Io Non Ho Paura Film Critique

Film Critique/ Analysis #7

Michael Atkinson

Cinema 28

A Hypnotic and Captivating Story

Gabriele Salvatores directs a mind-blowing hypnotic film entitled, Io Non Ho Paura (2004) - or translated,  I’m Not Scared. In this chilling Italian tale of childhood innocence turned upside down, a ten year old Michele is enjoying his summer break to the full. The story is set in a small town in southern Italy, where one afternoon, Michele finds a pit and when he looks inside he sees a foot sticking out from a blanket. He returns to the pit another time later, opening it to find a chained boy named Filippo. In his world of childhood innocence, Michele befriends the boy, letting him become his own secret. 

Giuseppe Cristiano, who plays Michele, does an excellent portrayal of a young boy far too curious to be scared of the situation. In his mind, he doesn’t think to tell anyone about the boy he has found and doesn’t give it much thought that perhaps the situation is odd or even illegal. Instead, relying on innocence, he chooses to help accustom Filippo to the outside world; playing with him in the fields and riding him on his bike until night falls and it’s time for Michele to go home. This film was able to capture one’s attention with the crime of keeping a boy locked up and then holding onto that attention as Michele’s innocence is slowly dissolved. As the two boys learn more about each other, Michele discovers a teapot in the pit, matching the ones in his home. In this dramatic twist, Salvatores keeps the audience’s attention by pulling them on this captivating journey about how an accidental discovery by Michele soon makes him distrust the ones he loves. Rather than just make this a regular horror film, Salvatores chooses a more difficult route by thrilling the audience rather than scare them.

Furthermore, in order to capture this eventual loss of innocence, Salvatores uses a phenomenal expression of Michele’s moral awakening using intense colors, wide-angle shots and unforgiving close-ups. Many of the shots are done exterior using the wide fields of Italy as a backdrop. The colors used in each of these shots show the warmth and beauty that comes naturally in this setting as the serenity is felt even through the screen. The wide shots show the expanse of the locations to the full making it seem like the fields just go on forever. In contrast, the characters are shown small juxtaposing to the vast background portraying the fact that their own childhood lives are menial compared to the big world that lies around them. In every shot, one can see the emotional and physical depth Salvatores used in order to make this film.

As the film progresses, it stays with Michele’s point of view the entire time, letting one learn what happens as he does. Instead of taking an objective point of view that would leave one pitying Michele, Salvatores uses him to his advantage in a brilliant way by thrusting him into the cruel and real world all in the course of one summer. This is truly one captivating tale that is impossible to ever forget, even years to come.

Les Choristes Film Critique

Film Critique/ Analysis #6

Michael Atkinson

Cinema 28

A Heart-Warmer

In a beautiful tale of difficult children and one adult who finally understands them, Christophe Barratier, brings this idea to life in Les Choristes (2004). This delightful French drama set in 1949, tells the story of a new supervisor, Clément Mathieu, at a boys boarding school, Fond de l'Étang, who relates to the boys with humor and kindness in order to win them over, much more so than the brutal punishment the headmaster uses. Mathieu decides to teach the boys to sing and he eventually unites them through the use of song.

Les Choristes is a film aimed directly at your heart; it is supposed to make your heart ache and your eyes tear. However, there was a momentous amount of moments that made your blood run cold and sent a chill to your bones, but there wasn’t a time I found myself crying. There was a delightful mix of good humor amongst the angst in order to set the correct balance to the film and keep our emotions in check. 

The cinematography done by Jean-Jacques Bouhon, was stylistically done. The way the camera was held at absurd angles in shots with the boys but when the camera was on an adult, it was a pristine and clean cut to enunciate the difference between the characters. He shows their differences in even the slightest camerawork, but mostly stayed away from extreme close ups, choosing to shoot a wide shot or even a medium shot where needed. But this did not deter from the film, but more than likely, added to the feeling of being in the scene with the character. The audience could peruse the screen and really take in the depths of all the design work from the locations.

The only problem that seems to be with this film is that it is very safe. There were no enormous risks that were taken and the story is one that has been done countless times before. The characterization is the same and the audience knows exactly what to predict in the end. One can safely assume that these troubled boys turn a new leaf into kindness and compassion all because of Mathieu’s doings. They expose the monstrosity of the headmaster’s brutal punishments and make it known to the public. And above all, the boys learn how to sing. There was nothing quite unusual or any big plot twists that throw the audience for a loop. Instead, the film played the heart-warming card and stayed safely within the boundaries. 

Yet, in the end, the audience is left with a good feeling despite the fact that Mathieu does not get much of his own happy ending. One can not wonder if this comments on Hollywood films and how they always end happily. In a way, this film was trying to do that by leaving one in good spirits with a sense of hope for the characters as the credits rolled. 

If I Stay Film Critique

Film Critique/ Analysis #5

Michael Atkinson

Cinema 28

Another Teen Flick

In another teen romance film, If I Stay (2014) directed by R.J. Cutler and Linda Cohen, tells the story of a seventeen year old girl who is stuck somewhere between life and death. After a tragic car accident that kills her family, Mia lies in a coma. But the story is told as Mia walks around watching herself and her family, not yet dead. Her family and friends can neither hear nor see Mia and as the story progresses, Mia’s condition worsens forcing her to make the choice: does she go with her family in death or does she stay here on earth?

This is the entire movie in its entirely. The rest of the film is made up of flashbacks that tell Mia’s life leading up to the car accident. We learn of her romance with a boy, her skill for the cello, her eccentric family, and her acceptance to Juilliard. But often during these flashbacks that seem to be endless, one is constantly wondering: What is happening to Mia? Our minds are stuck in the period of time currently, knowing that Mia is comatose with her condition worsening and wondering what she will chose and what will happen to her next. Yes, the flashbacks provide the light that makes one care about Mia and understand what is at stake for her, yet the flashbacks constantly bore you because you want to go back to what is happening now.

Chloe Grace Moretz is the actress who plays the seventeen year old main character and she lightens up the screen with her realistic performance - well as realistic as you can get with a person in limbo. She truly makes one feel the eerie chill of goosebumps when Mia finds out of her family’s death. She falls to the floor clutching her chest and heaving as if she really can’t breathe. This performance is enough to make your blood run cold no matter who you are or how tough you are. 

But sadly, goosebumps were all I received from this film. I was told going into it that I would need plenty of tissues but there just wasn’t enough substance or enough on the line here to really move me to tears. However, if I was a twelve year old girl - those who this film was aimed towards - perhaps I would’ve cried. It seems Hollywood loves producing these sappy teen romance stories one after the other, giving these young girls a hopeful outlook to men, thinking their life might come with a real hero as many other teen films do such as The Fault in Our Stars, Divergent, The Hunger Games and so on. In the end, I feel that there may some very disappointed teens when they finally grow up. 

Listen to Your Heart Film Critique

Film Critique/ Analysis #4

Michael Atkinson

Cinema 28

Of Mothers, Cancer, and Being Deaf

Coming across this film by randomly scrolling through Netflix one day, I decided to watch it - and this was an hour and forty minutes of my life that I will never get back. Listen to Your Heart (2010) is an interesting film about love at first sight, being deaf, controlling mothers, striving for your dreams and cancer all rolled into one. How is it even possible for a filmmaker to make a film about so many things? Well, there is a reason filmmakers don’t. 

The audience first meets Danny - a likable, flawless, 24 year old male who wants to make music and record a demo. But when he meets Ariana, he falls in love at first sight. The problem? She’s deaf. So it seems like a good plot: a musician falling in love with a deaf girl who can’t hear his music. However, her being deaf isn’t a problem for this couple. Danny still falls in love with her, despite his friend, Roger’s, protests about how she won’t be able to give him everything in a relationship. Despite not knowing sign language, in one montage scene, Danny is fluent at it and their relationship is flourishing. However, it’s Ariana’s mother who is the problem. She is unsupportive of Ariana getting close with someone since she, in effect, controls Ariana’s life. 

Here is where the story moves away from Danny, and Ariana becomes the main character as one can tell that the director - Matt Thompson - wanted her to be all along. Ariana is the character who does the growing and changing, learning to take her life back from her mother; whereas Danny neither changes nor grows nor learns anything. He is simply a lovable and flawless main character from the beginning to the end. The plot continues to grow and twist as the scenes change rapidly, with new problems arising and new characters popping up all over the place that really have nothing to do with original plot.

But aside from the ever-changing plot line, it is also the acting that seems to be a turn off. Roger plays the stereotypical “black guy” of the film, more obsessed with looks and sports than looking beneath the surface for something more - and he has a bad habit of saying, “bro” at the end of each sentence. All of his conversations with Danny are completely overacted making it seem like it’s a scene straight from some school video on why we should say no to drugs. It seems that Danny, played by Kent Moran, is the only one with real acting ability. Even Alexia Rasmaussen, who plays Ariana, wasn’t even deaf. Maybe it’s just that I have some more knowledge on deaf culture, but having a hearing person play a deaf person is a complete insult to the deaf community. 

In an interview with Moran, a few deaf individuals asked why a hearing person played a deaf role and his response was, “The movie used to be longer and had different twists that required a hearing actress, and we thought that this role was a good challenge for an actress to show her abilities.” From that statement, the deaf community was outraged since he is stating that deaf people cannot do everything that a hearing person could do. And this contradicts everything that the message of the film was supposed to bring out.

After some more stereotypes about deaf people, Danny and Ariana’s relationship being torn apart by her mother, an interpreter violating the code of ethics, a setup date trying to sexually assault Ariana, Roger turning supportive of their relationship, Ariana wanting a cochlear implant and wanting to go to a music school, Danny holding a concert for his music, his boss being a drunk, and Ariana getting a best friend who then sneaks her out of the house, Danny finally gets cancer. It seems like all plot goes up into the air at that point and it becomes anyone’s game. And really, I still don’t even know why it’s called “Listen to Your Heart.”