Homework Movies - Frances (1982)

This willful defiance of power is directed by Graeme Clifford and the director of Photography was László Kovács. Jessica Lange portrays a young woman from the country destined for the big troubles of Hollywood and how quickly her life was turned upside down when she rose to the top only to fall fast.

The lighting set up was really well done. Most of the time, she was on a set where they could use the "stage" lights as practical lighting. One of the night set-ups that I thought was incredible was when she was driving away from a party drunk. The lighting was shadowing her left side in a weird way. There was a line on the side of her face and it stayed there for a while even though she was moving in the car. I also noticed that when her mother was in the scene the light was a yellow tone more so than when it was Frances and her gentleman friend Harry York, played by Sam Shepard.

Homework Movie - Nights of Cabiria

Having a weekend of movies was no surprise for me. This movie however took a great deal of time and effort to watch. I had begun to watch Nights of Cabiria in the early afternoon but was rapidly fading on the couch because my eyes were straining to read the subtitles. So I tried again after taking a nap. This proved much better because I was able to follow the films character through all of her terrible choices for companions. Giulietta Masina played a wonderfully tragic lady of the night who wanted to believe her callers for what they said right up to the very end.

Relationships like these don't just happen in the movies. I think I have had one or two like this where even though I knew someone wasn't telling the whole truth, I took it for face value because I so wanted to believe what she was telling me. It's these lessons that have hardened some, but like Cabiria, I too hold onto the possibility that one day I will find a love that will be as true to me as I am to her.

I think one of my favorite scenes in the movie has to be a more comical point when Cabriria was trying to get into the club with the actor. Her tough time getting through the curtains made me laugh for a bit. I've definitely done that once or twice before.