Inside the World of a Real City

It was still wet outside. The smell of dirt and beer rose from the humid air. The sidewalk glistened of the street lights.. Nobody was outside for now… This neighborhood looks a lot sketchier at night than I thought. Illumination from the moonlight on the puddles lit up the streets. Above the buildings, the skyline is shrouded with clouds and blinking lights from the skyscrapers in the distance. The stillness from the dead night made any slight movement look threatening. I wanted to go back inside the bar but it was closed. Who closes at three? I guess they wanted to close early since I was the only one there for a while. A pink glow emitted from the neon “open” sign on the window, making the sidewalk in front of me look like a fashion runway.

I knew I was too drunk to drive my car. It was the shitty ’98 Sentra that used to be white. Now it’s yellowed out, covered in dirt and dust and abused from intoxicated driving. There were too many cars parked on the street, I could barely see my car parked a little ways down the block but you can see how it sticks out among the other cars because of my awful parking job. Oh well, I guess I’m walking home. The Q train is only 3 blocks away my train card still had a few swipes left.

I lit a cigarette.

“Hey buddy, can you spare one?” A voice ached. It was a man sitting next to a rusty silver garbage can. He was snuggled in the corner of the darkness right next to the bar. No wonder, I didn’t notice him. “Yea.” I pulled out another cig, walked towards and gave it to him. “Thanks.” He said, but I didn’t acknowledge him. I was already walking away towards the subway station. The man smelled like he was fermenting faster than the garbage inside the cans. I walked past a spanish deli, an electronic store and a couple of apartments. My head was fixed at my reflection from the windows, then my reflection turned into a view of brick walls, then my reflection again and so on. I was stuck in a trance. Water was still dripping from the awnings, gutters and pipes on the sides of each building. Then a cold droplet fell inside the collar of my jacket, ruining my illusion of warmth for a split second. I fucking hate that. Nothing like something small and irritating to make me snap. Fuck it. I got in my car and started the engine.

True Grit or Myth?

In the novel True Grit, written by Charles Portis and the 2010 film remake directed by the Coen brothers, there are American mythologies represented in both. The setting takes place in the old West, also referred to as the Wild West and the Frontier. Mattie is the main character of True Grit, and tells the tale of how she was able to avenge her father’s death. I think this is good example of American mythology because of how Mattie’s particular story can be comparable to other similar folklores about death and revenge.

Famous criminals are another example of American mythology. In True Grit, Lucky Ned Pepper is one of the antagonists in the story and someone Mattie was not intending to pursue, but just like folklore, everyone knew who Ned was through word of mouth and his notorious history. Ned’s portrayal of a criminal can be compared to the other Western myths of notorious criminals such as Buffalo Bill and Jesse James because of how they evolve into old legends.

Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) kicking ass

Something that I noticed from the movie that gave it more authenticity was the use of music. The soundtrack had a church music theme that gave the film a soothing and uplifting yet melancholic tone. I think the composer chose this type of music to show how the impact of religion such as Christianity shaped the way people lived in the west. For instance, Mattie mentions the “glory of God” in the beginning of the film. In a way, religion could be considered American mythology because of how manifest destiny has influences from Christianity as well as how people treated each other during this period of time.

I found it interesting during the scene where the three men were being hanged because two were white men and the other was a Native American man. The two white men had speeches to give before the hanging and when it came to the Native American man’s turn to talk, he was immediately muffled and hanged. I believe that it expressed the idea of racism during the Western times because of the historical relationships between White settlers and the Indians. I’m sure this had a mythological impact in the American Western culture because the fighting and bloodshed that occurred historically, led to exaggerated stories between both parties.

Comparing the novel to the movie, I think that Hollywood creates more of a myth to the old Western culture. The novel describes the frontier lifestyle in fuller and more raw context while the film portrays the events of the story in a glamourized viewpoint. Although both forms of True Grit contains ideas representing American mythology, I think the novel did a better job in telling the truth of the story while the film did not show the smaller details of Western folklore but rather the main idea.

Under the Influence: The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson, is a movie that had influences from the literary works of Stefan Zweig. Some elements that the movie had were from Zweig’s personal life and parts of his writings, for example, Beware of Pity and the Post Office Girl. According to Wes Anderson, the “Society of Crossed Keys were a secret guild of European hotel concierges” that helped to prove Gustave’s innocence against a falsely accused murder. Bill Murray was a cameo as one of the concierges, which I thought was essential. In a conversation between George Prochnick and Wes Anderson, Anderson mentions that in the Grand Budapest Hotel, the characters of “The Author” and M. Gustave were supposed to represent Zweig himself partly based on personality and as a metaphor.

The subtext of the movie seems to be about how society in Europe is being affected by the rise of communism and fascism. In Beware of Pity, it had elements of the inevitable World War II, which was taking place in the time period of the Grand Budapest Hotel. The context of the movie is about how someone who works hard investing all his time and energy into a world of security, is facing with the conflict of losing everything. In the beginning of the film, Gustave was questioned by soldiers about Zero’s immigrant status. Then again at the end of the film, Gustave died trying to protect Zero and his girlfriend from the officers. It seemed to relate to the Post Office Girl as well because of her struggle with the Nazi oppression. It is notable to mention that Zweig lived during both World Wars as a Jew. Keeping that in mind, you can tell the influences it had in his works that has influenced Anderson’s work.

Another element that the Grand Budapest Hotel had from Zweig’s work is the attention to detail. Anderson noted that Zweig wrote with such detail that it seems to translate onto the screen. There were a lot of color schemes in each shot from the movie. With a lot of these scenes changing so quickly, there is a pattern of change in moods and tones throughout. I also noticed that everything was shot in one point perspective. I believe that was done on purpose to emphasize that the events in the movie were recalled memories. That way it could be considered to be more of a visual storytelling rather than a movie. The narration also helped make it feel like you were observing a live book. I hate using this term, but it felt whimsical because of the cuts to each chapter in the movie. Each establishing shot of the setting seems purposefully faux; another visual way to show that it was more of a story being told.

Having already reviewed Rushmore, another movie directed by Wes Anderson, the Grand Budapest Hotel shared a similar take on its style. A lot of Gustave’s actions and demeanor was basically an older version of Max from Rushmore but that did not take away from the quality of the film. I think that Wes Anderson is a director that certainly has done a lot of research and reading a lot of literary works from Stefan Zweig. When I was reading what he says in the conversation, he does a lot of critical thinking and analyzing about Zweig as a writer and why certain controversial topics effects his writing.

Rushmore: My take of Director of Photography

After reading the script for Rushmore by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, I had a vision as the role of director of photography.  As the director of photography, I am in charge of composing the shots, the effects of lighting, all while working with the cinematographer and director in order to get the movie to look like how they want. The DP helps create shots during production in order to capture the director’s vision.

The look I envision when composing each scene from the script would be in an overall warm and nostalgic tone. The script seems to emphasize a lot on Max’s shortcomings and how he managed to deal with his problems. I get feelings of nostalgia and innocence as Max continues his daily adventures at school in his youth.  I want a lot of natural sunlight in each scene to show the events that take place in someone’s childhood memory.  

Mr. Blume's 1996 Bentley Turbo R LWB

The pacing for the script felt quick and full of subtle information. With that in mind, I was planning on focusing on mostly just one subject matter at a time with exceptions to extreme long shots of environments and purposefully composed shots. A lot of the scenes and shots for Rushmore would be fast paced and gets the point across for the actor, action and stage.