"TAKING RISKS: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S ‘OPPENHEIMER’ “

     Instability runs rampant nowadays, showing itself in this summer's cinematic Block Busters. Movies like "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning," "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,"   and "Haunted Mansion" are adventure/fantasy films that basically entertain the audience, allowing them to forget both the forthcoming 2024 election and the ongoing mistreatment of minorities, immigrants, and women who need abortions. 

     Included in this group of movies is Christopher Nolan's "OPPENHEIMER," an odd man-out story which is a real-life chronicle of J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. It also doesn't conform to the current motion pictures which are entertaining. Here's the point: "OPPENHEIMER" is ambiguous, contradictory, and emotionally distressing. Real life often is.
     Here's a second, related point: director/producer Christopher Nolan took a big chance by making this film in the first place and releasing it now among the block busters. Naturally, if we have seen any of the director's past movies, we can understand what "Oppenheimer" has in common with them. Essentially, it is Nolan's STYLE. Take for example,  "Momento," "The Dark Knight,"
 and "Inception" where the combination of both visuals ( montage ) and music/effects provides a relentless stream of stunning imagery and sound.
     The use of "time - tripping" is also a stylistic signature. Outstanding is "Momento," where the protagonist can not make new memories and keeps repeating old ones. The hero's past in Nolan's other works mentioned is also not chronological. Thus, going forward in time may take different short cuts; characters may start over in their journeys.
     What is especially unusual about "Oppenheimer" is Nolan's use of his particular creative style to turn a realistic story into a partial fantasy with contradictory elements ( for example,  the juxtaposition of black and white footage and the past and present ). We shouldn't forget another oppositional, possible unrealistic aspect: the character of Oppenheimer himself, a person who loves nature ( specifically the New Mexico desert ), the arts and physics.
     More than likely, such a  stylistic mixture often changes the shape and intention of "OPPENHEIMER." The film becomes, therefore, both realistic and unrealistic. Perhaps it actually does fit into the summer films after all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE BEST OF 2018; WHERE SETTING IS THE REAL STAR

Now that it's the end of the year, media critics are submitting their favorite films and TV shows of 2018. Which then soon starts  an avalanche of international  awards, like The Golden Globes and Academy Awards. It's interesting to see if our own personal " bests" win any of those awards. They should. After all,  we select special works that people may neglect, not recognizing that they are extraordinary?  We  critics, in other words, have better aesthetic taste than the so- called  media "judges" who are considered primarily representatives of popular culture, not "art."  What's more, we critics don't, hopefully, single out winning media for political reasons ( ie. It's Joe Smith's turn to garner a  best actor award because he's getting old ).     While describing what media critics are and are not, I have often wondered what characteristics we do consider when picking the "Best." The obvious criteria  include
Read more

FAKE NEWS: THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH

     The expression FAKE NEWS has become a popular and important one in today's political arena. Yet Fake News has been around for a long time, going back to the idea of "Yellow Journalism" coined in the mid 1890s (where it meant little or no well-researched news). Annenberg School's Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a well-known rhetorical scholar, is probably one of  the only persons to make sense of it in its present context.  She labeled the term an OXYMORON ( " contradictory terms appearing in conjunction with each other")  and she was right on the button. In other words, "Fake" is not real; "News" is  authentic.       Analyzing the term further, It is the nature of TRUTH that defines fake news.      One characterization is truth's ambiguity.  What truth is to one person may not be so to another individual. It seem to this critic that truth may be equated with personal perceptions:  "the mental process through which we int
Read more

Media Matters by Dr.Marion Wolberg Weiss

Image
  Today's news broadcasts have come a long way.      Why? Because language has taken center stage, especially in this politically- charged environment dominated by President Donald Trump. Years ago, daily political broadcasts were often boring, even during election campaigns where candidates' personalities  were at the forefront. What candidates said was not particularly cogent. What candidates looked like or sounded like were. Subject matter was not salient. Charisma was. Images prevailed over ideas.      Since Trump has become president, however,  it's become apparent that IDEAS conveyed through words now have greater impact and consequence: inciting hate and violence; insulting people; becoming codes that attract like-minded individuals.      While words now communicate potent ideas more than ever, they also provide images at the same time. Some terms are powerful because they  carry BOTH ideas and images.      Let's see how this works.      Presently
Read more