great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Regarding this excerpt of the film, I wanted to touch upon the directing and production aspect in the sense that the two are creatively similar. Through the film we’re able to see the characters feelings and sentiments whereas in the text, it is difficult to distinguish what the emotions of the characters are. The directing makes it easier to comprehend the situations and the relationships between the characters. For example, when Clov and Hamm are conversing it’s hard to tell what Clov’s reactions are towards Hamm’s demands. Although the two have had a lengthy history, it seems as if Clov is a personal servant to Hamm. However this can only be understood when watching the film as opposed to the text.
Farhan Zaman

The acting in the Endgame portrays the characters extremely differently then the text does. While reading the Endgame it was very difficult for me to picture emotion between the characters, whereas while watching the Endgame the acting allowed me to see emotional relationships between the characters. One idea I picked up on while reading the text was that Clov seemed like Hamm’s servant, however it was hard for me to understand Clov’s emotion toward serving Hamm. Around 33 minutes into the Endgame Hamm asks Clov how his legs and eyes are and Clov responds by saying bad, Hamm them says at least he can and walk but one day he won’t be able to. After Hamm says that to Clov, you are able to see Clov becomes sad by what Hamm says to him. When comparing this scene to the text, I was unable to pick up on any emotion from Clov whereas in the film you can see sadness.
Katarina Stojanovic
The creative direction of the film, the darkness, the lighting, the visuals are very obscure. I think the acting is horrible, and the setting seems darker and honestly, weirder than I expected from what I understood from the text. From the text the movie, the text didn’t give me the image that was portrayed in the movie. The scene around 33 minutes, it depicts how negative everything the world seems to them, no hope in sight, everything and everyone seems bitter. The only person that can see and move takes the negativity, and he has a little hope. Blackmail and threats is all I get out of this. But right after this Hamm is excited to play with the stuffed dog, so there’s some pure innocence that exist. So the moods flip flop quite drastically.
-Onu Mezbah

The text and the film where very different in my opinion. I was expecting to see something not so dark and specially not so dramatic. For example, while reading the text I was hoping that Hamm didn’t have his parents in trash cans and I thought that it was just a trick by Beckett.to capture the audience’s attention immediately but when I saw the film I realized it wasn’t a trick but a real setting. The imagery of having his parents in trash cans in the back corner, added to the make up production and how the room is set with him in the middle makes this piece extremely dull. Also, when reading the text, I imagined the relationship between Hamm and Glov to be more friendly or at least not so harsh but in minute 33 you see Hamm’s mental dominance over Glov. He uses very sharp words in an intent to scare Glov and convince him of things he didn’t want to do.
Joaquin Azcue