en busca de libertad

Fuerza Bruta

The Art of Flying

"28 Days Later," Danny Boyle

To be honest, I always try to avoid scary movies. That’s why, when I was around 16 years old and some friends decided to play 28 Days Later on TV, I was extremely relieved to be picked up by my parents earlier than expected so that I would not have to endure the entire film. Today, thinking about that experience, I realized that it is impressive for a British film with a humble budget and no stars, to have made it into the Venezuelan market where theaters are monopolized by American blockbusters. Thus, 28 Days Later seems to be Boyle’s ultimate realization. He was able to return to his comfort zone of working with a small crew, modest budget, and unknown actors, and yet develop a film that taped into global mainstream. It seems like The Beach “cured Boyle and Macdonald of any temptation to go Hollywood,” (71) and yet this film found its way into such market.

Boyle’s talent is definitely stimulated and brought to the surface by pressure and the need of creative problem solving. In fact, he admits “I love leaving things as late as possible. It’s very exciting” (80). This is why there is a direct correlation between his most brilliant films and very small budgets. The interesting part is that his solutions to such monetary restrains greatly enhance the story lines and aesthetic elements of his films. In the case of 28 Days Later, Boyle decided to use digital cameras which were cheaper than celluloid cameras but somewhat new and unfamiliar. Nevertheless, their technology created images that were unlike what audiences were accustomed to, thus intensifying the strange atmosphere of the infected city. The images were crisp and the movement of the infected was fidgety and disjointed, “sort of like staccato” (76). In addition, in order to operate these cameras, a reduced number of people were needed, which allowed Boyle’s crew to shoot the outdoors scenes through multiple cameras at the time. Boyle’s work tends to be great when shooting indoors, however, it seems to loose such spark when faced with exteriors. Nevertheless, in 28 Days Later these shots, which were extremely important to set the tone and establish the story, were brilliant. As Jim wonders in complete shock through the deserted streets of London, we are drastically pulled into the story questioning our reactions in his position.

Another benefit Boyle extracted from his budgetary limitations was the use of inexpensive-unknown actors. After having made The Beach, a film that revolved around only one factor, Leonardo DiCaprio, Boyle went the complete opposite way with 28 Days Later. However, the drivers of such decision were not only monetary. There was an element of egotism that must have played a big role in making this decision. He had stated in an interview, previous to the release of The Beach, that “a mass audience always goes to a cinema for actors, not directors” (59). Therefore, 28 Days Later seemed to be Boyle’s retaliation project, a way of proving that directors’ films can be successful. Nevertheless, the fact that Jim, Selena, Hanna, and Frank were unknown to the audiences, made it possible to create a deep connection and identification between them.

Apart from the innovative camera techniques, editing, and experimentation used by Boyle in 28 Days Later, what took this film to the next level were the different layers of commentary and criticism. For example, there is a striking condemnation of traditional systems. It is not a coincidence that the humans, who were supposed to represent hope and salvation, were part of the military, one of the oldest organizations still standing in modern days. To accentuate such clash between old and new systems, ancient statues saturate the house in which the soldiers retrieved. Here, we are presented with a new kind of social intolerance which is very close to audiences’ reality and thus, it forces them to “speculate where it’s come from” (72).

"The Beach," by Danny Boyle

It was interesting to see the interplay between people’s background and their current situation. There was a constant tension between the two. In a way, Thailand represents a melting pot, the capital of the world. Everyone has a different accent and place of origin however, there is no desire to dig into people’s past, culture, or background, but only to enjoy what the city has to offer. Such mantra is exposed in the opening scene as Richard is first introduced: “My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family or where I’m from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose…” As the film develops, such concept is held constant by omitting stories about characters’ backgrounds. Nevertheless, there is an underneath piercing desire to hold to fragments of the past, which is why Richard decided to leave the map of the beach to his fellow Americans. “I told myself that spreading news was a part of a traveler’s nature, but if I was being completely honest, I was just like everybody else, shit-scared of the great unknown, desperate to take a little piece of home with me.” However, as he was accepted in the island’s community, he became part of a subculture of outsiders whose main rule was secrecy. They were the outcasts of a society that does not even know of their existence. Thus, the fact that Richard lingered to the idea of completely censor himself from his origins was his greatest mistake and reason of punishment: his loose link with America was the cause of his expulsion from paradise.

With a significant larger budget, Boyle finally used special effects in a more in tuned way than in A Life Less Ordinary. Even though these scenes were not realistic per se, they had a clear purpose to enhance the story line. For example, when Richard and the French couple are camping in the first island they reached, we see the sky though Francoise’s camera as she is taking night pictures. Francoise and Richard start to play in front of the camera, and we see their blurry shapes in front of the stars. Such vision of the two externalizes their mutual love interest. Normally, to represent love scenes the camera spins around the couple, as if intoxicated or dizzied. However, in this scene Boyle reinterpreted industry’s standards by conveying the same feeling through a different vehicle. Having said this, we cannot avoid pointing out that Boyle did go overboard when Richard and Francoise finally kiss. His touch was only evident by the use of a higher shutter speed which freezes the images and eliminates the normal cinematic blur. Apart from that, it seems like he followed a checklist and used all the industry standards: full moon, fluorescent shrimps, and spinning camera.

The use of special effects was mostly evident when Richard becomes a character of a videogame. It was clever of Boyle to integrate such a pastime since it is embedded in mainstream society, and thus in the audiences of his film. Boyle used such a metaphors to relate the story while, in a different level, criticizing society. These solitary games alienate the players by transporting them to a desert island, which is why they were perfect to convey Richard’s insanity. As he runs franticly trying to provoke and trick the armed farmers, he tells himself “I was the only one with the overview of how it all fitted together: the island, me, them, the invaders, all connected, all playing the same game.” However, having real blood spread all over his face triggered the game over of these fictional combats and missions.

"A Life Less Ordinary," by Danny Boyle

In my previous notes on Boyle, I talked about my curiosity to discover weather or not a larger budget had spoiled the creative spark of the team that brought us Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. Sadly it did, and I have the impression that such decay might have worsen with The Beach. So far, it looks like Boyle and his team need restrictions and pressure for their ingenuity to shine through. The $12 million budget made them forget that less tends to be more, and thus it looks like they tried really hard to spend every penny of their budget. They included cheesy special effects, over the top locations, car chases, guns, fights, bits of musicals, and lets not forget the closing sequence with cartoons providing the most archetypical happy ending that Hollywood could conceive.

During the scene in which Lily breaks up with Robert and he goes back to his apartment, I thought that Boyle’s style was finally shinning through the cracks. As Robert enters his apartment building, the camera, at an extremely high angle, shows the angular staircase lit by a dark red light that creates hunting shadows. Once inside the room, Robert sits in the bed, looks into the camera, and falls backwards as the camera moves to capture him from above the bed. If this kind of camera movement and lighting were persistent throughout the film, the larger budget would have been justified. However, the scene that follows this one is an example of the extravaganzas in which the team preferred to allocate their budget: a tacky computer-animated heart that brakes into pieces. Boyle and his team were criticized for having cut scenes that “would have made [the film] have sense” (47). I wonder what happened with this one. It might have slipped their minds or, because they were catering to an American audience, they assumed there would be no success without special effects. What a shame.

In one of his interviews, Boyle states that “you have three minutes to announce your intentions, to make an indelible stamp on the audience” (40). He is right, I can assure you that after only seen the opening scene of A Life Less Ordinary we could have come to the sound conclusion that it is nothing like its antecedents. The overexposed white police station, filled with policemen, nurses, prostitutes, and social workers, was supposed to convey the idea of a nuance paradise. Well, it didn’t. However, the cherry on top of the cake was the music. A cheesy and over the top song invaded the screen in such a high degree that one of the prostitutes lip-sings part of the song. Maybe this was a small premonitory shot of the dreadful musical sequence at the karaoke bar. The camera was steady and traditional, as if we were watching an ordinary Hollywood film from the late eighties. And, as soon as the actors opened their mouths, a highly dramatized and somewhat theatrical acting style was enforced. I felt like every small detail I enjoyed from Shallow Grave and Trainspotting was bleached out in this film. There was no exciting editing, original story, innovative camera angles, or clever acting.

New York International Latino Film Festival

After seeing many online ads for the Latino Film Festival, I decided to organize a trip to NYC exclusively for the festival. As a venezuelan aspiring to work in the industry, I was curious and interested to see what kind of films Latinos around the world are producing. I thought this festival would showcase a wide range of good work from multiple nationalities. However, I was disappointed and surprised that most films they selected were produced or co-produced by Americans. For example, there wasn't a single feature film from Colombia, only a couple of shorts. Given the fact that Colombia has such an active film industry, this was the first bad sign of the festival.

I have to admit that I left NYC very disappointed. The people running the festival are just drilling and reiterating the stereotypes that follow us around the world. The organization of the festival was awful. I couldn't believe that there was more than an hour delay in the opening night. As it turns out, they were showing the same film in two theaters with half an hour difference. The funny thing is that they didn't have an extra copy of the DVD.......... How is that possible!!!! I was hopping that after this screening the other 4 films we had schedule would go smoothly and on time. Well, I was wrong. The next day, not only we had to wait an hour while they fixed technical issues, but the sound system was dreadfully laud, making it excruciating to sit through the bad short films we were watching. Ah, and lets not forget the very low picture quality. I think the filmmakers that attended the festival felt nauseous by seen their work projected so poorly. I'm in complete awe by the fact that the festival was sponsored by big names such as HBO and Heineken. They most have good connections I guess!..