Author Archives: manoli94

Brazil

The movie Brazil was an adaptation of the novel 1984 by George Orwell. It is about a man named Sam Lowry who works as a low level government employee that constantly refuses to move up since his mother always gets him promotions since she practiacally knows everybody. As the movie progresses he goes to the house of Buttle to tell them and explain it was a mistake since they were looking for Tuttle. When he is there he catches a glimpse of a lady upstairs who looks just like the girl he always day dreams about. Her name is Jill Layton and she is very wild and cautious around Sam. He then comes to grips with the fact that if he wants to see her again he has to accept the promotion to which he does. By working for the “Information Retrieval” he finds and tracks her down. Finally after an intense couple scenes of him evading police and being at the funeral he wakes up and we find out it is all a dream he had while being tortured.

The Set Up

The Set Up is a short film noir about a boxer and his wife along with his career at an all time low. The society in this movie are all about violence and very animalistic. The main focus of the film is that boxer named Stoker who is reaching the end of his prime chasing the ‘prize” of that one final big victory. Throughout the film his lady Julie tries to convince him that it is all over and he should just end it. But he decides to go fight a very skillful boxer who has ties with Little Boy who bets big money on matches. One important scene is where Julie rips the ticket and decides not to go but every where she goes she is always reminded of boxing. Finally he wins the fight but ends up being harshly beat in a back ally, where julie finds him and the movie ends.

This short film shows a great example of the film noir and of human characteristics. You see people reacting likesavages once the match starts yelling kill him ! or other violent remarks. ANd the setting is in a busy city centered around the ring, so busy to the point no one saw or heard Stoker as he was getting beat up.

1984

The book 1984 by George Orwell is about  a low ranking member of the ruling Party a nation called Oceania. His name is Winston Smith, he is very unhappy on how things are run especially since he works for the Ministry of Truth. As the book goes on he meets a dark hair girl named Julia which he falls in love with. In this society they have thought police and other monitering ways to control and brainwash the people. Eventually Smith gets caught by a spy and sent to a room that no one wants to go to. Finally this is called rom 101 where they manage to brainwash him causing him to be nothing but another puppet of society.

Personally this is one of my favorite novels. It shows you how there is no such thing as a “perfect” society and that the government plays a big role in our lives. I can see how this is tied to film noir because of its dark, authoritative society.

 

After watching Double Indemnity, which happened to be the second film noir I have seen first being The Maltese Falcon. To me it showed us how the genre itself has evolved into what it is today. They both display many similarities along with many differences. First let me start with the femme fatale they both have women who are both devious and have their own agenda. One of the differences to me is how they are brought into the movie, in Maltese Falcon she comes on scene begging for help in tears along with being very clueless and desperate. In Double Indemnity Phyllis is not the one begging for help but runs into the protagonist, once seeing him she seductively walks down to welcome him and asks several questions as if she is clueless as well. Finally they both try to get something from the main character, a precious statue or the death of her husband they always want something that has high value.

Both main characters are very witty, aggressive and have good jobs. But the difference to me is how both these movies ended, in Double Indemnity he ends up dead after admitting to the  crimes. Although in Maltese Falcon, he turns in all the bad guys and pretty much lives. These movies used great angles to portray the characters, very sharp sudden turns and dramatic points. Dialogue in both movies is very fast paced as the story unfolds. I personally enjoyed both of these films and slowly they are showing me how the basic film noir is expressed.