An analysis of the movie Somewhere between - Essay Example

Somewhere between This movie tells the intimate stories of four young girls. They lived in different parts of America and in different kinds of families. All of them had been adopted since their birth parents could not keep them because of personal circumstances which collided with one child policy in China. This happened in 1979 when china had forecasts of severe over population so it had to implement a one child policy that was strict in an attempt to control and limit the population growth. Traditionally Chinese parents favoured boys as opposed to girls and as a result many families wanted their only child to be a boy. This resulted to a large number of infant girls to be given up for adoption or abandoned. Majority of these girls ended up in America, and Knowlton selected for of the girls as the subject of the documentary and she spends three years investigating and interviewing them about their life. He is particularly interested in their thoughts and experiences of being somewhere between American and Chinese. Jenni is 14 years old and she lives in Berkeley California. She was adopted at age five she speaks mandarin she knows she’s a stranger to either country. Jenna cook is 15 years old lives in Massachusetts, Newburyport. She is an over achiever and a top student at an academy in New Hampshire. Butler is 13 years old, she lives in Tennessee Nashville and she has the ambition to be the first Chinese person to play in the grand ‘ole opry’. Ann Boccuti is 14 years of age and she lives in Pennsylvania, Lansdale. The girls are highly articulate, personable and self-aware as they know they belong to two adversely different cultures. The young women allow the viewers to grasp the experience of coming of age in America as trans-racial adoptees. Through these young women experiences and their exploration the viewers are able to consider themselves as individuals and as a nation of immigrant. Critique The films structure weaves back and forth between the girls individual threads making it hard for the viewers to distinct and separate their narratives. The characters also had confusing names, Jenni and Jenna this gives the audience a hard time to follow and distinguish the two characters. It would have helped if the director had established the individual girls more firmly before moving back and forth in their threads. A city of sadness This is a 1989 historical drama film in Taiwan that was directed by Hou Hsiao. It is the story about a family that is embroiled in White terror which was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Government of Kuomintang after their arrival from China in late 1940s. During the white terror thousands of the Taiwanese people were rounded up shot or sent to prison. The film was first of its kind to address openly The Kuomintang’s misdeeds after the 1945 turnover of Taiwan from japan. It is also the first to depict incident 228 of 1947 where thousands of people were massacred. The film shows the experiences of the Lin family during the white terror. The eldest brother in the family, Wen Heung, is murdered brutally by the Shanghai mafia leader and boss. The middle son Wen leung was jailed in a KMT jailhouse and he suffered a traumatic brain injury that led to his death. The youngest brother Wen Ching is deaf and mute hopes to escape and flee to the mountains with a friend so that they could fight in the anti-KMT resistance movement and revenge the death of his brothers. By the end of the film even the photographer is arrested by the authorities and it is the wife who leaves to tell the sad story of the family destruction. Wen Ching’s muteness begins as an expedient and a move to disguise his inability to speak Taiwanese language but ended up being up as an effective strategy to demonstrate the brutal insensitivity of the administration of Chen Yi. Mr Hou presents Wen Chin’s character as an embodiment of Taiwan itself. He is victimised and vulnerable regardless of how hard he tries to establish a peaceful and independent life. Much of the movie’s power is from his unsentimental performance as he silently shapes the thoughtful character from outlines of blunt symbol for helplessness of Taiwan. Critique It takes a long time before Mr Hou arrives at the poignant heart or point of the film. The crucial moment when personal suffering blends with the politics arrives more than half way through the film as the plot takes too long to develop. 2046 This film was directed by Wong. It is an oblique and indirect film that is continuation of the earlier film he had directed. The film’s main character is Chow Mo Wam. There was also a room 2046 in the other film, mood for love. There are definite connections between the two films but they operate an image of an express train to the year 2046. In the movie Chow says that, “all memories are there in the future, we are told, but no one has ever returned.” No one apart from the narrator of the story who tells about it. 2046 is a room next to Chow’s hotel room where the movies occurs. This room was lived in by series of women who he loved. Coincidentally 2046 is the year that is set by china for expiration of Hong Kong from the main land. This makes the movie a parable about Hong Kong. Chow discovers that if he had not seen the numbers 2046 on the door of the room he could not have started the futuristic novel. It reveals that the movie was inspired when he thought about what happened in the room after, in the mood for love was over. Chow had moved from Singapore to the hotel in Hong Kong where he meets a series of women. The first one was Lulu a prostitute who was murdered mysteriously and her death remains a misery in the whole film. Then there was Jing who was the daughter of the hotel owner. Finally Zhang who became chows confidante and they preferred drinking and sharing their sorrows to sex. Critique The film is complicated and full of miseries. This makes it had for the viewers to understand the story. It also takes long for the films plot to develop. The movie as a whole seems not sure of itself. It is like a sketch book. Wong is not sure where the movie should end or why he is making the movie. The film is skeletal and unlike “in the mood for love” it was not self-contained. Comparison In ‘2046’, the filming of the characters is done in medium shot and close up revealing the baroque architectural details that are in the back ground. There is also constant cigarette smoke coiling constantly through the air. In the filming there are many foreground screens such as furniture, walls and door jumps that add detail and texture. The film is also made in lurid colours which act as a counterpoint of the action’s elegance (Dalton 124). In ‘Somewhere between’ and ‘a city of sadness’ there is a calmness due to the still photograph. With the dark interiors, the cameras linger up close to the characters who are being interviewed. The camera work is often smooth and motionless in all the films. In the, a city of sadness there were also long shots. In the films the same historical events are presented similarly as the director uses the main characters as symbolism of the real situation. Both films have stories which develop from the thoughts and memories of the main character. In somewhere between Jenni, Jenna, Haley and Ann open up on their experiences, thoughts and memories of their past. This develops the plot of the story. Their experiences symbolises the adventure of teenage girls and the exposure to different cultures. In a city of sadness Wen Ching opens up on his memories thoughts and his intentions. He is used to symbolise the silent and innocent victims of the war. In ‘2046’, Chow remembers his experience with the women, this develops the plot and the number 2046 is used to symbolise the year when Hong Kong intends to be free. All the films have sad experiences and stories. In ‘somewhere between’ the sad stories is showed when the four girls recall how they were abandoned by their families. They narrate of how they feel different in their current environment. They feel like aliens and it took them time to fit in in their current environments. It is also sad when Haley meets her sister whom she had not seen since she was adopted. In a ‘city of sadness’, sadness is depicted when Ching’s brothers died living him alone. He was also jailed despite of him being deaf. In ‘2046’ chows loses his love in a sad way and he is unable to move on. The mysterious death of the prostitute is also sad (Dalton 187).In both films the directors have used few characters to develop the story. The story rotates around few people and their experiences and memories. The directors use the memories and experiences of the characters to invoke thought to the viewers. Also in all the films the characters lose their loved ones and they seek to find a new beginning and move on with their life. Despite the fact that they still have sad memories of their past which still haunts them they are struggling to move on. Another similarity of the films is that it takes time for the plot to develop in all of them. The viewer has to connect the various memories and experiences before understanding the plot of the films. The films have sad moods and environment that ensure the connection between the viewers and the characters. Interviewing the characters made the movie to be more real and appealing. This helped in developing the plots and making them easier to understand. Associating the film with activities that really happened makes the movie more believable and it also makes it to be a learning experience. The positivity of the characters in the movies despite the sad experiences makes the films to be encouraging to the viewers. They act as a learning experience and strategy to educate the society. The films address the challenges that face the immigrants who have to adopt the new culture, environment and ways of life. In conclusions all the films, ‘somewhere between’, a ‘city of sadness’ and ‘2046’ are similar in terms of the directors’ strategy of bringing out the story to the viewers. The films have similar themes and plot outlines. It involves victims of war and circumstances of characters’ that put aside their experience and struggle to cope up with their new environment and culture. The directors have used the characters’ sad memories, thoughts, and experiences to develop the plot of the story in their movies. The experiences and memories are meant to provoke the viewer into thinking and awareness that makes one to empathise with them. The characters in the movies accept their new environments and they move on with their lives. Though as much as they move on they still have fresh memories of their sad past. The characters feel free to share their experiences in the narratives and interviews. Their experience and opinions are aimed at challenging the viewers who have passed through similar experience. The sad moods in the films also helps in convincing the viewers, it helps to make the movie more authentic. The mood the directors have employed in the films helps the viewers to connect and relate with movie and characters. To make the films better, the directors should have avoid interweaving the characters alongside with their interviews and experiences as this confuses the viewer. Directors should also have less complicated plots that take less time to be developed. The directors should ensure that the lighting is sufficient to reveal the characters’ faces. This makes the movie more real and revealing. Works Cited Dalton, Mary M. The Hollywood Curriculum: Teachers in the Movies. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. Read More