Faith, Hope and Love in The Three Colors Trilogy

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1st Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV)

Upon watching the Criterion bluray release of Three Colors: Blue, one of my favorite films and a title I’ve seen many times, I was met with a shocking discovery. The musical finale of the film happened to be from the Bible: 1^st Corinthians 13 in the ancient Greek. Besides geeking out over the fact that I recognized some of the actual words (I took ancient Greek in Undergrad), this revelation added an extra layer of dimension and texture to the concluding vignette.

It (1927)

After watching the lighthearted and sweet silent romance It, I struggled over the question of what is the responsibility of the storyteller when it comes to depicting giving the characters consequences for their actions. It isolates the two romantic leads in a cushion of sex appeal and chemistry, insulating them from moral and societal obligations as well as distancing them from consequences.

Buster Keaton: Stone-Faced Critic

Setting aside the three monumental pillars of Buster Keaton’s acting career (The General, Steamboat Bill Jr. and Sherlock Jr.), there’s an intriguing emergence of Buster Keaton as a figure of social critique. While he still fulfills this role, to an extent, in his great films, a handful of his other features give precedence to the notion that Buster Keaton functions as a societal outsider that allows the audience to laugh at him, but also one that brings into question cultural values.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

As a Hollywood blockbuster, Rise of the Planet of the Apes delivers a compelling, CGI-driven action extravaganza. However, Hollywood once again proves its propensity to leave story by the wayside, abandoning well-developed characters, an engaging plot and conflicts that matter for making a bunch of slick movie moments and presenting another cynical and misguided thematic underpinning.

Alphaville (1965)

By coupling the science fiction genre with the intellectual pontifications of writer/director Jean-Luc Godard, Alphaville emerges as a congruent and cohesive synthesis of narrative and genre with the arthouse themes of Godard. While perhaps not his moth aesthetically boisterous or intellectually provoking films, Alphaville is quite possibly his most consistent work.