After I watched this film, the only thing that pops out in my mind was 'WOW!'. This film really amazed me, it makes me think that the director, Darren Aronofsky is someone with crazy thought because it is not something we can usually see on the screen. It is really an amazing and beautiful piece of work from the narration to the editing of the film.
The first thing I think the director did very well in this film is the mise-en-scene. The costume and makeup is one thing I really have to talk about, especially for Sara Goldfarb. Her costume and makeup really represent her character well who is a typical old housewife. What important is when she get psychologically ill, the makeup really done well for her. The pale face, dark circle and the unmanaged hair really shows that 'something wrong' with her.
The art director did a good job in setting and props. When we watch the film, we can see that Sara Goldfarb live in an simple old apartment with an outdated television set. It directly make the audience understand her situation and her financial status. On the other hand, the lighting of the whole film is an excellent job too. It looks real and natural. The actors' and actresses' performance is a thumbs up too. They really brings out the emotion of the situation which makes the audiences are able to understand their feelings.
Next, I would like to talk about the cinematography of this film. First, I will talk about the camera angle. There is one scene when a high angle showing Marion Silver is looking up and she is actually looking at a building. The high angle gives us a feeling that the building is taller than her and shows that she is tiny as compared to the building.
Then there is one scene when Harry and Marion lay on the floor and talk to each other after consuming drugs. The shot is high angle, the camera zooms out and spins at the same time. This clearly represents the steamy feeling of taking drugs as two of them feel like floating around.
Furthermore, there is one camera angle that I find it interesting is when the scene of Tyrone runs from the gun fight and Marion leaves the apartment. The camera is placed in front of the characters and follows as they move. It clearly shows their facial expression and their emotion.
Lets talk about the editing of this film. The editing is the element that amaze me the most, it is just beautiful. The director uses a lot of creativity in it. For example, the scene when Harry and Marion laying on the bed looking at each other. The director uses split screen with two different shots instead of just a simple high angle shot of both of them. A shot shows Harry looking at Marion's side and another shows the extreme close up shots of where Harry is touching her, the same goes to Marion when she touches Harry.
Another creative method that the director uses is when they take drugs, the director uses montage of some simple shots, such as changing of cell, lighting up lighter, boiling water, pulling up syringe blood moving in vein and changing of pupil. All these shots do not have connection individually, but when we put it together in a certain arrangement, it become the procedure of taking drugs. The director use this instead of showing exactly they are taking drugs. The montage itself does not tell us what it is, we understand it through the knowledge that we get in our life. I think this is what the director is trying to do, he wants the audience to think.
The director also uses time lapse to show what the characters did in the period of time and dissolve in between scenes. My favourite part of this film is in the end all the characters lay on the bed and turn to the same side. It just makes everything connected. In my opinion, they all lay in the same position is reflecting that they are all ended up badly and they have no return and can't get any better.
In conclusion, I think the director is trying to show that everyone has their own dream. It can be a dream like Marion wants to be a fashion designer and has her own boutique, or it can be a simple dream like Sara wants to be on TV screen to share her joy. Everyone will think of a way to achieve their dreams, but if we use the improper way, sometime it will lead us to something that have no return. This film is really a beautiful work and worth to watch because it is not something we can often see on the screen like other mainstream Hollywood film.
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