Post #8- Films for Film Class

The three movies I found the most compelling over this semester were "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest", "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and "Pan's Labyrinth". Three additional movies I think every one should see, film student or not, are "The Princess Bride", "The Fire Within", and "The Big Lebowski".

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is so compelling and a brilliently written character driven piece. It is an exploration of the human condition and asks difficult questions about why we do what we do and why we are here. How do we want to spend our time living? It is brilliently acted and filmed with some beautiful shot work. I am glad I was able to revisit it this semester.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is such a unique artistic film. It focuses on our internal struggle of being and teaches us not to take our bodies and our lives for granted. The phsycial camera work and unique shots are just as groundbreaking as the subject matter. The camera had never been used in quite that way before and it stands to teach all movie enthusiasts about the heights that are possible in film.

Pan's Laybryinth is perhaps a guilty favorite of mine. I enjoy this movie so much and revel in its visual splendor every time I see it. I personally indentify with the childhood themes and fantasy but this film also reaches new levels in the use of makeup, set design, and computer generated methods used in film.

The Princess Bride is one of my most favorite films. The writing is what sets this film apart from all others. The incredibly rythmic and hilariously complex voice of each of the characters is amazing. I can hardly ever get tired of watching this film and listening to its amazing dialogue.

The Fire Within is a lesser known film directed by French director Louis Malle. A beautiful exploration of a suicidal individual filmed in 1963 Paris. This is a beautiful example of French new wave and has an almost flm noire quality. It evokes beautiful if depressing French style.

The Big Lebowsky is, if asked, my favorite film, a very tough designation for me. Amazing writing, amazing characters, amazing shots, amazing music. Perhaps I'm biased due to my Los Angeles lifestyle and familiarity with the location of the film but every one should see this film.

Thanks so much for a great semester.

Mark Romanek: Never Let Me Go Interviewed on The Treatment

The guest I listened to on The Treatment was Mark Romanek. He is the director of the recent film "Never Let Me Go", starring Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley. Mark Romanek has directed many high profile music videos in the past as well as the critically acclaimed "One Hour Photo". The Treatment episode aired on October 6, 2010.

I was drawn to this interview with Mak Romanek because I recently watched the film "Never Let Me Go" and was struck by its beauty and minimalism but also troubled by its approach to the subject matter. Mark goes into the reasons behind his minimalist visual style used in the film as well as some of the meaning behind the characters actions and acceptance of their tragic fate. The film is an adaptation of the book of the same title written by Kazuo Ishiguro. I was surprised to learn that reasons behind the strange sort of acceptance of the characters' doomed fate is a theme expressed in the book and has to do with an acceptance of faith and dogma. It is a very Japanese sensibility that sadness and loneliness is a necessary element of life.

"Never Let Me Go" is a film about three childhood friends who grow up in a strange British boarding school and deal with a love triangle through to adulthood. We soon learn a secret, that these three, and many others, are parentless children "grown" to be organ donors for the rest of society. They are doomed to undergo "donation" after "donation" until they "complete" (ie die). Mark describes the film as “an examination of how they [our three character] deal with that secret.” How they deal with that secret is really what troubled me about the film. All three characters simply accept their fate, and despite their feelings for each other and their unhappiness with their existence, they still simply resign themselves to it. They never once try to escape it or refuse to do what is requested of them. I had a very hard time understanding why the characters react this way when watching the film.

Ultimately, the characters seem to be passive to the demands society has put on them despite being relegated to sub-human status. Society believes them to be soulless guinea pigs to be used and discarded. Mark explains this reaction partially by stating “strength is what makes their actions not passive.” I don’t entirely understand what this means but I do see that the characters seem to understand their calling in life and meet it head on without question or hesitation. While they express a quiet, if overly civil, strength, they also appear to be emotionally stunted in the area of anger however. We know they are capable of emotion apparently the same as any human being, but never rebel against the system, even when it means giving up the love of your life.

Mark goes on to describe the characters reaction as “adherence to dogma, adherence to beliefs that leads to a tragic result.” I assume this means our characters are brought up from birth to never question their role and to consider themselves special. The characters belief in what they are doing for society is apparently what drives them on to do so. But I find it incredible human behavior that Carey Mulligan’s character realizes how much she loves her childhood friend Tommy and wants a life with him, and she sees her contemporaries, including her childhood friend Ruth, suffer and die as they undergo multiple operations until death, she never stops and says no, I will not do this. Perhaps adherence to faith is an alien concept to me but it is my belief that these children “grown” for this purpose are not entirely human considering their reaction to their involuntary fate.


I really appreciated Mark Romanek’s thoughts on this film and the reasons for his approach. I learned a lot about the themes of the story and the adaptation of the film from the book. I was stunned by the beauty of the film “Never Let Me Go” and believe it is a great accomplishment by this young director. I didn’t buy all of the elements of this deep examination of the human condition and human emotion but it is an important viewpoint. I am glad movies like this are being made and I hope to see more films from this talented director.