The Art House Film Research Portfolio

Conclusion of research

2008-11-16T20:53:00.001-08:00

After reviewing on the chosen movies in detail, I have manage to acquire some skills in analyzing film or in this case, finding out what makes art house films more meaningful. There are so many reasons why art house films are rather unique and special. However, what deem them more meaningful is the hidden message it tries to convey through subtle gestures and expression. It is within the honesty of each camera shot, within the casual dialogues used in everyday lives and within the embarassing truth of what we call life. Bottomline would be that art house films are able to depict the true essence of life without covering up the mistakes or the flaws, but rather, embrace them.

Movie Focus: Tarnation (Continued)

2008-11-13T04:53:00.001-08:00

With high regards to the way this documentary was filmed, I've decided to do a bit of filmic analysis on Tarnation. The director had planned to evoke emotions not through words but through the camera angles which captured very overwhelming shots. For example, the shot of him at 11 years old, acting as an actress called Hillary, was mostly on close up, to enhance the emotions generated by his expression. I find this scene rather disturbing but at the same time, filled with pity. The clip had very rusty shots and some of the audio was not so clear. However, it is those qualities which separates these kind of films from other films whereby it illustrates the authenticity of such scenes to reach out to audience. However, in this case, the video shot was in fact real and was collected from personal home videos of the actor/director himself. A clip from the scene can be viewed below:

Movie of focus: Tarnation

2008-11-13T04:52:00.001-08:00

Tarnation

Today i focused my review on Tarnation, an art house documentary made by the actor himself. In analysing, Tarnation is different from any other art house films I’ve seen. Although it depicts a dark outlook towards life, this documentary conveys a genuine feeling of pain and confusion. There has been a lot of ‘hate notes’ on how the director had explicitly shared his life story without concern of how his family members would react. However, there has also been praises on how the filmmaker had been bold enough to tell the truth as it is. A review of Tarnation can be read here. Having made the movie with a budget of only 218 USD, it has managed to be one of the most inspired art house documentaries in the last decade. I find the unusual disclosure of a man’s homosexual life is rather an eye opener for people who are still prejudiced against them. The trailer could be viewed here:

Movie of focus: Garden State (Continued)

2008-11-12T08:54:00.001-08:00

Today, I gathered more research in reviewing Garden State. Apart from the dialogue, Garden is played by unknown characters which gave people no particular expectations for the movie which is sometimes a good thing. From here the director had managed to instil his own idea of love and life without falling into the cliché of Hollywood movies and the expected quality of work or genre from their actors. In the scene where the three actors had stood on the bus thus scream their lungs out into the abyss, it had metaphorically picture the ‘new birth’ where we enter this world screaming as we leave the safety of the womb and enter the dangerous world ahead. It also depicts liberation in many forms. Art house films as such display deep meanings in such a creative yet subtle display, thus heightening the amplitude of the meaning itself. More explanation on the particular scene can be read here and xan be viewed below:

Movie of focus: Garden State

2008-11-10T03:18:00.000-08:00

In exploring the concept of art films and why they seem more meaningful, I have made my argument more plausible by giving examples from movies of choice. First, Garden state represents the simplicity of independent films whereby the strength lies within the dialogue and non superficial scenes. An example of the dialogue taken from here reads:

(Girl)You know what I do when I feel completely unoriginal?

(Boy)What?

(Girl)*makes funny sounds*

(Girl)I make a noise or I do something that no one has ever done before.And then I can feel unique again even if it's only for like a second.

The actual performance could be viewed below:

Just from that few lines, the author, Zach Braff (also the main actor) have made the girl to have a very interesting and smart character with full of confidence, without having to show clips of her winning a debate or doing extreme sports to state the obvious.

Movies of focus

2008-11-04T01:40:00.000-08:00

Although Darjeeling Limited had been the main eye opener for this research topic, I no longer find it as relevant to my research question as compared to these two; Garden State and Tarnation. With independent having the 'stand alone' quality, I would like to think that the amount of budget plays an important role as well. Most art house filmmakers are known to use very low budget to note their independency. Therefore Darjeeling Limited, which had an enormous budget could not be quoted as an essence of example. However, reviewing Darjeeling Limited has broaden my horizon filmic analysis. The general idea of the film definitely has an art house touch to it, from the unpredictable scenes to the witty dialogues and how their misery was not acted out literally, they were conveyed with such subtlety in the dry humor which this movie possesed.

Cutting deeper into terminology

2008-10-31T01:04:00.000-07:00

When deciphering the term ‘meaningful’ in art house films, I would say that they seem more meaningful because not only do they not bow to the masses’ wishes on which films they’d prefer, but independent film producers have a specific aim in the story/ film they are producing. Also, most of them work hard to generate their ideas to the masses and it does not work all the time. Therefore, I’d say the bravery of being the thorn amongst the roses makes these independent films more meaningful and beautiful at the same time. Some thoughts on the term meaningful on art house films could be viewed in thread of messages here.

Definition, Meaning and Purpose.

2008-10-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

How did art house film actually come about with its name? According to online websites such as this one, art house films are usually films made outside the usual hollywood-made expectations. It serves a greater meaning within its texts and a slightly different narrative from other genres. While most mainstream movies have the usual hero and heroine characters with a somewhat predictable ending towards a story, art house films differ in both. Characters are rarely specified and very ambiguous while the ending is usually unpredictable. While mainstream texts serve to entertain audience, thus suit their taste and preference, art house films have a more complicated/creative plot, designed to impose on audiences thus stimulating their own thoughts while leaving it up to them to make up their own conclusions, thus standing outside the status quo. Therefore, art house films are recognized as being more abstract and undefined just like how ‘art’ is defined. (Branston&Stafford, 1996) This short clip made it a bit clearer for me on what 'indie' is actually about. It is mainly on indie music production, but I have relate it to indie films instead.

Darjeeling Limited, viewed and noted

2008-10-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

To start off my research project and to gain some perspectives on independent films, I watched The Darjeeling Limited today. What strikes me as interesting upon watching it, was the colors throughout the movie were surprisingly vibrant and it gave a nice whimsical contrast to the storyline and script which was in fact, quite blatantly simple and solemn; with an exception of a few quirky lines here and there. Throughout the movie, I understood that the colors were not just an attention seeking device, they represent the present (modern days) against the backdrop of India, which pictured people who were underprivileged. There is a vast explanation on the colors used, here. The director had also mentioned that he used the colors as a metaphor for life, contrasting the misery of the brothers with the dusty opulence of their surroundings. (Anderson, 2008). Here are a couple of pictures taken from the movie.

Choosing and Understanding

2008-10-20T23:39:00.000-07:00

Being a great fan of art house films, I had no great trouble in choosing my essay topic for the research essay. For quite some time, from 2005 till recently, independent films have always caught my attention, from the minimal usage of non-diegetic sounds and their ability to capture moments in such a simple manner, and some shots give audiences multiple denotations, thus the beauty of these indie films. In the process of deciding which movie (s) to reference my essay to, this particular art house film trailer had caught my attention.

The Darjeeling Limited