Auteur - Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa was a man that had changed the film industry from his some 50 plus years of work.  He was prolific in making something of 30 or so films in his lifetime.  He shows his auteurship well and deserves the title of being an auteur.  By watching the films Drunken Angel, Ikiru, and Yojimbo, I could see Akira's perspective on how he showed his auteurship in film through different themes and subjects.  He had a common theme of having a noir motif throughout his films and having his characters take a stand by themselves.

    Within the movie Drunken Angel, we see an unusual friendship form between a doctor and a thug that he chooses to help after a gunfight.   This was Akira's breakthrough film and it shows.  The story is realistic and gritty in which he could express himself freely.  The 2 main characters interact well and produce the story with precision and realness.  Though, the thug, Matsunaga ends up being the big attraction to the movie.  He was a compelling character that showed the side of the yakuza and how he was being used as a pawn. 

    There's also the movie Ikuru which goes through the life of a man that has cancer and only has so much longer to live.  He wanted to live his life as freely as he could for the remainder of his life and accomplish something.  He does this by turning a swamp into a playground for children before his untimely death.  Having seen the movie, some of the dialogue between the main character and a woman really brings out the depth that Kurosawa is trying to convey.  Kanji, the main character, talks about how you should live life to the fullest because he didn't give it a second thought until he was face to face with death.

    The movie Yojimbo was a good example of how Kurosawa influenced other people.  A loner of a man comes to a city where there are 2 gangs that are on edge with one another.  The whole movie is setup in such a way that it reminds me westerns, and how they face off with one another in a dessert like town.  Kurosawa also goes all the way with making the characters and people of the town grungy and unclean.  Expressions are also played well throughout the film, giving the viewer some insight to what the character is thinking or feeling.

    I think these movies provide the foundation for Akira Kurosawa's auteurship and how he was a pioneer for such things as the main characters, feelings, and samurai slash movies which in turn inspired other film makers.  I feel that it gives him the right to have the title of being an autuer because of his many movies and strong influences of being innovative.

Director Notes - An Interview with a Vampire

The story of an Interview with a Vampire is just that, somebody by the name Malloy interviews a vampire named Louis over his life.  He talks about how he was turned into a vamoire after the demise of his wife and what hardships and traveling he did with Lestat, the vampire who turned him into what he is now.

Relationships- The character actions and relationships have an interesting vibe because much of it is a love/hate relationship between Lestat and Louis.  I think that Lestat at some parts of could show more of his arrogant and confident side.  His interactions with Louis were interesting and added drama to the story.  Louis' emotions also played a big part in the story so I'd want to have that more fleshed out.  His confusion for what he has become and Lestat's  mind games allow us to feel that Louis still has a human side to him even though he has become a vampire.  Claudia's character is important because it adds to the depth of what Louis feels as a vampire.  He regretted being part of what made her a vampire in the end.  They played a good father/daughter relationship at the beginning of their endeavors together which later turned into a father/lover relationship for Claudia.  Her sadness for not being able to grow up is played in a cumbersome way and I like it that way.  Also even though the relationship between Claudia and Louis would be considered weird in most cases, it was played well as to not seem that way.

Plot wise - I think the story takes off pretty fast, where as the viewer is somewhat thrown into the plot.  Though, the story does flesh out what exactly is happening by going back and forth to the present and future.  It wades through the story at a general and normal speed.  Nothing is necessarily fast paced.  I think at some of the later scenes that had Claudia and Louis running from Lestat could have a more frantic feel to them.

Struggle – Louis struggles throughout his life to come to terms at what he became.  He must bear the fact that he is immortal and would have a hard time dying other than by the hands of another vampire or by the sun.  The portrayal of Louis' power battle with Lestat about wanting to know where they originated from and how he sometimes ends up following Lestat's ideas emphasizes Louis' struggles.

Conflict -  There is definitely conflicts between Louis and Lestat as prviously stated.  There's also a conflict between Claudia and Lestat that arises later.  She ends up loathing Lestat and proceeds to get rid of him but fails.  From the fall of Lestat to his return into Louis' and Claudia's life is a cnflicting and somewhat scary piece of the story.  Emphasis in these scenes with expression of fear and hate, mainly Claudia, would be ideal.

Overall, I like how the pace and story flows.  There are scenes that would do well if emphasized more.

Lolita: Morality

    The morality in Lolita can be discussed and viewed in several ways.  I think that the narrator of the story starts with some disturbing imagery and words that our society  wouldn't be pleased to hear at all.  The narrator is very clear and distinct in the ways of expressing his love for young girls and doesn't try to hide this from the reader either.  The only ones he's hiding from is the unsuspecting adults of this story, in which he skillfully attracts the young girl of a woman he marries.  He has no shame or what our society would call a normal thought process saying that this situation was full of wrongs that he shouldn't have ever committed.  Cheating on a woman with a child is an embarrassment and a shameful act in itself but he doesn't give it a second thought it seems.  The morals would fall weak even if Lolita was of an older age because he is cheating and deceiving others to have what he wants.  In his pondering about young girls, he comes to call them “nymphets.” He's distressed that “she would not be forever Lolita” and one day “cease being a nymphet.” (pg 15)  This leads him to  say how he'd give up on the girl once she reaches the age of a young girl, saying that their innocence and the like would be gone from him.  He also mourns over not seeing his Lolita for two months because her time as a lolita would come to an end in a short amount of time.  Every instant counted for him to be with his Lolita.  The book in quick defining what the story will be all about and how Humbert's obsession will fascinate the reader with fanciful words but also disgust them at the realization that he's talking about a 12 year old girl.  He also had a peculiar and annoying way of always talking about himself as a high and mighty person.  He'd say how handsome or wonderful he was along with his lines and proceed to do this in a fashion of talking in third person.  It shows how he was a bit narcissistic and obsessed with himself.  Even Lolita's attitude and morality is shaken.  She at one moment kissed Humbert but when he kissed her on the neck at a later point, she wipes t away in disgust.  Lolita comprehends what Humbert is doing and yet doesn't in a sense.  Her morality is low to have let this happen and to also play along with what Humbert wants.  This could also be taken into account that she's a child trying to be a woman in which she has not become yet.  She goes as far as to say that Humbert is a “dirty, dirty old man” presenting that she knows that what they've done together isn't acceptable. (pg 32)  In realizing that both of the main characters come to know of how immoral their relationship is, they continue on with it.  Morals in their mind are thrown out, except for the gnawing fact that someone could find out about them.