'The Artist' review

In 2011, Michel Hazanavicius directed and wrote a black-and-white, silent, French film. The Artist is about the relationship of a silent film actor and an inspiring actress, as the transition from silent films to "talkies" becomes very difficult and unsuccessful for the silent film actor, as his partner becomes more popular than him and he is forgotten.

The film has some similarities to the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is about the beginning and end of a relationship as a couple has their memories erased of each other. In a scene in The Artist, Valentin and Peppy are dancing in a scene for one of his upcoming films. Although Peppy is only an extra, their chemistry is very clear to read. Towards the end of the film, when Valentin’s career is failing and he settles into a depression, his house catches on fire after he drunkenly lights a match onto his old films. However, when he is rescued from the fire, he is holding tightly onto a nitrate film. It is later revealed to be the film of him and Peppy dancing together for the first time.

In that scene of The Artist, it compares to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind because the main character, Joel tries to hold on to important memories of his girlfriend Clementine, even as he is having them erased. The idea of holding on to the past is a popular theme in both films. For Joel, he does it out of love, but for Valentin, it is because he is desperate and has nothing else. He is not familiar with talking films, so at the end, he is later forced to join the fad. Both films show that one cannot go back and change the past, but they can move on with their future. This is also a good example of nostalgia, as Joel and Valentin reminisce their past and it makes them feel more secured and in love, but with the nostalgia, there is always the presence of the future lurking around.

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' review

Our memories makes us who we are. You can't change the past.

In one of Jim Carrey’s greatest films, he portrays a heartbroken, shy guy who has just learned that his girlfriend had her memory erased of him in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In the 2004 film directed by Michel Gondry, the nonlinear story of a couple’s relationship and its downfall depicts loss, memory, desire and heartache. One of the quotes from the film that I think represents Eternal is, “I already forget how I used to feel about you.” This line could be from Joel (Jim Carrey) as he decides to get his memory erased of his girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), on an impulse. During the process, he relives his memories of Clementine and realizes that he does not want to let go off her yet because even through the bad, there was a lot of good.

Memory is very important in the film as it is used as a device. Memory is used as a device because many characters in the film use it for manipulation, self-pain, and something to hold on to/regress on. In Joel and Clementine’s relationship, memory is used as something to hurt each other and to also love each other with. By hurting, Joel uses his old memories of Clementine to hurt her, like her being a cheater or really promiscuous. As payback, Clementine has Joel erased from her memory. When Joel tries to have the same procedure done, during it, he regrets her after remembering all of the love there was.

The director manipulates the viewer's’ sight by making Joel and Clementine’s interactions appear to be fading away every time they are together, like memories. Also, because the memories are from Joel’s point-of-view, they could also be what he thinks his relationship was like, and that the real Clementine might not actually be how he remembered her as. During one scene, where Joel whispers, “this is the last time I saw you” as Clementine is walking around the apartment, gathering her things to leave. She is in one spot and a different one at another time, which shows that the memory is gone very quickly. It leaves Joel with a sense of panic and desperateness and he tries to stop her from leaving.

Overall, as one of my favorite films, it is a great example of a love story that is unconventional. Clementine is a vibrant, seductive, outgoing woman, while Joel is more introverted and soft-spoken. The two of them together makes the audience think that perhaps Clementine and Joel did a good thing with having their memory erased of each other. However, after seeing Joel’s memories of their relationship, changes the viewer’s mind because you can see that Joel truly loved Clementine and their relationship just had some bumps in it like every other one.

'Mulholland Drive' review

If you don’t know who David Lynch is, stop reading now and google him.

David Lynch directed and wrote the 2001 film Mulholland Drive (or Mulholland Dr.) after already having success with his previous films, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and the Twin Peaks television series. For the film Mulholland Drive, it was originally set to be a spin-off based on one of his characters from Twin Peaks. However, executives decided against it. Lynch’s style is very artistically different from most creators. The film’s meaning has been left up for various interpretations, even the cast has no clue what the film truly meant.

Mulholland Drive is about a woman, who after being in a car accident, is left with no memory. In order to figure out what happened to her, she joins forces with an inspiring actress. It’s really difficult to explain the plot of the film because there is so much going on all at once. There is a subplot, a cowboy, a mysterious blue box and doppelgangers? What? In order to explain the film, I have to discuss the dream aspect of the film. The film, in my opinion, is a dream. The aspiring actress, Betty, falls into a deep sleep (not completely sure if it is drug-induced or not) and she embarks on a journey in her dream, in which everything is sort of perfect for her. She has an amazing audition and begins a relationship with the amnesiac, Rita. However, when “Betty” wakes up from her slumber, reality is kicked in and she is actually “Diane” and her lover in her dream is actually her ex-girlfriend, Camilla. Diane is an actress, but not as successful as her ex, Camilla, who has a relationship with her but then later dumps her for her bigshot director, Adam. Diane, who put out a hit on Camilla, because she is angry with her, has to deal with the consequences of her action. Camilla, who is now dead, makes Diane feel completely distraught and because she cannot deal with her actions and the guilt overwhelms her, it leads to her suicide.

The film does an excellent job at exploring identity through the form of doubles. Betty is the ideal version that Diane wants to be and everyone else in her dream state is who she prefers them to be. She manipulates this in her dream and becomes so involved in it, that she nearly loses herself. This is very similar to Lynch’s other film, Inland Empire. The overall message that I believe that Lynch is trying to offer is that as much as you try to change the past or make yourself the perfect version that you want, perfection is not real. He exposes the sad part of relationships and Hollywood. Hollywood can change someone and make them better or worse. It requires good morals and strength in order to stay true to yourself. Diane was unable to face her fears and guilt, which led to her breakdown.

'The 400 Blows' review

“The 400 Blows” is a black and white 1959 film by Francois Truffaut, about adolescence and how a child’s life and the decisions that they make can affect it. The child, Antoine Doinel, begins the film by getting in trouble with his school teacher and is punished. When he goes home, his life and behavior there is not better than it is at school. His behavior becomes so reckless, that his parents eventually send him to a juvenile detention, which he later escapes and runs away from.

Although the film does not have an exact, straight-to-the-point plot, it is like looking at a photo album. The viewer is allowed glimpses into the life of a young boy, who appears to be a troublemaker and disobedient, though we do not know why he commits the things he does. These short flickers of his life are not all bad, but there are some nice, peaceful moments that Doinel experiences. When he and his classmate skip school and run around Paris, they are happy with each other and fear nothing. In that moment, they are children. Truffaut captures their adventures as small boys who are sometimes naughty, but are still naive. Their playful adventure gave them a sense of innocence that the viewer might have thought did not exist, because of what trouble they caused earlier in the film. Their innocence and fun is broken when Doinel sees his mother being romantic with another man. They are both caught in their misconduct and their innocence is lost.

The only true time that Doinel regains a bit of his innocence is when his father brings him to the police station and he spends the night there. He is behind bars and locked up, left behind by his parents and he is faced to accept his misdemeanors. The moment is quiet when he rolls up a cigarette in his jail cell. Scenes that are silent or lack a lot of sound have much more meaning than others, because silence says so much. In the juvenile detention, when he escapes and comes to a stop at the ocean, it is not only quiet but he is alone. A major theme in the film is alienation, in which the main character, Doinel, is alone mostly towards the end of the film. He tends to have a friend to assist him with everything throughout the film, so he is not alone, but he is lonely. It is him against everyone else, specifically adult, older figures in his life. They tell him what to do and how to behave, but like a scratch he cannot help but itch, he has to do something drastic to defy them. These adult figures are obstacles that stand in his way, and he can usually get past them, but it is until he reaches the ocean at the end of the film, that he is unable to get past this obstacle, or border. He is lost again, as he looks at the camera in a freeze-frame shot, perhaps, asking for help.

A photo album allows for someone to know what is going on in the picture, but they cannot understand what is going on behind it. Doinel might have avoided his childhood in order to try to grow up too quickly. He did things that many young children would not do. However, because he is easily persuaded, he tries to be a good son and student to be in good spirits with his family and school. He tries to be a child again, but when it backfires, he goes back to being mischievous. When innocence is lost, it is hard to find again, and at most times refuses to come out of its hiding spot.

'Psycho' (1960) review

Janet Leigh is the Leonardo Dicaprio of “Not Winning Awards for Great Roles”... Not including his win for The Revenant, but you know what I mean. After watching Psycho for the first time in my life, yes, I know… crazy, I took notice that Janet Leigh, who plays Marion Crane, is indeed the main character of the film. However, when I discovered that Leigh was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in her role as Crane, I could only pay attention to the “supporting” part.

Leigh’s Marion Crane should be considered the main character in the film, above Norman Bates. This is due to the fact that her character begins the film and is the sole focus on everyone’s mind. There would be no plot, if Crane did not have a relationship with a man that has debt and want to steal money from her boss to help support him. Crane carries the audience through a journey that ends in her death, but her name remains on the lips of the people that search for her.

The only other character that could be considered the main character of the film, is Norman Bates’ mother, Norma. Although Norma is not alive in the film, her son takes over her identity. Without Norma, there would be no motive or murders. Norman blames his mother for almost everything, talks about her, and even becomes her by the end of the film. Norma becomes the character that is rarely seen, yet holds so much authority over other characters. It is her, or Norman’s imitation of his mother, voice that the audience hears constantly and in the voice-over at the end of the film. The focus is either on Marion Crane or Norma Bates, which goes to show that they are the main characters.

In Psycho, everyone remembers Norman Bates and the iconic shower scene with Marion Crane. However, that scene could not be executed without the subject: Marion. What many viewers have to remember is that the film is about a woman, Marion Crane, who steals money in order to help out her boyfriend. If someone, like me, were to watch the film for the first time, they would be surprised to see that there is way more to the story than a crazy guy dressing up as his mother and killing people who stay in his motel. The story actually follows Marion and the last few days of her life and how she tries really hard to conceal her identity from a suspicious police man and support her boyfriend. The story does not end with her death, but continues when her boyfriend, sister and a private investigator attempt to find her. Even though Janet Leigh will go down in history for portraying a character that is killed off within the first thirty minutes; she will forever be the main character.

'Rear Window' review

Is it ethical for a man to watch people outside his apartment window with binoculars?

This is a question that is asked in the 1954 film Rear Window, as director, Alfred Hitchcock peeps into the lives of the people living in neighboring apartments through the eyes of a photographer, Jeff, who is restricted in a wheelchair after an accident that leaves him with a broken leg. Jeff spends his time watching his neighbors through his rear window with his large camera lens as he is confined to a wheelchair. He surveys his neighbors as they go on with their daily routines. He witnesses one of his neighbors commit some suspicious behavior regarding his wife and it leads him to believe that his neighbor might have something to do with the disappearance of his wife.

Voyeurism is a major theme in the film, however, I like to believe that it is somewhat close to “rubbernecking” as to what Jeff is doing in the film. With “voyeurism,” Jeff is enjoying the act of watching others, even if they are experiencing pain or happy, sometimes sexual feelings or activities. When Jeff watches “Miss Lonelyhearts“ she is alone, sad and later tries to commit suicide, though Jeff makes the call to the police to send help to her, he is distracted and sends the police to save his girlfriend, Lisa, instead. When watching “Miss Torso” it is constantly when she is undressing or with other men. The film makes the statement with voyeurism that, like rubbernecking, it is hard to look away from something very intriguing, whether it be dangerous, erotic, or miserable.

Rear Window is film majorly through the lens of the binoculars or Jeff’s camera to add to the voyeuristic, “Peeping Tom” vibe to the film. Everything is seen through another lense, not just Jeff’s eyes. The audience is invading someone else’s life and the film suggests that there are good and bad outcomes from this. When “people watching” one can either help or hurt someone. In this case, it worked in the favor of Jeff, who not only put a murderer away in jail, but came to his senses that he belongs with Lisa and can find true love. Although all of this ended in not one, but two broken legs, the film makes note that voyeurism might appear innocent, but there are always consequences to the actions one makes.

Rubbernecking allows the driver to see what might have caused the accident, but it only creates traffic.

'Shutter Island' review

“Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?”

-Teddy Daniels

In the 2010 film Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, it tells the entrancing, yet also very confusing story of a deputy marshal who travels to the titular island to find a deranged woman who escaped the facility, while also trying to find the man that caused a fire, that killed his wife.

The film consists of many flashbacks to Teddy Daniel’s experience during World War II, his wife Dolores, hallucinations of dead children and memories of events that affects Teddy in a drastic way. Shutter Island shares many qualities with another film noir, Memento, that was released only 10 years prior. They both deal with a main character who tries to repress memories that involve the death of their wife. One of the main things that the film is controversial for, is the ending and how it is interpreted. I might be echoing a lot of things that other people have already mentioned in their own analysis, but I have my own theory of what really happened at the end.

Although the end of Shutter Island is open-ended and does not immediately reveal what really happens and if Teddy is mentally ill and imagining everything or are the men that work there and everyone else against him? When the audience has their first glance at Teddy, he is in a bathroom on a boat, and is sea sick. He looks at the mirror in front of him and tells himself to get over it and to calm down. It becomes quite obvious at this point that something about water, not sea sickness, is the main factor that bothers him. He explains to his new partner, Chuck Aule, that being on the sea felt like it was surrounding him and suffocating him. The mirror scene reminds me so much of another famous Martin Scorsese film… any guesses? Taxi Driver. Actually, Scorsese uses this motif in almost every single one of his films (watch them and you’ll see).

When Scorsese uses the motif of the main character talking to himself in the mirror, it usually means that he is trying to connect with reality or make sure that he is there. This idea of a moment being real and fictional is played out often in his films because in Taxi Driver, Travis talks to himself, making it appear that he is a tough guy, even though he isn’t. He uses the persona of someone else to keep him at ease, which is exactly what Teddy is doing in Shutter Island. A line that the lead psychiatrist, Dr. John Cawley says in the film is “Sanity's not a choice, Marshall. You can't just choose to get over it” which goes along with how Teddy is dealing with his situation.

At the end, it is determined that Teddy is actually Andrew Laeddis, the man who he claimed killed his wife in a fire. However Teddy is the one who killed his wife, by shooting her after she drowned and killed their children. There are many other things that are revealed to the audience, and let me be clear: they make sense. Though, what bothers me are the unanswered questions. Such as, what is real and what are memories? Teddy is publicly known to be an unreliable character at the end, because of the revelation that he is mentally ill and projected his inner feelings onto someone else and create a lie about how his wife was killed. Though, with Memento, I pity the main character and am on “his side” in Shutter Island. Both Leonard and Teddy kill their wives and project the experience onto someone else, because they are unable to come to terms with what they have done. They both love their wives so much and they did what they had to do, but it does not mean that they enjoyed it, because it took a major toll on them and it brought them to a never-ending cycle where they are hopeless and are desperately trying to make themselves sane. George Noyce, another patient at the asylum, whom Teddy knows from a previous work related situation, confronts him and tells him something that the audience most likely overlooked because George was the one in the mental institution and not Teddy, who was the one investigating, “This is a game. All of this is for you. You're not investigating anything. You're a fucking rat in a maze.” When this line is said and it is connected to everything Teddy is told at the conclusion, it becomes known that he is not really trying to find anything, but he is trying to forget something and bury it deep in his mind.

So when Teddy appears to “relapse” and I write that in quotation marks, because I personally believe that he is finally at a stage in which he knows that he is mentally ill and that he knows everything that is going on; he comes to the realization that he is done pretending. Teddy retreating back to his old ways, allows him to commit suicide (in a way), even though he knows what is real, he cannot truly accept the fact that he killed his wife. The look he gives Chuck Aule, is a strange one, when he says, “Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?” indicates that he knows what is happening, and that he is okay with it. He is okay with dying, as a clueless, sad man who lost his wife, who is a good man… instead of dying as a monster who killed his wife and did not save his children from being murdered by their mother because he was a drunk. He is also the same man that may or may not have killed thousands of people in the second World War.

There are some instances in which the audience is not sure if it is “just my own imagination” or was it an editing error? The audience, like in Taxi Driver and Memento, are experiencing everything through the main character, so when things happen out of the blue, it seems out of place. Such as, when Teddy arrives on the island and the security guards are very on edge and intense, because a madwoman is on the loose, though when they are later shown, they appear to be bored and just sitting around. No one gives Teddy a straight answer or seem to be very interested in finding the missing patient. When Teddy interviews a patient, she reaches out for a glass of water, and there is nothing there. However, when she is shown again, the glass appears in her hand as she sets it down. I’m not sure if it was an editing mistake or something wrong with the continuity, but when it comes to Martin Scorsese and his films, nothing done without a reason. This editing technique shows that Teddy might not be functioning correctly and that he is already off balance with reality. He is already seeing hallucinations, so this plays along with that idea as well.

What Martin Scorsese perfects, once again, in Shutter Island is the use of motifs. However, his frequent use of characters talking to themselves will only set me off, the next time I watch another one of his films. I will now, forever, connect that image with the character having a split personality or fearing reality. Much like his other films, Teddy exits the movie as a hero. Though, how he becomes a hero is questionable.

Shutter Island

Shot Her Island

'Memento' review

“We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are.”

Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) says this line in the 2000 film Memento directed by Christopher Nolan. In the film, a man who suffers from anterograde amnesia goes on a mission to find the man that raped and killed his wife. The only things that he remembers, is his life before the accident and his wife. The idea for Memento came from Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonathan, who wrote a short story called “Memento Mori” about a man who has short term memory and uses polaroids and tattoos to help him figure out who raped and killed his wife, which is much like the film.

When watching the film for the first time, it is obviously very confusing. There are two different things going on: the scenes that are in black and white are in chronological order (but is in the past) and the scenes that are in color are in reverse order (but is in the present). After watching Memento, I read an article “Everything You Wanted to Know About ‘Memento’” by a film critic, Andy Klein, who dissected everything in the film and made it so much easier to understand. He basically created a way to watch the film in its right order. He explained that when watching the movie, to watch the black and white scenes in  chronological order, but to list every scene 1 through 21. However, there is a “special” scene at the end of the film, where it starts off in black and white, but transitions into color; this specific scene would be 22/A. Then, the color scenes would have to be watched in reverse order, or backwards, and those scenes would be B through V. In all, the complete order of how the film would be viewed, in a chronological order, would be:
1, 2, 3 ,4 ,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22/A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V.

One of the main themes for the film is memory. The entire film consists of the idea of whether or not Leonard, the main character, is searching for the right man who killed his wife or not. For starters, Leonard is an unreliable narrator because of his short term memory, the audience is unable to determine if his memories and his flashbacks are real or if they are fabricated. What is clever about this film is that the director, Christopher Nolan, has a man who is damaged and his short term memory is his weakness. Leonard is easily deceived by people who learn of his “condition” and they use it to their advantage, like Natalie, who has him kill her boyfriend’s drug dealer boss. Natalie and her manipulative ways definitely makes her the film’s femme fatale because she seduces Leonard and makes him trust her, only for her to use him in the end and have him kill someone for her. There are other film noir characteristics that fit with other characters, like Teddy, who resembles a rogue cop. The audience does not find out that Teddy is a cop and is the one who Leonard has been giving information to one the phone, until towards the end of the film. Teddy is taking advantage of Leonard as well, he helped him find the guy who got away from the assault, but because Leonard does not remember, he uses him to kill other men and collects money from them. This leaves Leonard… who is he? I came to the conclusion that Leonard is a homme fatale, because he is an attractive man, who is going through a rough time in his life and he can’t make any sense of what is really going on, but he is very determined and sticks to his mission.

The use of voice-over is an important device in the film as well because there are also two different types of it. For the black and white scenes, Leonard’s voice-over is more like him being interviewed, which in many cases, he already is because of the phone call that he has. The audience and Leonard are unaware, until the end of the film, of who is on the other line. The voice-over for the color scenes are more investigative, because he is trying to figure things out in his mind, as they are happening. His voice-over is his inner thoughts. The color scenes are probably my favorite ones, because the audience is just as clueless as Leonard is and we are both trying to figure out what is happening and we both get frustrated when he forgets. What Leonard knows, is what the viewers know.

The ending of the film might come as a shock for many people, but there are little clues throughout the film. One of the major clues is the “Remember Sammy Jankis” tattoo on his hand. This was most likely a way for Leonard to remember who he really is, the person that reminds him most of himself. He created Sammy to repress his guilt over accidentally killing his wife. Not only is Leonard being used by people in the film, but he, himself, is using a fictional person to carry the weight of his issue.

When Leonard remarks, “We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are” I believe that this means that he needs to be reminded of who he is, because he doesn’t really know himself. When Teddy asks him if he knows who he (Leonard) is, he goes on to recite real facts, but Teddy wants him to know “what he has become” which is something that Leonard will not know, and probably will never know. He is on a never-ending tunnel that leads him to kill men with the name John G. and his mission to avenge his wife’s death, becomes meaningless.

One of the last lines that Leonard says at the end of the film is, “Do I lie to myself to make myself happy?” It is one of my favorite quotes because it is something that I think everyone can relate to. The line itself is pitiful and makes the viewer feel somewhat bad for Leonard, but then you remember all the things he’s done, and you don’t feel so bad anymore. He can’t help that he has a condition and this bothers him. So when he finally learns the truth, he chooses to ignore it, because at this point in his life, he is not living his life for himself but for his dead wife. His only goal is to repeatedly get vengeance. This connects with everyone else in the world, because with little things such as makeup and cosmetics, help women feel confident and beautiful. We make up excuses and lies to help us with daily life situations. Is it a good thing? No. Though we choose to do it anyway.

'Blue Velvet' Review

Imagine this: Sauntering to the melodic, haunting voice of Lana Del Rey’s cover of “Blue Velvet”. Tiptoeing through a fog of red light, into the mysterious… psychedelic… disturbing world of David Lynch. Do not walk, but run.

David Lynch is notably known for his cult classic television show, Twin Peaks, which only lasted two seasons (but is returning soon at high demand). He directed many neo-noir films such as Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet. He tends to use violence in his work, but transforms it into an esoteric, or surreal visual.

In Blue Velvet, a young man Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) comes home after his father becomes ill. He finds a detached ear in a field and he decides to work with the town detective's daughter Sandy Williams (Laura Dern) to figure out what happened. The ear guides Beaumont on an investigation, which leads him to a sensual, mysterious nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a group of psychotic men who have taken her child. Beaumont tries his very best to solve the mystery and help the woman, but is also caught in her situation. It is difficult for him to part ways, when he is deeply attracted to her.

In the film, it opens up with the title sequence, against a blue velvet background and haunting, spine-tingling instrumental music. It cuts to the soothing song “Blue Velvet”, which is the film’s theme song. The viewer sees red roses, a man smiling and waving on an electrical plant truck, accompanied by his dog. It later transitions to yellow tulips, children crossing the street heading to school, and then a house with a man watering his lawn. The music continues as the scene cuts back and forth between a woman inside the house watching a mystery film and the man watering his lawn, who suddenly has a stroke. A dog and a baby approach the man as he lays on the ground, struggling for help. Then the music becomes creepy and eerie as a close up of the grass follows a pile of bugs.

Cut to the end of the film, where a similar sequence happens. In this case, Jeffrey, Sandy and her mother are in the Williams’ kitchen looking at a bird sitting on the windowsill with a bug in its beak. Sandy asks, “It’s a strange world, isn’t it?” with no one answering her. The beginning sequence of the film is repeated, however it is shown in reverse order: yellow tulips, man with dog on passing truck, red roses… and finally a little boy running towards Dorothy, who is reunited with her son. The look on her face indicates that she is finally at ease and happy to be with her son, but there is also a sad look to it. The film closes with the last line from “Blue Velvet”, echoing “And I can still see Blue Velvet through my tears”. Which could mean that although Dorothy is safe and with her son, she still has the painful memories of the events that occurred.

I believe the film opened like it did to show in almost a sarcastic way how at peace and cheerful the town looked, but little do the residents know that there are ominous events happening. Not everyone is happy, or every situation is good, and the beginning shows this. The ending is just a repeat in reverse form but altered because it actually is a happy ending, though it raises eyebrows in which, “Is everything really okay? Is David Lynch just messing with us again? Will Jeffrey find another ear?” these are questions that some might ask, but they are unnecessary because at the end, it closed without having any loose ends.

'Blade Runner' Review

In the dystopian science fiction film noir Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott, based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, tells about human-made robots called “replicants” that look visibly identical to humans and are used by the Tyrell Corporation for hard labor. The replicants rebelling on Earth are searched for and “retired” (killed) by police operatives called “Blade Runners”. In the film, the replicants were genetically made to be emotionless androids that hold no empathy for others, but they appear to be compassionate, whereas humans in contrast appear rude and lack humanity. Thus, asking the question, “What does it mean to be human?”
In order to identify replicants from humans, they are given a test called "Voight-Kampff". Their empathy toward things is tested through their response to certain questions. Tyrell’s assistant, Rachael is an experimental replicant, but she believes she is human. Rachael’s mind is full of memories from her past. However, when Blade Runner, Deckard, tells her bluntly that her memories were inserted into her brain from a real human; she shows true emotion by crying. Though, she is forced to go through a more advanced version of the "Voight-Kampff" to check if she’s a replicant for sure. Rachael is depicted as a femme fatale replicant. She saves Deckard from being killed, but her relationship with him is depicted as dominated by Deckard.

The leader and most dangerous of the group of rebelling replicants was presented as Roy, who appeared to hold human, yet animalistic characteristics. When Roy manipulates genetic designer, J.F. Sebastian to get to his “creator” Tyrell to try to convince him to expand his 4-year lifespan, and is rejected, he kisses then kills his creator. While doing so, he seems to express regret when he kills Tyrell.
The epic battle towards the end of the film between Roy and Deckard exposed Roy’s animalistic side when he searches for a beaten Deckard and howls at the ceiling. When Deckard is falling off a building and is near death, a dying Roy saves him in time and tells him about all the things he has done and all the things he has seen and utters his last words: “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. Time… to die”. Roy releases a dove, which could be represented as his soul or in Biblical images such as Noah’s Flood. Roy’s behavior towards the end of his life showed how compassionate and humanistic a very powerful replicant can be. As for the humans shown in the film, they were characterized as cold people. As Zhora, a rebel replicant, was being “retired”, the human population was oblivious of the event. They held their power over their creations by forcing them into being “mega-manufacturers”.
Blade Runner creates the idea that replicants are harsh, unsympathetic androids when in reality, they are compassionate with each other and show concern. Humans are revealed to be cold and lack humanity, while replicants’ humanity was shown many times, when a replicant would save a human’s life. The question “What does it mean to be human?” is not quite answered when the film adds that Deckard might be in fact, a replicant. Although, a replicant’s past and memories are inserted into their minds and come from a human’s; it is still possible for a human and replicant to have the same memories. But the question remains uncertain… until the sequel is released in October of 2017.

Movie Review Recommendations!

Hey readers!

Because I have a busy schedule with balancing school and the blog, I don't have enough time to actually go to the movie theater. That's why I'm asking for movie review recommendations! I will watch the movie if I haven't seen it already. If I have seen the movie, I'll still review it! I enjoy sharing my thoughts on things and helping people decide on a good movie to see! COMMENT BELOW! I might even watch a scary movie! I also enjoy classic black and white films ;)