FILM 1502 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Fernando Meirelles, Alice Braga, Knife Sharpening
12 Nov 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Brazilian crime drama with elements of a coming of age story. Shot on-location in rio de janeiro with mostly real people from the favela, giving the film a degree of realism. Chicken and knife sequence as emblematic of the struggle of survival in the favela (and perhaps even more so, the impossibility of escaping it) Parallelism of the rhythmic editing of the knife sharpening and the literal cuts occuring on screen. Use of the freeze frame, narration, and the slow motion rotating camera as establishment of the diegesis and also rocket"s neutrality and fear (communicates narrative depth) Vignetting of narrative through use of on-screen text to introduce sequences; adds retrospective qualities to the narrative and acts as a premonition of the plot (ie. benny"s farewell is the scene in which benny is killed) Rugged, documentary-esque cinematography (ie. handheld shots, overhead security camera-like shots) as adding to the film"s realism.
