Maddy's Film Blog

Daughters of the Dust , a 1991 film by Julie Dash, breaks away from the typical structure of narrative cinema to piece together the story of the Peazants, a family in Gullah.  Though the incredibly stunning cinematography and mysteriously insightful narration caught my interest from the beginning, I quickly felt a sense of confusion that would last nearly the entirety of the film.  At times, my uncertainty at what exactly was happening within the plot made the film challenging to stick with.  However, the film still had an alluring aura to it that made it intriguing to watch until the plot began to fall in place towards the end of the film. While the film follows a singular family, each member has their own story, of which we are thrust into the middle of from the film's beginning.  Bouncing between these characters and stories we only receive snippets of, it takes a while to begin to connect the dots and begin to understand the relationships between each of the characters and what

Reassemblage , a 1982 documentary by Trinh Minh ha, is an experimental documentary which stands out from typical documentation norms in a number of ways. The first time I viewed this film, I found myself feeling confused and disoriented, which led me to not have a very pleasurable and entertaining initial experience with this documentary.  It was difficult for me to make sense of the sporadic sounds and voiceover which appeared to be untimely with the images shown on screen.  The film also consisted of the simple observation of people carrying out every day life in 1980s Senegal, which, without a storyline or much excitement, lost my attention as the film went on. However, once I finished the film, I read the transcript for Reassemblage  and slowly began to make sense of what I had just seen and understand its significance.  Lines like "a film about what?  A film on Senegal; but what in Senegal?" and "I do not intend to speak about, just speak nearby" stuck out to m

After watching one too many horror films as a young child (I'm looking at you  Insidious ,) I have avoided frightening movies since.  It's not that I don't find them to be good pieces of film, but rather I find them to be a little too good, especially as a young child whose idea of fact and fiction overlapped.  Good horror films also often stick with me for a while in that I ponder the chilling characters and events that took place in the story, questioning their ability to exist in our own world. Psycho did just that with its unique pacing, complex characters, and jolting twists.   The first element of Psycho  that really caught my attention was its unusual pacing.  The main character, Marion Crane, dies astonishingly early in the film.  As the narrative had been following Marion's storyline up to this point, the original narration dies in the shower scene with Marion.  This throws in a revolutionary element of surprise, leaving shocked audiences wondering how the film

My name is Madison, but I also go by Maddy.  I am a second year student from Columbus, Ohio, however, I am currently living on campus.  I intend on majoring in English, however, I also hope to connect my major to my other interests, film being one of them. I became interested in film after I got to work at a film studio for a few months and fell in love with listening to the energetic writer's room every day as they brought their ideas to life.  Watching the writers' individual ideas grow into a full production changed my perspective on film and I've been fascinated with the process ever since.  I am also particularly excited to try creating film because it encompasses many of my interests, such as art, music, and writing, into one creative practice. I am not quite sure if I would minor in film yet as there are many other interests I have at Lawrence, however, I certainly want it to be a significant part of my time both in college and beyond!