Category: Year: 2011
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The King’s Speech. Dir. Tom Hooper. The Weinstein Company. 2011.
The King’s Speech follows the lives of King George VI and his family in the lead up to his brother’s abdication, and through the transitional phase of becoming King. The immense pressure which the family are under is demonstrated as Elizabeth and her daughters organise toys to be moved to Buckingham Palace. The establishing scene is…
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Seven Psychopaths. Dir. Martin McDonaugh. CBS Films. 2011.
Callum HowkinsMonday 16 January 2017 At the core of its various subplots, Seven Psychopaths revolves around a situation in which a trio of criminals steal dogs in order to claim the reward money offered by the owners. It becomes apparent that the animal is a vital part of this film, serving as a framing device for the…
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Hanna. Dir. Joe Wright. Focus Features. 2011.
Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011) combines quick-fire action scenes with intricately beautiful cinematography to create a dark, modern fairytale full of suspense and wicked delight. Raised in the snow-covered forests of Finland, Hanna has traverses the wilderness, speaks a myriad of different languages, hones her encyclopaedic knowledge, and has a number of aliases hidden up her…
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Water for Elephants. Dir. Francis Lawrence. 20th Century Fox. 2011.
Water for Elephants (Dir. Francis Lawrence, 2011), based on the novel of the same name, is a story about a young man Jacob (Robert Pattinson) who joins a travelling circus and is unsurprisingly about confinement and freedom. It’s brimming with animals from horses to lions to the star of the show, Rosie the elephant, all of…
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Samsara. Dir. Ron Fricke. Oscilloscope Laboratories. 2011.
Samsara (2011) is a non-narrative documentary directed by Ron Fricke.[1] “Samsara” is a Sanskrit word for the cycle of birth, life and death. Through this theme, the film aims to ‘illuminate the links between humanity and the rest of nature, showing how our life cycle mirrors the rhythm of the planet’.[2] One particular sequence depicts the different…
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The Artist. Dir. Michel Hazanavicius. Warner Brothers. 2011.
Jean Dujardin as George Valentin, Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller and Uggie the dog in The Artist The Artist (2011) is a remarkable modern day silent film that explores the transformation of silent movies into talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood. This change in cinema style affects the lives of both the famous silent movie actor George Valentin…
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The Whale. Dir. Suzanne Chisholm, Michael Parfit. Kinosmith & Paladin. 2011.
The 2011 documentary The Whale confronts the moral and ethical struggle within intense human-animal interactions. While the film can be perceived as a cautionary tale about human interference in nature, there is no political statement being made to sway the audience. The leading affect within the film is sentimentality. Luna, the 2-year-old orca, is forced…
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We Bought a Zoo. Dir. Cameron Crowe. 20th Century Fox. 2011.
We Bought a Zoo is a film loosely based on a memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee which describes his purchase and restoration of the failing Dartmoor Wildlife Park – subsequently renamed Dartmoor Zoological Park – in preparation for its reopening. In the film, the death of Benjamin’s wife has led to a…
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Dolphin Tale. Dir. Charles Martin Smith. Alcon Entertainment. 2011.
Dolphin Tale begins with a view of the underwater world, showcasing the inquisitive nature of dolphins to their surroundings. Dolphin Tale is based on the remarkable true story of a Bottlenose Dolphin named Winter. When Winter’s tail becomes hopelessly entangled in a fisherman’s ropes causing Winter to wash ashore, a friendless and lonely boy tries to help…
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The Future. Dir. Miranda July. Roadside Attractions. 2011.
The scene begins with Paw-Paw the cat waiting to be picked up from the adoption centre, asking: “How long is 30 days?” It is not clear who this question is directed at, but since there is no one else within the scene we can only assume that these are Paw-Paw’s internal thoughts. The only part…