Mystic River

                    

  

Mystic River is a mysterious drama based on the novel by Dennis Lehane. it tells the story of three childhood friends Jimmy, Sean and Dave, reunited by the murder of Jimmy's daughter.Through out the film, an important underlying diegesis is constantly brought up and invokes many critical actions of the characters, that when Dave got into the strangers car as a boy, he was molested. Dave says he was thrown into the basement with a sleeping bag and finally escaped after four days. Later on he killed a child molester on his way home from the bar and he is overly protective of his own son. All his actions that made him the way he is can all be traced back to that one single event. Director Clint Eastwood produced the film with masterful mis en scene, one of the most evident and powerful being the parallel shots of Dave sitting in backseat of a car, driving to his end. The first shot is when Dave was forced into the car of two child molesters whom he thought were cops when he was just a boy, frightened and young, Dave does nothing to protest except look back at his friends as the car drives off. The paralleling shot is when Dave as a grown man sitting in the back of the car with Jimmy's friends to get a couple drinks, he looks back in the back seat of the car in suspicion. In both shots after Dave gets into the car, the person on the passenger seat turns around to look at him, the action is a tightly framed close up, giving the viewer a suspenseful and suffocating feel. This also parallels in that the car drives to his death, twice. It's mentioned many times by Dave himself that he died, that "whoever escaped from the basement then wasn't Dave." After the got in the car as a boy, he was stolen from his innocence and it planted something in him, he wasn't and he could never be himself again. After he got in the car with Jimmy's friends, he was taken to the river and killed by the hands of Jimmy and thrown into the river. Both times he dies, once spiritually and mentally, and once physically, when he died mentally, it ultimately led to his real death because Jimmy thought Dave was so messed up in the head that he killed Jimmy's daughter. No doubt Dave experience as a boy has planted a seed in him that eventually caused his downfall, everything he does wrong is thought to be linked with the trauma. 

             Many factors contribute to Mystic River being a great example of mise en scene, factors like color, focus and contrast. Color plays a major role in creating the dark, mysterious theme of the film, it sets the tone and increases suspense as the viewer watches.During the scene of Dave's final moments as he pleads to explain to Jimmy that he did not kill Jimmy's daughter Katie but rather a child molester, the setting was underlit and dark.  the scene is dim and dull with only black and white. The men's faces are mostly hidden by darkness of shadows and only the left side of their faces could be seen, the contrast in this is a direct reflections of the men themselves, with darkness and goodness. Dave's darkness had been planted inside him and theres nothing to change that, but he used his darkness to help other people from experiencing the same darkness he did. Jimmy however, his darkness was his past of killing people and dumping the bodies into the river, the goodness was Katie, when he fully lost and gave into complete darkness, his face entirely covered by the shadows, is when he stabbed Dave and killed him. He stood tall above Dave as Dave lied on the ground, its a low shot putting Jimmy higher than he already is, suggesting at the same time that Jimmy will not being losing his power, he will get away with this murder.  Contrast is also obvious at the parade as Celeste looks for Dave in the crowd of people and showing support for his son in the parade as well. Sean is seen reunited with his wife, happily together holding hands, and Jimmy's wife having a great time with her daughters. This scene emphasis's Celeste's feeling of lost and hopelessness, she is surrounded by people she didn't know, desperately searching for her husband, a close up shot of her being the only person in focus.

Royal Tenebaums

Love, morality, and honor

Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind

 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opens with a extreme close-up shot of the main character, Joel's eyes as he wakes up in his room, the shot focuses on his eyes, tired, sluggish eyes; the camera follows his eyes to the window and the blue&orange glass decor dangling by his window, a diegesis of what happens later on in the movie(or rather before in his reality).  Then the shot cuts to a long shot and overview of his room filled with clutters of  his stuff, the lighting in his room is extremely washed out, the only light source being the window giving a back lit effect to the shot and the only variation of color being the faint orange-ish red here and there, a diegesis of a remembrance(or lack of) of Clementine; the rest of the shot is just dull dim and the dark blue silhouette of Joel himself, surrounded by other darkness. A reflection of his current states, the color, fun, and happiness drained out of his life with Clementine erased from his memory.

After Joel gets up, in a what seems to be a hurry, he waits for the train at the train station, this long shot is focused on the crowd of people also waiting, with only the man closet to the lens out of focus. However usually when the main character is out in a crowd of people, the crowd is blurred and out of focus, but in this shot Joel is in focus along with everyone else around him, poking his head out barely visible, lost in the sea of people. This misc-en-scence emphasis the overwhelming-ness of his belittlement in his reality and importance  of himself and more specifically, his loneliness even though he is surrounded by people. Again, the shot is overpowered by the gloomy blue with the faint dabs of orange.

This medium shot is a romantic shot of Joel trying to hold on to the memory of Clementine, the color contrast is obvious in this shot, the shot is well lit, suggesting they are in fact happy together, but as the color and text slowly draining from the books around the couple; it serves as a diegesis of Joel slowly losing grasp of the memories of his love, Clementine. The color of Clementine has been a diegesis since the very first scenes of her, she is always wearing bright colors, often Clementine(haha), and her hair is always a fun, bright, and unusual color; orange, green, blue... in that order, also suggesting her inner feelings. She had green hair when they met for the first time, green, a color of spring and freshness, ready to take on thw world; and as they fell in love, it was bright red, a color of love and passion, then after they broke up and she erased Joel from her memory, it was blue, a sad sad color even after she met Joel again for the "first time" blue because she was heart broken even if she wasn't consciously aware.

This a scene toward the end of the movie, a medium shot of Joel and Clementine after they realize and remember their past, and the memories of their times together they tried to erase. This shot uses backlighting, creating a romantic feel giving soft lines and edges of couple, a semisilhoutte effect. The shot is unnecessarily far apart, crowded in a narrow hallway but standing as far as they could be, and a soft blue wall with an orange door is seen in distance between them, just like the color contrast of Clementine's hair and jacket; and Joel of course is still dressed in dark clothing just like his every other outfit. The color contrast is subtle, unlike the the bright contrast throughout the movie, it is faint now; suggesting eventhough they have their differences, they understand and except them for who they are, Clementine thinks Joel is boring(dark) and Joel thinks Clementine is crazy(bright colors), it's ok because they love each other despite the clash of their beliefs.

What's Eating Glibert Grape

In the film What's Eating Glibert Grape, Misc-en-scene and diegesis played a big role in creating the tone and underlying story to complete the plot as a whole. The house itself is a symbol for the Grape family; decaying and falling apart, there are many focused shots through out the film of the creaking floorboards and the dust falling from the ceiling. The basement shots are a diegsis, from Glibert trying to fix up the basement, how Dad is always an sensitive topic, and the shot of his grave; it tells a story underneath the surface, that Gilbert's father suffered from some sort of mental illness, probably depression, and hung himself in the basement of the house. Trees are also a symbol for Ernie, it's his safe place. With the mind of a five year old, whenever he feels insecure, or just wants attention, he goes to his tree; he is afraid of water, but Becky got him to jump into the pound from the tree toward the end of the film. The entire family knows that if they cant find Arnie, hes up in the tree, yet they all still play along with him, pretending not being able to see him, a typical game played only with toddlers; showing Arnie's mental development and the family's patience with him even if they are struggling.

A major diegesis in this film is Gilbert's feeling of being trapped, trapped in the old and boring town, like "dancing with no music". The way stripes and horizontal backgrounds, boxed shots, everything gives the audience the feeling of hopelessness, of being trapped and unable to break free for his own happiness.  Through out the film, Glibert is almost always seen with Arnie; looking for him, helping him, bathing him, and caring for him. In most of the scenes with Gilbert and Arnie in the same shot, Arnie is wearing stripes; like a prison cell, Gliberts own personal cell but he can't do anythng about it because he loves Arnie. The stripes are everywhere within the shots with Gilbert; behind him in the store, the blinds in his house, and even the frames of the truck, he is trapped no matter where he goes. The misc-en-scene of the way the shots are set up, gives a suffocating feeling, almost impossible to escape. Becky however, is the opposite, she is always wearing bright colors with vibrant patterns, she is the freedom for Gilbert.

About me

One of my favorite things to do is to travel, whether it's to a different city or a different country across the world. I love being in an unfamiliar and foreign environment,  exploring new places, meeting new faces and experiencing new things every moment along the way.  I prefer traveling without my family but with friends or just one friend instead, that way I have more freedom and flexibility on the trip. I like the spontaneity of not knowing whats going to happen or who I'll befriend next, every trip is an unforgettable adventure.  I've been to all but 7 states in the U.S, most of the providence's in China, and varies cities in Japan and Canada; there's still many more places I want to visit like South Korea, Singapore, London, and Australia. I think it's really important to see the world outside of just one reality, to experience the world through different cultures; I learn something every time I visit somewhere new and it all adds up to how I view the world, and life itself. 

This is a screenshot from one of my favorite TV dramas, Dexter. Dexter Morgan, the main character, is a blood spatter specialist for the Miami Metro Police Department who is also secretly a serial killer, he finds and hunts down criminals who have somehow found the loopholes of the justice system and goes unpunished or just never caught. He has his own set of codes to live by and in short, Dexter is a serial killer who kills serial killers. I have always been interested in criminology and psychology, I grew a bit obsessed when I found this show because it was the perfect mix of both of the things I found so interesting. This show also has this twisted, dark but brilliant humor to it, and even though dexter is a serial killer, people usually side with him, rooting for him through everyone episode, fingers crossed he wouldn't get caught. The show shows a different perspective for the audience, telling the stories through the "bad guy's" point of view, and the psychological development of the the mentally insane; though some may argue he was totally sane, just unfortunate to have just a messed up childhood.   I've always been weirdly fascinated with serial killers, I think they are the most interesting, and oddly enough, the most brilliant people in society(that is, till they get caught). Most if not all serial killers somehow always think their killings are justified, like just Dexter.

These are the lyrics to a song by one of my favorite bands, La dispute. They have a very, very unique style of music, and people have very extreme thoughts about them on the opposite sides of the scale; they either really love them or really hate them, there is no in between "eh they're ok". It's not really the type of music one can grow into, the only way I can describe it is that their music is an awkward blend of metal and rap. They don't really actually sing, they just sort of yell at you with metal music playing in the background. That's whats so unique about them, their lyrics speak to people, I personally know at least 5 people with a tattoo dedicated to or inspired by La Dispute.  One of them told me he owed his life to them, he was battling through depression and very personal issues at home; when he found the band and started listening to them for the first time, he bursted out crying. It didn't magically cure him and make his life better but it helped him to find words of encouragement, and a way to cope with his problems. That's when it really hit me how important music can be, whether it's country or pop or rock; whatever it may be, if it speaks to one, it can have a great impact on them.