Midnight In Paris - Woody Allen (2011)

Woody Allen’s 2011 film, Midnight in Paris, focuses mainly on something that is referred to as golden age thinking – the idea that a different time period was much better than the one in which we live. Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), is a struggling American writer who constantly thinks about Paris in the 1920’s and all of the famous intellectuals who lived in the city at the time. In his midnight journeys to such a time, he gets to meet the likes of Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, and Cole Porter, yet by the end of the film, he realizes that where he wants to stay is in the present. When in the 1920’s world that he visits nightly, Gil falls in love with Adriana, a beautiful woman who has relations with many of the famous artists and writers in the film. When conversing with her, we learn that she despises the time in which she lives and wishes she could live in Paris during the Belle Epoque. When they get transported there for a night, they speak with a number of intellectuals who view The Renaissance as the best period in European history. Through all of this, Allen is trying to make the simple point that most people in society don’t recognize how great of a time they live in. Through making this his most conventional film, it seems as though he is working to appreciate and utilize the common film form of our time and not criticize and rebel against it like he has with many of his other films. 

Film Blog #1 - Masculine Feminin

A midst the many inter titles that riddles Jean - Luc Godard's  1966 film Masculine Feminin, one stuck out at me as the most important insight into what Godard thinks film can be. The title reads, "This movie could be called The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola". This eludes to the fact that Godard uses film in a way to make political statements and present many of his political views. When you apply this idea to the film as a whole, it fits very well. It is apparent throughout that the male lead, Paul, embodies the idea of film Marxism in a  human form. He is dominated by a number of ideas such as meaningless acts of political activism, that bear no relation to the reality in which he lives. At the same time, he is ignorant of many of the real relationships that do exist in his society, such as those between Madeleine and Elisabeth, and even Elisabeth and himself. He is very oblivious about what's going on around him. It is also worth noting that all of the other main characters in the film, except for Robert, are completely oblivious to many political and international affairs that don't directly affect them. They don't know about the wars going on, they don't know what countries they are in, and they have no idea what they are about. By making the characters so oblivious to current events, Godard is making a comment on the self-involvement of most people and their lack of knowledge about the things that are going on around them.The Coca-Cola generation refers merely to the youth culture of the 1960's. This can be seen through the music choices of the film, the characters obsession with sexuality and the american way of life, and the day to day activities of the main characters. 

Masculine Feminine - Jean-Luc Godard (1966)

Jean-Luc Godard's 1966 film Masculine Feminine breaks away from much of the traditional film language and story techniques that were developed through, what many film theorists call, the Institutional Mode of Representation (IMR). Many such departures can be seen in the film's opening scene alone.Then, when Paul (Jean-Pierre Léaud) speaks with Madeleine Zimmer (Chantal Goya) in a small French cafe, the cross cutting between the two abruptly stops and the camera linger on a given character long after the other has begun to talk.  When Godard wants to draw your attention to an arguing couple behind Paul and Madeline, he blatantly breaks the 180 degree rule and turns the camera completely around. The couple then proceeds to continue their fight outside and the wife shoots her husband in what is one of the highest action points of the entire film. This shows that Godard also had no regard for the basic linear plot pattern that most films at the time followed. Examples such as these continue throughout the film as we are also presented with a myriad of non-diegetic sounds, randomly dispersed title screens, and other classical film faux pas. This film was made near the end of the French New Wave period that Godard had been a major progenitor of and it is clear through it's many experimental aspects that he was beginning to explore many different genres and film making techniques while also rebelling from various classic film models.