feel sympathetic for a second, when he starts describing the mutilated body parts of the rabbit’s one may choose to turn off the movie.
The individual style of the movie can be credited to director Alison Maclean. She was born in Canada but raised in New Zealand, she attended Auckland art school. There she combined her unique style for art with her love for film making. One may say she has a dark view on life but tries to break the ice of this cold world by combining it with humor. Her uniqueness at directing was a perfect fit to oversee the making of the movie Jesus Son.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
blog 4
Oh clueless! i think every female who is under the age of 30 has seen clueless at least ten times. this film exaggerated they way kids in highschool act and interact with other people. i found it really funny that there are so many similarities with the tone of voice and inflection of the characters and their all together persona, with, in particular, females in highscool. the characters seemed to mirror an image in such a funny and correct manner. from my own experience ive noticed girls throughout highschool and college who acted and looked exactly like cher and dione and the gang. it seemed to be a lot about image. i think the movie did a great job spoofing that valley girl image that they were aiming for.
i also found it very interesting that amy heckerling actually studied kids in highschool in order to correctly imitate them. i honestly dont think you would have to study that for too long because there's not that much depth! hehe.. i also had no idea that amy heckerling was such a prodominant director. i had no idea she directed fast times, johnny dangerously, and look whos talking. those are movies of my generation and i can see a similarity now with all of the films that she has directed. they all seem to have a fun, young theme about them. clueless though i think has to be my overall favorite.
all of cher's problems seem to be at the center of the universe, as do all problems that teenagers have. whatever "problem" is happening in their life is the most important, pivitol, and life threatening problem. i think that many girls can relate to that because i think when you are a girl in high school those are the problems that are detrimental to your life because you have no life. this last viewing of clueless i was able to see that even though the girls were wrapped up in their own lives they were still trying to improve and add to thier lives. yeah they liked beiing the popular girls but it seeed as if there were an inherent sweetness to all of the girls.
i think this movie will forever be a classic no matter how silly and juevunile it seems to be. it is a homage to our generation!
i also found it very interesting that amy heckerling actually studied kids in highschool in order to correctly imitate them. i honestly dont think you would have to study that for too long because there's not that much depth! hehe.. i also had no idea that amy heckerling was such a prodominant director. i had no idea she directed fast times, johnny dangerously, and look whos talking. those are movies of my generation and i can see a similarity now with all of the films that she has directed. they all seem to have a fun, young theme about them. clueless though i think has to be my overall favorite.
all of cher's problems seem to be at the center of the universe, as do all problems that teenagers have. whatever "problem" is happening in their life is the most important, pivitol, and life threatening problem. i think that many girls can relate to that because i think when you are a girl in high school those are the problems that are detrimental to your life because you have no life. this last viewing of clueless i was able to see that even though the girls were wrapped up in their own lives they were still trying to improve and add to thier lives. yeah they liked beiing the popular girls but it seeed as if there were an inherent sweetness to all of the girls.
i think this movie will forever be a classic no matter how silly and juevunile it seems to be. it is a homage to our generation!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Barbara Loden was born in Marion North Carolina on July 8, 1932. She was a pronounced film director and actress. In 1971 Barbara Loden wrote, directed, and starred in a film called Wanda. She also won the Critics prize in 1970 which "made her feel as though she was already a notable director and she did not have to use her sexuality anymore to influence critics of her work, " which was according to her late husband Elia Kazan. The couple had two children together. After some years, Barbara Loden had acquired cancer and died September 5, 1980. Loden was 48 when she died. Loden's films were some of the best due to the innovative technicalities and their interesting story lines.
Loden got the idea to write and direct Wanda from a newspaper article that she read one day. (Apparently a lot of writers and directors get their ideas from articles such as these. ) But the article explained a story of a woman who had been an accomplice to a bank robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. When the judge had sentenced her, she thanked him. This is what gave Loden the idea to write and direct a similar story. Most people have compared it to Aurthur Penns' Bonnie and Clyde, which Loden gets furious about. She has said that Wanda is the anti- Bonnie even though she still acts as an accomplice to Mr. Dennis. She wrote, about Bonnie and Clyde, "I didn't care for it because it was unrealistic and it glamorized the characters. People like that would never get into those situations or lead that kind of life- they were to beautiful." This is apparent in Wanda because in the beginning she showed Wanda asleep in her sisters' couch and her husband glares at Wanda asleep and gives her a dirty look. this implies that Wanda is basically homeless and worth nothing. All she has is the clothes on her back. then a little bit into the movie you see Wanda as almost a prostitute by asking any man she sees for a ride, a beer, or money. These actions reveal to the audience that she is not very glamorized and doesn't really have any respect for herself or anyone else for that matter.
But in the end of Wanda she finally did not allow anyone to take advantage of her. There was one guy that she meets and he takes her for a ride and tries to put the moves on her but she vehemently pushes him away and she runs into the woods. This is a big changing point for Wanda because she is not allowing herself to be taken advantage of anymore. I think the reason why was because she felt as though she blamed herself for Mr. Dennis being killed. her sole purpose had been lost. I thought that Wanda was a great film, no matter how strange it was. I felt as if there was no real climax but there is almost an ever progressing, slow climax the whole movie. I was always wondering what was going to happen next even though everything was very solemn and recurring.
Loden got the idea to write and direct Wanda from a newspaper article that she read one day. (Apparently a lot of writers and directors get their ideas from articles such as these. ) But the article explained a story of a woman who had been an accomplice to a bank robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. When the judge had sentenced her, she thanked him. This is what gave Loden the idea to write and direct a similar story. Most people have compared it to Aurthur Penns' Bonnie and Clyde, which Loden gets furious about. She has said that Wanda is the anti- Bonnie even though she still acts as an accomplice to Mr. Dennis. She wrote, about Bonnie and Clyde, "I didn't care for it because it was unrealistic and it glamorized the characters. People like that would never get into those situations or lead that kind of life- they were to beautiful." This is apparent in Wanda because in the beginning she showed Wanda asleep in her sisters' couch and her husband glares at Wanda asleep and gives her a dirty look. this implies that Wanda is basically homeless and worth nothing. All she has is the clothes on her back. then a little bit into the movie you see Wanda as almost a prostitute by asking any man she sees for a ride, a beer, or money. These actions reveal to the audience that she is not very glamorized and doesn't really have any respect for herself or anyone else for that matter.
But in the end of Wanda she finally did not allow anyone to take advantage of her. There was one guy that she meets and he takes her for a ride and tries to put the moves on her but she vehemently pushes him away and she runs into the woods. This is a big changing point for Wanda because she is not allowing herself to be taken advantage of anymore. I think the reason why was because she felt as though she blamed herself for Mr. Dennis being killed. her sole purpose had been lost. I thought that Wanda was a great film, no matter how strange it was. I felt as if there was no real climax but there is almost an ever progressing, slow climax the whole movie. I was always wondering what was going to happen next even though everything was very solemn and recurring.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Blog # 2
Ida Lupino was one of the first and influential female film and television director. She started out as an actress and then started to direct and write letter in her career during 1949-1954. She was very interested in controversial and ground breaking issues as topics for her films. Some of these topics included: rape, bigamy, runaways and un-wed mothers. She herself was a powerful and successful business women which was very unique and controversial during the 40's and 50's.
During class, we viewed her film, The Bigamist (1953) in which she both stared and directed. The movie is about a man who is telling a first hand account about how he is living a double life with 2 wives who are unaware of his habit.
Even today, television and films are still trying to cover ground breaking and controversial topics. One such television series that deals with polygamist is on HBO called, Big Love. This television show is directed by Tom Hanks and centers on a mans point of view and his experience with his 3 wives. The mans name is Bill Henderson (Bill Paxton) and his wives names are Barb (1st wife), Nikki (2nd wife) and Margie (3rd wife). This show vividly depicts three versions about how men could view/fantasize about women. Barb is his favorite, who is the strong leader and Bill’s confidante. Nikki is his "Good girl" wife and Margie is his "Naughty/bad girl" wife.
Pertaining to films, another controversial issue that had become rather modern to center on is homosexuality. The movie, Brokeback Mountain (2005) was one of the most controversial movies of all time and was based upon the gay relationship of two socially different cowboys. This movie won many awards including an Oscar for best director. Big Love has become both a critical and popular success and has also been nominated for many prestigious awards. Although Ida Lupino’s movies were box office successes she did not receive as much acknowledgment for her accomplishment pertaining to her work. Could it be because she is a women?????????
During class, we viewed her film, The Bigamist (1953) in which she both stared and directed. The movie is about a man who is telling a first hand account about how he is living a double life with 2 wives who are unaware of his habit.
Even today, television and films are still trying to cover ground breaking and controversial topics. One such television series that deals with polygamist is on HBO called, Big Love. This television show is directed by Tom Hanks and centers on a mans point of view and his experience with his 3 wives. The mans name is Bill Henderson (Bill Paxton) and his wives names are Barb (1st wife), Nikki (2nd wife) and Margie (3rd wife). This show vividly depicts three versions about how men could view/fantasize about women. Barb is his favorite, who is the strong leader and Bill’s confidante. Nikki is his "Good girl" wife and Margie is his "Naughty/bad girl" wife.
Pertaining to films, another controversial issue that had become rather modern to center on is homosexuality. The movie, Brokeback Mountain (2005) was one of the most controversial movies of all time and was based upon the gay relationship of two socially different cowboys. This movie won many awards including an Oscar for best director. Big Love has become both a critical and popular success and has also been nominated for many prestigious awards. Although Ida Lupino’s movies were box office successes she did not receive as much acknowledgment for her accomplishment pertaining to her work. Could it be because she is a women?????????
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