Boyhood
Movie Review
Boyhood is about a young boy, shot over the span of 12 years, using the same actors. It shows the life of mason and his family, navigating through life, bullying, girls, and family problems.
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I chose one of the first scenes, approximately 2 minutes into the movie. I did this because it showcases what the movie does best. It is shot in mostly one fame scenes, with a still camera. It shows how simple life is, especially through the eyes of an eight year old boy. As the movie progresses, so do the filming angles; the shots toward the end are much more in depth and show how the boy grows.
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While I only will talk about this scene in depth, it is a great movie and definitely a must see.
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This scene simply shows Mason's mother and Mason in the car after a meeting with Mason's school. The filming angles switch between a side angle of the mom and a side angle of Mason (sitting in the back). While this seems so simple, it does so much for the film. When I first began watching it for the first time, I thought it was going to be a really bad movie. Luckily, I continued watching to see what the filming really meant.
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A Beautiful Mind
Movie Review
A Beautiful Mind shows the story of John Nash, a very promising student at Princeton University, where he was granted the prestigious Carnegie Prize for mathematics. He faces challenges trying to figure out his thesis subject when most of his classmates have already published papers. His roommate, who soon becomes Nash's best friend. Adventures at bars with this new friend soon give way to John Nash's breakthrough theory and his thesis. Soon he gets a job at MIT, meets a student he falls in love with, and begins working with the government - eventually to become involved in dangerous situations. This leads to Nash's paranoia about being followed - only to discover that this was all in his head.
The movie did an amazing job portraying the paranoia. Not many people watching the movie would be able to tell that none of the things that were happening were actually happening. Only towards the end of the movie was I able to tell that everything was actually fake and everything was in his head.
The film also is really smart about the way scenes are put together, around 40 minutes into the movie, there was a switch between two scenes, where his student asks him out and then when they go on a date. The scenes flowed together beautifully. But of course, this is just one of the many examples.
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The music plays a great role leading to the suspense of the film, especially when it comes to Nash's paranoia to the middle of the movie. After John Nash's paranoia subsided, the music was almost entirely upbeat and happy.
The film, produced in 2001, takes place in the mid 1900's. There are many switches between filming styles and camera uses, to accommodate the switches in time and make them seem more realistic. the specific switch between the time as a student at Princeton University. Every prop fit the time period perfectly, from the wax stamps, to the TV's used, to the government areas. Also the camera style changes depending on the setting of the filming - at the colleges the filming looked more family oriented.
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A Beautiful Mind is simply a mind trick, watching it was possibly the most confusing time Ive had in quite a while. It was an amazingly smart movie with everything playing into it, the music, lighting, setting, etc
A beautiful Mind is based on a true story on John Forbes Nash Jr. who actually had schizophrenia, and lived to win a Nobel prize. He is still working and teaching at Princeton today and he does in fact walk to class everyday.