Author Archives: Sherese Francis

Posts: 14 (archived below)
Comments: 13

True Life: I Am a Dysfunctional Mom

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Sherese Francis

Andrea Arnold’s Oscar-winning short-film, Wasp, still has the same affect on me since the first time I saw it in 2008. Seeing it again, the element of the film that captured my attention was the gritty realism of it. It has a documentary style that falls in line with the film verite tradition: the shaky camera, the blurriness, the crispness of the cinematography. After a few years, I have finally realized what the film reminded me of — MTV’s True Life series. Wasp gives a unaltered, unedited feel; as if what is happening before your eyes is really what’s happening.

The symbolism gives much meaning and depth to the film. The double entendre of the title referred to not only the insect, wasp, which is in the film, but also to the historical context of the word. especially in American history, WASP was an acronym for white, anglo-saxon, protestant, a term for those who were usually the wealthiest and socially dominant. However, we see a play on that term. The main character, Zoe, is a poor white mother living in a public housing area with four children that she can barely take care of. From her cursing to her basically neglecting her children, she is definitely not the best mother ever. However, the film does show how Zoe feels trapped and lonely. One of the earlier scenes depicts a wasp who is trapped behind a window and panically trying to escape. Zoe feels like that wasp; she wants to go out on dates, such as the one she has with Dave, and go out and have fun, but she has responsibility. However, Zoe finds out that she is not alone as she thought she was; Dave is turns out to be more of a gentleman than he appears at the beginning. From those two elements of the film, Wasp deserved the Oscar.

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Can A Confession Be Any More Painful Than This?

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Sherese Francis

One of the most unexpectedly heart-wrenching and twisted, yet captivating, depictions of a young boy’s loss of innocence is found in this year’s Oscar-nominated short film, The Confession.

Directed and written by Tanel Toom, the British psychological thriller presents the story of two 9-year-old boys, Sam and Jacob, who are worried about their first Catholic confession. However, what is seemingly a harmless, playful story about two boys wondering what to confess and playing a prank on a tractor driver takes a deadly turn for the worse.

This is not Toom’s first plunge into films with religious and spiritual themes.  In 2008, he released his short film, Second Coming, in which a a soldier does not bury his brother who is killed in war, hoping for his resurrection.

Following in the path of other tragic coming-of-age films like 1986’s Stand By Me and other “bad child leading the good child astray” films like 1993’s The Good Son, The Confession does what the other oscar-nominated short films do not: no answers, no relief, no closure. It leaves the audience with an eerie feeling, a yearning for more.

Toom develops the plot not only through the compelling actors and dialogue, but also through the use of symbolism and the cinematography. His juxtaposition of the cornfield, the scarecrow on the cross, and the tractor driver with the church symbols gives the film a thought-provoking depth.

Does the scarecrow represent Jesus and the Crucifixion, and the tractor driver, God? The scarecrow is buried (in order to hide the evidence) with no ressurection, suggesting only death and no hope. Both the scarecrow and the tractor driver provide the turning point of the film. Before the scene of the car crash, his tractor turns instead of driving straight into the scarecrow on the road, sealing the fate of the family in the car.

The cinematography also worked to capture the mood of the film and the main characters. From the start, the visuals evolved, from colorful and bright to gray-scale and dark. The film turns from light-hearted to heavy and melancholic, and the cinematography illustrates the psychological weight of the deaths on Sam.

The Confession questions how faith and religion leads people to do certain things, how a complex religion and its practices through the eyes of a young person or someone who do not understand it fully can be dangerous, and how religious pressure affects an individual. Humans and nature are often in conflict with religion and its practices.

“You have to tell the priest everything or he won’t be ale to absolve you; he won’t be able to forgive you. And God knows when you are hiding something.” warns the priest to class in the beginning of the film.

That is a lot of pressure in of itself; now imagine that amount of pressure in the mind of a 9-year-old, which culminated into the ending of the film. How does Sam find the words to say he was involved in the death of a family and his friend; instead he opts to confess the normal childhood expectation that kids do not listen to their parents and tease their siblings. If only the actual truth was that simple.

Posted in Independent Film, Oscar Shorts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The IFC Theatre Made Me Sweat…Literally

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Sherese Francis

Last year, I passed by the IFC Theatre for the first time on my way to a conference at NYU, and since I watch the IFC channel on TV, the theatre intrigued me enough to promise myself that I would go one day. Finally, I got my chance on Tuesday; little did I know it would be hell getting there. I knew I should have looked up the directions beforehand, but I was in a rush and decided to wing it based on the directions someone had fleetingly said. Bad choice! My dad has always told me “Don’t rely on other people; if you have to do something, do it yourself” and this was one of those times I should’ve listened.

After a meeting at Baruch College, I ran quickly to the 6 train, got off at 14th street, almost got on the L train because I thought it went to West 4th Street and subsequently became lost.  So, after asking a nice passenger how to get to West 4th, I hurried back to the 6 train, got off at Astor Place and was still lost. Luckily, I am not too proud to ask, and asked for directions to West 4th, resulting in a 15 minute power-walk to the theatre. But guess who I saw on my way there?! I passed by Arianna Huffington! However, even she could not stop me from my goal— to get to the theatre before 2:30! If you know me well, I hate being late. So with a few minutes left, I practically broke jaywalking laws to get there.

And I made it with with less than 30 second to spare — breathing heavy, sweating under my jacket, and stumbling in the dark to find a seat in the small theatre. After taking a seat, I took out my notebook (yes, I can write in the dark) and waited for the the short films to begin. At the end of all the films, I must say this: All the drama in the films were definitely worth all the drama it took for me to see them.

Posted in Independent Film, Oscar Shorts | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On the Web, Anyone Can Be a Star

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Sherese Francis

In this Internet age, it is relatively easy for anyone with a camera, a computer and a few dollars to make his or her own web series. But can the independent ones live up to the web series supported by big dollars?

The two web series, “Oh, Inverted World” and “Suite 7”, are a good example of how indie web series and big-budgeted web series can both have their good and bad.  “Oh, Inverted World” is a low-budget series from Long Island about a young socially-awkward woman along with her three bearded friends dealing with zombies and the crashing of the moon. “Suite 7,” starring Shannen Doherty (“Beverly Hills 90210” and “Charmed”) and Wilson Cleveland, follows a heartbroken hotel guest who finds comfort in an emotionally distant hotel manager.

Visually and story-wise, “Oh, Inverted World,” was on par with larger budget web series. Its use of black-and-white film was aesthetically distinctive and the imagery did not give away at all that this was an independent series. The story line also was different from the norm. The first episode, “Neighborhood,” keeps the audience guessing with a random opening in which a zombie-looking man dies in the first few seconds. The rest of the episode was as puzzling with a bar scene involving the main character, Mina, and her friends, “the bearded three,” but at least it is thought-provoking.

Where the series falls short, however, was in the acting. The problem with independent shows is that because of the low budget, sometimes the best actors are not chosen for the show. Instead it is who the creators are able to get. While the actress who plays Mina had a strong presence, the other actors in the show were awkward in their deliverance of lines.  Often the acting was not convincing; the comical parts were not that .

In “Suite 7,” the emotional interaction between Shannen Doherty and Wilson Cleveland was powerful. However, some people in the class did not agree. “The story was clichéd, stranger meet stranger, and the acting was kind of bland,” said Ying Chan. I agree that the story was typical (it is a mainstream web-series after all), the chemistry between the two actors was there within the intimate setting of the hotel room.

Surprisingly, the bigger-budget web series was visually lacking. The visuals are sort of dull and blurry, and the camera is a little shaky. I do not know if it was meant as a means for the viewers to focus on the two actors or as a reflection of the emotions of Shannen Doherty’s character, but it is not appealing to the eye. The strength of the web-series lies in the words spoken, not the way it looks.

But what is great about the Internet is that “Oh, Inverted World” and other independent web series are given the same chance as more mainstream web series like “Suite 7”. They have equal opportunity for me to play or for me to click away.

Posted in Independent Film | Tagged , | 1 Comment