Review: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Directed: Julian Schnabel

Written: Ronald Harwood and Jean-Dominique Bauby(novel)

Starring: Mathieu Amalric

For the majority of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly we see through the eyes of Jean-Dominique Bauby editor of Elle magazine. When we aren't seeing things through his eyes we are seeing things he remembers or imagines. "Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed, my imagination and my memory. " Bauby says as he lays in a hospital bed, completely paralyzed except for his left eye. How did he get in this position? Jean-Dominique Bauby had a stroke at the age of 43 and ended up with the very rare "locked in" syndrome, a syndrome in which the patient retains almost all memory and recognition but remains paralyzed. Through a system developed for those with locked in syndrome, Bauby can communicate by blinking. At first they use the simple system of "One blink means yes." and "Two blinks mean no." Eventually a system is worked out where a person works with Bauby by reading out an alphabet in order of how commonly a letter is used. Bauby blinks when they read the letter he wants and they can eventually form whole words and sentences. It was this system that allowed Bauby to make his memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". This provided an insiders view of "locked in" syndrome and when the memoirs were adapted into film the "insiders view" is absolutely retained. When I say "see through the eyes" of Jean-Dominique Bauby I mean it in a very literal way. As in, we see every time he blinks, we see his eyelids being sewn shut, and we hear his inner monologue desperate to speak out. It is these portions of the movie with their cinematography that make the film literally one of the most involving movies I have ever seen.

Not only do we get to see Bauby's time in the hospital, we also see flashbacks of his life as the rockstar-like womanizing editor of Elle magazine and of his life as a loving father to his children. I felt a deep feeling of sadness after seeing a flashback of Bauby so vibrant and full of life, and then cut back to him after the stroke with a lifeless expression on his face. Bauby's inner monologue serves as the films narration as we see him visit his kids, see his friends, make friends with his stenographer, and even see his condition improve. We see all these moments of his life and they are countered with the voice telling us how he longs to play with his children or make love to a woman. This provided a much more emotionally effective experience than I anticipated and could even leave more sensitive viewers shaken by how intense the emotion can become. Mathieu Amalric does a good job as Jean-Dominique Bauby but in all honesty there is not a lot that he does that isn't a testament to the excellent writing. Do not take this the wrong way, he was better than decent, but the writing and narration are the real stars of the movie and I don't see a lot that Mathieu adds to those things since he spends the majority of the film off screen.

Julian Schnabel shows off some very impressive direction in Diving Bell. The style of the movie being pulled off this well overall is not something that is common in even some of the artsiest corners of cinema. The film essentially became his baby and he has taken very good care of it. Interestingly enough the screenplay adapted from Bauby's memoirs by Ronald Harwood was written completely in English, it was not until Schnabel came aboard that the decision to film the movie in Bauby's native tongue of French was even put on the table. It is such a sad sight to see Bauby's condition improve in the later half of the film only to see him quickly be taken away by pneumonia. Thank God he could finish his memoirs and that they could be adapted into this magnificent film. Lots of movies like to take a long hard look at the human psyche and give their take on it. The difference between those films and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is that in this film, the human psyche is taking a long hard look at us from the inside, and for the first time we get to see through his eyes.

9.7/10

Metaphor in Mark Doty’s "Difference"

In Mark Doty's poem "Difference" there is a very interesting statement about jellyfish. The first half of the poem focuses on several metaphors for jellyfish such as "this one a breathing heart, this a pulsing flower. This one a rolled condom, or a plastic purse swallowing itself,that one a Tiffany shade" (17-21). These metaphors are obvious and provide some easily imagined imagery, each one is relatable to the look and/or shape of a jellyfish. It is not until around the halfway point of the poem that the speaker uses the metaphors to his advantage when he says "sheer ectoplasm recognizable only as the stuff of metaphor." (31-33) It is at this point that the reader can begin to understand how the speaker looks at jellyfish.

Imagine a young child at an aquarium. He is looking into a tank full of jellyfish with big eyes full of wonder. Imagine what is going through his mind. He is not thinking "Look at the beauty of marine life." he is thinking "Wow, those look like floating glowing grocery bags!" Most poems are entirely dependent upon the use of metaphor and there is no shortage of school assignments begging students to "Find the metaphor!" Metaphors, after all, are the basis for all education. We learn how one thing works by pointing out its similarities to something we already know. You could say there is an often childhood-like feeling accompanying metaphor even when using metaphors for very adult things like war or death. "Difference" follows the basic rules of using metaphors, but is different for how it dissects what metaphors mean. The speaker is using jellyfish as something that automatically applies itself to metaphor. It is almost impossible to look at a jellyfish for a period of more than a few seconds and not think of what else it looks like besides a jellyfish. By using such an easy metaphor and comparing it to things like condoms and opera, the speaker is representing the imagination of the world itself.

"Hear how the mouth, so full of longing for the world, changes its shape?" (58-60). We see all these things in jellyfish, because our imaginations want to see it. Is that not what fuels our imagination, the longing to see what is not there? Jellyfish as a metaphor for metaphors? All I see is a floating grocery bag.

Exercise I in Poems: Fourth Edition

Pleasures of Recognition:

The Double Play by Robert Wallace

The pleasure of recognition is notable here in how the poet takes a simple game of baseball, something we have all seen and compares it to something more elegant and beautiful like a ballet. It in a way makes baseball seem much more wonderful and less boring than the average viewer would think at first glance.

Because River-Fog by Fukayabu Kiyowara

The reader would gain pleasure of recognition in this poem by possibly remembering moments they have had in which they are entrenched in nature. I was immediately reminded of a camping trip in 8th grade in which I climbed up a small mountain and went back down on the river enjoying the view in silence.

A Foreign Ruler by Walter Savage Landor

A different kind of pleasure from recognition is found in this poem. Not pleasure in the sense that you are reminded of something and then feel better for it. Pleasure in the sense that through most political quandaries, feelings have felt the same. The poem was written centuries ago but could easily be applied to several leaders throughout time, all the way up to the leaders of today. There is something strangely comforting in seeing someone who has been dead for hundreds of years share a connection with today.

Not Drunk by Thomas Love Peacock (wow)

It is hard for me to find a connection with the novel, but imagining it from an adult drinker perspective I would probably say that it accurately relates back to often loose definitions of "drunk" that people supply as excuse for whatever they may do next in their stupor of Bud Light.

The Chinese Checker Players by Richard Brautigan

This poem appealed the most to me. I never had any relationship with an old woman and Chinese checkers but it takes me back to childhood games. The innocence of a child who cheats at a game is difficult to look at, they believe they are cunning when their plan is so obvious. I have to wonder if the old woman knows the boy is cheating, and cheats along with him, Chinese checkers is not what matters but more of the loneliness she feels after her husbands death combined with the ever listening ears of the cheating child. A good pair.

Spotlight on: Persepolis and The Benefits of Film Adaptation

Spotlight on: Persepolis and The Benefits of Film Adaptation

A trend has developed in recent film adaptations of graphic novels that worries me. Popular films such as Sin City and 300 are panel-to-panel exact copies of the novels they originate from. While this is often fun to look at and even amazingly done in most cases, it has led to a movement that worries me. When I think about adaptation of a novel, I imagine something that takes from the book, but also has an identity of its own. Recently a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed Watchmen graphic novel went into production. Director Zack Snyder, a big fan of the book, admitted that he would have to make a few changes in order for the novel to work as a film. There was a major backlash. People cried that Watchmen was unadaptable if the entire novel couldn't fit into one film. I say, why can't anything be changed? The medium of film is just a few steps above the experience of reading a comic book style novel, but the story can benefit so much from having visuals and narration separate from each other that it can create an entirely new experience altogether. The film that showed me that a graphic novel adaptation can have several omissions and changes from the book and still be a great experience, and even improve upon the novel in some ways, was the animated film adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's autobiography graphic novel, Persepolis.

Persepolis tells Marjane Satrapi's story of growing up in Iran and later Austria from the 70's up until present day. It addresses the political conflict of Iran and the sadness of a girl who has to grow up so far away from her home and her family. Eventually Marjane returns to Iran to see that the home she so longed for, no longer exists. There are three specific examples of benefiting from film adaptation in Persepolis. The first being after a scene in which Marjane overhears some girls at a cafe talking about her. The night before Marjane had pretended to be french while a guy hit on her, the girls at the table across from her were laughing at the thought of her pretending to be French. She angrily walks over to the table and yells "I AM IRANIAN AND PROUD OF IT!" and storms off. Now in terms of the book and the movie, there is no difference in this portion of the scene, it is a word for word copy. When we see Marjane thinking about the incident later while walking down the street she is reminded of her grandmother, and what she would think about Marjane pretending to be French. In the book what we see is Marjane's narration simply state that she was reminded of her grandmother and how upset she would be if she found out about Marjane hiding her Iranian heritage. In the film however, we are treated to a scene that replaces the simple narration with an artfully done scene where Marjane's shadow turns into the shape of her grandmother, and Marjane shares a discussion with grandmother's shadow that looms over her, disappointed in her for denying her roots. The creativeness of the scene along with the beautiful black and white 2D animation that keeps the movie still looking like the book, adds so much to the novel that we couldn't get before.

The second example is a musical number that happens shortly after Marjane attempts to commit suicide. In the novel it is shown over several pages how Marjane improved her life, going to school, starting up a dancing class, and just learning to be happy again. At one point in the book we see a radio in the studio of Marjane's dance class that has "Eye of the Tiger" playing. In the movie however, these pages are molded into one sequence where Marjane sings "Eye of the Tiger" as she improves her life in various ways. This is easily the most uplifting part of an often depressing movie and it expresses the happiness of Marjane much more fully than the novel. The third example is the largest. For the film, an entire extra layer of story was added with Marjane sitting in an airport in present day, thinking about her life. This provides an explanation of where the narration is coming from and a much more satisfying, if not more depressing ending than in the novel. It also provides an added artistic quality, as the present day scenes look beautiful with their partially colored in look. The only real advantage that the novel has over the film is that it can present a more detailed and long look into Marjane's life and that it can provide notes on specific events. Many times throughout the novel Marjane makes notes outside of the panels giving cultural information to explain certain events. Such as in a scene where one of the nuns at the board house Marjane is staying insults her in a different language and specifically calls her foreigner in a harsh tone. A similar event happens later involving her then boyfriend's mother. In the novel there is a note explaining the specific meanings of the words and often add some more humor or insight to the situation. Of course this cannot happen in the film and through careful changing of dialog, it is ommitted.

Besides those two minor differences, Persepolis really stands a strong companion piece to the novel. I can only hope people become more accepting to changes and sacrifices made to adapt a graphic novel to film, it is the only way the genre can branch out in the film world. Persepolis is a large step forward in the right direction, for proving how original a graphic novel adaptation can be.

Picks for the 80th annual Academy Awards

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR - 5 points
No Country for Old Men


ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING - 5 points
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men


PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE - 5 points
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood


PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE - 5 points
Ellen Page - Juno

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - 5 points
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men


PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - 5 points
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - 5 points
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - 5 points
Diablo Cody - Juno


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR - 5 points
The Counterfeiters (Austria)


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR - 3 points
Persepolis

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION - 5 points
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo


ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY - 5 points
Robert Elswit - There Will Be Blood

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN - 5 points
Colleen Atwood - Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - 5 point
Sicko


ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING - 5 points
Christopher Rouse - The Bourne Ultimatum

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP - 3 points
Ve Neill and Martin Samuel - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE) - 5 points
Dario Marianelli - Atonement

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG) - 5 points
"Falling Slowly" - Once
Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova


ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING - 5 points
Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland - No Country for Old Men

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING - 5 points
Matthew Wood - There Will Be Blood


ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS - 3 points
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier - Transformers

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT - 4 points
Freeheld

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM - 5 points
I Met the Walrus


BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM - 5 points
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)

Oscar Review: Atonement

Atonement
Directed: Joe Wright
Written: Christopher Hampton and Ian McEwan (novel)
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Keira Knightley, and James McAvoy

Blech! Period pieces are something I do not often enjoy. They all follow the same basic rules:
1. Have every actor involved go by the classical standard of "victorian" acting.
2. Be nominated for best costume design no matter what.
3. Have Keira Knightley on the cover.
4. Focus on a rich family.
5. Make sure it is a love story.
Atonement breaks none of these rules, and to the untrained eye looks like just another sappy old love story that we have heard several versions of before. The truth is that Atonement breaks new ground in an endless cycle of period piece love stories with its touchy subject manner, creative directing, and bold ending. The tragic story begins at the large estate of the Tallis family. Briony Tallis(Saoirse Ronan) is a writer who at the age of 13 has already completed several stories and plays. Today her cousins are coming over(while their parents are getting divorced) and she has a play prepared to be performed that night. Her three cousins, a 15 year old redheaded girl named Lola Quincey and her two younger twin brothers; are not very interested in Briony's play despite her pleading with them to pay attention. Meanwhile Briony's sister Cecilia is preparing for the arrival of her brother who is bringing his best friend who runs a chocolate factory. Cecilia is being bothered by her classmate/landscaper Robbie (James McAvoy) who later that day confesses his love to Cecilia in a note he gives to Briony. Unfortunately he accidentally gives Briony a highly sexual and crude note that he wrote as a joke. Cecilia seems undisturbed and shows her love to Robbie in the library of their mansion. Cecilia walks in on this and is highly shaken up, this and a case of mistaken identity later in the night lead Briony to accuse Robbie of being a sexual predator. Robbie is arrested and eventually joins the army, being separated from his lover Cecilia. Atonement focuses on the tale of Robbie and Cecilia craving to be back with each other as well as Briony's growing guilt for falsely accusing Robbie over the course of several years.

The first act of Atonement feels very typical, but interesting to watch. A rich yet troubled family and their sexual adventures! We have seen this story before, but the acting helps this part of the story rise above conventional standards. Saoirse Ronan in particular is wonderful as Briony (the real star of the movie) her portrayal of the innocence yet ignorance of a little girl will really affect you. Keira Knightley nor James McAvoy really impressed me and seemed very plain and simple with their performances. This may just be the fact that the story of the character Briony is much more interesting than the love story that the film so heavily advertises. The middle act shows off the more impressive technical aspects of Atonement. A single several minute shot on the beach of Dunkirk is breathtaking, the constant moving camera that goes across the beach, along with the moving score complimenting the singing soldiers in a choir, all mixing with Joe Wright really showing off his talent.

The final act is what really brings this movie over the edge of being typical to its genre (as could be said for many of the best films of 2007) Atonement has an ending that is so astonishingly brilliant, it improves everything in the film tenfold in a single moment. So while Atonement may at first come off as typical, good things come to those who wait, in this case the good thing would be a revolution of consequences in period piece romance.

9/10

Oscar Review: Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton
Written and Directed: Tony Gilroy
Starring: George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson

The words "legal" and "thriller" mixed together have produced some very mixed and boring results before. When I saw the trailer for Michael Clayton I was less than excited. It had a great cast, but the story seemed typical (Network, anyone?) and none of it looked very interesting. I wasn't even tempted to take a look at it until Oscar nominations were being thrown at it. To be honest, the only reason I decided to watch it was because I was dedicated to seeing every best picture nomination. To my surprise, Michael Clayton is much more daring than your average legal thriller. Not so much in the point it tries to make, but in how it focuses on it's characters and their glaring faults. Be it how far they will go to succeed, or how they can fix every single problem but their own; Michael Clayton is a fascinating character study.

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is what people in the business(the legal business, I guess) call a "fixer". His job is to come up with quick solutions for rich clients under high pressure situations. Now one of the top attorneys at the firm Clayton works at, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) is having a breakdown. During an important deposition for the firms #1 client U-North a pharmeceutical company, Edens begins to strip naked and seemingly goes insane. Michael is sent in to rectify the situation and take care of his long time friend. Everyone thinks Arthur has simply snapped, but it becomes apparent that U-North is hiding something, something that made Arthur deeply question his own morality, and U-North's chief counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) will do anything to hide it from the public.

I started to appreciate Michael Clayton during a scene where Michael pulls over his car to take in the beauty of some horses standing in a field. It is kind of odd, me finding appreciation in a movie that didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary during a scene in which the main character is finding appreciation in horses that weren't really doing anything out of the ordinary. I kind of find it amazing that Michael Clayton is not based on a book. I actually thought it was based on a book up until I started looking for that "based on the best selling novel" label. The fact that Michael Clayton is not based on a book is a testament to the film itself, the dialog feels straight out of a great novel, while the cinematography contrasts it with the kind of beautiful shots we go to see films for (in particular the scene with horses I mentioned earlier). Tony Gilroy has proven his writing skills before by adapting the Bourne screenplays but here he shows that his directing is just as good and compliments his writing very well. The acting here is phenomenal, George Clooney once again proves that he can play any role he wants and often does so, he carries the film very well. I think Tilda Swinton has won me over in just about everything she has ever been in including the mediocre comic book adaptation Constantine and she is just as good here. Tom Wilkinson's role may seem sort of like a show off "give me an oscar" role to some, but I think he genuinely does well here and avoids the oscar grabbing you would see from actors like Russel Crowe(I love you Russel, but don't you ever tell me Cinderella Man was a good movie).

So it is not when the legal plan all comes together, or when justice is served that Michael Clayton becomes a good movie. There is a moment where you realize this is much more than a legal thriller. It is during a scene in which Clayton's son is explaining a popular children's trading card series to Arthur Edens that involves everyone in a town having the same dream, but no one knows it because everyone is afraid that they are crazy. There is something oddly powerful about a moment like this, and seeing Edens react with interest and find such meaning in what is seemingly a stupid trading card game. It is just something you have to stop, look at, and appreciate.

9.1/10