Blade Runner and Postmodernism

Blade Runner is a key example of a postmodern film. It encapsulates every single key elements regarding the postmodern condition, and addresses our awareness of modern times. The major reason why modern film audience finds so much resonance is ‘Blade Runner’ is due to its realistic portrayal of the contemporary situations they find themselves in.

The postmodern condition was defined by the philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard as the 'incredulity towards metanarratives'. Metanarratives are the structures that organize knowledge in a given era. They are the shared stories that members of a given culture or civilization have a sense of belonging to. It is the shared history that binds all the members together for a give culture.

Lyotard pointed out that in the ancient times, the metanarratives tended to be folk myths about the heroic deeds of the ancestors of the culture. By answering the question of 'when do we come from', these stories became ritualistic in terms of narrative, yet they were essential to organize the members of the culture, from the shared history for their origins.

For the modern era, Lyotard has also identified 2 key metanarratives. The first metanarrative is a teleological one, and it can be considered Hegelian. By using reason, humanity can strive for a final purpose of their existences, leading to absolute knowledge and the most perfect form possible. The second metanarrative is a socially-relevant one, in tune with socialism and Marxism. The metanarrative concerns the progress of human history, and by adopting the right kind of social reform, that will lead to an utopian condition.

One can easily see that all these metanarratives have a common feature : they try to organize knowledge and bind individuals together, so as to move towards a common aim. An individual, subject to the power of a metanarrative, feels that he has to belong and thus becomes a part of the grand narrative. This possibility is challenged by many thinkers of Postmodernism, as human existence in the modern era has become more fragmented rather than unifying.

In the world of ' Blade Runner', the metanarratives that governed it were put to challenges. The most obvious statement was the one from Tyrell's company. In an attempt to transcend the limit of humanity, Tyrell's company created bioengineered replicants as a new type of workhorse for humanity. The company's 'more human than a human is our motto' seems to be an idealistic direction at first sight. Yet, the metanarratives of absolute knowledge and technological progress have been put into question, because the film suggests that both of them may not be achievable at the end of the day.

The fact that technology could make more powerful replicants did not benefit humanity. By contrast, that actually threatened human welfare and led to the inception of blade runners. The motto was a deception : because when the company has made something beyond human, they only used it for the purpose of exploitation by other humans, as slaves, workers and pleasure models. There were no enlightenment of humanity in this scenario, because these novel life forms have not been granted any human dignity and they were always seen as sub-human.

Also, 'absolute knowledge' turned out to be a false promise. The emergence of replicants has actually blurred the line of human / non-human and raised epistemological questions around the definition of humanity. Is that you have to have a non-engineered life or a mind which is not implanted by someone else's memories? Roy Batty, having been a powerful replicant yet constrained by his 4-year lifespan, appeared to live fuller and has more enriching experience than Deckard and the other humans (To add to the insult Roy also had Pris as a girlfriend and Deckard was filing for a divorce until he met Rachel). The replicant also had more human characteristics like empathy, desire, instinct for self-preservation and fear of death, unlike the other human characters who were consumed by the cold and sterile environment. In this line of reasoning should Roy Batty be qualified as a human being, and be seen on equal terms with the other 'cold-fish' human characters?

That leads us to a philosophical question. Throughout the thousand of years, thinkers have been debating what really is reality and what approach can we reach that knowledge. As early as Parmenides in Ancient Greece, the 'appearance versus reality' question has emerged as the key theme of Metaphysics. Many philosophers have agreed that that exists an ultimate reality – the standard final answer for philosophy. Many of these philosophers believe that rational thinking is the only approach that can reach this final point, and they tend to distrust our senses as misleading and giving us false illusions regarding reality. Metaphysicans strive to look for reality, and often distrust appearance, as perceived from our senses, as mere illusions. This is 'metaphysical speculation', a term in particular preferred by the philosophers and scientists who believed in a more positivist or empirical approach. Because metaphysical statements are often unobservable and non-verifiable, positivists see these statements as speculative and meaningless. They are armchair philosophy – when a different thinker comes to sit on the armchair, a different answer will emerge.

In fact, from the earliest days of Western philosophy, certain thinkers have already cast doubt on such a metaphysical approach. The Sophist Protagoras has advocated a form of phenomenalism, and that was an empirical doctrine which was developed and embraced by some later philosophers. He believed that 'what is true for an individual is what appears to him from (subjective) sense impressions'. For Protagoras, an objective point of view did not exist, and that depended on the human's perspective. Therefore there is no point to engage in any metaphysical speculations, like whether there is objective knowledge or morality and the existence of God.

While the approach of phenomenalism may seem shallow because that appears to not bother with an objective reality, the approach challenges that we may be going the wrong direction when understanding ourselves. If our beliefs are always speculative, how can we be certain about the knowledge we have attained? In 'Blade Runner', such a question has been posed, though there may turn out to be more than one correct answers. Advocates of phenomenalism want to focus on knowledge that is attainable and observable, and get rid of the speculative aspect of knowledge. That just shows how complex human existence can be.

Juxtaposition is also a key idea of postmodernism. To juxtapose, is to overlap new and old elements into the same frame, thus creating a mixed totem of epoch. Blade Runner is about juxtaposition in many aspects. First, it is a film with multiple genres. Certainly, it will not be too hard to see it as a Science Fiction, yet the film contains notions of Film Noir - the expressionistic lighting and style, the underdog private eye, the femme fatale, and to a lesser extent, Western - the idea of bounty hunters. It belongs to the sub-genre of cyberpunk, juxtaposing with explicit contrast,  high material technology with low mental life. All the images in Blade Runner are splattered with novel technology and cultural heritage. Police hoover crafts flying through modern cityscapes and pyramid-like buildings, digital television screens on buildings, showing traditionally attired Japanese ladies, various people of different nationalities speaking different languages, Deckard eating sushi and drinking Tsing Tao beer. Blade Runner seems atemporal, or as Prince Hamlet would have put it, ‘the time is out of joint’. It is as if the wheels of time have been uncoupled, news and olds are merged into an organic unity. What we can see, is a mesmerizing and complex world, which is more than similar to our current, diverse lives.

Similar to ‘The Terminator’, the humans in ‘Blade Runner’ cannot be separated from their interactions with the machines and technology. The spatial dimension to define the Blade Runner lifestyle is the cyberspace. As the French philosopher Jean Baudillard has stated, the experience of postmodern condition appears like a simulacrum – as if we have entered into the game zone of a simulation. Isn’t that the case for our lives? We cannot live without social network, photo sharing sites, and, not to make myself hypocritical, this is a blog, right? This is absolutely true that cyberspace has led us all closer, but are we in control of ourselves, or are we over-relying on the material computer world?

Anyone who has watched Blade Runner should vividly remember one of the key mise-en-scenes of the film – the barrage of commercial brands throughout the film – be it Atari, Bell, Pan-Am, Coke and a million others. Indeed, consumerism is a postmodern condition. Quite unfortunately, some of us can be dehumanized in a sense by material consumption. These consuminators are absorbed into the various brand names, which they believe their shelves are defined by the very brands they are consuming. Our identities are defined by our personal cognitive beliefs, rather than an external, material or monetary force. To be original, one should certainly not to become too postmodern and succumb wholeheartedly to the clutches of simulacrum and consumerism, as it will certain stifle real thinking.

by Ed Law

Film Analysis

The Color of Pomegranates

'The Color of Pomegranates' is a poetry film from Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990), who was a Soviet filmmaker of Armenian descent. The film concerned the life of Sayat-Nova, the 18^th century Armenian poet. The story, however, was not presented in the style of 3-hour biographic films from American cinema. Parajanov presented the story in a poetic style, where the cinematic images were associative rather than narrative. The viewers have to construct the personality of Sayat-Nova themselves by engaging with the poetic images. Because of the stylized composition, the film did resemble the tippy drug films of the late 1960s, making it an unique cinematic experience.

Sergei Parajanov was considered as a bad boy in cinema, yet that certainly came with a cost for him. His cinematic style was so unique that he has established a firm spot in European Art Cinema, and he was admired by filmmakers like Godard, Antonioni and Tarkovsky. It was however his unique approach to film art that has attracted unwanted attention : when he was making films in the 1960s, his style served as a conflicting departure from the sanctioned style of Soviet Union of the day - Socialist Realism. Now that may not be a fair description for Parajanov - before 1965, most of his films were comfortably situated in the realm of Socialist Realism. After the viewing of Tarkovsky’s 'Ivan's Childhood', Parajanov was enlightened by the experimental nature of the film and came up with his own poetic style. From the late 1960s to early 1970s, Parajanov was marginalized by the Soviet Union film community, and given his controversial personality outside of cinema, he was imprisoned intermittently all the way to his death. For the last 25 years of his life, Parajanov has only made 4 feature films, all suffering from limited distribution and severe marginalization from the community alike. It was only at the final years of his life, when audience started to be aware of his work and watched in awe of these stunning achievement, which were created through so many constraints.

Parajanov’s discovery of his personal style reflected a larger trend of the art cinema of 1960s, which was the emphasis of Modernism in film art. Modernism was an important artistic force in the early 20^th century, coinciding with the dawn of cinema. The guiding principle of Modernism was the motto ‘from mimesis to poiesis'. For the Western literature of the late 19^th century, most authors intended to represent the world in a realistic approach, as if they were mimicking reality. Authors like Zola focused on human behaviors and observable phenomena around them, and this tendency was certainly influenced by rise of the positivist approach towards social science of that era. Termed 'naturalism', the practitioners from literature shared similarities to empirical scientists, who tried to test hypotheses and confirm theories through observation and experimentation.

At the early 20^th century, the movement of Modernism has shown a burgeoning development and many artists from different fields alike were having strong commitment to this interesting style. Modernism focused on poiesis, the experimentation of form and content. From the influence of Freud, Proust and Nietzsche, many of these artists focused on the inner mental (and unobservable) lives of individuals, through the applications of techniques such as oneiric imageries, multi-person narratives, stream of consciousness and internal monologues. Rather than a unified and coherent self implied by the naturalists, the modernist's individual self was fragmented, and this notion challenged the very conception of any essentialism regarding humanity.

It is ironic that Modernism has never become a mainstream style, as most practitioners tend to prefer a coherent narrative when telling a story. Indeed, when Parjanov first submitted the script of 'The Color of Pomegranates' to the studio, problems already emerged. His script was met with comments like 'subjective', 'incomprehensible' and 'unclear'.

The non-narrative tendency of the film was most evident from the composition in its many frames. Parajanov staged much of his film in the style of tableaux, featuring a lot of frontal, shallow focus and portrait shot. The stylized flatness from the visual feel resembled the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and the frontal / shallow focus combination also recalled many of Robert Bresson's films. Any attempt to establish a narrative continuity was derailed by the frequent use of jump cuts throughout the film. One can easily feel the deliberation by Parajanov here – through the cinematic juxtaposition, he created a kind of cinematic rhythm rarely seen in films. The poiesis from the image and sound of the film evoked the Imagist poems of Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. The spatial and temporal unity, as the key rule of great story-telling and cherished by some many filmmakers, has been deconstructed by this poetic warrior of cinema.

Even from the opening minutes of the film, Parajanov was already trading metaphoric images with the audience. Through a number of shots portraying still life and objects, Parajanov challenged the viewers to construct the meanings and the own perspective about the film, and the life experience of the Armenian poet. Parajanov showed himself to be a master of composition and mise-en-scene, and through the use of repetition of some key images throughout the film, that served as an imprinting effect on the mind of the viewers.

Even when young, Sayat-Nova has already demonstrated the key attributes of a gifted poet - by carrying out the metamorphosis of concrete sense impressions, desire and feelings into abstract metaphoric images. The way of poetry needs to transform from the concrete into the abstract, and to engage in a higher level of formalization and sublimation of thoughts.

However gifted one might prove himself to be, the essential component poetry are the vivid imaginations and the experience through life. Numerous critics have interpreted the significance of pomegranates in the film, and I don't have much to add to the established meanings. It is worth reiterating, though : the diverse taste of pomegranates symbolizes the various periods and sentiments of one's life. It is even more than that: through association one can put in all sort of meanings to this fruit, from the contrast of life and death to fertility and degeneration. It appears to me that the juices, flowing profusely from the fruit, also takes a sensual meaning, as if it symbolizes some sort of temptation through its uncanny resemblance to bodily fluids.

If we go further and see the development of Sayat-Nova into a poet, he seems to move through the phenomenal stage into the noumenal stage. That is, he experienced the sensuality throughout his life and eventually settled in an ascetic lifestyle, working as a monk and focused on creating art. The sexual awakening for Sayat-Nova happened in an early stage, when he spied upon the nude King and Princess in the sulfur baths. Desire might lead to inspiration, but when it was not controlled it would not lead to anything contributive. Through a nicely executed dream sequence, the poet had an opportunity for self-reflection and eventually decided to withdraw himself from the worldly desire and committed to asceticism.

A nice point from some viewers was that the poet sacrificed himself in a symbolic way – to give up his own self-interest and worked towards more universal aims. The recurring image of the dagger, along with some other Christian symbolisms, signified this martyrdom, charting Sayat-Nova’s journey towards a pure and spiritual existence. As per the Freudian sublimation, the impulses have been contained and put into creative use, inspiring the lovers of art from the future generations.

by Ed Law
Film Analysis

Winter Light

'Winter Light' is the second film of an informal trilogy by Ingmar Bergman, which is preceded by 'Through the Glass Darkly' and is followed by 'The Silence'. The trilogy explores the spiritual issues of human existence. A trend can be observed through the three films – from the spiritual perspective common in many of Bergman's earlier films to the more secular perspective in his later films. Though I prefer a more secular reading of 'Through the Glass Darkly' (mental illness as opposed to spiritual experience), for many Bergman's intention in the film was to demonstrate the possibility of spirituality. 'The Silence', in contrast, was signifying God's silence, and the film placed its focus on humanistic issues. That made 'Winter Light' an interesting transition because, this middle film appeared to have the most ambivalent tone in all three films. Conflicting interpretations abound from different viewers, and Bergman welcomed both spiritual and secular interpretations. He seemed to suggest that, no matter how modernized human societies have become, the issue of faith is just as thought-provoking as ever.

In 'Winter Light', Tomas was a pastor in a small rural church. His responsibility was to provide a channel for people to be closer to God. Yet, as many critics have agreed, what Bergman has tried to do in the film is to 'smash the proof of God'. Through Tomas' observations, he had plenty of evidence to conclude that (a) either God did not exist, or (b) God was not benevolent. Thus no place of Theodicy, and no pre-established harmony advocated by Leibniz.

Organized religion, for which Tomas was part of, has become a meaningless ritual, and it has failed to enlighten the people. Tomas suffered a spiritual crisis himself, and was consumed by apocalyptic paranoia. Marta, who was Tomas' ex-mistress and felt that Tomas has alienated her in their relationships, has proactively tried to mend fences with him. Yet, she was the most avid disbeliever of God. The whole issue has become a psychological one – when people encounter bad things in their lives, they are willing to deny God's existence in order to reconcile the harsh reality with their experience.

The scenario of 'Winter Light' reminds me of Paul Schrader's book on Transcendental Style. Tomas has passed through the 'everyday' – carrying out his duties in the church and also making sense of God's teachings for the people around him. He then faced 'disparity' - from his own experience and his interaction with others, he was on the verge of losing his faith no matter how he has tried to convince himself about religiosity. Thus, was 'transcendence' possible for Tomas?

That came to the most contentious part of the film, where viewers have drawn up their own conclusions. Bergman gave an open-ended answer. At the end, Tomas had to carry out the ceremony service even when there was only one person in the Church. More ironies were apparent – that single person was Marta, and the self-proclaimed atheist started to pray. The outcome regarding Tomas was just as ambivalent. While he has sorted out his thinking and come to admit of God's silence, something he would rather choose not to believe; he still provided the consolation of God's benevolence through the ceremony. Was it an existential understanding of his own status, or was the doubt regarding God's absence a necessary part to reach a firmer faith to God, like Christ on the Cross? As for Marta, while some viewers might interpret Tomas has convinced Marta of God's presence through the film, it could also simply be that Marta treasured the compassion with Tomas and came for an emotional support. Bergman might be subtle here, yet the focus has displaced from the existence of God to the possibility of human relationships, the central theme that has defined so many of the masterpieces in his later years.

by Ed Law

Film Analysis

Persona : Bergman x Ibsen x Strindberg

    Ingmar Bergman's 'Persona' is one of the most iconic films from the European Art Cinema of the 1960s. The unique and enigmatic style from Bergman has led the film to diverse interpretations over the years. On surface reading, Persona appears to be a film about the intimate relationships of the two female characters. That is in tune with Bergman’s turn from a more spiritual perspective in the 1950s to a focus on human relationships from the late 1960s. The film suggests companionship can be therapeutic when one is confronting existential angst and alienation that are inherent in human nature. 

    Yet if one looks beyond the surface of this apparent narrative, one will likely discover a more immanent meaning offered by Bergman. Along with Antonioni, Resnais, Godard, Straub and others, Bergman belonged to the cinematic Modernists from the 1960s to the 1970s, whose idiosyncratic films often defy straight-forward readings. In order to discover the new meanings, we have to two of Bergman’s influences, who have shaped the Modernist Drama in the early 20th century – Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg.   

    It is well known that Bergman has been heavily influenced by Ibsen and Strindberg. Other than the films he has directed, Bergman has been involved in a number of theater productions, including the most iconic plays from Ibsen and Strindberg. To Bergman, cinema is a distilled essence of his theater work, and the two art forms intertwine with each other. After all, who is a more suitable candidate to direct Ibsen's 'Ghosts' than someone like Bergman? 

Ibsen x (Bergman x Strindberg)

    Starting from a theatre grounded in realism, both Ibsen and Strindberg moved towards on symbolic and expressionistic style over their careers. The late plays by Ibsen can be considered the precursor of chamber plays, for which Strindberg has both reacted against and further developed at the same time. The chamber plays became a very popular type of theater at the early 20th century in Europe, popularized by Max Reinhardt and other theater directors. The popularity coincided with the rise of German Expressionism, and one can easily connect the dots of this towards Strindberg’s artistic tendency in his late plays. For a number of Bergman’s films, such as ‘Through a Glass Darkly’, ‘The Silence’, ‘Cries and Whispers’, ‘Autumn Sonata’, and ‘Persona’, can be categorized as cinematic ‘chamber plays’. If one watches a televised version of Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’ from UK (1987, directed by Elijah Moshinsky and starring Judi Dench), one will not find it to be too different from a typical Bergman film.  

    Many critics have noted that Strindberg’s plays, with their apparent naturalism, cannot be accepted at face value. A common technique adopted by both Strindberg and Bergman was to use characters in a non-realistic way, where they symbolized conflicting psychological drives from the same ego. From Strindberg’s ‘Miss Julie’ to the aforementioned Bergman films, they also served as nice examples. One can rationalize why chamber play is a great candidate to portray this kind of theme : because the ‘chamber’, usually a manor or a house, can symbolize a mental landscape, like the psyche as a totality; and the characters represented the differing psychic drives that battle for control and dominance. The 4 female characters in ‘Cries and Whispers’ symbolized 4 types of human sentiments, conflicting with each other in the red mental chamber until the end of one’s existence.   An example in American cinema, likely influenced by ‘Persona’, is Robert Altman’s ‘3 Women’. The film possesses an allegorical style and it certainly attracts a lot of different perspectives about its ‘meaning’ from the audience.  

(Ibsen x Bergman) x Strindberg

    Bergman has also been influenced a lot by Ibsen, and ‘Persona’ shared a number of themes from the Norwegian playwright. Elisabet Volger, the mute actress in ‘Persona’, can be seen as a continuation of Ibsen’s heroine. Ibsen, similar to Antonioni in cinema, has created some of the most iconic female characters in theater – From Hedda Gabler, Nora Helmer to Mrs. Alving, while his perspective could not be labelled as ‘feminist’, these female characters were instrumental because they reflected the problems of the society and culture they found themselves in.  

    Elisabet ceased to talk, not only as a pathological condition, but that served as a revolt. That represented Bergman’s modernist critique of language and the quest for stable meanings in the world. Alma, who was responsible for caring Elisabet, kept on asking ‘why’: Why are you not talking to me? Why don’t you response to anything? What is really on your mind? Alma tried to make sense of things and looked for reason. Yet from the start, Bergman has already taken sides. Much like Ibsen, who was critical of Romanticism and Platonic Idealism, Bergman has to defeat Alma – that represented the symbolic defeat of Idealism by Modernism. Ibsenism would prevail.

    It is the realization that Alma (Idealism) and Elisabet (Modernism) are really the Yin and Yang of a unity, and they represented the 2 fundamental drives of the psyche. As a reversal of fortune, Alma the nurse turned into the patient herself. Reminiscent of a psychoanalytic therapy, Alma observed that she has told everything to Elisabet, which she has never told anyone before. She understood that Elisabet would not have the slightest indication of response, yet this was a therapeutic experience for her. She developed a self-knowledge for herself after all these confessions. This again reconciled with Ibsen’s belief, that you can only gain full understanding when you look into the psychological makeup of the individual, not deceived by the persona by culture and society at large. 

  

by Ed Law

1 Feb 2020

Film Analysis

2019以戲服人集合

The Red Violin (F. Girard)

http://emockedlaw.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-red-violin.html


Il Postino (M. Radford, M. Troisi)

http://emockedlaw.blogspot.com/2019/01/il-postino-postman.html


Cleo from 5 to 7 (A. Varda)

http://emockedlaw.blogspot.com/2019/02/cleo-from-5-to-7.html


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (A. Cuaron)

http://emockedlaw.blogspot.com/2019/02/harry-potter-and-prisoner-of-azkaban.html


Thanks!

by Ed Law

A Few Words on Oscar

The Academy Awards ceremony has taken place on 25^th February, 2019. ‘Green Book’, which is sort of a ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ in reverse, has won the Best Motion Picture of the Year and also 2 further Academy Awards. That is not a surprising result because the Academy is clearly showing its stance in the Trumpian era. Indeed, a number of the 8 films that have been nominated for Best Motion Picture this year are hinged on rather political and racial themes. Then we have 2 Barry Lyndon-esque films – ‘Roma’ and ‘The Favorite’ – where the filmmakers attempt to portray the past as authentic as possible, and employ some interesting cinematic techniques to express the theme. We also have films that portray real life celebrity of different fields – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Vice’ are great ones.

The issue of ‘fact versus fake’ is not only prevalent in the Best Picture nominees, but also in films from the other categories. The need for the fabrication of facts, as illustrated in a number of these films, are also motivated by the need for power (often political ones), greed or merely self-congratulatory, as with the need for recognition with ‘likes’ and a ‘key opinion leader’ status in the digital age. Yet, these fake-makers will soon discover the pointlessness of their actions. Because people can view the issue from a more objective standpoint, and the truth will eventually be uncovered (like ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’). Even if you win in a certain era, you will soon be forgotten many years later, while the descendants of the loser of your game will become ‘The Favourite’. What is important, then, a genuine emotion and respect for others, as in ‘A Star is Born’, a will to embrace the truth, like If Beale Street Could Talk, or like Vincent Van Gogh (without his temperament), who transcended his era through art as in ‘At Eternity’s Gate’, or quite simply, have the courage to confront and counteract against the nastiness of the human condition and the political hell that results (like ‘Cold War’, ‘Border’ and ‘Never Look Away’). You have to take the RBG attitude, rather than the cheeseburger attitude!

I am also glad to see that Paul Schrader has been nominated for his screenplay in ‘First Reformed’. Though he did not win an Oscar, and also Ethan Hawke was snubbed for a Best Actor, that is a great recognition for Schrader’s work and style. Given the track record of writing ‘Taxi Driver’, one can easily imagine Schrader will eventually make something like ‘First Reformed’, which is also a priest’s struggle to look for spiritual meanings in a secular and amoral world. The greatness of the film comes from the fact that Schrader has put in a psychological edge to Hawke’s character, making him a character similar to Travis ‘Taxi Driver’ Bickle, though the latter character certainly did not have a spiritual dimension in any way. ‘First Reformed’ also reminds me of Bergman’s ‘Face to Face’, which is the story of a psychologist going nuts. The ironic scenario in the Bergman film is very akin to Schrader’s portrayal of a priest facing challenges in faith and also combatting with his own psychological demons.

A great year for cinema!

by Ed Law

Film Analysis

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

During the Chinese New Year vacation, I had the opportunity to watch Alfonso Cuaron's 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' again. Though it is only a sequel in the series, 'Azkaban' is considered as one of the greatest of the whole Harry Potter series, especially for the film version. That should not be surprising given that the film was made by a filmmaker who would eventually offer us films like 'Gravity', 'Children of Men', and 'Roma', one of this year's strongest Oscar contenders. While being faithful to J.K. Rowling's imaginative visions, Alfonso Cuaron has also contributed his own interpretations of the story. The film has a darker tone than the other episodes in the series. Indeed, the worldview in 'Azkaban' is quite amoral and complex, not that black and white when comparing to the other kids' films. To me, 'Azkaban' resembles something like a film noir -  the characters are complex, and their appearences often conceal their true motivations. Even Harry Potter is portrayed as an angry teenager here - he is really confused about who can be friends and who cannot, and his mind is consumed by hate and a desire for revenge. At the end he will appreciate that looks can be deceiving and he will know how to treasure those who really cares about him. Rowling and Cuaron should really be commended for giving such a subliminal lesson to kids about the complexity of the real world they will soon face - after all, life is not that black-and-white. One thing is clear though - we still have many great reasons to hate a crybaby like Draco Malfoy!

I feel the reason why 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' is considered a high point in the franchise is because the film is so grounded in reality. While Harry Potter is a fantasy story about wizards and all kinds of monstrous creatures, Cuaron has expressed his commitment to make this episode of 'Harry Potter' a physical one - he wants his audience to experience a very concrete presence of these imaginary characters, and emphasizes a cinematic realism often found in the Classic Cinema. That is why I maintain that Cuaron's vision on this fantsay epic resembles something like a Film Noir. The style of the film is very expressionistic, and Cuaron has instilled a moody atomsphere throughout the film - the darkness of night, the corridors, the storm during the Quidditch, the edgy walk through the mountainous areas, and the various sound that emerges from the night. He has successfully instilled a cloud of uncertainty through the film, because many of the characters are conflicted and they are finding their own position throughout the spectrum of good and evil. Of course, there are many signature approaches from Cuaron. The very elaborate tracking shots can delineate the actions of the characters and guarantee a physical feel for the audience. As if the flying action from the wizardy is not enough, Cuaron has used a lot of upward and downward zooms to give the audience a sense of disorientation, which suits the content of the film very well. Many of the extreme long shots from the film not only provides a breathtaking view of the environment, that also gives a sense of helplessness to the characters. And then there is the various uses of the long take - also very evident in 'Children of Men' and 'Gravity'. An impressive scene is when the trio falls into the trap in the tree house. Rather than using many fast cuts to portray the erratic movements of the 'merry go round' around the branches of the tree, Cuaron instead adopted a well-executed long take. That takes the audience into the scene as it unfolds in a very dynamic way. The scene also reminds us of a great sequence in 'Gravity', when Sandra Bullock's character was thrown around in space when a component of the spaceship malfunctioned.

The commitment to realism also extends to the personality of the characters. Harry has learnt about the difference between appearance and truth, and how to assert of a sense of righteousness amidst a complex and amoral world.  All before that, Harry has to experience darkness and confront his fear as the hunted one. It is noteworthy that Cuaron has selected a number of great actors who has played iconic bad guys and underdogs in cinema. Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, and David Thewlis - they are all underrated actors that have provided an edge to the more morally ambiguous characters in 'Azkaban'. The most ironic thing about the story, as it will become more evident in the later part of the series, is that appearances can often mislead one's opinion on an issue. It turns out that the frightening, eccentric, and apparently crazy ones are those who really have contributed to the well being of Hogwarts at the end of the day. By contrast, those who make painstaking efforts to make themselves look great are often self-congratulatory and only crave for power and control of others. Even if guys like Prof. Snape, Sirius Black, Prof. Lupin etc. are a bit weird, they all had their past and leading to their personal outlooks and characters. In a sense, that is the way you come to terms with the trauma and negative experience and then move on. The brilliance of 'Azkaban' is that it is a fantasy film that sheds light about our world.

by Ed Law
Film Analysis

Cleo from 5 to 7

Life often resembles a roller-coaster ride. While anyone will indulge in the time of their lives, do you have the courage to face the negative pitfalls that lurks around every corner? The most exciting 2 hour period for a character is probably embodied in the iconic film from the French filmmaker Agnes Varda - 'Cleo From 5 to 7' (1962)!

Originally, I plan to write about 'Le Bonheur', another of Varda's masterpiece, and mention 'Cleo from 5 to 7' in the article. Yet after some careful thought, I feel that 'Cleo' is a film that is so inspiring and thoughtful that it deserves an article by itself, and I will leave 'Le Bonheur' for the next time. Agnes Varda is one of the key filmmakers of the Left Bank group in the French New Wave of the 1960s. Beginning as a photographer, Varda has instilled an original and often experimental style in her films. While her films often provided critique on the social aspect of life, Vader's style is also noted for a feminist perspective, and that is more relevant for 'Le Bonheur' and only briefly explored in 'Cleo'. She is considered as one of the pioneers who has inspired the commencement of the general 'French New Wave'. It is worth noting that 'Cleo from 5 to 7' has a running time of about 90 minutes, suggesting the story unfolds almost in real time, and that kind of drives the audience into the film, as one can easily step into the protagonist's shoes and has a first-hand experience for the whole scenario. 

'My name is Florence. I'm called Cleo, short for Cleopatra.' 

The story concerned Florence 'Cleo' Victoire, a lounge singer in Paris. At 5 p.m. of a certain June 21, Cleo was extremely distressed. Because in an hour and a half (6:30 p.m.), she would be notified of whether she has got cancer or not. While a fortune teller failed to tell her a definite answer, Cleo waited for the impending potential doom that would soon follow. Unfolding almost in real time, we followed Cleo's transformation in terms of worldview and how she confronted mortality and the fear of uncertainty. As the story progressed, Cleo became more capable to treasure every moment with those around her, and she even befriended a soldier before they set off to hear the final judgment together. I won't tell you the outcome - that is for you to discover it yourself. 

Varda's iconic film is a combination of realism and more philosophical theme such as existentialism. She has naturally placed a lot of issues of that era throughout the film, through the conversations and the things Cleo observed.  Yet, the most important theme of 'Cleo from 5 to 7' is an existential one - the meaning of life, especially when one is facing mortality. The whole film represents the enlightenment of Cleo, how she has changed her personality to accept the truth of existence. 

At the beginning of the film, Cleo was portrayed as a self-obsessive young lady. When she was aware of the fact that was a 50-50 for her diagnosis, she tried to reassure herself of her own beauty, and things would be OK. Certainly, there is no way that such a childish act can console her troubled mind. The psychological stress from the fear for death was too much for her unprepared mind, and she eventually cried for that in public. Indeed, the theme of mortality is an important one the existentialist school of thought, especially for French philosophers such as Sartre and Camus. 

Yet an emotional outpouring could only relieve the stress for a short while. The important aspect is to change the point of view when you perceive something. Of course, the transformation starts from a primitive level. When Cleo experienced discomfort, very likely due to her stressful situation, she attributed that to her cancer. The false attribution is often a self-defensive mechanism when one experiences failure and bad luck ('oh, because I am bad' or 'I am just unlucky'), because that gives someone the easy way out and not analyzing why the negative scenario happens in the first place. At the same time, Cleo also had to come to terms with her identity in the society. She had a false belief that she was seeking attention when she told others regarding her worries for her cancer diagnosis. Later, when a mirror was broken, she took that as an omen of her having cancer. To me, the shattering of mirror served a symbolic function. It represented a destruction of Cleo's identity and her attempt to re-construct and understand herself in a new light. Because from that point Cleo became committed and tried to adjust her outlook of life. What Cleo would soon understand was that she had to stand up for herself, not merely as the center of attention as a singer in a lounge bar, but in a more existential manner - to stand up to fate.  

Because in a sense Cleo realized time was running out for her, every instance of her life took a new and deeper meaning. She began to be very sensitive to what was taking place around her, and got closer to all these experience rather than concentrating on worldly pleasure she experienced in the past. The transformation here also reminded me of Akira Kurosawa's 'Ikiru'. When the protagonist, Watanabe, was aware that he has got a terminal cancer and only a few months to live. From a sense to disbelief to surface hedonism, and then to emptiness and despair, Watanabe saw through his own psychology and could eventually come to terms with his mortality in a positive and constructive way. He cherished every opportunities to contribute before his death, no matter how others would have perceived of that. The perception from others has always been an issue that troubled Cleo - when she realized that her perceived fame was not as great as she has thought, as no one really cared about her songs when they were playing at a juke box at a club. Indifference, both from other people or a more metaphysical dimension, is the most challenging aspect of finding meaning in life, because we have to battle our psychological need for recognition. The paradox is that we often have to face the personal problems alone and figure out our own meaning in a senseless universe.  

When Cleo went to Parc Monsouris, she met and befriended Antoine, who was a soldier soon returning to Algerian War in 2 months. The pair had a common challenge - the confrontation of despair and their fear of destruction. It was when the absurdity of life became more pronounced, as Antoine expressed his view on the pointlessness of war in general. Through a heartfelt discussion with the soldier, Cleo had an opportunity for some self-reflection and became aware of her narcissism and selfishness. Because she was afraid of being hurt by others in relationships, she was not willing to commit wholeheartedly to relationship in the past, leading to unhappiness. She also came to understand the idea of 'Amor Fati' - to confront one's fate in an affirmative and courageous manner, in matter how dark and absurd it might turn out to be. Cleo and Antoine decided to confront their fear together. The deal (this is not Trump) was that Antoine would accompany Cleo to hear the result, and the young lady would see the soldier off when he returned to Algiers by train. The unlikely companionship was what gave both the courage to face the obstacles of their lives, and the fatalistic situations they had to confront.   

No matter what the outcome would be, Cleo was no longer afraid. Because she had the courage and the appropriate attitude to face her existence, and that was not limited to the 2 hours of cinematic duration the audience engaged with her. From Nietzsche : if you can use joy and laughter to deal with the terror of life - what an existential warrior you are!

by Ed Law

Film Analysis