Who needs a Director?

There have been some truly wonderful pieces of cinema which have been created on the spot in that moment in time. This I think is almost completely down to the actor having totally amerced themselves into the role. The only part the Director has to play is not to yell cut.

This is one example of an improvised moment on the big screen. It is from a wonderful film called Midnight Cowboy. This film had fantastic music, a great story but most importantly great acting. If you think of this film this is one of the moments you will properly remember and you would never have thought that it was improvised.



Another one of my favourite scenes from a film is a scene from On The Waterfront. Marlin Brando is walking through the park with Eva Marie Saint and she drops her glove by mistake. So naturally he picks it up but he decides to play with it and put it on his hand. This scene would have been completely different if he had just left it. By putting it on and playing with it in a way changes the point of the scene. It enhances the connection between the two actors and shows that he likes her. You would think that this would have been the direction the director had given.



The last scene I want to talk about is from Dr Zhivago. Hans Matheson has just come back from the war and Keira Knightley is bathing him. In the script she was just meant to bath him but she decides on the spot to climb into the bath. This is just another great example of how actors have the drive to do what is right for their character and the film. I could not find this clip on youtube but I have found a clip of Hans Matheson talking about the scene.



It is important to have great acting in a film and it is what separates the good films from the fantastic films. However you do need the good actor but you need a good character for that actor to play. If you think to Righteous Kill with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino it is pretty awful. You can not say that they are bad actors but you can say that their performances where not good. The reason there performances are not good is down to them not being able to challenges themselves within a role.

So to make your film fantastic you do need your great actors but they are just tools you need to let them work by giving them a part they can lose themselves in and then you will end up with wonderfully improvised scenes and powerful performances.

M*A*S*H

This film was just a bit odd. One of its major problems was that it did not have a point or plot. During this film I looked at my watch a lot which is a very bad sign. After about 45 minuets I just accepted the fact that this film was not going to have a central plot or point. It was really annoying to start to invest in a story line to have then just dropped and pick up some other line. I think this is why it worked very well as a TV show because you could just deal with one story and that was it. The film just felt like 4 episodes joined together but not very well.

Another thing that annoyed me was how dark all of the scenes were. Any of the scenes inside a tent were so dark you could only see one persons face and that was it. I do not like the fact that the film maker is telling me that I must watch this part of the frame. I want to let my eyes wonder and explore the depth.

Also I did not get the sense humour in this film. I will admit that I did laugh at a couple of bits but overall this is meant to be a dark comedy but it just was not. Again this proves that there is not point to this film it does not even make me laugh, it didn't really teach me anything about the war and just left me a bit annoyed.

I would not say that this was a not very good film to represent the 70s, it was the first film of the 70s but I would not think it in my mind one of the great 70s movies. It is so different to some of the other classics.

I do wonder why this film is on such a high pedestal. People do rate this film as being one of the great movies of all time. Could it be that I am just too young? I don't know but I can aspirate other films like Shampoo and the parallax view. The only thing that I can aspirate from this film though is the gore. I know that this was one of the first times you saw gore like this on the big screen.

So overall I would not recommend this film unless you want to see it just so you can tick it of your list of films to see.

Simpsons

I have watched the Simpsons since I can remember. I would say that this is one of the only TV shows that I have grown up with. I did watch shows like saved by the bell and other shows on Nickelodeon and Disney but this show has stayed with me right through all of them and I still enjoy watching old and new ones. I think that now when I watch old ones I get something different out of them than when I did when I was younger. There are loads of jokes that went right over my head when I was younger.

Another reason that I liked this show so much was because my Dad and brother both really liked it. It was something that we could all watch together and still do when we can. When I was younger I thought that this must be a cool show if my Dad enjoys it and now I know that he liked it for different reasons.

However I watched one of the latest episodes the other day and was unfortunately disappointed. It was just a bit flat, had nothing that special about it and I didn't laugh out once. I thought that maybe I had finally out grown this show and after so many years maybe they had just ran out of jokes but still being a big fan I did watch the next new episode. I am so glad that I am able to say that I loved it. It was still as good and funny as it had ever been and if not better. I love the Simpsons even more now because I get all of the 'Grown up' jokes and it relates current events in the news now.

The Street

I loved this TV show as soon as I watched it in class as did everyone. I have started to watch other episodes on TV. My sky planner is now filled with episodes waiting to be watched. I have never watched a TV show like this. I think the thing that makes this so different to any other show is that the story is so good. All of them are so clever and really make you think and put you right into the story.

My favourite episode so far has not been the one we saw in class but the one with the school teacher. The male teacher and family man goes for a jog in the park before his dinner. He goes into the bushes to relieve himself. A five year old girl is playing frisbee with her dad. She follows her frisbee into the bushes and sees the teacher. She screams and her dad runs over. The man assumes that he must be a flasher and the teachers life starts to fall apart around him. Nobody believes that he was just going to the toilet.

This episode was so horrible because we as an audience know that he is innocent and feel so sorry for him as his life crumbles. I don't want to give too much away and I think that you should definitely see this one. I really hope that there is another one as good as this one and hopefully better. Don't get me wrong other episodes are still very good. I can't wait to work my way through the rest.

Trainspotting

I totally loved this film witch I did not want to. Everyone always goes on about this film and how amazing it is. I thought that they were just people who thought that they knew about films and were just saying it to follow the crowd. However I was very impressed with this film. It did have some flaws such as the pase was a bit off during the middle but I was able to forget about them and totally immerse myself in this film. It had beautiful scenes and very clever camera work. The acting in it was superb. I love Robert Carlyle in anything I have seen him in and Ewan McGregor was also fantastic. McGregor was able to make us care about him and feel for him. It is easy to feel sorry for a junky to but really feel emotionally attached to one is very strange. There is a part in the film when Robert Carlyles character comes down to London to live with McGregors character Renton. This is just horrible and I felt my heart drop when it happened. You see Renton had got clean and moved down to London, got a job and was slowly making his way back into society but Begbie comes down and starts to reck this. I loved the way I could feel so many different emotions in this film. At the start I was disgusted and felt to be honest quite ill at some bits. Then suddenly I was thrown to feel something else like humour, hatred, sadness, horror, pity or happiness.

There is one moment when Renton has just emptied his bowls in a disgusting toilet and then has to fish through it to find some pills. This was just horrible but then he climbs into the toilet and disappears into it. This threw me completely. You go from saying that is so disgusting and wanting to be sick to saying wow that’s amazing I wonder how they did that. This really made me think about how films are meant to be like rollercoasters. The viewer wants to be taken on a ride and you should have different emotions thrown at them.

Watch this with the sound turned off. It is gross by the way.



Another thing that I thoroughly enjoyed about this film was the way that they spoke. I was not in any was junkie langue it was beautiful at some bits. I now understand why everyone has that chose life poster.

This was made on a low budget with people who had not really made a name for themselves yet. After watching it I thought that I could make a film like that would have the success that this did. We have talked about how the 'Keys to the Kingdom' were given to the likes of Scorsese and then just handed right back. Well I think that this film here proves that we can still make films now that have low budgets and make millions. This was made about fourteen years ago which is not that long ago but I now think it is about time that this was done again.