Tommy’s Film Blog

I am split on the ending of No Country For Old Men. While it's the perfect conclusion to it's themes of morality, justice and changing of times; narratively it subverts all expectations of the western and thriller genres, as it denies the audience any of the resolution, closure and satisfaction any similar films that use genre tropes, such as a shootout, the case being solved, or in general, good prevailing over evil. The reason why this is such a good conclusion to the film thematically, is while there are characters who are closer to good than bad (Sheriff Ed Tom Bell), and vice versa (Anton Chigurh), the majority of the characters fall into a grey area, for example, the protagonist of the film, Llewelyn Moss. It would not make sense thematically to see such a conclusive ending, such as a shootout, when there is no clear distinction between "good" or "evil", every character falls somewhere in the middle. In fact, we see the character of Sheriff Bell, who i

What kind of narrative are you exploring? Enigma  Five Finger Pitch- Genre: Thriller Protagonist: Detective Goal: To solve a case by looking through clues, which become increasingly ambiguous, disturbing, strange and hard to piece together. The detective can visualise the crime that took place, based on what he knows about it. Obstacle:  The clues eventually reveal that he is more closely related to the case than he had originally thought. Why is it different/important?: It is a minimalistic story on a small scale that can cover a wide scope. Biggest short film influence: The Grandmother, Meshes of the Afternoon, La Jetee

 Meshes of the Afternoon is a surrealist film that is said to use "dream logic". It does this by presenting the strange events and imagery over the course of the film directly from the perspective of the protagonist, played by the director, Maya Deren herself. One way the film is presented through her perspective is through POV shots. An example of this is when she walks up the stairs into her bedroom early in the film. There are also many other shots featuring unorthodox camera angles and movement. One of the most notable examples of this is the opening shot of the film in which she picks up a flower. This shot is simultaneously a close-up of Deren's hand, as well as a tracking shot as it moves down to pick the flower up; whereas in most conventional films we would instead see a close-up of the flower instead. In fact, a close-up that is also a tracking shot is very rare and unconventional from a film. The unconventional and unorthodox nature of this shot is important, e

 Characters in traditional westerns, usually follow the hero/villain archetype. Usually the hero was a cowboy who was presented as brave, charismatic and strong, with no real moral faults, he would also be shown as clean cut and masculine. This is due to this being the typical, positive image of an American man, as this is what many American men will identify with and like to see themselves as. The villain, however, would be the pure antithesis of this. Unfortunately, many villains of classic westerns were often Native American, which also become a trope of westerns. In subgenres of westerns that were established later, such as the spaghetti western or the modern western, characters are usually a lot more morally grey, and often anonymous or mysterious, often reminiscent to characters from, the Film Noir genre, such as the famous "Man With No Name" from Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy. Other archetypical side characters that commonly feature in westerns include the damsel

 Being born- Birth in The Grandmother is depicted as people growing from the ground like a plant. The film also shows that people can also be born at any age, as when the boy is born he appears to be around 10, but when the grandmother is grown she is already elderly. Also, when the boy is born at the beginning of the film he is conceived by his parents in what is shown to be a violent and animalistic way, while the grandmother is simply planted and watered, also like a plant. This shows that while the birth of  humans is comparable to that of plants in The Grandmother, the rules are relatively inconsistent. Growing up- The Grandmother presents growing up in a negative way. This is due to the boy's abusive relationship with his parents throughout the film. The surrealism and darkness (both literally and metaphorically) are there to represent the boy's fear.  Trying to please your parents- As the boy's parents in The Grandmother are shown as abusive, trying to please his par

 In The Grandmother, Lynch addresses the real-world and serious issue of child abuse and neglect. He does this by presenting the family in the film as a typical dysfunctional family. For example, the two parents are rarely seen together, showing their relationship is most likely not particularly stable, therefore they take out their anger on their failing relationship on their son. It is unclear if the grandmother that the boy grows is a real being or simply a way to escape his own reality. Either way, both of these options are quite common in reality; many children from abusive households will use escapism and their imagination as a coping mechanism, many children will also have family members outside of their household that they turn to for support. The grandmother's true intentions remain ambiguous as well as they are left concealed. While, as the film is from the perspective of the boy, we see her portrayed in a positive light through the use of musical cues and her much more f