Snowpiercer

We have watched so many movies in the past, the duration of most is around 1.5 hour. Snowpiercer is a 2 hour long movie, what is it so inspiring that I would like to share is the whole film happens on a train from the beginning till the end. I was kind of worried wouldn't it be a boring story with 2 hour on a train? However, I was proven wrong .

It is a film directed by Bong Joon-ho which is mainly action and science-fiction genre film that happens during the post-apocalyptic. The protagonist- Chris Evans as Curtis, while the cast who impressed me the most and got into one my idol list was the antagonist- Tilda Swinton as Mason. In this film, the action parts when Curtis involves in a series of challenges to fight over the antagonists and the adventure he has with leading a rebellion against the inequality inside the entire one train. 

As we can see, it is a train that never stops moving which holds the last survivors during the ice age where the whole world is frozen, but what impressed me the most is the humanity and the real world relevance shown in the movie. The different classes of the world are being shrunk down into the train as a microcosm. At the beginning, the film shows the audiences distinctly where the survivors from lower class (mentioned as foot), they are starving, dusty, live in a dark, huddled masses and narrow railway car, yet isolated by others from the front section. Then, it comes a plot twist where they started to against the elite (mentioned as head) moving toward the front of the train where it belongs to the 'head' and causes the revolution.

What I expected was the railway cars at the front might be just slightly different from the back. It might be clearer, cleaner, and wider. What fascinated me the most was the HUGE differences where all the upper class enjoys access to attend classes with well-dressed uniform, they have fresh food as in fresh sashimi sushi, grand high-tea with fancy tea cup sets. The worst part is having a nightclub in one of the railway cars where people enjoy alcohol and funky music, as well as a saloon. Other than that, they even have a garden as known as the greenhouse section which serves plant nursery, and aquarium which is built like an underwater world on the train. All of these settings are so well designed to create the enormous comparison and a sense of mood to reflect the elites' characteristics and reveal the environment as prosperous and exaggeration. 

These are insanely showing us the real world ironically represented in this microcosm. Besides, the more fortunate kids get to attend classes and educated, nevertheless, they are being brainwashed by the teacher to be proud of the head of the elite, Mr Wildford and they truly believe those who escape from the train deserve death. I can find it is a bit related to the real world as media is being controlled by government and for some people who lack of media literacy are easily to be influenced by the media and opinion leaders. It is obviously shown that the teacher is the kids' opinion leader.

The lighting makes a big contrast to differentiate between the foot and the head. It is dark, blacks, and dull color in the tail section compared to the front section which is bright and colorful. Besides, the scene of axes fighting happen in the train cars, it shows totally blackout as the lights are off and the train goes through a very long tunnel. The sunlight sneaks through the window and slightly fills on their face with the slow-motion editing and muffled SFX. Next, the friction between steel wheels and steel rails, the echo of them shouting towards the tail for fire, the clear sound effects of lighting up matches plus the totally black screen calmly brighten up by the small matches, followed by the exciting background music and lastly with the people cheering enhance the circumstances and evoke our emotions to the max. Which then they started running and passing the burning torch from the tail to the front. These scenes were absolutely impressed with the contrast of lighting and sound editing. 

Next, the actress Tilda Swinton as Mason. From her accent, the way she speaks, the act of pretending innocence when her life gets dicey, the twist of her emotion in less than a second, the significant teeth and all the little actions she has truly enriched the movie. I was shocked seeing how she leads the film as if she is the soul of the movie. 

Zombieland

This film basically straddles different genre classifications which combines horror, comedy, romance, action, road film, and sci-fi. A typical horror sub-genre can be divided into unnatural, which involves vampires, ghosts, zombies; psychological that probably human's unstable mental and emotional narrative; and massacre or slasher that relies on serial killers or murderers.

Undoubtedly, 'Zombieland' is categorized under unnatural sub-genre.  All of these sub-genre share the same syntax where it probably begins with normalcy, for instance, in the film of 'Zombieland', when the 406 character asks help from Columbus; and slowly there are some irrational forces or chaos happen, it is when the 406 is infected by the bite of a homeless and she eventually turns into a zombie; followed by the internal threat enters the space where conflicts, chasing and killing start, this can be seen when the whole city is overrun by zombies, the four survivors: Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock have to escape from the zombies to survive. At the end, it should back to normalcy or victory, which happens at the Pacific Playland, they successfully kill the zombies and continue their journey together as a family without biological relationships.

Moreover, slapstick and parody comedy can be seen in this film. Slapstick generally involves exaggerated physical action to deliver the sense of humor to the audiences. In 'Zombieland', when Columbus acts confidently and gets a bike thinking to save Wichita and Little Rock at the Pacific Playland, he wears smartly to ride on it, however, he falls and the bikes falls on him as the bike seems a little too heavy for him to control. Next, the part when Columbus completely misunderstands Bill Murray is faking as a zombie and accidentally shots him down and causes him death. The dark comedy we can see is when every time Tallahassee double tap on zombie no matter with using his gun, he will shot twice, or drives over the zombies with his car back and forth. The list of rules stated by Columbus to survive and escape from zombies gives the sense of humor as well such as he once said that it is more important to have good cardio than to be good with a shotgun or don't be a hero when it comes to zombies. The parody in 'Zombieland' is when Tallahassee, Bill Murray, and Wichita recreate the scene in 'Ghostbusters' after getting high of smoking shisha just like what Bill Murray used to act in the 'Ghostbusters' years ago.

The genre of romance happens between Columbus and Wichita. Columbus is being portrayed as a coward, behaves cautiously, no social life, although he is smart and keeping himself survive with the list of rules. Nonetheless, when Wichita appears in his life, his courage has increased and even breaks his own rules of "Don't be a hero" in order to save Wichita and Little Rock. Wichita can be shown as a smart girl, independent, single minded, brave to keep her sister and herself alive. This always happens to be a huge contrast between two characters and soon they will fall in love with each other.

This film is absolutely an action film, which the chasing and killing scenes in between the zombies and 4 characters. The chasing scene happens throughout the film especially at the Pacific Playland. Wichita and Little Rock activate all the machines which attract the zombies with the sound and music to the park. The zombies chase after Columbus while on his way to the turbo drop to save Wichita and Litlte Rock. Tallahassee is one of the action hero, the one man army, he is smart, never fear of killing zombies violently, and possesses stronger skills than Columbus. However, Wichita is the femme fatale who achieves her mission in the film using her beauty towards Columbus and the man at the petrol station. In the scene which she bends down her body purposely pretends looking for her ring to attract the man.

A road-film genre I have never heard before telling a film involves travelling on a journey from point A to point B and the characters are mostly stuck in the transportation which either car or feet. At the same time, they will start bonding their relationship on the journey. In "Zombieland", the montage is shown when the driver position is changed from time to time while they are chit-chatting, as well as when they stop by a craft store and smash everything satisfyingly with the classical grand background music.

Although sci-fi genre is not clearly shown through fantastic and fanciful visual in "Zombieland", Columbus once mentioned at the beginning of the film that strain of mad cow disease mutated into mad person disease and turns human beings into zombies that brings an extinction happens in the world.

Except for the dark humor, it's kind of a loose content for me as just watching a group of people escape from the zombies. However, it's fun watching to entertain myself.

Requiem For A Dream

The story line of this film which apparently ordinary. Referential meaning can be seen in this film which happens around 4 drug addicts whose addictions on dieting, wealth, success and fame. However, the way how the director tells us the story has truly impressed me a lot. He enhances this film with the element of costumes and make-up. The oversize clothing, dark circles and pale sick face apply on characters and truly enhance the characteristic of a drug addict. Besides, the first scene of the film is in the house where we can see the setting of the house is sort of simple as this presents the social class of the mother and her son. The things we can see pretty obvious are the TV set and the fridge. These enhance the characteristic of the mother too as she is that kind of typical housewife who stays at home, watches TV, cooks sometimes probably. Most of the time, the director plays with the camera angles and impressive editing from scene to scene which are mostly fast cuts. The film as if brings me into the world of the characters to feel their emotion and illusion. 

One of the method the director arranges the shots is using montage. The fast cuts in the montage shows the act of drugs consumption by the characters. The shots in montage are extreme close up which show the detailed action on every scene. From the scene of syringe, powder dropping on the table to a lighter lights up fire, boiling water, rolled money, the powder is sniffed, the cells flowing in the nerves and the changing size of pupil. The fast cuts as well as the pace of edits seem to establish my feeling of fast beating heart after taking drugs. 

Other than that, the mother character, Sara, who has nothing else left in her life as her husband has passed away and her son, Harry is a drug addicts and runaway from home. The only activity of Sara's daily routine is watching television program to spend her time. However, Harry steals the television from Sara to pawn the television to get enough cash for drugs. This action is apparently normal to Sara as she has locked the TV set with chain. Sara hides herself in the closet watching Harry removes the television through the keyhole. This scene is being split into half which the left is Sara's P.O.V looking at Harry while the right is Harry himself. This editing seems to convey the emotion and the relationship between Harry and Sara. Sara even refuses to send Harry to the police as Harry is the only one she has in her life. Besides, this is also showing us the cause and effect that we might expect throughout the film. The characteristic of Harry who is poor but a drug addict, how would he get more money to overcome the obstacle? He as an active character, he must actively solve the problem, though it is not a good act.

I don't actually find catharsis and completeness after watching this film, instead, I feel I was kind of stress and depressed. It makes my mind wandering around the characters and their characteristics. It seems so real yet so abstract.
Sometimes, we might want to chase for fame, wealth, attention on the path in our life, but when we are overly attached to these, we might fall, to the consequences that we couldn't take anymore.

Thus, sometimes, one shouldn't be blamed for all faults when she is doing something wrong. The action taken might be affected by the environment as well. This can be seen through Sara's character. She becomes obsessed to be appeared on television and causes her taking too much of diet pills in order to lose her weight in shortest time. This might be because of the huge contrast between the reality in her life which is lonely and quiet compared to the television program which is energetic and so much attention from the audiences. 

Additionally, what I can see is that the director also shows the characteristic of a drug addict who happens to be always wandering in his/her illusion. Harry imagines himself making fun of a policeman by throwing his gun in the air; Harry's girlfriend, Marion imagines herself to jab a fork into Arnold's hand; and Sara who imagines the fridge is trying to break from the wall after taking too much of diet pills. However, non of this really happens. In this film, we can see how a drug addict is being portrayed. Their life is generally just wandering in between the reality and their illusion. The editing has really put me into the emotion of theirs where sometimes it is hard to realize am I in the reality of the film or I'm in the character's illusion.

Next, when I was doing research on this film, I realized a short video scene which is quite similar to this film during the part when Marion is fully naked and submerges herself inside a bathtub and shouts underwater. This scene is similar to a scene in a Japanese animated film which is Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon. Is this kind of pastiche as what Mr. Joe mentioned in the class?

Spirited Away

We were shown the film Spirited Away in the Film Studies class.
It can be said that it is one of my favorite movie from Hayao Miyazaki
This film surprised me no matter how many times I have watched
These are few parts in the film I like

First, Hayao Miyazaki presents Yubaba who has strong maternal instinct towards her little baby although she is a witch who only cares for her business and profit.
She behaves fierce and overbearing towards others in the bathhouse but always shows her soft side while taking care of her baby.
However, when the No Face comes to the bathhouse and finds interests in Chihiro but she doesn't accept the gold he provides like anyone else, Chihiro feeds No Face a medicine that makes him vomits and so causes the bathhouse into a mess where Yubaba loses her profit and she is mad with it.
For that moment, she never realizes her baby isn't the real baby until Haku tells her.
This shows how greedy is she and desires on wealth and power instead of family.
This strongly represents the society nowadays which we are easily get blindfolded with the power of profit and material possessions until we are getting less concern on what are supposed to be more important to us.

Other than that, this can be seen through Chihiro's parents as well. Chihiro's parents take the food presented on the table without asking permission before eating them. They strongly believe nothing matters as money can solve everything. However, they turn into pigs as punishment because of too much food or can be said as too much greedy they have taken. Therefore, Chihiro is forced to work with Yubaba in order to save her parents.

In the bathhouse, which can be presented as today's society. Everyone in the bathhouse must work for Yubaba. Once if someone doesn't work anymore, he or she will turn into a pig. He/she will live a lifeless life, without any goals, keeps eating and sleeping until he/she is fat enough to be killed and served to the customers. It is similar to the social reality as you will be out of step with the society when you no longer work hard to live your life.

Next, I found No Face is similar to most of us as youngsters in today's society. No Face is unable to express himself or tells his thought to Chihiro, but at the same time, he has the power of making a lot of golds to fulfill the greedy of people in the bathhouse to get a sense of respects or attention from others. But deeply inside himself, this character is lonely and attempts to get relationship with others only by fulfilling their greed. He is only able to speak with the frog's voice after he has swallowed the frog into his stomach. Isn't this similar to many of us? The youngsters might have a certain ability or strength in some fields with high IQ and knowledge, however, we are poor at communicating, dealing with people or expressing ourselves.

Additionally, one of the obvious message delivered by Hayao Miyazaki is the polluted environment when the River Spirit comes to the bathhouse and it is dirty and gets stuck with trash. However, the people are scared off and distance themselves away from this dirty customer. Isn't it ridiculous as we human beings pollute the environment ourselves, but when it comes to problems or natural disasters, we distance ourselves away from responsibilities.

Furthermore, I believe the strongest message in this film is to remember the real you as in Chihiro must always remember her real name in order to escape from Yubaba. In the bathhouse, everyone has forgotten their real name. They have become materialists and always pursue for wealth. Many of us might have dreams that wish to be accomplished, however, people are getting less motivated to achieve their goals which affected by the surroundings and slowly forget who they really are. In the film, Lin once mentions she would escape from the bathhouse one day, but her name has been taken away by Yubaba. Same to Kamajii when he gives Chihiro few of train tickets. Perhaps, he has dreams to escape from Yubaba back in those days too?

The best part I like the most is when Chihiro is taking train to meet Zeniba. We can see the neon signs shine brightly all along the way. But it shows such a huge contrast as the scene is so quite and lonely. Every passenger doesn't speak a word, they are like just a soul of themselves.

“I HOPE ONE DAY YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO RUN AWAY FROM EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU MISERABLE.”