The aspect of film noir I want to discuss comes from the reading about visual motifs in film noir. I found it interesting how close ups were used in this film to portray the emotions and thoughts running through the heads of our star couple, Geromio and his wife ( I wont even attempt to spell her name).

IN regards to Geromios wife, I believe the lighting used in the closeups of her face changed throughout the film. Initially, the lighting was diffused, portraying her as a beautiful, vibrant woman. A contrast was made with the traditional harsh lighting normally employed in film noir later in the film. This contrast served to emphasize how the hopeful, energetic woman who stepped off of the boat in the beginning of the film was transformed into a somewhat bitter woman who lamented growing old without having fulfilled her dream of buying a house. Geromio even told Kathleen that his wife had become less beautiful due to years of labor.

As for Geromio…initially his closeups had more lighting as well, seeming to emphasize his feelings of hope for a bright future. However, closeups later in the film were darker and often at an angle seeming to emphasize his feelings of helplessness. The darkness of the later closeups seemed to enhance the sheen of perspiration on his face. I thought this was likely intentional due to the stress he was under, lying to his friends and family, cheating on his wife, and making Luigi a cripple. I never really noticed the angle of the closeups until when he was in the pit being drowned in cement. The angle was the typical skewed downward angle meant to show the characters helplessness. Throughout the film he was helpless. He could not fulfill his wife’s dreams, give his children good food, or save himself from death. This movie was really depressing and the camerawork REALLY stressed that point.

Truthfully, I’m not too confident in writing this post, seeing that I have difficulty distinguishing between angles and noticing any striking mise-en-scene details for film noir. However, I will attempt to answer this prompt as best as I can. The aspect of film noir that I chose to focus on in Christ in Concrete is directorial style: anti-traditional mise-en-scene. The anti-traditional mise-en-scene style generally consists of effects that portray instability (Example: Dutch angles). This style also includes objects that push their way into the foreground of the frame and often overpower the characters. There are several examples that I will use to demonstrate how the film uses this style in order to get their points across.

The first example that I think is significant is a scene where Geremio is sitting in a chair while a woman [that he is having an affair with] is washing off the blood from his hand. After hitting his wife he is now positioned in the frame as being “above” the woman, revealing his lack of appreciation for women. This view is contrasted in the second example (38:12) where his wife is the main focus of the frame and is standing up while he is seated. In this scene, Geremio is putting his wife on a pedestal and truly loving her. These two scenes show how relationships can be represented through character positioning.

The third and fourth examples involve lone shots of the characters that clearly reveal their emotions to the viewer through their facial expressions. (1:27:54) We see Geremio’s wife close up with an extremely worried expression on her face as she speaks to Geremio and at (1:35) we see a close up of Geremio. Geremio’s close up is during a very dramatic part of the movie. In this scene, we see him outside, angry with himself, and stabbing his hand through the gate as a punishment for what he did to his wife and children. The close ups do an excellent job of intensifying the two characters’ emotions.

The last two examples involve the concepts of irregular shots and overpowering objects. At around 20 minutes in, we see a Dutch angle, the camera is looking upwards at Geremio. Then at around 30 minutes in, Geremio and his friend are talking at the wedding. The interesting part is that the fence is overpowering the frame and it looks as though they are caged in. This may have been a foreshadowing of what was to come with the Great Depression in the rest of the movie. All the elements described contributed to the impact that the movie has.

Film noir has a prominent dark lighting aspect to it in which the characters move through a shadow-like dimension. This is particularly true for Christ-in–Concrete because of the low-key lighting.  As a result of using this, the course of the movie is changed and arguably proves Place/Peterson’s view that the “shadow and darkness, which carry connotations of the mysterious and the unknown” hides the true character.

In fact, our character Geremio (Sam Wanamaker) is indeed revealed through these shadows and darkness. The night provides an atmosphere where he can wander out the house and freely lance as he ponders the current on-going situations of his life. Towards the end of the movie Geremio spends an increasingly amount of time outside, wandering through dark alleys in the night and reconnects with an old flame, Kathleen. We can see that Geremio is not satisfied with his life. In his darkest hour, after slapping his wife on his birthday, he re-evaluates his search for the meaning of his life.

At first, he thought his goal was to be a father and a husband and to be happy, but there was a void somewhere. Where it is, Geremio does not know. This is much like the darkness, which hides the identity of Germeio because they conceal the truth. We see that as the film progresses, Germeio’s character develops into the antagonist as seen before the flashback. As Geremio spends more and more time out of the house, the consequences of his money-hungry appetite get to him. His wife and him are at odds, he has lost his old friends in becoming their boss, and most importantly, his revelation is consumed to darkness.  In trying to make amends for his faults, Geremio turns over a new leaf. His new genuine caring self apologizes to his friends and he implements safer working conditions. However, just like the film, Geremio meets a dark demise, and perhaps the darkest meaning of the film. The unintended failure of the structure of the building lands Geremio into the cement. As he eerily cries for help, the cement builds on top of him. With the dense, muddy compound sinking him down he notes that this final chapter of his life cannot be the answer.  At last, Geremio sinks to the bottom and the cement buries his quest for the meaning of life. This scene sharply differs from his near death experience in the beginning of the film at 12:01. As he almost falls over board, Geremio does not even utter a word as urgently as he does in the end.  Thus, the increasing darkness parallels that of Geremio’s increasing confusion with life and what he wants, right up until the end.

After watching Christ in Concrete, I really got a sense of how broad the world of cinema can be, exploring film noir this week. Completely different from some of the past movies such as The Landlord and Do The Right Thing, Christ In Concrete had its own style, with visual aspects and symbolic devices I haven’t seen before. Stylistically, the film employed low-key lighting, close camera angles and closed scenes. These were some of the key elements of film noir, as read in the article by Place and Peterson. These effects emphasized the emptiness and bleak feelings felt toward the end of the movie, a literal blackness.

Visually, Christ In Concrete gave off a cold, close up vibe. The first thing I noticed was how close the camera angles were. Shots were usually from the shoulders or chest up, highlighting facial expressions and the “grit” of being a bricklayer, and of being an immigrant in a tough city. In addition to the close-up shots, the “two-shot” was used. Scenes frequently involved conversation between Geromio (Sam Wanamaker) and another character, in front of a plain backdrop. This gave off a closed, empty look to scenes, leaving only two characters on screen, with nothing to distract the viewers’ attention. Further emphasizing the emptiness in film noir was the lighting. The black and white scenes were poorly lit, usually by backlighting or low key lighting. Shadows, silhouettes, and shapes were shown in every scene, a product of the low key lighting. The color of the film was marked by two sharp colors, either a black or white. In that sense, most of the film can be stylistically characterized as “sharp.” The figures were outlined clearly, with no fuzzy area. Every aspect on screen could be seen during the film. This also helped to portray the facial expressions previously mentioned. The film quality in Christ In Concrete really surprised me for a film from over 50 years ago, and I think that without the clear, sharp figures in the film, the effects of film noir would not have been as impactful. Additionally, the way scenes were shot and its backgrounds added a closed, tight feeling characterized by film noir. If some of these frames were made into a painting, its composition would be closed. (Uh-oh, it’s like Feiner’s class again :P) Frequently objects appeared that restricted characters and actions into the center of the shot, whether it was a wall, post, or door. The figures were placed in these shots, making them seem lonely and isolated. The coldness of the film was greatly enhanced due to the visual, film noir aspects seen in Christ In Concrete.

While the film can be characterized as film noir from a broad and visual sense, it can be further categorized as film gris, after reading Maland’s piece. It’s a more specific reading of the film’s subject, like how Skrillex is a dance/electronic artist, but more specifically a dubstep artist. (BTW, Skrillex isn’t that good.) Christ In Concrete wasn’t the usual crime or femme fatale storyline as I read in this week’s pieces. It was about the loss of a dream, and basically how one man can change because of an ideal, or a goal. The imagery and references presented some symbolism, which was one aspect of film gris. Furthermore, it wholly demonstrated the social and psychological effects of American culture, as shown by Geromio and Anunciata’s gradual transformations. It was a shot at the American dream, and the danger’s associated with it (like falling into cement.) The film’s ending showed the coldness and bleakness of film noir, and more specifically film gris. Money can change everything, and it’s a cold world.

And yeah, the ending was really shocking, with practically no build up at all. Sinking into cement/quicksand/mortar shows Geromio being sucked in and becoming a victim of a consumption-centered world. It really showed the pessimistic view on life film noir had, in my opinion. Yeah, song lyrics. “This quicksand it pulls me under, It pulls me underneath her. And I’m learning how to live with my unintended consequences. While you’re busy jumping fences”

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.

To be honest, I had no idea what film noir was before I read these articles. I had an idea that it would be a dark themed film, but definitely not to the extent that it truly was. Christ in Concrete was one of the saddest films I’ve seen in a while. I mean who wants to have a story where bad guy turns good only to die in the end. But, I think that’s probably what the most important aspect of film noir is, a dark theme and a sad story.

According to the first reading, the point of film noir is to be dark. Literally dark. This shows in Christ in Concrete because of the low-key lighting. The fact that low-key lighting is used makes the film that much more eerie and indescribable. I love the fact that there is a huge amount of contrast between light and dark. In the scene where Jeremiah is waiting for Kathleen to get home after he slaps his wife is one of these moments. It is so dark that Jeremiah almost gets lost in the doorway, but Kathleen almost shines through the darkness from the backlighting of a streetlight.

Although the readings didn’t really cover it, I think the most important aspect of film noir is its story. Would the film truly be considered film noir is it didn’t have such a tragic story? Jeremiah was such an antihero that when he died in the end one couldn’t help but feel relieved. His wife ended up getting more money out of his death than she would have gotten from him being alive.

I actually really enjoyed this film, surprisingly enough. The lighting and the story really made it worth watching, besides the fact that it was required. When I think back on some of the films we’ve seen already, I’m curious if The Pawnbroker can be considered film noir? Also as a totally unrelated side note, the title makes a lot more sense after watching that surprise ending!

Edward Dmytryk’s 1949 film Give Us This Day (aka Christ in Concrete) is a brilliant example of film noir in terms of the visual motifs it chooses to employ in order to tell the story of Geremio (Sam Wanamaker), his friends, and his family. Of these visual techniques that I am referring to, and which J.A. Place and L.S. Peterson describe in great detail in Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir, the most obvious is the non-traditional lighting style. As some of my classmates have mentioned, three-point lighting is abandoned, and low-key lighting predominates. However, low-key lighting is also occasionally interjected with hard direct lighting – especially during choker close ups of characters’ faces during dramatic scenes – and with lighting that does not come from traditional sources (i.e. the key light, the fill light, and the back light) but rather from light sources placed in bizarre locations to create offbeat schemes of light and dark on the characters’ bodies and faces.

Another example of a film noir visual motif that is consistently utilized during the film is claustrophobic framing. There are many scenes in which objects are placed in front of Geremio in order to create a feeling of claustrophobia and entrapment. When he walks out of the apartment building in the first scene – after Annunziata (Lea Padovani) kicks him out – the spikes on which he impales his hand are directly in front of him in the frame. During the wedding, when he admits to Luigi (Charles Goldner) that he has not told his new bride the truth about owning a house, bars across the two men’s faces act as a barrier between them and the camera. When Annunziata lies in bed because she is in labor and Geremio leans over her – as he implores her to let him get a doctor – the scene is shot through the bars of the bed’s headboard. When Geremio is shown shoveling snow, it is through a glass door.

Depth of field is also heavily utilized within Dmytryk’s film. This visual technique is most obvious in scenes where characters are placed on three different planes within the frame, such as in the first scene, where a drunken Geremio comes home. He is closest to the camera; his haggard wife is on a second plane; and his oldest son, Paul, is further back; however, they are all in sharp focus. When Annunziata is in labor, she is closest to the camera, Geremio is on the second plane, and the superstitious midwife stands further back, but again, they are all in sharp focus and clearly visible. (Interestingly enough, because of how unbalanced framing (a technique I’m not actually going to discuss in this post) is utilized, Geremio seems to dominate in both of these scenes, regardless of which plane he is in, and the other characters shrink in comparison.)

Though these are examples of when depth of field is most apparent to the viewer, I believe that it is most effective when it is used to carry bold architectural lines. The clearest example of this – and the one that is repeated several times throughout the film – is the scene where a drunk Geremio finishes climbing up the stairs in his apartment building and stops to rest at the beginning of a hallway. Because of the greater depth of field that is being utilized, the architectural lines of the hallway are in sharp focus and seem to carry on for a great distance into the darkness. It gives the viewer the sense that s/he and Geremio are in a nightmarish world, where – regardless of how long he runs – he can never reach the end of the hallway. He can never escape the maze he is trapped in.

And though he tries to redeem himself, in the end, he truly cannot escape the maze that he has trapped himself in. As the eponymous “Christ in Concrete,” he dies for his own sins. But by doing so, he does manage to provide salvation from the maze for his wife and children – he finally gets Annunziata that house she always dreamed of – and this salvation is brilliantly displayed in the final shot of the film. The widow and her children are leaving the insurance office, and once again, depth of field is employed to bring focus to the long hallway down which they are walking. However, whereas in previous scenes, the hallways always disappeared into the darkness, there is finally a visible “light at the end of the tunnel” – an exit out of the building but also an exit out of the maze.

I have to admit, the huge film nerd in me gave a squeal of delight when I saw that this week’s topic was film noir.  There’s not much I like more than a good mystery, and I’ve been in a huge noir phase lately.  Seriously, just ask my friends—it’s gotten to the point where they’ll say, “You’ll like it.  Somebody gets shot.”  I’m not crazy, I swear!  I just find pretty much everything about the noir genre fascinating.  The overarching mystery, the antihero who tries to pull everything together, the femme fatale, the cast of generally terrible people they meet along the way…I love it all!  As such, my favorite TV show has quickly become Breaking Bad, which owes almost its entire premise to film noir, and one of my all-time favorite movies is Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, which is considered to be one of the greatest neo-noir titles ever made.  So naturally, I’m pretty excited to be writing about film noir this week!

To me, one of the most interesting aspects of film noir is the almost constant presence of darkness—after all, noir is French for black.  I really like the way the Night World article says, “New York at night is more nocturnal than any other place onscreen”.  This definitely holds true for Christ in Concrete.  Director Edward Dmytryk wastes no time delving into the darkness of New York, as the very first scene after the establishing shots takes place in the dead of the night.  The contrast between these two scenes—the first one panning around New York City in the day versus the spooky deserted alley at night and ominous backlit apartment—sets the tone perfectly for the noir mood of the film, mainly that things by day are not how they appear to be at night.  Another scene that especially holds true to this theme is when Annunziata tells Geremio not to work late and come home for his birthday.  He does come home, but by the time he staggers home it’s late at night and he’s very drunk, and he breaks down the door to slap the fed-up Annunziata.  In other words, Annunziata wanting Geremio to come home seemed like a decent idea by day, but by night her plan had gone horribly wrong.  Like I said, this idea of night vs. day is one of my favorite aspects of film noir, because I feel like I never know what craziness could possibly happen next.

Upon reading the article “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir,” I learned that film noir has used untraditional filming techniques to create a horrible and dark mood in the film. While I do not fully understand the definition of film noir, I can somehow relate the visual motifs that are described in Place and Peterson’s articles with the film Christ in Concrete.

According to the article, “compositional balance within the frame is often disruptive and unnerving” in film noir. In Christ in Concrete, there is oftentimes that the images of characters within a frame are distorted. This can be shown from the frames that one character stood closer to the camera, and other characters stood right behind, or that one characters stood right in front of the camera, so half of the character’s body blocked the camera as well as other characters stood opposite to him/her. This could create a sense of horror because the viewers couldn’t see the entire frame of what was happening.

Lighting was another important component of film noir. Although I do not know how to identify the lighting sources, the lighting always casts shadows of the characters. Wherever the characters went, as long as there was light, there must be characters’ shadows. This visual motif is rarely seen in other films. The shadows seemed to be part of the characters. It reflected what the characters did throughout time. Moreover, the shadows set a contrast between bright and dark, which was another important motif in the film. I am not very certain about the meaning of this bright and dark contrast, but I think it had some relations with the mood of the scene. If the scene has a happy mood such as when Geremio was forgiven by his co-workers, the proportion of brightness is much greater than darkness. If the scene had a sad atmosphere such as when Geremio begged his wife for forgiveness, the proportion of darkness is much greater than brightness. Although this was the general pattern, it might not be true all the time. That was the reason that film noir, as well as this film had lots of close-up shots. The scene when Geremio was buried alive in the cement was especially memorable. This scene showed Geremio’s expressions when the cement was pouring on him. As more and more cement was falling on him, the camera zoomed into him until he was buried under the cement and the last bit of cement dropped and completely covered him. The close-up shots were indeed important in showing the characters’ emotions and psychological activities.

Finally, I would bring back to the definition of film noir. At the beginning, I mentioned that I’m not certain about what was exactly the film noir style, because as I read the article, I believed film noir was generally used in movies with frightening and suspicious atmosphere. However, Christ in Concrete is neither frightening nor suspicious. (Except some people may argue that the way Geremio die was frightening.) It’s sad but warm film. The mood was a little dark but the plot was not. Perhaps I would figure out the answer as I learned more about film noir.