So, that means that by Monday, January 13, you need to have completed the following:
- Watch three movies from your country of choice.
- Do two hours of research using books or the internet on your country of choice.
- Do a 30 minute interview (or longer) with someone who has lived for at least a year in your country of choice.
When you have completed all of these things then answer all of the following questions in a comment on this post:
- Which three movies did you watch. Which did you like the most? Why? Which did you like the least? Why?
- What were the three most important things you learned in your two hours of research?
- What were the three most important things you learned while doing your interview?
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ReplyDeleteThe three movies i watched was Ip Man, The Drunken Master, and Fearless. The one i really enjoyed the most out of these three movies was Ip Man. From the fact that i love watching Chinese fighting movies, Ip Man is a very well known one that mostly everybody has seen. Donnie Yen, who is the main character in this movie, really fit the character really well. Also the movie had to deal with the tensions between the Chinese and Japanese and how the government is doing with this situation. The movie showed how the Chinese really did not like the Japanese based on things in the past. The film portrayed the Japanese as ruthless and soulless people that did't care about outsiders like the Chinese So i really liked this film based on the tension between these two powerful countries clashing together. These three movies i really enjoyed and hard to pick which one i disliked the most but if i had to choose it would be the Drunken Master. The movie did has its moments of comedy and action that made the movie enjoyable. I actually don't dislike this movie at all, i picked it to be the lowest out of the three just because one of the themes what i pulled out was that when you are drunk you can do anything. Which isn't that meaningful to me as the themes as the other movies.
ReplyDeleteOne important thing i learned about china is that their are more people that live in China than any other country in the world. This effects the environment around them and also have some of the most polluted cities in the world. Although China might seem like they don't care they actually do. They are trying to resolve this big issue but it is hard they have so many people living in China that all the resources the people need are messing things up and making things worse. Another important thing i've learned is that China is one of the most oldest civilizations in the world. They also still have one of the longest continuously written language in the world with more than ten different dialects. Last important thing i've learned is about China's geography. China has one of the tallest mountains in the world, Mount Everest, thousands of rivers, and a wide diversity of wild life and species.
Who did you interview?
DeleteI watched the following films from India: Veer-Zaara, Rab Ne Ban Di Jodi and Chennai Express. I liked Rab Ne Ban Di Jodi the most because it had the most heart. A lot of Bollywood films are pretty superficial and silly. But this film really had a heartfelt central message with a protagonist who I found super interesting. I think I liked Veer-Zaara the least because it was really silly and superficial and contrived. Don't get me wrong, it was fun in its own way and it was an activist film but it wasn't deep.
ReplyDeleteThe three most important things I learned in my two hours of research were the following:
- That India has A LOT of languages!
- That the term Masala film is used to describe what we think of as the typical "Bollywood movie" but there are other kinds of movies made in India as well.
- The meaning of the dot India women wear on their heads. It is called a Binti and it has various meanings in different regions and time periods and for different individuals. It was, for a time, seen as a sign that a woman was married and a way for her to call down prosperity upon her husband. Even before that and until today, it is a way to stimulate the skin around the third eye chakra in order to help one focus one's energy into that place which is seen as an important spiritual center in one's body. Also, it is simply an aesthetic thing: women do it to look beautiful.
I interviewed a man named Sandi who I met via Facebook. We talked on the phone. I feel that the three most important things I learned from him are:
- That "Bollywood" is used to talk about Hindi cinema. But there are film industries in India which make movies in many other languages as well.
- That Sandi, as an educated guy, does not like the stereotypical Bollywood films. He is embarrassed of them and feels they do not represent his country well because they are so silly and senseless and don't have a lot of deep meaning.
- That Bollywood films are intended for the poor class of people because they are the ones who have typically paid to see movies in India. This really helped me understand why I see so many similarities between Bollywood and Hong Kong cinema: they are both directed toward poor folk who want to get a lot out of the price of their ticket and aren't particularly sophisticated.
The country I selected was Indonesia, a country consisting of islands and peninsulas.
ReplyDeleteThe three films I watched were:
The Raid (2011)
Merantau (2009)
and Habibie & Ainuun (2012)
By Far among the three would have to be The Raid. This movie is just so beautifully choreograph that all the imperfections made it even better. And The Raid 2 is coming this March! I'm so excited. My least favorite would probably have to be Merantau. Because even though this movie and The Raid were made by the same director and star, it was their debut films and we all know when first starting out, it's hard to pull off. But I'm real glad that they learned from their previous experience and put all their techniques in The Raid.
From what I learned just in Indonesian cinema, that for years this market was mainly low-budgeted horror films. They did this because often the company who produce these would make 3x their investment, but recently film festivals have been noticing a break from the campy horror flicks and are heading towards more heart-felt movies or movies about someone rather famous or not in Indonesia. I also learned that Indonesians like to express their sexuality even at a really young age. If you try to search up any Indonesian movie they are constantly having women half to full-on nude. But as for the country that it is the 4th most populaces country in the world (right behind the US). In this country that a vast majority of people are Islamic at 87%, making this the largest Muslim country in the world. It's weird in the last two sentences I managed to write the word "country" four times. I also learned about the martial arts of Silat, which originated in the Indonesia Malaysia area. I bring this up because Silat was used in; The Raid and Merantau. This martial art is defined as hundreds of different styles but tend to focus either on strikes, joint manipulation, throws, bladed weaponry, or some combination thereof.
I interviewed my friend I met two years ago; Michael Melainous. Born in Beijing his family moved Jakarta (Indonesia's capital) when he was barely born or when he was two years old.
Personally Mike is a wonderful man and colorful as well, he has a deep passion for both Indonesian and American cinema. He's a small time actor and was cast to be an extra in a movie with Chris Hemsworth last summer. He made a big deal about that* ha. But he is also a full time college student trying major in business communications. So we talked about the budgets that Indonesian filmmakers get and are often used as a challenge but also brings out the creative side in them.
Do all Indonesians express their sexuality at a young age or do their movies just depict this? I ask because there are some things which are common in Hollywood films which don't necessarily reflect how most people live.
DeleteThe class term project ive done out of the 5 are 2 hrs reserch, 2 movies, 20 mins of an interveiw i will be ready to present tomorow and i will have a power point to do. 2 films i watched wereEl_Santos_vs._La_Tetona_Mendoza Cronos
ReplyDeletemy favorite part about el santos was the funny most outragous comedy in the film. my favorite thing in cronos is the jumy parts in the scary move it had its moments were your like uhhh but i love that movie. probly love el snatos because its outragous what is put in an animated mexican film. three most important things ive learned about mexico : 1. theres strugle to make films possible in mexico cause the budgets and money issues mexico has. :2 the way they live its really break my heart the way some of those people live in mexico im grateful for what we have here in usa
DeleteThe country I picked was Brazil, one of the bigger countries in South America, right smack dab near the middle.
ReplyDeleteThe two movies I managed to watch were Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad) and Tropa De Elite 2. I must say I really love them, though I did like the first film more than the second. The movies are about the drug trade and police in the favelas. Near the end it even goes into a training sequence that reminded me a lot of movies like Full Metal Jacket or Jarhead. It's a very good and interesting film, and brutally honest. In a nutshell, the drug dealers aren't human scum and the cops are definitely not nice. It even tackles issues like corruption in the police force and teenage views on drugs and the drug trade. Definitely a very good cinematic film, using shaky cam and non-linear camera shots and natural lighting to give a very realistic feel to the films. And while I do believe the second one was just as good as the first, I do like the first one more because of it's brutal look at cops and the drug trade, instead of the second ones more linearly focused look on politics and corruption (Though it IS just as well done as the first film's, and I'm glad they didn't just recycle the first movie into a sequel like so many Hollywood films these days.)
The history of Brazilian cinema is actually not too complicated. In the 70's through the 90's things were good, Brazil was having a not-too-good-but-not-too-bad film industry and output of films, but then a politician by the name of Fernando Collor de Mello kicked Brazil's media funding in the rear under the guise of "Who needs film anyway?". Kind of a jerk. Luckily after some corruption scandals he was kicked out of office about two years later and the film industry in Brazil recieved a huge boost, bringing in so many good, fresh movies they decided to call the movement "The Retake". Most of the movies made in the Retake (1996 - present day) are actually hugely centered around Brazil's poverty and poor, i.e, Brazil's infamous favelas. Not too good of a trend, but I will be damned if it doesn't make for some really good movies.
Sadly that is all I could cover with this project, I hope it is enough.
Before I start this I would like to apologize for this being late.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the country I picked was France.
I haven't yet done my interview and unfortunately the woman I need to interview won't be free until Friday.
The three movies I watched were, The Day I Saw Your Heart. Romantics Anonymous. And I Do: How to Get Married and Stay Single. My favorite one was The Day I saw Your heart. I really liked this one because, well I'm a girl and it was all cute and sweet (: no but really I just thought it was really well shot and the story went well for me. The shots were pretty and I just liked it. The one I liked the least was Romantics Anonymous, this was the first one I watched so I feel like that may be the big problem here, but I felt like it wasn't as easy to watch and it felt like it was pushing the story instead of letting it flow. but, again, that may be because I hadn't watched a french film before that.
During my 2 hours of research I learned that the French started cinema. It is known as a strong film industry. France is a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world. Paris has the most cinema in the world. French films often consider the disappointment of existence when making their films. To the french film is more about just entertainment, it is employment generator and culture. French films are typically made for adults.