Art of the Cinema: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I’ve always had a huge problem with books that are turned into movie but One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest does not fit into the category that I hate. This movie was brilliant and I like how even though it wasn’t based off the entire book, it was still an excellent movie.

Jack Nicholson, one of my favorites, did an outstanding job. He always takes on these roles that seem too natural for him to pull through. It’s like he’s not even trying, and we talked about how that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. This might sound terrible, but I don’t think the rest of the actors had to put in as much effort as him. Because he is so good at what he does, it doesn’t seem to have a huge effect on the fact that this movie is only from part of the book.

Art of the Cinema: Rio Bravo

Rio Bravo was definitely the definition of what a Western film is supposed to be like. Starting with the silent introduction, and the close-ups of certain things in a few scenes, it sets the bar high for the rest of the western films that were made after this one. Rio Bravo was awesome to watch, unlike some of the other movies (no judging) and I liked it a lot. John Wayne’s character was my favorite.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a western film this good. All of the action shots were perfect and the way the actors played their roles was excellent. John Wayne played an excellent cowboy and he definitely was a conventional westerner. I loved the isolated farmhouses and how they always carried their gun everywhere. Everything in this movie fit the iconography descriptions that we spoke about in class and the cowboys were awesome.

Art of the Cinema: Mon Oncle

Mon Uncle is absolutely brilliant, yet strikingly annoying to watch. It took me 2 days to watch the entire movie, and even while watching it I had some trouble focusing. The theme of this movie is definitely Hulot’s inability to adapt to new technology. The poor guy is just completely lost during the entire movie, unless he is in his home which isn’t as advanced as his sisters. Hulot doesn’t fit in but that’s what makes him so interesting.

Things that annoyed me in this movie were some of the noises, especially the women’s shoes clicking every 5 seconds. I hate the sound of repetitive noises and the clicking of the shoes had me stressed out. Aside from that, I do like how the movie is about pure perfection. Every little thing has to be spotless, the way the wife goes about cleaning and serving the child and her husband is amazing. It seems as if the child isn’t going to eat a boiled egg; he’s going in for surgery. Everything is being sterilized and set up perfectly.

You can obviously tell that Jacques Tati is a genius, and this movie proves it. His way of directing movies is unbelievable. You don’t even need the characters to speak, which they barely did, to get the message across. The sound of everything (except the shoes) is out of this world and I really enjoyed the details and art of this movie.