Momento

Out of all the movies we watched so far Momento is definitely my favorite one. My favorite thing about this movie is the fact that it is confusing, and to others this might frustrate them. I enjoy it because it keeps my attention the whole time, really making you think about what is going on. If a movie doesn't make you think, then it is simply not worth your time. It was a great movie that was shot very well and complex. The debate in class is whether or not he actually lost his memory or not. To me I think that he rather chooses not to remember things. After he killed his wife he did not want to believe what he had done, so he chose to block it out, erasing it completely from his mind, and replacing it with someone else's story. He is not a killer to me, I think he is naive and confused about the whole entire situation. I believe that he is so guilty in what he did that he simply chooses to block out the rest of his life so he doesn't have to put up with any guilty conscience or repercussions. This was my favorite movie so far and I hope to watch others that are complex like this one.

Moral Ambiguity

A movie that displays moral ambiguity is The Seventh Seal. In this movie they make Death a character, where he is not as evil as he should be. Of course he is taking lives from people, but it is his job. They make him a relatable character in the movie and I believe it is for a reason. Another character is the wife who cheats on her husband. She is wrong for leaving her husband and cheating on him but in the end she comes back to him and begs him to take her back. Almost every character in this movie has good and bad sides and are not just totally bad or totally good. In Seventh Seal the characters are dynamic, portraying the different sides to humans, which I think is more realistic then a movie that portrays only good and evil. The best kind of movies are those in which any person can relate to, not one gained for a particular type of audience. In The Seventh Seal any person can watch it and enjoy it, and most importantly relate to it.

Existentialism

The existentialism sheet that we recieved in class has a lot to compare to the movie Runaway Train. One of the points on the sheet claims that everytime you allow someone else to tell you, what you should think, how you should act, or what you should be, you are allowing them to control your life. This is portrayed in the movie in many different ways. First of all they are locked away in prison where they are constantly being told what to do. Manny rebels by constantly doing his own thing, and then eventually breaking free from the control and supervision of the officers. He is portraying existentialism by not following the orders given to him by anyone else. He is everyone in the jails hero, because he does not care about anyone of the rules, which is a reason why he is in jail in the first place. When he gets out of jail he admits that he'd never be able to find a job because he is so against listening to people that he will never be able to lead a normal life. He knows that because of his beliefs he can not fit into society, or the way that they try to mold him. Manny is a unique figure and many people look up to him because of his independence, and the way that he holds himself. In a way I feel he is admirable because of his persona that shows off his ability to stay true to himself in any given situation. He is not rebelling, he is simply following what he wants to do, and not doing what everyone else does to fit in with the rest of society.

Runaway Train

Runaway Train was a complex movie, yet simple at the same time. The whole message of the movie is that humans are more barbaric than animals. The quote that proves this is:

You are an animal!

No worse! Human.

He's trying to get the point across that humans are more cruel and have more harsh actions than animals do. I think there is more behind this though. Buck is a serial rapist (so we think) and harasses the woman the first time he meets her on the train. He is cruel to woman, but as time goes on they start to bond. When they come to the realization that the train is going to crash, the girl makes Buck cuddle with her saying she doesn't want to die alone. It shows the desperateness of human nature and how when faced with death, reputations don't matter.

Another theme in this movie is the idea of being free. In jail you are obviously confined, but Manny considers himself to be free even when trapped on the train with Rankin. I believe his mind set is that he knows he is dying, so he is being freed from the life he was tragically trapped in. Manny knows he is a bad person with many flaws, and he does not try to hide it or change it. He accepts himself the way he is, and I feel as if that is why he considers himself trapped. He is trapped in his mindset, not in jail, or with Rankin. All he wanted was to be set free from the life he was leading, and finally be at peace.

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is an interesting movie because it shows someones life through other people's eyes. Kane never says anything to us besides "rosebud" but we see all about him through stories from other people. Kane himself was a powerful man, but also very powerless. The director helps you see that by shooting different angles where he is shown being powerful and powerless at the same time. He will be giant but confined by the ceiling, showing that his power has limits. He can choose what people read, but he can not help what they think. He can not force people to love him or even like him, and that is his downfall because he believes that he can. I feel bad for him, instead of thinking he is a bad person. I see someone who was unloved his whole life, and just wanted nothing but affection. His power in the business world was not enough to keep him happy, and I think that will stand for any decent human being. It just goes to show that money can't buy you happiness.

500 Days of Summer

Over the break I watched 500 days of summer for the 50th time. It's a movie that never seems to disappoint me no matter how many times I watch it. What really keeps me interested is how the time skips from the beginning of their relationship to the end, comparing how moments used to be to how they are once they started drifting from each other. My favorite scene is when the director cuts the screen in half with one side labeled "Reality" and the other labeled "Expectations". The same party is being shot but on the left side where the reality is, is the real version of the party. On the right side where it says expectations is how he had wished the party had went. It really touched me because it lets you into a characters mind in a different way than I have ever seen before. It's more than them just talking, it's being able to see into their minds. This will always be one of my favorite movies, not just because of the story, but how the director made the movie so easy to follow and how you can really get to know the character in a different way.