Author: Kimberly-Frock

                         

The American Friend, otherwise known in German as Der Amerikanische Freund, is a crime film.  Although in France it would be considered a neo-noir film. A neo-noir film is the new version of the genre “film noir”.  Film Noir came about in France in 1955 and was used to describe a movie that had more sinister story lines. The term film noir translates in English to “dark movie”.  Typically in Neo-noir films they like to use slightly tilted camera angles for an unsettling feel or even unbalanced frames. Typically the line between good and bad is blurred and the common theme is revenge.

The American Friend is an adaptation of a book written by Patricia Highsmith, it was called Ripley’s Game.  The movie itself is about a man named Tom Ripley. Ripley is a very wealthy American living in Germany. Ripley makes a living by scamming people at auctions for fake art.  His partner would bring out some forged paintings and Ripley would be in the crowd raising the price in the auction. While doing his usual scheme he meets a very sick man named Jonathon Zimmermann.  Zimmermann is a picture framer and doesn’t have much respect for Ripley. The movie goes on to tell a twisted tale of Ripley making Zimmermann believe that he’s far more ill than he really is. He even went so far as to forge medical results to make Zimmermann desperate and more open to living a life of crime.  Zimmermann is actually unaware of Ripley’s part in falsifying his medical records and forms a kind of bond with him. This leads to Ripley protecting Zimmermann in a way from a gangster that wants to use him in a murder. Zimmermann begins to think that the mafia wants to kill him so him and Ripley set up in his mansion to wait for their attackers.  Zimmermann and Ripley kill their almost-assassins and then load their bodies up into an ambulance for disposal. In the end Zimmermann does find out that his medical records were faked and ends up abandoning his partner Ripley. Zimmerman ends up dying from some unknown reason while he’s driving away and that’s the end of the movie.

The director Wim Wenders originally wanted John Cassavetes to play the part of Ripley but he said no and suggested that Dennis Hopper be used instead.  Dennis Hopper was a very well known actor with a reputation “as a Hollywood enfant terrible” which means that he was a bit unconventional and controversial.  It’s been said that Wim Wenders has a very keen fascination with everything American and that’s very apparent in this movie as Ripley is a cowboy hat-wearing American.  At the time of production Hopper was having a particularly hard time in life but that only enriched his performance in The American Friend. At one point he even improvised a scene where he takes pictures of himself with a Polaroid camera while he’s crying.  He also uses a decent amount of other American symbols such as “a yellow New York taxi, a Thunderbird car, his jeans trousers and jacket, his cowboy hat, his jukebox and Coca-Cola machine, the pool table and Marlboro cigarettes. These numerous extra-filmic echoes add an additional dimension to Wenders’ portrayal of the impact of America on European culture (senses of cinema).  

The protagonist in this film is Zimmerman while the antagonist is definitely Ripley.  I personally really enjoyed the movie, however that could just be because I’ve never read the book it was based off of.  It turns out that when Patricia Highsmith first saw the movie she was incredibly disappointed in the adaptation of the characters.  In fact, Ripley was hardly shown for a good part of the movie. People also didn’t seem to be a fan of Ripley wearing a cowboy hat for most of the movie.  There also seemed to be some plot holes as well that left viewers feeling a little disappointed in the story line. According to Roger Ebert, a movie reviewer, Wenders had purposely thrown out parts of the story that would’ve made it more cohesive and would’ve made more sense all to prove a point: “that we watch [and read] thrillers as much for atmosphere as for plot” (rogerebert).  I can agree with his statement that people are often more intrigued by things at face value than what really lies beneath them. I think that this fact makes The American Friend an art piece or even a social experiment to see how well the movie would do without having to make the most sense. 

 

https://film.avclub.com/the-american-friend-is-a-tom-ripley-movie-that-doesn-t-1798186176

http://sensesofcinema.com/2012/cteq/american-friend/

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3866-the-american-friend-little-lies-and-big-disasters

https://www.rogerebert.com/scanners/opening-shots-the-american-friend

 

The Godfather Part II is a crime film and the sequel to The Godfather.  It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and ended up winning six of them, two being Best Picture (again) as well as Coppola’s award for Best Director.  

The Godfather Part II takes place in Nevada and some parts are even in Tahoe.  I found this sequel to be a lot more intense than the first movie. The opening scene is a beautiful church gathering for Michael’s son’s communion.  It pans over the guests and you can hear the priest blessing Michael’s son. It then flashes to scenes of great violence — Michael did what his father wouldn’t and ordered hits on the heads of the other five families that they are competing with.  There are also quite a bit of scenes in a court setting where Michael Corleone is under scrutiny by the FBI for his actions.

This sequel was a bit different in the narrative as they used flashbacks to give a look into Vito Corleone’s coming into power.  The interesting thing about the storytelling technique in this sequel is that Vito Corleone’s story kind of correlates with his son, Michael Corleone, and his rise to being the head of the Corleone family.  I was impressed with the manner in which Coppola did the flashbacks.  I imagine that there’s not a lot of room for error when it comes to organizing a plot in a way that the audience can easily follow.  I found that even with all the flashbacks and different family members to keep track of that it was still relatively easy to stay engaged and not become too confused.

     

There are two protagonists in the film, as they kept switching between Michael’s present day life and his father’s past life.  Both men are beginning to realize the lengths of their power and both want more of it. Just like the first film the goal at hand was being the most powerful family in the area by doing whatever they had to to get there.  It was apparent, however, that Vito Corleone seemed to have more of a moral compass than his son. In the first film Vito makes it clear that he won’t get involved in selling narcotics and only wants to stick with casinos.  He also promises to keep peace with everyone around. Michael had no qualms about getting into the drug industry and also ordered a hit on the heads of all five mafia families.

In this sequel there are a lot of close up shots of the characters.  The purpose of this is to give the audience a chance to see the actor’s emotions more clearly (eportfolios).  An example of this, along with angle choice is when Connie, Michael’s sister, is begging him to forgive their other brother Fredo.  While the camera is on Connie it’s kept at a somewhat high angle to give the sense of vulnerability on Connie’s part. When the camera was on Michael it was filmed directly at eye level.  This really emphasized the fact that Michael was above Connie both physically and in terms of power.

The use of light was interesting in this movie as well.  Oftentimes when they would show Michael Corleone the scene would be dark and gloomy.  It continues to get worse as the movie progresses and Michael’s life gets more and more difficult.  The purpose of this is to give the audience a sense of foreboding as they watch Michael struggle (reelviews). 

All in all, this sequel had outstanding reviews, just as the first The Godfather did.  It was with resounding agreement that people said this movie “represents the apex of American movie-making and the ultimate gangster story.  Few sequels have expanded upon the original with the faithfulness and detail of this one. Beneath the surface veneer of an ethnic period piece, The Godfather is not so much about crime lords as it is about prices paid in the currency of the soul for decisions made and avoided. It is that quality which establishes this saga as timeless” (reelviews).  I can wholeheartedly agree with this statement. I found The Godfather Part II to be even more intriguing than the first and I definitely look forward to watching the third one.

 

http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/godfather-part-ii-the

https://www.indiewire.com/2012/04/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-the-godfather-part-ii-252707/

https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/murphy16/2016/03/14/the-godfather-part-ii-camera-technique-scene-analysis/

The Godfather is an American crime film from 1972.  It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and won a total of four Academy Awards such as “Best Picture” and “Best Actor” in regards to Marlon Brando (Geeks).  The story itself is set in 1945 New York and follows the Corleone family. The Corleone family is made up of quite a few Sicilian mobsters and the dad, Vito Corleone, is the famous “Godfather”.  

 

The opening scene of The Godfather is the day of his daughters wedding, where it’s tradition to not turn down any requests.  It shows The Godfather in his office talking to various men about their troubles and really gives you an idea to just how powerful he is.  At one point it showed a man sitting by himself during the celebration of The Godfather’s daughter’s wedding and he was just practicing his introduction and thank you to The Godfather over and over; he was so nervous about the meeting that he didn’t seem to even notice the bystanders that were watching him with concern.

At first the protagonist seemed to be The Godfather as that is the title of the movie and that was the focus in the beginning of the film.  However, at some point during a feud with another Italian family Vito Corleone is shot and hospitalized. While he is laid up in the hospital, unable to defend himself, another mobster plans an attack on him and orchestrates it with the local police.  Michael Corleone, The Godfather’s son, shows up at the hospital just at the right time and saves his father from being murdered. From that point on the protagonist becomes Michael and the plot is about his rise to being the head of the family company as well as a vicious mob boss — arguably more ruthless than his father.

 

There’s one goal in the movie and that’s power.  There are 6 powerful families that are referenced and always seem to be taking pot shots at each other.  One family would act, the other would retaliate, wash, rinse, and repeat. While that’s a very basic overview of the goal at hand, there’s a reason the film won the awards that it did, it’s very good.

 

The production of The Godfather was very interesting to me.  Coppola estimated that the first film was made using around 6.5 million dollars.  Coppola also said that today a studio probably wouldn’t be willing to take a risk on The Godfather the way they did back in 1972.  Another interesting tidbit is that Al Pacino, the actor that played Michael Corleone, wasn’t really wanted for the part. The Paramount studio executive, Bob Evans, didn’t want to use Al Pacino as he felt he was too short for the character.  This led to Al Pacino auditioning for the same part over and over because Coppola really wanted him but Bob Evans did not (nofilmschool).

 

The actors in the movie were both well known stars and lesser known stars.  Marlon Brando was already an iconic actor, but that came with some consequences.  The president of the studio absolutely did not want Marlon Brando to be a part of the production and in an attempt to dissuade Coppola he said that Brando would have to put up a million dollar bond stating that he wouldn’t cause any problems during the production (nofilmschool).  Coppola accepted with no hesitation and didn’t tell Brando about the interesting deal. Brando ended up knocking it out of the park. Al Pacino and Robert Duvall were both somewhat new to Hollywood and The Godfather seemed to launch them into fame (geeks).

 

The special effects for the movie were pretty cut and dry.  I felt like they did a good job with fight scenes or shooting scenes.  One interesting thing I found about the film, however, is that they had to make two different sets of prints with varying light levels.  When this movie was released it was really popular to go to drive in movie theaters and to prevent the image from being too dark because it’s nighttime during the showing the producers would go overboard and overlight everything.  They made the darker films for theaters. I just found it interesting how much thought goes into the little details of the movie. Lighting isn’t something I would normally take into consideration, however, I do know that when a movie’s lighting is off it makes me not want to watch the movie altogether.

 

The overwhelming majority of reviews of The Godfather all said that the movie was excellent; after watching the film for myself, I can agree with that statement!  

 

https://www.tested.com/art/movies/463501-filming-light-and-dark-side-godfather/

 

https://geeks.media/the-godfather-film-review-and-analysis

 

https://nofilmschool.com/2017/05/godfather-production-cast-reunion-panel

 

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-godfather-1972

 

Aguirre, the Wrath of God is a West German-Mexican-Peruvian historical drama.  It was directed by Werner Herzog, a German director, in the year 1972. The story takes place in 16th-century Peru.  In the beginning the camera pans over a beautiful view of the Andes mountains. On those mountains was a large group of Spanish conquistadors on their mission to find the mythical city El Dorado.  The travelers believed that El Dorado was a city with massive amounts of gold and that they could conquer it. After some time the men decided that they would create a group of 40 men that would go off on their own expedition.  They were given one week to find more information on El Dorado or the natives living in the jungle or that they would be presumed dead.  

The story of Aguirre, the Wrath of God is one of dictatorship, greed, and obsession.  The main character Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) initiated an uprising against the leader of the smaller group of men.  The original leader deemed their mission to be fruitless and that they should head back. Aguirre, however, was so wildly consumed with the idea of finding untold riches that he ranted about all the power the men could have if they were to find El Dorado.  He even referenced Hernando Cortes, the well known Spanish conqueror of Mexico in 1519. He told the group that Cortes had directly disobeyed orders to cancel his expedition and that he ended up being the ruler of Mexico. He then had someone shoot the original leader to instill fear into anyone that tried to suggest that they cancel their expedition.  As the men continued on their way to find El Dorado they come across many more problems such as illness and even cannibalistic natives that are following them along in the jungle.

During the film there is a man narrating as if he’s reading diary entries, which I found to be helpful because it gave an insider’s perspective to the group we’re watching.  The entire film was done with just one handheld camera which gave a lot of scenes a very shaky look. The shots were often very blurry as well from rain or splashing water while the actors were in rafts on the river.  The handheld camera allowed for more free range of movement as the entire film was shot in the actual jungle. The actors spend their time primarily on rafts traveling down the river so it was necessary to use a camera that was easily mobile.  Herzog also had the film shot in sequence in an attempt to “convey the increasing desperation of the film’s scenario” (Deep Focus Review).

I found the story behind the production to be the most fascinating part of the whole movie.  The lengths that the director and actors were willing to go to film this movie was borderline insane.  The entire crew had to go to extreme lengths by hiking up a mountain near Manchu Picchu. The crew consisted of about 450 people as well as animals like horses, pigs, and llamas.  The weather was decently poor during their trek. The opening scene you can see the thick layer of fog that rolls about the mountain while they climb. They eventually reached an altitude of 14,000 feet and were walking along a cliff side with a 2,000 foot drop.  They were at a point where even the natives of the area were getting altitude sickness (Deep Focus Review). The actors also had to deal with poverty like living conditions because the budget for the film was only $370,000. At one point their campsite flooded and Herzog wouldn’t allow them to move locations because he was so obsessed with the film being exactly a certain way.  So instead they had some locals build large rafts and they continued on with the production while living on those.

    Herzog also put his actors lives at risk with the shots he was demanding.  For example, the rapids he chose to film in were so strong that during pre-production when he put a raft in the water it immediately ripped it in half.  When that happened the actors had to be pulled through the rushing water with ropes to bring them back to shore. Instead of finding a safer setting to film in he hired some local natives to make a stronger raft and said that they would do it in just one shot.  Later in the film there’s a scene where Aguirre is talking to monkeys. Herzog had locals round up about a hundred monkeys and just unleashed them on the scene. This led to Herzog, as well as other crew members, being attacked by the monkeys and having to endure it in order to get the perfect shot.

I think the most intense part of the production was that halfway through the production Herzog had shipped footage to Mexico to be processed but it was reported to be lost in transit.  This meant that everything they had completed so far was lost forever and they had no means to continue filming. Herzog was so obsessed with finishing the film, however, that he didn’t tell anyone about the lost tapes and continued on with the production.  By the power of some unknown miracle he was contacted a few weeks later and was told that the lost films were actually found in some customs office in Peru so they were able to piece them together for the whole film. I just think that Herzog’s level of dedication to this dangerous production really paralleled with Aguirre’s obsession with finding El Dorado at all costs.  Of course Aguirre’s story is much more dark and filled with death, but you get the idea.

Another interesting aspect to the production was the main actor Klaus Kinski.  Herzog had “described his relationship with Kinski as two oppositional forces of Nature that when joined reach a critical mass” (Deep Focus Review).  Kinski’s overbearing nature is actually what landed him the part. Before playing in Aguirre, the Wrath of God Kinski played a theatrical Jesus on tour.  He would basically stand on a stage with a microphone and rant about how he was Jesus and he would insult the audience who would then insult him back. While he was on the set of Aguirre, the Wrath of God he wasn’t much better.  It was reported that one night he was upset about some locals being “too noisy” in their tent so he took his rifle and fired off three shots into the tent. One man was shot in the hand and almost lost his finger but thankfully nobody was killed.  Kinski didn’t get in much trouble for his actions, Herzog just took away his rifle. It might seem like a crazy light punishment but it seemed Herzog was a bit crazy as well. Kinski had finally threatened to leave the production altogether and Herzog responded by saying that “the film was more important than either of them—and that if Kinski tried to leave, Herzog would get his rifle and put eight of the nine rounds into Kinski’s head, and then save the last one for himself” (Deep Focus Review) so as you can see both the heads of the production were quite unstable.

The film had pretty basic special effects due to their low budget.  They had real explosions but when it came to things like blood it was very obviously bright red paint being splattered.  One element focused on heavily in the film is noise. Almost the entire film there’s constant chattering of animals in the jungle or the rushing water in the rapids beneath them.  Occasionally Herzog would cut all of the noise and make everything disturbingly silent. This was to make the viewers uncomfortable, like the characters were in the movie, because it always followed with a wild attack from the cannibalistic natives hiding in the jungle. 

 

http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/m_friers/clips/internal-rhythm-aguirre-character-movement-wide/view

 

http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/aguirre.htm

 

https://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/aguirre-the-wrath-of-god/