Blog #13

...I watch in horror as the man on the screen wanders, cold and starving, through the ruins of a destroyed city.  He finally comes upon an abondened house, where the Germans had most likely murdered or arrested the family that had lived there.  Inside it is dark and cold, yet he hobbles around looking for something to open his one, lowly jar of pickles so he can eat something.  That's when he sees the piano.  As a Jew, he has been on the run, hiding from the German Nazis; his family has all been arrested, his belongings gone; he is all alone in the world.  Before WWII he was  reknowned pianist, who performed Chopin on the radio, but he has not played the piano for months now.  He goes to the piano and sits down almost reverently.  In his face is all the emotion he has bottled inside himself for the past months; he is so weak he can hardly stand, yet he raises his hands and drops them down onto the keys for that first, passionate chord.  During this whole scene I have been crying, almost sobbing.  The portrayal of such loss and pain is so well done that it has touched me very emotionally; indescribably.  The Pianist is that type of movie that, unless you are totally desensitized to grief or suffering, will touch inside you and leave its mark on you for a long time, if not your whole life.  Slumdog Millionaire, The Black Stallion, The Sixth Sense and Romeo and Juliet are a few movies that I would categorize as dramas.  They are true soul-stirring films where the acting is so believable that it makes you feel exactly what the characters feel.

Up, Ratatouille, and Monster's Inc are a few family films; they may have a few mature themes, but are mainly constituted by harmless comedy and warm, cozy-feeling endings.  For example, while watching Up, the beginning made me feel sad when the man never was able to take his wife to Africa before she dies.  He becomes and old "hag" living alone in his old house with his memories and regrets...when a little boyscout shows up at his front door and tries to get the old man to help him earn his "elderly-assistance badge."  They end up, after a few funny scenes, floating away to South America in the old man's house by tying balloons to it because the old man wants to visit Africa before he dies.  The totally unrealistic events make the movie both cute and funny, and I found myself laughing and almost crying along with the old man and his little boyscout friend.

Then there are also romance, mystery, action/adventure, and horror films.  They are categorized by the main themes/events that occur in the movie; for example, a romance movie would involve a romantic relationship between two people and that's what the whole movie would revolve around.

Truly great movies though are ones that have lasting impacts: you watch a movie, and afterwards you are almost in a state of "shock," so to speak.  You may have cried during the movie, or just felt an unexplainable bevy of emotions.  Maybe you could relate to the characters feelings or circumstances, or you just really enjoyed the whole movie.  maybe it made you really happy and you laughed through the whole thing!  Basically if a movie greatly impacts you it's a great movie :D