cats and cameras

From what we watched in class, I think I like Neorealism. Though it's not as visually stimulating as I usually prefer in films, I found myself wanting to know what happens next. In Ladri di Biciclette, it tells you the conflict in the name, Bike Thieves. But this leaves you in a heightened suspense. When will the bike be stolen? What is Antonio Ricci going to do if he needs it for work? How will he get it back? These questions were already swirling in my head every moment we get more information. It leaves you in a state of anxiety and suspense on the edge of your seat and it really helps you identify with the characters in the story because you're feeling anxious for them.

In my opinion, the inciting incident of Spirited Away is the moment when Chihiro first sees the bathhouse and Haku warns her to leave. Before that, the exposition shows Chihiro and her parents as not very likable characters, the parents block Chihiro out and dismiss her as she pouts and whines about moving. Once they enter the spirit realm, the parents begin to eat and Chihiro wanders off to then see the bathhouse. Once Haku tells her to leave, a series of event happen one after another and put Chihiro in an overwhelmed and confused mindset, which helps us identify with her more as the main character. As the sun goes down spirits start to appear, she finds pigs instead of her parents and thinks they have left (not that her parents have turned into pigs, which is what happened), she tries to cross the river only to find its now an ocean, and a boat unloads different kinds of spirits and she becomes heavily overwhelmed. The moment when Haku tells her to leave is the single moment when th

I never thought I'd actually be assigned to watch movies for homework, but I guess that's film class! Obviously not just any movies though, the specific genre was avant-garde or experimental films, which as a novice movie watcher I had never ventured to watch before. Honestly though even with the mere two movies I watched, La Jetée(1962) and Orpheus(1950), I feel like I've learned heaps of things from them.  My initial reaction when watching these films was definitely confusion. I can't read the characters or understand their motives, but I feel like if that's all you care about when watching these kinds of films, you're entirely missing the point. The people who made these were thinking beyond the traditional way of doing things, and they showed feelings and actions through totally unconditional means. Surprisingly to myself, I liked both the movies I watched; interesting that before I even watched them I told myself I wouldn't like them. What I really lik