Baines in The Piano

The Piano written and directed by Jane Campion tackles many issues, among them, feminism. The main character is a woman who we first see with a daughter. Their belongings are scattered about the beach they were dropped off at and one of the items, a piano, seems most important to the woman as we see her play it through a crack in the wood. At first it is just the two of them, sleeping in a tent made by a hoop skirt, they look peaceful and at ease. Then, suddenly, she is thrust into the real world of men and civilization.

This woman, who's name we learn is Ada, is to be married to a man that she has never met before. When this man comes to get her he leaves the piano behind on the beach because it was too heavy to carry back and he didn't want to use his men for that when they could get other things. Ada is pissed. She never really shows any love to her husband and soon seeks out another man, a man that is intertwined in the world of the local natives. He takes her to the beach and she plays a beautiful, even sensual, song, and the man is awestruck. He buys the piano from her husband in exchange for some land and a promise of piano lessons. It is with these piano lessons that his infatuation with Ada forms into a carnal desire for sex.

While Ada plays the piano the man who bought it, Baines, watches with admiration. Eventually he becomes desperate for a connection with Ada and tells her that, in exchange for a lesson per black key, she could have the piano back. After a number of lessons Baines starts "selling" black keys for sexual things, and eventually gets her to have sex with him. When Ada gets the piano back she becomes sad because she can't see Baines anymore, so she goes to him, unaware that her husband is following her.

When watching this film, at first, I thought that Baines was raping Ada, that he was a creepy dude who just wanted his desires fulfilled. About halfway through the film though I decided that it was not this way. This man became infatuated with Ada through her music and passion she puts into it. Instead of taking what he wanted he decided to barter with her. He fell in love and had to have some form of affection from her, and sex was what he decided on. Ada was as much a part of this transaction as he was, she gave him her body, and eventually wanted him when she got her piano back. So no I don't think this was rape, prostitution maybe, but not rape. I am also not saying that what he did was right, however.

Do the Right Thing

How does one determine what the right thing is? Everyone has a different opinion of what the right and wrong things are, and everyone has their own opinion of how important it is to do the right thing. No one person will think the same thing about this. Some have religions or groups they are apart of that kind of shape their ideals, but even their opinions differ at least slightly.

Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing tackles this issue of doing the right thing in certain situations. We are introduced to this line by the "Mayor" who tells Spike Lee's character, "Mookie", to always do the right thing. In the end of the film Mookie decides to throw a trash can through his employers window because he was part of the reason of the murder of one of Mookie's friends. There is much speculation as to if this was the right thing or not, and each of these people pose a good argument.

To me his decision was not the right thing. Sal, the owner of the pizza shop that Mookie works at, was just trying to close up his shop when the three boycotters came in and gave him hell. One of the three, Radio, was playing his boom box that he loves so much way too loud. This aggravates Sal and pushes him to the point of smashing the boom box with a bat. In retaliation Radio tries to strangle Sal to death and in turn gets the police called on the both of them. The police try to subdue Radio and end up strangling him to death with a nightstick. The crowd is stunned and yelling at Sal, saying it was his fault, this is when Mookie goes across the street, gets a trash can, empties it, and throws it through the window of the pizza shop.

To me Sal did nothing wrong. He had pictures of Italians up on his "Wall of Fame" because he himself is Italian. We clearly see throughout the movie that he has no problem with blacks or any other race for that matter. When Radio comes in for the second time blasting his boom box he deserved nothing more than to have it smashed to pieces. The fact that Radio attacks Sal makes me think that it was not Sal at fault for the police being called, Radio could have just walked away. If Mookie wanted to take his anger out on anyone it should have been the police because it wasn't Sal's fault that Radio died. Mookie should have just left the pizza shop alone.

El Topo

El Topo, directed by Alejandro Jodorowsy, is a spaghetti western like no other. It is a cult film and widely discussed by film viewers everywhere. This is a screenshot from a little over halfway through the film. We see El Topo, different than before. Before, he had nice dark hair and a dark beard. he had darkish skin and a sort of angry look to him at all times. Now, after we think he is dead, we see him again.

This is the shot that told me that El Topo no longer really exists. Maybe the fat profit guy was right and he really was dead at that moment when he could have been shot, I don't know, all I know is the El Topo is no longer here. Sure, this guy has the face and body of El Topo, but he is completely different otherwise. The long, frizzy blonde hair, lit up by some lights, seems to be like the mane of a Lion, king of the jungle. His beard makes him look a little like Jesus, and the paint or dust on his face gives him a radiant whiteness, and his eyes are highlighted with some eyeliner.

I think the point of this shot was to show that El Topo is now like a God. He has defeated the 4 profit guys, and has now encapsulated all of them. The black background helps to put the viewers focus only on the man we see here. He is radiant and white and seems to be calm. He has just been "born" and is being treated as some sort of profit, as he tells the people that he is just a man, not a God.

All this is just my interpretation as this movie was so confusing that I don't think anyone can really know what in the world was supposed to be happening; although that kind of made me enjoy the movie more.

Seconds Surgery Sequence

The first surgery sequence is one of many amazing scenes in Frankenheimer's Seconds. In this blog post I will closely analyze this scene.

Shots:

This scene uses a series of close-ups to get the viewers right in the action of the sequence. We see all of the things that the surgeons are doing to Arthur. We have close ups on his face, showing where they are cutting and what they are doing to him. We have shots of the "blueprints" of his face and what they are supposed to do to change him into his new body. We then have a final close up of Tony's face with a bunch of bandages over it.

Cuts and Fades: 

Unlike some of the most recent films we have watched, this movie, or at least this scene in particular, went very fast. To do this, the editors had a series of quick cuts to show things the surgeons are doing, but since surgery takes a long time, it makes the scene more bearable. Fades are used to show short lapses of time, this also speeds up the amount of time we have to watch, and the viewer assumes that before and after the fade are completely different time periods, and it means they have been working on him for a while.

Music:

Last, but certainly not least, we have the background music. In this scene there is little sound coming from the surgery, so there was sound put in. This music is very eery, almost horror film like, and makes the audience (or at least me) sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation. It adds more suspense to the scene than it already had and makes people wary of what is going to happen.

Now I just want to make a comment that has nothing to do with this post. When I was watching this film I was reminded a lot of Ingmar Bergman's films The Seventh Seal  and Wild Strawberries. To be honest with you i'm not really sure why, but I got the same feel from this movie that I got from Bergman's films. Maybe it was the beach scenes in both Seconds and The Seventh Seal, maybe it was the black humor that was used in all three of the films, I don't know, it just gave me that feel.