LINDA COHEN

“CRASH”

FILM CRITIQUE 101

DIVISION & CLASSIFICATION

 

 

After viewing the film “CRASH”, list all the elements that you consider significant—plot, direction, acting, special effects, and so on. Then further subdivide each category (for instance, listing each of the special effects). Using this list as an organization guide, write a review of the film.

 

Consider this scenario. You are a writer for your campus newspaper. You have been assigned to view the film “Crash” and write a review. In addition, the local Diversity club is thinking of showing the film as an introduction to an open forum discussion about diversity and civility on campus. In your review, take a side whether it should or should not be shown.

 

Your ultimate goal for this essay is to offer a “clear, authoritative judgment” presented with “appropriate reasons and convincing support” (Axlerod and Cooper 380). That is, you should offer an overall recommendation as to whether or not the audience should view the movie, and you should give well-developed reasons to back up that recommendation. Be sure to present clearly the criteria upon which you base your judgment.

·     Know that you are free to discuss positive AND negative aspects of the film. However, your final recommendation should be unquestionably clear.

·     Pay particular attention to organization in this essay. Remember that each paragraph should generally have one main point and ample support. Remember, too, however, that you may need more than one paragraph to fully develop a point.

 

I’ll Be Looking For:
In particular, I’ll be looking for a clear judgment/overall recommendation, clear and appropriate criteria, strong support/evidence, good audience awareness, effective organization, and polish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOVIE CRITIQUE

Viewing a movie as a visual argument

 

The following is a list of questions to help you think about visual arguments as it relates to film. You may not be able to answer all these questions; however, while you are viewing the movie you have selected, use these questions as a way to understand the many layers involved in film and argument. Suggestions for writing the essay follow these questions.

 

Who is the author?                                Who is the director?                   Who are the major actors?

 

What can you find out about this person(s), and what other work they have done?

 

What do the creators intend the effects of the movie to be?

 

Is the film effective in delivering what you think the creator meant it to?

 

What does the visual text (movie script) assume about its viewers—and about what they know and agree with?

 

What overall impression does the movie create in you?

 

Does the visual evoke positive—or negative—feelings about individuals, scenes, or ideas?

 

What argumentative purpose does the visual text convey? What is it designed to convey?

 

What cultural values or ideals does the visual evoke or suggest? The good life? Love and harmony? Sex appeal? Youth? Adventure? Economic power or dominance? Freedom? Does the visual reinforce these values or question them? What does the visual do to strengthen the argument?

 

What emotions does the visual evoke? Which ones do you think it intends to evoke? Desire? Envy? Empathy? Shame or guilt? Pride? Nostalgia? Something else?

 

How is the visual text composed? What is your eye drawn to first? Why?

 

What is in the foreground? The background? What is in or out of focus? What is moving? What is placed high, and what is placed low? What is to the left, in the center, and to the right? What effect do these placements have on the message?

 

Is any particular information (such as a name, face, or scene) highlighted or stressed in some way to attract your attention?

 

How are the light and color used? What effect(s) are they intended to have on you? What about sound?

 

Is anything in the visual repeated, intensified or exaggerated? Is anything presented as “supernormal” or idealistic? What effects are intended by these strategies, and what effects do they have on you as a viewer? How do they clarify or reinforce (or blur or contradict) the message?

 

 

STUDENT NAME

Eng 101-

DATE

Crash Review

EAMPLE #

The Ripple Effect (EXAMPLE #1)

(In this example the student discusses several aspects of the film, however, each could be elaborated on. Additionally, the student fails to follow the directions and give a clear view of whether this film should be seen by the Diversity Club to prompt discussions.)

 

The movie Crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis, is a fast-paced, suspenseful view of how the lives of several multi-ethnic Los Angeles residents intersect with each other over 36 hours. The cast of seasoned actors includes Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton and Brendan Fraser, among others. I was pleased to see in his biography that Paul Haggis has written some other films I have enjoyed, including Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, and five episodes of a new television series, The Black Donnellys. Each character’s actions, sometimes prejudiced, affect the lives of others with whom they come in contact in a ripple effect.

I think the writer intended the effect of his story to be a reminder to us all that our prejudices, and our behavior guided by them, have consequences. Haggis showed this many times. One example early in the movie is the disrespectful way the District Attorney’s wife treated her housekeeper and her husband’s multicultural staff, the Hispanic tattooed locksmith she assumed was a gangbanger, and even her own husband for defending them. By the end of the story she realized the only person who truly cared about her was, in fact, the housekeeper. Another display of prejudice takes place when the Persian shop owner assumes the locksmith is trying to cheat him when the locksmith insists that despite replacing the lock, the back door to the store needs to be replaced. He has been robbed and cheated so many times he believes everyone is trying to take from him, and the store gets broken into and trashed again.

The film focused on crime, but not just the crimes committed by those who live in gritty poverty, or only by minorities. There were payoffs and bribes among the L.A Police force, and the highest levels of state government. There was a storyline of cars jacked and another of immigrant slave trade. Some of the crimes bring consequences to the perpetrator; some do not. The sexual assault of a director’s wife by a member of L.A.P.D. seemingly goes unpunished, but he makes reparations later by saving her life.

The use of music was powerful in each scene. The film was rich with music from many cultures to punctuate each scene. There was a mournful Persian song when the shopkeeper discovered his store broken into once again, and sweet, light music as the locksmith gave his young daughter his impenetrable magic fairy cape. Tense suspenseful tones underlined the car fire rescue scene as well.

I have seen this movie several times. Each time I am reminded that despite educating myself in courses of Human Geography and Sociology, I too have been brought up with certain beliefs and prejudices. How I choose to act upon them, and treat others, can have an affect on the people I interact with, and consequently with the people they come in contact with in a ripple effect.