Jim Jarmusch

I missed Mystery Train.

But the similarities between Dead Man and Down by Law are that both movies are about fugitives. There is an outcast who stands out by being pretty strange and unconventional. The women fall in love pretty instantaneously with the men. The boyfriends always leave the girlfriends. Loyalty is pretty volatile. The men betray each other at the drop of a hat. The partnership happens because of circumstance. They decide to stick together because they have no other options. There is a foreign character who knows more than he appears to. He’s the most helpful one. The setting is on the edge of wilderness. I don’t know if all the conflicts are resolved. The attitude seems to be that life is hard. The story structure is unclear.

Sofia Coppola

For this week, I watched three movies of Sofia Coppola. They were Marie Antoinette, Bling Ring, and Virgin Suicides. I noticed that she didn’t go out of her way to make her characters particularly likeable. In Marie Antoinette, the main character was immature and passive. She didn’t do anything redeeming. However, this movie did teach me something about the French Revolution. In history class, we learned that Marie Antoinette’s excessive spending was a big cause of the revolt. The textbook said that she actively ignored the peasants and had no empathy for their suffering. These textbooks happens to be written by men. I never saw the revolution from her perspective. Now I know that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were just too young to rule. They didn’t know what to do so the way society was run caused the French Revolution.

In Bling Ring, the characters were also hard to empathize with. They were privileged teens who got off on stealing. They never really cared about anything. Sofia Coppola also has anticlimactic endings. There was no satisfying resolution. Our questions were unanswered. We never found out why the kids wanted to steal from celebrities. We never find out what happens to them in prison or what happens to them afterwards. When Emma Watson does that interview at the end, it doesn’t reveal anything more about her character. It kind of feels like she ratted out her friends to the police. It’s a weird ending.

In Virgin Suicides, it started out with a suicide. It was very quiet at times. It seemed like she used ma, a method that Japanese filmmakers call the silence between claps. It feels like a pause in the action. The pacing feels slower. During Virgin Suicides, there was a lot of waiting. The girls were trapped and it really empathized the boredom and lack of freedom. However, in all of her movies, we were never bored. The characters weren’t likeable, but the story was intriguing. I found this movie the most interesting. I kept wondering about how this family came to be like this. What happened to make the mother so controlling. We never found out why the youngest daughter committed suicide.

Days of Heaven

Hello, I am the director of Days of Heaven. The most important aspect about this film is the relationship between Abby and Bill. The audience needed to realize that the two only went through with this scheme to create a better life for the other person. I wanted to give the audience a hint of that insanely powerful, all-consuming love.

However, there should be inner conflict. Bill may perhaps have intentions in the right place, but that does not excuse the fact that this couple is manipulating Chuck. They’re basically vultures. So I want the audience to understand Abby and Bill. However, they’re not going to root for them. It’s more like they’ve become invested in the two’s lives and wonder what the consequences are going to be.

Also, the audience must realize that feelings are incredibly fragile. When you have this irresistible attraction to one person, it’s hard to stay away. Even if your common sense is telling you shouldn’t. Experiencing it is definitely something. The greatest love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet, was based on this. However, what’s also interesting is how feelings can change with time. Chuck did find a way into Abby’s heart. This created the biggest obstacle for the couple.

But in the end, there was retribution. There is no way that deceit and betrayal can conclude well. Each party must suffer. Only the innocent, Ursula, escapes free. For this film, I need actors who have experienced this kind of love. This power that takes over your being. It will be young love. Usually the first true love. I need actors with this kind of chemistry. I need someone who portray the ignorance and blind devotion of Chuck convincingly.

During the part of the film when Abby and Bill are separated, I need montage shots that evoke emotion. That feeling of longing must be prevalent. When Abby, Bill and Chuck are all together, the inner conflict must be felt. Afterwards, the audience must wonder why the characters had to endure such misery. They must question if Abby and Bill could ever experience happiness.

The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Society of the Crossed Keys

I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel and then read the last part of the Society of the Crossed Keys, “Twenty Four Hours in the Life of a Woman.” The story structures were very similar. They both took place in an old hotel. The narrator would notice an unusual character that stayed regularly at the hotel. They would befriend the narrator and then tell them their story. Their story would be about an adventure with another person who lived in a delusion. Ultimately, the other person would disappear from their lives and the storyteller would be left behind. And the narrator would walk away, having gained an experience from hearing that story.

I enjoyed the storytelling method. Rather than give you the purpose of the book or movie right away, the director and writer instead chose to give you pieces of information gradually. Since the narrator was curious and was also trying to figure things out, it made you feel like a detective. Also, the ways that they revealed the information in The Grand Budapest Hotel were comical. When M Gustave and Zero go over the incidents that just happened, they end it with, “Zero, confused.” This also sums up the viewer’s feelings.

The Grand Budapest Hotel borrowed a lot of ideas from Stefan Zweig. But I don’t think that was necessarily a bad thing. No art in the world is original. Everything has an idea taken from something else. Also, The Grand Budapest Hotel did something helpful for Stefan Zweig. It made him more popular. By declaring itself as a kind of tribute, The Grand Budapest Hotel made more viewers aware of the Society of the Crossed Keys. They even reference it in the movie. What happened was beneficial for both artists.

Dewbreaker

For this week, I read the first three stories of Dewbreaker. I noticed that the women don't seem to be as subservient in the Haitian culture. Or at least, in this family, they don't seem to be as subservient. The wife in the second story cheated on her husband as much as he did. So there was a kind of equal power there. They didn't feel guilty enough to tell each other.

In the third story, the daughter is brought up not to value Christmas. She and her father enjoy criticizing the houses that spend a lot money on Christmas decorations. There was some female and male roles in the first story. When the father reveals that he tortured people in jail, the daughter asked the mother how she could love him. The mother revealed that they needed to love him to save him. There is a feeling of the female role being the warmth and comfort. The female is supposed to console the male and bring stability back to his life. Meanwhile, the male's role is wild and uncontrolled. The male's role is to face danger. They need to be brought back home by the female.

I found it interesting how it was acceptable for the family to keep secrets from each other. Each family member had a hidden past. They never had to share them, but they still had trust in one another. The secrecy worked.

Lust

For this week, I read "Lust", "Even the Queen", "A Good Man is Hard to Find," and "Where are You Going; Where Have You Been." The one I enjoyed most was "Lust," because I related with the narrator. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that she didn't care that she had sex with a large number of guys. In fact, she owned it. She went through each guy and told us what she did with them. It was great.

The part that resonated with me was when she said that a boy's better when he's had more girls. Meanwhile, for the girl, it's like a petal gets plucked every time. I agree with this. A pastor named Mark Gungor said that men tend to imprint upon the early sexual experiences they have. Yet, women imprint on what happens after the sex. Usually, nothing happens which is why they feel empty every time. This is the link for his lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzOp1VkqPbI

This is the link for his lecture on the difference between men's and women's brains. It's also very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XjUFYxSxDk

The media teaches us that guys are supposed to sleep around as much as possible with as little attachment as possible. All the male action heroes do it. Meanwhile, the girls are supposed to wait for that one prince charming. Every Disney princess movie in existence teaches you that. It kind of makes you wonder who the guys are supposed to be sleeping with then.

This double standard confuses girls today. They have the same sexual desires but they feel dirty if they pursue them. Society considers them as sluts. Mark Gungor says the solution is for everyone to get married really early so they can have sex all the time. I don't know about that but I think that the media needs to stop treating female sexuality as something evil. I'm glad that the narrator in "Lust" perceives hers as something normal.