Blog Post # 3 : Running On Empty (1988) : A Family Underground

So this is the third movie blog post, and it seems that like the first two movies watched (see previous blog posts), this third one was a heartwarming one too. This suggests a trend for future movies to be watched as the semester progresses, but it's okay, since I love movies with a heartwarming ending :). "Running on Empty" is the masterpiece of director Sidney Lumet ; one which earned 2 Oscar nominations and won 5 other various awards. The movie was rated 7.7/10 on IMDB and 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.

When you don't wanna run no more

Plot :
The story revolves around parents Annie and Arthur Pope who in the 1970s were responsible for the anti-war protest bombing of a napalm laboratory which accidentally resulted in a janitor who wasn't supposed to be there ending up being blinded and paralyzed. They've been on the run ever since, relying on an underground network of friends who help them financially and other services, such as dental. At the time of the incident, their son Danny was two years old and he is portrayed in his late teens in this movie. At the start of the movie, him and his family (along with younger brother Harry) are again relocating and assuming new identities. As the film progresses, Danny's overwhelming talent playing the piano catches the attention of his music teacher at school, and this causes the teacher to pry into Danny's personal life, particularly questioning why records from his previous school are unobtainable. While he pushes Danny to audition for famous university for performing arts, Juilliard, Danny also falls in love with Lorna, the teacher's teenage daughter. As the pressure to have his own life and realize his own dreams intensifies, Danny reveals his family secret to Lorna. Meanwhile, Annie finds out about Danny's audition, and begins to come to terms with the fact that she must let her son go and find his 'own' way. This does not sit well with Arthur, even as Annie risks their safety to contact her estranged father and arrange a home and life for Danny if they should decide to leave him behind. In the end, when Arthur hears on the radio that one of their underground colleagues has been shot and killed running from the authorities, he realizes that it is better for his son to pursue his dreams than to continue living a dangerous life on the run for which he bears no responsibility. Arthur then asks Danny to stay behind and heads off for their next identity in a new town.

Analysis & Reflection :

When watching the movie, two major themes came to mind, which were family, and love. The whole movie focused on the importance of family and how it influenced decisions made in the film. For example, Danny wanted to pursue a life of his own and go to Julliard, but he did not want to abandon his family and as he said in the movie, his dad needed him. This act of unselfishness showed the importance of family to him up to the point where it was prioritized over his dreams of going to Julliard. This is because family systems are built on the foundation of love, attachment, loyalty, and trust, which in turn fulfills safety and status needs, according to the psychology of family. Another example in the film included Arthur saying that they 'exist as a unit', which indicates that his family was the coping mechanism employed by him in coping with the situation. It could also be seen how important family was to Annie, up to the point where she loved Danny so much that she tried to make plans for Danny to go to Julliard to live a better life than he was currently living, even at the risk of possibly never being able to see him again. 

In this movie, there were two types of love displayed, namely passionate love, and companionate love. Obviously, passionate love existed between Danny and Lorna in the film, and their relationship showed that the love that existed between them two affected and influenced Danny's decision in telling her about his family's secret, knowing that it was dangerous. On the other hand, companionate love refers to the love he has for his family, which has already been discussed in the paragraph above.

In addition to the two themes mentioned, Erik Erikson's theory of development also can be used to explain certain events in the movie. This can be seen when Danny starts to have the desire to 'live his own life' and discover what he wants to do in his life but is yet hesitant to leave his family behind. His conflicting desires indicate that he is in Erikson's stage of identity vs role confusion, in which Danny tries to discover and decide his path in life.

Ciao

Furthermore, his (Danny) relationship with Lorna also indicates that he is experiencing the intimacy vs isolation stage of Erikson's theory, in which he starts to fall in love with a person, and as shown in the movie, the effects and influence of this crucial stage of development on an individual's decisions and outlook on life.

Conclusion :
A heavy emphasis on the importance of family this movie has, so after watching it, viewers might have a sudden urge to hug their family members. Furthermore, the movie has good plot and acting, so it is definitely worth watching, if not as a remembrance of talented actor River Phoenix.

The Popes : 90s-Pop-Album-Cover-Pose

Rating : 7 /10

There , done.

  

Blog Post # 2 : Awakenings (1990) : An eye-opening experience

It is the time of the week again, and this time the movie watched is a tragic one, depicting the real-life experiences of neurologist Oliver Sacks in hospitals and dealing with mental patients, starring famous actors Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. Sounds familiar? It probably should, since this movie got 3 Oscar nominations according to IMDB and was rated 7.8/10 on the same site and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

There is no such thing as a simple miracle

Plot : 
In the year 1969, Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) gets a job at a local hospital in the Bronx, New York City. After working extensively with catatonic patients who have been diagnosed with encephalitis lethargica, he discovers that there are certain stimuli that can elicit a reflex reaction beyond their catatonic states from the patients, such as ball-throwing and listening to certain types of music. He also discovers that a patient, Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), is able to communicate with him via an Ouija board. After attending a conference, Dr, Sayer has the idea of trying to use a new drug, L-Dopa to help his own group of patients, all of which end up successful. Leonard completely 'awakens' from his catatonic state and Dr. Sayer tries to get donors to fund the medication for all the other catatonic patients. Meanwhile, Leonard experiences the simple things in his life that he never has had the chance to : walking, making his own decisions, and love. Slowly, Leonard starts to resent the restrictions placed upon him and demands more freedom. In the midst of Leonard's rebellion against his doctors, he starts displaying tics and slowly starts to suffer full body spasms, up to the point when he can't move. In the end, all the other catatonic patients slowly revert back to their catatonic, regardless of the dosage amount of L-Dopa administered. The movie ends with Dr. Sayer standing behind Leonard with his hands on Leonard's on an Ouija board, and him saying "Let's Begin".

Analysis & Reflection :
At the beginning of the film, when Dr. Sayer entered into the local hospitals and the states and condition of the mental patients were shown, with mass hysteria and then moments of silence and blank stares from the catatonic patients being displayed, I thought I was watching a horror movie. Furthermore, with a name like "awakenings" and me being an avid movie buff, I assumed that the plot was about exorcisms and spiritual possessions. But enough about me, let's talk about the movie. There were many events that occurred in the plot throughout the movie, for example, the catatonic patients discovery that they were already old and not as young as they were back when they contracted encephalitis lethargica. Their reactions all provoked a thought within me : what if I were to have undergone a similar process? What would I do if I woke up one day and found myself a 22-year old man in a 60-year old body? This brought to mind Erik Erikson's theory of development. As stated in the theory, us humans go through the stages of development as we age and mature throughout our whole lives. This being said, Leonard is a school-age kid who wakes up 30 years later in an adult's body, and he has had no prior training or experience for his new role in life, making it a terrifying experience, as seen by another patient's reaction, in which the woman said, "I just can't imagine being older than 22. I have no experience at it. I know it isn't 1926, I just need it to be". These reactions would indicate that the patients would most likely be in the identity vs identity diffusion stage, in which they start to discover their new self-identities.

Another key point in the movie that can be associated with the same theory is when Leonard takes a liking to Paula, a patient's daughter who visits. This indicates that Leonard is in the stage of intimacy vs isolation, and is discovering young adult love for the first time in his life. 

Another theory by Orbuch & Veroff in 2002 stated that physical attractiveness, apart from similarity, proximity, and familiarity (mere exposure) are also determinants of interpersonal attraction and Paula fits all four determinants, making this theory a valid explanation of why Leonard took a liking to Paula.

How's this for close proximity?

Conclusion :
This movie ultimately teaches us to appreciate the simple things in life. As Dr. Malcolm Sayer spoke towards the end of the movie, it might have looked like only the doctors were giving the patients awakening, but in turn, the patients gave the doctors and nurse a new sense of awakening, that being the behaviour of humans taking the simple things in life for granted, with it only pointed out when contrasted with a catatonic patient's mindset.

This movie also changes our perspectives on catatonic patients and people with mental or physical disorders in general, showing that things are not always as it seems.

Very clearly awake

Rating : 7.5/10

Thank you for reading. See you in the next blog post!! :)

                                                                      

                                                                        References :

Orbuch, T. L., & Veroff, J. (2002). A programmatic review: Building a two-way bridge between social psychology and the study of the early years of marriage. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 19(4), 549-568. doi: 10.1177/0265407502019004053

Blog Post # 1 : Cinema Paradiso (1988) - Cinephilia at it's finest

It is said that movies can wield a strange power over those who sit in the darkened seats of a theatre. The truly great ones manipulate your perception of reality, suspend your disbelief, and ultimately either alter or affirm your view on life. If ever there was a movie that came from the heart, it would be the famous 'Cinema Paradiso' directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Originally called 'Nuovo Cinema Paradiso', the film was released internationally as 'Cinema Paradiso'. This movie received critical acclaim and was rated 8.5/10 on movie site IMDB and 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

If you like foreign movies, this is a must-watch. If you don't, watch it all the same.

Plot :
Cinema Paradiso tells the tale of a young boy, Salvatore, also nicknamed Toto, who finds passion in cinematography in a village called Giancaldo, Sicily, and befriends the local projectionist, Alfredo. The movie starts with an older Salvatore receiving news from his girlfriend that Alfredo has passed away. Salvatore then recalls his past, when he was a kid. It was through Alfredo, Salvatore learned to fall in love with cinematography and the movie magic that was the village's main source of entertainment. The movies screened at the cinema were missing scenes that were cut off or censored by Alfredo, accommodating to the local pastor's wishes. Seeing Toto's love for movies, Alfredo then teaches him to operate the projection booth. When Alfredo unfortunately gets blinded by fire emanating from the highly flammable nitrate film reels, it is up to Toto to operate the projection booth in his stead. He (Toto) grows up and meets a new girl, Elena, the daughter of a wealthy banker, in his school. Eventually, after countless efforts on his part, she succumbs to his advances and they become romantically involved. Toto eventually has to enlist in the military and in that time, Elena's family moves away to an unknown location, rendering all his efforts to write to her fruitless. Alfredo then urges Toto to leave Giancaldo permanently to achieve his dreams, and to forget everyone and everything in the village; to never turn back. The film then fast forwards to the funeral. Before Salvatore leaves to return to Rome, Alfredo's widow hands him an unlabeled film reel (Alfredo left it for him), which he watches when he gets back to Rome. Cinema Paradiso ends as the movie reel, containing all the censored scenes from the past, ends on the screen with a teary Salvatore after watching it.

Analysis & Reflection :


There are many key points in the film to discuss, so let's start from the beginning. At the start of the movie, it is implied that Salvatore shies away from committed relationships, as his mother does not even recognize the voice of his girlfriend. To quote her, "Everytime I call you, it is a different woman picking up the call". This could stem from Salvatore's tragic past experiences, in which he lost the love of his life, Elena. This could have caused Salvatore to avoid committed relationships due to the fear of being hurt again.

What is love? :'(

Another key psychological scene was when Toto managed to put in the film reels and project them on the cinema screen whilst Alfredo was distracted. He had no prior lessons and had just learned via observational learning. This behaviour displays the social learning theory that Albert Bandura famously introduced to the world of psychology in 1971.

Smart eh? I learned it watching you :D

A major key point was when Alfredo forcefully urges Salvatore to leave Giancaldo and forget everyone and everything in the village. In psychology, role models are essential and seeing Alfredo as a father figure (the father he never had), he consented and left to pursue his dreams.  Hence, Alfredo was the one that made the decision for Toto and he has indeed lived a life of success, but at the cost of his friends and family. When he left Giancaldo to pursue his dreams, he did not contact anyone at all in his village, true to Alfredo's instructions, for over 30 years. This means that although Salvatore led a successful life in the end, it was most probably a lonely one, which begs the question, "Was Alfredo right in making Salvatore walk this path?".   

Wearing sunglasses because Toto's future is too bright

Lastly, the finale. The final scene ended as inexplicably as it began, with Salvatore watching the movie montage that Alfredo made for him. What I got from the ending was a sense of closure, in the sense that Salvatore left his whole life behind to achieve success, and in the end, he realized while he was watching the movie that the deluge of concentrated ardor depicted on the screen acts as a forceful yet simple reminder of the one thing that has been missing from his life ever since he lost his one true love, Elena; passion in love. 

In addition to that, the last bequeathment from Alfredo to Toto indicated that the deal was complete due to the two conditions being fulfilled, one, Salvatore leaving Giancaldo, and two, the film was to stay in Alfredo's possession. In the end, Salvatore's tears when as he watched the tape could have been a reaction to the experiences in his life ( the lost love & last bequeathment). That scene, depending on how one interprets it, was probably the most moving scene in the entire movie to me.

Kissing? STILL UNACCEPTABLE

Conclusion :
As seen in this movie, cinemas were much more popular back in the day. In this technological day and age, movies are streamed online, sold as VCDs and DVDs, and even pirated. People still go to the cinema to watch movies for the experience, but the cost usually deters viewers. Even then, people who watch movies in cinemas do not appreciate the cinematic experience as much as they used to, with so many forms of entertainment available nowadays. I, for one still love watching movies in cinemas, and rather watch movies in cinemas than on television or online. In cinemas are where the magic is, now and forever. If you have not noticed by now, I really liked watching this movie and strongly recommend it, totally not biased due to my cinephilia.

Rating : 8.5/10 

Best. Movie. Ever.