#this angle will be the death of me. aerial view of his beautiful face ??

[hersweetrevenge]

🔪 blood, blood, gallons of the stuff 🫀 [X]

[wittypenguin]

War and Peace (Война и мир or ‘Voyna i mir’) [1965–67] (Post 1 of 5)

I am officially insane.

After resisting for some time, I finally caved and bought this because its price dropped by $4 on Amazon. While it really is one film in four parts, the running time of the entire thing is just under 6 hours, exclusive of intermissions. I’m watching it all in one single day.

It’s entirely in Russian and French, with English subtitles for the Russian parts only. The Russian Court of the Czars spoke French, as it was still the Lingua Franca of Aristocracy. The novel by Leon Tolstoy even reflects this reality, with the original Russian language printings apparently having the dialogue in French for those conversations, so the film adaptation honours that source material. After all, a bound copy of War & Peace is so huge that if it is correctly thrown, it can kill a man at 20 paces, so the film is (the films are) almost 7 hours in total length; so why should a simple matter of a foreign language get in the way of things?

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AM I DOING…‽ 

Sorry… that sort of talk isn’t going to get us both through this experience, is it? 

Let’s try this getting this underway one more time, shall we?

What I’m going to do is talk about each of the four parts on their own, then do a quick ‘overview’ thing at the end about… [:: very weary sigh ::] the work as a whole. 

I might edit a bit, I may not, I may give up the will to live altogether and leap off my balcony to the sweet relief from the Russian Epic Film provided by the concrete below. 

Read on to find out what happens… won’t you?

Part I: Andrei Bolkonsky

3:06pm — it begins.

I’m drinking fizzy water with a shot of lemonade and eating nachos with salsa. FIGHT ME, PURISTS!

We start with growing thing, then trees, with music that sounds like 1950s SF film. Odd.

Now we’re flying over fields, which cross-cut to other fields using a dissolve effect that looks like a bunch of birds blocking the camera as they pass through the frame. Also odd. 

Sound of horses and battle, other sounds, then VO of unity of good men bringing strength. Okaaaay… 

Leo Tolstoy gets above the title

Bolkonsky below. 

There’s a Pyrotechnitian credit. 

More aerial shots of clouds and fields with titles

There are no subtitles for the French but I’m sort of getting this. 

Napoleon is described as the Antichrist, so John Roderick’s mom would love this part. 

Much of the important French dialogue is repeated in VO as Russian, so we get subtitles!! 🎉

Pierre: “What are you going to war for?” #######: “I don’t know. War is necessary.”

During a party, there is much disorienting handheld camera work, reflecting the drunken debauchery. 

Oh, and there’s a live bear there. He’s being given bottles to drink. Obviously.

War has been declared with France. Austria has been defeated, now Russia is taking him on. The old Hussars say that this is a good thing and no one should debate it. 

The young woman ######### is so full of joy and energy, she’s wondrous to behold. 

Pierre is illegitimate, but if the Tzar recognizes him as his father’s son (as has been asked), then he will inherit the title of Count Bezukhov. Pierre seems to be indicative of the upper-class populace at the time: torn between support of the war and entering the military, or entering the Diplomatic Corp.

We see the Father lying on his death bed, the Church Officials attending to him in some of the most ornate costumes ever presented. They put the Papal vestments to shame. 

Meanwhile we cut to people dancing and making merry, either in the same vast mansion, or somewhere else; it isn’t clear. Pierre is amongst the merry-makers. His father calls for him. Not taking his father’s hand, he watches him breathing his last. 

I am stunned at how opulent the rooms and clothing are. Periwigged servants with tailcoats and high-ceilinged rooms in blue with white woodwork seem more appropriate to the Sun King of France than early-19th Century Russia, but this certainly explains the animosity for the Usurper Emperor Bonaparte. 

There is some incredible cinematography here. Given the quality of the sets and costumes, as well as some incredible faces and performances of the actors, it’s greatly helped, but still the lighting and composition is wonderful. 

The massive crowd scenes really have to be seen to be appreciated for their epic dimension. 

Additionally, the war sequences are a tapestry of different frame rates, odd angles, and rapid changes of POV which brilliantly capture the anarchy and incomprehensible events as they pile upon one another. There are double exposures where one shot panning across a battlefield from left to right is superimposed on a pan moving in the other direction. Images go in and out of focus, sometimes clear in the centre of the frame, sometimes overall obscured as to subject. We see the battlefield both from the ground as well as hundreds of feet above, as though from a cloud or bird’s eye view, the smoke coming up to us, the patterns of troop movement moving in ever-concentric circles, as one side traps the other.

The explosions are hellacious, as flame billows into a mushroom cloud above its point of origin. The fires of any purpose — camp fires, burning bushes, cannon fire, so on — are one of the few times I’ve seen fires look real: they’re orange and light the surroundings without shadows disappearing into impenetrable blacks. It’s beautiful, though sadly showing Hell on Earth. 

At 1:36, there’s a moment where ####### imagines himself being belovèd of troops and civilians alike, but the fantasy is revealed by what seems to be a wipe from left to right, but stops in the middle, leaving him looking at the left half of the screen where his dream is taking place. I don’t think I’ve seen a split screen done that way before, or since; barring things like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or other digitally edited films. 

It’s 5:05pm. That was only PART ONE OF THE 1st FILM? Dear God, what have I done to myself?

It’s winter! Horsies pulling a sleigh! A sleigh bearing Nikolenka home to his family, a hand-held camera following him in and around the room as he is embraced in a dance of welcome and love. Then we’re upstairs where his father(?) is still labouring away on his millwork hobby. He almost seems disappointed his son has escaped death and capture. Yet he weeps with joy, as does his daughter. 

Or maybe his son did die, those were tears of loss, and the celebration we saw was a fantasy or someone else welcoming him, or maybe someone else’s son…? I’m confused and cannot bear the thought of rewinding to find out which is the case. 

There’s a duel with pistols which is possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Its outcome is surprising, but not impossible. It’s shot really well, too, with the viewer left caring deeply about both men, and wishing the results were far from what we see. 

Pierre — now Count — Bezukhov seems to be plagued with some sort of mental health issue; possible schizophrenia or merely an internal critical voice, but plagued he is no doubt. He staggers around repeating things in his head about how he is stupid, how others laugh at him about his wife having an affair (we have no idea if she is), and so on. 

Ah! It seems the rumour is that his wife is having an affair, but she merely enjoys the other man’s conversation and no more. Upon hearing her husband has fought a duel over the matter, she criticizes him as a fool, chastising him for being inattentive to her and to the world in general. Her taunts echo in his head as he disengages from reality, begging her to give him peace. She has been faithful to him, he suggests they part, which she yells in reply she would welcome only if he gave her a fortune. He screams at her to leave him in peace, raising a huge marble tabletop above his head, threatening to kill her with it. He is entering the part of madness where rage resides. 

Okay, so here’s the guy they thought was dead in the war, just in time to see his wife give birth. He’s arrived with the doctor, so maybe he was at someone else’s place before, or that was someone else…? I’m not sure. All of the uniforms make people look the same, and I don’t recognize the settings, so knowing one mansion from another is difficult. Look: half the time I’m looking at the set and thinking about how much I love the lamp or a writing desk, okay?

Mother of God, it’s 6:00pm and I’ve only got to THE END of THE 1st FILM‽

[:: orders pizza ::]

★★★★★

[bitchcakegreen]

A View from Behind the Camera - GoT episode 6 x 9 - Battle of the Bastards part 3

Time for the third installment of the Battle of the Bastards behind the camera posts. Just reminder, as always, my asks are open so if there are scenes you would like me to look at simply shoot me a message.  I don’t bite. I promise. Once more into the breach, dear friends!

We’re going to start from right after Rickon’s death. In my previous post we talked about the lighting fade on the close up of Rickon’s dying breath. Immediately following that we have a quick cut to Tormound as he turns to look at Davos, then a cut to Davos who looks to Tormound - they are apprehensive because they both want Jon to use his head and not his emotions. Then back to Jon. We hold with Jon about 2 seconds then cut to Ramsey, hold on Ramsey for a similar amount of time. The two bastards are staring each other down across the battlefield. This is Kit’s building up of the rage that is flowing in Jon. These are the series of moments where Jon just lets his emotions rule - which of course causes all sorts of problems in just a short bit. We slowly pan in the second close up of Jon, the music building behind as well - a strong drumbeat is utilized. Then we cut to a close up of Tormound and his line ‘Don’t’ What the sound engineer has done with Tormound’s line is interesting, and hard to miss if you’re not fully paying attention. Even though we are focused on Tormound his line is ‘echo-chambered’ It is a common trope called Power Echo - think of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings when he uses his wizard voice. Tormound’s echo is for the viewer to be immersed in the tunnel vision that Jon is experiencing at this moment. 

Now we cut back to Jon again, still on the same steady pan close up until we reach an almost extreme close up before we cut to a smirking Ramsay in close up and a steady hold. We hold on Ramsey as he turns, hands his bow to the bannerman next to him and then we quick cut to Davos who turns his horse and shouts his line “Banner charge!” to the line of men. Also he is in Power Echo. We cut to a wide shot of the Winterfell combatants from a side angle. Tormound in front focused on Jon. Back to Davos as he rides through the men, shouting orders. 

This leads to a cut to Ramsey, back to the camera, as he passes a bannerman. He nods slightly and we as the viewer know something is about to go down. We then cut to the Bolton line and we see archers gearing up to shoot. We then get a series of shots of the Bolton archers. We have a frontal shot

Followed by a back shot

Followed by a wide aerial shot 

These are all followed by one of the my favorite components of the battle sequence. 

The hail of arrows. 

We have the juxtaposition of the multitudes of arrows (CGI’d) over a grey sky and in the left hand of the shot a blazing flayed man. This shot really hammers home just how out numbered the Stark side is. Also we have to remember that Jon is still on his horse in the middle of the battlefield. We haven’t cut back to him yet until now. Then we to a quick cut and see him spur his horse into action. Then a wide shot of the battle field and Jon racing down it, the hail of arrows showering down on him. We cut to poor dead Rickon and hold there for a few seconds as more arrows hit him but also we see Jon in the background charging ahead. 

We cut back to Davos, this time from a different angle. We are now focused on his left side profile. He shouts at the men to ‘follow your commander’ and we cut to Tormound who looks over his shoulder and watches as the Stark men charge the battlefield. Next we have an extreme close up of the horses legs as they charge the field. This shot really puts us in the action. We continue with this shot for about 5 seconds then we cut to Tormound, the camera angle from below and slightly tilted up, as he unsheathes his sword. Next we cut to Wun Wun. Both of these close ups are blurred by the periodic running of bannermen across the shot. Again, this places the viewer in the midst of the scene. Sapo truly wants to GA to not be an outside observer but to actually feel as if they are stuck in the middle of this mess. It comes into play several times over the course of the rest of the battle. 

The next series of shots are all charging horses, shouting men, and slo-mo shots. There is a fantastic shot done in slo-mo from a side angle of the horses as they charge. No faces of the men, simply the horses. It is a beautiful shot.

This is then cut to an aerial shot of Jon racing down the field. Jon is centered in the frame and we are positioned so that he is riding away from the camera.Jon is riding straight for the center of Ramsey’s line.(If we call back to the tent scene we remember that this is one of the very things Jon warned others to NOT do) Next we cut to a medium shot of Jon from the side as he rides. These leads to a cut to Ramsey as he mounts his horse. From there we cut to another shot of the Bolton archers getting ready to shot another volley of arrows. We shift to an extreme close up of the arrows. 

We cut to a shot of the arrows in the sky once again then a cut to Ramsey as he watches Jon still thundering forward. We then cut to Jon on horseback, in a tight shot, arrows flying all around him. Next we have a close up of the chest of the horse as an arrow strikes him. The horse’s legs buckle and Jon is thrown. The stuntman turns as he falls so he lands on his back and rolls. It is a great stunt and a seamless mix of practical effects. 

We then cut to Ramsey as he watches Jon fall on the battlefield. Iwan gives us one of his great smirks as we do a panning close up on his face. He looks over his shoulder and says ‘Now’ he turns his attention back to the battlefield and the fallen Jon, all on a close up still. We can see the shadowy movements behind him so we know that something new is coming. 

Now we come back to Jon. At first we have a medium shot of him kneeling on the battlefield surrounded  by arrows. 

The camera stays stationary and follows him as he rises until he is fully standing and are camera is angled up to see him. The music has faded away save for a single high pitched violin in the background. Next the music starts to build beneath Jon’s heavy breathing as the camera moves up and then pans around to the back of Jon. 

Now we come to probably the most iconic section of the battle. We have an over the shoulder shot of the army headed down the hill toward Jon. We do a quick cut back to a front medium shot of Jon. Kit has his head bowed and his breathing is labored. We can read on his face just want ‘Jon’ is thinking. He believes this is the end, this is how he dies, but he resigns himself to that fact and he will fight on. It is my belief that Kit chooses to have Jon also thinking of Sansa in this moment. He knows if he falls, and he assumes he will, that she will follow through with her threat from the earlier scene. In a sense we can read how Jon knows/thinks he has failed Rickon and Sansa. 

What is so wonderful about this shot is that it is a true practical effect. Kit is standing in the field and 40 horses and riders are actually charging at him. There is no CGI used at this point. It is also worth noting that music is swelling as Jon faces off with the Bolton riders and the name of the song playing...Let’s Play a Game. One of the things Sansa warned Jon about - Ramsey’s ability to ‘play’ with people. 

And this is where will we stop for the now. We are about halfway through Battle at this point and what is coming up is some great stuff. The body pile - which I have seen being thought of as a mimic to Dany’s body surfing on her slaves (I’m going to go into depth about how it really isn’t in that post), Sansa bring the Knights of the Vale, and of course Ramsey’s beat down. This is the penultimate episode of the season so of course there is a ton in here to look at. I hope you all hang in there with me...forehead kiss awaits if you do. 

See you next time!