For those who don't know this movie, it is about Tyler and his harsh journey of dealing with an injury that affects his wrestling scholarship along with the tense relationship with his father Ronald underscores a mental and physical battle with ideals of masculinity, on top of that he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant. He insists that she should abort the baby but she refuses. She eventually ends the relationship due to his aggressive temperament. This pushes him over the edge, and he begins using drugs and getting drunk, until one night he crashes a party that his sister and ex-girlfriend are attending, he gets into a heated argument with his ex-girlfriend, he hits her, and she falls to the ground, hitting her head. Thus, leading to her death. Everything after that goes downhill for him and his entire family. He is sentenced to life in prison and his family is left to suffer with the marriage of their parents dwindling and an extremely isolated and depressed sister., Emily. However just when the movie seems to be over, Emily becomes the protagonist and meets a boy who also shares similar traumas, they fall in love and are there for each other.
Now for the techinals aspects. One thing that stood out to me the most was the use of color throughout the entire film. It was honestly such a nice touch and elevated the film to the highest regards. In the beginning when Tyler was dealing with this anger and anxiety The use of reds were so prominent throughout the movie when relating to Tyler.
This movie was honestly so heartbreaking, to see how an accidental and drunken mistake led to a life time expense along with two broken families. However it had a nice ending and it tells audiences that through the darkest of times there can always be room for growth and compassion.
There was even one scene where Tyler was under the influence and imagined Alexis (his ex girlfriend) being there across the fire. This scene highlights the fire seperating both his girlfriend and himself. Fire is a symbol of destruction, foreshadowing the death of Alexis. In continuous with symbolism, the colors when in context with Emily and her boyfriend, Luke, the colors are purple and bluish tones giving viewers a calming and peaceful tone.
Another thing that caught my eye was the changes in aspect ratio of the film. Throughout most of the film, it is the regular 16:9 ratio. However, when something crazy happens like when Tyler kills Alexis, it cuts to black then shows up as about a 1:1 ratio. This vast change is one of the many symbolic things that the makers of this film correctly placed. This dramatic effect tells viewers that there is a big change in his life and it will never be the same again.
After
There are so many elements that I wish to incorporate into my own film. The use of coloring that differ with certain people would be such a great add-on to the film. I would also love to do this aspect ratio change for mine. Since I do wish to include a plot twist in my love story this subtle yet obvious change will definitely help elevate the intensity. My goal for my film is to try my best to have the best cinematography like this film has. I mean the color grading incorporated into this film is such an A24 classic.
Overall, I had a lot of fun watching and breaking this movie apart and I can't wait to research even cooler movies.
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