photo snapiwatches.wordpress.com

The philosophical ideas behind the science-fiction works with a concept of personal identity and with concepts like being human, the conscience and artificial intelligence, moral implications of a meeting with extra-terrestrial beings and transforming the future with the evolution of science and technology. What is common to all dystopias is the presence of a character coming from another medium, of restoration and emancipation. This character can be the human condition in what we might call post-humanity.

photo digiplexdest.blogspot.com

Oblivion is another dystopian, post-apocalypse, cyberpunk SF which fits perfectly in this category through story, themes, motives, character, image and atmosphere. Jack Harper (Tom Cruise), the main character, is tormented from the beginning of the film by his memories that haunt his dreams. He asks himself whether they are real, if the memories define or not his identity. Still, he knows that his memory was erased after the war where the Earth was protected by invaders. He is skeptic and filled with uncertainties.

photo twitchfilm.com

The action takes place on Earth, in a post-apocalypse medium after the entire planet was destroyed by nuclear bombs. This is the medium where we find Jack whose mission is to take care of the remaining resources of the planet and to repair the drones (independent weapons). He lives in a tower, which is very typical for SF films, all made of windows. Gadgets are everywhere; it’s minimalist, but luxuriant.

photo rogerebert.com

The film explores a very common idea in SF films: the human life can be recreated by scientists or can be manipulated by extra-terrestrial beings with superior scientific powers. The memory is very important here, as well as feelings and desires. Jack has a human body, but his memories have been erased. His obsessive flash-backs and his decision come from an emotional stubbornness. He doesn’t follow the rules and like this he finds out who is in charge of the new society and who he is.

photo oblivionmovie.com

The survival and reproduction instinct are very well underlined: the NY hat, the book he “saves” in the middle of the fight, the flower he finds. There is a very touchy moment when he finds a hidden house with a windmill.

There are some moments where clichés are present. The moment when he remembers that the woman he saved in a fight is his wife, some lines seem very superficial:

“Are we gonna die?” the wife asks;

“No.” says Jack. (after several seconds) ”Maybe!”

The message is not far from all the messages of a SF: machinery is not a person’s best friend, they can turn against you and your feelings are basic to the human nature. And we shouldn’t forget that Oblivion is produced by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy), and he turns the image and special effects in a powerful weapon.

by Diana Vasile

Diana Vasile studies Audio-Video Communication at the National University of Theatre and Film. She likes writing since she was little (when she was 10 she wrote the sequel of Harry Potter, since she longed for it). The passion for film appeared when she was a teenager and melted into writing scripts. She is an autodidact in her spare time, but she loves parties, driving her car, cooking, cleaning and watching TV series.

The post OBLIVION – A S.F. WITH A ROMANTIC TOUCH appeared first on INHALE MAG.

The film starts in a funny note, alert with a short advice on how to be sure a painting will not be stolen during an auction. Simon (James McAvoy) is our guide and the main character. The camera comes close to a Rembrandt painting, but not as much as Peter Greenaway did in Rembrandt J’accuse (where the director proves his theory on a possible murder in Night Watch and on the way all the characters were involved too look innocent).

Goya -Witches in the Air
photo wikipaintings.org

Then comes the moment when Simon must apply what he learned. Franck (Vincent Cassel) and his team want to steal a Goya – Witches in the Air – during the auction. Simon takes the control and tries to take the painting in a safe place, but his actions make us believe that, in fact, a painting is worth more than a human’s life.

photo simonmernagh.files.wordpress.com

Yes, Simon plays the hero in front of Franck and gets a wound on his head. This is where the films starts. We are introduced in his delirium through subjective shots and the director has the freedom to play with the story’s time and space, with colorful and shiny textures (walls, windows), mirrors and reflections. The images get you in trance from story to story, but mainly in the story where the main character wants to find out the truth about himself.

photo cdn.wegotthiscovered.com

Simon’s amnesia annoys Franck’s expectations who cannot conceive losing the painting. Therefore, he searches Simon’s house and car, he tortures him in a classic way (he takes Simon’s nails) but nothing comes out and he has the idea to take Simon to Elisabeth, a hypnotist. This is the moment when it all becomes interesting because the writer tries to insert some questions related for a future situation. Before having sex with Elisabeth, Simon finds a book with nudes – here comes the answer to Why Goya? Simon believes that he painted perfection. But Goya is also known for his painting where the reality combines with elements from a dream.

photo guardian.co.uk

Trance is a mixture of narrative structures, an anachronic and circular formula: you see again and again the first shots of the film because, in fact, the initial story is not the real one, but the next one might be and so on. Trance is the Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind meets Memento: a character suffering from amnesia and who discovers that he had the possibility to forget the loved one. Still, the stories are difficult to watch and the jokes are old. The strong areas are the hypnotic image and the actors.

photo www.filmoa.com

by Diana Vasile

Diana Vasile studies Audio-Video Communication at the National University of Theatre and Film. She likes writing since she was little (when she was 10 she wrote the sequel of Harry Potter, since she longed for it). The passion for film appeared when she was a teenager and melted into writing scripts. She is an autodidact in her spare time, but she loves parties, driving her car, cooking, cleaning and watching TV series.

The post TRANCE – PSYCHEDELIC TRAVEL appeared first on INHALE MAG.

http://madrideducacion.es
Blancanieves young

The director’s motivation for a silent film Blancanieves is strong: the script deals with bullfighters in Sevilla of the 20s. The director chose this Grimm tale to underline the aspect of folklore: the famous bullfighter Antonio Villalta (paralyzed after an accident in the ring) has a daughter with his wife who dies when giving birth. The girl gets in the care of her step-mother who, in the end, commands that the girl should be killed.

“The ranger” drowns her, but she is saved by a bullfighter dwarf who keeps her in a caravan, together with the other dwarfs. Blancanieves (they give her this name, since she suffers from amnesia) jumps in the ring to protect one of the dwarfs that was attacked by a bull. She does it instinctively, since she learnt how to do it from her father.

http://blancaniev.es
Blancanieves and the dwarfs

The dwarfs are impressed, the public is impressed so they become a group. The moment they get in the ring in Sevilla a man recognizes her and her memories come back. We see here in a montage with very alert flashbacks that she must continue what she started: she is Carmen, the daughter of the famous bullfighter (we can look at her as Bizet’s Carmen). The mirror is a magazine where the step-mother finds out about the fight and plans the poisoned apple.

http://blancaniev.es
The caravan where Blancanieves lives with the dwarfs

Any narration has at its base the elements that help constitute a fairytale, even if they are under a different shape. The fairytale, through its nature, can bring the stories  a feeling of universality, each story can easily be transposed in a different vision. Blancanieves respects very carefully all the important moments (the absence, the interdiction, trespassing the interdiction, finding the villain, his evil intentions etc.) only changing the ending: the princess bites the poisoned apple but she doesn’t respond to any kiss, but ends up as a doll in a morbid circus show.

static.cinemagia.ro

Spain’s culture can be met in many parts of the world due to its colonies, therefore elements like toreo, the music and the flamenco dancers, with all the cante, toque, baile and palmas, the Spanish carnival couldn’t be absent. The director puts all of these elements altogether with well-known images of the White Snow: pricking the finger, the mirror, the key-hole as well as elements and characters that are emblematic for the story.

The steady shots are very common for the silent films, the use of super impression (special effects used at the beginning of cinema), the close ups and extremely close ups with large reactions are all marks of the first decades of film history. There is a grotesque-romantic vision of the film which is easily underlined by a music that fits very well.

Blancanieves reminds the audience of childhood, it is in a way very close to Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Guillermo del Toro), only before the war.

And here is the trailer

by Diana Vasile

Diana Vasile studies Audio-Video Communication at the National University of Theatre and Film. She likes writing since she was little (when she was 10 she wrote the sequel of Harry Potter, since she longed for it). The passion for film appeared when she was a teenager and melted into writing scripts. She is an autodidact in her spare time, but she loves parties, driving her car, cooking, cleaning and watching TV series.

The post BLANCANIEVES- WHITESNOW FIGHTS THE VEAL appeared first on INHALE MAG.