Another Spike Lee Film: Inside Man

Inside man by Spike Lee

This film is a 2006 American crime thriller and the themes that run throughout this film are violence, crime, past, conflict, etc. This was directed by Spike Lee, cinematography by Mathew Libatque, written by Russell Gewirtz and produced by Brian Graver.  Production companies involved was Imagine Entertainment, Film works and was distributed by Universal Pictures. The budget of this film was $45 million, but the box office was $184.4 million. The location of this film was set in the United States.

The scene opens with the credits of Universal Pictures and the company Imagine entertainment. O.45 seconds into the film it opens of a white man saying “My name is Dalton Russell” already introducing himself to the audience. This shows this was a direct approach to the audience, already making the audience feel involved and wanting to know what he’s going to say; by dragging their attention in more. He also says “pay attention to my words”, which again shows the audience that the he is talking directly to the audience. The micro feature of performance is expressed through Dalton as he uses his dialogue to attract his audience, literally within one minute. Furthermore the use of the phrase “I don’t repeat myself” could suggest how blunt he is, suggesting/connoting his character. Could he be the antagonist? Mis en scene is used to show that behind him is pitch black with a bright light focusing on him making it look like he is in an interrogation room, alternatively it could suggest that he is in hiding, or even in prison-suggesting that he is a criminal, showing a sort of threat and his motive behind this storyline. This scene was shown through a close up shot of Dalton, focusing on his emotionless expression, showing us the time of character he is to this film.

Scene cross fades to a bank, medium shots are used to show the type of people within the bank, potentially showing their significance later on in the film.  close up scene is used when a man in a white painters uniform, wearing a mask and glasses to cover his identity,  enters the bank. The use of the mis en scene used to create deception making it look like they are real painters, up until he uses a device to turn the CCTV footage off in each corner of the bank. Furthermore, the use of sound builds up tension, making the audience question what is going to happen. Is this a potential bank robbery?

The micro feature performance is expressed again by Dalton, when he gathers the hostages to give their phones and stops a particular bank employee when he states he left his phone at home. Remorselessly he attacks the man when he found out the employee was lying. This shows how violent and serious he is to reach his motive without it being ruined or stopped by any hostages.  Again, the micro feature performance was expressed clearly by the man who owns the different branches of the bank. However, he showed more fear when he asked the woman again what branch has been robbed, making the audience question if there is more depth and history behind the story, rather than just being an ordinary bank robbery.

miracle of st anna analysis

Miracle of St Anna

This film was an American-Italian war film, the genre is a historical fiction and the themes that ran throughout this film were violence, war, family, betrayal, unloyalty, sacrifice, reality, friendship and love. This film was made in 2008 and directed by Spike Lee, also adapted by the 2003 novel by James McBride. The location of this film was set in Italy mainly and in the United States.  The production companies of this film are Touchstone Pictures, 40 Acres and a Mule Film works and RAI Cinema, and were distributed Walt Disney Studios and Motion Pictures. The budget of this film was $45 million and box office was 19.4 million- this was a box office disappointment, but gained a further $10.1 million from DVD sales.

Before the film even starts, repetitive symbols of the cross is shown, signifying already Christian values are going to be shown throughout this film.  The first scene shows a (almost) retired black man named Hector sitting at his post office, doing his job, until he analyses and recognizes one of his costumers, who he immediately shoots in the chest. Already, this grabs the audience’s attention making them question why Hector would do that. The scene ends when the gun is left in the hat (after being fired) with blood splattered over it; this suggests a cyclical structure, which will tie this scene together towards the end of the film. however, before the scene of ‘gun in hat’ shown, Hector pulls down his shutter and a close of the sign of it saying ‘closed’ is shown to emphasise it was done for a purpose and that he does care if he was arrested. However, to the audience it makes them question why he would do that so casually.

He’s immediately arrested and investigators go to his house, finding the ‘head of Primavera’ stressed to be the eldest statue worth millions, his service medal of the cross (military award) and a purple heart (awarded to those wounded/killed while serving); suggesting a military/ war story behind it, already giving the audience an insight of who Hector is, but doesn’t completely make sense yet. The detective questioned him and said ‘with all that you was awarded with, what are you doing with this statue and why would you kill this man?’ I believe is some respects the detective represents the audience, because he has no idea as well as the audience, as to why he would do that? All the questions asked, is answered in Hector’s head, as flashbacks, giving the audience a fair view of the two sides of the story. A sudden flashback happens where Hector tells his story, at every scene it is captioned with ‘Rome, Italy’ or a date (1964) , making the audience feel we are going forward into Hector’s flashback with him, making us feel like we’re in the scene with him, which is created purely by mis-en-scene using a different location, time-zone and change in lighting. But, before he enters his flashback, a man threw out his newspaper, and landed on a middle aged Italian man’s table (rather wealthy looking), he stands as he picks up the newspaper, of the reported story of Hector and the statue, a close up shot of the man dropping his tea to the floor dramatically; again makes the audience question another man’s relevance to this story and how he is linked to Hector. The scene of him ends, when he walks away shocked. An excellent scene of this man stepping into a puddle, and change of scene where a militant boot steps out of a puddle; indicating to the audience a change in the time zone.

 Racism was another key theme shown as the above authority of the black soldiers, was a white man, who often looked down at them, shown again by the microelement, performance. A brilliant scene indicated racism was when the soldiers wanted to eat in a café with other white Americans, but the owner still treated the blacks inhumanely by telling them to sit at the back, away from the whites. Close up shots of the all the soldiers face showed their emotions of how they was upset, disappointed and sad over this approach. However, they repeat their action the next day; they came to the café with an aggressive, violent and hostile approach towards the owner, the owner was intimidated, scared, but the soldiers showed no mercy, it was shown clearly through their performance that their change of behaviour had to be done.

The flashback shows Black American soldier walking across the river shooting the German vice versa, majority of the Black soldiers was shot and killed, some made it through, who are known as the several protagonists in this film.  These soldiers show the theme of brotherhood throughout the film and stuck together throughout this war. One of the soldiers called Sam shows a sense of humour, which makes the film very humorous in the same way of showing social realism- this is presented through the microelement, performance. Again, analysing the soldiers, Sam is very caring and warm hearted, as he rescues an Italian little boy called Angelo, almost becoming a father figure to this child.  Sam didn’t want to let this child go none of the soldiers understood why, but this child showed/connote hope, his vulnerability and young age can symbolise hope/anticipation to the soldiers.  Angelo plays a massive role to the film as we later discover that the man who dropped his teacup (devastated at the news report) was actually Angelo (grown up) who also bailed out Hector.

The story ties together at this point. A beautiful panoramic scene is shown of the view of the beach and the house by; the bright light connoted their bright future, again the hope being displayed by Angelo through his youth and even when he matured to a middle aged man.  This scene did emotionally grab the audience’s attention, making the audience more sympathetic towards Hector and his terrible war experience. The themes of love, friendship and family are shown through Hector and Angelo.  Death is also another key theme shown by all the other soldiers shot one by one, leaving Hector to be the last to die, but he didn’t get killed; instead the German Soldier handed over the pistol to Hector. A close up shot of the pistol was shown, making the audience aware that it was the very same pistol used to kill Italian partisans at the beginning on the film, but the flashback showed and made the audience learn that the man that was killed was a betrayer, and was technically the reason why everyone died (like the innocent Italian family who helped the soldiers by hiding them in their house, the soldiers, etc.)

The Gift (2015)

The gift

This film is an American-Australian psychological thriller made in 2015. The themes that run throughout this film are loneliness, possession and death. This was written, directed and produced by Joel Edgerton in his directorial debut alongside with Jason Blum. This film was released by STX Entertainment, and received a box office of $59 million from a $5 million budget.

This film is about a couple intimidated by a man who they knew from high school, who we learn becomes more of a stalker and possessive over the couple, causing harm to their surroundings.

The first scene is the view of a new house that a couple has moved into as they’re undoing the boxes for the house, showing that they’re main protagonists of this film. The husband breathes into their glass house window, and draws a heart whilst his wife is on the other side, symbolising his love for her, already making the audience aware that they are in a stable relationship. The scene after, the couple bumps into a ‘high school’ friend called Gordo, who we already inspect is a dodgy person as he listens out for their home address when the cashier asks for it. From then onwards, the audience have gathered information that Gordo is linked the title name ‘the gift’ suspecting he will leave a gift at their house, knowing their address. Furthermore, we notice that Gordo appears at night-time when the wife is alone, whilst the husband is at work, suggesting that the dark can foreshadow that he is evil and that is could potential lead to danger.

Mis-en-scene is shown through what the couple is wearing and also by the style of their house, they dress very formally on a day to day basis and we discover that the wife works as an architecture, suggesting their wealth and class that Gordo might want. Moreover, the frequent visit suggests his interest in Robiyn (wife), which is highlighted in the micro feature, performance. Furthermore, with the micro feature, mis-en-scene is used when the couple visits Gordo’s house and find a child’s room, further suggesting that that Gordo is shady, not telling them that he has a child.