Film Blogs

Foreign Language Film: “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”- Directed by Zoya Akhtar (2011)

“Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” is a film about three friends called Kabir, Imraan and Arjun who had promised each other that if one of them were to get married, they would go on a bachelor trip together, choose one country and do three activities which all of them would take part in. This film follows the group of friends closely, and you learn what their weaknesses and fears are, and how they all face up to them by the end of the film.

As a spectator, I found that I got hooked watching this film almost instantly. This was due to the fairly simple but effective narrative structure because you find out about the characters and what their plans are within the first twenty minutes of the film.

The music in the film links all of the action together in my opinion, because it sets the tone and gets the audience involved with the action that they are watching on the screen. This dance scene is a prime example, because despite personally not being able to understand the lyrics it still made me want to move with the lyrics and feel involved with the action.

This is the link to the dance scene:

The acting in this comedy made it exciting and interesting to watch, because their laid back performance attitude meant that you never knew what action or dialogue was going to come next. At the start of the film I thought that Imraan and Kabir were the only funny and happy characters, and that Arjun was so serious and how he was such a workaholic. You could tell as well by the way he was acting that he wasn’t happy with what was happening in his life. By the end of the film however you could clearly notice that all three friends had bonded even more closely than before, and that that they had all faced the problems that were making all three of them unhappy and once they had faced them they were then a lot happier than before.

Documentary: “Super Size Me”- Directed by Morgan Spurlock (2004)

Unhealthy eating is a problem all over the world. Millions of people across the world buy fast food because it is cheap, convenient, and addictive to eat. Super Size Me is a documentary that features the Director Morgan Spurlock himself as he undergoes a personal challenge to see if eating fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner would effect his body, and how seriously it would. This documentary follows Morgan as he travels around America, and he eats McDonalds at various states across the country.

When watching this documentary, you see Morgan’s regular check ups with the Doctors, interviews with specialists and the public and you learn about what eating fast food regularly actually does to your body.

The thing that intrigued me about this documentary was that the fact food chains such as McDonalds were not concerned by the amount of junk food that the public were eating, and that it was the publics responsibility for what they eat and the amount they eat. At the end of this documentary Morgan tried contacting a major representative of McDonalds consistently and he finally spoke to someone about the food they are serving and the effects it had on the public. Months after this documentary was released, McDonalds stopped serving their Super Size option on the menu, and they claimed it had nothing to do with this documentary. I however think it must have, due to the fact that the public now know what the food is doing to their body and the effects it is having on them.

The majority of this film is made up of interviews of Morgan, and updates on how his body is doing. When he is not on the screen however, you see various other cutaways of food and crowd shots. There is voiceover from Morgan talking about the images that the audience see on the screen. This technique I thought was very clever as it was one of the ways that made me want to keep watching.

Film Produced before 1960: “The Wizard of Oz”- Directed by Victor Fleming (1939)

The Wizard of Oz is a film about Dorothy, who lives on a farm with her Aunt and Uncle, and when a tornado arrives it picks up her, her house, her dog Toto to the magical land of Oz. Dorothy embarks on a quest to get back home, and meets three other characters, a Scarecrow, a Tin Man and a Lion. All of these go on a troubled quest across Oz to see the Wizard, to see if he can give the scarecrow a brain, the Tin Man a heart, the Lion some courage and to get Dorothy back home.

The vibrant colours in this film make it interesting to watch, and along with the catchy songs in this film I think it makes an interesting film to watch. For a film that was made over 70 years ago, the idea that as a spectator you are taken off to a magical land with Dorothy, and then brought back to reality is brilliant in my opinion.

The opening of the film starts of will dull, dark colours to show that a storm and trouble was on its way. The music in the background was very dreary and slow and slow which sets the mood of the opening of the film. The opening credits also merges all of the catchy theme tunes together, which is a clever way to get the audience to remember them.

By contrast, although the background in the land of Oz is so noticeably flat, it is colourful and it gets the audience glued to the screen because of how much it stands out. The yellow brick road scene is a great example because the roads colour stands out, and the song is so simple and catchy, and the fact that Dorothy is skipping along and the munchkins are joining in it makes the audience want to keep on watching.

Yellow brick road Link:

Short Film: “8”- Directed by Acim Vasic (2010)

This short film by Acim Vasic is award winning and I can see why. This short film is about two soldiers that try to get the upper hand on each other throughout, and the power is exchanged between the two soldiers.

At the beginning of the film, it appears that an enemy lands by parachute in a soldiers territory, and is then taken prisoner by the soldier. At this point I thought that the soldier with the gun easily had control over the prisoner and there was nothing the prisoner could do. However later on in the short film I was proved wrong. The helmets of the soldiers had a “O” and a “X” marked on them, and it appeared for a long time that the soldier with the “X” had full control.

The tension in this short film continues throughout, and the message shown is that no one wins at war.

The soundtracks throughout this short films would be enough to make the audience keep watching. The loud noises of the fighter planes, gunshots, breathing, rustling of the snow and the woodland wildlife such as the owl, made it intriguing and made me want to keep watching.

The simplicity of the narrative was also very effective, as it was two soldiers facing each other with a tactical and power battle, with the owl in the trees watching those two battling. I think that the owl represents the rest of the world in this film, and it is trying to show that whilst two sides may understand the reasons behind being at war, there will always be people who are watching on and don’t agree with it at all.

Link to this short film: