THE ONLY NARRATIVE FILM I WILL EVER BLOG ABOUT

Ladies and gentleman, as the title suggests this weeks blog post is treading into uncharted territory were none of my blog posts have dared to go before, yes I am talking about....

Also if you haven't seen the trailer yet, I am going to post it below this and then proceed to tell you why I am particularly excited for this film by using both examples from the soundtrack and visual that director, Mr. Rob Marshall has created. 

Below is the trailer....

 

This trailer is a prime example of the reason why I am so excited for this movie. If you study the visual style that Mr. Marshall employs throughout the film, it is meticulously and delicately articulate in such a way that might draw to comparisons to such masters of the visual world of film like Baz Lurhmann. Also, Mr. Marshall does something amazing as demonstrated in the clip below. I'll let you watch the clip before I tell you what it is.  

As you can see in the clip, Mr. Marshall is keenly aware that the action is stopped by Cinderella's song and that the song is functioning as an internal dialogue between what the character wants for herself. So what does Mr. Marshall do, he completely freezes the action around Cinderella in order to allow us to begin to get inside of what the character is thinking or feeling, something that the medium of film often eschews. It is this kind of genius thinking that has me hoping that this stage to screen adaption will be successful.  

Also, the soundtrack of the film is another appealing aspect of the movie. Above is the full version of On the Steps of the Palace as sung by the Anna Kendrick. The music and lyrics and film scoring are handled by one of arguably the most talented and beautiful composer for musical theatre Stephen Sondheim. And yet, even though not on the stage but rather the screen, the music still soars high, a true gem of any Sondheim musical if ever there was one. 

Because Mr. Marshall has adapted Chicago from the stage to the screen and done it very successfully I am beyond excited to see what he is going to do with Into the Woods. 

And so it is for these reasons that I say: INTO THE WOODS AND OUT OF THE WOODS AND HAPPY EVER AFTER!!!! 

Annie Inspired

As I got thinking about the project Haley, Hannah and I are working on, I got thinking to what other stories are similar so I could get some inspiration.  Thinking about the two characters that we have envisioned (a couple in the Prohibition Era getting themselves into trouble for selling alcohol, and stupidly turning in themselves for reward money), I immediately thought of a funny couple from the childhood classic Annie.  

Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis from Annie are a conniving, ridiculous couple who are trying to help Mrs.Hannigan get reward money.   (Gee, sound familiar?).  I just couldn't believe how similar these two characters are to the characters that Haley, Hannah and I have envisioned in our heads for this project.  They're silly and try to plot ridiculous schemes.  I think that we should definitely use Tim Curry and Bernadette Peter's interpretation of these characters to our advantage when we think about putting this project together.  Not to mention we could probably get a few costume ideas from this film as well.

Our project and Annie also take place around the same time period, the 1930's and Prohibition Era.  Again, I think watching this 1982 version of Annie will help us encompass a comedic interpretation of this era.  Annie is a movie that focuses on the light side of the Great Depression and 1930's, and puts a comedic twist to a time that wasn't so bright and happy.   Since that is the approach our group is going for, I think it would be a smart idea to study this movie.

So I think I'm going to pop in this version of Annie, as well as the 1999 television remake of Annie directed by Rob Marshall to help come up with a more solid idea for this project while I'm home on break.

Period/Cultural Films and Their Importance

After watching the videos from behind the scenes of The Curse of the Golden Flower, I was very curious to figure out if the lead actress (Li Gong) had been in Memoirs of a Geisha directed by Rob Marshall, which is one of my favorite movies. I was delighted to discover that she was in fact in that movie as Hatsumomo. I have to admit just from the behind the scenes look and the fact that Li Gong is in The Curse of the Golden Flower, makes me desperate to see this movie. I'm intrigued by how Professor Sinclair described director Yimou Zhang's filming style, so I have also added some of his other movies, such as The Road Home and Not One Less to my list as well. So, hopefully more on that in a later post soon.


Anyways, I think I've come to the realization that I love period pieces. In high school, I was the nerd in history class who would research period clothing for a class project, (I actually made a dress in the Ancient Greek style my sophomore year). I think they are not only important for historical perspectives and understandings, but sometimes they even help with cultural perspectives. Even movies that tell of specific events, such as civil wars, have a lot to tell.


 Last weekend, I saw Hotel Rwanda directed by Terry George. I had seen it once before, but the impact of that movie still hit me hard. The way it was filmed not only tells a horrific and inspiring story, but also instills a desire to go out and help people who are in such positions. I watched the movie in a group of twenty people or so, and the tension and sorrow that filled the room was almost palpable. I can't tell you how many people went online trying to find ways to help those who are in similar situations around the world and even maybe in our own country.

This made me think about the role of filmmakers and the media in general. We tell stories, yes. Some stories are just meant to make someone smile. Some are meant to scare the audience. Some are very tense. Yet, something that they all share (at least most of the time) is that they all give some kind of message. I think it is so important to have films like Hotel Rwanda and Memoirs of a Geisha. Yes, they are events that happened in the past, and yes, they are not always pleasant to see, but without these reminders, who's to say history won't repeat itself?

~Amber Capogrossi