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Post by spiderwort on Sept 22, 2017 15:09:01 GMT
Every film has its own particular "geography," a landscape that helps advance the story and reveal character. In many cases, in fact, that landscape is often a "character" in the story itself. I'm always fascinated by where and how films are placed, the contribution those locales make to the film, and how the filmmaker utilizes them to advance the story and reveal characters.
I gravitate toward rural landscapes - not only for their graphic beauty but for their inherent living "character" and "spirit," like Terry Malick's vast prairie landscapes in Badlands and Days of Heaven.
On the other hand, I also love the visual architecture of beautifully designed sets (Citizen Kane, among thousands of others) that create worlds so elegant and mysterious that they completely overwhelm the senses with everything from delight to dread.
I can also appreciate cities - from the invented ones like Blade Runner, to the completely realistic, gritty ones like On the Waterfront, or the carefully modulated and manipulated ones like Hitchcock's San Francisco in Vertigo.
The way a filmmaker uses the architecture of space to create worlds from which we can learn about ourselves and the geographical realms of their stories is to me one of the great gifts of the art of filmmaking.
Your thoughts, comments? Are there certain cinematic “geographies” that you like and if so, why?
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Post by mattgarth on Sept 22, 2017 15:14:32 GMT
Adding John Ford's incredible Monument Valley vistas that dwarf its human inhabitants or travelers.
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Post by Terrapin Station on Sept 22, 2017 15:16:19 GMT
I like when low-budget indie flicks get this "right." For example, I recently watched Bad Meat (2004) ( www.imdb.com/title/tt0346562/) It's not a perfect film by any means, but one of the things it does extremely well is the film's geography, where it's set in a tall tale-like, uber-dingy version of a small, rundown, industrial midwestern town. It had very smart location choices, combined with some well-used stock footage for broader establishing shots, and the narrative geographic progression throughout the film was really well done. |
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Post by bravomailer on Sept 22, 2017 16:09:53 GMT
Apocalypse Now – the jungle
Lawrence of Arabia – the desert
No Country for Old Men – the American Southwest
Mongol - the Rise of Genghis Khan – the steppes
The Endless Summer – the surf
Master and Commander – an early-19th-century warship
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Post by koskiewicz on Sept 22, 2017 16:23:26 GMT
...I'll invoke your idea of geography to include the music scores and or soundtracks. The various films utilizing Ennio Morricone scores add to the overall immersion into the images on the celluloid. Another film director who utilizes excellent classical music is Werner Herzog. IMO, a great score or soundtrack can make the movie all that more memorable.
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 22, 2017 16:42:04 GMT
...I'll invoke your idea of geography to include the music scores and or soundtracks. An interesting idea, kos. Not sure I would have thought of it that way, but I can certainly see how music could enhance the sense of film geography. And how different that geography might be without it. The mystery of film, so often, is how the combination of different elements holds everything together and, in the end, makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. |
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Post by bravomailer on Sept 22, 2017 17:00:21 GMT
The Deer Hunter – working-class America
The Last Picture Show – small-town in Texas
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 22, 2017 17:05:31 GMT
The Deer Hunter – working-class America The Last Picture Show – small-town in Texas I don't remember THE DEER HUNTER that well, bravo. But as far as I'm concerned the town in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is as much a character in the film as any character walking on two legs. |
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Post by bravomailer on Sept 22, 2017 17:15:47 GMT
The Deer Hunter was set and filmed in old steel mill towns. The people and their culture are Russian, though some on the old board said they were Ukrainian. Great looks at main street, the church, wedding rites, the mill, a bar, and humble dwellings. Oh, and the deer-hunting rituals.
That reminds me of How Green Was My Valley, which fits well here.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 22, 2017 17:36:26 GMT
CHINATOWN - Without CGI and with only well-placed camera setups and meticulous attention to detail, DP John Alonzo, production designer Richard Sylbert and director Roman Polanski convincingly recreated Los Angeles of the late '30s. One of the most effective depictions of a well-documented era in any film.
SUMMERTIME - No film has ever given me as much of a sense of being in a place - in this case, Venice - without ever having actually been there. Picking up on koskiewicz' remarks about music, this film's sound design contributes mightily to the feeling of envelopment: the clicking of heels on pavements; their echos from centuries-old walls; the lapping of canals; faintly-heard distant voices; the cacophony of the Piazza San Marco.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER - DP Stanley Cortez and director Charles Laughton's boldly expressionistic vision of early-20th-century rural America - sometimes dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish, always arresting - is quite unlike any other film of its era. One can only wonder at what other Laughton-directed films might have delivered.
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Post by kijii on Sept 22, 2017 17:56:15 GMT
This might be a good thread for posting those images everyone is so fond of. For example: Rio [Black Orpheus]  Does anyone remember the name of the 3-D movie with the cable cars between the two peaks of Sugarloaf ? |
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Post by teleadm on Sept 22, 2017 18:09:58 GMT
Let's see...
Lawrence of Arabia 1961, the desert and the desert shots is a vital part of the story.
Whisky Galore aka Tight Little Island 1948, a Scottish island that thirsts for strong drinks.
Driver dagg faller regn aka Sunshine Follows Rain 1946, the mysticism of the Swedish northern woods plays a huge part in this story about love over borders, the idle rich girl falling in love with a mysterious vagabond.
Die weisse Massai aka The White Massai 2005, the landscapes of heat in Kenya, and an illfated love at first glance marriage between a Swiss woman and a proud Massai.
For Whom the Bell Tolls 1943, done mostly outdoors, though not in Spain, but beautifully shot in the Californian mountains, like Sierra Nevada Mountains and Blue Canyon.
I Know Where I'm Going! 1945, All those wind pined islands in the Hebreedes in Scotland. Powell and Pressburger and Wendy Hiller.
La gloire de mon père aka My Father's Glory 1990, a family spending a summer in Provenceregion , France, and it's sequel Le château de ma mère aka My Mother's Castle 1990. (one of those movies I started to watch half-interested and half-watching, the TV was on, but was sucked into, that I couldn't wait for the sequel next week).
Jean de Florette 1986 and Manon of the Springs 1986, the outdoor scenes is breathtaking while the story is tragic. I think it was done in Languedoc-Roussillon regions of France.
I hope I understood the thread this time....
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Post by kijii on Sept 22, 2017 18:21:32 GMT
John Curran's version of The Painted Veil:  |
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 22, 2017 18:24:23 GMT
I hope I understood the thread this time.... You did, teleadm. And I love your choices, at least the ones I've seen. Haven't thought of My Father's Glory or My Mother's Castle in ages. And Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring - oh, so beautiful and right up my alley. Same with I Know Where I'm Going. That reminds me of another Powell film in the same location: The Edge of the World (1937). He made that one on his own, before Pressburger. |
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Post by teleadm on Sept 22, 2017 18:41:21 GMT
Hero 2002 with Jet Li, that lake they made a sword ballet is so beautiful, that lake is filled with fog every day, exept for two hours a day when they shot this: 
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 22, 2017 21:41:01 GMT
CHINATOWN - Without CGI and with only well-placed camera setups and meticulous attention to detail, DP John Alonzo, production designer Richard Sylbert and director Roman Polanski convincingly recreated Los Angeles of the late '30s. One of the most effective depictions of a well-documented era in any film. SUMMERTIME - No film has ever given me as much of a sense of being in a place - in this case, Venice - without ever having actually been there. Picking up on koskiewicz' remarks about music, this film's sound design contributes mightily to the feeling of envelopment: the clicking of heels on pavements; their echos from centuries-old walls; the lapping of canals; faintly-heard distant voices; the cacophony of the Piazza San Marco. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER - DP Stanley Cortez and director Charles Laughton's boldly expressionistic vision of early-20th-century rural America - sometimes dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish, always arresting - is quite unlike any other film of its era. One can only wonder at what other Laughton-directed films might have delivered. Beautiful comments, Doghouse, and I agree. You've reminded me of another David Lean film that works its similar magic on me: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. The first time I saw it I was transported right into various Russian landscapes and cities (even though the film was shot in Spain and Finland. Ah, the glory of cinema.) I also appreciate your elaboration on koskiewicz ' comments about music and yours about sound design in general. Those elements do lend so much to the creation of place, don't they? Again, the glory of cinema. |
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Post by teleadm on Sept 22, 2017 22:05:27 GMT
Hero 2002 with Jet Li, that lake they made a sword ballet is so beautiful, that lake is filled with fog every day, exept for two hours a day when they shot this: Oh, teleadm, I haven't see this film, but this image is so incredibly beautiful! The "geography" of this place doubtless contributes greatly to the narrative. A sword ballet - I can only imagine. I after 4 views haven't not really enhanced it yet, it's like Rachomon or even Les Girls, it's many versions of the same story. The giphy I sent is when we are asked that the heroine has died, but don't be sure, it's a sad scene the whole movie is done in beautiful georgraphic landscapes, it's one of the stories how things went, the swords hardly touching the water is amazing scenes. I don't won't to tell more if you ever have the time to see this movie. |
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 22, 2017 22:19:42 GMT
Beautiful comments, Doghouse, and I agree. You've reminded me of another David Lean film that works its similar magic on me: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. The first time I saw it I was transported right into various Russian landscapes and cities (even though the film was shot in Spain and Finland. Ah, the glory of cinema.) I also appreciate your elaboration on koskiewicz ' comments about music and yours about sound design in general. Those elements do lend so much to the creation of place, don't they? Again, the glory of cinema. I'd say that Lean, from the '50s on, achieved a reliable sense of "geographic immersion" in each of his films: the sweltering humidity of BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI; the parching aridity of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA; the windswept dampness of the Irish coast in RYAN'S DAUGHTER, along with your observations about DR. ZHIVAGO. And in each, his thoughtful pacing allows viewers to take in and absorb those surroundings. I didn't see ZHIVAGO until its 1970 re-release, and I happened to be seated at a matinee next to a 70-ish Russian woman who struck up conversation before the show began, telling me of her admiration for Pasternak's novel, and of living through those times. When the intermission came (which you'll recall was in the midst of the forced-exile train sequence) and the house lights went up, she had tears in her eyes. "That's just how it was," she told me. After the film was over, she expressed equal admiration for it, but her parting words to me, accompanied by a wagging finger, were, "But rrrrread the boooook!" |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 23, 2017 4:17:38 GMT
I submit for consideration the rural landscape of the original Star Wars film and the urban landscape of Blade Runner.   |
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Post by manfromplanetx on Sept 23, 2017 5:10:23 GMT
Wonderful introduction ! spiderwort... Anthony Mann's pointed use of landscape in his great
psychological dramas and epics created such a dramatic tone, the mental state of his characters are often mirrored by the unforgiving landscapes & torturous wilderness.
Mann was a big advocate of filming on location, in the natural environment, he discovered early on that unpredictable occurrences due to weather, landscape or some other uncontrollable factor could actually produce an inspired cinema moment.
Cinema classics from around the world are a treasure trove of discovery, I have a wondrous fascination for distant/remote cultural & geographical locations, the great cities and urban landscapes and our planets wild and natural environments.
My favourite remote geographical film location is .Kak ya provel etim letom, How I Ended This Summer (2010) Directed by Alexei Popogrebski
The fascinating remote setting for this excellent film is in the Northern Siberian Icescape Wilderness surrounding
the, Valkarkay Polar Station on the Chukchi Sea.
A meteorology student is spending the summer as an intern at the isolated Soviet-era weather station, the only other inhabitant is an older and experienced geophysicist, hardened by the the loneliness and isolation.
The amazing beauty and expanse of this remote wilderness is a unique cinematic experience,
The harsh and isolated geographical setting adds a raw, unpredictable natural element, heightening an already tense atmosphere creating a riveting psychological thriller.
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