Do The Right Thing

In two paragraphs, choose a director we have studied over the past year and a half and discuss his influence on this film. In your third paragraph, I want to hear your reaction to this film, especially the editing. What do you feel Lee is trying to say? Do you think he was successful? How did the film make you feel?

Bigger Than Life

In at least 2 paragraphs, discuss the use of color and the use of light in this film. Choose a topic you would like to explore in the film and how Nicholas Ray presents it cinematically.

Rebel Without a Cause

Please read Roger Ebert's Great Movies essay on Rebel Without a Cause. In 2 paragraphs, please discuss the following quote:

"Like its hero, Rebel Without a Cause desperately wants to say something and doesn't know what it is. If it did know, it would lose its fascination. More perhaps than it realized, it is a subversive document of its time."

Also, early in his essay, Ebert claims that "the film has not aged well." Do you agree or disagree? Give me one paragraph that tells me why (with evidence from the film).

Last Train Home

Discuss in 3 paragraphs the relationships you see among Last Train Home and The Story of Qiu Ju and Beijing Bicycle. I want you to discuss cinematically differences and similarities in how cities, migrant workers, the countryside, or relationships (between parent/child, neighbors, etc.) are portrayed on the screen. Discuss through at least three of the cinematic techniques we have covered in this course.

Beijing Bicycle

Wang Xiaoshuai's film Beijing Bicycle is ultimately a film about the effects of "modernization" in China. I'd like you to read this essay and discuss the film's narrative and what you feel is the implied meaning of the film as a whole. Choose one scene and analyze the scene fully and cinematically and tell me why you chose the scene and what is the scene's relationship to the film as a whole.

The Story of Qiu Ju

Think about the presentation of Qiu Ju and Meizi in the film. In one paragraph, discuss how both of these women are represented cinematically. In your next paragraph discuss how the countryside and the city are represented cinematically. In your last paragraph, tell me what you learned and what you liked best about the film. Include also any films or filmmakers you would compare it to. I will give extra credit to anyone who watches another film of a fifth generation director and writes one paragraph on their film of choice.

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a film about many things, but overall it is about the theme of isolation and focuses on one particular loner in a big city who can be construed as an anti-hero. It is a film that draws from many genres: the Western, horror, film noir, and was also influenced by the films of the Italians (DeSica, Rosselini, Fellini).

Discuss cinematically, in at least two paragraphs, the themes of isolation and/or the anti-hero and how Scorsese's film is influenced by the different genres and by the Italians. You might find Ebert's original review and his Great Movies essay on the film helpful.