I saw the movie, Sorry to Bother You, as an epitome of the Capitalist mindset. We are presented with Cassius Green, a man living in his uncle’s garage and struggling to pay rent. The movie presented a unique way of how African American citizens have to adapt in order to survive in their professions. Cassius discovers the capability of the “white voice” which suddenly makes him a more skilled worker in his corporate job of telemarketing. Another scene with a subtle jab at the African American race is when Cassius was forced to rap at Steve Lift’s party. To begin, he was labeled by the stereotype that all African American people can rap and when he started rapping, the Caucasian audience only cheered when he started rhythmically chanting the “N word”. Both were powerful showing of the reality that people are still being racially discriminated in the American context. One quote that was quite prominent in the movie was “stick to the script”. I think this quote highlighted the fact that the workers had to remove any sense of morality and be extremely or even overly professional. The movie presented the dark side of the life in corporate work. It shows how a person that begins with desperation, once given a glimpse of success, starts to yearn for more and eventually becomes greedy. Cassius was surrounded by people that loved him at his lowest, but he failed to appreciate them once he was at the top. A scene I found extremely powerful, and made me no longer root for Cassius, was when he and Salvador had an altercation. Cassius says “My success is not affecting ya’ll. Keep doing what you doing and I’ll root from the sidelines.” This scene showed how some people forget their roots once they become successful and no longer care about the people that helped them get where they were. Cassius saying that he would root by the sideline is just his way of saying he wouldn’t really go out of his way to actually help them. it was amazing to see the development of Cassius as a character especially through the characters he interacts with. His original friends slowly fade away as he begins to mingle with the likes of Steve Lift and other Power callers. The movie also shows a representation of human objectification. Steve Lift’s Worryfree strategy of turning people into hybrids for the sole purpose of maximizing labor was his attempt to romanticize slavery for more profit. All in all, I found the movie as eye-opening. It made me think of how power can change someone and how dangerous the lack or abundance of it could be.

Lost Highway didn’t scare me, but I think it is one of the best scary movies I have watched. The movie simply had constant suspense surrounding every single scene. The uncertainty I had was usually caused by both my expectations and the overall atmosphere of the movie. most scenes were built to make your heart beat rapidly because you would simply feel like something was about to happen and it was amusing when you reach the point that there was actually nothing that was going to happen. One of my favorite scenes was when Fred was in the bathroom and Renee was calling for him by the hallway. The hallway was pitch black and the tension that was built by the fact that there was a possibility of someone being in their house, made me nervous of what was going to happen next. It wasn’t a quick scene either, the suspense merely increased as Renee lingered by the dark hallway. Another scene similar to this would be when Alice was “pointing a gun” at Pete. At that moment I thought Alice had turned at Pete and was ready to take all the money for herself. There was no dialogue in this scene and similar to the scene of Renee, the moment lingered. The suspense simply goes away once Alice speaks and we realize that she wanted to hand Pete the gun. The movie also had a lot of foreshadowing elements that made the movie suspenseful. Considering that the sequencing of the movie was a bit all over the place, there were a lot of bits of random events. An example of this would be the exploding warehouse. We would see it a lot throughout the movie, but we really had no idea of what it could be. The moment we finally see the warehouse as part of the story, the suspense of it exploding was evident. Going into that scene, we know that it would explode but we don’t have knowledge on why or how it would explode. To say the least, the movie was really constructed to make you feel scared and not just spook you for a split-second. I mean the only jumpscare we get from the movie was when Fred wakes up to the mystery man’s face in Renee’s body. Considering this was a bit early in the film, it made me expect more of it even though I eventually found out it was the single one. I think that also somehow added to the overall tension I felt throughout the movie. The movie did have surprising scenes like when Fred suddenly transformed into Pete in the jail cell and when we see Alice for the first time, who looks exactly like Renee but blonde. The scene of the mystery man was quite odd as well because I thought Fred wouldn’t actually get the chance to interact with him. Based on my previous knowledge on horror movies, the weird looking characters which were there to scare you would usually disappear after a few seconds, but for this instance, the mystery man conversed with Fred. It confused me to the point that I actually found it funny. Overall, I really enjoyed the way the movie made me feel an amount of suspense that every horror movie should have without bombarding me with extremely loud sound effects and creatures with reversible limbs.

Futureless Things is a movie that was simply too unusual for my liking. The movie starts off with the simple setting of a convenience store and a character having ordinary problems with his life. it already had enough elements for a stable flow, but the movie simply had no plans for story stability. Right when I started to understand the identity of a particular character it ends abruptly and switches to a different character with an absolutely different storyline. The sudden changes made it difficult for me to empathize with any of the characters no matter how relatable they were. I simply didn’t have the usual obligation as a viewer to invest myself to the movie. Although, I can’t deny that the movie was still able to present certain themes and concepts that were striking enough for me to take away. Considering that the only constant in the movie is the convenience store setting. I realized how the convenience store workers encounter the diversity of people every day. I think the movie emphasizes the portrayal of diversity through fantasy by making certain people or situation contain fictional elements. Though it may be powerful for some, I think this portrayal was slightly forced and not executed well. I feel like a realistic portrayal would have had a stronger impact because with the limited time per worker, people are practically forced to take the narrative and integrate it to their own experiences just to get an idea of what is happening at that particular moment. In my honest opinion, the lack of connection I had with the movie was mainly due to the quick intervals of characters change. I did gain a bit of the perspective of a convenience store worker and what they have to deal with every day, but I would not say that I was moved enough to actually remember the movie the next time I go to a convenience store.

The movie presents two contrasting ways of living or “dealing” with the basic human condition. It can be seen in the beginning of the movie; Renton gives a brief overview of the movie by making a case against “choosing life”. He defines “life” with the basic context of a man living in the British Society, such as getting a job, buying a house, and starting a family. To him, living in such conditions would be an absolute pain. He described it to be some sort of monotonous routine of wanting thing after thing and firmly believes that people are basically trapped in this cycle. Renton simply didn’t want to be enslaved by the system so instead he chose “Trainspotting”. I understood the act of “Trainspotting” was Renton’s carefree yet ignorant way of living. His drug addiction did give him pleasure but at what cost? He definitely didn’t have a right mind and it also made him sort of detached from reality. The film was able to present a perspective of someone with a drug addiction in such a way that we had an idea of how they saw the world. The instances that the movie would stray away from reality and give us scenes full of fictional abnormalities. Although, Renton getting off drugs was a prevalent idea all throughout the film. Similar to any other addiction, it was definitely difficult to stop, and the constant limbo was no help either. It was also seen that Renton was not necessarily living in an ideal environment, in such a way that there were various factors clouding his judgement. He had negligent parents who didn’t really give him boundaries and his friends were all junkies like him. I was particularly intrigued by the inclusion of Tommy as one of Renton’s friends. He was the single sane character in the group, a model for contrast. However, the refreshing energy Tommy brought to the table was lost, taken even, by nobody else than Renton. It can be argued that Renton wasn’t the only reason why Tommy ended up using drugs, but his inability to comprehend his mistake did stop him from preventing Tommy’s downfall. Another interesting concept was Renton quoting “But he’s a mate, you know, so what can you do?” For this part of the movie, Begbie constantly abused the generosity of Renton and somehow pulled him back down when he was already slightly thriving in life when he was living alone. It really highlighted the reality of unconditional love and true friendship. Later on, we know Renton does put his foot down, but this is because of his realization that Begbie isn’t really his friend and not because he lost his sense of unconditional love for a mate. I think it was a good inclusion of morality in the movie especially with the twisted relationship the group of friends have with each other. For the ending of the movie, all I can say is that I did not like it. I hate how Renton gets the chance to fix his life again. I guess even after all that I still didn’t see that he deserved more of the chance to get his life together than his other friends, especially over Spud. In Renton’s defense, he did give a fraction of the money to Spud but it was still unfair in my opinion. Setting aside all the hate I have on Renton’s decision, I see that it was a good touch having an open ending because we are left with so much interpretations of what exactly Renton could do with the money. The movie was complicated, and that single word alone sums up the life of a person stuck with a life dependent on drugs.

I expected shin Godzilla to be the typical action film filled with destruction, explosion and everything else. It did provide me with most if not all of the elements of an action film but in my opinion, it simply lacked excitement. First of all, I found Godzilla’s mobility very limited. In the beginning of the movie he was this creature that was blindly running around which was fantastic, but he transitioned into this semi-stationary monster that had lasers destroying everything within a 100-mile radius. I understand that he was practically invincible at that point, but it would have been amazing to see him jumping over skyscrapers if extremes were being put on the table. The impending doom his nuclear elements proposed gave a bit of thrill, but I expected to see Godzilla go on a rampage and showcase his physical prowess. My personal assumptions and preference may have affected my viewing experience but in a sense, I saw that the movie focused more on finding the algorithm needed to beat Godzilla than the actual beating of Godzilla. Although, this did play a vital role in another element of the film which was the Japanese way of executing operations. The movie gave us glimpse of the intricate procedure the Japanese officials needed to follow in order to make something happen. It was fascinating to view a perspective of the government that was realistic to a certain extent. Like most movies, the constraint of time did affect the actions of the people as well. the Japanese government followed every single step required by their constitution to a point that there were some instances that a certain crisis could have been averted if they had simply acted faster. In my opinion, this element gave the movie the most character. The values of the Japanese are unlike any other and this film vividly exemplifies it. We were given glimpses of success and failure that brought out the most of each character. I saw it as a movie that focused on humanity despite having this iconic and spectacular monster right by the corner but somehow, it wasn’t a bad thing. All in all, the movie immersed me with Japanese culture and at the end of the day, reminded me to always have an open-mind with any movie.

F for fake was a fascinating movie that was difficult to watch. Considering that the movie was made in 1973 watching the movie now definitely gives it a good old vintage feel. I think watching it now adds to the artistic essence that surrounds the movie. Not to mention, the constant narration being done by Orson Welles himself which practically lulls you to sleep. It was an old documentary but it was artistic and full of unique information, so what more could you ask for. One particular scene that I found quite striking was when Picasso was shown to obsess over the beautiful Oja Kodar. The famous artist would find himself mesmerized as she routinely walks past his window on her way to and from the beach. The shot made use of Picasso’s picture in black and white, instead of his actual self, which was surprisingly amazing. The photos of Picasso would differ in facial expressions to portray his different reactions. Along with the narration, it was already enough to not require any dialogue from the artist. Having a window blinds layer the photo made it really feel like he was actually peering out the window. I feel like the context of the movie fueled its plot. The ways and methods of verification was limited to its time which showed how exactly the fakers went around them. the entire movie did want to highlight how even experts were fooled by the craftsmanship done by the fakers. It was a process that had an intricate design and a well-thought out plan, exactly the same way the movie was made. we realize in the end, after Orson Welles proclamation, that even we were fooled by an act of fakery. The realism that was attached with the fake portion of the movie was simply made it difficult for us to realize that it was in fact a lie. the first hour and the 17 minutes of fakery were simply indistinguishable, a perfect analogy to the fakes and the actual works presented in the movie. A great ending that left me thinking about what is actually real, what is fake, and if we are simply fooling ourselves by being blind viewers that do not look deeper into things.

Schizopolis, like every other movie out there, is a movie that you try your best to understand. Although, Schizopolis is like a Lego set that you only realize has some missing pieces when you’ve already invested so much time and effort on it. Like an unfinished Lego figure, this movie gives you a sort of idea on what it is but your understanding of it will still be sort of incomplete or unfinished. In my opinion, the movie is a mystery on purpose. It gives you elements to understand it, but it also lacks information which leads you to assume.

I divided the movie into 2 layers that I later on combined into one after watching the entire movie. The first layer is the dialogue used by the characters at the beginning of the movie. As an example, I will take an exchange between Fletcher and his wife.

Upon entering his home, Fletcher says “Generic greeting!” His wife then replies by saying “Generic greeting returned.” This type of literal dialogue goes on for a certain portion of the movie but is then replaced by the second layer I would like to talk about. The next dialogue involved the characters speaking in different languages. It can be assumed that the movie intended the dialogue to be unknown to the viewers considering that the audience would most likely only understand English.

To combine the two parts I saw them as complementary pieces rather than two entirely different layers. The first layer presented a literal and honest expression from the characters that showed the viewers that actions do not necessarily reflect what the characters of the movie really intend to do. An example of this is another exchange between Fletcher and his wife. Fletcher asks his wife what she prepared for dinner and she replies by stating a phrase that sort of goes like “I prepared this certain meal even if I know you are only pretending to like my cooking.” Fletcher smiles in return and from this we can see how the action of pleasantry coming from Fletcher is a complete lie from what he really feels. It can even be assumed that the dialogue for this part of the film is the internal thoughts of the characters being brought out and because of this I decided it would be more efficient to focus mainly on the dialogue and less on the actions. The second part is a “flipped image” of the first due to the fact that the actions of the characters were the only basis on understanding the film. As mentioned earlier, the characters spoke in languages that were unknown to the viewers and trying to decipher it on the spot would be a tedious process. Although, because of the build-up done by the first part of the movie, the viewers already had a vague idea of what intentions, characteristics, and ideas the characters had so seeing them act a certain way for the remainder of the film did not really require that much verbal explanation. The switch up on this part just proves how important the dialogue was in the first part of the film. This is why I considered the two parts that work hand in hand to build a single cohesive unit than opposing forces that only aim to confuse the viewers.

Even though I tried my best to dissect the film with this algorithm, I still found myself lost majority of the time. The presence of Elmo and the sudden appearance of Korchek’s brother are only a few of the certain parts of the film that still remain a mystery to me. To wrap it up, I see Schizopolis as movie that interacts with you as you watch it. You can’t stop thinking while watching it and right when you thought you caught on with the flow of the movie, you get surprised with something new. It was an entertaining film nonetheless, but in the end, I am still longing for the day that I may possibly understand this puzzle of a movie.