Film Analysis - Week 3
Shutter Island (2010) - Directed by Martin Scorsese
WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Shutter Island is another Scorsese classic, a film which keeps people on edge the entire time. The excellent thing about this film is that it doesn’t give too much information, if anything it holds back some things, this creates a sense of intrigue and mystery for the audience, it makes us long for more until we get the answers. This film is a psychological thriller in which a US Marshal is sent a mental institution on an island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient. The films 2 and a quarter hour run time leaves a lot of time for a complex narrative, which slowly unfolds creating a very memorable experience. Themes of confusion, mystery, deception and insanity are spread throughout this entire film.
We follow the protagonist, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he pleas for sanity. The arcs which the narrative presents leads us, the audience, to a state of confusion, not knowing who to believe or to follow. The protagonist becomes a relatable character with who we begin to empathise with and want to understand. At the beginning, the story seems quite basic, a Marshal is investigating a disappearance, however the subtle strange coincidences and discrepancies among the institutes staff leads our minds to wander as to what the answer is. This film is in majority a thriller, in which suspense is build through the use of sound. This micro-feature stood out to me the most as it was always present during scenes in which I was glued to the back of my seat, biting my nails. The tension of each reveal caused me as an audience member to reel, evaluate every possibility that could occur. A particular string of notes, famously similar to that of 1975’s Jaws, was used periodically to create a repetitive emphasis within the audience. The repetition symbolises the constant struggle and mystery, telling us that we will never figure it out, in a monotonous way.
The narrative holds a similarity to that of 1999’s Fight Club, another psychological thriller in which the protagonist turns out to be mentally insane. This trend of narrative style in film’s appears to have been around for at least a decade considering Shutter Island was released 11 years after Fight Club. The similarity also lies as the reveal comes at the end of both films, making you rethink everything that you just watched. This type of realisation trend that is used in many films and among these 2 can perhaps be attributed to directors wanting to have audiences rematch their films, re-watching Shutter Island with this new prior knowledge will enable me to create a deeper understanding of the narrative and the themes at hand.
This film really resonated with me as I adore the psychological thriller genre. The tension keeps you intrigued and excited for the next action. Martin Scorsese, the director has recently become my most well desired director, his films all seem to have similar trends and structures about, each of which I appear to really enjoy.
Shutter Island (2010) - Directed by Martin Scorsese
WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS.
We follow the protagonist, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he pleas for sanity. The arcs which the narrative presents leads us, the audience, to a state of confusion, not knowing who to believe or to follow. The protagonist becomes a relatable character with who we begin to empathise with and want to understand. At the beginning, the story seems quite basic, a Marshal is investigating a disappearance, however the subtle strange coincidences and discrepancies among the institutes staff leads our minds to wander as to what the answer is. This film is in majority a thriller, in which suspense is build through the use of sound. This micro-feature stood out to me the most as it was always present during scenes in which I was glued to the back of my seat, biting my nails. The tension of each reveal caused me as an audience member to reel, evaluate every possibility that could occur. A particular string of notes, famously similar to that of 1975’s Jaws, was used periodically to create a repetitive emphasis within the audience. The repetition symbolises the constant struggle and mystery, telling us that we will never figure it out, in a monotonous way.
The narrative holds a similarity to that of 1999’s Fight Club, another psychological thriller in which the protagonist turns out to be mentally insane. This trend of narrative style in film’s appears to have been around for at least a decade considering Shutter Island was released 11 years after Fight Club. The similarity also lies as the reveal comes at the end of both films, making you rethink everything that you just watched. This type of realisation trend that is used in many films and among these 2 can perhaps be attributed to directors wanting to have audiences rematch their films, re-watching Shutter Island with this new prior knowledge will enable me to create a deeper understanding of the narrative and the themes at hand.
This film really resonated with me as I adore the psychological thriller genre. The tension keeps you intrigued and excited for the next action. Martin Scorsese, the director has recently become my most well desired director, his films all seem to have similar trends and structures about, each of which I appear to really enjoy.
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