The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
Film Review
Dr. Caligari: I
must know everything. I must penetrate the heart of his secret! I must become
Caligari!
In this essay I will highlight as simply as I can the things
I did and did not like about this film. For reference I used this Wikipedia address
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari) as a base of knowledge.
To expand upon the format I will not go into the history of the film too much,
but will say that the proximity to WW1 deeply affected the content and mood of
the writing of this film.
I liked this film for a number of reasons. First, the pacing
suited the style of tension building that appears in most mainstream horror
movies today. Second, the set design is very compelling and encourages the eyes
and mind to that setting, and helps to set the scene properly. Third, the
character developments and twist in the final part of the film helped solidify
the screenwriting.
On top of this there are a few reasons why I disliked this
film. First the black and white on top of the gothic scenery coupled with the
pacing made the experience a bit monotonous. Second I felt that the as if I was
watching pantomime instead of a film because they recycled a lot of scenery
from separate parts of the film, and the camera doesn’t move to change the
composition either. Third the world felt a bit limited by reasons explored in
the second point.
In closing, while the film was good in all rights as a
source of inspiration, and as its own flick, it has aged badly. It suffers from
pacing issues that do not match with the modern attention span that requires a
lot of concentration to watch and understand since a lot of dialogue is written
on screen. However I did put effort into watching and as a final opinion I
think that the film has affected the way I view things in a standpoint of
originality.
By Anabel Saise Wednesday 21st September 2016
Hi Anabel - welcome to the world of the CAA film review :)
ReplyDeleteOk, so a few pointers for the next one...
You have touched on some of the aspects of this film that make it so important in cinema history, so that is an excellent start. One of the purposes of the reviews is to look at the context in which the film was made - so in your opening paragraph, you have decided NOT to look at the proximity of WW1 in depth, whereas this could have opened up a whole discussion around oppression etc.
You should avoid writing in the first person - the review should not be based on what you did or didn't like, but should just impartially examine the structure, design, context etc. Have another look here at how to avoid using the first person, and for some good examples of previous reviews -
http://ucarochester-cgartsandanimation.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/fao-caa-yr-1-invisible-cities-2016_17.html
You are asked to support your discussion with at least 3 quotes from reputable sources (books, film review sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, online journals etc) - please try and avoid using Wiki as a primary source! You can use it as a starting point to direct you to more reliable sources :) You need to reference these quotes using the Harvard method - see here -
http://www.uca.ac.uk/library/academic-support/harvard-referencing/
Also, you should include some images which support your discussion - these should also be referenced using Harvard.
Looking forward to seeing what you make of Metropolis :)