13 sins movie analysis

13 Sins (released in 2014) is a thriller movie that is based around a man named Elliot, a failing salesman who is under a lot of financial trouble. He receives a phone call from a mysterious voice who tells him if he completes 13 challenges, he will get a lot of money. As the movie develops, it becomes more vital for Elliot to finish the challenges as if he doesn't he will be arrested.

The film starts off strongly with a scene in which many middle class white people are in the middle of some sort of conference. A man named Edgar Solomon is called up to speak. We can tell that he is important as he is the centre shot and there is a shot of cameramen taking interest in him. Edgar Solomon reads nursery rhymes but shockingly makes them very explicit and rude. For example, he says "There once was a lady named Dot who lived off of pig shit and snot. When she ran out of these, she ate the green cheese... that she grew on the sides... of her twat". This adds a theme of dark humour to the movie and we can only assume that this was one of his challenges. We are then introduced the violence gore in the movie as the man then proceeds to cut off a woman's finger to the surprise of everyone. He tries to store it in a tissue but he is shot by the police. The opening scene is great because it gives off a mix of everything we are about to see in the film.

 The choice of music and graphics that are used in the opening credits are spooky and eery. They definitely bring in a sub-genre of horror to the film. The opening credits are very dark which brings a negative, pessimistic mood to the movie. After that, we are introduced to our protagonist characters. I think that the way in which Ellis's girlfriend a brother were introduced was not as detailed as it should have been and the film lacked in context as whole. However, I think there are a lot of subtle clues which string together well in the movie and leave a lot of the figuring out to do for the audience. For example, when Elliot's phone rings it is the same ringtone as the old man who got shot at the beginning of the movie.

 I think this film does a somewhat good job of avoiding stereotypes as one of the main characters is a black female. In addition to that, she is in a relationship with a white male which isn't used very often in film and media. However, I think that the stereotypes of gender are still visible as Elliot does a lot of masculine acts during the movie. These including cutting off his bully's arm, stealing a car and shooting a police officer.

 The use of camera angles in this movie are very effective. For example, Elliot goes through a lot of trouble in the film and his facial expressions are emphasised to clearly show us how he reacts to each situation. Furthermore, there are times where the camera angles are tilted to show the confusion of Elliot which is a great feature to include. The audio is another micro-feature in the film which is used well. Despite the great sounding soundtrack, there is also a powerful silence in parts of the movie which creates a lot of tension and drama to further engage the audience. I think that there could have been a wider use of iconography in the film as it was rather basic at times.


I think that one of the most visible themes in the film is panic. It is used throughout to show us the emotion of Elliot. This is used in many cases such as when Elliot is in the coffee shop with the dead body and there is a closeup of the clock as it gets closer to the deadline that Elliot needs to meet. Another example is in the action and fight scenes. The main one is where Elliot runs from the police at the wedding speech. The clips are cut in very quick succession and the editing adds real panic and excitement to the scene. The music also makes the heart race and makes the film very interesting to watch.

 The film features some well respected actors such as Mark Webber (Elliot) and Ron Perlman (Detective Chilcoat). The acting from Mark Webber is consistently good throughout the movie and he does a great job of showing his emotion through his facial expressions. However, I think that he could have been a bit more animated and used his voice to show his emotion at times. The acting from Ron Perlman was as good as ever as he did the job of being an intimidating male threat to the protagonist. 

 In conclusion, I believe that the idea was far better than the end product of the movie. Despite that, I still think that it was prolific in areas and I give it a 6/10.
Joe Leggett

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of opening scene and Junky Limbo scene from Trainspotting

Image
Opening scene The opening scene of Trainspotting is widely regarded to be one of the most iconic scenes in British movie history. It does a great job of showing you what to expect for the rest of the movie, jumping straight into explicit scenes. The music that plays throughout it while Renton reels off all of the things to 'choose' sets the fast pace and adds an action-based effect to the scene. We get to see all of the main characters here and one of the sub-plots of the movie (Renton trying to get off of heroin) is set. Most of the camera shots are close ups or mid shots in this scene as it is still trying to develop the characters and introduce them to the viewer. The lighting in the house is very dark and miserable. This directly contradicts the light from the previous scene of being outside, and it also contradicts the music which is still playing in the background. This creates a strange effect on the audience which makes them not too disturbed or sad by the scene, d...
Read more

Similarities and differences between Casablanca and Do the Right Thing

Casablanca and Do the Right Thing are two very different films from two very different time periods. Both deal with different issues, but both are similar in a sense that the overall meaning of the film is deeper than just the storyline itself. Do the Right Thing inevitably has more advanced camerawork in comparison to Casablanca. The majority of Casablanca is simple over-the-shoulder camera shots and barely any wide shots. Casablanca was very good in it's utilisation of eye-lines when it cut from shot to shot. Do the Right Thing has more flashy camera work and it has traditional Spike Lee-type angles such as the zoom from above one. Similarly, Do the Right Thing has far more advanced editing too. It features a lot of flashy cuts and transitions, whereas Casablanca uses simple editing and doesn't really use any flashy editing throughout, as expected. Both are similar in a sense that they use establishing shots often. A good use of this in Casablanca is when Rick's bar i...
Read more

Weekly film analysis-Brazil

Image
Brazil is a film made in 1985, directed by Terry Gilliam. It is of the dystopian genre and is set in a future which ironically turned out to be rather inaccurate. The plot is very unclear throughout the whole movie, but this is done with clear purpose. Although the plot is hard to follow and often leaves the viewer wondering why they are watching Brazil, it is very thought-provoking and interesting to watch, which is why the film is so watchable. The plot was not believable at all but this was all part of the genre. The central goal of the movie was probably to express the opinions and views of the people who made the film, more so than to deliver a message or entertain the viewer in a certain way. A lot of symbolism was used in the film and there are many theories as to what the symbolism actually represents. An example of this is the flying scenes and especially when the ground begins to rise into the skies. The characters were complex and hard to break down. The acting was ...
Read more