Even the most cursory glance at the A-level film specification reveals a shocking lack of diversity, which has become even more embarrassing as the Black Lives Matter movement has gathered pace in the wake of the unlawful killing of George Floyd. The (informal) word from EDUQAS is that a new list of set texts is on the way which will seek to address this lack … Continue reading BHM: Suggestions for a more diverse AL curriculum (part 1)
Over the course of nearly thirty years, Quentin Tarantino has consistently garnered both critical acclaim and box office success, and his films have become increasingly ambitious. While his various directorial curios (Four Rooms, Sin City) and writer-only forays (True Romance, From Dusk Till Dawn) all contain aspects of his distinctive style, an initial appraisal of his auteur signature needs to start with the nine films … Continue reading Tarantino – Development of an Auteur
Damien Chazelle’s La La Land and Matt Ross’s Captain Fantastic might appear to originate from very different political perspectives, however both emerged from the contentious period of the 2015-16 US presidential campaign. An analysis of left and right wing thought in America is useful for spectators to interpret how apparently opposing ideas can influence filmmakers, as is a consideration of the country’s unique founding ideologies … Continue reading A-Level exam answer: How useful is an ideological critical approach in examining the impact of Captain Fantastic and La La Land on the spectator?
With Pulp Fiction (1994), Quentin Tarantino continued to define his auteur style, experimenting with unconventional approaches to narrative construction. His redefinition of the crime film through non-chronology and blurring of genres also marks the film out as a prime example of many aspects of postmodernism. One of the most recognisable features of Pulp Fiction is its episodic, non-chronological narrative. Tarantino had already explored this approach in … Continue reading A-Level exam answer: Explore ways in which the auteur signature in Pulp Fiction reflects the postmodernist movement
Please note the following is adapted from my dissertation on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry, from 2006. ———————————- Drama has always held an important and prestigious place in television schedules, and for nearly forty years this status was exemplified by the single play. This chapter will trace the development of the single play in … Continue reading The Evolution of the Television Play and the Establishment of Channel 4
Please note the following is adapted from my dissertation on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry, from 2006. 1. MEANTIME (1983) Meantime was the first film Mike Leigh made with the newly established Channel Four, a creative partnership which would result in a further five feature films for cinematic distribution over the next fourteen years, … Continue reading An Analysis of Leigh’s ‘Meantime’ and ‘Naked’
Please note the following is adapted from my dissertation on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry, from 2006. 1. UP THE JUNCTION (1965) Up The Junction was Ken Loach’s fourth Wednesday Play, following A Tap on the Shoulder (the first play to be broadcast in the Wednesday Play slot, attracting 10million viewers), Wear a Very … Continue reading An Analysis of Loach’s ‘Up the Junction’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’
Please note the following is taken from my dissertation (dated 2006) on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry. Ken Loach and Mike Leigh represent two of Britain’s most dedicated and long-standing filmmakers. Numerous other directors of their generation, coming from similar roots in television drama, have left Britain for Hollywood – Alan Parker has had … Continue reading The Careers of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach
The costume design in Matt Ross’s directorial debut is one of the most visually interesting elements of the film, from Ben’s red ‘clown suit’ through to Zaja’s gas mask and road kill hat. (It’s worth reading the New York Times’ interview with costume designer Courtney Hoffman here: Homespun Hippie or Backwoods Gucci?) From the outset, the Cash family’s abundant hair is a further visual indicator … Continue reading Some observations on hair in Captain Fantastic
In ‘Captain Fantastic’ (2016), director Matt Ross constructs a self-consciously egalitarian haven ‘out of Plato’s republic’. The film’s opening sequence presents us with girls who skin animals and build shrines to Pol Pot; men who nurture both plants and small children. In this forest commune, it seems, inequalities of age and gender are swept aside – or at least kept safely at bay in the … Continue reading The Absent Mother: Female Agency and Identity in ‘Captain Fantastic’
Film Studies with Miss Home 