Presentation outline-Kill Bill

Presentation outline: Kill Bill

I.                   Introduction of the film:

 

The movie revolves about the assassination and the ensuing desire for revenge of Uma Thurman who stars as the bride, a member assassin group called Divas; her group did not take it well when she decided to leave them because she got pregnant so they ambush her wedding rehearsal and try to kill her and her baby. Miraculously, the bride survives the bullet to the head and four years later wakes up from her coma and seeks revenge against her four assassins and their employer.

 

II.                Characteristics of the film that link to classic film noir

 

1.      Shots mostly in black and white

2.      Voice over narration (first person point of view of the protagonist)

3.      Typical noir protagonist who suffers from appalling abuse

4.      The presence of crime and violence (film of death)

 

III.             Updated elements from Classic Noir to Neo Noir

 

1.      Gender Reversal (female protagonist)

2.      Explicit language

3.      Gruesome scenes

4.      Different locations (United States, Japan and Mexico)

5.      Different ethnic group (Japanese, Chinese, half nationalities)

6.      The movie adapt different culture  (language, samurai and kung fu)

7.      Special Effects (Animation)

Source one:

Kill Bill has an element of voice over narration and series of flashbacks which according to Brian Snee in his article “Soft-Boiled Cinema: Joel and Ethan Coens’ Neo-Classical Neo-Noirs” are ways of inviting character0viewer identification, it is “usually provided by the morally conflicted character at the center of the story, which allowed protagonist to speak to viewers mush as they had to readers. Coupled with other devices-like flashbacks, point of view shots, dream and hallucination sequences” in which the viewer sees what a character is thinking. On this movies, the narration is coming from the first person point of view of the female protagonist, her story is told through series of flashback that shows in black and white to emphasize events that happened in the past. Through her narration, we get to know the bride, we build a connection, we recognize her circumstances and we sympathize with her.

Source two:

            Kill Bill is a renovation of classic noir to blend in in today’s newest film style. Dennis Harvey talks about the new neo noir movies’ borrowed idea from the classical retro noir in his article “Neo-noir Films Transcend Style” he states that “good film making is always about reinventing convention, taking the familiar and making it strange” and that’s exactly what the author (Quentin Tarantino) did on this movie, he cleverly updated and added new elements on the film without losing the genre’s primary idea, from the setting of the movies, adaptation to other cultures and vulgarity of the images and the language, this movie is nothing like classic noir movie but sustains the idea of crime and violence and the story of the troubled protagonist.

 

 

Blog Entry # 8

First Assignment: Option one

Jim and Nick are the protagonists on the neo noir short stories “The Kidnapper Bell” and “The City of Commerce”. Both men possess the quality of a troubled man and they found themselves in a distorted situation. Jim got involve on a kidnapping, see two dead people and save a girl who escape from him and all because of a girl, on the other hand Nick find himself in the arms of Russian gangs who wants their money back and the trouble is all because of his gambling problems. Both characters are very aware of the situation and they have the chance to run away from it as soon as the trouble started but they didn’t, instead they keep moving forward and getting along with the flow of the dark world they already in,. They create their own problems, and they allow themselves to be drag in the criminal behavior. Just like Jim who can just call 911 about the dead body he found under the bridge and Nick who can turn around and go home after his first win at the casino. These two protagonists are also driven by a woman, Jim’s date is consider as a femme fatale and Karen I would say is the good girl one. If only Jim didn’t listen to her and Nick did the opposite, it would be a whole different story, but once again it’s another example of protagonists who let other character manipulate them.

Second Assignment:

I will choose “The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones” as the best example of Noir. The story has the two main characters of Noir, which are the protagonist and femme fatale.  Tate is the protagonist who falls under the spell of the gorgeous woman name Cherrie-the femme fatale. Tate think that he would hit the third base with Cherrie but little did he knows she wants his help to cover up a crime , in the end Cherrie is trying to kill him for insisting to be her accomplice. I really like reading this story. I picture everything in my head, the Burberry shop they work at, Tate, Gary’s mansion, the sexuality and the actions. I was smiling the whole time especially at the part where Cherrie is holding a gun and trying to control the situation, a man who thought he reach the heaven (sex) is now in hell and all helpless. Cherrie’s character possess a strong quality of a femme fatale, one who uses her sexuality to seduce her pray is exactly what she does with Tate and all other people around her. She’s also a psycho in the head and she reminds of Phyllis when she pulls that trigger in attempt to kill Tate. All in all it was a good read, there’s the element of crime, the sense of danger, sexuality, the setting and the characters of noir.

            The one that would be hard to classify as Noir is “Kinship” I like the main idea of the story, it revolves around family, not mentioning that I am very familiar of the places and how it is over there on the said country. There is gangs involve and the idea of revenge but I kind of thought that it is a little more of a drama, I feel bad/sad towards Emerson and the part where Tomas describe his relationship with Emerson is a bit dramatic for a Noir. How he used to be a gang banger and now he serve the church and help troubled kids overcome life’s hardship. I also thought that it was the first time that a religion is involve or the protagonist is a religious person and talks about God so much. Usually whenever I read or watch noir story I automatically feel the sense of danger or the thrill but not on this story, I sympathize more on Emerson and his situation. There’s a lot of emotions involve and it has the same response coming from me as a reader, I got emotional and thought how great it would be to have an uncle like Tomas. There some parts where I feel it is noir, the scene where he’s looking for his ice peak and the ending where he finally stuck him, other than that it is an action but more of a drama kind of story. 

 

Blog Entry # 7 (Option no. 2)

On the short stories “The Method” and “Morocco Junction 90210” the narrations are made from the first person point of view of the female characters who also happen to be the protagonist of the story. The narration is done by sequence with no use of flashback and just focusing on the current moment, I also thought that both women are very descriptive about everything and also find time to introduce themselves to the audience. The “Morocco Junction” is different from “The Method” involvement wise, because Minerva is narrating a story from another character, I am actually a bit confuse if she is really the protagonist and what really is her main topic on that narration, the place? The people? The job? Or Eloise? Or the whole Beverly Hills and everything about it. She talks about everything that at some point when I was reading it I thought that she is talking too much or talking to herself too much but I only get that feeling since there is not much dialogue involve.  While on “The Method”, Holly is the protagonist and the story actually revolves around her.

I know most of us like the stories, majority is women, it’s because we can relate to them. The narration has a lot of emotions involve and that’s not a surprise coming from a woman’s point of view. We sympathize along with Minerva about the tragic ending of Eloise and we witness how Holly’s love for Richard turns in to hatred. It is more effective to choose a girl as a protagonist because every one of us especially woman, suffer from gender discrimination. We are all aware of that even in the 40’s and that is why they created the idea of femme fatale. We have that idea in our head that women only play certain roles and obey rules in man’s world so if we put character like Holly it gives us more fatalistic effect and double the danger as compare when a man does it. “Yeah I was going to go far. Right to fucking prison…He sure as hell wasn’t thinking of me, walking away in handcuffs…To think I’d imagined he was really hot for me, wanted me. He hadn’t even seen me. He’d been fucking me and thinking of her... Now he’d see how special I was” (117) who would have thought that a simple girl, an aspiring actress and part time waitress would do such thing only because her heart got played and broken by a guy? Scary isn’t. A real work of noir indeed. Although we know that she commits a crime and kills him we still find ourselves rooting on her side thinking that Richard deserves it but once again, narrators controls and manipulate the audience, we did not even get the chance to know Richard’s side of the story, only Minerva and Mariah, and since Minerva is female the idea of being a victim works on her very well.

 As for the “Morocco Conjunction 90210” the quality of noir reflects on the tragic suicide ending of Eloise, her nightmare became reality when her illegitimate son died and her “precious” jewelries got stolen, the climax reach at the end of the story and I like how there is so much going on and a lot of revelations right after the story ends. The reason why she kill herself, her annual reunion, her college school, she sold all her fancy jewelry to raise her son she put up for adoption, a son that probably doesn’t know who she was, and now that her jewelry got stolen she chose to kill herself than deal with the public humiliation and destroy her family’s great reputation. Beverly Hills, the place itself is what driven her to kill herself. Aside from losing her son, her choice to commit a suicide for a plain and not so important reason is what evil for me, but I guess some people love their images more than their life.  Other than the suicide, I can’t define it as a work of noir, if you take Eloise’s suicide off the story, it will look just like a blog about Beverly Hills or just a journalist covering the glitz and glamour of that place.

Blog Entry # 6 (Neo noir from Classic Noir)

I only read few paragraphs on the article and the short story “Dangerous days” from Los Angeles Noir, so I am going to base my respond on that. First of all, Double Indemnity is the very first film noir I have ever seen or read. Everything that I know about noir is based on that movie/novel. As I was reading the article I learned that noir can also be horror, thrillers and science fiction. The article talks about a lot of movies I have no idea about but it seems to me that noir has a very broad categories, like how the article describe it, it is very stylish  and that’s where neo noir fall into that category an example of that is dangerous days. When I was reading it, first thing I notice is the use of words. It’s all gangsters up and very informal, I found it vulgar and offensive compare to classic noir like double indemnity where the words are more decent and picked carefully. I also notice that the settings on this novel are everywhere, an abandon house, a hotel, a parking lot but every place gives us a dangerous feeling that focus on the situation whereas double indemnity focus on the dark side area and emphasize the character’s emotions. The characters are quite a lot on this neo noir story too, and every one of them are mention by name and has a little bit of introduction even though that’s the first and last time were going to see from them, unlike double indemnity, every characters are important and plays a big role in the story. The femme fatale does not really play an important role to neo noir she cannot destroy the protagonist as much as she can on classic noir. Dangerous days is told from a third person view meaning each character is referred to as “she” or “he” “it or “they” balancing our judgment towards the characters, because we are basically hearing or knowing a story from someone who is not involve unlike classic noir like double indemnity and sunset boulevard, they have first view person and both of them are from the protagonist point of view, on sunset boulevard it was a series of flash back and a dead person is narrating it so it gives us an unrealistic idea. I also think that neo noir is in no need of psychological analysis from the audience, kind of like what you is what you get, as compare to classic noir where there’s always a subliminal message on everything that even a “moon” can dictates how the ending will go. That being said and compared, neo noir is derived and evolved from classic noir, that’s why it’s called neo noir or new black because it fits on today’s society, it’s aggressive, gruesome and full of actions. The new genre explores on life’s possible threats and danger, from everyone and every place so for me it’s more realistic and scary. Classic noir is more mellow, conservative and innocent. This transition has something to do with the constant change in our society. Both is still similar when it comes to crime that revolves around death, danger and that fatalistic effect to the audience, they just have a different way of expressing it. I personally like classic noir because it is less violent for me and more on emotions getting involve.

Blog entry # 5

On his film review “Dvd Playback” written by Kenneth Sweeney about Double Indemnity he claims that Double Indemnity represents the most perfect example of the film noir-thriller on the 1940’s, he based it on the cinematography worked by John Seitz, together with the directors Hans Drier and Hal Periera, they created a landscape of stark contrasts, dark corners and multi layered shadows. Although this is not the first film noir of its kind, a lot of people consider the visual texture of Double Indemnity to be the hallmark of the genre; he also talks about the setting of the film that makes the movie more effective. Sweeney stated that the “consistent use of sharply contrasting lighting, sparely decorated locations, bold shafts of light diffused through window blinds or cigarette smoke, and a generally expressive, darker slant on the proceedings was a stark departure from the highly saturated look that characterized the growing number of color films at the time”. I agree with the author because the setting itself speaks for the movie and it has an impact to the audience. Seitz use monochromatic schematic with a nearly infinite gray scale that fits and heightens the tension of the dark narration made by Walter Neff. The gray scale looks very pleasing that mirrors what the film looked like in the 1940’s. The cinematography and the settings are effective enough for the film to be nominated in an Academy Award and became an inspiration to other film of Noir. Sweeney also mentioned about the speech delivered in the beginning of the film by Robert Osborne which he thinks very unnecessary among with the commentaries that tend to be repetitive. This article focuses more on the settings and I couldn’t agree more with Sweeney, the movie cover all the visual elements to make it as a work of noir, like the low-key lighting, most of the scenes are shot with this to give emphasize to the evilness especially on the scene where Walter is at his office confessing about the crime he just did, the movie also used a lot of low angle shots to show power especially with the femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson and also the sharp focus every time their showing her face as a sign of her hardness or brittleness. I also learned that they did a television remake but Sweeney described it as laughable and jaw dropping dull. I wonder why he felt that way on a television version, I would think that it will be better because there is more than enough time to explore the movie more in depths and I also wonder if it has a different ending like the novel and the film. According to Sweeney 60 years after its first release the movie die down and lost its slick and black hearted charm. Nevertheless Double Indemnity is regarded by many as the first true film noir, with its dark tone visually and thematically that is brilliantly done and express through lighting and set up.

Blog enrty # 4. (Questions # 1 & 5)

1.         Discuss the contrasts between the endings of the novel and the film.  Which ending seems more appropriate for film noir?  Why?

The ending of the story Double Indemnity on the book and on the film has two different ideas and set up. On the film, Phyllis shot Walter at her house, he came closer and dare her to do it again on a closer range but she did not, she confess her love to him instead but he shot her in reply to that. I think this ending is more appropriate for a film noir because there is more actions and death involve, it is more darker and evil, just because the audience thinks that Phyllis deserve to die. It is even better because Walter kill her himself, the guy who killed for her and the one she manipulated like a puppet. Walter executed the revenge for all the people she killed. The book on the other hand, seems too dramatic for me for a work of noir. The ending where they’re at the boat and she started to talk about marrying him, and Walter thinking about all the people she killed, after all they have been through it is kind of disappointing for them to just give up and commit a suicide. Not only that the ending leaves us a lot of questions and keeps us hanging there but I also thought that they end it in a boring way.

 5.        During the title sequence, a man on crutches hobbles towards the camera.  Explain the significance of this image.  Who in the story does this man represent?  Why would this be an appropriate image to show at the beginning of the film?  How does this sequence anticipate later developments in the film?

            A man wearing a suit and a fedora hat with his crutches both represents Mr. Dietrichson and Walter Neff. I think the significance of that image dictates the fate of Walter Neff. Walter impersonates Dietrichson by wearing the same clothes he did and pretending he is on the same situation like him. He killed him not knowing that his life will be in danger as well. The image is dark and we can’t really see who he is, if you have not read the book and it’s your first time to watch the movie, it will lead you with so many questions and not until the end of the movie will it make sense to you. I also want to emphasize the crutches; I think it’s a sign of weakness, especially of Walter, crutches are for support and in Walter case it suggest that he does not have a full power of himself. The fact that he got manipulated and controlled by a girl and actually kill for her shows his weak will as a man. He is like a boy who received a candy (kiss) from her and willing to do everything after that. I also notice that the man is walking towards the camera; I thought of it like as if he is welcoming his death, he is slowly sinking and he’s aware of that, he knows his doomed so might as well face all the consequences.

 

 

Blog entry # 3 (Detective Keyes)

One of the characteristic of film noir is that there is usually crimes involve, and when there’s a crime, it only takes couple characters to write an effective story, the killer, victim a witness and the detective. We already know that the killers in the story Double Indemnity are Walter and Phyllis, and the victims are Mr. Nirdlinger, Lola, Lola’s mother, Sachetti and the three kids murdered by our femme fatal. Murder is a problem, often times a mystery and when there’s a problem, we look for solutions or find answers.

In this story, Mr. Keyes assumes the role of a hard-boiled detective. He works at the company for a long period of time and he knows everything about it, he is someone who is hard to fool when it comes to the business because he handled million of them and he’s aware that people are willing to kill for money, not only that he is knowledgeable about the company but what makes him a good detective is his personality “He’s big and fat and peevish, and on top of that he’s a theorist, and it makes your head ache to be around him, but he’s the best claim man on the coast, and he was the one I was afraid of” (56) He is suitable on this role because he’s  a very curious guy like how Walter described him he is a theorist. He assumes everything and wants to know everything, I don’t think it’s about the money or the company anymore but he just want to uncover the truth behind Mr. Nirdlinger’s death. He study and analyze every possible things that happened in the accident and surprisingly got most of them right, He is certain that it is a murder and not suicide; he knows how a criminal like Walter thinks. He looks beyond the situation or facts that are presented. He even figured out that Mr. Nirdlinger was never on the train, that he has to get rid of that guy Jackson, Keyes know that no one would really recognize the Nirdlinger because it’s dark and he’s wearing an eye glass, just like how Walter thought about it. Another quality of Keyes that made him a detective type is that he is persistent ,the argument he had with Mr. Norton whether it’s a suicide or not shows how hard headed he is “…All right he wants to wait her out, make her sue-that suits me. He’s going to cover the dead man, find out what he can about why he may be committed suicide. That suits me; I am going to cover her” (67). Keyes truly play the detective role well because he scared Walter and that’s the reason why he thought of killing Phyllis, he knows Phyllis can turn him in, at that time Walter knows Keyes got him.

            Keyes character is pretty obvious, we already know he is the major detective in this story but I also thought Sachetti made his little share of curiosity. Unlike Keyes, Sachetti did everything secretly, I think he did a pretty good job; he played it safe by sleeping with his enemy. He’s investigating about the death of his father and the murder of the 3 kids. He pretends that he likes Phyllis so he can be closer to her but he didn’t expect that he will fall in love with Lola, I actually like that idea, I think he is the only person who played Phyllis and manipulated her in some way.

           

Blog Entry # 2 (Double Indemnity p. 3-70)

Double Indemnity is a masterpiece of its own, I have not read any book about noir and this one gives me a better understanding about the concept. “Nightmarish, weird, erotic, ambivalent and cruel” is how Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton described noir on their article “Towards a Definition of Film Noir”. Double Indemnity falls perfectly under this category and I will base that on two things, one is the plot and second is the characters.

            Borde and Chaumeton state that “it is the presence of crimes which gives film noir its most constant characteristics…Few cycles in the entire history of film have put together in seven or eight years such a mix of foul play and murder” indeed, this are all present in this story. A foul play and a murder that is brilliantly plan in a span of six weeks by two people (Walter and Phyllis) all because of money and the idea of love that they thought they have. The murder is plan carefully and with accuracy, from the place, the materials and the people, a program of a stage accident designed to kill a man is what they created and studied for weeks. The evil course of actions takes place on a car and the railroad; it was described in full details. It is like a living nightmare reading this book; I feel the darkness, the danger, the suspense and the fear of the characters, Like I’m part of it, a main witness hiding on the bushes watching the murder, shaking to death and scared to get caught.
           
            The other element of noir that this story has is the characters. “He is often enough masochistic, even self-immolating, one who makes his own trouble…At times he is a passive hero who allows himself to be dragged across the line into the gray area between legal and criminal behavior” is how Borde and Chaumeton described the characteristic of the protagonist. It is played well by Mr. Walter Huff; an insurance agent fell in love with his client’s wife. The mastermind of everything, the reason for killing is love and money. He planned everything on his own without knowing that he is being played and manipulated by the sweet and lovely femme fatal in the character of Phyllis. In agreement with Borde and Chaumeton “femme fatal is fatal to herself, frustrated and deviant, half predator, and half prey, detached yet ensnared. She falls victim to her own traps” Her first attack is the night he invited him over when their maid is off, a little kiss is how their team up started.  It was his idea and she goes along with him, I know there something odd about her, by playing innocent, she follows him too much and let him do all the dirty work. She has him around his neck controlled like a puppet without him knowing it, blinded by his emotions and interest to her is the power she has over him. She is very dangerous in a way that no one can see it, everything is an act, it is her own show, directed by her, produce and written by Walter but all the credits goes to her.

            The last aspect that can determine that this story is indeed a work of noir is because it is a crime from within. The author did a good job on touring us inside the mind of a criminal like Walter, how it works, why he does it and how he does it. To be able to see what a criminal see and feel how he feels gives me chill, it is the ghastly side of life and this story illustrate a fatalistic interpretation of a reality. So there is no doubt that Double Indemnity is classify as a work associated with film noir.

Neo Noir

     "New Black", from the Greek word neo, new; and the French word means black. Perhaps, film noir is dramatically developed and improved since this dark films came out between the early 1940's and the late 1950's. It was unrecognized and unappreciated kind of films because of it's scary themes and its dark visualization, especially when people became aware of this after world war II. I would think that after great depression, the last thing we would love to see is a dark movie that involves killing and characterized by conflicted antiheroes. According to David Ansen and Tara Weingarten from their article "The Neo Noir 90's" teenagers are not interested on this movie at all and stated that the only audience who enjoys film noirs "are directors,film students,critics and the most ardent,generally upscale film enthusiast" (Ansen and Weingarten). Despite of it's unique theme, noir films made their own name and reputation and constantly improving until it became into a lifestyle on it's own. From low budgeted movies and mostly independent films, they spend millions of dollars to pull through such doomy and dangerous movies. They also become a television shows, tons of them watched by billions of people, whether its about serial killers, crime scene investigation or just a psycho murdering bad people (Dexter) you would be amaze how many of us actually enjoy the thrill and evilness we get from this movie. Not only that noir is something we watch but eventually became part of our culture, a clothing line, a brand, fashion shows, advertisement, all derived from this classic movie.I have a perfume from victoria's secret name Noir tease, the color, the style and the smell. It's a beauty.I personally like it, the idea of the film, the darkness and mysteriousness it brings to the audience.