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I really enjoyed this film. I found it very interesting that this film was directed by a woman. (not trying to sound sexist or anything) It just seems strange because when I think of movies, I think of the crazy man with the cool hat sitting in the chair calling out orders. I'm sure that the director posses all of the same talents as all of the male directors we have seen thus far. She had to have had them for this movie was great.

I found this movie similar to Irony of fate. I'm not sure that I felt that the films truly resembled each other. It could have been simply for the fact that there was a love story in each. I felt really bad for Kostya because I did not think he deserved to be left. I feel that he was just an over excited man who loved his woman. I was truly hoping to see everything work out in the end. It was all my mind was on the entire time, "please please please end happily, end with a shot of Kostya and Masha taking there vows and kissing for the entire world to see." Of course this is not a true story but I still connected very well. I really enjoyed this final film. THANK YOU DR. ISHAM FOR A WONDERFUL TERM

Night Watch

To me this movie was just another movie that I have seen a hundred times here. I didn't notice very much about this movie because I was still shocked to see something that almost fits the description of a normal movie in the USA. I guess what I'm trying to say is I liked the fact that it was normal, but I didn't like the fact that it was exactly like every other fantasy movie I have seen. 

This movie seemed like it was just a mix of many movies that have been filmed here in the U.S.. Movies that came to mind when watching this movie were, The Matrix, any of The Lord of the Ring movies, the Underworld, and Mortal Kombat. 

The first thing I noticed in this film was the scene where he is killing the fetus. Maybe I'm just crazy but it almost exactly resembles the scene where Neo meets with the Oracle in the matrix. weird, something is successful in the United States...LETS STEAL IT AND TRY IT HERE.

Next, the fight scene at the beginning and in the end resembled the scenes in lord of the ring. everything from swordplay to the interesting details on the armor.

It is a vampire movie just like the Underworld and to me the storyline is the same. both sides, good and evil are chasing after one character because this character is the answer to their wildest dreams or something like that. 

All of the birds and lightning and tornado's and lords remind me of mortal kombat. I haven't seen that movie in quite some time though so that part of Night Watch was rather enjoyable for me

I also enjoyed the special effects....this is the first time in the term that we have seen a movie with some nice special effects.

The Return

I realized (as I sat at my desk procrastinating) that there are many similarities between Zvyagintsev's film and many of the Tarkovsky films. Many of the shots in todays film (The return) seemed to mimic the shots of Tarkovsy's Mirror. The first shot that is similar is in the second scene when Ivan's mom is sitting on the porch smoking all alone. She seems to have a concerned look on her face just as the woman in Mirror did. Actually story line the first few scenes imitates Mirror exactly. That is, to say, both films have a father unexpectedly come home. Strangely enough, both films have a young boy flipping through an old picture book. I'm not sure if the shots of telephone poles were supposed to represent the tall crosses, that are in Tarkovsky's film, but seemed to resemble them nonetheless.

Each film also featured symbolism and contrasting images (at least it seemed this way to me). Throughout the entire movie there is a lot of the color blue. At first this seemed like a coincidence but as it kept reoccurring I started to think it must have meant something. While I was procrastinating I kept thinking about this blue color and the only thing that came to mind was water. In a strange way it seemed as if this was foreshadowing of what was to become of the father. It always seemed like he was surrounded by blue (an example of this would be the bedroom in one of the opening scenes because everything was blue). It is curious that he was always surrounded by blue because he ended up in the bottom of a blue ocean.

One other example of symbolism that I feel was rather prominent was the birds. I could not get the image of the dead Sea Gull out of my head because it just didn't make sense. This was the case until I remembered the scene when they are on the dock having fun. I mean the scene where Andrey gets out of the car to take pictures of the water and his surroundings. While this is happening the father is doing something unknown and Ivan is playing (or spying) with the father's binoculars. In one of the binocular shots Ivan is looking at all of the birds flying around, very much alive. These contrast the dead Gull (obviously because one is alive and one is dead). I feel that this was supposed to serve as a warning for what would happen on that beach eventually. The bird appears to have simply fallen out of the sky and not returned just as the father falls and does not live.

One more question...What was with the metal box?

Brother

I have to admit that I found myself feeling very surprised during today's film. It was everything that I have been hoping to see during a film in our class. What I mean to say is... this film was full of action, violence, guns, and even some explosions. On top of all of the action rests a story of Danila who, in my opinion, has many characteristics that give him the right to be called a hero. I realize that this is a big statement considering Danila is a gangster. 

Danila gets into the habit of killing for money. I don't think the violent actions are meant to be approved by the audience. However, I do think that he was killing because he was led to believe that he was killing to make St. Petersburg a safer place. I think that he had good intentions and did not realize that he was killing people and that was wrong. It is for this reason that I believe Balabanov (the director) did a good job getting viewers to realize how dangerous St. Petersburg was and how hard it was to live there. The fact that Danila is killing because he wants to make it safer makes him different from other mobsters.

I would like to take just a second to touch on the filming aspect of Brother. Prior to today I had the idea in my head that film techniques in Russia were different than that of American films. Today's film had still camera shots that moved smoothly from one shot to the next unlike most films we have watched. The majority of the movies that we have watched have had camera's that move; it is just that the movements felt rushed which almost gave me an uneasy feeling because my eyes did not have enough time to take in the whole scene as the camera moved across it. This is perhaps what I liked most about the film Brother.

Vera Vera weird

I have to say that the film Little Vera was my least favorite of all of the films so far. I mean, sure I understand that it is the concept of a rebellious young girl in Russia. I simply did not feel that it was necessary to have some of the scenes in the movie. An example would be the sex scenes...the message had already been given to the viewer that Vera liked to sleep around. I also did not like the ending because it leaves us hanging. Like, what happened to the father? and what was up with Viktor and why was his profession and personal life so mysterious. These are just some of the reasons that I did not appreciate this movie.

Moscow=NO BELIEVE TEARS

I found the film Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears to be shockingly similar to Irony of Fate. I fell that it is very interesting that the main couple in each of these films met only by chance. I have begun to realize that popular Russian films are the ones that portray what many people hope for. It is, as it has been for ages, to find true love. Both of these films have a storybook ending. What I mean to say is that they both end with someone falling in love and living happily ever after. Both films also have a character that seems to mess everything up for a short period of time. This character is usually the one that triggers an argument which leads to short term separation between the main couple. As of right now I am convinced that our class could make a famous Russian film by simply telling a love story which features a random meeting between the two lovers (we would also need a character that attempts to stop the progressing romance).

The Jam Session

Today I wish to focus more on the pre-movie class time because Friday's writing assignment will be focused on Ivan's Childhood. I enjoyed listening and singing to B-2 today in class. It was nice to have a change of pace, I mean to say that the somewhat silly classroom activity got me more interested in the Russian culture. Recently my friends and I have begun playing Singstar (which is basically karaoke) and we enjoy every second of it. In a sense, class today was like karaoke...we sang, laughed, and had a great time. To top all of these things off, we were learning another language which is possibly the best starter when attempting to learn about another culture. 

The music in today's film was more apparent than in the film Mirrors. It, unlike the music in mirrors, added many emotions/feelings that would not have been felt without music. A prime example of music aiding in the feelings of viewers is when Katasonov and Galtsev are attempting to escape in the boat. The loud random chords got my heart pumping and I imagined that this is what I would experience in a situation like this. So, in a sense, the music of the film was chosen very carefully because it gave me the feeling that I was right there with them as they were escaping.