'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.

'The Maze Runner' Movie Review (SPOILER FREE)

On August 24^th of 2014, I woke up to an invitation to go to an advance screening of “The Maze Runner”. After finding two friends to attend with me, we rushed downtown right after school and waited in a line for 3 hours. Both of my friends have read “The Maze Runner”, but my friend Alli read the entire trilogy and the prequel. I can confirm that she is a hardcore fan of James Dashner, as she remarked once “He’s one of my favorite writers” and my other friend, Steven said “It was the only book I read”. I asked my two friends if they could tell me their thoughts on the movie after it’s over, because unlike them, I didn't read the book… yet. They both replied with “of course”. This is actually my first time not reading the book before the movie adaption. I wanted to get that “I didn't read the book, but I saw the movie and read it afterwards” feeling. I wanted to make sure I wasn't anticipating anything and didn't have any expectations, because when a movie adaption of a book you love doesn't meet your expectations, it sucks. However, I did have a trustworthy Dashner fan and a brain filled with background knowledge of the film, so I felt prepared.

“The Maze Runner” is the first installation of the post-apocalyptic science fiction trilogy. Yes, there will definitely be two more movies and maybe a prequel if the trilogy does well, which I’m highly assuming it will. “The Maze Runner” is about a boy named Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) who, after being unconscious, wakes up without any memory of his past and how he got to where he is now, which is a place called The Glade. The Glade is the center of a maze, in which dangerous creatures called Grievers reside. The Glade is inhabited by a large group of boys of all ages and they all have no memory of their previous life. The doors to the maze open periodically and as a group, the boys try to find a way to escape, but no luck has come. The boys also warn Thomas that every boy that stayed in the maze overnight, never survived. But things begin to change when the latest arrival to The Glade is a girl, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), whose thoughts Thomas can read. Together, they bond and, along with the other boys, they .search for a plan to escape.

The movie started off exactly how the book did (from the five chapters that I've read), with anticipation, rapid heart-beating, and a big gasp of air from Thomas and the audience. The very first scene was quick and altered a little but everything made sense. The good part about this movie is that you don’t get confused easily or quickly. But the bad part about the movie and maybe my only disappointment is that in numerous scenes, it was too dark for me to actually see what was going on. For example, when Thomas is running away from a Griever, all I could see was movement. I’m not sure if it was just the theater I was in or if it really is like that, but it bothered me so much.

The entire… yes entire movie is taken place inside The Glade and inside the maze, which is basically part of The Glade. Not to spoil anything, but yes, there are exactly 2 scenes where they’re actually not in The Glade, but it doesn't really make a big difference. Luckily, I didn't find that part annoying. Some people might, but there was so much action going on that I didn't notice.

The relationships in the movie were small and weren't specifically praised, but I felt that Thomas’s friendship with Chuck (Blake Cooper) was important. The conversation between an older individual and a younger one might not be taken into notice, but the bond they had was significant. I teared up at a discussion they had about what they thought their parents were like. Their relationship was a typical brother bond, but it almost felt like they were real brothers and I praise O’Brien and Cooper’s performance. Another relationship in the film was Thomas and Teresa’s. I can’t say they actually have a relationship, but they do have a connection. In the book, Thomas could read her mind and vice versa. In the movie, they dampened the subject and made it completely irrelevant, which as told by my friend Alli was “… completely important in the next book”.

Overall, the movie was shockingly good. My friends said "It was a great movie. I followed the book pretty well. It left out one or two minor details, but that was okay". With its male dominating cast and dull setting, the greatest outcomes it had were its’ special effects and acting. Will Poulter, who played Gally, was Thomas’s enemy. Poulter has played a wicked boy with snarky remarks before like in, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, but that was when he was younger. Now, at the age of 21, Poulter has showed how a real bully behaves. I couldn't believe that the boy who made me laugh in “We’re The Millers” made me want to shout at him in this movie.

I give this movie 3½ shouting Dylan O'Briens

“The Maze Runner” comes out in theaters September 19^th of 2014. Go see it if you like action, sci-fi, cute boys and a powerful girl.

Another great opportunity that happened only two weeks later was that the stars of “The Maze Runner” came to visit my high school on September 4. Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario and Will Poulter appeared in front of what seemed like hundreds of screaming boys and girls, who desperately tried to take a good picture of them on the tiny stage. The appearance, originally held for acting and English classes to attend, was a short 30 minute Q&A. They presented an extended version of “The Maze Runner” trailer and then the cast came out and answered questions about the movie and acting. At one point, the crowd asked Poulter to sing (because in “We’re The Millers” he hilariously rapped the lyrics to “Waterfalls” by TLC) but he kindly declined. After the half hour, they explained that they needed to catch a flight (assumingly to Dallas because it was next on their tour). 

Photo credit to Karina