Thursday, December 6, 2012

-20.3-

Kontroll.
A Hungarian movie we saw in class on Tuesday.

Initially, I liked the movie...except for the fact that it had a feeling of claustrophobia. Since it all took place underground, towards the end, I kept on looking out the window to get some mental fresh air.

The acting was great - it all felt natural - and some shots were beautiful (I specifically remember one of the light hitting two enormous fans underground; the way the fans cut the light and dark of the scene appealed to my aesthetics.)

Most of all, I liked the characters. I liked the sense of camaraderie among the main team of Kontroll. Although they split up in the different trains, they always managed to get back together by the time the train got to the next stop. I also liked seeing different tropes among the group. For example the Professor and Tibi (I think? The young guy...) fit into the old cop young cop trope. (Mugi also fits nicely into PluckyComicRelief)

The end scene of the movie seemed pretty symbolic of death. Bulcsu goes with the train conductor's daughter, who's waiting for him in an angel's costume, up the escalator and into the light. Why Bulcsu had to suffer as a Kontroll poses the subject of atonement. If he did push the passengers off the platform, he may have had to suffer before he went to "heaven". Another way of looking at this is that Bulcsu is part of the "untouchable" class in the hierarchy of the subway, and must suffer in order to have a better next life (When he leaves the subway station, it's implied that he can go back to a successful life/job, with a girlfriend.)

---
Another point I'd like to bring up is that there is, basically, an all-male cast. I didn't notice this fact before Luke pointed it out, which brings up some issues to think about.

I don't think I noticed the lack of girls, because I've grown up in an all-male world. My Mom and Dad told me stories about male heros...the Greeks, Norse mythology, Peter Pan, Robin Hood...I grew up liking adventure and doing things by myself. When playing with my friends in elementary school, we used to pretend to be superheroes and we'd have our own myth-like adventures. In middle school, I was introduced to anime, and most of the ones I read had a very strong male myth structure to it. I think I'm so used to the male myth that female leads have become...on the back burner for me. I'd really like to see a strong female lead, but the shows/stories that do this are few and far between (off the top of my head I can't remember specific titles...maybe the show Madoka Magica?). I feel like boys get to have the adventures while girls stay at home. But I want to do things, too.

But does one have to be a man/act manly to have an adventure? How can girls stay as girls but still provide a strong point? I think this may be a better way of looking at things: link.

Gender roles is an extremely interesting subject, but it's so hard to overcome the partitioning ingrained for thousands of years in society. You've got to be carefully untaught, eh?
---
Misc. point: When the soundtrack to the chase sequence first came on (the one used in "The Laramie Project" commercial) I started grinning, because I recognized it, but didn't know it was from this movie.
---
Unrelated note: When we were talking about STAC live and all of the instruments required for the songs, I thought about my goal for trying to play a different instrument(s) bass, trumpet etc. I will delve further into this subject another time.

Another unrelated note: I like the main theme in the Thor soundtrack.

=====Edit=====
Perhaps Bulcsu fits into the MustMakeAmends trope, since he could leave at any time, but it was the trap of his mind that kept him underground until the very end.

No comments:

Post a Comment