Did you read the book?

During my senior year of high school, I cracked open a novel that never fails to inspire me.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safran Foer follows the story of three people- Oskar Schell, Thomas Schell, and Oskar's Grandmother down a heart wrenching tale about tragedy and grief.

If you've ever read the novel, you know that the book is narrated by three people (the people listed above) and tells three separate tales that all intertwine through the common theme of loss.  It is beautifully narrated, and Foer does an exceptional job of telling the story very poetically.  He separates words on the pages so you don't simply read from left to right.  He uses multiple illustrations and even flip book animation to create a visual aspect of the story which greatly impacts the way the story is told.  Needless to say, when I heard there was a movie coming out, I was very excited to see how this visually stimulating novel would look on the big screen.

I've seen the movie a few times since it came out in theaters in January 2012.  I think it was very well done, aesthetically.  The film was directed by Stephen Daldry who definitely captured the abstract poetic narration that Foer creates in the novel.  It was shot on an Arri Alexa (which sadly costs over $80,000 -- so those beauties won't be available in PPECS anytime soon) with angenieux optimo lenses.  This camera and lens combo creates a very sharp image with a beautiful depth of field and bright colors.  The clip below portrays the poetic narration and aesthetically pleasing shots that I've been ranting about this entire time... The overlapping of narration helps accent the poetry, too.

May I add- this boy was PERFECTLY cast. they found him randomly on an episode of Jeopardy.  They wanted a talented actor with a high level of knowledge to portray a borderline-autistic 10-year-old.  Well cast, indeed. 

But, of course, as most will say- this film no where NEAR compares to the compelling story told in the novel.  Not saying that the movie was bad, but there are two other compelling story lines told through Thomas Schell and Oskar's Grandmother that are barely even mentioned in the film.  Part of what made the book so amazing were these two stories and how they intertwined with Oskar's.  I guess I'm not upset with how the narration was adapted, but what they left out in this film.  

I recommend reading the book and seeing this film respectively.  

The Hunger Games (Movie)

The other day, I watched the move, The Hunger Games, with my friends.  I had read all the books and frankly, was in love with them.  I'd seen the movie before, but decided that this time, I would watch it from an analytical film perspective rather than judging it on how much different it was then the book because frankly, no movie can capture an entire book or book series perfectly as we've seen many times (Harry Potter, Twilight, ect.).

I loved the DIY approach that Gary Ross took when shooting the movie by having most of the movie shot "hand held" which most feature length blockbuster movies never do.  I noticed very quickly that whenever the scene was taking place in a high tense situation or an impoverished area, everything was shot hand held and the editing was extremely fast jump cuts and very bare bones from an editing perspective.  This puts the audience in a certain mood I could tell from watching it.  It became even more noticeable during the few scenes that were in the rich capitol where every shot was either a tripod, steady cam, or jib type shot with extremely smooth cutting from an editing stand point.  Everything was very refined and more typical of most blockbusters to show the wealth of the area they were in.

They way this movie was shot was very different in my opinion from most blockbuster type large budget movies and from that aspect, I thought the movie excelled.  They did a great job of capturing the "indie feel" that the book had been written in.  There also isn't a ton of music in the movie which I think is very important because most of the "districts" didn't have any organized music so it wouldn't make sense with the story.  The only songs were folk type songs which was cool because they were sung by the actors and no instrumentals.  It was very affective in that sense as well.

Overall, it was a well done movie in my personal opinion from a film perspective.  I enjoyed the indie look because that is personally the style that I am drawn to.

Tyler Chadwick