ZooScope

Tag: Drama

  • The Craft. Dir. Andrew Fleming. Columbia Pictures. 1996.

    The Craft is a 1996 supernatural teen horror film, in which animals feature heavily as a representation of the otherness felt by four teenage girls who possess extraordinary powers. The film presents witchcraft and magic as something that is inextricable from nature and animals, in line with Neo-Pagan traditions. This scene is particularly striking, as…

  • Seven Pounds. Dir. Gabriele Muccino. Sony Pictures. 2003

    Seven Pounds is a 2003 drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino which explores the relationship between humans and non-human animals, specifically focusing on the bond between human and dog. The film highlights how through feelings of trust and dependency, combined with overcoming societal stereotypes, both humans and dogs can utilize the time they spend together…

  • The Hunter. Dir. Daniel Nettheim. 2011.

    The Hunter is a 2011 Australian drama film directed by Daniel Nettheim adopted from Julia Leigh’s novel. The chosen scene illustrates the parallels of a lone hunter named Martin and a supposedly extinct Tasmanian tiger, which creates an emotional crescendo and reveals Martin’s abrupt change in stance. The presented animal was subject to human caused…

  • The Grand Budapest Hotel. Dir Wes Anderson. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2014

    “Did he just throw my cat out the window?” The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014) uses the death of a domestic animal to drive the dark comedic elements within the film, without accentuating sinister undertones that the audience would expect to accompany the death of a beloved animal. Anderson transforms the cat into a…

  • Annie. Dir. John Huston. Columbia Pictures. 1982.

    John Huston’s musical comedy-drama Annie follows the life of an orphan and her trusty adopted dog Sandy. The film repeatedly draws parallels between orphaned children with caged animals, inciting audiences to acknowledge the ways in which the children are treated alike abandoned animals. Huston’s shot of the bustling environment surrounding the unconcerned caged chickens works…

  • A Street Cat Named Bob. Dir. Roger Spottiswoode. Sony Pictures Releasing. 2016.

    [1]A Street Cat Named Bob is a 2016 biographical drama directed by Roger Spottiswoode. The film is based on an memoir of the same name, which narrates the true story of James Bowen, a British man who struggled with homelessness and heroin addiction, who attributes his recovery to a stray cat he named Bob. According…

  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Columbia Pictures. 2019

    Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film is wistfully reminiscent of a bygone era, a self-reflexive artefact devoted to the zeitgeist of the closing chapter of Hollywood’s golden era. For two hours and forty minutes, the director lays bare his musings on cinema which read less like a narrative and more like a very thorough character study…

  • A Dog’s Journey. Dir. Gail Mancuso. Universal Pictures. 2019.

    They say that dogs are man’s best friend, but what if that best friend who with you from birth stayed longer than a lifetime? Two years after A Dog’s Purpose (2017), we follow again the paw prints of Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad), whose purpose in life is not yet over. In this sequel, Ethan…

  • American Honey. Dir. Andrea Arnold. British Film Institute. 2016.

    Prior to American Honey, Arnold’s filmography was distinctly British, primarily focused upon the harsh reality of poverty in Britain. However, American Honey deviates from this pattern, as it follows protagonist Star (Sasha Lane) on her journey with a travelling magazine sales crew across America. Star dices with danger, leaping headfirst into risky situations, whether it…

  • Jojo Rabbit. Dir. Taika Waititi. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2019.

    Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi, 2019) follows a young German boy growing up during World War Two. During a sequence depicting Jojo’s education, a rabbit is used as a symbol of morality to train a group of Hitler Youth. The children unanimously agree that they would kill for Germany – this is then put to the…