Gilda

Gilda is a classic film about a man named Johnny Farrell, a gambler trying to make it big in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He meets a mysterious man who rescues him from getting robbed, and points him towards a nearby casino where he can showcase his skills of talented deceit. Johnny arrives at the casino, and is caught cheating by the casino owner who ends up being the man that saved him from being robbed, Ballin Mundson. Mundson sees something in Johnny, and recruits him to be his right hand man. The two men become inseparable, with Johnny gaining more and more responsibility as he continues to gain Mundson's trust, with Johnny eventually put in charge of the casino while Mundson is away. But the plot grows complicated after Mundson comes back, surprisingly with a new wife. This woman, Gilda, seems to have a mysterious air about her and something about her doesn't sit right with Johnny. The film goes on to uncover Gilda's mysterious past, and how her presence is now changing the relationship between Mundson and Johnnny.

I honestly liked this film, probably because it wasn't in the same film noir sub-group as The Maltese Falcon and Touch of Evil. There weren't many of the typical genre conventions of film noir within the plot of this film, other than Gilda as the femme fatale and the presence of money and the police, and the motif of the tortured, troubled relationship which adds to the buildup of suspense throughout the narrative. I thought that Gilda played the femme fatale quite well, and was more believable than any of the other female characters in the other examples of film noir that we've seen. Overall, I thought that Gilda wasn't the typical film noir pick but other than its long-winded plot, it was an enjoyable film to watch.

Chinatown

*SPOILER ALERT*

 

 Chinatown is a cleverly written and developed film-noir narrative about a private detective, J.J. Gittes who is hired by quite a few individuals to investigate events that have transpired in result of a dispute over the building of a dam in the Los Angeles area which would relieve the city and the surrounding areas from the drought that they are stuck in. Gittes meets a woman who claims to be Evelyn Mulwray, and hires him to follow her husband, Hollis Mulwray (the chief engineer for the Department of Water and Power) because she suspects him of having an affair. When Gittes begins to follow him, he discovers that Hollis has been visiting many reservoirs and dams in the middle of the night and they both discover that someone is responsible for dumping water into the ocean in the middle of the night even though the city is in the midst of a drought. After they both make this discovery and photos are printed of Hollis with a mystery woman, another woman comes to see Gittes and reveals to him that she is Mulwray's wife and that the woman who hired Gittes is an imposter. The real Mrs. Mulwray sues Gittens, but Gittens is determined to find out who really hired him to follow Hollis Mulwray. Gittes goes looking for Mulwray one afternoon at a nearby reservoir and finds the police there because Hollis has been discovered there dead. Gittes makes it his mission to find out who is responsible for dumping the water, who killed Hollis and who originally hired him in the first place. Gittes realizes that he is in the midst of a very dangerous investigation, and that everyone involved has secrets that they aren't willing to reveal and that no one is who they say they really are.

I really liked Chinatown, more than I thought I was going to after my reactions to the first two film-noirs that we watched. I thought that it was very well written and constructed, and although many of the genre conventions of film-noir were present throughout the narrative I was still kept guessing and held in suspense until the very end of the film. Yes, I could easily predict that the femme fatale, Mrs. Mulwray, was going to end up getting "involved" with the hero, Gittes. But I thought that the narrative flowed really well, and that humor, suspense, romance, and danger were all balanced in a way that made the film enjoyable to watch. I didn't want to fall asleep, and I was kept guessing until the end so for me this film was a good one.

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil is a film about a newly married couple, Susie and Mike Vargas, who are spending their honeymoon battling gang related crime while straddling the Mexico/U.S. border. Mike is a drug enforcement official, working for the Mexican government who is investigating the aftermath of a car explosion on the U.S. side of the border. Investigating alongside U.S. officials, Vargas realizes that something is not right out this investigation. A possible witness is charged with the murder of the couple inside the car when evidence is found inside a box in his bathroom, which Vargas had just knocked over and found nothing. His goal changes from finding who was responsible for the car bombing to who was responsible for planting the evidence to implicate this seemingly innocent man. Vargas’ wife Susie, has been patiently waiting by her husband’s side throughout this entire investigation. She gets lured to a hotel where she comes into contact with the Grande family, a gang who her husband is working to charge with illegal drug related activities. She is moved to another hotel in the middle of nowhere, only to again be apprehended by the Grande family and drugged, later to be accused of the murder of one of the U.S. officials. The rest of the film centers on Vargas and his ally within the U.S. government, Menzies, trying to find out who framed Susie and planted the evidence, and who is really responsible for all the violence and death that has taken place.

This film was distinctively a more unique representation of film noir. A lot of the typical genre conventions that are part of most film noir films were more difficult to define in Touch of Evil. There is the ever-present use of lighting to create the presence of good and evil, and to amplify the suspense of the narrative. The setting also played a big part in the creation of suspense within the narrative: Vargas getting acid thrown on him while in a dark alley, vacant hotels in the middle of nowhere, the emptiness of the town, everything portrayed to be dirty and run down. The structure and progression of the narrative was somewhat difficult to predict, and wasn’t as easy to identify and follow along with in comparison to other film noir’s. The character representations were also difficult to define. I thought it the beginning that Susie was going to be the heroine or the damsel in distress but it seemed like throughout the narrative, she was able to be identified as both. The protagonist and the antagonist were also not as easy to define. I thought that the police captain, Quinlan was going to be the hero of the narrative and it turned out that he was the exact opposite. Vargas was also not the only hero figure in the film, considering he had considerable help from Menzies in taking down Quinlan. Overall, I thought that this was a well made film and although I was completely confused at points I think that I would be able to appreciate Orson Welles’s narrative perspective more the second time around.

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is a film about a private detective named Sam who comes into contact with various individuals who want to enlist his help in order to find a jeweled falcon. Sam meets a beautiful woman who is searching for her missing sister, whom she thinks is involved with a man who is trying to hurt her. Sam helps her by sending his partner to follow the man, only to get news that both his partner and the man have been killed. Sam later finds out that the woman is not who she says she is, and that she is using him to get to the falcon. Sam is also approached by another man by the name of Cairo, who is willing to pay him $5000 to find the falcon for him. Sam finds out that he is being followed, and is taken at gunpoint to a man named Gutman who reveals to Sam the significance of the falcon and offers him $25,000 for it with the promise of some of the profit. The rest of the film centers around Sam trying to find the falcon, and sorting through the lies and the danger that is attached to it.

I thought that this was a pretty good movie. I thought that some parts were corny and unbelievable, like the "suspenseful" music that played during the change of scenes and the fact that Sam could take the guns away from just about anyone who was after him. There wasn't much physical action but instead, the action was provided through the dialogue and the interpersonal interactions throughout the film. It was slow at some points, and I think that they could have constructed the narrative in a way that gave more suspense and danger to the task of finding the falcon but overall I thought it was a good movie. I mean who couldn't like a movie with Humphrey Bogart playing the dapper hero detective!

Another look...The narrative styles of Casablanca, Daughters of the Dust, and Monsoon Wedding

After watching Casablanca, Daughters of the Dust and Monsoon Wedding, along with reading about the significance of film narrative, I can identify the differences between, and the deviations from, classical and alternative film narrative within these three films. Specifically, I am going to focus on the importance of the characters and the plot structure within these three films, and how they differ in terms of focus, importance, and construction within the classical narrative and the alternative narrative.

Casablanca is very much the perfect example of a film with a classical narrative. In terms of the emphasis and the development of the characters within the film, classical narrative "centers on one or more central characters who propel the plot with a cause-and-effect logic (whereby an action generates a reaction)" (Corrigan and White 2009). In Casablanca, Rick is the main character around whom the plot forms, and most of the story is told through his perspective (through an omniscient narration). Ilsa and Victor are introducted about a quarter of the way through the film and the narractive centers around the entaglement that these three are caught up in. There are other characters, like the piano player who knew Ilsa back in Paris and the German officials who are trying to keep Victor from leaving Casablanca, but they don't serve as any purpose other than supporting the actions of the three main characters. The cause-and-effect logic of the classical narrative is also evident within the film as well. As we find out more about the history that exists between Rick and Ilsa, that cause-and-effect logic becomes more evident. If Rick leaves Casablanca wth Ilsa to start a new life with her, she will have to leave Victor and always wonder if she should have stayed. But if Rick gives the exit visas to Victor and Ilsa, he will have to deal with losing Ilsa for a second time and never being able to see her again. The narrative resolves itself in a way that you can understand why Rick made the decision he did, and feel a sense of hope for Victor and Ilsa now that they are finally escaping Europe and getting the chance to make a new life in America.

The presentation and development of the characters within both Daughters of the Dust and Monsoon Wedding is far different from Casablanca, and aligns with the alternative film narrative. These films fit within the alternative narrative because, "Freed of the determining motivations of classical characters, the plots of alternative film narratives tend to break apart, omit links in a cause-and-effet logic, or proliferate plot lines well beyond the classical parallel plot" (Corrigan and White 2009).

In Daughters of the Dust, the film is narrated through the first-person by Eula and Eli's unborn daughter. The narrative focuses of the Peazant family, but there are many characters present within the narrative, and many different subplots taking place as well. The events within the narrative seem scattered and randomly placed, with no real relation to one another, other then to the apprehension regarding the looming move from Sea Island to the mainland. I found that because the narrative was unconventional and not linear like the classical narrative, I couldn't focus on what was going on during the film and didn't really come away with any feelings of resolution at the conclusion of the film. I felt as though a lot of the dialogues, perspectives and the significance of interactions between the characters were unclear to me, and that the narrative would have been more easily comprehended if I had more knowledge of the context that it was taking place in.

On the other hand, Monsoon Wedding also follows the alternative film narrative but also seemed to have some aspects of the classical narrative integrated within the film as well. The narrative focused on the importance of many different characters within the Verma family, and the many subplots present within the narrative were important to the development of the plot and in reaching a resolution at the conclusion of the film.While there was no real cause-and-effect logic within the narrative, I felt a sense of resolution at the end of the film: when the bride, Aditi, chooses to marry her suitor instead of continuing her illicit relationship with her married lover; when the wedding planner finally is able to tell the Verma's maid Alice that he is in love with her; when Ria, the brides cousin, exposes the family patriarch for sexually abusing her years ago, and so on. I felt as though the importance of these subplots and the characters within the narrative was a lot clearer than in Daughters of the Dust.

Overall, I feel as though I can identify and relate better to the classical film narrative of Casablanca because I like feeling the sense of resolution at the end of a film. But I can also identify with the alternative film narrative within Monsoon Wedding because it was a new way, for me, of watching a film and interacting with the narrative and the characters present within that narrative. I didn't care at all for Daughters of the Dust and how it depicted the alternative film narrative, but I can say that I would enjoy watching films from either style narrative and that I have developed more of an open mind and a wider scope of interest after watching and analyzing these three films.

Monsoon Wedding

Monsoon Wedding is a film about the multitude of problems that arise during a traditional Punjabi wedding in India. The story centers around a father, trying to plan an extravagant and expensive wedding for his only daughter to a man that she barely knows. He has arranged for her to marry this man, as is common in  Indian tradition, but she is in love with another man. Also common within the Indian tradition, the extended families of both the bride and groom come together for the wedding with a multi-day celebration. But with all of the Verma family for what most likely is the first time in a very long time, there comes a great deal of tension and conflict that adds to the stress of planning a great, big Indian wedding.

I loved watching this film, and found myself thouroughly entertained and captivated from start to finish. The planning of the wedding at the events that occured during the process were so real and I was able to relate to the feelings of heartache and pain and frustration that the characters were experiencing, and identify with the characters that the actors represented. Even though this was a Bollywood film and a portion of it was in subtitiles, I found that both the lingual and cultural barriers were very minimal. There were many subplots that were integrated into the main overall plot of the wedding, but the narrative was constructed in a way that wasn't confusing, but rather clear and cohesive. Overall, I thought this film was so interested and quite the change of pace from what we've been watching. After not liking the past couple films, watching Monsoon Wedding was a breath of fresh air.

Daughters of the Dust

Daughters of the Dust is a film about the Peazant family, a multi-generational African American family living in Ibo Landing on Sea Island, off the coast of South Carolina, and their difficult transition to a new life on the mainland. The film depicts the struggles that these Gullah women have gone through living on the island, and their apprehensions and expectations about their new lives. The plot centers around different relationships within the Peazant family and the tensions that are at play within those relationships. Eula Peazant, whose husband is Eli Peazant, is pregnant with a child as a result of being raped by a white man. Eula tries to protect Eli by refusing to tell him who raped her, but her secrecy only results in driving Eli crazy. Interestingly, most of the film is narrated from the perspective of their unborn daughter, who is shown randomly as a five or six year old girl throughout the film. Yellow Mary Peazant, Trula, and Viola Peazant have arrived back from the mainland, and are real life examples to the rest of the Peazant family about how their lives will change once they move to the mainland. Nana Peazant is the head matriarch of the Peazant family, and is against the family's move to the mainland and plans to stay in Ibo Landing on her own, alone with her longheld traditions and the remains of their ancestors.

I found it very difficult to follow this film, due to the native dialect used by the Peazant family and the unusual narrative style. I lost interest before the film was even halfway over. I tried to keep an open mind and was working to give this unconventional film a chance, but I couldn't engage with the plot or any of the characters. I thought the plot was scattered, and I also found it hard to understand what they were saying most of the time. I'm not sure what type of narrative style was used in this film, but I strongly disliked how it influenced and shaped the plot, progression, and the characters within the film.