Double indemnity

"Straight down the line, all the way."

This ironic train reference sets the tone for this incredibly innovative movie of the film noir Genre.

Double Indemnity is the riveting tale of an insurance salesman, named Walter Neff, who ends up in a corrupt murder for accident insurance pay-offs and the girl of dreams, neither of which he got.

I believe that what makes this film so quintissentially noir is the character of Phillys Diedrichson. Throughout the entire movie, Phillys - as played by Barbara Stanwyck - emulates a feeling of double trust. To trust or not to trust? Her words sound meaningful and sincere, they speak of pain and love for Walter; while her eyes emit a feeling of deceit, of an inability to trust, and more than anything - an innate evilness. The Noir - darkness - of this film - more subtly than the dark rooms and dark plot - lies in the shadows of Stanwyck's character.

I found that the focus of this movie was in the emotions more than the plot. Stanwyck's femme fatale persona, Neff's naivity, or Keyes disappointment. Each of the actor emits a feeling of deceit and suspicion, and is expertly captured by Billy Wilder.

The bantinage was an important factor of the movie that was comically overlooked. It is because of Neff and Diedrichson's quick speaking that they are able to keep each other at an arms length - it unfortunately ends up being Neff's undoing...he should've gotten closer.

Darjeeling doody

I recently saw Wes Anderson's latest film, Darjeeling Limited, with two friends, who shan't be named. Anywho, as i do for most Wes movies, i loathed this piece of trash. Yet with the new cinematic eye that i am developing in Art of Film, i have been able to put into words why i despise anything that comes out of Mr. Anderson's putrid cameras.

It is his direction

Mr. Anderson has a tendency to make arbitrary mistakes with camera movements on purpose. This is a technique that i believe he thinks will allow for a more personal,intimate feeling, between the audience and the characters. I think that this is an unjustified, and therefore unintelligent, decision. The occupation of a director is story teller, they can ornament and edit to add aesthetic beauty or even opinionated statements; but, it is never the position of the director to act as a character. The director is supposed to be the fourth wall, a communicator, a medium for art. Not an extra opinion.

Wes Anderson's overly personal camera techniques ruin all of his films for me.


I hate your work Wes Anderson


I hate it

Set in late 80's early 90's brooklyn, "Do the Right Thing," gives an inside look at the boiling racial tensions on a blisteringly hot day in the borough. The reason why i truly loved this movie, is because it valued the thoughts of the viewer, constantly asking the audience quesitons. "Who was in the wrong in the end?" "Why can't we just get along?" "Is violence the answer to any problem?" Spike Lee is a great director in his ability to present a risque issue in an almost completely objective fashion. One could interepret his position in a million ways- he supports mookie in the end, he supports Sal, he supports violence, he hates violence.

From a cinematic angle, this movie was really a great success. Lee's use of canted angles, close-ups, and low and high angles fully show the passions that these people are experiencing living in these extreme conditions. What really enticed me was the scene where various characters are alone on the screen yelling racial slurs and the camera is zooming in on them. What surprised me about this point in the movie is that all of the rants were asides. These werent said directly to people, they were said to the camera - purposefully breaking the fourth wall. What made this an exelent cinematic choice is the bluntness: rather than have the viewer interepret characters' facial expressions, and subtelties, Spike Lee puts it right on the table how certain people feel about others.

Dramatically i was captured by Sal's character. A sad man who has undying faith in the people who he cooks for, ends up being the victim of a riot. It is like biting the hand that feeds you.....literally. The actor - Dan Aiello, who recieved an Oscar nomination for this role - really captured the sad rejection that Sal is experiencing. His performance moved me.

Another aspect that i thought was vital to this movie was Spike Lee's choices in music. Sticking with the theme of showing the vibrant culture of Brooklyn, Lee puts jazz, gospel, and soul music into this movie. What is interesting is that sometimes he puts it at moments where it makes the least sense. For instance: a sad gospel during a happy scene, an upbeat jazz piece during a time of morbidity. It was an interesting contrast that i dont completely understand, but i appreciate.

MMMMMMMMMMMM

This was certainly an enticing movie. However, althouth this does fall under the category of German expressionism which houses more extreme expansions of the mind in the cinematic sense, i found this to an exemplary movie based on its dramatic elements - mainly Peter Lorre's contribution.

Lorre did an outstanding presentation of the psychotic child murderer Hans Beckert. It is my sense that most actors during that era were of the method acting school. I find it hard to believe that Lorre acted like a child murderer for the months leading up to this movies produciton......which makes his performance all the more remarkable. The quick but detailed mental breakdown of Beckert is not best expressed through Lang's mastery of film - which should be mentioned, are present throught the movie and are not to be left out - but through Lorre's mastery of human emotion and psychology. It takes a true virtuoso to make an audience feel for a murderer - a child murderer at that, yet that is what Lorre is, a master of his craft.

I think the name of Lang's game is simplicity. This being his first sound-movie, i find it amzaing how seamlessly Lang integrated the sounds - diagetic and non - with the movie. It added intensity, fear, and captured the audience fully. Yet Lang did nothing huge, nothing ostentateous, nothing that would bring the word "expressionism," to most peoples' minds. Lang finds beauty and emotion through his actors, and through subtle backround indications of symbolism.

A great movie and an important step in the future of crime-dramas. I believed it to be a masterpiece. I give it four out of four replays.