#47-49. Alien - Analysis

Alien film posterSynopsis

Seven crewmembers aboard the spacecraft Nostromo are awakened from hyper-sleep when their ship picks up an unknown radio signal from a nearby planet. A team of three astronauts: Kane, Dallas, and Lambert, are sent to explore the ship that has crashed and emitting the SOS signal. Once inside the desolate ship, Kane finds an enormous chamber filled with countless incubating eggs. His investigations prove to be injudicious when the inhabitants of one of the eggs (eventually dubbed a “facehugger”) penetrates his helmet and forcefully thrusts itself inside his body through his mouth.

After Kane is brought back on board the lead science officer Ash, along with the ship’s captain Dallas, try to remove the creature off Kane’s face. Finding out the monster bleeds a liquid similar to acid; the men discontinue their efforts and opt to wait it out. Luckily the creature eventually dies and Kane awakens, but only moments later while the crew eats a celebratory meal, everyone finds out that the monster had in fact impregnated Kane. The newly gestated creature, called a xenomorph, makes a spectacular entrance by bursting through Kane’s chest. This creature rapidly increases in size and begins to hunt and kill each crewmember one by one.

Over several extremely heinous and violent events 3^rd Officer Ripley learns of her Company’s ulterior motives, discovers Ash is in fact a robot and ultimately becomes the last survivor of the Nostromo. She decides to blow up the ship, along with the alien and cargo while escape in an emergency shuttle. Of course, the creature follows her in the escape, where Ripley successfully rockets the alien into outer space.

Alien film posterPremise and Opening

The premise of Alien is established only minutes into the film. Seven crewmembers aboard the commercial towing spacecraft Nostromo are prematurely awakened from hyper-sleep when the vehicle’s artificial intelligence system (called Mother) detects a signal of unknown origin. Although it is nearly six-minutes into the film before the first line of dialogue is spoken, the premise of the film is setup within the opening scene.

Writer Dan O’Bannon and director Ridley Scott chose to open the film by establishing viewers to the silent and claustrophobic world of the Nostromo before introducing the crew. The camera slowly moves across the enormous ship exterior allowing enough time for the craft’s unimaginable size to resonate. Quickly the film cuts to the ship’s interior by weaving through the hallways of the Nostromo before ultimately settling at the pilot’s station. The terminal abruptly blinks to life, reflecting off the empty masks of the team. It is after the ship finishes its startup sequences that the audience is finally introduced to the groggy and homesick crew.

Exposition

Dan O’Bannon’s script uses exposition sparingly. He offers very little back-story to perhaps add to the film’s suspense and paranoia. The film opens with the bleak openness of space, the crew’s vessel the Nostromo, and perhaps the only pertinent piece of exposition in the entire film:

            Commercial towing vehicle ‘The Nostromo’

                        Crew: seven

                        Cargo: refinery processing 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore

                        Course: returning to earth

After this initial information, the film does very little to acclimate the audience to the environment or situation these seven characters find themselves. There are brief introductions, where the audience learns names and rank, and throughout scenes of action the characters’ jobs and responsibilities are made clear. There is another example of exposition in Alien, however slight it may be. It deals with Parker (an African American) and his lackey Brett; the wrench-turners on board the Nostromo. Throughout the first act their incessant arguing over the “bonus situation”, the audience has a glimpse into the Company the crew works for. A simple set-up to what will be a major theme of the film.

Alien film posterDramatic Irony

In Alien the use of dramatic irony is successfully traded for the suitable genre tools of surprise and suspense. From the moment the crew is awakened, the audience is only allowed information when it is given to characters on screen. When the facehugger first attaches itself to Kane and is brought aboard, no explanation to Kane’s condition or details of the alien species is awarded to the viewer until the characters discover it for themselves. This method of storytelling is employed through the film’s ending. While the seven human beings are systematically picked off by the seemingly indomitable xenomorph, there is never an instance when the audience is made aware of the creature’s position in the ship until it shows itself to the man or woman it is about to violently mutilate.  The result is a shared experience of terror between the cast and the audience. The confusion is only intensified by the hysteria manifested on screen, which effectively produces the desired sensation of fear within the viewer.

Preparation and Aftermath

Scenes of preparation and subsequent aftermath abound in Alien. After Kane is attacked by the facehugger and left unconscious, he unceremoniously comes to. He awakes with an aggressive appetite and a great scene of preparation by contrast follows when the six other crewmembers join him for an impromptu meal in the dining room. The mood is light and cheerful because all seems to be working out in favor of the Nostromo. The dangerous acid-bleeding alien they brought on board has expired, in addition to the team member they thought was going to die, miraculously surviving. They joke around, eat heartily and celebrate their close call until the alien makes its terrifically gruesome return by way of Kane’s chest. There is a similar scene of preparation by contrast when Ripley believes she is alone in the escape shuttle in the 3^rd act. The audience silently watches as she finally begins to relax and prepare for her long journey back to earth, when in true horror genre fashion, the xenomorph arrives for one final scare.

A perfect example of aftermath occurs at the end of the picture. Ripley, having just launched the alien into the emptiness of space, sits calmly at a workstation recording her final report for the Nostromo. O’Bannon allows Ripley and the audience to reflect on their adventure and absorb the weight of the situation by naming each individual who lost their lives aboard the spacecraft. There are examples of aftermath that do not attempt to meditate on such dramatic significance as well. After Brett’s death at the hands of the xenomorph, the crew reconvenes and addresses the true magnitude of their disadvantage.

Alien film posterMain Tension, Culmination, and Resolution

By the end of the 1^st act the alien has been ushered on board the Nostromo by Capt. Dallas after it attached itself securely to Kane’s head. Up to this point it has not been made evident that Dallas is not the actual hero of the film. It is also at the end of the 1^st act that corporate greed and ulterior motives of the Company are initially hinted at. It is for these reasons the main tension may ask, “Will the Captain Dallas and his crew be able survive both the alien invader and the company’s ulterior motives while maintaining control of the Nostromo?”

The culmination of the film comes when Ripley finds out the truth behind the Company’s military weapons plan and that Ash is actually a cybernetic robot sent to secure the Company’s interests. It is after this when she learns of this information that she decides the only way she and the two surviving members will survive is by initiating “self-destruct” mode on the Nostromo and fleeing inside an escape spacecraft.

Alien’s resolution comes when Ripley exhaustively watches the Nostromo explode before her eyes. Her witnessing the death of the creature that killed her teammates and the destruction of the ship that guaranteed their fate. This moment in the film allows the audience to relax.

Theme

Thematically Alien is a very interesting, very deep film. This science fiction/horror genre picture is attempting to explore and exhibit the permeation of minorities into the traditionally white corporate structure and the desperate battle to maintain control. Throughout the 1970’s, African Americans and female workers had taken advantage of the momentum and rewards their respective equal-rights causes afforded them, placing them in positions once exclusively held by white-males. Ash, the Company’s robotic puppet, symbolizes both the desperation that white males of superior education and position were feeling during that decade. In addition, the determination of the corporate system, still controlled by the white male demographic, to hold onto their control they could feel gradually slipping away. Another prevalent theme of Alien is that of corporate greed and their worthless appraisal of human life. By gaining access to the ship’s computer control system, Mother, Ripley learns the Company’s true motives:

            PRIORITY ONE – ENSURE THE RETURN OF ORGANISM FOR ANALYSIS. ALL OTHER       CONSIDERATIONS SECONDARY. CREW EXPENDABLE.

Once Ripley discovers the Company values the alien more than the employee’s lives, she along with Lambert and Parker, decide to blowup the ship that contained the alien and all the cargo on board.  Thus, taking away control from the nameless company they work for and validate the value of human life, but sacrificing any chance of monetary indemnification.  

#46. Jackass 3D - Review

Jackass 3D

Let me preface this by saying I liked this film. It was funny, and gross, and everything else a Jackass film is supposed to be. But, as a diehard fan I must say, its time to pack up the double-sided dildos and hard-cups because the show is officially over. The magic is gone, and by magic I mean desperation. These guys not only shouldn’t be inflicting these inane stunts upon their aging bodies, but they don’t need to. It is just kind of depressing watching them take their hits, try to laugh, and then look down until the skit fades to black.

Think back to the masterful Jackass Number Two. Those pranks and stunts were great and imaginative, but the humor almost always came from when the camera was just left on and we got to relish in the aftermath of the cast’s stupidity. In 3D, the camera is forced to cut away quickly because the only thing left to watch is the sad look in the eyes of the tired cast and crew. Their eyes show both appreciation for being alive, and a conspicuous gleam of leeriness. When your pushing 40, and your legacy is based on the ability of withstanding blunt-force-trauma to your sack, leeriness is understandable.

Jackass 3D Cast

Anyone who knows me is already familiar with my opinion on 3D, and that opinion is that I hate it. Without going into it, I will say that Jackass 3D is probably one of the best films I have seen that has used 3D-technology to its benefit. Specifically the opening credits and the ending montage utilize the sophisticated camera and take full advantage of its capabilities.

I never thought I would say this, but I kind of hope that this third entry into the series will finally be a wrap on ol’ Knoxville and company. I don’t know what they will do now. I like Johnny Knoxville and his so called attempts at acting, but I am not sure what the other guys could do. Not that this matters because the film made a metric butt-ton of money, which will insure a fourth film. Jackass 4D? I don’t know, but if that means they are going to spray me in the face with piss while I wear my 3D glasses count me out. . . Oh whom am I kidding? I will be there opening day!

#45. The Wiz - Review

The Wiz poster / banner

Oh my God! This is one of the weirdest films I have ever seen. The Wiz is an all-African American retelling of The Wizard of Oz, set in 1970’s Harlem. Dorothy, played by Diana Ross, is a kindergarten teacher who lives with her Aunt Emma and from what I can tell hates everyone in her family. Her dog Toto gets loose during a snowstorm one evening, and somehow a tornado (in Harlem) sweeps Dorothy to the magical spray-painted world of Oz. Except unlike the original where Oz is a world unlike anything young Dorothy had ever seen, Oz in this film is just Harlem. Sure everyone sings in this world, but its still just Harlem!

It is hard to look at this film without a critical eye, because it is really bad. The editing is chopping (even for a musical) and it severely handicaps the plot and pacing. The writers and director seem to solely rely on our knowledge of the original Wizard of Oz, wasting little time making sense of the story. The film’s villain is only mentioned once (I am not even kidding) until the “epic” battle at the end of the second act.

The Wiz film cast

The songs for the most part were ok, but the majority of them all sound like “Cheer up Charlie” and you know what that means: Fast Forward! Toto is a little shit in this film too! In The Wizard of Oz Toto is an instigator for sure, but still charming. In this movie he runs on screen for a few moments to start some shit for poor Dorothy, and then runs off screen again. I swear Dorothy goes 15 minutes in some spots without ever seeing Toto or even wondering where he is. Speaking of Dorothy, I hate to say it, but Diana Ross is a horrible actress. She gives the character of Dorothy about as much pathos as Ben Affleck provides his character in Armageddon.

Michael Jackson in The WizAlthough I am pretty sure I hated this flick, I can understand its appeal. It has real camp charm, and anyone who grew up watching it probably has fond memories (Beth). The set design, art direction, and costumes are really spectacular. They spent a lot of time and effort giving this film a distinct look, and that effort is apparent on screen.

It is too bad I didn’t like this film more; I wanted to enjoy my time in black Oz. But, without even comparing it to the original 1939 classic, or the 1985 horror sequel Return to Oz, I can tell you this is not a good film. It is a disjointed, confused, re-imagining of a simple story lazily given a fresh coat of “urban.” But, it has Michael Jackson playing the Scarecrow, so you know I had to buy it!

If you have seen and like The Wiz, I would appreciate it if you left a comment explaining yourself, and tell me why I am wrong or at least what I missed.

***SORRY NO TRAILER***

#44. Raavan - Review

Raavan film posterI have a confession to make; I fell in love while I was in South Korea. Over my weeklong adventure I was introduced to countless new experiences. I tried foreign delicacies I couldn’t even pronounce. I imbibed in alcohol and tried to communicate with the locals. The women were beautiful and they were everywhere, constantly attracting my gaze wherever I went. But it wasn’t the food, or the wine, or even the women that stole my heart in South Korea.  It was Raavan. It was the beauty of Bollywood that tamed this beast!Beera Munda (Abhishek Bachchan) in Raavan

I never thought in a million years I would like a Bollywood film. From what I could tell, they all looked and sounded the same. Ridiculous plots drenched with melodrama and overacting, hidden behind interruptive dance numbers that I assumed only served as a distraction. The jump cuts, the hyperactive close-ups and pans, what else could I expect from Indian Cinema?

My expectations be damned! What I was given was two hours in a world I had never seen. Raavan is more fairytale than film, and I was enthralled from word go. The story is timeless, filled with princesses and genies, magic and whimsy. Accept instead of a prince we have a police officer, and instead of an evil reaver we are offered an uncharacteristically multifaceted villain. This “villain” is the enthralling Beera Munda (Abhishek Bachchan), a modern Indian Robin Hood who is capable of both dastardly deeds and sincere good. After a local police officer kills Munda’s sister, the bandit kidnaps the officer’s wife Ragini (Aishwarya Rai) and makes his escape in the jungle. Within the tangled vines of the lush jungle, a new love grows. Could the beautiful Ragini fall in love with her brute captor? Would Munda sacrifice his cause for an attempt at having a normal life?

Raavan was unlike anything I have ever experienced. There is something so pure in the way Mani Ratnam directed this film, and I really do believe it could have only come out of Bollywood. The complete lack of cynicism is refreshing, and although every stylistic choice in the film is ridiculous the movie never makes fun or laughs at its characters. The bright colors surrounding the actors worked in congress with their opulent smiles. Aishwarya Rai, who plays the distressed damsel in the film, may be the prettiest woman I have ever seen.

Raavan film Beera Munda (Abhishek Bachchan) and Ragini (Aishwarya Rai)I would be lying if I said I understood everything that was going on in Raavan. There definitely seems to be something lost in translation as far as metaphors and themes go, but it does not matter. I enjoyed this film and I cannot wait to experience more of what Indian cinema has to offer. The only film I have seen since is the Bollywood classic Deewar (1975) As in Raavan; Deewar pits two men against each other. The men are on opposite sides of the law, but both love the same woman and are willing to die for her. While Deewar deals with the love a son has for his mother, it never asks questions regarding the Oedipus complex that may for all I know be a major theme any many Indian films. Raavan on the other hand is more traditional with its plotting. Two men fall in love with one woman, which man will the woman choose? Its pure melodramatic ecstasy, and I for one couldn’t take my eyes off of the screen.

The hyperactive zooms and close-ups were there, but not nearly as distracting or campy as they were in Deewar. Raavan does also occasionally break into song and dance, a Bollywood tradition. I was nervous these musical interludes would only halt the pacing of the film, but to my surprise it seems they do also serve a purpose. Every time Beera or Ragini would erupt into song, it was right after a scene of extreme sexual tension. I think the Bollywood dance routines are in fact metaphors. They don’t just represent sex either, but any form of heightened emotion. In Deewar, younger brother Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor) is unconsciously thrust into song several times throughout the picture. Once when he is with his fiancé, rolling around together in the grass, there is a cut and all of a sudden both characters are skipping and singing along, as if it was normal. These whimsical recesses are as silly as they are entertaining. What should serve to only distract the audience and kill the pacing actually increases not only my enjoyment of the film, but my emotional connection with the characters.

Sadly, I am back in America now. I turn on the television every night, with my wife by my side and all I can do is sigh. I can flip through the channels for hours, and yet my Bollywood fetish cannot be fulfilled. I lay awake at night staring out my window and gaze upon the luminous moon and wonder, are Ragini and Beera Munda lying next to each other in some exotic Indian jungle, looking at the same moon? I tell myself they are, and I fall asleep.

#43. I Saw The Devil - Review

I Saw the Devil banner / poster

I Saw the Devil is Kim Jeewoon’s best attempt at emulating Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy and keeping up with South Korea’s tradition of making excellent revenge pictures. Regrettably Jeewoon misunderstood what made Oldboy so engaging, and instead of having equal parts style and substance, I Saw the Devil unfortunately deflates into an exercise of excessiveness. And yet, this oddly not by-the-numbers genre flick is a total blast, and director Jeewoon’s perhaps knows what his audience craves better than anyone else.

The film’s plot is regular revenge fair. After secret agent Dae-hoon’s (Byung-hun Lee) pregnant girlfriend is kidnapped and murdered by local sociopath Kyunk-Chui (Min-sik Choi), the grieving agent decides to take the law into his own hands. Using all of the knowledge and tools at his disposal, Dae-hoon manages to track Kyunk-Chui down and insert a tracking device inside his body. Having the murderer on a bloody leash, to what depths will Dae-hoon willingly sink in order to exact his revenge?

I Saw the Devil film

With such great set-up, I was disappointed to see the film devolve so quickly into normal torture-porn territory. It seems Jeewoon became more interested in how Dae-hoon would get his revenge then necessarily why. Apparently the film’s original cut was so brutally graphic it could not pass South Korean censors, and I can see why. Having watched an uncut version of the film, it is obvious the director took much joy in bringing such heinous barbarism to the screen. I have confessed to loving horror movies and films interested in a more violent side of human nature, and even I was often gleefully shocked at what I was watching. The majority of the film shows this cat and mouse game between Dae-hoon and Kyunk-Chui, where the agent finds the murderer, severely abuses him, then pays for the hospital bill so he can do it all over again.

The philosophical quandaries at the heart of this film do not seem to be of much importance to the filmmaker. The idea of a man turning into a monster in order to kill another is cliché, and honestly is presented with a take-it or leave-it fashion throughout the final moments of the film. Jeewoon may hope you find some deeper meaning in his film, but he was obviously more concerned with realism. For instance, when Dae-hoon slices Kyunk-Chui’s Achilles’ tendon it looks unbelievable real!

I Saw the Devil film

Unlike Takashi Kitano’s Outrage, which also screened at the Pusan International Film Festival, I Saw the Devil does not play like a creative satire or spoof of the genre. Instead, it feels like an amalgamation of scenes and plot points that have been seen in many of the Tartan Asian Extreme dvd releases of the last decade. Perhaps, when Kyunk-Chui attacks a helpless woman with a hammer the director was only presenting homage to the now classic film Oldboy (2003) (which also stars Min-sik Choi). The brutality is not without cause. Similarly violent films like The Isle (2000), Audition (1999), and the Three Extremes series (2004) were all filmed with extreme, disturbing cinema in mind. Thanks to distribution labels like the previously mentioned Tartan Films and the Weinstein Company owned Dragon Dynasty, western audiences now crave this exotic Asian brand of torture.

Thankfully I Saw the Devil met all of my expectations, at least visually. The film may leave something to be desired in regard to originality and character development, but that is not really why I watch these films. Chi-Yun Shin wrote in her article examining Tartan Films that the distributor has come to “rely on the western audiences’ perception of the East as weird and wonderful, sublime and grotesque” (2). This is true, but with films like I Saw the Devil and Outrage being made, it seems like the Asian directors that helped create the “extreme” genre are now sick of playing the fool. Once a provocateur with stylish films A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and A Bittersweet Life (2005), Jeewoon’s latest offering provides copious amounts of “extreme” and “grotesque,” but not enough of the “weird” and “sublime” that evened out his earlier films.

Still, the heart wants what it wants, and I wanted a perverse Asian extreme film. Jeewoon serves up a brain-dead helping of torture porn, holding the sides of character development, creativity, and plot. I was left with a heaping mound of sadism and despair. Like any good American I gorged until I was full, but now I am wondering if that makes me a fool? 

#42. Seven Days - Review

7 Days film posterImagine an intense French version of 2009’s Law Abiding Citizen; with less Jamie Foxx and more insane torture sequences, and you will get Seven Days. When a surgeon’s daughter is raped and murdered, he kidnaps her assailant and tortures him for seven days. The set-up is pretty basic, but it’s all about the execution (uh thank you) for a film centered on wretchedness. The film manages to come up with some original methods of maltreatment, including sphincter-relocation… but I will let you figure that one out on your own. The pacing is solid and it does not shy away from its major themes. Check it out, and let me know what you thought.

#41. Election - Review

Election film posterIf you can’t tell, I geek out on Asian cinema, specifically their gangster pictures. Yakuza and triad films usually follow the same basic plot path of any other gangster picture, but always seem more appealing. Election is one of those films. When a local Chinese triad elects its newest biannual chairman, the symbolic baton that is usually passed on has been stolen. Badass-machete-wielding triad thugs have to go find it and bring it back. That’s the movie, at least what you need to know. Its not the best film, but its one of the better genre films on Instant Queue right now, so check it out and let me know what you think.