Close-Up is a 1990 Iranian film by the director Abbas Kiarostami. The film is based on a true story and even has the characters from real life playing the same characters in the movie. Parts of the movie are still completely made up and trying to figure out what events did happen in real life versus what didn’t happen is engaging and fun. The main character, Ali Sabzian, decides to impersonate as Kiarostami to try to impress a girl. He gets caught and is arrested, the story of which reaches Kiarostami. When Kiarostami talks to Sabzian for the first time, we see how devastated he is personally making us feel sorry for him. His actions speak to everyone who looks up to someone and tries to be like them. In this case Sabzian has taken it too far, but its still something many can relate to.

Its especially difficult since the people in the movie are playing themselves. Because of this, the actors don’t necessarily have to know how to act well since they are simply repeating the actions they have already done in real life, making the emotions the characters feel seem more real than they otherwise might be. The documentary style of filming events from fare away, making it feel like we are looking into the character’s lives, and showing people talk about their actions make the movie seem even more natural. The combination of cinematic Kiarostami’s choices to use the real people from the story and using a documentarian style of filmmaking make even the reenacted scenes seem completely real.

The Crimes of Padre Amaro is a 2002 Spanish romantic drama film directed by Carlos Carrera. It is based on a 1875 novel of the same name by Eca de Queiroz. The story centers on young Father Amaro, who has just recently become a priest. He notices a young girl named Amelia who has feelings for. This causes conflict internally and externally as Amaro’s actions are condemned by the church and if word were to get out about his actions, he would be removed from the church.

The movie shows the catholic church in a bad way by showing that Father Benito is involved in an affair and is dealing with crime lords, helping them run their operations and providing his protection. This caused controversy when the movie was about to release as many catholic organizations were unhappy with the movie’s portrayal of catholic priests. They condemned it and tried to stop it from getting screened. Despite that however, the movie got released and performed very well commercially, at least partially due to the controversy.

The affair of Amaro and Amelia leads to Amelia getting pregnant and Father Benito learning about their relationship. While Father Benito tries to threatens to tell everyone about Amaro and Amelia, Amaro counters him by threatening to expose Father Benito’s love affair, which he had learned about earlier in the film. Amaro, trying to safe keep his job as a priest, tells Amelia to abort the child, which goes wrong an ends up with Amelia dead.

In the Mood for Love is a 2000 romantic drama about the life of Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan in 1960’s Hong Kong. The film is colorful and many of the scenes are recorded in unique and interesting ways to produce a visual masterpiece. Wong Kar-wai makes several artistic and cinematic choices to make the world of In the Mood for Love an interesting one. The color red is used very often in the movie. Its on the walls, the curtains, the lamps and even Mrs. Chan’s dress. Some of it could be just set design as the setting of the movie, Hong Kong, is close to China and red is their most commonly used color. However, I believe that it is used this way in the movie because the color red is associated with love and passion. This signifies to the audience the love and passion between Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan, It is my .

Another interesting cinematic choice Wong Kar-wai makes is to not show Mr. Chan or Mrs. Chow. We know that they exist and that they are having an affair through the main characters, but we never get see them on camera. This forces us to see the events of the film from the perspective of Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan. Mirrors, windows and other objects are used to create a unique point of view. These objects obstruct the view and make it seem like we the audience are looking into the lives of the main characters, which we are through the lens of the camera.

The Milky Way was a 1969 film directed by Luis Buñuel, who has directed other great films such as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty which are all part of a trilogy. They do not have an interlocking story or even the same main characters. However, all these films share a common theme of questioning and scrutinizing the social norms and other aspects of life like religion.

The Milky Way is especially focused on religion. The main characters Jean and Pierre are on the Way of St. James pilgrimage, traveling from Paris to Spain. On the way, they meet many interesting characters, some that believe in religion and some that don’t. Their journey takes them not only to people and places in the present but also many historical persons from the past. They even meet Jesus and the Virgin Mary during the later parts in the film.

In one scene where a church priest and a police officer are talking about the belief some have that Christ is in bread. Police officer says that it isn’t possible and will never believe in such thing. The priest mentions heretics that said such things and says that it is a mistake to think like that. However, just moments later he says that the Pateliers, the people who he just said were wrong in their beliefs, are actually correct and that he has had a revelation. When the surprised officer asks why he changed his beliefs, the priest throws a cup of coffee in his face. In the next scene, we learn that the priest is actually a mental patient who has apparently escaped. This is a way for Luis Buñuel to express his opinion on religion.

Pather Panchali is a Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray in the year 1955. It is a very unique film, especially for its time when most films were shot in a typical Bollywood style with intermittent dances numbers and highly dramatized stories. The story of Pather Panchali is shown through the eyes of Apu, a young child born to Harihar Ray and Sarbojaya. The movie focuses on the family’s struggle to get through life. We see the harsh reality of living a poor life but also the little fragments of happiness through the childlike actions of Apu and her sister, Durga.

The movie is part of what is known as Parallel Cinema. This film movement has many influences from the Italian Neorealist movement, and both happened around the same time, which is why it is referred to as Parallel Cinema. One of the best Italian Neorealist film, Bicycle Thieves, in particular is said to have been a heavy influence for Pather Panchali and the subsequent movies released as part of the Apu Trilogy. It is incredible that even in a time without the Internet, artists across the world were able to influence each other’s works.

The story of Bicycle Thives, as discussed before, was focused on showing the struggles of the lower class. It does so by focusing on one man’s struggle to provide for his family and in Pather Panchali, we see a story similar in theme where we focus on the struggles of a poor family living in an economically bleak part of history

Seven Samurai is a Japanese film set in sixth century feudal Japan. In it a band of samurai work together with the people in a small farming community to help defend themselves against a pillaging group of bandits. The leader of the samurai group is Kambei, unlike many samurai of his timed, is only trying to do good and help others instead of wanting money or titles.

The director of this film, Akira Kurosawa, is said to be one of the best filmmakers in history and has influenced countless other filmmakers all around the world. He is noted for taking full advantage of the frame. His shots almost always have something interesting going on in them. Scenes that are supposed to be impactful have a clear intensity to them through a combination of the acting, composition, cinematography and many other factors.

Movement of the camera is very important in his films. There is a sense of flow in all his movies. One scene leads right into the other with an almost unnoticeable cut that keeps the tension and makes the story flow gracefully. In a scene in Seven Samurai where Kambei and two other samurai are planning on how best to defend the village, they are looking at map of the village then go the location where they think the enemy might attack from. We see the mountain that was mentioned on the map in the background as the characters walk towards the fork in the road that was also mentioned on the map. Shichirōji, who the samurai decide to ask to build a fence does it in the scene that follows right after. The way the camera moves and the way the scenes are edited together make the story flow smoothly. All this is possible because Kurosawa, on top of directing the film, also works as his own editor. He is able to make the story flow just as it does in his mind by editing it himself.

Bicycle Thieves is an Italian Neorealist movie about Antonio Ricci’s hardships in life. The story is based on a novel of the same name by Luigi Bartolini. The movie starts with Antonio struggling to find a job. He gets offered a job to put up posters around the city, however, is unable to do so since he had already sold his bicycle to feed his family. With no other options left, he takes the job and sells his bed sheets for money to get the bicycle back. He is happy to start working at his new job, but his bicycle gets stolen on the first day of the job. He looks everywhere he can but is unable to find neither thief nor his bicycle. Even when he thinks he has found the thief, he unable to press charges as there is no evidence or witnesses.

The film does not use professional actors or artificial sets. Scenes are shot on location, meaning that the place being shot in is an actual place that exists rather than something created to make movies in. Just like in other neorealist movies, it focuses on the working class and their struggles. The film’s also usually make it a point to have situations in them where there are no clear right or wrongs. For example, we are made to understand Antonio’s pain throughout the film and feel sorry for him towards the end and can understand why he has to resort to stealing another man’s bicycle.

A Man with a Movie Camera is a film about a normal day in a city in the Soviet Union. In the start is states that this film is an experimental film which was made without scripts, sets or even any context in the form of intertitles that many silent films of the time used to convey the story to the audience. The film is shot somewhat similar to a nature documentary, however without any narration like most documentaries would be. Many of the shots are not at all in a documentary style, though as the shots do not always show things as they are. It is clear from the opening scene of a literal man with a movie camera standing on top another camera, that this is film is leaning heavily in an artistic style of film making rather than a realistic style of film making.

In the beginning, it shows people waking up and getting ready for the day. Then shows people getting to work and starting their workdays. And near the end, it shows people enjoying the end of the day by doing recreational activities.

The film uses techniques like superimposition and split screens to create creative and bizarre scenes. Most of the shots only last a couple seconds and are combined to create a montage style of film making where many shots are played together to create meaning. For example, scenes of workers getting the buses, cars and planes out of the sheds are played right after an another to tell us that the day is about to start.

Metropolis is one of the earliest and most influential science fiction films of all time. It was based on a novel by the same name released 2 years prior to the release of the film, in the year 1925. The film is about a utopian city build on top of a dystopian underground where the workers work themselves to death.  The main character of the film, Freder, learns of the city under the city when he tries to find a woman named Maria. After learning of the hardships and struggles the workers go through, he talks about it with his father who is the leader of the city.

When his father ignores his questions and dismisses him, he decides to help the workers himself. He soon learns that Maria has been leading a revolution and joins her. Learning of the revolution, Fredersen meets with Rotwang to ask for help. Their past quarrels make Rotwang want to back stab him and does so by making a robot that looks like Maria. He uses the robot he created to convince the workers to start a violent revolution, where they stop all the machines and riot in the streets.

“The mediator between head and hands must be the heart.” This quote is the final text seen before the end card of the film. In this analogy, the head is the rulers of the city and the hands are the workers in the underground. The film says that the heart, which is understood to be Freder, is need as a mediator between the two factions.

400 blows is a French New Wave film about Antoine Doinel’s life as he does increasingly more mischievous acts that eventually lead to him committing actual crimes like stealing. The film is based on the director François Truffaut’s own life as a young boy and is his first feature length film. In the film, Antoine’s parents don’t show him any affection and in is often punished for breaking the rules. His distaste for school leads to him skipping school. The second time, however, he was caught and gets in trouble with his parents. His embarrassment makes him decide to run away from home, though his mother changes his mind and even tries to make him a better student by making a deal with him to incentivize him.

After it seems that he is trying to do better, it is found that an essay he turned was plagiarized and is subsequently suspended from school. This time he decides to run away from home for good. Him and his friend decide to start stealing to make money and live a life where they won’t have to deal with their parents or the school. He is caught when he tries steal his father’s typewriter and is arrested for it. He is put in a juvenile detention center, where his mother comes and tells him that she will no longer take care of him. Seeing that he has no one left in his life, he escapes the detention center and runs off to the beach, where the film ends with a freeze frame as Antoine looks directly at the camera.

As this is the first time Antoine has seen the beach, the end could symbolize Antoine venturing out into the unknown, as he will have to in life now that everyone in him life has left him.