Film Critique: The Notebook - Movie Review Example

Final Film Critique- The book and number:  submitted: Introduction Certain movies have hugeimpact on individual’s lives; The Notebook is such a movie. The astonishing writing of Jan Sardi and Jeremy Leven was able to impress an overwhelming majority of audience. The movie received remarkable critical reception throughout the globe and attained several awards. Nick Cassavetes direction was cherished the most. The movie unfolds important segments of everyone’s life. Love and affection towards individuals is a natural phenomenon but full dedication and determination can bring mammoth results. Movie is a romantic drama film based on the novel of Nicholas Sparks. The movie was successful at the box office (Nicholas, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to critically examine The Notebook from all aspects. Elucidate those factors due to which film carries magnitude and virtue; and also demonstrate its short comings. The cinematography, direction, production, editing, sound and textual theme brought substantial results for the film crew. Certain scenes of the movie have immense importance and director of the film should be applauded for it. The objective of the paper remains to examine all the sections of the movies with critique eye, discuss its enormity and impact on the society and present a concise conclusion. Story Telling The movie has been shot in an elegant way. The movie starts off by an old man named Duke is telling a story to an old woman about true love in a nursing home. Duke is telling the story from the notebook which he posses. The year of the story is depicted as 1940 and location is Seabrook Island, South Carolina. Noah, a country boy falls in love with Allie Hamilton. They first witness each other at a carnival. They started an affair without telling their parents. Love from both ends was colossal. Noah is desperate to get married with Allie and expresses his true feelings. Allie is also seriously in love with Noah. The future plans of Noah are to give Allie wonderful living however his current financial position is not stable. He takes her to an abandoned house and tells her that he’ll purchase this house one day for her. Allie knew about Noah’s true intentions and asks her to make love (Nicholas, 2012). On the other hand Allie parents started looking for her with the police and found them. Allie is scolded from her parents for making out with Noah. They ban her from seeing Noah and tell her that he is not suitable for you. Allie is not satisfied with her parent’s decision. Anne- Allie’s mother is eager to separate both of them for which they move to Charleston, very next morning. Noah’s love does not decrease after such setback but her writes letter to Allie every day. Anne keeps the letters to herself and does not inform Allie in this whole time spam. Meanwhile Allie is disappointed by Noah for not writing any letter and not showing up at Charleston. The World War II era starts, in which Noah participates and Allie worked as volunteer to help the wounded soldiers. Allie meets Lon Hammond who is lawyer by profession. Allie’s parents wanted them both to be engaged; eventually Allie and Lon get married. Noah’s father sold the house so that his son’s wish of purchasing abandoned house would come true. Noah after returning from the war watches the whole scenario and thanks his father. Noah visits Charleston where he watches Allie and Lon playing cards. Noah comes back to Seabrook, completes the abandoned house and gives an ad in the newspaper (Nicholas, 2012). Allie after watching the ad comes back to Seabrook where he meets Noah. The next day, Anne appears and tells Allie that Lon is in the town to take her back. While going towards Lon, Anne shows all the letters of Noah to Allie. Allie is shocked from watching the letters and confesses to Lon about her love towards Noah. Lon wanted Allie to stay but Allie wanted to live rest of her life with Noah. The old woman shown in the movie is basically Allie and the old man is Noah. Allie has lost her memory completely and Noah is trying to bring her memory back by reading out their love story. Old Allie remembers these all events for a while but then again she losses her memory. Noah also had heart attack. After recovering from heart attack, old Noah approaches to Allie. She remembers all the things and asks her what if she losses her memory again. Noah assures her that he’ll be with her, forever. The next morning, both are found dead in their room, holding their hands (Nicholas, 2012). Acting The acting of the characters is splendid throughout the movie, especially young Noah and Allie acted marvelously. Rachel McAdams played young Allie and Ryan Gosling was young Noah. Both of them acted so perfectly that it seemed that the movie is based on a true story. Their acting in Seabrook has immense magnitude. Audience was specially moved by Ryan Gosling’s acting. James Garner was the old Noah and Gena Rowlands acted as old Allie. As the movie prevails, hype of exploring Duke and old woman increases. In the mid of the movie, it is revealed that old man is actually revealing his own story. The charisma of grabbing audience attention remained in the hands of James Garner because the way he portrayed himself in the nursing home is tremendous. The role of Fin (Noah’s friend) remained for a little but Kevin Connolly showed his class and sophistication. Joan Allen played Anne (Allie’s mother). Her negative role in the movie has fantastic depth. Her acting defined the breakup of Noah and Allie. James Marsdon played Lon Hammond. He also acted superbly and his acting was applauded by the audience (Lanka, 2004). Cinematography The cinematography of the movie is done by Robert Fraise. He did the remarkable work for making this movie a huge success in the box office. The movie was shot at different locations which require several equipment of cinematography. Robert Fraise eradicated all the hindrances and showed his brilliance. The last scene of the movie was specially the most loved scene by the audience where both Noah and Allie are found dead by holding each other’s hand. Noah and Allie holding hands are shown in the very clip which depicts illusionary and creativity in the field of cinematography. The innovative aspect was also observed in the scenes shot at Charleston. North Charleston Naval base was set for the shooting purpose. Shooting scenes at North Charleston is not an easy task but Robert Fraise and his crew made it possible by capturing each and every move superbly (Lanka, 2004). The scenes shot at the beach are very risky as water can get into cameras. It is imperative for the cinematography team to take care of their equipment precisely. Robert Fraise made the shooting at the beach possible by taking adequate precautionary measures. The building of abandoned house also required to capture those locations which have depth and virtue. The cinematography team created beautiful cinematographic theme so that the viewers would be gauged into the movie deeply (Lanka, 2004). Most of the scenes were shot in blink of an eye due to critical locations. Cinematography team proved its commitment and dedication for making this movie remarkable success. Editing The most important part after the shoot is editing of the movie. The movie was edited very nicely. Although there was some shortcomings in the editing section but overall the cinematography elegance covered that aspect. Some of the movie shots were cut in ridiculous manner. Such kind of editing makes negative impact on the viewer mind. Special effects were not very much deployed in the movie. The movie shots took place in the nursing home required colossal special effects but they were missing. Moreover Seabrook scenes also lacked special effects. The editing of the initial scenes of the movie was also not done in fashionable way. Editing of the movie was done by Alan Heim who has prestigious name in the industry but The Notebook editing was not up to the mark (Nicholas, 2012). Editing aspect was covered mostly by the spectacular cinematography work along with characters acting. The presence of special effects in the movie would have brought even better results for the movie. The movie was still able to receive positive response from the audience and made promising amount of money in the box office. The editing part could have been done better if time and dedication was devoted towards this important phase. Sound The background music in the movie was brilliant. Audience was attracted towards the movie due to paramount background scoring. Aaron Zigman was the person in charge of music section and he did magnificent work in this section. The movie created magnificent atmosphere due to remarkable background scoring. The background music during love scenes, war scenes and Allie’s coming back towards Seabrook was mind blowing. Most of the audience was astonished by tremendous music work. Aaron Zigman made sure to score the music for each and every scene (Nicholas, 2012). Strong background music and sound creates tremendous effect on audience mind. Most of the viewers remember movies by recalling their music and sound. The case with The Notebook is such of a kind. The movie was able to stay on the box office charts for a long time due to the music and cinematography element. The music of the movie is still listened and loved by a large number of audiences. Style and Directing The success of ever movie is attached with the role of direction and styles. The movie with an average story can reach zenith if the direction is done proficiently and competently. The Notebook had a very strong story and portraying a brilliant story in visual form is one of the most difficult tasks of the world. Nick Cassavetes direction was extraordinary and staggering. Choosing the location of the movie is an important task and Nick wanted to incorporate all those locations which were depicted in the novel. Some of the movie scenes were shot in critical locations where chance of error was minimal. The whole career of the director is dependent on capturing the intricate scenes and acting of the characters (Lanka, 2004). Nick Cassavetes casted all those individuals who were right people for the job. The acting carried out by the characters was also brilliant; this was due to the efforts of director. The movie showed the year 1940, when so much progression and developments were not taking place. Making the scenario of 1940’s and portraying them to the audience of 2004 is not an easy task at all. Nick did this all by making decisive measures. The World War II regime was also portrayed which precisely depicted that director’s job is well done (Lanka, 2004). Impact on the Society The movie had tremendous impact on the society. A very strong message was conveyed throughout the movie that true love finds its path. Noah and Allie’s role had tremendous following among the audience. People were inspired by the old Noah’s role too. Sacrifice and wait is essential to get true love which was acknowledged throughout the movie. Another important message that made colossal impact was that sometimes compromises are to be made just to please those who care about you. The basic theme of the movie was that love is essential for life and people can devote their whole lives in order to find true love (Nicholas, 2012). Conclusion The movie had immense following and impact. It was able to clutch an overwhelming majority of audience. There were although some shortcomings in the movie too. Editing part was not very well done. Cinematography was carried out beautifully along with the scoring. Styling and direction was superb. The main factor which took movie to success was the strong story line. Actor’s contribution was inspiring due to which The Notebook reached paramount success. The lack of special effects was visible in the movie which could have been done way better but overall the movie got great response from the audience, which matters a lot. References Lanka, K., (2004), Author of The Notebook, Google News, Retrieved: February 12, 2013. Nicholas, S., (2012) Nicholas Spark Official Website, Retrieved: February 12, 2013. < http://www.nicholassparks.com/news/the-notebook-special-edition-premiere> Read More