Category: Media Studies

Mulholland Dr. – Story Summary – Analysis – Explanation

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Summary:

David Lynch has always been obsessed with getting beneath the surface. From the start of his most famous film, Blue Velvet (1986), where the camera dived beneath a lawn to reveal a subterranean world of gigantic insects, reality in Lynch’s works always seems to be a cover for something more evil and monstrous. Mulholland Dr. is perhaps the apotheosis of this, taking the analytical eye to the extreme in its examination of fairy-tale Hollywood and its frightening underbelly. After a car accident, Hollywood actress ‘Rita’ becomes a confused amnesiac, adrift in Los Angeles. Concurrently, a young ingénue, Betty, arrives in Tinseltown keen to make her name. When the two women discover each other, they are drawn into an increasingly-disturbing fantasy, where the glossy veneer of LA is peeled back to reveal a nightmare world of mistaken identity, murder, love affairs and more besides. Can Betty help ‘Rita’ discover who she once was? Is . . . Read More

Hurt Locker: Story Synopsis & Analysis

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Synopsis: 

Staff Sergeant William James, a soldier known for his ability to disarm bombs whilst under fire, joins his latest detail in Iraq and finds he is an unwelcome presence: his new teammates, Sergeant JT Sandborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge, are mourning the loss of their previous commanding officer, Sergeant Matt Thompson, whose zen-like approach to bomb disposal is immediately contrasted by James who, comparatively, behaves like a bull in the proverbial china shop. The three soldiers gradually bond during the remaining month of their tour, with Sandborn and Eldridge initially infuriated by James’ impulsive actions in dangerous situations, but eventually respecting his bravery and the efficiency with which he makes life-and-death decisions. They dismantle a bomb in a crowded public area, evade sniper fire in the open desert, and become involved with a local boy who makes a living selling pirate DVDs. James attends sessions with the base . . . Read More

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Summary, Analysis

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Bene! Bene! Bene! Sergio Leone is the master craftsman of the ‘Spaghetti Western’ and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is his masterpiece. An Italian director shooting Spain as the American West could not help but invent a genre. Sergio Leone reflects the old world taking a fresh and distinct account of the new. It is Europe in a reciprocal relationship with America. The American West is here for the first time portrayed outside of the USA and therefore outside its sensibilities and biases (and some would say ‘accuracy’. 

As The Godfather series similarly did with the mobster genre, Leone doesn’t make a Western so much as an opera applied to a Western backdrop. The drama is painted with broad strokes on a Spanish location that could not be less realistically the US Southwest, if it were a canvas backdrop on an operatic stage. Within grand themes he then applies a kind of ‘stylised realism’. 

The music is iconic: Ennio Morricone’s famously eerie . . . Read More

Gimme Shelter (Movie): Summary & Analysis

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Following them on a 1969 US tour, Gimme Shelter catches the Rolling Stones at their absolute apex. Interspersed with the live performance footage, we see the negotiations between lawyers and promoters who must find a last-minute alternate venue for a free concert scheduled in San Francisco. They decide on Altamonte Speedway. All events in the film lead to this event. 

Intended to be the West Coast answer to Woodstock, the word ‘Altamonte’ has come to mean to live entertainment what ‘Waterloo’ means to French Cavalry. The speedway owner offered his venue hoping to generate free publicity, and I am sure he got more than he could have imagined. During the concert, the film crew actually captured the stabbing to death of a concert attendee by a Hell’s Angels member not 30 feet from the Rolling Stones’ performance stage. 

If a cautionary tale can also be exhilarating, this is it. If Woodstock makes you nostalgic for a bygone era, Gimme Shelter will . . . Read More

Get Carter: Synopsis & Analysis

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Based on Ted Lewis’ pulp novel Jack’s Return Home, Mike Hodges took an interesting scenario and vastly improved upon the material. The film follows Jack Carter (Michael Caine), a no-nonsense right-hand man to a top London gangster (playwright John Osborne as a sinister Mr. Big, Cyril Kinnear). Carter is well known for his ruthlessness. His brother has died in what is alleged to be a drink-driving accident, and Carter goes home to Newcastle for the funeral. He suspects murder and he is right. Slowly and surely the plot reveals the ghastly details. As Jack uncovers the truth, anyone with the slightest connection begins to regret it. 

Hampering Carter’s investigations are Cyril Kinnear’s representatives from London. The boss doesn’t appreciate his links with the Newcastle mob being damaged. Initially they try to negotiate and placate Carter. When they attempt to buy him off, it’s too late. When they resort to using force, they are no match for Carter’s steely . . . Read More

Fritz the Cat (Movie): Analysis

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There was a time when the very idea of sex and violence in a cartoon was so antithetical it would draw audiences on the novelty alone. Fritz the Cat was the first of its kind to receive an X rating from the MPAA. Audiences flocked, making it a midnight-movie staple and a forerunner for cult cinemas as a recognised and marketable genre. It broke ground for animation as a subversive and adult art form. We are now quite accustomed to adult-themed japanimation and can watch cartoons like South Park, which on a weekly basis exceed the boundaries pressed by Fritz. But it is important to take the film in its historical context before judging it too harshly. Though it may appear dated, the very things that made it audacious for its time serve as an important document to the effort to exceed limitations. You name the hot topic of the late 60s, Ralph Bakshi went after it. 

Based on Robert Crumb’s groundbreaking underground comic, Bakshi took Fritz – an oversexed, cool and hip . . . Read More

Freaks (Movie): Summary, Explanation

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No matter how you approach it, Freaks is a peculiar piece of cinema. The title refers to people who make a living off their physical abnormalities on the carnival circuit. Not only are these ‘freaks’ the subject of the film, but also such performers make-up the majority of the cast. The graphic depictions of these people are fascinating enough, but the fact the film was made in the early 1930s makes it even more extraordinary. It simply does not fit any genre, and one has to admire the audacity of making it. 

The plot, though simple, is powerfully executed within the social microcosm of the sideshow circus. A midget named Hans (Harry Earles) falls in love with a beautiful trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova ). In order to win Cleopatra’s heart, Hans sacrifices the love of his long-time girlfriend and fellow midget Frieda (Daisy Earles). Cleopatra is in love with Strongman Hercules (Henry Victor) and repulsed by Hans until she discovers that Hans is . . . Read More

Redupers / The All-Round Reduced Personality – Summary, Analysis

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Summary: 

Edda Chiemnyjewski is a freelance photographer and single mother in late 1970s West Berlin, struggling to make a living from small commissions to photograph public events. Alongside her professional work, she has her own artistic projects – both individual and as part of a women’s photography collective – which try to capture the reality of the city in less hackneyed ways. Winning a commission from the city government, the women experiment with site-specific installations, with mixed results. Edda and her collaborators continually come up against obstacles, including entrenched sexist attitudes, condescending and dismissive. But Berlin itself, although battered and divided, remains a space of social possibility and aesthetic inspiration. 

Analysis: 

In West Germany, the political and cultural upheavals of the late 1960s gave new impetus to political cinema, and ushered in a new . . . Read More

The Red Shoes (Movie): Story Summary & Analysis

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Summary: 

Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s folk tale, the plot follows the career of Vicky Page (Moira Shearer) who rises to fame to dance the ballet of The Red Shoes. She falls in love with conductor Julian Craster (Marius Goring), but impresario Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), fiercely protective of Vicky’s career, forces Julian to resign. Vicky follows him in loyalty but marriage fails to fulfil her. While holidaying in Monte Carlo, she agrees once more to dance The Red Shoes ballet, but Julian arrives to persuade Vicky not to dance, making her choose between ambition and love. Lermontov dismisses Vicky: ‘Go with him, be a faithful housewife, a crowd of screaming children and finish the dancing forever!’ But as she tells Julian that she does love him, the camera cuts to her red shoes. His realisation that she loves dancing more than him precipitates his departure. Lermontov raises his arms in a gesture of triumph but, as Vicky . . . Read More

Rebel Without A Cause (Movie): Summary & Analysis

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Summary: 

Set in suburban Los Angeles, Rebel without a Cause tells the story of an affluent family and their troubled son, Jim, who makes friends at the local high school with equally troubled teenagers, Judy and Plato. Jim is teased by a group of high school students, particularly their leader Buzz, and in order to prove his manhood agrees to race stolen cars to an abyss, a competition during with Buzz gets killed. Jim and Judy escape to an abandoned mansion, where Plato joins them. When they are found, Plato starts shooting randomly, escapes and hides in the Griffith Observatory where it comes to the final standoff. 

Analysis: 

Rebel without a Cause was symptomatic of the fifties as a transitional era. A WarnerColor Cinemascope production starring James Dean and Natalie Wood, borrowing its title from a 1944 non-fiction book, the film was part of a larger shift in Hollywood towards addressing a . . . Read More