Orphan Black: Are Project Castor clones stealing the limelight from Sarah and her sister clones?

The last episode of Orphan Black’s second season made it very clear that the male Project Castor clones (Ari Millen) were going to be a bigger part of the show’s third season. As a result, the male clones are getting a lot of attention, whether it’s at their military base, firmly under Dr. Virginia Coady’s (Kyra Harper) command, or hunting Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) in hopes of getting their hands on the Castor original so they can remedy their life-threatening defect.

Many welcome the addition of the male clones, like Andrea Towers in Entertainment Weekly, claiming it’s “the answer to getting the show back on track” from its muddled moments in the second season. While others, like Jonathon Dornbush in same Entertainment Weekly debate, have concerns that “the show [is] spreading itself too thin. The male clones will undoubtedly inject some new personality, but that could also make it an even more unwieldy series to follow.”

Both sides of the male clone debate are valid, but another worry is plaguing some fans: Will the male clones unjustly rob Orphan Black of its female-driven narrative? This seems unlikely. While the male clones are indeed threatening and quite a hindrance to Sarah and her clone cohorts, they lack the charm, personality and emotional grab that Sarah and her sisters have. And as the boys follow Dr. Coady’s relentless lead and surrender themselves to science in hopes of curing themselves, their agenda doesn’t seem to have the power or immediacy to steal our interest away from the girls who’ve already won our hearts.

Even Mark, the one male clone who stands out amongst his malicious soldier brethren and dares to love ex-Prolethean Gracie (Zoe De Grand Maison), isn’t strong or commanding enough of a presence on his own to steal the show from Sarah and company. How could anyone really stand toe-to-toe against Alison, the drug-peddling soccer mom; Helena, the lethal and abused assassin; Cosima, the bisexual and brilliant scientist; and, of course, Sarah, a troubled young mother and small-time criminal? Worrying about losing such dynamic characters is understandable, but viewers should remember that dynamism is why they’re here to stay.

In an article for Slate, Jessica Roake goes so far as to chastise all hetero men when compared to the indomitable female presence in the series: “The straight men of Orphan Black are stupid, weak, simple, unethical, violent, buffoonish, and easily manipulated. They are purposefully one-dimensional sketches denied the layers and complex motivations given to the female characters.”

It’s not necessary to take it as far as Roake here, but she does have a point: the male presence displayed in Orphan Black is far too emotionally, morally and strategically weak to pose a threat to Sarah and her sisters. While the Castor clones may keep the girls on their toes, they won’t have them stumble off their pedestal any time soon.

Orphan Black: Do you think the project names Leda and Castor provide any clues to the clones’ origins?

At this point in Orphan Black’s third season, we still have more questions than answers (as expected). Despite the dark secrets and the increasingly complicated conspiracy, one thing is certain: Sarah and her sister clones (Tatiana Maslany) are special, special enough to hunt, protect and lie to. So that begs the questions: how were they made and why? Are the answers just based on the Neolution Movement, enabling human beings to gain control of their evolution through science? Why do Leda clones appear to be more valued than Castor clones, who are strictly controlled and abused by some sort of military-run operation? It remains to be seen if the actual project names Leda and Castor could provide us with any clues to the clones’ origins.

Following Greek mythology, Leda was wife to Spartan King Tyndareus. Zeus, taking on the form of a swan, seduced Leda the same night she spent with the king, resulting in the births of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and twins Castor and Pollux, who all hatched from two eggs. It remains uncertain as to which children hatched from which egg, making some of them half-immortal or simply mortal. It’s commonly accepted that Helen was Zeus’ daughter, endowing her with divine perks.

If the names Leda and Castor intimate how the clones were created, what does this mean? It means Sarah and her sisters could be even more important than meets the eye. Whatever genetic material was used to create the Leda clones may not have been completely human, dare we even say alien. Consider Sarah Manning and her twin sister, Helena (we could easily say Helen of Troy; in season three she’s been kidnapped, and a war is brewing as a result), and how they’re both able to conceive while all the other clones are sterile by design. And not only that, recall what happened to Sarah’s daughter, Kira (Skyler Wexler), when she was hit by a car in the first season. Kira’s life-threatening injuries all but vanished shortly after the accident, possibly revealing she’s inherited some special abilities from her mother.

Perhaps Project Castor and Project Leda received their names in the same respect sailing vessels, cleaning products and cars are named after Greek gods and heroes. But it’s also quite possible that these project titles provide a nudge in a direction viewers should be looking. Prolethean leader Henrik (Peter Outerbridge) was so convinced of Helena’s special genes that he not only impregnated Helena, but made his daughter, Gracie (Zoe De Grand Maison), a surrogate for Helena’s offspring. The Proletheans do questionable things and follow an even sketchier path, but they do so because they claim to have a higher purpose, as stated by Gracie’s mother. They almost seem to understand the clones’ origins better than most despite dubbing them abominations.

What remains apparent is that Sarah and Helena have a uniquely desirable genetic makeup, constantly thrusting them and their loved ones in harm’s way. They’re not supposed to be able to conceive, yet Sarah has Kira and Helena is pregnant. It’s also clear that Kira is no ordinary child; she can rapidly heal from serious injuries and probably holds the key to curing Cosima, who appears to be recovering from her illness in season three just by being around Kira (and of course her stem cells). It’s hard to say who or what created the clones at this point, who/what Leda, Zeus and Castor may represent in the equation, but it seems safe to assume the truth may turn out to be as mind-bending as the series thus far.

Top Alfred Hitchcock Movies

Discontented by remakes and the overall current state of cinema, I’m relieved to know that I can still turn to a diminutive number of laudable havens.  The auteur I’m currently referring to made it his indelible mission to create voyeurs out of all those who possess eyes, forcing us to hawkishly view things we’ve never been allowed to, things we should perhaps not view.

But this is of course where the fun comes in.

I know I’m not alone in holding Alfred Hitchcock and his prolific body of work in high regard.  Few directors have managed to alter not only the art of movie making but the movie going experience, and all for the better.

Famously credited as “The Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock knew how to jar audiences and how to honor moviegoers with a promise of horror, action, intrigue, romance, and adventure—all while creating a compelling and original story (hardly a minor feat).  Many have tackled Hitchcock’s work and buried it knee deep in criticism and analysis as they have Shakespeare’s prose and poetry, and I don’t feel it’s necessary for me to add myself to this list.

Rather, I’ll take this time to be self-indulgent and highlight five of my favorite Hitchcock films.  I want to make it clear that these “Top Five Hitchcock Films” are only my opinion and hardly a permanent stamp or declaration to be imposed on others.

Feel free to share your favorite Hitchcock films and be sure to take note of his memorable works that I’ve managed to overlook:  Rear Window, Notorious, The Birds, The Man Who Knew Too Much, To Catch a Thief, Suspicion, Marnie, Spellbound, and North by Northwest.

Vertigo (1958)

Out of all of Hitchcock’s films, Vertigo is my favorite.  I feel Vertigo is Hitchcock’s most personal project.  Hitchcock was notorious (no pun intended) for molding his icy blonde leads (Grace Kelly, Tippi Hedren, Kim Novak) into his stringent ideal of perfection, and Vertigo beautifully explores that.  James Stewart plays Scottie Ferguson, a San Francisco policeman who suffers from vertigo.  When hired by an old friend to investigate the man’s troubled wife (she is believed to be possessed by an ancestor), things begin to get interesting.  As Ferguson continues to investigate the wife, Madeleine (played by Kim Novak), he becomes troublingly engrossed with her, believing that she is in fact possessed.  Scottie’s love for Madeleine grows in intensity, and when he encounters a “new” love interest after Madeleine’s passing, he can only impel her to take on the persona of his previous love.   As more twists and turns are unveiled, the story only becomes more and more intriguing and unforgettable.  Bernard Hermann’s score is appropriately haunting, and the film is famous for Hitchcock’s creation of the important dolly out, zoom in shot (a brilliant method of manifesting Scottie’s vertigo on screen).

Psycho (1960)

I truly admire Psycho because of how Hitchcock manages to beguile the audience.  This is a horror film that knocks off the main character, Marion Crane as played by Janet Leigh, within the beginnings of the film.  As a result, we end up clinging to other characters, like Marion’s sister Lila, and of course Norman/Norma Bates.  The film follows Marion as she steals a large sum of money from her work and is forced to take refuge at the Bates Motel for the night.  She briefly becomes acquainted with motel owner Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and even decides to battle the consequences of her thievery by returning to work the following day.  But before Marion can even get through a shower, Norman Bates’s mother pays her a visit that quickly ends her stay.  Even though Psycho is based on the same character as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, that being serial killer Ed Gein, Hitchcock’s remarkable ability and willingness to tinker with audience expectations still manages to set his work apart, even by today’s horror standards.

Rebecca (1940)

Daphne Du Maurier is one of my favorite writers, and Hitchcock was no stranger to adapting her material to screen.  Rebecca is by many standards a woman’s picture, and mainly because of the material Hitchcock selected to labor with in this case.  Joan Fontaine plays the meek and docile second Mrs. De Winter.  She falls head over heels for Laurence Olivier’s Maxim De Winter, and the two are quickly wed.  Mrs. De Winter seems quite out of her element when she moves into the massive Manderley, and is surrounded by more servants than she can count.  She is not simply overwhelmed by her surroundings; she also has Maxim’s first wife to worry about: the now deceased Rebecca.  What I most adore about this film is that a character who never even appears on screen holds all the cards and even orchestrates the entire plot.  Rebecca exists only in name and luxurious items, from fancy stationery to wardrobes brimming with the finest silks, but her presence proves to be much heavier.  Until the second Mrs. De Winter takes charge, Rebecca will always reign supreme.

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Hitchcock cleverly knew how to create and portray a villain, which brings me to my favorite part about Strangers: Bruno Antony as played by Robert Walker.  Tennis player Guy Haines (played by Farley Granger) and Bruno Antony meet on a train.  We are meant to understand that these characters could not be more different from personality to shoe style.  The two begin conversing, revealing the troubles that plague each of their lives.  Antony takes these conversations to a dark edge, suggesting that he will murder Haines’s wife if Haines will in turn murder his father.  Unsurprisingly, this plan does not sit well with Haines.  But, as deliciously evil as Antony is, he goes through with killing Haines’s wife, putting Haines in quite the predicament.  There are a number of memorable scenes throughout the film, courtesy of stunning black and white cinematography by Robert Burks:  the murder of Haines’s wife as shot through her glasses and Antony’s very obvious presence at one of Haines’s tennis matches.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Another worthy villain to conclude the list is Uncle Charlie as adeptly played by Joseph Cotten.  As revealed early on, Uncle Charlie is the “Merry Widow” strangler.  After murdering his latest unsuspecting victim, Charlie decides to visit his sister in Santa Rosa, California.  His sister’s family adores and idolizes Charlie, especially his niece (Teresa Wright), who also goes by the name of Charlie.  Both Charlies are a lot alike, as is revealed by Hitchcock’s mise-en-scene, but it doesn’t take long for young Charlie to begin to unravel the dark coils of Uncle Charlie’s psychotic inclinations.  What is done masterfully here is allowing the viewer to know from the start what kind of man Uncle Charlie is; we’ve seen his ruthless evil firsthand and know exactly what he’s capable of.  His ability to so seamlessly morph into a kind, family man and prey on an innocent household makes his presence all the more terrifying.  More than any other character in the film, we are able to learn much about Uncle Charlie by delving deeply into his thoughts and behaviors, gaining a unique inside look at a serial killer.  Though this territory is usually prohibited, Hitchcock not only brings it to the forefront, but doesn’t allow us to look away.  

Top Music Videos (Older Post)

Recently, it seems like music videos are returning to a more artistically valid place.  Many of them are treated as stylistically as a short film, and have been directed by such notable names as Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Chris Cunningham (special effects guru on Alien 3), and McG (Charlie’s Angels).  That’s not to say that great music videos haven’t been around for some time now, but I am noting a resurgence in overall film quality, with more attention being centered upon aspects like cinematography, acting, and story content.  Proof of this observation is readily apparent on video sharing sites like YouTube, as a number of music videos have quite rapidly exceeded hundreds of thousands of views.

I’ve selected five music videos that capture the viewer’s imagination and emotions with a lasso of stunning visuals and performances, and also contain music that is beyond worthy of the accompanying video.

Feel free to comment on the list and share some of your recent favorite music videos.

“Pyro” by Kings of Leon

Directed by Casey McGrath and Max Goldman, the music and lyrics of “Pyro” are perfectly balanced by the bleak and heartrending visuals that the video delivers.  In slow motion, a young man enters a bleak bar brimming with a slew of lost souls: an exotic dancer, hard men with a taste for violence, and an all too caring obese woman to name a few.  Once he throws himself into hero mode and defends a woman from an abusive boyfriend, the video gains emotional momentum as the boyfriend and his friends attack the young man with no mercy.  The violence ensues and is almost welcomed, as no other patron is willing to step in and help.  The bartender throws the attacker a bat to blacken and blue the hero a bit more, when the young man’s body begins to rise off the floor.  Beyond unexpected, viewers and the abusive bar thugs are shocked at what would appear to be the impossible.  As the young man’s body continues to rise, his cuts and bruises magically vanish.  This is the part of the video I feel is most touching and brilliantly memorable, as everyone in the bar gently rises into the air.  It’s as if this young man’s pure intentions and willingness to do the right thing have transformed time, space, and remarkably those within the bar.

UK Columbia managing director Mike Smith described “Pyro” as “one of the strongest songs of their [Kings of Leon’s] career.”  I feel it’s their strongest, and we do indeed feel it.

“Enzymes” by Freelance Whales

Though nowhere near as well known as Kings of Leon, Freelance Whales are quite big on the indie music scene.  Chunwoo Kae and Ryan Demler directed “Enzymes,” which is a rather artfully abstract video that appropriately supports the band’s usual grappling of abstract lyrics.  Out of all of Freelance Whales’ videos, I will say “Enzymes” is their most extravagant effort yet.  The video could be described as dream-like, with its slowed explosive imagery of destroyed nature, time (the clock easily evoking Dali’s The Persistence of Memory), a girl at different stages of her life, and even death.  Analyses of the video’s meaning and purpose could be taken in a number of directions, but I’d like to think most viewers will just be taken by the beauty of the images and the sounds that accompany them.  That certainly proved sufficient for me upon first viewing.

“Clementine” by Sarah Jaffe

I haven’t known of Sarah Jaffe’s vocal talents long.  I caught a glimpse of the video for “Clementine” on late night TV and was immediately blown away by both the song and accompanying rich visuals.  Director Jon Todd Collins deliberately didn’t develop much of a storyline for the video, making it a bit pointless to drain too much analytical content from what is seen.  Those working on the video wanted to stray from the usual boy meets girl paradigm, and opted for what looks like a more symbolic representation.  Singer Jaffe is clothed in a vibrant yellow robe, playing a type of tug of war with six other men.  The six men struggle but win once Jaffe releases the rope.  She flies through the air while the six men chase after her, each bearing a clear expression of worry.  Eventually they retrieve her and she is baptized in a watery paradise, from which her nose bleeds.  One could claim that there are biblical allusions here as well as a literal struggle with relationships, and what makes this video all the more interesting is that no one has to be wrong (within reason of course).

“Sextape” by Deftones

I think “Sextape” is the most beautifully filmed video on this list.  Directed by ZFCL (Zak Forrest and Chad Liebenguth), “Sextape” is a music video of pure colorful magic.  Two girls dreamily concoct a private realm of sparkle, glitter, entrancing light, and underwater love.  It’s an unfeasible fantasy that the actual song is somehow able to legitimize via lyrics and a soporifically seductive tone.  With a title like “Sextape,” one would expect the obvious connotations to consume such a video’s visual premise, but ZFCL deliver sheer delightful mastery at knowing what a viewer may long for more than cheap thrills, and that’s an unforgettable journey.

“I’m in Your Church at Night” by Active Child

Riding on the same magical vein as “Sextape,” “I’m in Your Church at Night” grandly delivers a visual tale of cooking magic.  Director Petro Papahadjopoulos based the premise of the video on Active Child’s Pat Grossi’s own experience of sneaking into an Italian church.  Grossi attempted to relay each and every detail of his peaceful memory into the song’s lyrics.  The video commences with soft visuals of flour and milk, while eerie looking chefs assemble to prepare life-sized man and woman cookies/cakes.  The magic comes once the chefs place a clear plastic over the two large cookie bodies.  The plastic ripples like water, and a real live man and woman appear.  Considering the song’s title, many viewers interpret this song similarly, with the chefs representing the Holy Trinity and the man and woman cookies that come to life as Adam and Eve.  This could be a likely explanation and one that would stand by the artist’s own inspiration for the lyrics, but the song and video, regardless of any interpretation, is one of the most imaginative and thought-provoking videos I’ve seen since Bjork’s “All Is Full of Love.”

Top Shorts

As a filmmaker, I can deeply appreciate the expense and labor that goes into a short film.  All components and implicit expectations of a feature length film must be present, but in an obviously condensed fashion (nothing short of a tall order).  It should also be mentioned that while short films can be an arduous endeavor, because they’re much shorter than a feature, they are easily churned out due to lower budget demands and shorter production schedules.  As a result, short films tend to flood the online community and festivals, and (needless to say) the majority of them are not worth viewing.  Still, there are times when even I am struck by the quiet brilliance and poetic pulchritude of a short, and such an impact is unforgettable.

In this article, I choose to highlight the shorts that have managed to rouse a creative unrest and fascination within all who view them.

Wasp (2003)

Directed by Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank and Red Road), Wasp’s story centers around a struggling, single mother (exceptionally played by Natalie Press) with four children.  Following a chance encounter with an old flame, the young mother is eager to once again join the dating scene, and quite carelessly chooses to overlook the detail of her four children.  Wasp won Arnold a 2005 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, and much of that win rested on Press’s performance as the devoid and desperate mother Zoe.  The prowess inherent in Press’s performance greatly surfaces once she decides to bring her four runts along for the date, a decision that proves to have serious consequences.

We Have Decided Not To Die (2004)

Daniel Askill’s experimental short is without dialogue and comprised of three rituals: Birth, Between, and Rebirth.  As the title implies, the film marvelously explores three characters defying death.  The characters surreally battle drowning, cars colliding, and a leap from a tall building.  While some may feel there’s not much this short offers plot-wise, the visual extravagance of We Have Decided Not To Die offers so much more.  I feel this short was constructed purely for the senses, and as such the viewer is only responsible for getting lost in the ironic slow-motion, involuntary convulsions, and the haunting score.  The characters’ decision stands potently enough on its own.

La jetée (1962)

 

I’ve already discussed La jetée in my article on the French New Wave, but I feel this short is more than worthy of a place on this list.  Like the main character of the short, Chris Marker leads us into the past, present, and future via stunning black and white photography.  As the man attempts to heal the broken future by time traveling, the mere placement of a woman seems to alter his existence and bring purpose to his mission.  La jetée still manages to serve as a milestone in filmmaking as much of our current science fiction films more than rely on it conceptually. It also enables us to trespass on a man’s life and death while weightily considering our own.

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

It was once I viewed Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon that I knew I wanted to make films.  This artisan of magic is responsible for well over 500 shorts and can even be credited as discovering stop motion and being a pioneer of fantasy film.  Devoid of Méliès’s magical influence, it is difficult to discern where the world of cinema would be as far as special effects are concerned.  A landmark of early film, A Trip to the Moon has a rather straightforward plot: A group of astronomers travel to the moon, battle its creatures, and return to earth.  The influence of the film, however, was so great that it is still felt today.  Not only was it one of the first films to delve into the science fiction genre, but it was also one of the first to implement animation.  The alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins were so touched by the work that they paid homage to Méliès in their well known music video, “Tonight, Tonight.”

The Water (2009)

Kevin Drew of successful Canadian band Broken Social Scene fame won me over with The Water due to its symbiotic relationship with Leslie Feist’s music of the same title.  The Water possesses very little dialogue, and as a result relies heavily on raw emotional portrayals courtesy of David Fox and Cillian Murphy, who play father and son.  Set in a cold, quiet, sad, and almost dream-like tone, the short glacially explores loss, an unbreakable family bond, and a growing need for patience and understanding.  Throughout a good portion of the short, it feels like not much is happening which, like the film’s setting, gives it this quality of time being suspended, frozen even.  Such a quality seems almost impossible to attain within a 16 minute long dramatic short, but Drew and company have enabled viewers to hold on to a stunning winter long after the credits roll.

Top Movie Chase Sequences (Older Post)

A chase sequence in a film provides a viewer with a rare moment in time.  Action within the film seems to not only accelerate and grow in intensity, but also fades into the background and purely highlights burning rubber and death defying getaways.  Our attention is seized (that is if the chase is any good) and our interest sometimes renewed with an altered focus on what matters and what needs to be done.  We all have our favorite chase sequences, ones we’ve continuously watched and grown to love, sometimes even more than the films they’re featured in.  In this article, I made it a point to only select films I actually enjoy, respect, or admire, and did not simply add films that are popular with the public and that have been added to countless “lists” of the best chases.  Obviously, though, some films are going to be expected in terms of immortalized adrenaline-rushing escapes and others not so much.  I take that risk and hope readers won’t mind me bypassing such films as Smokey and the Bandit or Nolan’s beloved The Dark Knight, or even his more recent Inception.

Bullitt (1968)

This selection should be of no surprise.

This film continues to impress even contemporary viewers because it is a modern take on a tough cop crime film you could easily see someone like Bogart playing the lead in.  This car chase has a pretty standard formula: Cop Bullitt (played by Steve McQueen) spots criminal, resulting in one of the most intense car chases that’s ever been filmed.  Vehicles abandon caution and race down the unaccommodating hills of San Francisco, scarcely escaping the hazards of other cars, barriers, and even buildings.

One could easily argue that Frank P. Keller won the Best Film Editing Oscar for this sequence alone.

The French Connection (1971)

Not too big of a surprise to see this one on here.

What makes the impact of this chase scene all the more believable is having a maniac cop behind the wheel: Gene Hackman as Jimmy Doyle.  This sequence was shot from Hackman’s car, with cameras mounted in the backseat and on the front fenders.  Another aspect of this chase sequence that I love is that it serves as a literal manifestation of how obsessively devoted Hackman’s character is to stopping drug offenders.  Hackman’s frantic and brutal character portrayal won him the Best Actor Oscar.

Diva (1981)

This is the one you probably weren’t expecting.

This film is sort of the outlier on this list as it’s not a cop drama, where the heroic, gun-wielding sheriff pursues a clever villain.  It is quite the reverse.  Jean-Jacques Beineix’s stylish thriller involves, of all characters, Jules (played by Frederic Andrei), an unsuspecting mail carrier on a moped who manages to get himself roped into a dangerous situation involving Taiwanese record pirates and drug runners.  On moped, Jules races through beautiful Paris, thwarting his pursuers by speeding through civilian heavy sidewalks, flights of stairs, and even the metro.  This chase sequence possesses some stunning cinematography as well as near impossible tracking shots.

Grindhouse: Death Proof (2007)

Quentin Tarantino’s contribution to the double feature contains a beyond memorable car chase, and its entertainment value alone won it a place on this list.  When Stuntman Mike (played by Kurt Russell) takes it upon himself to stalk and prey on various women, he truly does not anticipate what his “victims” have in store for him.  While boldly pursuing a group of friends as they carry out their own death-defying car stunt, he gives the girls quite a scare and manages to also piss them off.  Between Zoe Bell hanging onto the hood of the car during the chase and what the ladies do to Stuntman Mike once they catch up with him, this car chase is one of the most original on the list.

Ronin (1998)

John Frankenheimer abandons the glitz and over-the-top theatrics of the action genre, and in doing so, creates a unique car chase.  As a result, this chase sequence contains impressive, gritty realism that doesn’t cater to rapid cutting and comedic relief.  While the film’s chief concern is exploring the concept of betrayal between mercenaries and a mysterious assignment, the absence of cheap thrills and a forced hand of justice to tidy up all the foul play and distrust makes this chase all the more of a relief to watch.

Top French New Wave Movies

The French New Wave film movement, due to its filmmakers’ sense of rebellion and constant need for challenge and change, created a lasting and still very active influence on the world of cinema.  Born from Italian Neorealism and film noir, as well as other classical elements of Hollywood, the informal movement boldly experimented with the expectations of the audience: characters within the world of the film actually acknowledged the viewer directly, film editing lacked clarity and wasn’t merely intended to drive along plot, and the films were created with little budgets and obscure actors.  Through these experimentations, new film techniques and ideas were developed that are all too present in our current age of cinema.  Directors like Quentin Tarantino, Brian De Palma, and Francis Ford Coppola were greatly affected by the filmmakers and works of the New Wave, and most, if not all, contemporary directors give evidence of just how vital of an impact the movement has had on film.

An infinite number of remarkable films came out of this movement, but I’m only going to highlight five of my favorites.

My Life to Live (1962)

Jean-Luc Godard is arguably the most important director of the French New Wave.  He produced many of the films that came from this time and even helmed a few of the editing techniques that made the films so recognizable.  Here he directs his once wife Anna Karina (who he teamed up with often) as she takes on her most memorable role as the prostitute Nana.  The film is comprised of 12 different scenes, much like a book with chapters, all seemingly disconnected but revealing much about Nana and her sense of the world around her.  Godard, by constructing his own personal portrait of his wife for the world to see, is quite vulnerable with this work.  We are also given an unforgettable ending that nicely juxtaposes the film’s slow pace and intellectual exploration.

Breathless (1960)

For me, this film epitomizes the French New Wave movement.  Another film by Godard, it seemed to set the stage for experimental cool, making both Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg memorable stars.  Belmondo plays Michel, a sort of inept criminal with plenty of tough-guy opinions and insolence to share directly with the audience.  Seberg awkwardly takes on the role of femme fatale Patricia, Michel’s girlfriend, who decides to join him as he flees the law.  With Breathless, Godard makes it clear that he’s abandoned Hollywood’s handbook of convention and replaced it with his own chaotic, jump cut profilmic world.  Another memorable ending that created an immortal image of Seberg, Breathless offered moviegoers a resuscitated take on film that was well received and often mimicked.

Jules and Jim (1962)

Moving on to Godard’s partner in crime, Francois Truffaut proved to be just as vital to the New Wave as Godard.  Truffaut brilliantly delivers the tale of a love triangle that ends in tragedy.  Oskar Werner and Henri Serre are Jules and Jim, two close friends who fall head over heels for Catherine (played by Jeanne Moreau).  In time, all three of them become very close, each man eventually becoming romantically involved with the playful, tempestuous Catherine.  Unlike Godard, Truffaut seems to be far more interested in character exploration, as he constructs a touching world of emotion and concern among Jules, Jim, and their beloved Catherine.  Like the men, the camera also seems to be enamored by Catherine, and Moreau delivers one of the best performances of her career.

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Originally a documentarian, director Alain Resnais creates a poetic and profoundly touching love story with Hiroshima Mon Amour.  Elle (played by Emmanuelle Riva) and Lui (played by Eiji Okada), an actress and an architect, meet and embark on an affair.  Told through the film’s fragmented and non-linear narrative structure, Elle divulges details of her painful past to Lui.  These details involve her affair with a German soldier, the soldier’s death, and her family’s cruel treatment due to their shame in her affair with “the enemy.”  Riva’s performance as Elle is striking to say the least, with her clear ability to present a vulnerable, mysterious, and suffering character.  What is also striking is Resnais’s/Chasney’s/Colpi’s/Sarraute’s exceptional filming/editing, merging fast edits, fragmentation, effective dissolves, and moving flashbacks.  On a more somber note than the previous films, Resnais’s Hiroshima Mon Amour is an elegant and subtly experimental view of love and memory that will impress even the most resistant of viewers.

La Jetée (1962)

Director Chris Marker’s sci-fi short, told via photographs, can easily and justifiably take credit for many contemporary sci-fi films and tales, like Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys.  Surprising to many upon first viewing La Jetée, the film’s incorporation of photographic narrative provides more than sufficient intrigue and fascination for the viewer to seize.  After World War III, the world is in ruin and survivors look to time travel in order to retrieve necessities from a moment before the war crippled the earth and its resources.  An unnamed man (Davos Hanich) is haunted by an image of a woman (Helene Chatelain) he believes is from his childhood, and he uses that image to travel into the past.  Marker’s and Jean Chiabaut’s black and white cinematography is exceptional throughout.  The images of the man and woman at a museum and the various airport stills are among some of the best.  Devoid of various CGI and FX, La Jetée still manages to deliver a convincing futuristic tale of love, time, and loss.  By the film’s jarring end, viewers will be both touched and terrified by Marker’s bleak dream and will perhaps look at time in a new way.

Top John Waters Movies

Credited as the King of Trash, independent Baltimore filmmaker John Waters has a special knack for grotesque and irreverent comedy.  It was Waters’s 1972 film Pink Flamingos, billed as “the most disgusting picture of all time,” that helped him achieve cult status among the midnight movie circuit.  What made Pink Flamingos such a hit was its willingness to delve deeply into all things repugnant.  The plot actually centers around characters who want nothing more than to be the filthiest people in the world.  With a goal like that, the cast, consisting of an overweight transvestite and an egg obsessed crib-ridden woman, comes pretty close to achieving the title.  Clearly Waters likes to defy and rally cinematic conventions that are so apparent in insipid films like Patch Adams and Forrest Gump, making it easy to develop a fond appreciation for all his vomit inducing tales.  As difficult as it proved to be, I’ve selected five of my favorite Waters films that may not be in everyone’s favor, but they will most certainly entertain.

 

Female Trouble (1974)

Out of all of Waters’s directorial endeavors, he claims Female Trouble is his favorite, and I would have to agree with him; it’s his best film to date.  What makes Female Trouble stand out is its wide ensemble of characters: Divine is at her best as the money hungry and psychotic Dawn Davenport; Mary Vivian Pearce makes a hysterical Donna Dasher, a pseudo-sophisticate salon owner; Mink Stole is beyond impressive as Dawn’s daughter Taffy, ridiculously/hilariously embodying a child’s role (think Martin Short in Clifford); and Edith Massey does not get any better as the foul-mouthed, homosexual loving Ida Nelson, otherwise known as Dawn’s arch nemesis.  Waters is still clinging close to his usual thematic exploration of serial killers and testing just how far social deviants can stray outside the constraints of social norms, but manages to make the trip enjoyable by not taking the material too seriously.

Polyester (1981)

Watching a suburban housewife’s life fall apart has never been so much fun until now.  Divine stars as the well-rounded Francine Fishpaw, wife of unfaithful and cruel pornographic film director Elmer Fishpaw.  As Francine loses her husband and children to a detestable secretary, punk boyfriend, and a violent foot fetish, she still manages to find solace in her long time friend Cuddles Covinsky, who has recently inherited a significant amount of cash.  Even with the film’s interactive offering of Odorama, enabling viewers to actually smell what appeared on screen via scratch and sniff cards, it is Divine and Edith Massey who steal the show here.  Massey is bravely comical as Cuddles, poorly fitting into a nouveau riche persona and even her clothing.  Watching these two interact, especially as they each split a large cake and two two liter bottles of soda between them, is truly unforgettable.

Serial Mom (1994)

Once again, Waters explores the theme of serial killer, and more comically, a wildly unrealistic view of the justice system.  Kathleen Turner (Beverly Sutphin) brilliantly plays the ideal matriarch of an impossibly ideal household.  As ideal as Mrs. Sutphin may seem, it does not take long for her serial killer inclinations to surface, stabbing neighbors with scissors and bashing their brains in with a heavy duty slab of meat.  Despite the obvious humor that results from Mrs. Sutphin’s brutal slayings over minor offenses (forgetting to rewind a videotape), the film’s most noteworthy sequence takes place in the courtroom.  Actresses Mink Stole and Mary Jo Catlett achieve comic genius once they get on the stand, one swearing up a storm and the other reluctantly admitting (to everyone’s shock) that she doesn’t recycle.  Waters’s campy style greatly pays off here, allowing viewers to find unapologetic humor in even the most twisted of scenes.

Desperate Living (1977)

Out of all of the Waters films I’ve viewed, I would have to say that Desperate Living is the most outrageous…and that’s saying a lot.  The film begins with an actual cooked rat being served at a fancily set dining table.  The rat is then salted, cut up, and eaten, and manages to set quite an appropriate tone for the remainder of the film.  Mink Stole plays a crazed housewife who flees her home with her maid, and the two end up in the garbage heap that is Mortville.  Waters used actual bums in order to populate the artificial Mortville setting, which further enhanced the town’s poverty stricken feel.  The film contains some exceptionally controversial moments: a babysitter negligently stuffing a baby in a fridge, a full on nudist colony, and the infamous portraits of Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson hanging in the Queen of Mortville’s art gallery.  Although Desperate Living may be a film of purely bad taste, it should be viewed and appreciated for exactly that.

Cecil B. DeMented (2000)

Clearly a play on the name of director extraordinaire Cecil B. DeMille, Cecil B. DeMented is a bold take on the traumatic events involving Patricia Hearst’s kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army.  Patricia Hearst was even a good enough sport to poke fun at herself with a small role in the film, as she has done in a number of Waters’s films.  A lunatic indie filmmaker (played by Stephen Dorff) kidnaps top billing actress Honey Whitlock (played by Melanie Griffith) to star in one of his rebellious productions.  The performances of the off film crew, including Alicia Witt and Maggie Gyllenhaal, are surprisingly quite bad, that is all but Griffith’s performance.  How Waters even managed to convince the Working Girl to star in this film is a mystery to me, but her performance as a traumatized kidnap victim turned fighter for the underground film movement is both laugh out loud funny and memorable.  What still remains most significant about this film is Waters’s clear stance on recycled Hollywood movies that are devoid of true substance, yet garner in all sorts of accolades and viewership.  As DeMented as Waters may be, at least he acknowledges that the world of major motion pictures is in dire need of some fine tuning.

Top Movie Composers

As I discussed in my “Top Movie Soundtracks” article, a movie’s score and soundtrack are just as vital to constructing the world of the film as the cinematography or mise-en-scene.  The score becomes both an extension and part of the film, further enhancing its story, performances, and overall impact.  There are a number of scores that will be forever ingrained in the minds of most film lovers, such as John Williams’s Star Wars score and composer Bernard Hermann’s Psycho score.  A moving score is a crucial part of a good film in that the music dictates where the narrative will go, and of course how the viewer will weigh and consider what he or she views.

I’m very aware that there are innumerable admired and successful composers that I have failed to mention in this article, but I feel the five I’ve selected not only bring a creative edge to their projects, but propel the films they work on to heights that actors and sets could not reach alone.

Clint Mansell

 

Mansell is an English composer most recognized for the scores he composes for director Darren Aronofsky’s films.  I feel that the work Mansell creates for Aronofsky is his strongest, as it is always recognizable for its dreamlike and electrically experimental essence.  Mansell has composed the scores for Aronofsky’s Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and Black Swan.  Aside from his work with Aronofsky, Mansell has also composed scores for the films: The Hole, Abandon, Sonny, and Suspect Zero.

If you are new to Clint Mansell’s work, I would highly recommend giving a listen to the soundtracks The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream.  He has earned much attention and accolades for his work on The Fountain, including a Golden Globe nomination.

Angelo Badalamenti

Badalamenti earned much success when he first collaborated with Nina Simone; however, he is most acknowledged for the many scores he’s composed for director David Lynch.  Badalamenti and Lynch are an ideal team because of their willingness to defy convention and have fun with darker, eerier themes.  He composed the scores for Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (also composed score for television series), Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive.  Badalamenti’s other film scores include: The City of Lost Children, Holy Smoke, The Beach, Secretary, A Very Long Engagement, Dark Water, and The Edge of Love.  He even composes for Bravo’s hit series Inside the Actors Studio.

Angelo Badalamenti’s scores for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and The City of Lost Children are movingly impressive, and would be worth investing in.

Alexandre Desplat

It is highly likely that you’ve already encountered French composer Alexandre Desplat’s quietly enchanting scores.  He has worked on major motion films like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and the teen vampire hit New Moon to the French drama Une aventure.  I first took notice of Desplat’s composing skills when I saw Jonathan Glazer’s Birth, starring Nicole Kidman.  The score is absolutely brilliant and appropriately enhances the moody mystery of the film.  Shortly following, I couldn’t help but notice how often Desplat’s name popped up on various score credits.  Desplat has also worked as composer on the films: Hostage, Casanova, Syriana, The Painted Veil, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, The Golden Compass, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Julie and Julia, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Ghost Writer.

Out of all of Desplat’s scores, I would have to recommend Birth as the one to listen to before all the others.

Akira Yamaoka

Japanese composer Akira Yamaoka hardly has an extensive list of film credits, but he has composed all of the music for the Silent Hill video games, which was also used in Christophe Gans’s gory filmic telling of the video game.  Yamaoka is notorious for his bone chilling, thunderous lyrical pounding and his serene piano pieces that have come to represent Silent Hill as much as Pyramid Head.  I think it can easily be argued that the film Silent Hill was able to remain faithful and representative of the video game(s) not only because of the superb sets and character replication, but because Yamaoka’s haunting score was kept and actually used.

All of Akira Yamaoka’s Silent Hill scores are worth listening to.  Even better, all of Yamaoka’s Silent Hill soundtracks are available for free online.

Zbigniew Preisner

Zbigniew Preisner is a Polish composer who most often collaborated with director Krzysztof Kieslowski, composing gorgeous scores for equally moving films.  Preisner received significant attention once he composed Kieslowski’s Three Colors films: Three Colors: Blue, Three Colors: Red, and Three Colors: White.  His other significant scores include Damage, The Secret Garden, and When a Man Loves a Woman.  Preisner has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, one for his work on Three Colors: Blue.  Although he is more acknowledged and admired in Europe, American audiences have slowly started to take notice of his work, especially with hits like The Secret Garden.

For anyone just discovering Preisner’s large body of work, I would recommend giving the soundtracks The Secret Garden and Three Colors: Blue priority.

The Young and the Restless: A New Wave of Promising Young Actors (Older Post)

There are a number of young actors taking Hollywood by storm.  This no longer simply includes the Twilight Saga cast or Lindsay Lohan.  A younger generation of performers is making it known that they’re taking their craft seriously, as well as the projects that they attach their names and reputations to.  Some may stem from Hollywood royalty (Zoe Kazan, Elia Kazan’s granddaughter) or are just beginning to make an impression on the filmic world (Portia Doubleday of Youth in Revolt).  A number of novel fresh faces will be gracing the screen in a variety of much anticipated upcoming films, such as The Social Network, Black Swan, and Daydream Nation, and it’s nice to know that Michael Cera and Amanda Seyfried won’t be stealing the spotlight…for once.

I’ve compiled a list of promising young actors that have either already received your attention or that you’ll surely take note of in the future.

The Cast of Skins (Series 3 and 4)

 Kaya Scodelario (Effy Stonem)

Ollie Barbieri (JJ)

Lisa Backwell (Pandora Moon)

Luke Pasqualino (Freddie Mclair)

Jack O’Connell (Cook)

Kathryn Prescott (Emily Fitch)

Lily Loveless (Naomi Campbell)

Megan Prescott (Katie Fitch)

Merveille Lukeba (Thomas Tomone)

Skins is a British teen drama that mercilessly explores and profoundly trespasses on the lives of a group of teens in Bristol, England.  The show is known for probing contentious storylines but equally credited with accurately portraying the complicated and unruly circumstances of young adulthood.  The entire cast is replaced following every two series, enabling viewers to be constantly exposed to refreshingly new and young talent.  Out of all the series I’ve viewed of Skins, the young actors from Series 3 and 4 impressed me most.  Kaya Scodelario dove right into her character’s mental illness with a subtle brilliance; Kathryn Prescott’s and Lily Loveless’s characters began a quite touching romance that created a much unexpected fan base; Luke Pasqualino seemed more than at home playing a tortured soul that meets his end by someone even more tortured than he; and Jack O’Connell’s Cook is perhaps the most memorable of all, with an endless appetite for nourishment, sex, entertainment, and love.

Out of all the actors mentioned in this list, the Skins cast from Series 3 and 4 hold the most potential.  I’m more than certain I’m not the only one who looks forward to any future work they do.  Be on the lookout for Series 5 of Skins, an American adaptation of the show by MTV, and of course the Skins movie.

Rooney Mara

You may not recognize the name just yet, but once you see The Social Network and the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you’ll probably start to take a lot more notice of Mara.  She’s had some roles in Youth in Revolt and the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake, but everyone seems to be fixated on the fact that she is set to play Lisbeth Salander.  Director David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and now The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) appears to be more than convinced that Mara can pull off the rough around the edges Salander, as he clearly insists on working with her.  Avid fans of Stieg Larsson’s novels are still a bit nervous about Mara, considering how wonderfully Noomi Rapace portrayed the beautifully troubled character.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if Rooney Mara can in fact deliver.

Joseph Mazzello

 

That young boy who charmed us all in Jurassic Park, Star Kid, and Simon Birch is finally all grown up and appears to have at least learned something from his early work.  He’s been turning heads recently with his portrayal of Eugene B. Sledge in HBO’s highly acclaimed miniseries The Pacific.  He also appears with Mara in Fincher’s The Social Network.  As it’s customary for child actors to fade into oblivion with age, here’s to hoping Mazzello sticks around for a while longer.

Jennifer Lawrence

Lawrence has appeared in a few notable indie films, such as Garden Party, The Poker House, The Burning Plain, and Devil You Know.  But it wasn’t until she took on the role of Ree Dolly in Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone that viewers could no longer overlook Lawrence’s surprising and honest skill.  The film did very successfully throughout the festival circuit, even earning a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.  I feel a lot of the film’s success is due to Lawrence’s performance and grasp of such a harsh storyline and an unflinchingly devoted character.  It would not have been an easy task for just any young actress.  Lawrence is also set to play Raven Darkholme/Mystique in X-Men: First Class.  I can assure you she will be one to watch.

Aaron Johnson

Johnson certainly knows how to make headlines.  Many can’t seem to deal with the fact that 20-year-old Johnson is not only engaged to 43-year-old director Sam Taylor-Wood, but is also fathering their first child.  Perhaps Taylor-Wood merely noticed something promising in Johnson before the rest of us did.  Johnson is most recognized for his role of Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass in Kick-Ass.  He’s also getting significant attention for his portrayal of a young John Lennon in Taylor-Wood’s Nowhere Boy, where the couple met.  With upcoming projects, including The Phone, Chatroom, and Kick Ass 2: Balls to the Wall, and even a nude photo shoot with his pregnant fiancée in the latest issue of German Vogue, Johnson and Wood seem to be doing more than fine despite the controversy they’ve managed to stir.