Three films that are amalgams of art forms - Movie Review Example

Three Films that are Amalgams of Art Forms Three famous films had etched an indelible mark of how the directors had approached the various themes oftheir story. These films are Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game and Roberto Rosellini's Rome-Open City. Citizen Kane is deemed to be the best American film ever made. Its main theme is the corruption of the American dream. It asks us to question the very premise of the American dream. The movie is a dream in itself, depicting prosperity and influence inevitably linked to the downfall of relationships and personal values. As "an archetype of film noir with an enormous influence on the development of that genre" (Carringer, p. 86), it is riddled with various film techniques reminiscent of other art forms such as realism, impressionism, expressionism, Baroque and realism. The film reminds visually of a newsprint which is especially appropriate in a film depicting semi-autobiography of a newspaper tycoon, using high-contrast black and white. The conflict-indicating quality of this film is often emulated in the choices of costumes. For instance, an older troubled Kane is always seen dressed in plain white shirts and black suits while those around him are clad in less contrasting grey clothes. This shows the way Kane's internal power struggle of the public versus the private man is fiercely pictured. With regards to lighting, Citizen Kane also bears the immensity of the film-serving a variety of functions such as setting the tone of scenes, foreshadowing the dying of idealism, delineating the effect of it to Kane's personality on a variety of characters. This quality of the film reminds us fully of Baroque art where light brings forth the drama in the scene. Comparing the depictions of Kane's early life, the quality of the light used was natural. "The crisp daylight style predominates in the parts dealing with Kane's rise to prominence, Here Kane is seen as a self-starter, an idealist, a reformer, a traditional type-the hope of the future embodied in a genuine American titan. By contrast, most of the harshly expressionistic scenes, compared to those filmed in low levels of illumination, involve the later part of Kane's story after he has become a petty and ruthless tyrant " (Carringer, p. 84) Xanadu, Kane's castle, is filmed at night time in the opening scene of the film. A lighted window and fog's illuminating effect provide the only means of articulating the structure of Xanadu. An impressionistic scene, it presents an eerie vista which depicts loneliness and isolation, prompting the audience a mood of uneasiness or sadness. In a rally scene in Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane is filmed in long-shot some distance and thus he is dwarfed-though standing in front of a vast poster reproduction of himself. The immense contrast between the actual man and the image once again illustrates the public man's emergence and the private man's demise. Kane's power over others is often underscored in scenes where he dominates the foreground while other characters are relegated to the middleground. Citizen Kane's occasional interplay of light and shadow builds the character of the film. An example of this occurs when Kane's face is shadowed as he signs his "Declaration of Principles" prior to printing it in his newly-organized newspaper. The film maker often depicted other characters literally in Kane's shadow so as to illustrate the enormous influence of Kane's personality-and the destructive quality of his presence (Sobochack, p. 73). Subject movements in Citizen Kane has to do with the use of the wide-angle lens, when Kane is filmed from a distance and yet is allowed to traverse that distance with a minimum of steps. Camera is often tilted in order to show entire scenes at a certain angle. A glaring symbolism that illustrates a world gone askew. When Kane takes over The Enquirer, the newspaper office is depicted at an angle in order to foreshadow Kane's subsequent loss of dignity and integrity. Susan's cluttered room is also shot at an angle; this employment of the device serves to further emphasize Susan's confusion and unhappiness. Art forms such as realism creates and suggests moods that can be found early in the film. An example of this happens when the reporter who attempted to uncover the man behind Kane's public facade enters Thatcher's forbidding library, the echoic sound of a metal door opening and closing is heard. This sound adds to the realism of the scene by projecting appropriate sound for a metal door. In terms of camera work and staging, Renoir was using deep focus, long before Orson Welles made it famous in Citizen Kane. In The Rules of the Game, it is the dominant style of the camera work, with the exception of the hunt sequence, in which montage is responsible for the effects. Renoir's camera not only records the shot in depth, but also moves with fluid elegance and accepts the in-frame movement of characters. This method of staging has the effect of encompassing the action within a singular, smooth, and rhythmic embrace: it is a visual gesture that links. In the hunt sequence in The Rules of the Game, the scenes build a logarithmic increment in meaning: first a shot of a bird flushed from a copse of birches, then a shot of a hunter swinging his rifle into position and firing; result: the hunter has killed the bird, his bullet has penetrated the animal; the animal has flown, or tried to fly, from impending death. Jean Renoir's movie is classified as a satire of the haute bourgeoisie on the eve of the Second World War. The depicted a selfish social world, oblivious to all but its arcane rules and strict proprieties. Christine de la Chesnaye (Nora Grgor) who tries to defy the rules, and Andr Jurieu (Roland Toutain), who cannot understand them, are martyred by their society (Sonnenberg, 5-6 February 2005). Most directors are consistent in their style and approach, although the best directors also develop as they move from one film to another. Familiarity with a director's general style can increase an appreciation of his cinematic techniques in the specific film being viewed. For example, a recognition of Renoir's tendency toward filming a scene in lengthy shots with a stable camera can make us more aware of this technique in The Rules of the Game. The same holds true for a director's favorite themes and symbols. On the other hand, Rosellini's Rome -- Open City introduced neorealism. It is a film of a bitter theme about the squalid and brutal last days of the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944. It was made almost concurrently with the events it depicts (events based, in fact, on true models, with which Rossellini had been acquainted). The skeleton of the film is a struggle to resist tyranny, but its flesh is much more. As much as it portrays heroism, so does it uncover squalor, and its method is unswervingly to depict the actuality of a great city and its peoples in all their tragedy, humor, ugliness, and confusion. The grandeur that was Rome is a special source of irony in that we see this bitter drama played out against the crumbling, war-torn remains of a civilization that stands for balance and order. The politics of Rome -- Open City are ultimately democratic (not least in its reconciliation of priest and worker). Its lesson is the centrality of experience, its method--as we have suggested--is to render truth pitilessly. It is a film that moves us toward the contemplation of new social arrangements; its cry of suffering and strength encourages its viewers. Moreover, Rossellini's film has a legendary history. Made on a shoestring with a budget so low that the director did not see rushes until shooting was nearly completed, it opened to unanimously unfavorable reviews at home but swept the world a few months afterward. It is a film whose poverty was turned into a virtue and a powerfully discernible style: elaborate studio interiors gave way to the squalor of Rome's street locations; lighting was often rough and crude, often restricted to what still photographers call available light; actors were recruited off the streets (to play alongside the music hall comedians Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizzi); and the documentary camera style was the dominant one. The audience was encouraged, by the force of this cinematic style, to experience the felt life of the characters and their environment. This film made the essential style of all of Italian neorealism after it (DeNitto & Herman, 1975, p. 432). The three film's richness in various art forms is courtesy of the directors Welles, Renoir and Rosellini, who all pioneered several visual effects in order to cheaply shoot things. Thus, their films subjected the audience to a multitude of feelings the way they interpret the visual delights offered by these films. Literature Cited Carringer, Robert L. The Making of Citizen Kane. CA: University of California Press, 1996. DeNitto, Dennis, and William Herman. Film and the Critical Eye. New York: Macmillan, 1975. Sobochack, Thomas and Sobochack, Vivian. An Introduction to Film. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1987. Sonnenberg, Ben. France at the End of the Devil's Decade, Renoir's Rules of the Games. Counterpunch Website. 13 December 2006. http://www.counterpunch.org/sonnenberg02052005.html Read More