AS Film: 2017

Badlands- 1973 - Terrence Malick

Key scenes:
Murder Scene:
Kit trespassing on the American Dream, he is out of place. The father comes between Kit and Holly showing he is the obstacle they have to overcome, related to Lovers on the Lam'. He is now above the father showing he has control. The lighting is blue around kit compared to the orange around the father showing that kit is cold hearted, this is also shown by Kit having a weapon when the father is weaponless. He then stands next to the fridge, reinstating this again. He is nonchalant about murdering someone showing he is a psychopath.

Wood Scene:
Kit and Holly are creating a treehouse in the woods, this shows their childishness and naivety. It is also filmed from a low angle showing that they feel on top of the world. When Kit and Holly are sleeping in the treehouse it is filmed panning to the right showing first Kit asleep and the Holly. Using this technique is a perfect way to show Kit and Holly's relationship and how they aren't as close as they say. Kit runs around the fields, shirtless with a gun giving reference to the Vietnam war that was going on at the time the film was made. Kit shoots the men in the back showing he is a coward and Holly doesn't really care showing she's cold hearted.

Rich House:
Invading the rich man's house and therefore invading on 'The American Dream'. They look out of place. Kit records his voice again showing their constant want for fame.

End:

Natural Born Killers - 1994 - Oliver Stone

Harry Brown - Michael Caine

D.I. Alice Frampton - Emily Mortimer

Leonard Attwell - David Bradley

Noel Winter - Plan B

D.S Terry Hicock - Charlie Creed-miles

Stretch - Sean Harris

Kenny - Joseph Gilgun

Harry Brown – Character

- Older people are shown as frail victims. Harry Brown breaks out of this stereotype. Younger people are shown as people who terrorize and live out a life of crime.

Harry Brown

- Harry Brown is first presented to us as a lonely character.

- Harry Brown lives a dull lifestyle. He lives out a routine lifestyle, with not much to do other than clean his house.

- The constant cleaning of his house shows him to be house proud. The importance of minute details is shown by the close up shots of crumbs Harry Brown sweeps away.

- HB has little company.

- He was reliant on Kat for company. The death of Kat meant he was truly alone and this just increases his loneliness. This is represented cinematically with the long shot of him alone in the ward after Kat’s death.

- HB’s friend, (Who was his only friend) dies, which completely isolates Harry Brown.

- With no friends or family, this “Nothing to lose” attitude may be the factor which causes HB to start his revolt against the teenagers.

- Harry Brown watches the car burglary from his window. He decides not to help, and instead physically hides behind the curtain. This highlights his frailty and fear, shows how he is physically unable to help, and the overall hopelessness of the situation.

- Harry Brown in the drug den is his closest interaction with the crime corruption in the younger generation.

- Harry Brown is noticeably shocked when he is inside the drug den. This is shown by the elongated shock of the needle injection. This highlights Harry Brown’s shock at this.

- Harry Brown has morals, unlike the younger generation portrayed in this film. He believes in helping the girl in the drug den, whilst Stretch believes in only using her for sex. This also brings in the theme of the difference and control between genders.

- Harry Brown is motivated by what is right, the younger generation are shown to be motivated by money and their own wellbeing.

- The plates become unclean and are sitting in the sink. Now Harry Brown has motivation and something to do, he is no longer stuck in his old routine.

- Harry Brown says he has many medals and was originally in the marines. This is respected and considered honourable by the detectives and his friend, but not so much (As far as we know) from the younger. This suggests that either the younger generation don’t have respect for honourable positions, or, that these previously considered respectable positions are no longer important in this new culture.

- HB is shown to be a very caring character. He isn’t particularly offended by insults to him, but is more hurt by insults towards people he knew. He, unlike the characters in Kidulthood, is very selfless rather than selfish.

- Killing is shown to mean a lot more to HB than for the teenagers in the film. When HB kills, he does it because of long-held values. He puts more deep thought into it and does it very rarely and only when he thinks it’s necessary. When the teenagers kill, they do it frequently and with little thought. They do not think about the long-term implications. HB does, as we see him spend a lot of time after his first murder cleaning up the evidence. The impact of going against his long-held beliefs is a stark contrast with the teenager’s lack of values.

- HB, as a person, has changed by the end of the film.

- HB is shown to be quite insightful. “You didn’t come here to talk about chess”.

- HB isn’t motivated by money. He gives the unconscious girl some of the money that he took from the drug dealer. The rest of ot goes to the church.

The Younger Generation

- The young teenagers are first presented to us as drug-taking and violent. This gives a negative impression straight from the start.

- The beginning of the film is filmed as though it was filmed through a mobile phone. This is a common way of distributing information in the technological world and specifically within the younger generation.

- The younger generation, like HB and the characters in Kidulthood, don’t have jobs, and do little in their day. They haven’t got enough to do, and this might be why they carry out crimes.

- The younger generation intentionally frighten the older generation.

- The gun seller doesn’t expect Harry Brown to want a gun, and is suspicious to his real intent. This shows that Harry Brown is going against common stereotypes and expectations of his generation, and he does this throughout the rest of the film.

- The teenagers shown have few morals and little empathy. They laugh when scaring the woman at the start of the film. They also show little respect for Leonard, whom they killed.

- Like Kidulthood, the reason for the behaviour of the younger generation may be to do with the fact that they have no positive role models. The uncle at the end of the film is violent, and gives little support to his nephew.

- Many of the characters in the younger generation are shown to take drugs. It could be that drugs cause the teens to be disobedient, or it is because they are disobedient that they do drugs.

Leonard

- Leonard admits he is scared of the teenagers.

- He says that he told the police, but they did nothing. This suggests that there is some corruption or lax attitude in the police in this film.

Alice

- Alice is in a typically male-dominated role. She is one of the few women we see in the film, and the other female we see in her line of work brings tea to the chief inspector. This other woman is instructed to do things; and isn’t really acknowledged or thanked by the male chief. The film revolves around the idea of male control over females. This can be seen in the disrespectful way one of the teens treats his girlfriend and Alice towards the end of the film.

- Alice’s main handicap is her emotions. She has empathy for HB, and warns the other inspector that he shouldn’t be disrespectful of HB.

Other Characters

- The receptionist at the hospital is unsporting to Harry Brown when Kat has died.

- The mother of the accused boy says “You’re always picking on him”. This suggests that the older generation has preconceptions about the younger generation.

- The police are generally shown in a negative way. Even though crime is obviously prominent on the estate, there is a general lack of alarm or urgency in the police force.

Harry Brown – Themes

- Crossing generations is a frequent theme in this film.

- The film is mainly different from Kidulthood as it is shown from the older generation’s perspective.

- Both generations are portrayed in this film, similar to Kidulthood. The characteristics of each generation are different. None of the younger generation are shown to be “Good” characters in Harry Brown, but some are in Kidulthood. In turn, hardly any of the older generation are shown to be “Good” characters in Kidulthood, but in Harry Brown, they mostly are, especially the much older characters. (Harry and Leonard)

- There is the underlying theme of Karma throughout the film. The teenagers on the bike at the beginning of the film scare the woman, and then crash. This theme continues as Harry Brown kills those that have led a life of crime.

- The film revolves around gender and masculine dominance. Alice in a male dominated job and struggles to be respected in it.

Harry Brown – Mise en Scene

- The beige and dull colouring inside the old people’s houses represents their dull lifestyle.

- Pathetic fallacy is used when Harry Brown learns about Kat’s death. It is raining, and this tells us as an audience that something bad has happened in the narrative.

- The underpass is Harry Brown’s underlying goal. The only time he believes it is safe to walk through is at the end of the film, when the teenagers are gone. The underpass reappears throughout the film, and is HB’s overall aim.

- HB lives in a dull cement building, similar to Kidulthood. HB lives a very dull and mediocre life, just like the building.

- Society, like HB, has changed by the end of the film. Children are playing on the estate, showing that it is now safe. HB also walks under the underpass. He now feels safe.

- The Hospital is generally shown to be a safe place in the film. The nurses are caring, and the lighting and colours are fairly warm.

- The end of the film, when “crime has been lowered”, it is sunny. It is one of the; (If not the only) time the sun has been out, and this represents that the estate is now a safer, warmer, kinder place. There is hope for the next generation.

AS Film

Tuesday, 28 March 2017

Manchester by the sea (2016) - US Independent

Monday, 13 March 2017

Natural Born Killers and Badlands

Sunday, 5 March 2017

Foreign Film - The Salesman- Case study

Thursday, 26 January 2017

Harry Brown

Thursday, 12 January 2017

Living with Crime

Tuesday, 3 January 2017

Aims and Context