Confessions of a Cinephilie Part II: The Return!

Hello all,

In the fall of 2002, I began my post secondary education at the University of Toronto, St.George Campus. It was a big adjustment for me to be in the big city as I grew up in Brampton; a suburb of Toronto. I had been to Toronto on school trips, the occasional Blue Jays Game, visits to family friends or for the odd shopping trip. My Dad commuted for year to Toronto for his job, so I do not believe he wanted to be there during the week for his job and then again all weekend so the trips to Toronto were a once in a while occurrence, but i digress.

My first cinema studies class was aptly called Introduction to Film Study, which consisted of a lecture, screening and tutorial; all of those occurring on different and subsequent days. When we were given the syllabus or class schedule there were a few films that I recognized but most of the films I had not heard of. At first this is a bit dis concerning but I quickly learned that it was better to be exposed to films that you would not otherwise watch.

The first film that was screened was Citizen Kane, which did not speak so much to me at the time but through repeated viewings and the analysis of it, I learned to appreciate it very much. It is an integral film, in the cinema studies lexicon because of its narration techniques and some stylistic elements that the films itself championed. The second film that was screened was Memento, which I had seen before and is in my top five films of all time. I did not immediately love the film, because after the first viewing I did not entirely understand the film; if you have seen the film you will no doubt understand what I am saying. I am not going to systematically go through all the films that were screened because that you take up a lot of page spaced but also because I do not remember all the films that were screened, although I still have my syllabus for this class.

The lectures by Professor Charlie Keil were truly fascinating even if the topic was not so intriguing, Professor Keil had a way of drawing attention; that and he was extremely likable. Some of the screening were a bit tough to get through; we started with early short silent films in the fall and by Christmas break we had just got to colour film with Singing in the Rain. I remember some screenings were you could see other students start to nod off and then their heads would spring up because no one wanted to miss anything that might be on the final exam. If one week you stayed awake, the next week if may have been you that was fighting the urge to sleep.

Another notable film that was screened was Roger and Me; the interactive documentary from Michael Moore about the downfall of his beloved hometown of Flint, Michigan in the wake of the closing of Flint's GM plant. I had not been a fan of documentaries and to this day I would not say that I am a huge fan of them but I do enjoy Moore's Documentaries and a few others such as Capturing The Friedmans and Supersize Me. I am more draw to the interactive documentaries where the director of the documentary is shown onscreen and interacts with people while unveiling or delving into his or her topic of interest. Bowling for Columbine as disturbing as it gets has to be one of my favourite documentaries because it really looks critically at the American Consciousness and its obsession with guns and how it has become an ongoing threat to the American Dream.

The last film of my introduction to Film Study is by far my favourite film of that study year and is in my top five films of all time. The film is called The Celebration, or Festen in its native Danish. The Celebration was the most noteworthy of the Dogme 95 films which were films that followed a manifesto that a group of filmmakers swore they would follow. The manifesto stated the stories in the films had to have not flashbacks, take place in the present, use no props that had to be brought to shooting locations, that is all the props used had to already be in those locations, whether they be outside or in buildings,and the films had to be shot using digital video cameras. There were other conditions that had to be met but I cannot remember them right now, although I do have a book on the Dogme films where it details what the manifesto said. The film itself is about a group of family members meeting up at their summer home to celebrate their father, Helge's 60Th with a party. Extended family members also attend this party and there are amble lodgings to accommodate overnight guests. The film has a very raw look and feel to it that I had never really seen before or since. I subscribe this raw look to the use of digital video and to the film's subject matter. I will not describe the whole plot of this film because I do not want to spoil it but also because I think that I already did in a previous blog entry, but I will say a few things. The whole impact of the film begins when at the dinner table, Christian whom is the youngest of Helge's, in his speech/toast to his father unearths a dark family secret that no one sees coming. The whole rest of the film is dealing with this dark revelation and the impact that it has on the entire family and their future as a family. I have previously, but cannot stress enough how great a film The Celebration is, and although it will not speak to some it definitely speaks to me as a great cinematic achievement.

That is all for this entry. It I can clear some of the fog from my head, my next entry will delve into my second year of cinema studies and possibly some of my third year of cinema studies.

Thank you to all whom are reading. I greatly appreciate your taking the time to read my thought, opinions and ideas.

Thanks,

Fanboy Dave

Confessions of a Cinephile

Hello All,

This is my attempt to explain where my love of movies began and how it has evolved and continued to evolve through the course of my life. This will likely be an ongoing series of entries as I do not believe I will be able to say all that I would like to say in one entry.

I was born in the early 80s to a loving Mother and Father. My father is one of the many James Bond Fanatics; I consider myself somewhat of a Bond fanatic, although I am not as into it as my Dad and his close from Doug, but I know more than the average person does about the James Bond Franchise. In my early life, I was exposed to plethora of Walt Disney films and still enjoy them today but am more of a fan of the Pixar computer animated films than the animated Disney films of today. I grew up watching a lot of action adventure films, including the Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek and Back to the Future films.

I would often go to the movies with my mother who would go see just about anything with me that I wanted to see. My Father was a police officer and worked rotating shifts so he worked odd hours and was not always around and my sister was and still is a social butterfly who started working just as soon as she could so if she was not in school, or out with friends, she was working, leaving my mom and I to do to the movies or hang out at home. We did go to see movies together as a family. I fondly remember seeing Batman Forever, X-Men and a host of other films with my whole family. For my birthday we would usually go to the movies on the weekend to celebrate; Home Alone 2, Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, and Toy Story were among some of the films that were watched for my birthday celebrations. I believe that I associate movie watching with spending time with family and to this day love watching movies with friends or family members.

Another side to my obsession with films is my love of analyzing the situations that the characters find themselves in; I do this more with Television Shows though because the stories are ongoing. I analyze the moral questions that some films raise and the issues that the filmmakers are trying to propose to the movie going public.

Over time I was able to see more mature films. My mother and I would watch a lot of cop films. I remember renting all of the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard films and watching them with my mother; I would later add these films to my burgeoning DVD collection in the late 90s. My mother also liked comedies (anything with John Candy) and I did as well so we would often watch those when we were not watching cop films.

In the late 90s as I grew up I began to confront my childhood fears about horror films by diving into the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday The 13th and Halloween films. The Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday The 13th films are now among my favourite horror films and I immensely enjoy the pairing of Halloween 1 and 2; the original as well as hyper violent and visceral Rob Zombie remakes. More recently, I have become a huge fan of the "found footage horror films" of the Paranormal Activity franchise and I eagerly await the 4th entry to the franchise. I also am a fan of Zombie films, beginning with my first real self appointed exposure to them with the Dawn of the Dead remake, a bunch of years back. As I tend to do, I went back to the beginning and watched George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and the original Dawn of the Dead, followed by Day of the Dead and the later released Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead. I also am a big fan of the 28 Days Later franchise and count 28 Days Later amongst my top 5 films of all time for a lot of reasons that I have already detailed in previous entries.

My movie viewings would change very much in the fall of 2002 when I began to attend the University of Toronto aiming to attain a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Cinema Stuides. The cinema studies program involved learning of the history of film including early motion toys (precursors to film), the development of the classical Hollywood System, various National Cinemas, how Narration and Style operate in films to tell a story and so on. In my next entry in this series, I will discuss my experiences with film while attending University.

I hope that I have been somewhat coherent in my detailing of my love of films and their place in my life. I appreciate any feedback or questions that you may have.

Thanks for reading.

Fanboy Dave