First let me go off to say Happy Early Birthday to a certain Ebrahim!! His special day is this Saturday, and I hope he has a great one! What a standup guy.
Now on to Christ in Concrete… I have to admit I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would. The camera work was wonderful. The close-ups, shadows, the lighting, the non-diegetic sounds, and high contrasts were aspects that really pulled the film together.
The film revolves around a flawed character, Geremio, a dreamer. He’s not particularly adept at thinking things through, and sort of reminds me of the character Mookie in the previous film we watched Do the Right Thing. Geremio’s life is at a standstill. He has been earning small money as a bricklayer for years, never really moving forward or making something of himself. He has not yet shown himself to be the great provider Annunziata hopes he would be. And then when an opportunity comes for him to make something of himself, he ends up putting the lives of his friends at risk. Alienated from his friends, Geremio begins to feel burdened and tied down by the very thing he brought on himself: a family. And so he turns to a beautiful Kathleen (!) to take away his pain and worries. The drama within the movie is highlighted through classic aspects of film noir.
Since the film is in black and white, costume and set design were very important factor in bringing the picture together. Different colors and patterns were chosen to provide stark contrasts and create visually appealing scenes. The lighting within the scenes adds to the aesthetics as well. Unlike many other types of film, most scenes in film noir are never fully illuminated. Lamps and lights were positioned so that ceilings and corners are not shown. In many frames there are single lights set upon a group of characters in a foreground, while the rest of the frame blends with the shadows in the background. An example of such technique use is shown in the middle of the film, when Kathleen (!) and Geremio are in a bar speaking for the first time since his marriage. The shadows and lighting definitely create an appealing image.
A couple other techniques that I thought were striking and reoccurring were the use of close-ups and non-diegetic sounds. These two techniques were used simultaneously to create dramatic effect. An example of this would be when Geremio has come home with his pay, bringing him and his family only five dollars away from their dream, a house. “Only a few weeks more,” Geremio says just before the camera pans in on a calendar marked October 23, 1929. The camera then zooms in on the calendar date as the sound of drums and trumps blare in the background. The use of camera work and non-diegetic sounds emphasize importance of particular scenes and actions.
Christ in Concrete is a film is full of shadows, high contrast, hiding faces, tough close-ups, and depth of field. These techniques have shown to be aesthetically appealing and add to the mise-en-scene of the entire movie.
