Why does it take tragedy to bring people together? By the end of this movie, this was the only question that stuck in my mind. Many of the central Ideas which surrounded this movie all lead back to tragedy. Although some tragedies were more drastic than others, they were all substantial enough to affect one's life. It was as if tragedy was a revolving door.
This movie had a very cinematic feel to it. Within its budget at least. The camera angles shifts at certain points in the movie which seems to be on purpose. I noticed that the camera would stay still until it is focusing on one person. When it is a face shot of single person then the camera starts to sway back and forth a little bit. You could feel the tension amongst the characters in the movie when the camera did this. In one particular scene (actually the only scene I remember this happening in), Christian finds some fireworks with gun powder in them. As he turns towards Elias to explain what he found the camera dramatically zooms in on Christian. What is weird about this though is that it doesn't zoom straight to his face, the camera zooms in but is still far enough to see his body. It was as if there was no point to this technique, besides making the viewer anxious to wonder what is about to happen.
The actors that stood out in this movie were the two young boys. Elias and Christian both reminded me of the movie "The good son" In the good soon a young boy goes to stay with his aunt and uncle. Throughout this movie the little boy realizes that his cousin is crazy and is trying to bring him along to do bad things with him. While both of the boys seem as though they are friends Christian was turning Elias into a parent's worse nightmare. Christian was a character that I could relate to seeing that I have had many friends with troubled past. I felt sorry for him but if I had kids I would not want them hanging around him. Elias on the other hand I really felt sorry for. His character actually made me feel sorry for him. Whenever I see bullying I am not sure how to handle it, and the bullying that took place in this movie actually felt real.
Not being a fan of Dogme 95 I felt that this movie had a feel to it that was very Dogme 95'ish. I really enjoyed this movie and I know that it was obvious that it was done with a professional camera and broke many of the Dogme 95 rules it could have easily been done within the context of Dogme 95. I enjoyed this movie though because it had a cinematic feel to it but it was not a blockbuster movie. I am not sure how big the budget it must not have been very large, there was only a few areas in which the movie took place, and there was only one car explosion. I really enjoy movies such as this that are very simple but very complex at the same time. It's very Complex in the sense of the story.
Tying together the stories of each characters battle at this point in their lives the director did a good job blending all these stories together as well as keeping it clean so I was able to follow each characters life without being confused.
If there was a message in this movie I believe that it was, life goes on. And while life is going on you have to make the best of it. It was important as an audience to know that and if you go back and watch the movie again you will understand that. This movie was put together very well. It was a movie that can bring people together I believe. It is also a movie that can make someone believe again if they are having troubles in their lives.
This movie had a very cinematic feel to it. Within its budget at least. The camera angles shifts at certain points in the movie which seems to be on purpose. I noticed that the camera would stay still until it is focusing on one person. When it is a face shot of single person then the camera starts to sway back and forth a little bit. You could feel the tension amongst the characters in the movie when the camera did this. In one particular scene (actually the only scene I remember this happening in), Christian finds some fireworks with gun powder in them. As he turns towards Elias to explain what he found the camera dramatically zooms in on Christian. What is weird about this though is that it doesn't zoom straight to his face, the camera zooms in but is still far enough to see his body. It was as if there was no point to this technique, besides making the viewer anxious to wonder what is about to happen.
The actors that stood out in this movie were the two young boys. Elias and Christian both reminded me of the movie "The good son" In the good soon a young boy goes to stay with his aunt and uncle. Throughout this movie the little boy realizes that his cousin is crazy and is trying to bring him along to do bad things with him. While both of the boys seem as though they are friends Christian was turning Elias into a parent's worse nightmare. Christian was a character that I could relate to seeing that I have had many friends with troubled past. I felt sorry for him but if I had kids I would not want them hanging around him. Elias on the other hand I really felt sorry for. His character actually made me feel sorry for him. Whenever I see bullying I am not sure how to handle it, and the bullying that took place in this movie actually felt real.
Not being a fan of Dogme 95 I felt that this movie had a feel to it that was very Dogme 95'ish. I really enjoyed this movie and I know that it was obvious that it was done with a professional camera and broke many of the Dogme 95 rules it could have easily been done within the context of Dogme 95. I enjoyed this movie though because it had a cinematic feel to it but it was not a blockbuster movie. I am not sure how big the budget it must not have been very large, there was only a few areas in which the movie took place, and there was only one car explosion. I really enjoy movies such as this that are very simple but very complex at the same time. It's very Complex in the sense of the story.
Tying together the stories of each characters battle at this point in their lives the director did a good job blending all these stories together as well as keeping it clean so I was able to follow each characters life without being confused.
If there was a message in this movie I believe that it was, life goes on. And while life is going on you have to make the best of it. It was important as an audience to know that and if you go back and watch the movie again you will understand that. This movie was put together very well. It was a movie that can bring people together I believe. It is also a movie that can make someone believe again if they are having troubles in their lives.