For Ellen (2012) - Review

Click HERE to watch the trailer

Plot 

'For Ellen' is a film about Joby Taylor (Paul Dano) who is a struggling musician trying to fight over custody for his daughter Ellen with the help of his socially awkward lawyer Fred Butler (Jon Heder). The film follows Joby as he tries to come to terms with the potential loss of his daughter and previous life. He stopped seeing Ellen to try and make it big with his rock band but after that went wrong he soon realises he might just loose everything... 

Review

The film starts out with Dano driving through the snowy surroundings of Canada with a very grey and depressing atmosphere, Dano's character doesn't make a great first impression for being a father with his leather jacket, black nail varnish and guyliner, who seems to be more interested in establishing his rock 'n' roll lifestyle than bringing up his daughter. However we do warm to his character as we soon realise how he is not happy and wants to make a change for the better. 

We are thrown into the story of this film as we don't really know whats happened and it just feels like the harsh reality sequal to Juno or something. After the scene of Dano driving through the snow (don't worry there are ALOT more scenes similar to this) we are introduced to his lawyer played by Jon Heder. At first this seems like a very serious role for Heder to be playing but we soon realise he still lives with his mum and his personality and values are the complete polar opposite to Dano's character. Heder's character Fred however does supply some light heartedness to an overall somber film.

One of the best scenes in the film is when Joby and Fred go to a sleezy bar together, we see some good character development and an amazing performance by Dano as he dances to 'Still Of The Night' By Whitesnake. In this scene we realise how different Joby and Fred are to one another- Fred spends his time working and with his mum and Joby spends his in bars and waking up not fully aware of where he is. Undoubtedly Dano's character is the main focus for this film and he carries it well showing his true skills as an actor. Heder again plays his role fantastically but unfortunately we don't really see much of him after the bar scene. 

Paul Dano in his role as Joby Taylor

The film deals with the issue of divorce and young parents really well as we see Joby trying to connect with his daughter Ellen. He is aloud to take her out for two hours and we see how he awkwardly tries to make a connection with her. This scene is really realistic as we see how a young father tries to act mature and responsible but we also how he clearly loves and care for Ellen despite his age.  

The film is shot beautifully with many landscape shots of Canada and unusual closeups in the more gritty scenes. However as I said before we do see an awful lot of scenes of Dano just driving through the town, if half of them were cut out I think the film would seem a little more fast paced. The shots in scenes also are unusually long and drawn out making the scene feel like its going on for a long time because we are just looking at the same shot with no cuts to closeups or point of view shots etc. I do think this adds a more realistic feel to the film though as the time span of it is only about three days and we know exactly how the story is developing from day to day. The realistic feel of the film is also enhanced by its use of diegetic sound and no montages or flashbacks. 

Don't get me wrong, the cinematography and acting in this film is amazing, but I do feel it would benefit from shorter more frequent scenes so the film doesn't feel so slow paced. A bit more character development on Joby's ex-wife and Fred wouldn't hurt either. However, I think this might be intentional as the films overall feel is a sort of 'fly on the wall' perspective of just Dano's character. 

Verdict 
A beautifully shot film with an incredible performance by Paul Dano, however, a little too slow paced for me because of the focus just being on one character. 

Product Placement - Bay Vs Tarantino

Nowadays most films are just like one giant advert trying to sell car brands, food brands, computer brands or anything else they have been paid to include in their film. Yes E.T did have his Reeses Pieces and Chuck Noland had FedEx but  Director Michael Bay takes it to the next level...  You cant watch one of his movies without branded products being shoved in your face in every scene, plus he does not even attempt to make them remotely subtle! Take a look at "Transformers" (2007), it was just like a giant car advertisement for "Porsche", "Cadillac" and of course "Chevy Camaro" and "The Island" (2005) well what product WASNT advertised. 

However Quentin Tarantino has explained in many interviews how much he HATES product placement in films. Instead of using branded props he creates fictional brands to use, these add to the surreal factor of his films.

Because Tarantino uses fictional brands you are less aware of them so here are 5 fictional products to look out for in his films... 

1. Red Apple Cigarettes 

These are featured in seven of Tarantino's films that he has either directed, written or had some involvement in. The films are: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill Volume 1 & 2 and Planet Terror. 

As cigarettes feature very frequently in most of his films it was important to have an original brand associated with Tarantino's films. 



2. Big Kahuna Burger 

The Hawaiian burger joint's burgers and soda cups have been featured in Reservoir Dogs, Four Rooms, From Dusk Till Dawn and probably most famously in Pulp Fiction. 

Im sure that everyone who have seen a Big Kahuna Burger has fancied one and wished that they could walk down the high street and pick one up for themselves ! 






3. Fruit Brute 

This is slightly different as Fruit Brute was actually sold in the 70s as part of the General Mills "Monster Brands" but was discontinued, other flavours include - Count Chocula, Yummy Mummy and Franken Berry.  

As the cereal was discontinued Tarantino decided to feature it in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. 






4. Teriyaki Donut 

A much lesser known brand Tarantino has created is Teriyaki Donut which is a fast food restaurant that serves a mixture of Japanese food and donuts. 

The restaurant is only seen in Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction briefly  (Just before Marsellus Wallace is hit by Butch's car)






5. Jack Rabbit Slims 

50/60s pop culture style restaurant inspired by other themed restaurants in LA. 

Jack Rabbit Slims biggest appearance is in Pulp Fiction when Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega go for shakes, bloody as hell steaks and a twist dancing competition. The restaurant is also mentioned in a radio advertisement in Reservoir Dogs. 

My Top 10 Unscripted Movie Scenes

Some of the most famous scenes in films are actually unscripted or improvised by the actors, so here are the ones I think are the best and most iconic...

(In no particular order)

1. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is on one of his iconic adventures when he comes face to face with a man dressed all in black wielding a large sword. Jones simply pulls out his gun and kills him in one single shot. 

This sudden action surprises the audience and is almost comical as it is the opposite to what the audience expects! 

However the original script was written to include a long, intense sword fight but the day before Ford got food poisoning and was too weak to do the scene. After a discussion with director Steven Spielberg the scene was changed and is now one of the most iconic scenes in the whole Indiana Jones trilogy. 

2. The Shining (1980) 

The deranged Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is chasing after his wife Wendy Torrance (Shelly Duval) through their temporary home - The Overlook Hotel. Wendy eventually hides in the bathroom but Jack starts hacking the door down with his axe. 

After making a large whole in the door Jack pokes his head through and says "Here's Johnny!" This phrase was was made famous by Ed McMahon on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.

This line was not part of Kubrick's original script and was improvised by Jack Nicholson. 

3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 

The iconic "Hsssss" sound made by Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) while he is telling his story about eating a liver was not in the original script. 

Apparently Hopkins was doing it during rehearsals to creep out the cast and decided to leave it in as it was a good way to creep out the audience as well.

4. Jaws (1975) 

While tossing meat into the sea in hope to lure the deadly great white shark closer in an attempt to kill it, Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) gets his first shocking encounter with the beast and sees how massive it really is. 

Shocked he stumbles back inside the boat and utters the words "You're gonna need a bigger boat" to Captain Quint (Robert Shaw) this was completely off script but kept in because Spielberg liked it so much.

5. Reservoir Dogs (1992) 

Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen) has held captive Nash (Kirk Baltz) in a large warehouse and is torturing him. In Tarantino's script it said that Madsen had to cut his victims ear off but didnt give him any specifics. So madsen improvised all his actions with the ear including the line "Can you hear me now?"

6. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Kubrick cast R. Lee Ermey in the role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman directly after he heard a tape of him shouting insults at a group of Royal marines for 15 minutes. 

Ermey wrote 150 pages of insults and Kubrick estimates half of the characters dialogue was improvised. 




7.  The Dark Knight (2008) 

Whilst the Joker (Heath Ledger) is locked up in a jail cell the mayor announces that Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) will be promoted to commissioner. As all the officers applaud Ledger starts to do a slow monotinous clap, not changing his serious facial expression. This piece of simple improvisation made the whole scene so much darker and as just one of Ledger's brilliant improvised representation of the Joker. 


8. Midnight cowboy (1969) 

As Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and Rasto (Dustin Hoffman) walk across a street in New York a real NYC taxi cab drives down the same street and almost hits Hoffman. The cab had ignored the "Street Closed For Filming" signs and drove straight through the scene. 
Hoffman responds with "IM WALKING HERE!", still completely in character. The reaction was so genuine and real directer John Schlesinger kept it in the actual film.

9. The Godfather (1972) 

While Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando)  sentences a man to be beaten for the beating of another mans daughter, the whole time he is stroking a cat on his lap. 
However the cat was never in the original script some reports say that the director - Ford Coppola just put the cat on Brando's lap before filming. Other reports say that Brando just found the cat on set and picked him up before filming. 




10.  A Clockwork Orange (1971) 

While Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang of 'Droogs' perform their horrific acts of violence, McDowell breaks into song and dance.  Kubrick filmed the scene several times and was not happy with it each time until he let McDowell do whatever he wanted. 
McDowell decided to belt out "Singing In The Rain", Kubrick was so happy with how much it improved the scene he bought the rights to the song so he could include it in the final cut of the film.