As you write what you thought of the film, answer the following questions:
- What is the theme of this film?
- Do you think Paloma lives or dies at the end? Why?
- In what ways does this film draw on the French New Wave tradition?
- In what ways did you personally relate with the characters in this film?
I LOVED this film. It was just so... So... Perfect. The beginning where she reveals her plan of committing suicide on her birthday... The middle where she starts to connect with people... The ending which is so very poetic and extremely bittersweet... Perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think Paloma lives. Even before Renee died she seemed not as firm in her decision. I do think though that she will always keep it as an option. To have a tragically unexpected death for those around her to marvel at... Seems to fit with the character.
The theme to me is more of a question(s) - what does it mean to be alive? To feel? To make connections with those around us? Are we still really "alive" if we avoid all of those things? Was Renee "alive" before she let Paloma and Kakuro into her life? Was it even a life?
I like the idea of a theme as a question. You might apply this approach to the Life Sucks, Now What? art you create tomorrow.
DeleteTommy Kiter
ReplyDeleteThe theme to me of this movie is i dont i guess just a girl wanting to die at a young age maybe because she thinks that life isn't fair i dont know. But all in all i like this movie especially because she was filming everthing making a movie.
I think paloma lives at the endd because she thought it was bad having someone close to her die and i think she felt bad maybe because she didnt want family living in pain or sorrow.
Ehh i dont know but it dad have some of the french new wave elements. I couldnt really relate to any of the characters of the film because i am not even close similar nor being able to relate to them.I liked this film but i dont know if it was a film for me.
I like how she was making a movie too. This is an aspect of the French New Wave that we didn't go over in class. Many French New Wave filmmakers make movies about people making movies or movies that have some element of movie making in the plot somewhere. They were cinemaphiles (people who love movies) and so they put movies in their movies in their movies.
DeleteTayia Groesbeck-
ReplyDeleteI really liked this movie but i was really sad when the suoer died, My jaw dropped and it made me want to cry. But i can really relate to the suoer how she thinks bad about herself alot, But i fell really bad for her because she thinks she is discusting and that mad me sad because she is a pretty good person.
I think Paloma lives at the end because she thought it was horrible having someone she loves die and she probably didn't want the people she loves to have to feel what she was feeling when the super died.
I related with her because she likes to film and i like to film and also she has like problema and a councelor and i have a councelor so I han relate to her with her emotional issues.
Thanks for sharing personal stuff about how you relate.
DeleteI absolutely loved this movie sooooo much! It was a very good story nonetheless. I thought the theme to this was sometimes it takes someone else to show you what life is like, and to enjoy it. Like, you could tell Paloma was having second thoughts about killing herself in the last few scenes before Renee died.
ReplyDeleteI think Paloma didn't kill herself, I feel like she really found a new way about life, and saw how tragic it is to lose somebody to death. She knew how bad people may feel. And I don't really think she wanted that. I thought she was an amazing little girl, but definitely misunderstood.
I like your theme.
DeleteTHE theme to this movie, through the eyes of Justus Page, is a gratifying, existential derisory upon which the origination of Paloma's epousal of Life and Death, and Renee's resignation of lugobriousness, comes to a consolidative catharsis about why we should encompass felicity in sprightliness... or simply, just open your eyes and add some happiness into your life. Life doesn't last forever.
ReplyDeleteI relate a lot to Paloma and Mr. Ozu. Paloma's home life seems awfully reflective of my own. She feels trapped and empty inside. Her mom is always off in another world, always faking compassion, and a sister obsessed with being good at things and trying to be human. And a father obsessed with work, with not much time for anything else. A family consumed by money, and social status, mournong more over the loss of a seemingly useless old man over the death of someone who has actually done something. And Mr. Ozu reminds me of myself, in many ways. His attitude of "just be happy, and make others happy." Also, he loves nice clothes, as I do. And he loves movies and literature, as I do. He's just a very open and good intentioned person who loves the fine arts. And I hope I'm fairly close to that.
Uncovering the reality of the manner in which you phenomenologically empathized with Paloma and Mr. Ozu incited felicity in my cranium and cardioid.
DeleteEven though I saw no hedgehogs in this film, I really enjoyed it. When I think of a theme for this movie it would have to be love. It should be about life. But I keep finding myself going back to love. This film evolved from a question of life to a question of love. When the Paloma decides she doesn't want to live anymore. She sees what everyone else refuses to see. That everyone is unhappy. "Every happy family is happy in the same way. But every unhappy family is uhappy for its own reasons" and Paloma's family is very unhappy. But once she meets Renee and Mr. Ozu on a personal level she finally can understand what it's like to have someone care about what you feel. And she can begin to know real love.
ReplyDeleteOkay. So I just thought of something. I knew Paloma didn't want to commit suicide when she told her parents she wanted to be a Super when she grew up. Paloma knew she was going to be trapped like everyone around her was when she grew up. But after meeting Renee, the Super, Paloma felt like she didn't have to be her parents, so she didn't want to commit suicide. Her fear of becoming what she didn't want to was gone.
This movie is about a twelve year old planning to commit suicide. That's a pretty absurd idea. And the use of art is pretty New Wave to me.
Renee is exactly like my mother. It's scary. My mom is always reading. And if my mother wasn't hispanic/native america she would look like her in 10-20 years. But that's not my only relation to this film. I am frightened of being trapped in a fishbowl. I want to be free with my life. I felt like I was Paloma in this movie and my mom was Renee. I hide from what I can, so does my mother.
That is a great insight about how Paloma probably decided she didn't want to die when she decided to be a Super because she had found a type of life that was worth living. I like that a lot.
DeleteI was noticing the switch between wide and close-up as well.
ReplyDeleteC.J. Barrett:
ReplyDeleteOne of the themes in this film is that a new haircut can make life worth living, or something like that. The gist is that its a perspective change, and that it might reveal something incredibly positive for the person in question. This is pretty apparent when Paloma starts hanging out with Renee and Mr Ozu, and starts to make future plans for being a superintendent. Also with Renee, she becomes incredibly more fluffy and likeable than how she was first portrayed, as her character grew and developed (like a hedgehog).
I imagine Paloma would go on to follow her newfound dream of becoming a super, almost as a way to honor her friend Renee, but also because of the perspective change, rather than kill herself. I really related to Paloma's character, not in the way that I plan to kill myself on my birthday, but in the way that I've always been a bit of a black sheep in my family. I've had distinct interests, and wanted to make some sort of meaning out of what I did, as Paloma did with Renee and Mr. Ozu, while her mother and the rest of her family carried on with gossip and arbitrary conversation. It really stroke a chord in my heart when Paloma corrected the dinner guest about the origin of Go, partly because I absolutely adore that game, and that I find it unfair that children's opinions are often overlooked, due to them being children.
I have to say, I think this is my favourite movie we've watched thus far. I wish I knew more about New Wave when we were choosing the countries to study!
Well, after Germany, we will have two weeks of open weeks where we can do whatever we want. We could spend that time watching more New Wave (although I think it'd be awesome to do some more Japan too!)
DeleteOh, and I love your haircut theme ... on two levels: both the colloquial but deep reference to a haircut and its meaning.
Delete-Randi Michelle :3
ReplyDeleteI ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS MOVIE. It is seriously one of my most favourites that we've watched in class. I started tearing up a few times through out the movie, but once Renee got hit by the van, I lost it. I couldn't help but start crying. The theme for me is that things will always get better and to never give up hope. Things may have seemed terrible for Paloma at first, but through out the movie she started socializing more with Renee and Mr. Ozu, and started to realize more and more that life didn't just revolve around her family, and that really, her family wasn't even that bad in the first place. She started to think that maybe things would get better, and that having the love and friendship of Renee and Ozu was worth living for.
When Renee died, I think Paloma realized that it's painful to lose someone you love, and that she couldn't bring herself to be so selfish to do that to her family, and especially Ozu since he had just lost Renee. So I think that she found a better purpose in life, and didn't end up killing herself, knowing that things would always get better and would turn out to be okay in the end.
I thought the same thing about the end as you.
Deletei thought this movie was good. it was a little weird at first when you find out that 12 year old Paloma wants to commit suicide. but as she explains through the movie how she looks at death i think you see another side to dying. then she started making friend and becoming important to other people, and i hoped she wouldnt kill heself after she found the people that cared about her. I was really shocked when the super died, and i think if i was in Paloma's shoes after her friend died i think it would make me want to kill myself even more but another part of me thinks she didnt go through with it after she saw how it affected the people around her. i think i can relate by being judged for not having allot of money or being known as the rich. its always nice to find that friend that doesnt care about how much money you have. i thought it was a good movie though.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how seeing someone kill themselves could either make you want to kill yourself more or help you value your life more. It can go either way.
DeleteThis was a pretty good movie. I really liked the whole story that she was gonna kill herself on her birthday, at such a young age it really suprised me. I guess that was the French wave twist? I guess the theme of the movie was we can all find a reason to live and enjoy life if we just let people make a difference in your life.
ReplyDeleteThe camera angle when she was it by the car was a little odd. I thought it would look less weird if the camera was on the ground and not in the sky. It just seemed to fake. I did like how shocking it was for that to happen most movies are too predictable ahd when that happened. It was like OMG did that really happen. So very unexpected....
I don't think Pamola ended up killing herself. She finally found out that It hurts losing someone you love. She couldn't do that to her family and Mr. Ozu. She relized that the world doesn't revolve around her.
Yeah, I noticed that in the sky camera angle during the death scene as well. It was an unconventional angle to use and I can see what you mean about how it made it look a little fake. I think that was a dummy that got hit and I think the overhead angle might have exposed the unnatural movements of the dummy. I did appreciate that shot however for how unconventional it was.
DeleteAshton Bowers:
ReplyDeleteI have a couple themes to this film, one is that theres always a reason to live even if you dont like the look of the future or no one realy cares about you, the other theme is to care about everyone even the super who is poor and isnt that pretty.
i dont think paloma kills herself because she finds a new meaning to life and suicide would create more problems and solve nothing.
and after getting to know renee and like her she wouldnt want the same pain to happen to ozu again and her family with her mother already on antidepresents.
Good arguments for why you think she chooses to live.
DeleteAlan Carrasco
ReplyDeleteI don't really know what the them is for this film is because i was mostly confused though out the whole film would have to see it a lot of times for the theme to get to me and so i can understand it clearly.
I think she dies because in the beging of the film she says she gonna kill herself on her birthday..
It's still not that clearly to me what the french new wave tradition.
I didn't really relate on a personally level.
Thanks for being honest about not quite getting the French New Wave tradition. I admire people who are open about what they know and don't know. That's the first step to learning new things!
DeleteI think the theme of this film is "don't judge a book by its cover." As cliche as it sounds, I think it fits. When you first see Renee, you think she's a grumpy, old, frumpy looking, recluse of a landlady. But when you start getting to know her throughout the film, she turns out to be a very sweet, caring, shy, considerate lady who has been alone her whole life and just wants to find happiness and peace. I think she finds that when she starts dating Mr. Ozu. She was happy when she was with Paloma and Mr. Ozu. I admire Mr. Ozu for seeing her when no one else did. He's a wise old man. I think it was very tragic how Renee ended up dying while trying to get that other guy out of the street. People talk about killing others with kindness, but you would never think that kindness could end up killing you.
ReplyDeleteI think, in the end, that Paloma decides to live. She saw how beautiful and full of wonder life can be when she saw Renee and Mr. Ozu together. She saw how happy people can be and that life is not only full of misfortune. I think she still believed that to be true, even after Renee's death.
I love the reversal you employ in this sentence: "people talk about killing others with kindness, but you would never think that kindness could end up killing you." That's the kind of sentence that belongs in a film essay.
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