drama movies essay

Essays About Drama: Top 5 Examples and 5 Prompts

The word drama covers many meanings and subjects; if you are writing essays about drama, discover our guide with interesting essay examples and writing prompts featured here.

What is drama to you? Many know it as a situation or event in which emotions run high. For others, the grand, intricate stage plays of Shakespeare and others of his time come to mind. Regardless, these and all other definitions of drama share one thing in common: emotion.

In all its forms, from theatre to television to cinema to even day-to-day interaction, drama is always centered around emotion, tension, and conflict- things we experience daily. Drama is, quite literally, our life, complete with all its imperfections, troubles, twists, and turns. 

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1. The History of Drama by Homer Stewart

2. why the news is not the truth by peter vanderwicken, 3. drama reflection essay (author unknown), 4. kitchen sink dramas by rodolfo chandler, 5. love yourself, not your drama by crystal jackson, 6. shakespeare’s theater: an essay from the folger shakespeare editions by barbara mowat and paul werstine, 1. what is drama, 2. types of drama, 3. the history of drama, 4. is the world over-dramatized today, 5. a dramatic incident of the past.

“Perhaps the most theatrical form of drama was opera which is still popular in today’s society. Broadway is certainly a sight that attracts thousands of people annually. In addition, the playwrights of today are striving to make the theatrical experience meaningful to the lives of viewers so that it is not just simply “pleasant entertainment”. Many themes that drama plays in modern times focus on are social problems, tragedies involving the elements of love and hate and as well as social problems that affect the inhabitants of today.”

Stewart gives readers a brief history of drama and its subjects. In different eras, the plays were based around themes and ideas prevalent in those times; for example, the Romantic Period focused on the “experiences of ordinary people.” He also references several playwrights, including Friedrich von Schiller and Percy Bysshe Shelley. In modern times, drama is centered around critical social issues while still managing to be engaging and entertaining.

“Pulitzer turned them into stories with a sharp dramatic focus that both implied and aroused intense public interest. Most newspapers of the time looked like the front page of the Wall Street Journal still does. Pulitzer made stories dramatic by adding blaring headlines, big pictures, and eye-catching graphics. His journalism took events out of their dry, institutional contexts and made them emotional rather than rational, immediate rather than considered, and sensational rather than informative.”

Vanderwicken criticizes the state of news today, saying that many stories are dramatized and outright fabricated to make them more entertaining. He attributes this to Joseph Pulitzer of Pulitzer Prize fame, who introduced He also gives historical examples of instances where the media has exaggerated – news today is too dramatic, and it must change.

You might also be interested in these essays about Macbeth .

“I felt that this learning experience is a very huge step because it takes us from doing a play which is very immature in to something that is big and has maturity in it. It helps me to practice in fluency, public speaking and mostly self-confidence. In the play I developed my ways of acting and how to put emotions in to the character, in which those emotions were not really me.”

This essay describes lessons one can learn from performing drama, such as confidence and speaking fluently. The author also reflects on an experience performing in drama, where the author learned to be more expressive, speak better, and become more hardworking. There is also a brief discussion on the elements of drama, including plot and setting. Drama is important and can teach you essential skills and lessons. 

“In the late 1950s in Britain, the “Kitchen Sink movement”, which is also known as “Kitchen Sink realism” occurred. This cultural movement stemed from ideas about working class activities. A typical writer of kitchen sink dramas is John Osborne, for example his drama “Look back in anger” which aroused many strong opinions when it was first performed as a drama. It is set in a small flat in the west midlands, which is typical of working class people.”

Chandler describes a period in drama where “kitchen sink dramas” depicted working-class stories. He uses John Osborne’s “Look Back in Anger” as an example, briefly describing the play. Jimmy, one of the characters, was known as an “angry young man,” This term was later used to describe young people critical of the social and political state of the world.

“We learn to recognize co-dependence, narcissism, and toxicity for what they are rather than making excuses because we liked the look of someone. In other words, we grow up. We stay in love with our own toxic patterns and keep the cycle of damage going, or we recognize the collateral damage of all our drama and start wanting better for ourselves. We make choices. We experience consequences. If we grow up, we’ll even connect the two.”

Jackson’s essay discusses drama from another perspective, the drama that comes with love life. She gives readers tips on how to care for yourself better and look past all the tension, confusion, and drama that comes with dating. If we look at potential partners from a deeper, more constructive point of view, we can avoid toxic relationships and have a healthy love life. 

“When performance required that an actor appear “above,” as when Juliet is imagined to stand at the window of her chamber in the famous and misnamed “balcony scene,” then the actor probably climbed the stairs to the gallery over the back of the stage and temporarily shared it with some of the spectators. The stage was also provided with ropes and winches so that actors could descend from, and reascend to, the “heavens.””

In their essay, Mowat and Werstine discuss the conventions of performing Shakespearean drama during his time, including the performance of some scenes in different areas of the theater and men playing women’s roles. They also discuss how the theaters they performed in, such as the Globe Theatre, enhanced the plays’ dramatic effect.

5 Prompts for Essays About Drama

The word drama has many meanings and is used differently, as seen in the essay examples above. In your essay, give the word’s etymology, explain the different sides of drama, from theatre to school life, and give examples of how they exemplify the meaning. Explain how they are all connected as well. 

Drama in the context of theatre has four primary forms: comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, and melodrama. Discuss each type of drama and elaborate on its characteristics. If you wish, compare and contrast them as well. Be sure to give examples of plays when explaining them.   

In your essay, you can also discuss the different periods in the history of drama. Explain what occurred in these periods, how drama changed, and their effects on modern drama. You need not explore too many periods; just make sure you write about key developments and explain them adequately. 

In the world today, the resilience of survivors is glorified and dramatized, while we see media outlets making headlines out of mere gossip and celebrity news. From this, it can be argued that society is centered around making a drama out of nothing. Why is this the case? Discuss your opinion on this issue- feel free to research if you need inspiration. 

Look back to a past event marked by tension, emotion, and drama. Narrate the events and explain how they made you feel- did you learn anything from them? This can be either your own experience or just an event from history or the news. You can read this essay for further inspiration. 

Note: drama can mean different things to different people, so what you consider “dramatic” is up to you.For help picking your next essay topic, check out our top essay topics about love .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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How to Write a Film Analysis Essay: Examples, Outline, & Tips

A film analysis essay might be the most exciting assignment you have ever had! After all, who doesn’t love watching movies? You have your favorite movies, maybe something you watched years ago, perhaps a classic, or a documentary. Or your professor might assign a film for you to make a critical review. Regardless, you are totally up for watching a movie for a film analysis essay.

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However, once you have watched the movie, facing the act of writing might knock the wind out of your sails because you might be wondering how to write a film analysis essay. In summary, writing movie analysis is not as difficult as it might seem, and Custom-writing.org experts will prove this. This guide will help you choose a topic for your movie analysis, make an outline, and write the text.️ Film analysis examples are added as a bonus! Just keep reading our advice on how to get started.

❓ What Is a Film Analysis Essay?

• 🚦 Film Analysis Types

📽️ Movie Analysis Format

✍️ how to write a film analysis, 🎦 film analysis template, 🎬 film analysis essay topics.

• 📄 Essay Examples

🔗 References

To put it simply, film analysis implies watching a movie and then considering its characteristics : genre, structure, contextual context, etc. Film analysis is usually considered to be a form of rhetorical analysis . The key to success here is to formulate a clear and logical argument, supporting it with examples.

🚦 Film Analysis Essay Types

Since a film analysis essay resembles literature analysis, it makes sense that there are several ways to do it. Its types are not limited to the ones described here. Moreover, you are free to combine the approaches in your essay as well. Since your writing reflects your own opinion, there is no universal way to do it.

• Semiotic analysis . If you’re using this approach, you are expected to interpret the film’s symbolism. You should look for any signs that may have a hidden meaning. Often, they reveal some character’s features. To make the task more manageable, you can try to find the objects or concepts that appear on the screen multiple times. What is the context they appear in? It might lead you to the hidden meaning of the symbols.
• Narrative structure analysis . This type is quite similar to a typical literature guide. It includes looking into the film’s themes, plot, and motives. The analysis aims to identify three main elements: setup, confrontation, and resolution. You should find out whether the film follows this structure and what effect it creates. It will make the narrative structure analysis essay if you write about the theme and characters’ motivations as well.
• Contextual analysis . Here, you would need to expand your perspective. Instead of focusing on inner elements, the contextual analysis looks at the time and place of the film’s creation. Therefore, you should work on studying the cultural context a lot. It can also be a good idea to mention the main socio-political issues of the time. You can even relate the film’s success to the director or producer and their career.
• Mise-en-scene analysis . This type of analysis works with the most distinctive feature of the movies, audiovisual elements. However, don’t forget that your task is not only to identify them but also to explain their importance. There are so many interconnected pieces of this puzzle: the light to create the mood, the props to show off characters’ personalities, messages hidden in the song lyrics.

To write an effective film analysis essay, it is important to follow specific format requirements that include the following:

• Standard essay structure. Just as with any essay, your analysis should consist of an introduction with a strong thesis statement, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The main body usually includes a summary and an analysis of the movie’s elements.
• Present tense for events in the film. Use the present tense when describing everything that happens in the movie. This way, you can make smooth transitions between describing action and dialogue. It will also improve the overall narrative flow.
• Proper formatting of the film’s title. Don’t enclose the movie’s title in quotation marks; instead, italicize it. In addition, use the title case : that is, capitalize all major words.
• Proper use of the characters’ names. When you mention a film character for the first time, name the actor portraying them. After that, it is enough to write only the character’s name.
• In-text citations. Use in-text citations when describing certain scenes or shots from the movie. Format them according to your chosen citation style. If you use direct quotes, include the time-stamp range instead of page numbers. Here’s how it looks in the MLA format: (Smith 0:11:24–0:12:35).

Even though film analysis is similar to the literary one, you might still feel confused with where to begin. No need to worry; there are only a few additional steps you need to consider during the writing process.

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Need more information? It can be found in the video below.

Starting Your Film Analysis Essay

There are several things you need to do before you start writing your film analysis paper. First and foremost, you have to watch the movie. Even if you have seen it a hundred times, you need to watch it again to make a good film analysis essay.

Note that you might be given an essay topic or have to think of it by yourself. If you are free to choose a topic for your film analysis essay, reading some critical reviews before you watch the film might be a good idea. By doing this in advance, you will already know what to look for when watching the movie.

In the process of watching, keep the following tips in mind:

• Consider your impression of the movie
• Enumerate memorable details
• Try to interpret the movie message in your way
• Search for the proof of your ideas (quotes from the film)
• Make comments on the plot, settings, and characters
• Draw parallels between the movie you are reviewing and some other movies

Making a Film Analysis Essay Outline

Once you have watched and possibly re-watched your assigned or chosen movie from an analytical point of view, you will need to create a movie analysis essay outline . The task is pretty straightforward: the outline can look just as if you were working on a literary analysis or an article analysis.

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• Introduction : This includes the basics of the movie, including the title, director, and the date of release. You should also present the central theme or ideas in the movie and your thesis statement .
• Summary : This is where you take the time to present an overview of the primary concepts in the movie, including the five Ws (who, what, when, where, and why)—don’t forget how!—as well as anything you wish to discuss that relates to the point of view, style, and structure.
• Analysis : This is the body of the essay and includes your critical analysis of the movie, why you did or did not like it, and any supporting material from the film to support your views. It would help if you also discussed whether the director and writer of the movie achieved the goal they set out to achieve.
• Conclusion: This is where you can state your thesis again and provide a summary of the primary concepts in a new and more convincing manner, making a case for your analysis. You can also include a call-to-action that will invite the reader to watch the movie or avoid it entirely.

You can find a great critical analysis template at Thompson Rivers University website. In case you need more guidance on how to write an analytical paper, check out our article .

Writing & Editing Your Film Analysis Essay

We have already mentioned that there are differences between literary analysis and film analysis. They become especially important when one starts writing their film analysis essay.

First of all, the evidence you include to support the arguments is not the same. Instead of quoting the text, you might need to describe the audiovisual elements.

However, the practice of describing the events is similar in both types. You should always introduce a particular sequence in the present tense. If you want to use a piece of a dialogue between more than two film characters, you can use block quotes. However, since there are different ways to do it, confirm with your supervisor.

For your convenience, you might as well use the format of the script, for which you don’t have to use quotation marks:

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ELSA: But she won’t remember I have powers?

KING: It’s for the best.

Finally, to show off your proficiency in the subject, look at the big picture. Instead of just presenting the main elements in your analysis, point out their significance. Describe the effect they make on the overall impression form the film. Moreover, you can dig deeper and suggest the reasons why such elements were used in a particular scene to show your expertise.

Stuck writing a film analysis essay? Worry not! Use our template to structure your movie analysis properly.

Introduction

• The title of the film is… [title]
• The director is… [director’s name] He/she is known for… [movies, style, etc.]
• The movie was released on… [release date]
• The themes of the movie are… [state the film’s central ideas]
• The film was made because… [state the reasons]
• The movie is… because… [your thesis statement].
• The main characters are… [characters’ names]
• The events take place in… [location]
• The movie is set in… [time period]
• The movie is about… [state what happens in the film and why]
• The movie left a… [bad, unforgettable, lasting, etc.] impression in me.
• The script has… [a logical sequence of events, interesting scenes, strong dialogues, character development, etc.]
• The actors portray their characters… [convincingly, with intensity, with varying degree of success, in a manner that feels unnatural, etc.]
• The soundtrack is [distracting, fitting, memorable, etc.]
• Visual elements such as… [costumes, special effects, etc.] make the film [impressive, more authentic, atmospheric, etc.]
• The film succeeds/doesn’t succeed in engaging the target audience because it… [tells a compelling story, features strong performances, is relevant, lacks focus, is unauthentic, etc.]
• Cultural and societal aspects make the film… [thought-provoking, relevant, insightful, problematic, polarizing, etc.]
• The director and writer achieved their goal because… [state the reasons]
• Overall, the film is… [state your opinion]
• I would/wouldn’t recommend watching the movie because… [state the reasons]
• Analysis of the film Inception by Christopher Nolan .
• Examine the rhetoric in the film The Red Balloon .
• Analyze the visual effects of Zhang Yimou’s movie Hero .
• Basic concepts of the film Interstellar by Christopher Nolan.
• The characteristic features of Federico Fellini’s movies.
• Analysis of the movie The Joker .
• The depiction of ethical issues in Damaged Care .
• Analyze the plot of the film Moneyball .
• Explore the persuasive techniques used in Henry V .  
• Analyze the movie Killing Kennedy .
• Discuss the themes of the film Secret Window .
• Describe the role of audio and video effects in conveying the message of the documentary Life in Renaissance .
• Compare and analyze the films Midnight Cowboy and McCabe and Mrs. Miller .
• Analysis of the movie Rear Window .
• The message behind the film Split .
• Analyze the techniques used by Tim Burton in his movie Sleepy Hollow .
• The topic of children’s abuse and importance of trust in Joseph Sargent’s Sybil .
• Examine the themes and motives of the film Return to Paradise by Joseph Ruben .
• The issues of gender and traditions in the drama The Whale Rider.
• Analysis of the film Not Easily Broken by Duke Bill.
• The symbolism in R. Scott’s movie Thelma and Louise .
• The meaning of audiovisual effects in Citizen Kane .
• Analyze the main characters of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .
• Discuss the historical accuracy of the documentary The Civil War .
• Analysis of the movie Through a Glass Darkly .
• Explore the core idea of the comedy Get Out .
• The problem of artificial intelligence and human nature in Ex Machina .
• Three principles of suspense used in the drama The Fugitive .
• Examine the ideas Michael Bay promotes in Armageddon .
• Analyze the visual techniques used in Tenet by Christopher Nolan.
• Analysis of the movie The Green Mile .
• Discrimination and exclusion in the film The Higher Learning .
• The hidden meaning of the scenes in Blade Runner .
• Compare the social messages of the films West Side Story and Romeo + Juliet .
• Highlighting the problem of children’s mental health in the documentary Kids in Crisis .  
• Discuss the ways Paul Haggis establishes the issue of racial biases in his movie Crash .
• Analyze the problem of moral choice in the film Gone Baby Gone .
• Analysis of the historical film Hacksaw Ridge .
• Explore the main themes of the film Mean Girls by Mark Walters .
• The importance of communication in the movie Juno .
• Describe the techniques the authors use to highlight the problems of society in Queen and Slim .
• Examine the significance of visual scenes in My Family/ Mi Familia .
• Analysis of the thriller Salt by Phillip Noyce.
• Analyze the message of Greg Berlanti’s film Love, Simon .
• Interpret the symbols of the film The Wizard of Oz (1939).
• Discuss the modern issues depicted in the film The Corporation .
• Moral lessons of Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond .
• Analysis of the documentary Solitary Nation .
• Describe the audiovisual elements of the film Pride and Prejudice (2005) .
• The problem of toxic relationships in Malcolm and Marie .

📄 Film Analysis Examples

Below you’ll find two film analysis essay examples. Note that the full versions are downloadable for free!

Film Analysis Example #1: The Intouchables

Raising acute social problems in modern cinema is a common approach to draw the public’s attention to the specific issues and challenges of people facing crucial obstacles. As a film for review, The Intouchables by Oliver Nakache and Éric Toledano will be analyzed, and one of the themes raised in this movie is the daily struggle of the person with severe disabilities. This movie is a biographical drama with comedy elements. The Intouchables describes the routine life of a French millionaire who is confined to a wheelchair and forced to receive help from his servants. The acquaintance of the disabled person with a young and daring man from Parisian slums changes the lives of both radically. The film shows that for a person with disabilities, recognition as a full member of society is more important than sympathy and compassion, and this message expressed comically raises an essential problem of human loneliness.

Movie Analysis Example #2: Parasite

Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller movie directed by Bong Joon-ho and is the first film with a non-English script to win Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020. With its overwhelming plot and acting, this motion picture retains a long-lasting effect and some kind of shock. The class serves as a backbone and a primary objective of social commentary within the South Korean comedy/thriller (Kench, 2020). Every single element and detail in the movie, including the student’s stone, the contrasting architecture, family names, and characters’ behavior, contribute to the central topic of the universal problem of classism and wealth disparity. The 2020 Oscar-winning movie Parasite (2019) is a phenomenal cinematic portrayal and a critical message to modern society regarding the severe outcomes of the long-established inequalities within capitalism.

Want more examples? Check out this bonus list of 10 film analysis samples. They will help you gain even more inspiration.

• “Miss Representation” Documentary Film Analysis
• “The Patriot”: Historical Film Analysis
• “The Morning Guy” Film Analysis
• 2012′ by Roland Emmerich Film Analysis
• “The Crucible” (1996) Film Analysis
• The Aviator’ by Martin Scorsese Film Analysis
• The “Lions for Lambs” Film Analysis
• Bill Monroe – Father of Bluegrass Music Film Analysis 
• Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’ Film Analysis
• Red Tails by George Lucas Film Analysis

Film Analysis Essay FAQ

• Watch the movie or read a detailed plot summary.
• Read others’ film reviews paying attention to details like key characters, movie scenes, background facts.
• Compose a list of ideas about what you’ve learned.
• Organize the selected ideas to create a body of the essay.
• Write an appropriate introduction and conclusion.

The benefits of analyzing a movie are numerous . You get a deeper understanding of the plot and its subtle aspects. You can also get emotional and aesthetic satisfaction. Film analysis enables one to feel like a movie connoisseur.

Here is a possible step by step scenario:

• Think about the general idea that the author probably wanted to convey.
• Consider how the idea was put across: what characters, movie scenes, and details helped in it.
• Study the broader context: the author’s other works, genre essentials, etc.

The definition might be: the process of interpreting a movie’s aspects. The movie is reviewed in terms of details creating the artistic value. A film analysis essay is a paper presenting such a review in a logically structured way.

• Film Analysis – UNC Writing Center
• Film Writing: Sample Analysis // Purdue Writing Lab
• Yale Film Analysis – Yale University
• Film Terms And Topics For Film Analysis And Writing
• Questions for Film Analysis (Washington University)
• Resources on Film Analysis – Cinema Studies (University of Toronto)
• Does Film Analysis Take the Magic out of Movies?
• Film Analysis Research Papers – Academia.edu
• What’s In a Film Analysis Essay? Medium
• Analysis of Film – SAGE Research Methods
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How to Write a Film Analysis Essay: Examples, Outline, & Tips

• 22 December 2023
• 27 min read

This guideline is designed to teach people how to write a film analysis essay. Basically, students and anyone interested in writing a good movie analysis essay should read the details and tips that can help them to produce a high-standard piece. The article begins by defining what a film analysis is, listing the possible topics of such an essay, and giving a sample outline and example. The guideline also teaches about the various types of film analysis and the most common concepts that such a paper may address. As a result, the article concludes with tips, including ten things to do and ten not to do when writing a film analysis essay.

General Aspects of How to Write an Outstanding Film Analysis Essay

A college education is dynamic and robust because students undertake various academic activities in and out of the lecture room. Typically, activities within lecture halls are theoretical, and those that happen outside are practical. A critical academic exercise is a film analysis assignment, where professors require students to watch a movie and discuss using particular elements. The elements directors and producers use to bring the action alive include the stage, lighting, sound, and other special effects. As such, analyzing a film is a complex exercise that requires one to perfect the art of writing. In turn, this article is a guideline for how to write a film analysis essay. By reading this text, students can gain insights into the details and elements they must address when writing a movie analysis essay.

Definition of What Is a Film Analysis and Its Meaning

According to a simple definition, film analysis explores the use of particular elements in a film, including mise-en-scène, cinematography, sound, and editing. Students should talk about actors’ positioning, scenery adaptation, physical setting, stage lighting, and cultural context when writing this kind of essay. Another critical fact to consider is that films come in various genres, including action, documentaries, drama, horror, romance, and science fiction. Each type of movie analysis utilizes the above elements differently. Therefore, film analysis means writing an in-depth examination of how directors and producers approach their productions to make them entertaining and informative. For example, most science fiction films are futuristic, showing how society may change. In this respect, all films have a cultural context students must address in their movie analysis essay.

Unique Features of a Film Analysis

Generally, film analysis essays differ from other types of papers , including an argumentative essay , a cause and effect essay , and a research paper , because they focus on a single production and explore the use of the above elements. Some unique features that differentiate film analysis papers from other types of essays include a short plot summary where writers briefly tell readers what the movie is about, such as exterminating evil. In this type of analysis, writers evaluate the use of the elements above and state whether they make the film great or below expectations. Another feature is a poster showing sceneries to give readers a visual experience of the movie. Such visuals are essential to arouse the reader’s emotions and mental involvement in a movie analysis. Therefore, when writing a film analysis essay, students should focus on telling the story and depicting it.

6 Common Types of a Film Analysis Essay

Students must determine the type of film analysis essay to avoid sounding ignorant and irrelevant when writing about the movie. The most common types are semiotic, narrative, contextual, mise-en-scène, cultural, and historical analyses. Each type requires students to adopt a singular focus, meaning one cannot concentrate effort on elements that do not fall under the study. The reason for these types of analyses is that it is not always possible to understand an entire film in an essay, which is generally a short text of about two to three pages. Nonetheless, it is prudent for students to know how to write each type, meaning understanding the approach and unique features they must discuss and evaluate.

🔸 Semiotic Analysis

A semiotic essay involves discussing, evaluating, and interpreting the use of literary analysis elements, including analogies and metaphors, to inanimate characters and objects. Generally, these elements have different meanings, and students should determine what a particular feature stands for in the film they are analyzing vis-à-vis its broader cultural or historical significance in society. For example, when analyzing the 1958 film Vertigo , one may discuss the symbolism of flowers by stating how some images of them falling apart depict the heroine’s vulnerability. In turn, when conducting a semiotic analysis, one should consider several issues, including the repetition of objects or images throughout the movie, the association of a character with particular objects, and the relation between an object and other objects. Hence, a semiotic analysis essay requires students to examine the use of objects and symbols to communicate a deep meaning.

🔸 Narrative Analysis

A narrative analysis essay involves examining the elements that directors or producers use to construct the storyline, including characters, the plot, the setting, and the narrative structure. As such, students should focus on the entire movie and the message it seeks to communicate. Considering the example above of Vertigo , writers may discuss the narrative role of flowers by analyzing how director Alfred Hitchcock introduces them as the film begins and only brings them up again toward the end to complete the heroine’s character arc. Students should also consider several issues when conducting a narrative analysis essay, including the plot and how it unfolds. For example, one may talk about whether events are systematic or out of order and what that signifies. However, students should not focus on summarizing the plot at the expense of making and defending an argument.

🔸 Contextual Analysis

A contextual analysis of a film is a discussion of the placement of the movie within particular contexts, such as slavery, women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, or the industrial revolution. In this case, filmmakers produce movies and base their identity on the unfolding circumstances or themes defining a particular time in history.

🔸 Mise-en-Scène Analysis

A mise-en-scène analysis essay involves discussing and evaluating compositional elements, including sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting, and how they complement or conflict with cinematography, sound, and editing. The most effective approach in conducting this movie analysis is to focus on one or a few scenes rather than the entire film, telling readers how they support or undermine the plot. As such, mise-en-scène is part of the director’s narrative because this element influences how the audience understands the central message in the production. Taking Vertigo as a case study , one may discuss how Hitchcock incorporates lighting and camera angles to characterize Jimmy Stewart (starring as former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson) as acrophobic. When adopting a mise-en-scène analysis, students should consider how particular scenes create effects and their purpose and how different scenes emphasize a theme central to the plot.

🔸 Cultural Analysis

A cultural analysis essay examines, evaluates, and interprets the broader cultural disposition the director adopts to tell the story. Students must understand that, regardless of a film’s production period, a culture influences its various elements, like characters and their mannerisms. Taking Vertigo as an example, one may interpret the scene where a man observes a woman without her knowing it to mean the sexual policing of women in mid-20th century America. When analyzing the context of a movie, students should consider how the film captures, reinforces, or critiques social norms in a particular culture or era.

🔸 Historical Analysis

A historical analysis essay means writing about a particular film from the perspective of the period underscoring its production. Ideally, filmmakers place their work into a historical context, such as the colonial era or ancient civilizations. Therefore, when writing a film analysis essay, students should focus on the period the director situates its plot.

How to Write a More Technical and Focused Film Analysis Essay

Film analysis helps readers to understand essential details, including the plot and its central themes, characters and their disposition, scenes and significance, and effects and the message they communicate. In this respect, one must be ready to undertake a technical, focused, and vigorous analysis of one or several of these elements. In most instances, instructions dictate the aspects students should write about. However, without such specifications, they should focus on a few elements and examine them vigorously. For example, one may decide to focus on the plot. In this instance, a movie analysis essay must examine the plot from different perspectives, including the characters, central themes, and the message. Such a focused analysis allows readers to gain an in-depth understanding of a particular element of movie reviews instead of an analysis that discusses several elements superficially. Some elements and terms that students can use for writing a film analysis essay include:

• Flashback and flashforward: Flashbacks are scenes that recount events that have a powerful influence on the current or unfolding event. On the other hand, flashforwards are scenes that reveal events that will occur later in the film, and their purpose is to create anticipation in the audience.
• Time framework: Film directors structure time linearly to depict an orderly unfolding of events. The most common time framework is omitting events to move the story forward.
• Setting: The environment within which a director creates a movie, including physical surrounding like a city and period like a year or century.
• Range of events: The different events in a film sustain the plot. Typically, these events directly or indirectly affect protagonists because they facilitate the storyline.
• Cast: The people producing a film, including the main actors and the production crew. However, actors take priority when discussing the cast.
• Plot: The sequence of events that directors create to communicate a central message in a movie analysis. When writing a film analysis essay, students should never ignore this aspect because it underscores the storyline.
• Shot, scene, and sequence: Features that tell the quality of a film but, most importantly, the interconnectivity of elements in the director’s aim to tell a story.
• Genre: The classification of movies into various forms, such as action, documentaries, science fiction, horror, or romance. Knowing a film’s genre under analysis is helpful in identifying the significance of cinematography and mise-en-scène elements.
• Directing: Supervising film production by visualizing the script, controlling and managing the artistic and dramatic aspects, and guiding the actors and technical crew.
• Scenario: The aspect of a movie analysis that provides the audience insight into the plot or characters. Ideally, scenarios are scenes that convey critical details of the storyline, such as climax.
• Acting: The role that individuals play to bring a film’s plot alive. As such, it involves all people who assume different characters in a movie, including protagonists, antagonists, heroes, and heroines.
• Visual effects: The qualities that filmmakers use to bring the action alive, such as images, shots, and scenes. When discussing visual effects in a film analysis essay, students should comment on how they reinforce certain concepts or themes, like mood, fear, and suspense.
• Music and audio effects: Sound and language that enhance the audience’s understanding of the central message. Most films incorporate background sounds in multiple scenes to arouse reactions in the audience.
• Camera angle: The positioning of the camera to capture precise shots in films. Filmmakers use camera angles in relation to scenes and characters to affect the audience’s perception.
• Lighting: A mise-en-scène element that filmmakers use to create different effects in a film. Ideally, movies involve different lighting techniques, such as key light, fill light, and backlight, to guide the audience’s attention, create a visual impact, give the film a texture, or create an atmosphere.
• References: Features that indicate how a film uses dialogue and images in its storyline to allude to, recall, or refer to another movie. Ideally, filmmakers use this feature to contextualize their productions within a cultural or historical space.
• Animation: The use of drawings or puppets with mobility like humans. Although it is a movie genre for analysis today, filmmakers use animation to give objects animal or human qualities, such as walking, talking, crying, or fighting. Animations effectively depict society as a complex system comprising different life systems.
• Protagonist: The character that takes center stage in a film and whom the director uses to construct the plot. While a film’s plot may revolve around several actors, only one is central, and others only assist the main hero in accomplishing agendas. In this respect, when students are writing a film analysis, they should tell the audience the main protagonist(s).
• Antagonist: Characters that stand opposite of protagonists. Filmmakers use them to depict the main character as assailed by forces aiming to thwart their agenda.
• Climax: The point in a movie where the plot peaks and where the protagonist puts into motion a series of events that significantly determine their final experience. These events may include betrayal, heroism, or tragedy. Therefore, one can identify a film’s climax by assessing how the plot intensifies and events directly impacting the protagonist unfolds.
• Hero vs. anti-hero: Heroes stand out as brave because they attempt what others fear. In most movies, protagonists are heroes because they survive what consumes others. On the other hand, an anti-hero is a central character who lacks heroic qualities like bravery but is timid, fearful, frustrating, and irritating. As a result, the audience celebrates heroes under analysis and loath anti-heroes.
• Atmosphere: The environment in which a movie imbues the audience through the sequence of events revolving around the plot. Generally, action films create an intense atmosphere because of the frequency of fights. On the other hand, romantic movies create an emotional atmosphere characterized by attraction and happiness. On their part, horror films create an uneasy atmosphere because of the constant anticipation of evil.
• Background: The technique of capturing an image or object from a distance, often giving other images or objects prominence. Filmmakers use this quality to create a sense of authenticity in scenes. For example, a scene capturing a rioting crowd may have in its background an image of anti-riot police forming a barrier using their bodies. Looking at the imagery, one may see rioters more clearly but also understand the situation’s intensity because of the police in the background.
• Cameo: The dramatic appearance of a famous actor or personality in a movie for various reasons, including fun, publicity, or to give the film credibility. However, such characters do not become protagonists because they appear briefly and only once. When doing a film analysis, students should indicate such personalities and the role they may have played in the plot.
• Cinematography: The artistic use of technology and visual effects to dramatize the sequence of events in a film. Ideally, writers should examine the scenes’ general composition, locations’ lighting, camera angles and movements, and special effects, like illusions or camera tricks.
• Comic relief: A scene that allows the audience to release emotional weight or tension that may have built up due to escalating events with a negative outcome, such as betrayal and a series of murders. Filmmakers interpose comic relief in tragic scenarios to avoid burdening the audience emotionally to the point of refusing to watch the film to its conclusion . The only film genre that rarely uses comic relief is gothic.
• Film critics: Individuals who have made criticizing films a part- or full-time engagement. Ideally, these people watch movies to identify negative qualities, like a confused plot, poor lighting, and sound effects. While one may consider them an appropriate source of film reviews, they rarely highlight a good analysis of a movie.
• Director’s cut: An edited film version that represents the director’s original edit before the release of the theatrical edit that reaches the screens. This part of the film is important because it shows scenes that some editors may cut or altered. By examining the director’s cut, the writer of a film analysis essay looks at the complete production and tells how it may enhance the audience’s viewing experience.
• Foreshadowing: The technique of giving the audience a sneak preview of events yet to unfold to build anticipation and heighten dramatic tension. Filmmakers use this quality early in the film to create excitement in the audience and make them want to view the production to the end. Typically, foreshadowing focuses on events directly affecting the protagonist, such as a tragedy.
• Editing: Perfecting a film by deleting, arranging, and splicing scenes and synchronizing all elements, including cinematography, mise-en-scène, sound, and special effects. The goal of editing is to make a film perfect for airing on the big screen. In this respect, it aims to remove all features affecting quality.
• Long shot: A scene in a film that filmmakers shoot from a considerable distance to give images and objects indistinct shapes, almost unrecognizable. An excellent long shot captures people walking New York City streets from the city’s skyline. While one would know the images are people walking, they cannot describe their demographics, such as age, gender, or race.
• Metaphor: A literary device that allows filmmakers to represent similarities between objects. An example of a metaphor in a movie is a visual metaphor, where filmmakers represent nouns through graphical images to suggest a particular association or resemblance. For example, an advert can represent beauty through the appearance of a flawless face, implying that beauty is equal to a look without flaws. Such an advert increases people’s interest in having a perfect face, leading to purchasing beauty products.
• Montage: The film editing technique where filmmakers combine a series of short shots into one sequence to condense time, establish continuity, or provide contrast. Montages take different forms, including repetition of camera movements, minimal or no dialogue, quick cuts, music, and voice narration.
• New wave: A French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s to pave the way for experimentation and iconoclasm, thus rejecting traditional filmmaking conventions. Filmmakers who subscribed to this wave used film as a medium, like pottery or novels, for telling stories and translating thoughts and ideas by experimenting with form and style.
• Mockumentary traits: Films that assume a documentary genre, although they do not tell true stories. Instead, filmmakers use parody, satire, and humor to describe contemporary society through events, ideas, and emerging trends. Simply put, a movie is a mockumentary if it is a fictional documentary.
• Slow motion: A filmmaking effect where time appears to slow down because the film captures footage at a slower speed. This technique is common for rewinding scenarios to reinforce an idea in the audience. For example, most productions of sports tournaments use slow motion to provide viewers with detailed and perfect shots that leave no room for imagination and analysis.
• Soundtrack: The sound, often music, which filmmakers incorporate in a plot to accompany scenes for heightened effects, such as arousing the audience’s emotions. In most instances, this music plays in the background, often from a low to high intensity and vice versa, depending on the scene.
• Theme: The concept, idea, or principle that emphasizes a film’s plot and central message, such cas sadness, victory, morality, or community. By identifying the themes that a director uses to construct the plot, authors of a film analysis essay can tell the audience their meaning and significance through the story of the protagonist.
• Symmetry: The quality of balancing shots between characters or placing shots symmetrically to each other to create a pattern. For example, visual symmetry involves repeating parts of an image along a path, across an axis, or around a center. Filmmakers use symmetrical patterns to convey a sense of unity or uniformity.
• Symbolism: The literary device of using objects to symbolize ideas. For example, a filmmaker can use a dove to symbolize peace or the color black to symbolize evil. In essence, symbolism allows filmmakers to communicate profound messages to the audience. Therefore, students need to identify symbols representing ideas in film analysis.

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Topic Examples for Writing a Film Analysis Essay

• Video Review: Salt (2010)
• Video Review and Approval of Black Panther (2018)
• Analysis Essay of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Speech “I Call for You to Do More”
• Examining Gender Issues Through Symbolism in The Ugly Truth (2009)
• Discussing the Narrative Structure in The Godfather (1972)
• Evaluating Christopher Nolan’s Use of Mise-en-Scène Elements in Oppenheimer (2023)
• What Features Indicate the Context of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (1993)?
• What Is the Cultural Context of City of God (2002)?
• How Does History Feature as an Element in the Star Wars Trilogy?
• How Does Roman Polanski Employ Flashback and Flashforward to Tell the Story of Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist (2002)?
• Discussing the Conception of Time in The Matrix (1999)
• How Does the Setting of The Departed (2006) Underscore the Film’s Contemporary Significance?
• Describing the Chronology of Events in The Bark Night Rises (2012)
• How Does Casting Affect the Plot in American Beauty (1992)?
• What Central Themes Describe the Plot in Inglorious Bastards (2009)?
• Discussing How Scenes in Idiots (2009) Facilitate the Plot
• Analysis of Gothic Elements in the Horror Genre via the Lens of The Mummy (2017)
• Evaluating Mel Gibson’s Directing of The Braveheart (1995)
• Discussing the Scenarios that Construct the Climax in Capernaum (2018)
• Evaluating Al Pacino’s Acting in Scarface (1983)
• Analyzing the Significance of Visual Effects in Film From the Perspective of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• How Does Sound Affect the Audience in Monster House (2006)?
• Evaluating How Camera Angle Enrich Viewer Experience in Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
• How Does Lighting Fit in the Gothic Film Sleepy Hollow (1999)?
• How Does Steven Spielberg Employ References in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)?
• Analysis of Animation in a Film From the Perspective of King Kong (1933)
• Who Is the Protagonist in The Wolf of Wallstreet (2013) and Why?
• What Makes Saruman the Antagonist in The Lord of the Rings Series?
• How Does Climax Underpin the Plot in Casino (1995)?
• Analyzing the Difference Between Heroes and Anti-Heroes via the Lenses of Black Panther (2018) and Black Adam (2022)
• How Does Suspense Create an Atmosphere of Anticipation in Black Swan (2010)?
• Discussing How Background Influences Viewer Experience in No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Evaluating the Impact of Harrison Ford’s Appearance in  Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
• How Does M. Night Shyamalan Employ Cinematography in The Sixth Sense (1999)?
• Explaining Comic Relief in Film Using Uncut Gems (2019) as a Case Study
• Criticizing Jurassic Park (1993) from the Perspective of Cinematography
• How Does Director’s Cut Enrich the Storyline in Blade Runner (1982)?
• Exploring Foreshadowing in the Film Using 12 Years a Slave (2013)
• Explaining the Link Between Film Editing and Quality Using Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) as an Example
• How Do Long Shots Affect Viewers’ Experience in Film?
• Understanding a Visual Metaphor in Hotel Rwanda (2004)
• How Does Dialogue Underscore Montage in The Terminator (1984)?
• Analysis of How the Mid-20th Century New Wave Impacted French Filmmaking
• How Does Forgotten Silver (1995) Incorporate Mocumentary Traits?
• What Role Does Slow Motion Play in Films?
• Analyzing the Importance of Soundtracks From the Perspective of Horror Films
• How Do Film Directors Use Themes as Conveyors of the Central Message?
• Discussing How Symmetry Affects the Quality of Films
• Exploring Symbolism in the Film Using Angels & Demons (2009)

Sample Outline Template for Writing a Film Analysis Essay

I. College Essay Introduction

• Introduce the film’s title, followed by the director’s name and year of production.
• Give a short description of the film or some context underpinning its release.
• End this paragraph with a thesis statement about the film.

II. Summary

• Overview the film by describing its context, setting, plot, and main characters.

III. Analysis

• Describe several scenes in more detail by focusing on various elements, including cinematography, mise-en-scène, and others that help to evaluate the film.
• Provide and cite some scenes as details and supporting evidence for analysis.
• Evaluate and interpret the use of the above elements.

IV. Conclusion

• Remind the audience about the film’s context and plot.
• Recapitulate information in the analysis section.
• Interpret the film’s significance.

Example of a Film Analysis Essay

Topic: What Features Indicate the Context of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (1993)?

I. Example of Writing an Introduction for a Film Analysis Essay

Films play a crucial role in educating people about the context within which movies come into their lives. Ideally, filmmakers implement various societal elements to construct ideas and use cinema as a conveyor belt to pass movies to different populations. Therefore, analyzing the film’s context is critical in understanding the ideas that the director embraced to produce the work. Several features in the 1993 film The Joy Luck Club indicate the film’s context.

II. Example of Writing a Summary Paragraph for a Film Analysis Essay

Directed by Wayne Wang, The Joy Luck Club tells the story of an Asian woman named Jun, born of the late Suyuan, who founded the Joy Luck Club social group. The movie’s plot revolves around the experiences of Asian mothers as immigrants in America from the perspective of their daughters. In this respect, the film takes a narrative approach. The movie’s setting alternates between San Francisco, California, and China, with the scenes in San Francisco representing the present day. Set in the 1980s, the storyline takes the viewer across generations. In this case, the mothers have flashbacks of the 1920s and 1940s.

III. Example of Writing an Analysis Paragraph for a Film Essay

A. physical landscape.

A key feature that reveals the context of The Joy Luck Club is the physical landscape. The film captures San Francisco as an urban place populated by buildings, busy streets, and a coastline. The movie contrasts this landscape with the mountainous landscape in China, where natural elements exceed physical structures.

B. Cultural Nuances

Another feature that reveals the film’s context is cultural nuances between mothers and their daughters. The viewer learns how mothers went through a world so different from that of their daughters to the extent they loathe some of the behaviors and mannerisms they see in them. However, the viewer can tell that some cultural differences between mothers and daughters may explain why there is confusion between two generations. Born in the conservative Chinese culture, mothers experience a cultural shock once in America, which does not happen for their daughters because they have only experienced the liberal American culture. In this respect, life values and perspectives of mothers and their daughters are constantly in conflict.

C. Conflict Between Generations

Although the scenes in San Francisco and China are essential to the storyline, cultural nuances of mothers and their daughters take center stage in a conflict between generations in the film. While daughters seem relaxed and willing to engage in fantasies, their mothers insist they embrace education as the noblest achievement. As such, two generations are always at loggerheads about leisure time because mothers seek to utilize every minute to work, while daughters want to have fun most of the time. Ironically, mothers see education as the tool to make their daughters truly American because it determines their quality of life.

IV. Example of Writing a Conclusion for a Film Analysis Essay

The Joy Luck Club exposes the experiences of Chinese mothers in America, showing some cultural nuances that influence their relationships with their daughters. The film depicts immigration as crucial to the women’s experiences in the movie because it is the avenue through which mothers arrived in America. In essence, the film depicts mothers as caring despite their unpleasant experiences and their daughters’ ignorance.

4 Easy Steps for Writing a Film Analysis Essay

Writing a good film analysis essay is a technical process that requires students to grasp and demonstrate certain qualities. Ideally, one should know how to produce a high-standard paper, including adequate preparation, stage setup, creating an initial draft, and perfecting a final draft. These details summarize the steps of writing a great film analysis essay.

Step 1: Preparation

Preparation is the first step of writing a film analysis essay and involves several tasks. The first aspect is defining possible essay topics if instructions from tutors do not specify them. In turn, one may select film research paper topics that are easy yet challenging. The second task is to generate ideas that the audience can relate to, such as the cultural or historical issues in the film.

Step 2: Stage Set Up

Setting the stage is the second step of writing a film analysis essay. It involves watching the film to understand its context and plot and using cinematography and other elements. The second task is to research credible sources that help to analyze the movie, such as scholarly reviews and scholarship on film, including gothic movies and the use of literary or rhetorical devices . The next task is to create a clear essay outline according to the sample above.

Step 3: The Writing Process of Starting a First Draft

The third step of writing a film analysis essay is to write a paper focusing on producing an initial draft. The text activity should combine all ideas to create a document with a logical order of ideas and content. Some of the activities in this stage include adding or deleting reliable sources to fit a paper and altering an initial outline to organize ideas. Students should also focus on developing a clear thesis statement when writing the introduction because it summarizes the paper’s aim. Students should adopt evidence-based writing by incorporating evidence and corresponding citations in the body. The last aspect is to restate the thesis and summarize the analysis in the conclusion by mentioning the most critical points.

Step 4: Wrap-Up and Finishing a Final Draft

The final step of writing a film analysis essay is to wrap it up by perfecting a first draft. In this respect, students should focus on revising their first drafts to eliminate flaws like inconsistent ideas. The second task is to edit a film analysis essay by adding to deleting words and sentences to foster a logical flow of thought. Students should also ensure each body paragraph has a topic sentence , evidence, scenes, or details cited from academic sources or films, explanation and analysis sentences, concluding remark, and transition to the next paragraph, not forgetting to check if the paper’s formatting is perfect. Concerning formatting, students should adopt one style in the entire document: APA , MLA , Harvard , or Chicago/Turabian . Considering The Joy Luck Club , templates and examples of citations should read as follows:

📕 Citing a Film in APA

• Reference entry: Wang, W. (Director). (1993). The Joy Luck Club [Film]. Walt Disney Studios.
• In-text citation: (Wang, 1993, 00:46:00-00:50:00)

📕 Citing a Film in MLA

• Work Cited entry: The Joy Luck Club . Directed by Wayne Wang, performances by Suyuan Woo and Rose Hsu Jordan, Walt Disney Studios, 1993.
• In-text citation: ( The Joy Luck Club 00:46:00-00:50:00)

📕 Citing a Film in Harvard

• Reference List entry: The Joy Luck Club (1993). Directed by Wayne Wang. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios.
• In-text citation: ( The Joy Luck Club 1993, 00:46:00-00:50:00)

📕 Citing a Film in Chicago/Turabian

• Bibliography entry: Wang, Wayne, director. The Joy Luck Club . Walt Disney Studios, 1993.
• Footnote: 1. The Joy Luck Club , directed by Wayne Wang (Walt Disney Studios, 1993), 00:46:00-00:50:00.

20 Tips for Writing a Good Film Analysis Essay

Students must learn essential tips for writing a high-standard film analysis essay. These tips include watching a specific film before starting a movie analysis paper; determining the aspects to cover, such as the plot, cinematography, context, or setting; selecting suitable sources to construct ideas and defend arguments; and creating a well-organized outline.

10 things to do when writing a film analysis essay include:

• watching the film at least once;
• considering the audience;
• commenting on the acting;
• criticizing the directing by mentioning cinematography, mise-en-scène, or special effects;
• supporting the criticism;
• talking about the plot;
• consulting professional reviewers, like Roger Ebert and Rotten Tomatoes;
• reading, rereading, editing, and revising;
• cultivating a personal voice to demonstrate knowledge;
• proofreading the final text.

10 things not to do include:

• retelling the film;
• overusing sentences;
• generalizing ideas;
• continuously comparing the movie with its adaptations, like a book or novel;
• ignoring or doing superficial research;
• telling irrelevant details;
• writing poorly with too many grammar and format errors;
• getting too personal;
• reviewing another film;
• plagiarizing reviews.

Summing Up on How to Write a Perfect Film Analysis Essay

• Watch a chosen film while notetaking.
• Read several reviews focusing on the plot, context, setting, characters, scenes, and elements, like cinematography and mise-en-scène.
• Create a list of ideas.
• Organize the ideas to fit various aspects of a film indicated above: plot, context, and other elements.
• Write an appropriate introduction.
• Summarize the film.
• Analyze the film by exploring one or several aspects comprehensively.
• Write a conclusion, which must satisfy the audience.

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Film Analysis

Crafting a Winning Thesis Statement in Film Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide

Dec 6, 2023

Avinash Prabhakaran

Film analysis is a captivating and insightful way to explore the world of cinema. Whether you're a film student, a cinephile, or just someone who enjoys dissecting movies, you'll find that forming a solid thesis statement is the cornerstone of a successful film analysis. 

A thesis statement serves as the roadmap for your analysis, guiding your reader through your interpretation of the film's elements and themes. 

In this blog post, we'll outline the steps to help you craft an effective thesis statement for your film analysis.

Understand the Film's Context

Before diving into your analysis, it's crucial to understand the film's context. This includes the director's background, the film's era, its genre, and any cultural or historical factors that may have influenced its production. Gathering this context will help you form a more informed thesis statement.

Watch the Film Multiple Times

You must thoroughly watch the film multiple times to craft a thoughtful thesis statement. Each viewing will reveal new details and nuances that you may have missed initially. Take notes during your viewings to record your observations and ideas.

Identify Key Themes and Elements

During your viewings, pay close attention to the film's themes, characters, plot, cinematography, sound, and other elements. Think about what the director is trying to convey and how they use these elements. Make a list of the most prominent themes and elements you observe.

Formulate a Research Question

Based on your observations and analysis, formulate a research question you want to answer in your essay. This question should be open-ended and should invite critical thinking. For example, "How does the use of color symbolism in 'The Shawshank Redemption' reflect the theme of hope?

Brainstorm and Organize Ideas

Now, brainstorm your ideas related to the research question. Think about the evidence you've gathered and how it supports your interpretation of the film. Organize these ideas into a logical structure that will guide your analysis.

Craft a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement should be concise, clear, and arguable. It should encapsulate the main argument of your analysis and give the reader a clear sense of what to expect in your essay. Here are some tips for crafting a solid thesis statement:

Make it specific:  Avoid vague or overly broad statements. Be precise in what you're arguing.

Make it debatable:  Your thesis should invite discussion and disagreement. Avoid stating the obvious.

Make it relevant:  Ensure that your thesis directly addresses the research question and the film's themes or elements.

Example Thesis Statement:

"In Christopher Nolan's 'Inception,' the use of dreams as a narrative device serves to blur the line between reality and perception, challenging conventional notions of truth and subjectivity."

Examples to Support the Thesis:

Dreams as a Narrative Device

Throughout 'Inception,' the characters enter various dream levels, each with its own set of rules and physics. Nolan uses this complex narrative structure to keep the audience engaged and constantly questioning what is real.

The manipulation of time within dreams adds another layer of complexity to the narrative. Time moves differently at each dream level, leading to intricate storytelling that challenges traditional linear storytelling.

Blurring Reality and Perception

The film consistently blurs the boundaries between dreams and reality, making it difficult for the characters and the audience to distinguish between them. This intentional ambiguity creates a sense of unease and intrigue.

The use of the spinning top as a totem to determine reality in the film's closing scene encapsulates the theme of perception versus reality. The spinning top symbolizes the characters' struggle to discern the truth.

Challenging Conventional Notions of Truth and Subjectivity

'Inception' invites viewers to question their understanding of reality and truth. The film challenges the idea of an objective reality by presenting multiple layers of dreams and subjective experiences.

The film's enigmatic ending, which leaves the spinning top's fate unresolved, forces viewers to confront their subjectivity and interpretation of the story's conclusion.

By examining these specific examples, it becomes evident how using dreams as a narrative device in 'Inception' blurs the line between reality and perception, ultimately challenging conventional notions of truth and subjectivity as proposed in the thesis statement. 

This exemplifies the importance of using concrete evidence from the film to validate your interpretation as outlined in your thesis statement.

Forming a thesis statement in film analysis is vital in creating a compelling and well-structured essay. 

By understanding the film's context, closely examining its elements, and crafting a clear and arguable thesis statement, you'll be well on your way to conducting a thorough and insightful analysis that will engage your readers and deepen your understanding of cinema. Happy analyzing!

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101 Riveting Drama Story Prompts

Do you want to write a drama but need help conjuring compelling dramatic stories and concepts? Sometimes reading simple genre story prompts is the easiest way to get those creative juices flowing.

We get our ideas from many sources — news headlines, novels, television shows, movies, our lives, our fears, our phobias, etc. They can come from a scene or moment in a film that wasn’t fully explored. They can come from a single visual that entices the creative mind — a seed that continues to grow and grow until the writer is forced to finally put it to paper or screen.

They may inspire screenplays, novels, short stories, or even smaller moments that you can include in what stories you are already writing.

Read More: Dead Poets Society's Tom Schulman on How to Write an Oscar-Winning Drama

101 Drama Story Prompts

1. Long-lost twins find each other.

2. A father deals with the death of his whole family after a tragic accident.

3. A mother struggles with grief after losing her oldest child.

4. A recently divorced man returns to his hometown and reconnects with his childhood sweetheart.

5. A rich executive realizes the error of their ways and sells everything to travel the world.

6. A family discovers the truth about ancestors.

7. A father and son go on a safari to reconnect.

8. A family befriends a homeless person.

9. Parents learn that their college-age daughter has disappeared.

10. A man befriends the drunk driver who killed his parents.

11. A mother wants to realize her life-long dream and train for the Olympics.

12. A father is tasked with coaching his son's soccer team, even though he has never played the sport.

13. A teacher deals with returning to school after a mass shooting.

14. A group of teen friends decides to stop their partying ways after a friend dies after a party.

15. A little boy struggles to fit in with the kids living in his new neighborhood.

16. A family that loses everything in a fire must rebuild their lives.

17. A family must adjust to the PTSD of the father after returning home from war.

18. An estranged family is reunited.

19. The President of the United States and his family go incognito to live a normal life.

21. A group of friends goes on a quest to bury a time capsule after one of their own dies.

22. A family travels to the American Frontier to find their new home.

23. A star baseball recruit struggles to decide whether he should take a scholarship or go pro.

24. A teen comes out of the closet in the rural Midwest.

25. Siblings learn that their parents were Soviet Union-era, sleeper agents.

26. A family on a wilderness retreat takes in a wounded bank robber.

27. A rich and affluent family loses everything and must live in the ghetto.

28. A group of families decides to move out of the city and live in a commune, cut off from the corrupt society.

29. A family sells everything to buy a sailboat to sail around the world.

30. A family finds a wild wolf pup.

31. Siblings start a successful business after their parents lose their jobs.

32. Two brothers do everything they can to ensure that their family gets to keep their house.

33. Two sisters navigate the difficult world of teen angst as their parents navigate the difficult world of keeping up with the Joneses.

34. A family decides to buy their own island.

36. A racecar driver dies, and his family struggles with grief.

37. An African-American family escapes the crime-ridden ghetto and moves into the suburbs.

38. A woman travels the world in search of love.

39. A family on a canoe trip is whisked away down the Mississippi River during a horrible storm and flood.

40. Kids discover an underground mine shaft and are trapped within it.

41. A bullied boy struggles to stand up to the bullies that torment him.

42. A bullied girl struggles to stand up to the mean girls of the school.

43. A family must survive when their plane crashes.

44. A family is willed in an old castle.

45. Two divorcees meet in a diner as one waits for a bus.

46. A man and woman fall in love during a layover.

48. A town must survive the worst flood in history.

49. A lawyer goes up against the government.

50. Overwhelmed parents leave their kids home and go for an adult vacation.

51. A small farm family avoids the invading armies of World War III.

52. An outcast nerd decides to organize an alternative Prom for other outcasts.

53. An Asian-American teen living in the rural south struggles to realize his dream of becoming a country music singer.

54. Athletic siblings from a split home face up against each other in the state tournament.

55. A dog struggles to find the right human family.

56. Puppy siblings separated by pet adoption escape bad homes to find each other.

57. Siblings in an orphanage escape and find their beloved aunt and uncle.

58. Past prison cellmates find each other after thirty years.

59. A WWII veteran struggles to return to normal life.

60. Two groups of kids from rival gangs are forced to live together in a house.

61. A boy from a rich and spoiled family wants them to live without their mansion, belongings, and money for a year.

62. A rich boy and poor girl convince their families to switch places for a year.

63. A family sailing the ocean waters must overcome the worst hurricane in history.

64. A grief-stricken cop that killed a teen struggles to reconcile with the family.

65. A mentally-challenged student wants to make the football team.

66. A physically-challenged student wants to letter in every sport in high school.

68. A woman that spent 30 years in prison returns to her hometown.

69. A father struggles with becoming a stay-at-home dad.

70. A woman that grew up in a family of football star boys decides to become the high school football coach.

71.  A family struggling in life sell everything to move to Hawaii.

72. A local town bands together as miners are trapped in the local mine.

73. Parents deal with their son robbing a bank and being on the run.

74. A city family inherits a farm.

75. A riverboat captain and his children attempt the first trip down the Mississippi River.

76. Childhood friends have reunited after thirty years apart.

77. The son of a poor family struggles to attain a sports scholarship so he can go to college.

78. A teenage girl decides to join the football team.

79. A World War II-era family starts a minor league baseball team to uplift the town.

80. The high janitor that students make fun of is actually a war hero.

81. A family adopts a puppy after losing the family dog.

82. A family is tasked with going on a unique scavenger hunt at the behest of the grandpa's last will and testament.

83. A girl overwhelmed by middle school drama decides to be homeschooled.

85. Siblings mourn the death of their father and inherit his business.

86. A grumpy executive is forced to live with his family after a stroke.

87. A family must find each other after the worst earthquake in human history.

88. A family discovers that they are the descendants of Hitler.

89. A girl with Asperger's Syndrome befriends a horse.

90. A disgraced boxer begins to train youth boxers.

91. A disgraced professional baseball manager starts a baseball team of inner-city kids.

93. A stay-at-home mother deals with empty nest syndrome.

94. A successful female executive leaves her career to spend quality time with her husband and children.

95. A young student has a crush on their teacher.

96. Former middle school best friends decide to have an old school sleepover after they've all gone their separate ways in high school.

97. A Post Civil War-era Union soldier returns to his southern hometown.

98. A beloved school teacher loses his family as the community bands together to become his new family.

99. A mob boss goes into the witness protection program and struggles to adjust to life in the suburbs.

100. The life of a girl is told as she grows into an adult.

101. A family decides to move into a lighthouse and take on the daily duties within.

Share this with your writing peers or anyone that loves a good dramatic story. Have some prompts of your own? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter !

WANT MORE IDEAS? TAKE A LOOK AT OUR OTHER  STORY PROMPTS !

What entails a drama concept.

Drama can be best defined as a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces. While other definitions can be found, this is best applied to the cinematic context of film and television.  Screenplays and teleplays focus on situations or series of events that involve interesting conflict — with the best kind of drama containing conflict that is intense and cathartic.  Conflict is everything in film and television. Without it, there is no story to tell. Nothing is interesting about a character that doesn't struggle in some way, shape, or form.

Drama is also recognized as a specific genre of storytelling featuring realistic characters forced to deal with true-to-life issues and conflicts.  Yes, there is drama found in superhero movies, spy thrillers, and suspenseful horror stories. However, a drama — as defined by genre definitions — is a story that is embedded explicitly within reality, often involving characters that audiences can identify with because the conflicts they face are everyday struggles.

Read More: The Single Difference Between Cinematic Drama and Melodrama

Please note: Because we’re all connected to the same pop culture, news headlines, and inspirations, any similarity to any past, present, or future screenplays, novels, short stories, television pilots, television series, plays, or any other creative works is purely coincidence. These story writing prompts were conceived on the fly without any research or Google search for inspiration.

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, and Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout , starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner, the feature thriller Hunter’s Creed , and many Lifetime thrillers. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies.

Step By Step Guide to Writing an Essay on Film

By Film Threat Staff | December 29, 2021

Writing an essay about a film sounds like a fun assignment to do. As part of the assignment, you get to watch the movie and write an analytical essay about your impressions. However, you will soon find that you’re staring at an empty sheet of paper or computer screen with no idea what to write, how to start writing your essay, or the essential points that need to be covered and analyzed. As an  essay writing service proves, watching the movie countless times isn’t all there is to write a film analysis essay. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you with an essay service :

1. Watch the Movie

This is the obvious starting point, but surprisingly many students skip this step. It doesn’t matter if you’ve watched the movie twice before. If you’re asked to write an essay about it, you need to watch it again. Watching the film again allows you to pay more attention to specific elements to help you write an in-depth analysis about it.  

Watching the movie is crucial because it helps you not specific parts of the movie that can be used as illustrations and examples in your essay. You’re also going to explore and analyze the movie theme within your structured plan. Some of the critical elements that you have to look out for while watching the movie that may be crucial for your essay are:

• Key plot moments
• Editing style
• Stylistic elements
• Scenario execution
• Musical elements

2. Introduction

Your introduction will contain essential information about the film, such as the title, release date, director’s name, etc. This familiarizes the reader with the movie’s primary background information. In addition, researching the filmmaker may be crucial for your essay because it may help you discover valuable insights for your film analysis.

The introduction should also mention the movie’s central theme and explain why you think it was made that way.

Do not forget to include your thesis statement, which explains your focus on the movie.

3. Write a Summary

According to an  essay writing service  providing students   help with essays , a movie summary comes after the introduction. It includes the film’s basic premise, but it doesn’t have to reveal too many details about the film. It’s a summary, after all. Write the summary like your readers have not heard about the movie before, so you can mention the most basic plots but assume you have minimal time so you won’t be going into great details.

4. Write Your Analysis

This is the central part of the essay in which you analyze the movie critically and state your impressions about the film. Ensure to support your claims with relevant materials from the movie.

There are also several creative elements in a movie that are connected to make the film a whole. You must pay attention to these elements while watching the movie and analyze them in this part of the essay.

In this, you are looking out for the dialogs, character development, completion of scenes, and logical event sequences in the film to analyze.

Ensure you try to understand the logic behind events in the film and the actor’s motives to explain the scenario better.

The responsibility of different parts of the movie, such as plan selection and scenario execution, falls on the director. So, your analysis here focuses on how the director realized the script compared to his other movies. Understanding the director’s style of directing may be crucial to coming up with a conclusion relevant to your analysis and thesis.

The casting of a film is a significant element to consider in your essay. Without a great actor, the scriptwriter and director can’t bring their ideas to life. So, watch the actor’s acting and determine if they portrayed the character effectively and if their acting aligns with the film’s main idea.

• Musical element

A movie’s musical element enhances some of the sceneries or actions in the film and sets the mood. It has a massive impact on the movie, so it’s an essential element to analyze in your essay.

• Visual elements

This includes special effects, make-up, costumes, etc., which significantly impact the film. These elements must reflect the film’s atmosphere. It is even more crucial for historical movies since it has to be specific about an era.

Ensure to analyze elements relevant to your thesis statement, so you don’t drift from your main point.

5. Conclusion

In concluding your essay, you have to summarize the primary concepts more convincingly to support your analysis. Finally, you may include a CTA for readers to watch or avoid the movie.

These are the crucial steps to take when writing an essay about a film . Knowing this beforehand prevents you from struggling to start writing after watching the movie.

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It’s really amazing instructions! I have got the great knowledge.

[…] now and then. Unfortunately, not all of us can afford to get cinema tickets to do so.  Some…Writing an essay about a film sounds like a fun assignment to do. As part of the assignment, you get…Since a few decades the film and entertainment sector have undergone some drastic transformation. […]

I can’t list the number of essays that don’t follow this format in the least. But then I find most reviews of movies terrible and most people who purport themselves to be writers as people who need to spend more time drafting and editing before publishing.

Thanks for this

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Film Analysis

What this handout is about.

This handout introduces film analysis and and offers strategies and resources for approaching film analysis assignments.

Writing the film analysis essay

Writing a film analysis requires you to consider the composition of the film—the individual parts and choices made that come together to create the finished piece. Film analysis goes beyond the analysis of the film as literature to include camera angles, lighting, set design, sound elements, costume choices, editing, etc. in making an argument. The first step to analyzing the film is to watch it with a plan.

Watching the film

First it’s important to watch the film carefully with a critical eye. Consider why you’ve been assigned to watch a film and write an analysis. How does this activity fit into the course? Why have you been assigned this particular film? What are you looking for in connection to the course content? Let’s practice with this clip from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). Here are some tips on how to watch the clip critically, just as you would an entire film:

• Give the clip your undivided attention at least once. Pay close attention to details and make observations that might start leading to bigger questions.
• Watch the clip a second time. For this viewing, you will want to focus specifically on those elements of film analysis that your class has focused on, so review your course notes. For example, from whose perspective is this clip shot? What choices help convey that perspective? What is the overall tone, theme, or effect of this clip?
• Take notes while you watch for the second time. Notes will help you keep track of what you noticed and when, if you include timestamps in your notes. Timestamps are vital for citing scenes from a film!

For more information on watching a film, check out the Learning Center’s handout on watching film analytically . For more resources on researching film, including glossaries of film terms, see UNC Library’s research guide on film & cinema .

Brainstorming ideas

Once you’ve watched the film twice, it’s time to brainstorm some ideas based on your notes. Brainstorming is a major step that helps develop and explore ideas. As you brainstorm, you may want to cluster your ideas around central topics or themes that emerge as you review your notes. Did you ask several questions about color? Were you curious about repeated images? Perhaps these are directions you can pursue.

If you’re writing an argumentative essay, you can use the connections that you develop while brainstorming to draft a thesis statement . Consider the assignment and prompt when formulating a thesis, as well as what kind of evidence you will present to support your claims. Your evidence could be dialogue, sound edits, cinematography decisions, etc. Much of how you make these decisions will depend on the type of film analysis you are conducting, an important decision covered in the next section.

After brainstorming, you can draft an outline of your film analysis using the same strategies that you would for other writing assignments. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind as you prepare for this stage of the assignment:

• Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment, so your thesis should answer what the prompt asks. Check with your professor if you are unsure.
• In most cases, the director’s name is used to talk about the film as a whole, for instance, “Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo .” However, some writers may want to include the names of other persons who helped to create the film, including the actors, the cinematographer, and the sound editor, among others.
• When describing a sequence in a film, use the literary present. An example could be, “In Vertigo , Hitchcock employs techniques of observation to dramatize the act of detection.”
• Finding a screenplay/script of the movie may be helpful and save you time when compiling citations. But keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
• Go beyond describing basic film elements by articulating the significance of these elements in support of your particular position. For example, you may have an interpretation of the striking color green in Vertigo , but you would only mention this if it was relevant to your argument. For more help on using evidence effectively, see the section on “using evidence” in our evidence handout .

Also be sure to avoid confusing the terms shot, scene, and sequence. Remember, a shot ends every time the camera cuts; a scene can be composed of several related shots; and a sequence is a set of related scenes.

Different types of film analysis

As you consider your notes, outline, and general thesis about a film, the majority of your assignment will depend on what type of film analysis you are conducting. This section explores some of the different types of film analyses you may have been assigned to write.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is the interpretation of signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors and analogies to both inanimate objects and characters within a film. Because symbols have several meanings, writers often need to determine what a particular symbol means in the film and in a broader cultural or historical context.

For instance, a writer could explore the symbolism of the flowers in Vertigo by connecting the images of them falling apart to the vulnerability of the heroine.

Here are a few other questions to consider for this type of analysis:

• What objects or images are repeated throughout the film?
• How does the director associate a character with small signs, such as certain colors, clothing, food, or language use?
• How does a symbol or object relate to other symbols and objects, that is, what is the relationship between the film’s signs?

Many films are rich with symbolism, and it can be easy to get lost in the details. Remember to bring a semiotic analysis back around to answering the question “So what?” in your thesis.

Narrative analysis

Narrative analysis is an examination of the story elements, including narrative structure, character, and plot. This type of analysis considers the entirety of the film and the story it seeks to tell.

For example, you could take the same object from the previous example—the flowers—which meant one thing in a semiotic analysis, and ask instead about their narrative role. That is, you might analyze how Hitchcock introduces the flowers at the beginning of the film in order to return to them later to draw out the completion of the heroine’s character arc.

To create this type of analysis, you could consider questions like:

• How does the film correspond to the Three-Act Structure: Act One: Setup; Act Two: Confrontation; and Act Three: Resolution?
• What is the plot of the film? How does this plot differ from the narrative, that is, how the story is told? For example, are events presented out of order and to what effect?
• Does the plot revolve around one character? Does the plot revolve around multiple characters? How do these characters develop across the film?

When writing a narrative analysis, take care not to spend too time on summarizing at the expense of your argument. See our handout on summarizing for more tips on making summary serve analysis.

Cultural/historical analysis

One of the most common types of analysis is the examination of a film’s relationship to its broader cultural, historical, or theoretical contexts. Whether films intentionally comment on their context or not, they are always a product of the culture or period in which they were created. By placing the film in a particular context, this type of analysis asks how the film models, challenges, or subverts different types of relations, whether historical, social, or even theoretical.

For example, the clip from Vertigo depicts a man observing a woman without her knowing it. You could examine how this aspect of the film addresses a midcentury social concern about observation, such as the sexual policing of women, or a political one, such as Cold War-era McCarthyism.

A few of the many questions you could ask in this vein include:

• How does the film comment on, reinforce, or even critique social and political issues at the time it was released, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality?
• How might a biographical understanding of the film’s creators and their historical moment affect the way you view the film?
• How might a specific film theory, such as Queer Theory, Structuralist Theory, or Marxist Film Theory, provide a language or set of terms for articulating the attributes of the film?

Take advantage of class resources to explore possible approaches to cultural/historical film analyses, and find out whether you will be expected to do additional research into the film’s context.

Mise-en-scène analysis

A mise-en-scène analysis attends to how the filmmakers have arranged compositional elements in a film and specifically within a scene or even a single shot. This type of analysis organizes the individual elements of a scene to explore how they come together to produce meaning. You may focus on anything that adds meaning to the formal effect produced by a given scene, including: blocking, lighting, design, color, costume, as well as how these attributes work in conjunction with decisions related to sound, cinematography, and editing. For example, in the clip from Vertigo , a mise-en-scène analysis might ask how numerous elements, from lighting to camera angles, work together to present the viewer with the perspective of Jimmy Stewart’s character.

To conduct this type of analysis, you could ask:

• What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
• How does this scene represent the theme of the movie?
• How does a scene work to express a broader point to the film’s plot?

This detailed approach to analyzing the formal elements of film can help you come up with concrete evidence for more general film analysis assignments.

Reviewing your draft

Once you have a draft, it’s helpful to get feedback on what you’ve written to see if your analysis holds together and you’ve conveyed your point. You may not necessarily need to find someone who has seen the film! Ask a writing coach, roommate, or family member to read over your draft and share key takeaways from what you have written so far.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. 1988. L’analyse Des Films . Paris: Nathan.

Media & Design Center. n.d. “Film and Cinema Research.” UNC University Libraries. Last updated February 10, 2021. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/filmresearch .

Oxford Royale Academy. n.d. “7 Ways to Watch Film.” Oxford Royale Academy. Accessed April 2021. https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/7-ways-watch-films-critically/ .

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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13.1: Fiction and Drama - types, terms and sample essay

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WHAT ARE THE MAIN LITERARY FORMS?

The main literary forms are Fiction, Drama & Poetry .

Although each of the three major literary genres, fiction, drama, and poetry are different, they have many elements in common. For example, in all three genres, authors make purposeful use of diction (word choice), employ imagery (significant detail) and each piece of literature has its own unique tone (emotional quality). An important element that you will find in all three genres is theme, the larger meaning(s) the reader derives from the poem, story, novel or play.

Each of the literary genres is distinguished by its form: Fiction is written in sentences and paragraphs. Poetry is written in lines and stanzas. Drama is written in dialogue.

WHY IS KNOWING THEM IMPORTANT?

As you read different forms of literature you will need to know specialized vocabulary to be able to best understand, interpret, and write about what you are reading. Also, how you approach a literary text and what you focus on will depend on its literary form. For instance, fiction and drama are typically anchored by a reader’s engagement with characters while many poems do not contain a character or tell a story. Therefore, plot is often not a factor in a poem . A poem can be an impression or reflection about a person, a place, an experience or an idea.

HOW DO I APPROACH EACH FORM?

KNOW THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FICTION:

Short Stories are usually defined as being between 2000-6000 words long. Most short stories have at least one “rounded” (developed and complex) character and any number of “flat” (less-developed, simpler) characters. Short stories tend to focus on one major source of conflict and often take place within one basic time period.

Novellas generally run between 50-150 pages, halfway between a story and a novel.

Novels don’t have a prescribed length. Because they are a longer form of fiction, an author has more freedom to work with plot and characters, as well as develop sub-plots and move freely through time. Characters can change and develop over the course of time and the theme(s) can be broader and more intricate than in shorter forms of fiction.

KNOW THE DIFFERENT TYPES AND STRUCTURE OF DRAMA:

Drama Types

Tragedy – generally serious in tone, focusing on a protagonist who experiences an eventual downfall

Comedy – light in tone, employs humor and ends happily

Satire – exaggerated and comic in tone for the purpose of criticism or ridicule

Experimental – can be light or serious in tone. It creates its own style through experimentation with language, characters, plot, etc.

Musical – can be light or serious. The majority of the dialogue is sung rather than spoken.

Drama Structure

Plays are organized into dialogue, scenes and acts. A play can be made up one act or multiple acts. Each act is divided into scenes, in which a character, or characters, come on or off stage and speak their lines. A play can have only one character or many characters. The main character is the protagonist and a character who opposes him/her is the antagonist .

The plots of plays typically follow this pattern:

• Rising Action – complications the protagonist must face, composed of any number of conflicts and crises
• Climax – the peak of the rising action and the turning point for the protagonist
• Falling Action – the movement toward a resolution

COMMONALITIES OF FICTION AND DRAMA TERMS

Both fiction and drama are typically anchored by plot and character. They also contain literary themes as well as having other elements in common, so we will look at literary terms that can be applied to both of these literary forms.

Fiction and Drama Terms

PLOT: Plot is the unfolding of a dramatic situation; it is what happens in the narrative. Be aware that writers of fiction arrange fictional events into patterns. They select these events carefully, they establish causal relationships among events, and they enliven these events with conflict. Therefore, more accurately defined, plot is a pattern of carefully selected, casually related events that contain conflict. There are two general categories of conflict: internal conflict , takes place within the minds of the characters and external conflict , takes place between individuals or between individuals and the world external to the individuals (the forces of nature, human created objects, and environments). The forces in a conflict are usually embodied by characters, the most relevant being the protagonist , the main character, and the antagonist , the opponent of the protagonist (the antagonist is usually a person but can also be a nonhuman force or even an aspect of the protagonist—his or her tendency toward evil and self-destruction for example). QUESTIONS ABOUT PLOT: What conflicts does it dramatize?

CHARACTERS: There are two broad categories of character development: simple and complex. Simple (or “flat”) characters have only one or two personality traits and are easily recognizable as stereotypes—the shrewish wife, the lazy husband, the egomaniac, etc. Complex (or “rounded”) characters have multiple personality traits and therefore resemble real people. They are much harder to understand and describe than simple characters. No single description or interpretation can fully contain them. For the characters in modern fiction, the hero has often been replaced by the antihero , an ordinary, unglamorous person often confused, frustrated and at odds with modern life. QUESTIONS ABOUT CHARACTERS: What is revealed by the characters and how they are portrayed?

THEME: The theme is an idea or point that is central to a story, which can often be summed up in a word or a few words (e.g. loneliness, fate, oppression, rebirth, coming of age; humans in conflict with technology; nostalgia; the dangers of unchecked power). A story may have several themes. Themes often explore historically common or cross-culturally recognizable ideas, such as ethical questions and commentary on the human condition, and are usually implied rather than stated explicitly.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THEME: To help identify themes ask yourself questions such as these:

SYMBOLISM: In the broadest sense, a symbol is something that represents something else. Words, for example, are symbols. But in literature, a symbol is an object that has meaning beyond itself. The object is concrete and the meanings are abstract. QUESTIONS ABOUT SYMBOLS: Not every work uses symbols, and not every character, incident, or object in a work has symbolic value. You should ask fundamental questions in locating and interpreting symbols:

SETTING: The social mores, values, and customs of the world in which the characters live; the physical world; and the time of the action, including historical circumstances.

TONE: The narrator’s predominant attitude toward the subject, whether that subject is a particular setting, an event, a character, or an idea.

POINT OF VIEW: The author’s relationship to his or her fictional world, especially to the minds of the characters. Put another way, point of view is the position from which the story is told. There are four common points of view:

• Omniscient point of view —the author tells the story and assumes complete knowledge of the characters’ actions and thoughts.
• Limited omniscient point of view —the author still narrates the story but restricts his or her revelation—and therefore our knowledge—to the thoughts of just one character.
• First person point of view —one of the characters tells the story, eliminating the author as narrator. The narration is restricted to what one character says he or she observes.
• Objective point of view —the author is the narrator but does not enter the minds of any of the characters. The writer sees them (and lets us see them) as we would in real life.

FORESHADOWING: The anticipation of something, which will happen later. It is often done subtlety with symbols or other indirect devices. We have to use inferential thinking to identify foreshadowing in some stories, and often it occurs on an almost emotional level as we're reading, leading us further into the heart of the story.

EXPOSITION : The opening portion of a story that sets the scene, introduces characters and gives background information we may need to understand the story.

INTERIOR MONOLOGUE : An extended exploration of one character's thoughts told from the inside but as if spoken out loud for the reader to overhear.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: A style of presenting thoughts and sense impressions in a lifelike fashion, the way thoughts move freely through the mind, often chaotic or dreamlike.

IRONY: Generally irony makes visible a contrast between appearance and reality. More fully and specifically, it exposes and underscores a contrast between (1) what is and what seems to be, (2) between what is and what ought to be, (3) between what is and what one wishes to be, (4) and between what is and what one expects to be. Incongruity is the method of irony; opposites come suddenly together so that the disparity is obvious.

CLIMAX: The moment of greatest tension when a problem or complication may be resolved or, at least, confronted.

RESolution, CONCLUSION or DENOUEMENT ("untying of the knot"): Brings the problem to some sort of finality, not necessarily a happy ending, but a resolution.

Using the literary vocabulary and questions, let’s analyze a literary text.

Read the memoir, “Learning to Read,” by Jessica Powers which can be located in Chapter 1: Critical Reading in the “Faculty-Written Texts” section. Powers employs many of the elements of fiction in this autobiographical piece. When you have finished reading, answer the questions below.

Questions about plot :

• What is the main conflict in the story?
• What causes the conflict?
• Is the conflict external or internal?
• What is the turning point in the story?
• How is the main conflict resolved?

Questions about character:

• Is the main character simple or complex? Explain.
• What are the traits of the main character? Make a list.
• Does the main character change? Describe.
• What steps does she go through to change? Make a list.
• What does she learn? Describe.
• Does the main character experience an epiphany? Describe.

Questions about theme:

• What does the story show us about human behavior?
• Are there moral issues raised by the story? Describe.
• What does the story tell us about why people change?

Example A sample essay written on fiction (a short story)

Last Name 1

Student Name

Professor name

English 110

Women, Are You Living for Yourself or for a Man?

A woman in her 40s who never marries or has children is often met with concern, suspicion or pity and there is even a pejorative word for her, "spinster." In contrast, a man in his 40s who never marries or has children is often viewed positively as a bachelor or a playboy or simply as a free man. This double standard forces many women to live for others first and themselves second, something a man is never asked to do. This was especially true in the early 1900s when women were discouraged from having careers outside of the home and were encouraged to have their primary focus in life be caring for their husband, children and home. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman the author of the short story "A New England Nun," presented women from this era with a story of a woman who rebels against the usual adherence to duty, submission, and self-sacrifice. Through the story of her main character Louisa, Freeman offers an alternative to the role American society had expected women to play. Freeman proves there are advantages to be had for women who break the bonds of socially created gender roles by declining to get married and have children, and instead create a life entirely their own, one in which they are not tied down by the needs of others and advantageously avoid the negative influence brought on by the judgement and expectations of a man.

Although Louisa's engagement promised security and stability, it is immediately clear that the return of Louisa's long-awaited fiance threatens to destabilize the ordered and serene life she had created for herself. Because her finace Joe Dagget had to work overseas for 14 years, Louisa had a taste of something not many women of her time experienced, socially approved independence. During this time, Louisa became quite content with her solitary life. Louisa developed a passion for caring for her home and did chores because it pleased her, which is a far cry from the feelings most women in that era experienced in caring for a house, husband and children. Upon her fiance's return, the presence of masculinity upsets the ideal environment Louisa had established in her life and Freeman illustrates this when the couple's first reunion ends in chaos. As Joe is leaving Louisa's house, he stumbles over a rug which knocks over her basket of sewing supplies, and as the yarn spools helplessly unravel across the floor Louisa says stiffly to Joe, "Never mind, I'll pick them up after you're gone" (65). As her yarn unravels, Louisa gets a preview of what Joe's presence will do to her life. Louisa's meticulous care for her home and her appreciation for cleanliness and order shows that having a place of her own and maintaining her preferred surroundings gave her a sense of price and placed power and control over her life in her own hands.

Another way marriage threatens Louisa is that it would make her dependent. A stipulation for marriage during the early 20th century that would have had a devastating impact on Louisa's life was that all her treasured possessions would legally become her husband's property. Louisa discovered many of her passions whilst living independently. Among those were her china set that she used daily, her photo albums, her books, her sewing supplies that she grew to call good friends, her dog Caesar, and most of all her home. In addition to the transfer of possessions following matrimony, women also no longer had control over what they did with their time. In Louisa's case, she would be forced to become a servant of both her new husband, his mother, and their future children. Her time would no longer be her own as she would become the cook, laundress, seamstress, and caretaker for others. The independence that Louisa cherished would be replaced with servitude, duty, and dependence on a man she barely knew.

The predominate message for women, yet not for men, is that their lives will be incomplete, empty, and without purpose if they do not marry and have children, trapping some women in miserable lives. Without socially accepted alternatives, some women get married and have children who would be better off doing neither. Shouldn't a person want to take on the challenging task of caring for others rather than producing more unhappy marriages and checked out parents who feel distanced from and resentful of their children? The pressures, however, on women to marry and have children back then persist today, and this needs to change. The ending that Freeman created in her story proposes that some women should choose to live for themselves. After Louisa breaks off her engagement, she sees the endless possibilities for her future, "She gazed ahead, through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls on a rosary, every one like the others, and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness" (71). At this point, Louisa is no longer marrying Joe, but she does not perceive life without love or intimacy as any terrible loss. Instead, she sees a life full of freedom and potential.

We mustn't continue to limit the potential of women by making them conform to limited gender roles. An article written by the UN Women's Secretary General for International Women's Day 2017 claims that, "Around the world, tradition, cultural values and religion are being misused to curtail women's rights, to entrench sexism and defend misogynistic practices." Even though women in the 21st century have deviated from being dependent on the financial stability provided by a man, conventional views continue to limit their growth by assigning them to feminine type jobs and denying them leadership positions. In addition to Inequality in the workplace, women are often juggling both work-life and domestic-life. Louisa's story stresses the importance of being a strong woman in a restrictive society and emphasizes the previous rewards that are yours to possess when you alter your path based on your own decisions. The worth of a women should not be judged by marriage and children because the worth of man certainly is not.

Works Citied

Freeman Wilkins, Mary E. "A New England Nun." Great Short Stories by American Women, edited by

Candace Ward, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1996, pp. 61-71.

Guterres, Antonio. "UN Secretary-General's Message for International Women's day." UN Women, 6

Mar. 2017, http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stori...omens-day-2017 .

Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Movies — Movie Review

Essays on Movie Review

Once in a while, you’ll be asked to do a movie review essay. This task is a great training tool for enhancing critical thinking skills. Essays on movie review aim at presenting a film from the most important scenes, special effects, to exciting moments and may be accompanied by criticism. From an advertising perspective, such a paper is aimed at convincing readers to watch the movie in question. Your writing should let a reader draw a conclusion, i.e, whether the film is worth their time or if they should try something else. Most importantly, your opinion must be independent and accurate. But how can you create a perfect introduction if you don’t have the experience in this type of writing? Relax. A good online writer can do it for you. If you have an idea but need some guidance, simply ask for a professional outline or use evaluation essay examples for students for more insights.

Hook Examples for Movie Review Essays

"a cinematic masterpiece" hook.

"Prepare to be captivated by the sheer brilliance of this cinematic masterpiece. Explore how every frame, performance, and detail contributes to a visual and emotional spectacle."

"Beyond the Screen: Themes and Messages" Hook

"This film transcends entertainment, offering profound themes and powerful messages. Dive into the underlying ideas and social commentary that make it a thought-provoking experience."

"The Journey of Character Development" Hook

"Follow the compelling journey of characters who evolve throughout the film. Analyze their growth, conflicts, and relationships, making this movie a character-driven narrative."

"Visual Delights: Cinematography and Special Effects" Hook

"Be prepared to be visually stunned by the breathtaking cinematography and cutting-edge special effects. Explore how these elements enhance the storytelling and immerse the audience."

"Unforgettable Performances" Hook

"The cast delivers unforgettable performances that breathe life into the characters. Discuss standout acting moments, character dynamics, and the emotional impact of their roles."

"The Soundtrack: Music That Moves" Hook

"The film's soundtrack is more than just music; it's an integral part of the storytelling. Explore how the score enhances emotions, sets the tone, and complements the visuals."

"Cinematic Analysis: Directing and Editing" Hook

"Delve into the meticulous craftsmanship of the director and editor. Analyze their choices in pacing, sequencing, and storytelling techniques that make this film a cinematic triumph."

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March 09, 2011

Why We Like Drama

By graham gordy, writing is hard.

It’s hard to write. Let’s start off with that. It’s hard to write. Aristotle begins his  Poetics  talking about “mimesis,” or imitation, and how we, as human beings, learn everything by imitating the actions of other humans (as if there weren’t enough of an incentive not to be raised by assholes). We mirror life. We learn by watching and then doing. And when we see beauty in the real world, our first inclination is to make a copy of it (be it a Gustav Klimt or a Heidi Klum).

I appreciate what Aristotle is getting at here. It’s a lovely thought. You see something that’s captivating in real life—a type of personality, a heard bit of dialogue—or even something awe-inspiring—a transcendent moment, a lesson learned—and the artist in us wants to capture it. We want to paint it, or photograph it, or dramatize it. And when we see great art, we want to copy that, too. How many of us heard Bob Dylan and bought a guitar? How many saw  The Apartment  or  Henry IV: Part I  and said then and there, “This is what I want to do”?

That’s all fine and good, but Aristotle has left one pivotal part out, and that’s the period between “awe” and “mimesis,” the one between our being enchanted and our reproducing that enchantment, and that’s the period where we  suck at it for a really, really long time . And that part hurts like hell, and most of us never get beyond it—going to the page, day after day, year after year, and wondering if anyone has ever written anything as exquisitely crappy as this.

With drama, there’s a cure for this feeling. It’s hard-won, but it’s called structure. There is a form in which people like to see movies and plays. There is a way they like drama to unfold, and whether it’s the  nurture  of being told stories in a certain way since Sophocles, or whether it’s the  nature  of us all having one Jungian collective unconscious, the preference is there, and, as dramatists, we will all do better to learn and emulate that form rather than rail against it. Because even if creating a narrative that sustains a person’s attention for ninety to a hundred and twenty minutes isn’t our ultimate job as dramatists, it is most certainly our first job as dramatists.

When an audience is bored, they don’t say, “Gosh, I could really use a solid reversal right here.” They say, “My butt hurts.” Or “Maybe I’ll go ahead and go to the bathroom.” Or “Maybe I want popcorn after all.” They’re not articulating it; they’re feeling it in their butts.

Over the twenty-five hundred years or so of producing drama, a craft has developed. A craft like any other. It’s a craft like building a chair is a craft. As every good chair has four legs, a seat, and a back, every good drama has desire, conflict, tension, obstacles, and reversals. And while the ultimate test for a chair is “Can you sit in it?” the ultimate test for a drama is “Can you sit  through  it?”

WRITING TO “SAY SOMETHING”

In grad school, I was too cool to learn craft. I said I wanted to be experimental. The problem with that thinking is that if you don’t know the craft, if you don’t know the form, with what are you experimenting? It took me a long time to learn that “experimental,” in my case, was a synonym for “childishness,” and for not wanting to do the work. Then I got out of school and realized that the stakes had never been higher: Learn the craft, or get a real job.

God has supplied me with neither the strength nor the requisite amount of Maker’s Mark to try to explain the actual mechanics of dramatic writing. However, He has been inordinately generous to others in this regard, since you can’t swing a cat in a bookstore without hitting five screenwriting books (and, on average, for every five screenwriting books you hit with a cat, you will hit ten screenwriters. You will recognize us as screenwriters by our hollow eyes and the Barnes & Noble embroidered on our green smocks). Some of my favorite books on screenwriting appear at the end of this article. There’s not a lot worth reading in terms of playwriting, so if that’s your trade, you’ll have to muddle through like the rest of us.

Instead of discussing effectively placed plot points, or the distinctions between complications and obstacles, let’s do something unheard of: Let’s talk about why it matters that we master them. I want to focus on why we write in the first place and what it is that drama does when drama is done right. What purpose does it serve? Is it beautiful and useless, like great music? That would certainly be enough. But no, good drama does something else.

If we’re being completely honest with ourselves, we would admit that life is often nasty, brutish and, if we’re lucky, not so short. If we like movies and plays, we generally like them better than we do our lives because they compress life and remove all the useless deliberation, unpleasant equivocation, the waiting in lines, the arduous getting from point A to point B, and the general mundane bullshit. They also eliminate one of the most vexing things about everyday life: the vexing part. Drama keeps the characters in the dark and the audience in the light, and gives us, the viewers, a world of clarity and certainty. Even if we are watching a tragedy, we feel that we are living more fully through the intensified experiences of a character because not only is time compressed but action and meaning occur simultaneously. What takes months, or years, to figure out in real life takes no time at all in films and plays. We are able to comprehend the full impact of events  as they happen  because we have a God’s-eye view of the proceedings.

In a novel, an omniscient narrator can explain motivations and beliefs of the characters, but in a well-constructed drama,  we  are the omniscient narrator. We understand what the character on screen is going through, and precisely what he needs to change in order for his life to improve. This release from having to make order from chaos in our own lives is what gives us so much pleasure in a theater. Order has been made for us, so we are left to relax and yell toward the screen something as simple as “Don’t go in the basement!” or as complex as “You thought you were avoiding killing your father and marrying your mother by moving to Thebes, but it was precisely your avoidance that will seal your fate!” It is this relaxation, this sense of safety and clarity in a world we believe we fundamentally understand, that allows us to absorb meaning through drama.

In the introduction to his book  Shakespeare’s Politics , the late scholar Allan Bloom describes what Homer was able to do that Aristotle never could. Bloom says that the poet is able to “cause men to know without knowing that they know.” The same holds true for drama. We all write to “say something,” even if all we say is that we don’t believe in saying anything.

Good drama doesn’t tell you anything, at least not overtly. Drama teaches through shared experience. There’s a main character, and we, the audience, live vicariously through his story. We enter a theater and the lights fall; soon enough, we’re engaged. The frame of the screen or stage disappears and we’re living through Willy Loman or Michael Corleone or Lady Macbeth or “Cool Hand” Luke Jackson. With hope, we acquire that person’s realization without the pain of having experienced what he or she experienced. In all good drama, we’re witnessing what Joseph Campbell described as a “transformation of consciousness.” The main character begins the journey one way and ends a different way.

Movies and plays, then, when done correctly, are nothing other than “transformation of consciousness” machines. They are about the time this person completely changed the way he looks at the world. They’re about the time this guy who was raised by assholes decides not to be an asshole like his parents. Or maybe the guy determines that he can’t deny his asshole nature any longer (see Michael Corleone).

But this brings us back to the question, “How do we say something?” In poetry, you have words, punctuation, and maybe the spaces between the words. In prose, you have all the description you want. In drama, you have dialogue, sure, but no capable dramatist uses his characters as mouthpieces for his views. You can’t write a movie about Newtonian physics. You can write a fascinating movie about Newton’s attempts to decode biblical messages, or his enigmatic private life, but you’re better off giving someone a textbook than a movie to really teach them anything about his laws of motion. The dramatist’s medium is  action , and where speeches speak to the intellect, actions speak to the emotions. The best we can hope for when an audience watches our film or play is that they will be struck on a heart-level, not a head-level, and they will say, “ That . I’ve felt that. You have articulated not an idea for me…but a feeling.”

As a dramatist, you speak through theme. Your protagonist embodies a worldview, and your antagonist represents its antithesis, and then the two do battle. The consequences of those choices made in battle enact your theme.

I’ll give a simple example. At the beginning of a movie, a character loves nothing so much as money. He wants to be rich. So he sets out on a journey to rob a bank. But along the way, he meets a girl, and the girl is worried about her father because her father is a banker and the bank is faltering and near collapse. Her dad’s bank, obviously, is the bank he was going to rob. Suddenly, he has a dilemma. For his entire life, he’s wanted nothing so much as money, but as he prepares for the heist, hiding his plans and his double-life from the girl, he’s falling more and more in love. What does he do? He has a choice. Love or money? Well, traditionally, he abandons his former belief that money was most important and sacrifices his plan in order to stay with the girl. Love wins! That feels better, doesn’t it? Now that’s a simple story, but it reflects our hope as human beings—that love is more important than money. And if your idea is as simple as “love conquers all” (and it’s a popular one), then that story will work. My point is that starting to write a play or a movie with the thought of “What do I want to say?” is not the wrong way to go about it, as long as you understand  how  drama can say something.

Movies and plays can reveal to me the aspects of my character that need the most improvement, and better that than someone scolding or instructing me. It’s the difference between learning through inculcation and learning due to inspiration. When William Wallace in  Braveheart , or Sir Thomas More in  A Man for All Seasons , or, yes, even Luke Jackson in  Cool Hand Luke , are willing to die for their causes and make a choice that we, the audience, could never make had we been in a similar situation, we admire that character. And admiration is nature’s way of showing us that there is a better way to live.

You may respond, “Well, I don’t have  themes  in my writing; I just write.” But no matter how much you try to avoid it, your worldview is represented in what you write. How do you feel about the world? Let me read your writing and I’ll tell you. Does everyone get together in the end and live happily ever after? You’re a cock-eyed optimist. Does everyone get together in the end only to be mowed down by a random assassin? You’re probably just having a rough day. Inevitably, you’re going to be dramatizing your worldview, so you might as well get clear about what that is. Having a theme in mind when you write, an actual “message” you’re trying to get across, is what separates truly transformative drama from its commercial version. You may find solid structure, great characters, and witty dialogue in both. Both may have four legs, a seat, and a back, and are comfy, but only one changes the way you think about the world.

The Industry

Oh Lord. I didn’t want to address the industry. I’ll feel so cheap and tawdry afterward. It’s also where I spent all that Maker’s Mark I mentioned before. But the subject of this article does warrant that we acknowledge the tension between art and commerce. You may have no interest in writing for Hollywood or Broadway, but certainly many writers have wished to make livings by writing the kind of stuff they want in their hearts to write. At the very least, playwrights and screenwriters all want to have productions and for people to see their work…and when you add up even our most modest expectations, you find it is quite a lot to ask.

The nature of any industry has nothing to do with meeting  our  needs; the entertainment industry is based on meeting its own need, which is, of course, hookers and blow. Or, if you want to split hairs, “making money.” The major studios are publicly traded companies with shareholders, not arts endowments or cultural salons interested in furthering the form. They are interested, primarily and ultimately, in creating a product for people to consume. There are people in Hollywood who want to create good films (you will once again recognize them by the Barnes & Noble embroidered on their smocks), but if you think culture is the foremost concern of producers (or even their secondary concern), I’d like to sell you a painting I did of a unicorn with big eyes and rainbows and angel wings.

I may be callous, but it frustrates me as much as it does you. However, the sooner we come to terms with the realities, the sooner we will find creative ways to reconcile what we want to write with what we need to write in order to actually reach viewers. And as frustrating as the economic facts are, they’re not even the industry’s biggest problem.

The  biggest  problem with the movie industry, and the reason so much commercial film is so bad, is a fundamental one: Most projects are created like inverted pyramids. The concept, or “the hook,” is at the tip of the pyramid and determines whether the project is purchased or not. “The hook” is important commercially. It’s what we glean about a film from glancing at a poster or watching fifteen seconds of a thirty-second commercial; it’s what gets most of us to warm seats on a Friday night. But the casualties of this approach can be the most fundamental aspects of the story. I’ve read Aristotle’s  Poetics  a few times, and while he establishes the basic principles of drama—plot, character, theme, diction, music, and spectacle—I don’t recall him ever mentioning “the hook.” What you often have in commercial film is a pyramid built on its flimsy tip, attempting to prop up the weightier elements of good storytelling—provided, of course, they exist in the story at all.

In the end, in order to make it in the industry, we’re not going to beat the system, so we either have to work outside of it, or find ways to work within it, which gets tricky.

We all make mistakes in our careers out of insecurity. I believe this because I have done it. Sure, we want to create great works of art, but if we lop off the corners and strip it of any personal feeling, we might be able to create a  living  instead. We make mistakes when we base our artistic choices on fear rather than on love. And I can promise you, when we are offered that choice, it takes extraordinary discipline to stay true to ourselves, and even then, it is a battle we will often lose.

I will argue that one’s legacy is not more important than one’s existence. What we create in this life is not more significant than our happiness or the kind of people we were while we were here. (Maybe I’m a softy.) But what we leave behind matters. I know that when we finally find the theme we were looking for, when we are finally able to clearly and cogently articulate what it is that we were trying to  say , our  meaning  becomes both the easiest thing to remove and the first thing they will ask us to remove to make our work viable. And we will try to tell ourselves that we have to make a living, consoling ourselves with success or the hope thereof—and the future freedoms it will deliver. But let’s keep in mind that meaning is hard-earned, certainly harder than any structural solution, because it’s based on painful lessons we learned in our own lives, so we must always remain aware of what we’re giving up because it may have been the very reason we went to the page in the first place.

As to the business itself, your chances are the lowest they’ve ever been for making money. “Independent” film is in intensive care, and they’ve called a priest. Studio film is based more and more on sequels, on popular source material and known commodities (when Ridley Scott signs on to direct a movie based on the board game Monopoly, this trend becomes undeniable), and less and less, if at all, on any kind of financial risk. As to the world of financially lucrative playwriting, it never existed.

(I would worry about these statements discouraging you, but I know that if you possess the kind of stomach necessary to make a career of dramatic writing, nothing I can say will make you flinch.)

So…what do we do now? What do any of us do?

Regardless of our commercial ambitions, or lack thereof, we work harder and get better. We make better films and plays. We work twice as hard. We master structure, character, dialogue, personal voice, theme, and tone. The days of an interesting little independent film, or play, that has a lot of structural flaws but really great characters, or a really cool style making it in Hollywood…those days are over. Because producers are looking for any possible reason to tell us “no,” we need to learn the craft, and we need to master it. And here’s the other thing. They want to be surprised. The good news is that there’s only one way to surprise them. In  The Writing Life , Annie Dillard reinforces this claim: “You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment.” Write about what astonishes you. Why write about anything else? Why bother?

As writers, all we have is sensitivity. I’ll repeat that because it matters. As writers, all we have is sensitivity. So get alone, get quiet, and let yourself feel .

Yes, there are some stupid people in positions of power in Hollywood, but, all easy joking aside, the majority I’ve met are a hell of a lot smarter than I am about this stuff. So producers and studio heads aren’t dumb. But they are busy, and they’re terrified, and they’re trying to keep their jobs, and they’re struggling to keep their companies afloat. And what they’re asking from us—from you and me—is damn-near impossible. They’re asking us to make it easy for them.  Make it easy for them . That’s our job. Write a compelling story with great characters, clever dialogue, and a riveting climax. Oh, and it needs to be enough like something they’ve already seen so they can be comfortable with it, and it needs to be new and exciting enough so that they can sell it to their bosses by saying it’s “like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” Most of these people read between ten and twenty scripts per week. That’s what they’re wading through. Astonish them by first letting yourself be astonished.

Elia Kazan declared that the life of a dramatist, “is a totality.… Everything is pertinent, there is nothing irrelevant or trivial.” You are choosing to depict  life  as your vocation, so you must know life better than the average observer.

Part of what appealed to me so much about writing was the writing life—the idea of spending most of the day in my pajamas. Sitting there, thinking, “playing” essentially. Acting out the parts, talking to myself. It’s a brand of insanity. And that’s still the part I love most.

I didn’t realize that I would be managing the business side of my life, too. That I would have to learn how to market myself and my work. That I would have to struggle to get jobs, or even the possibility of a job. That I would be competing with five other, more qualified writers to adapt a book I don’t even like for a screenplay that will likely never be produced in order to pay the rent for the next year, so that six months from now, after I’ve finished the required drafts of that screenplay, I might be able to write the play I’ve wanted to write for the last three years. But that’s the reality. And it’s a far cry from the images of Didion or Plimpton or Morrison in their studies, drinking wine while looking over the day’s work. Dramatic writing is not peaceful; it’s dramatic. The life of a writer is not pleasurable. It’s frenetic and ugly and involves a lot of pacing and a lot of phone calls and a whole lot of worrying how you’re going to eat in six months.

But the payoff is extremely high. It has to be, right? I have not yet written the scripts I’ve always aspired to write, but a great movie, or a great play—what that thing does—is unlike any other endeavor I know. A great movie or play can take us back to a childlike state of, that word again, astonishment. Cinemas are a womb experience—warm, dark, comfortable, food and drink practically fed to you. Why else do you think we’re so damned irritable when our peace is disturbed? People talking, their cellphones ringing, doing that horrible scrape in their popcorn buckets as if they’re eating it with a metal claw. You want to turn around and yell, “Get out of my womb!”

But that’s what a good story does. It provides a womb. No matter how much the story and its emotions and themes may grow in complexity, the truly masterful screenwriter or playwright is able to dole out that information in such a pleasing and digestible way that the audience takes it in without being the least bit unsettled. It’s a simple story well told. By “simple,” of course, I mean nothing less than a story that ascribes meaning and order to the chaos of everyday life. The way Annie Dillard puts it in  Living by Fiction  is that an artist’s keenest skill is to discover and invent order in the universe: “The purpose of people on Earth is to counteract the tide of entropy described in the Second Law of Thermodynamics.”

Culture is our highest calling as humans, and we arrange things in an attempt to neutralize a universe falling apart. That we spend our leisure time living vicariously through another’s challenges tells us something about the human spirit. That characters in plays and films only learn anything through conflict is an acknowledgment that pain is what leads to understanding. It’s not that we get pleasure from seeing others experiencing adversity, it’s that we love seeing people triumph over, and gain knowledge through, adversity, and I can think of no stronger affirmation of existence than that.

The dramatist takes important truths, not intellectual but emotional truths, about existence and presents them almost casually so that, unlike in real life, every question is answered in the end, all loose ends are tied up, all uncertainties, finally, made certain so that viewers can sit in a warm, quiet theater and, as the boundaries of the screen or stage disappear, they are swept away. The experience of drama then transcends the basic components that actualize it—the story, the theater, the filmmakers, and the studios—and the more superficial thoughts that enter the theater—the stars’ actual lives, and the viewers’ bad days—and through living vicariously the life that is projected, the viewers affirm some simple, emotional truth about existence. They suddenly “know without knowing that they know.” That is the purpose of drama. That is why we pay twelve dollars, plus babysitter, plus overpriced Skittles and drinks; it’s why we spend our days in pajamas, pacing, muttering to ourselves, gnashing teeth, shaking our fists at the sky, feeling ennobled and defeated, inky-fingered heaps of anxiety and exaltation; it’s why we agonize over plots, sacrifice stability, throw up at our openings, mourn our failures, and still go back to the page; and, most importantly, it’s why we all love good plays and movies. 

Graham Gordy

Graham Gordy completed his MFA at NYU, where he received the Goldberg Award for Playwriting. His plays have been produced by Naked Angels, the New Group, New York Stage and Film, and the Royal Court (London). He was a writer and producer of and actor in the recent independent film Antiquities, writer for the Sundance series Rectify, co-creator and executive producer of the Cinemax drama Quarry, and a writer and consulting producer for the third season of True Detective.

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The 25 best drama movies on Netflix

From untangling tall tales to sweeping romances, here is our latest list of the best drama films on Netflix right now and why they’re must-watch.

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One of the best characteristics of drama films is how seamlessly they combine with any other genre. Maybe you're in the mood for a straight suspenseful couple of hours, but perhaps you're dreaming of swoon-worthy elements — you want the love interests to have to work to earn them, though — so you go for a romantic drama. Or maybe you're looking for something to tug on your heartstrings, so you sit down to a coming-of-age tale. From historical fiction to modern docudramas, here are the best dramas available to stream on Netflix as of May 2024.

Amadeus (1984)

This Oscar-winning classic is far from a stodgy biopic. Playing fast and loose with what we know of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his rivalry with fellow composer Antonio Salieri, Amadeus is a rousing saga about the delicate relationship between a man driven to achieve the kind of artistry that another seems to possess inherently. F. Murray Abraham , who won an Academy Award for his performance, brilliantly portrays Salieri's envy and how it causes him to gradually lose his grip on reality. — Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch  Amadeus : Netflix

Director:   Milos Forman

Cast: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice,  Christine Ebersole , Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay

Related content:   The 25 greatest Best Actor winners in Oscar history

Boyz N the Hood (1991)

Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

The impact of John Singleton 's coming-of-age drama cannot be overstated, not only for its nuanced examination of young Black men's lives in South Central L.A., but also for being a launching pad for its stars, including Cuba Gooding Jr. , Ice Cube , Morris Chestnut , Nia Long , Angela Bassett , and Regina King . Boyz N the Hood centers on Tre Styles (Gooding Jr.), a college prospect who grows up under the tutelage of his wise father ( Laurence Fishburne ). After his childhood friend Doughboy (Ice Cube) returns home from prison as a member of the Bloods, conflict arises when the rival Crips gang threatens Tre and Doughboy's other friend, Ricky (Chestnut). While the film has plenty of raw, devastating moments, Singleton also excels in the smaller, lighter character interactions. "The movie is most enjoyable — and perceptive — when it’s content to be a slice of urban life," writes EW's critic , adding that Singleton "gives you a feel for the neighborhood as an organic, close-knit community, and he shows some skill at throwaway repartee." — K.J.

Where to watch Boyz N the Hood : Netflix

EW grade: B– ( read the review )

Director: John Singleton

Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Angela Bassett, Regina King

Related content: Boyz N the Hood  director, stars look back on the groundbreaking drama

The Devil All the Time (2020)

Based on the novel by Donald Ray Pollock, The Devil All the Time features a tangled web of connections spanning the two decades post-WWII. When Arvin ( Tom Holland ) loses his parents ( Bill Skarsgård and Haley Bennett ), he moves in with his grandmother. He meets Lenora (Eliza Scanlen), who becomes an unofficial sibling to him. Nearly a decade later, Lenora is seduced by a new reverend in town ( Robert Pattinson ). She comes close to killing herself after she realizes that she's pregnant and the reverend denies his involvement, but changes her mind at the last second. Unfortunately, it was a second too late. This film's not for the faint of heart as it features murder, religious extremism, rape, and other sensitive topics. But with an all-star cast pulling off incredible performances, director Antonio Campos nails the adaptation. — Sammi Burke

Where to watch The Devil All the Time : Netflix

EW grade: B+ ( read the review )

Director: Antonio Campos

Cast: Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgård, Riley Keough , Jason Clarke , Sebastian Stan , Haley Bennett, Eliza Scanlen, Mia Wasikowska , Robert Pattinson, Harry Melling

Related content: Tom Holland did not know Jake Gyllenhaal was a producer on his new movie

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

It's difficult to spoil the ending to Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile . If you're not already familiar with the true story of Ted Bundy (played here by Zac Efron ), the film's title is unlikely to leave the quality of his character open to debate. What distinguishes director Joe Berlinger 's 2019 attempt from the many other true crime retellings of this story, however, is the point of view on which the script is centered. Adapted from a memoir by Bundy's ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall ( Lily Collins ), Extremely Wicked tracks Kendall's emotional processing of the case, starting as a girlfriend who refuses to believe her partner could be capable of committing such atrocities and ending as a new woman, finally beginning to heal. EW's critic writes of Efron's performance, "Alternately charming, belligerent, and incalculably shrewd, he captures both the shark-like charisma of Bundy and the deeply damaged man beneath." — S.B.

Where to watch Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile : Netflix

EW grade: B ( read the review )

Director: Joe Berlinger

Cast: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario , Haley Joel Osment , Jim Parsons , John Malkovich , James Hetfield

Related content: How Zac Efron survived playing Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Frances Ha (2012)

One of the best-known additions to the mumblecore movement that briefly invaded independent cinema during the mid-2010s, Frances Ha is also one of the most charming. Directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written by the film's star, Greta Gerwig , Frances Ha chronicles a rough period in 27-year-old aspiring dancer Frances Halladay's life. Struggling with the dissolution of one of her closest friendships, financial challenges, and difficulties with her chosen career, Frances is both unmoored and undeterred. A late-20s coming-of-age story released in 2012, Frances Ha contains some vague similarities to HBO's Girls ( Adam Driver , for one), but the film offers such a high level of style, point of view, and performance as to distinguish itself from the rest of the genre. — S.B.

Where to watch Frances Ha : Netflix

Director: Noah Baumbach

Cast: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen

Related content: Frances Ha : Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach interview

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

If you're looking for structure or a linear story with a clearly defined ending, then Charlie Kaufman 's I'm Thinking of Ending Things might not be the right film for you. Written and directed by Kaufman and adapted from Ian Reid's novel by the same name, the film is a psychological thriller that traffics in the surreal, shifting fluidly between narrative and free association, all grounded in excellent performances by the film's actors. Jessie Buckley stars as the Young Woman — her name and occupation changing frequently — who contemplates ending her seven-week relationship during a Thanksgiving trip to meet her new boyfriend Jake's ( Jesse Plemons ) parents ( David Thewlis and Toni Collette ) at their farmhouse. Throughout the visit, character ages change, an old janitor weaves himself in and out of the story, and a maggot-infested pig makes more than a few appearances. There is an explanation for all the absurdity — but you might not catch it on the first viewing. With the film's true premise often clouded, what audiences are left with are Kaufman's "dizzying stretches of dialogue," as EW's critic describes them . These conversations, she says, "have the quality of both earnest debate and avant-garde theater, ebbing and flowing on their own inscrutable tides." — S.B.

Where to watch I'm Thinking of Ending Things : Netflix

Director: Charlie Kaufman

Cast: Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, David Thewlis

Related content: Jessie Buckley on her singular, brilliant turn in I'm Thinking of Ending Things

The Imitation Game (2014)

Benedict Cumberbatch has made a cottage industry of playing tortured geniuses, and this handsomely mounted biopic is one of the better demonstrations of his strength within this subgenre. Set during World War II, the film follows Alan Turing (Cumberbatch), a gifted mathematician whom MI6 tasks with cracking the Nazis' Enigma code. Turing designs an innovative machine to help decode the German messages, though he is met with numerous obstacles both professionally and personally, as he is pressured to conceal his homosexuality. Directed with " chess-match ingenuity " by Morten Tyldum , The Imitation Game was a hit with both critics and audiences, earning eight Oscar nominations including a win for Best Adapted Screenplay. — K.J.

Where to watch The Imitation Game : Netflix

Director: Morten Tyldum

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley , Matthew Goode , Rory Kinnear , Charles Dance , Mark Strong

Related content: Benedict Cumberbatch may be related to Alan Turing

The Impossible (2012)

Based on the harrowing experiences of one of the surviving families of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, The Impossible is a gripping testament to resilience. Naomi Watts stars as Maria, a doctor on vacation with her husband and three sons in Thailand when the tsunami hits land. The film chronicles their struggle to survive against the harsh elements and attempt to find each other after being separated. The disaster drama features powerful performances from Watts — who earned an Oscar nomination — and a young Tom Holland in his film debut. EW's critic writes , "It's agony, in a rewarding way, to squirm and cringe and groan through an ordeal so realistically re-created." — K.J.

Where to watch The Impossible : Netflix

Director: J.A. Bayona

Cast: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor , Tom Holland

Related content: Great performances: Naomi Watts

The Irishman (2019)

Longtime collaborators Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro reunited for this 2019 gangster epic, about the real-life hitman Frank Sheeran and his experiences working for the Mafia. Spanning several decades, the film tracks Frank's evolution from truck driver to trusted gunman for crime boss Russell Bufalino ( Joe Pesci ) and bodyguard for the infamous Jimmy Hoffa ( Al Pacino ). Despite his professional success, his home life deteriorates, particularly his relationship with his daughter. While its 209-minute runtime may be daunting, the film moves along at an entertaining clip (thanks in part to master editor Thelma Schoonmaker), and the viewer's patience is rewarded with a haunting conclusion that recontextualizes all that came before. The Irishman scored 10 Oscar nominations, and though it was criminally shut out when it came to wins, time will be kind to the film, even if it wasn't to Sheeran. — K.J.

Where to watch The Irishman : Netflix

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel , Anna Paquin , Ray Romano , Stephen Graham , Bobby Cannavale

Related content: Martin Scorsese really doesn't want you to watch The Irishman on your phone

King Richard (2021)

While Will Smith 's actions at the 2022 Oscars have arguably overshadowed the film for which he won Best Actor that night, this sports biopic is still very much worth a watch. King Richard recounts the meteoric rise of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, under the tutelage of their demanding father, Richard (Smith). Featuring committed performances by Smith, Aunjanue Ellis , Saniyya Sidney, and Demi Singleton, King Richard is an earnestly told success story with an even-handed approach to its central figure's strengths and flaws. EW's critic calls it "a smart reminder that when a story is told well it can hit all the beats we know, and still somehow surprise us." — K.J.

Where to watch King Richard : Netflix

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Cast: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn , Jon Bernthal

Related content: Emotional Will Smith wins Best Actor after slapping Chris Rock at Oscars: 'Love will make you do crazy things'

Marriage Story (2019)

Noah Baumbach reached new heights with this bittersweet examination of a relationship in the aftermath of a breaking point. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver star as Nicole and Charlie, artists in the entertainment industry whose amicable separation soon turns into a nasty divorce and fight for custody over their son. The film even-handedly explores the nature of relationships and societal expectations, with two fully committed performances at its center (plus a scene-stealing, Oscar-winning turn from Laura Dern as Nicole's lawyer). EW's critic calls Marriage Story "a movie that somehow makes its intimacy seem like a radical act, one messy, heart-wrecking moment at a time." — K.J.

Where to watch Marriage Story : Netflix

EW grade: A– ( read the review )

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Alan Alda , Ray Liotta , Julie Hagerty , Merritt Wever

Related content: Laura Dern on reading the  Marriage Story  script: 'I've never cried so hard'

May December (2023)

Francois Duhamel/courtesy of Netflix

Todd Haynes ' mesmerizing new film defies genre, blending psychological drama and ironic satire as it unravels. Natalie Portman stars as Elizabeth, a television actress who travels to the home of Gracie ( Julianne Moore ) — a woman she's set to portray in a film — to study her. Gracie was tabloid fodder in the '90s for her sexual relationship with a boy named Joe, whom she met when he was 13, while she was 36 (loosely inspired by the real-life story of Mary Kay Letourneau). All these years later, the couple is married with three kids, and doing their best to leave their controversy behind them. But the arrival of Elizabeth leads a now-grown-up Joe (Charles Melton) to reexamine his relationship, while Gracie gradually becomes resentful of the actress insinuating herself into their lives. May December succeeds most as a well-observed, well-acted character study; the nature of Gracie and Joe's relationship is thorny, but so is Elizabeth's obsessive probing. Because, as the film demonstrates on both a surface and subtextual level, there's always more to the story. — K.J.

Where to watch May December : Netflix

Director: Todd Haynes

Cast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton

Related content: How Todd Haynes' May December channeled Mary Kay Letourneau and classic female melodramas

Melancholia (2011)

This haunting drama from provocative director Lars von Trier centers on two sisters: Justine ( Kirsten Dunst ), a newlywed struggling with depression, and Claire ( Charlotte Gainsbourg ), who is anxious over the possible collision of a rogue planet with Earth. Melancholia blends multiple genres — psychological drama, science fiction, thriller — and creates something wholly unique and unforgettable. As EW's critic writes , the film is von Trier's "ecstatic magnum opus on the themes of depression, cataclysm, and the way the world might end." — K.J.

Where to watch Melancholia : Netflix

EW grade: A ( read the review )

Director: Lars von Trier

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård , Kiefer Sutherland , Charlotte Rampling , John Hurt

Related content: Oscar ignores Melancholia : Why?

Minari (2020)

"It grows anywhere, like weeds. So anyone can pick and eat it. Rich or poor, anyone can enjoy it and be healthy...Minari is wonderful, wonderful!" Grandmother Soon-ja ( Yuh-Jung Youn ) explains this to young David (Alan Kim) of the titular plant in Lee Isaac Chung 's tender family drama. This proves an apt metaphor for the Yi family, Korean immigrants who are trying to get by in rural Arkansas. David's parents, Jacob ( Steven Yeun ) and Monica (Han Ye-ri), often squabble over work and money, leaving David under the care of Soon-ja, who doesn't act the way he thinks a grandmother should. Despite the harsh realities of their situation, Minari 's strength lies in the chemistry of the cast as the family faces obstacles both big and small. "There’s great despair around them — a crumbling marriage, a flailing farm, health scares," EW's critic writes , "but in their dynamic there is joy, a sense of the future." — K.J.

Where to watch Minari : Netflix through May 22

Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Cast: Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Yuh-Jung Youn, Will Patton

Related content: Minari  star Yuh-Jung Youn is ready for her Oscars close-up

Miss Juneteenth (2020)

One of the most underrated indie dramas of the decade so far, Miss Juneteenth is a lived-in examination of a mother and daughter's relationship as they grapple with expectations placed on them. Nicole Beharie plays Turquoise, single mother to Kai (Alexis Chikaeze), who is working multiple jobs to make ends meet. She pushes Kai to compete in the Miss Juneteenth pageant, which she won in her youth, even though her daughter expresses little interest in following in her footsteps. Featuring an impressively naturalistic turn from Beharie — who earned multiple critics' award notices for her work — Miss Juneteenth is a loving yet realistic tribute to finding one's path despite the roadblocks that inevitably pop up along the way. — K.J.

Where to watch Miss Juneteenth : Netflix

Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples

Cast: Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, Alexis Chikaeze

Related content: Miss Juneteenth director on honoring history and celebrating phenomenal Black womanhood

Molly's Game (2017)

Courtesy of STXfilms

Generally critiqued for his struggles in writing complex female characters with agendas independent of the men with whom they work, Aaron Sorkin strikes a commendable balance with Molly’s Game , his feature directorial debut. The story follows Molly Bloom ( Jessica Chastain ), a young skier who, after her Olympic dreams end in injury, uses her athletically-earned gifts of confidence and composure to run an exclusive underground poker ring. Based on Molly Bloom's memoir, the film’s two-hour and 20-minute run time races past in a series of flashbacks and narration as Bloom relays her riches-to-rags story to her lawyer ( Idris Elba ). Fans of celebrity gossip will delight in Michael Cera 's performance as an unpleasant Hollywood actor and poker enthusiast who, according to clues dropped in the movie and book, is likely Tobey Maguire . — S.B.

Where to watch  Molly's Game : Netflix

EW grade:  A– ( read the review )

Director:  Aaron Sorkin

Cast:  Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba,  Kevin Costner , Michael Cera,  Jeremy Strong ,  Chris O'Dowd ,  Bill Camp

Related content:   Jessica Chastain shows her cards on  Molly's Game , poker, and Idris Elba

Moneyball (2011)

Not unlike Billy Beane ( Brad Pitt ) building a new roster for the Oakland Athletics, Moneyball takes a refreshingly different approach to the sports drama. The film, based on Michael Lewis' book of the same name, tells the true story of Beane and his work as general manager of the Oakland A's to reinvigorate his team during the 2002 baseball season. Faced with a limited budget, he partners up with a whizkid Yale graduate ( Jonah Hill ), who has developed a method for identifying undervalued players worth signing. Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian's razor-sharp script breathes new life into this underdog story, with Pitt delivering one of his most nuanced performances to date. "It's a baseball drama about something novel and rich: Billy's desire not just to win but to change the game," writes EW's critic , "to take it back from the accountants and rediscover the joy of players who could still triumph by surprising you." — K.J.

Where to watch Moneyball : Netflix

Director: Bennett Miller

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Related content: Jonah Hill on Moneyball and being an underdog: 'I was at the bottom of a list of other actors you'd expect to see in this part.'

The Nest (2020)

Sean Durkin's enigmatic '80s-set drama is a masterwork of unease. An American family transplants to London for patriarch Rory's ( Jude Law ) new job, and, despite the promise of prosperity and happiness, soon falls into dysfunction. Rory hasn’t informed his wife, Allison ( Carrie Coon ), that he’s nearly broke, Allison struggles to adjust to her new life, and their new mansion home is so creaky and uninviting it may as well be haunted. Imbued with dread, The Nest is an enrapturing portrait of a marriage and a family, with two stellar performances in Law and Coon. "Durkin captures it all with a sort of menacing restraint, building a deeply disquieting mood from long, almost voyeuristic shots and loaded gazes," EW's critic observes . "Is he giving us gothic romance, domestic drama, existential horror?" — K.J.

Where to watch The Nest : Netflix

Director: Sean Durkin

Cast: Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Charlie Shotwell, Oona Roche, Adeel Akhtar

Related content: Carrie Coon hopes audiences can 'escape into' eerie marriage drama  The Nest

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

While those sensitive to historical accuracy will certainly have their quibbles, The Other Boleyn Girl 's strengths lie in the dual performances at its center. Natalie Portman stars as Anne Boleyn, whose attempt to woo King Henry VIII ( Eric Bana ) is thwarted, leading to Anne's sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) stepping into her place. Following exile, Anne manipulates her way back into Henry's good graces, and a delicious power struggle ensues. Both Portman and Johansson are in control of their star personas here, while the film revels in all the juicy palace intrigue of its setting. As EW's critic notes , " The Other Boleyn Girl  offers the pleasures you want, and expect, from a middlebrow royal-court soaper." — K.J.

Where to watch The Other Boleyn Girl : Netflix

Director: Justin Chadwick

Cast: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Kristin Scott Thomas , Mark Rylance , David Morrissey

Related content: Natalie Portman: See her grow up on screen

Phantom Thread (2017)

Paul Thomas Anderson 's beautiful, dark, twisted love story unfolds with the precision of the urbane fashion designer at its center. Daniel Day-Lewis , in what is presumed to be his final film role, plays Reynolds Woodcock, a celebrated dressmaker in 1950s London who falls in love with Alma ( Vicky Krieps ), a waitress who soon becomes his muse. Though Reynolds' sister Cyril (a scene-stealing Lesley Manville ) fears that Alma may be distracting him from his work, Alma proves herself equally matched with the stubborn Reynolds. With Oscar-winning costumes and a nominated score by Jonny Greenwood , Phantom Thread is a hypnotic (and shockingly honest) exploration of love and the shifting power dynamics therein. — K.J.

Where to watch Phantom Thread : Netflix

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville

Related content: Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps talks holding her own with Daniel Day-Lewis

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Simmering with tension, Jane Campion 's moody revisionist Western is a transfixing examination of power and control — and the lengths to which a boy will go to protect his mother. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Phil, a spiteful rancher who torments his brother's ( Jesse Plemons ) new wife ( Kirsten Dunst ) and her sensitive teenage son Peter ( Kodi Smit-McPhee ) against the backdrop of 1920s Montana. As Phil plays psychological mind games on his farm's new inhabitants, Peter quietly calculates how to get back at his uncle after discovering a buried secret. The widely-acclaimed drama earned a whopping 12 Oscar nominations, including acting nominations for all four central performances, with Campion becoming only the third woman to win Best Director. — K.J.

Where to watch The Power of the Dog : Netflix

Director: Jane Campion

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Genevieve Lemon, Keith Carradine , Frances Conroy

Related content: The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion on her personal journey into the year's most Oscar-nominated movie

Sweet Girl (2021)

Killers for hire, big pharma's lies, and a touch of corporate espionage, oh my! Sweet Girl 's got it all. Starring Jason Momoa as Ray, a man seeking answers and responsibility after his wife's death, Sweet Girl puts the greed of pharmaceutical companies on blast. Featuring subway stabbings, FBI ambushes, and a twist that nobody could see coming, this action-packed drama is definitely the film version of a page-turner. (A scene-flipper? Frame-forwarder? Eh, we'll work on that.) Sweet Girl received mixed critical reviews , but anything that can make your jaw drop like that is a winner in our book. — S.B.

Where to watch Sweet Girl : Netflix

Director: Brian Andrew Mendoza

Cast: Jason Momoa, Isabela Merced , Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Raza Jaffrey, Justin Bartha , Lex Scott Davis, Michael Raymond-James, Amy Brenneman

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Thank You For Your Service (2017)

While numerous films have depicted the hellishness of war, sometimes the more interesting story comes from what happens when soldiers return home. Such is the case with Thank You For Your Service , which finds Miles Teller 's Iraq War veteran Adam Schumann struggling to readjust to life in Kansas between his PTSD and survivor's guilt. The underrated drama, as EW's critic writes , proved "successful at capturing the Iraq War's effects on American lives," centering on the specific sense of malaise experienced by veterans coming back to a country that doesn't always provide them with the help they need to re-acclimate. — K.J.

Where to watch Thank You For Your Service : Netflix

EW grade: N/A ( read the review )

Director: Jason Hall

Cast: Miles Teller, Haley Bennett , Joe Cole, Amy Schumer , Beulah Koale, Scott Haze

Related content: Thank You For Your Service trailer sees Miles Teller return from war

To Leslie (2022)

The 2023 Oscar nominations featured high-profile favorites like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water , but Andrea Riseborough 's surprise nomination for this largely unknown indie drama was one of the top stories of the day. Riseborough stars as the eponymous Leslie, a Texas woman who wastes her lottery winnings on drugs and alcohol and is now looking for a second chance, hoping to make amends with her estranged son. To Leslie had a tiny release in 2022 but was subsequently boosted by numerous celebrity endorsements for Riseborough, with the film's creative team forgoing traditional awards campaigning in favor of strong word of mouth. While the film treads a similar path as other stories about addiction, the strength of Riseborough's raw performance is more than enough to make this worth watching. — K.J.

Where to watch To Leslie : Netflix

Director: Michael Morris

Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Allison Janney , Marc Maron , Andre Royo, Owen Teague , Stephen Root

Related content: Andrea Riseborough responds to Oscar nomination criticism, says Hollywood is 'abhorrently unequal'

The Wonder (2022)

Following the Great Famine in 19th-century Ireland, British nurse Lib ( Florence Pugh ) is called to look after a girl who has not eaten in months, claiming to be fed with "manna from Heaven." As villagers come to be in the presence of a seemingly holy girl, Lib meets a journalist ( Tom Burke ) who suspects it all to be a ruse. Tackling themes of science vs. faith and family trauma, this period drama nearly tips over into gothic horror, brimming with moody atmosphere. As EW's critic notes , "The sumptuous cinematography, by Ari Wegner ( The Power of the Dog , Zola ), makes the landscape look like a Brönte novel, full of windswept moors and flickering, fire-lit shadows. Pugh, too, is pretty much perfectly cast, an actress with such a keen emotional presence that she tends to cut through pretense and triviality like a hot knife." — K.J.

Where to watch The Wonder : Netflix

Director: Sebastián Lelio

Cast: Florence Pugh, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Tom Burke, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Caolán Byrne, Toby Jones , Ciarán Hinds

Related content: Florence Pugh says she 'most definitely' abused herself to create her Midsommar character

Related content:

• Benedict Cumberbatch cowboys up for The Power of the Dog
• Paul Thomas Anderson opens up about Phantom Thread for the first time
• How Todd Haynes' May December channeled Mary Kay Letourneau and classic female melodramas

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X-Men series of film is an institution in its amazing way. Bryan Singer pioneered this popular comic characters and brought them to the silver screen. It is a very gigantic task to convert the fictional fantasy of an existence of a superhuman into a realistic visual treat. However, highly creative mind of Bryan Singer is capable of this task. The history is the evidence (The Usual Suspects) of the mastery of Bryan Singer in direction and storytelling. The thesis statement of this paper is the powerful auteur of the directorial team of the movie to bring his vision into reality.

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            "Drama"              Introduction              The objective of this paper is to introduce, affect, and apply the principles for evaluating an aesthetic genre. In this paper I chose to explore and examine the genre of drama. It is my intent to argue from the standpoint that applies to a drama movie. I am addressing the main points in the drama. How a person feels viewing the movie and the emotion that is caused while watching the movie. To defend my argument, I will use the movie Titanic.              Standards              The primary intent of a drama movie is to portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature. Drama movies are usually serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations. A dramatic film depicts human beings at their best, worst, and everything in-between. In order for you to be sad in a drama movie, the director must create an environment that puts you in a sad mood; then the movie can be considered a drama, because the intended sad emotion was successful. At first you feel hurt. A pain that, at first glance, puts you in an emotional state. From there, you would shift into an even more unsettling emotion of sadness that leads you to the deepest state you can be in, weeping and/or crying. To prove that someone can make a good drama, the right steps need to be taken in production. It is more to produce a successful drama that doesn't just make you feel poignant, but creates an effective way that will give you the desired emotional result you are seeking in a drama.              For example a person watching a child getting beaten or abused by a parent in a film might cause them to weep. The movie might strike a connection to the persons past by jogging memories or giving them flashbacks to when the person was beaten as a child. If the person had been beaten as a child and had flashbacks. Where as another person might be bitter and say the child deserved it. On the other hand, a child ...

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Housekeeping for Beginners review – a queer family’s fight to stay together

Goran Stolevski’s third feature is a deft and unsentimental family drama about an unlikely tribe of misfits trying to make a place for themselves

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E ach of Goran Stolevski’s films thus far has marked a departure from the last: the bewitching horrors of his debut You Won’t Be Alone ; the acidic heartburn of his queer romance Of An Age ; and now Housekeeping for Beginners, an amorphous family drama that marks the North Macedonian-born, Australian-raised director’s return to his home country.

Set in contemporary Skopje, Stolevski’s third feature follows a menagerie of queer misfits living, loving and fighting in a household which threatens to burst at the seams. His band of outcasts are bound together by survival – beneath their raucous capers, there’s the constant spectre of danger, peering through the curtains.

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Social worker Dita (Anamaria Marinca, from the Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) is the reluctant matriarch to a gang of urchins she has taken into her care. In these close quarters, bodies and egos bump up against each other again and again; commotion is this family’s default mode. The other residents include Dita’s partner, Suada (Alina Serban), a Romany woman who refuses treatment for her terminal cancer, jaded by a lifetime of racial ostracism, and Dita’s daughters: spiky teen Vanesa (Mia Mustafa) and her little sister Mia (Dzada Selim), whose doe eyes and gormless grin become ample weapons against the film’s anxieties.

We open on an interloper: the lovable scamp Ali (an impossibly charismatic debut from Samson Selim) overstaying his welcome after a one-night stand with the much older housemate Toni (Vladimir Tintor), a gay man who speaks almost solely in grunts. Ali hails from the same Romany community on the outskirts of Skopje as Suada and her children; soon, one night becomes two becomes a month. He clowns and charms his way around the house, wailing artless karaoke with Vanesa and Mia and springing down corridors, legs blurring with impish energy.

The antics are so clamorous that they almost conceal Suada’s impending demise. Her exit cleaves the film in half; in its aftermath, the shadow of grief colours the walls like the cigarette smoke always curling around the house. A plan hatched before Suada’s death is faithfully, sometimes farcically, executed: Dita and Toni, both queer, must marry to maintain the appearance of a nuclear clan, with Vanesa and Mia posing as their white offspring to evade the same discrimination that dogged their mother.

Stolevski’s film-making is deft. He weaves a social consciousness into his narrative without retreating to mawkish parables of resistance and redemption. There’s far too much mayhem for that and any hints of sentiment are quickly subsumed by domestic disarray. All of his films share a certain editing sensibility: truncated exchanges and scenes interrupt each other without ever letting a thought curdle into cliche.

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Housekeeping for Beginners unfurls as a series of vignettes, which, at their best, lean into the absurdity of playing house. A dinner party with colleagues may as well be an expedition to outer space for Dita and Toni, who traverse the alien landscape of heteronormative conversation with fear and loathing. Their sham wedding is a gloriously camp affair with balloons and veils, cakes and bouquets; the deception only amplifies the glee.

These small rituals make the film’s conclusion – a hurtling descent into a darker, different movie – a touch contrived. But maybe that’s just the beauty of a safe house: there’s space for everything and everyone, even if it seems out of place.

Housekeeping for Beginners is out in Australian cinemas on Thursday and is available to stream in the US on Prime Video.

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The 45 Best War Movies of All Time, Ranked

From 'Wings' to 'Saving Private Ryan' to 'Dunkirk,' this is Collider's ranking of the best war movies ever made.

The war genre has been prevalent throughout film history, dating back to the silent era and remaining a popular and relevant genre to this day. It speaks to the unfortunately universal nature of war that these stories continue to be told and resonate with viewers and critics alike, given war itself never seems to go away. War movies can cover contemporary conflicts, past wars that are still in living memory for some, and wars that were fought hundreds - or even thousands - of years ago.

Any attempt to rank the greatest war movies of all time naturally needs to cover multiple countries and highlight movies about numerous conflicts. There exist many perspectives on many different wars, and it's safe to assume that for as long as wars are fought, movies that shed light on war's horrors - while sometimes acknowledging the sacrifices individuals have made - remain relevant . Here are some of the best war movies of all time, ranked below from great to greatest.

45 'Gettysburg' (1993)

Directed by ronald f. maxwell.

War movies don’t get a whole lot bigger in scope or runtime than Gettysburg , which can claim to be one of the longest American movies ever made . It earns its runtime by having close attention to detail in depicting the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War, which played out over three days and ended up being a decisive event in bringing about the eventual end of the conflict.

Focused more on showing the events in as broad a manner as possible, Gettysburg is less about telling a character-focused story and more about being an experience/recreation . On that front, it’s hugely successful and quite awe-inspiring. And, yes, the runtime that goes well over four hours may be challenging, but given it’s sort of the length of three relatively short movies in one – and it covers a space of three days – it’s pretty easy to watch it in thirds for anyone otherwise intimidated by the length.

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44 'Play Dirty' (1969)

Directed by andré de toth.

It's quite astounding how many movies Michael Caine has appeared in throughout a career that’s lasted approximately six decades. As both a leading man and a supporting player, he’s always great to watch, but his prolific filmography means there are plenty of titles that have slipped under the radar of many. One of those would have to be 1969’s Play Dirty , which is an exceptionally underrated war film.

The setting here is North Africa, and the war covered is World War II, with the narrative focusing on British commandos disguising themselves and going behind enemy lines for a dangerous mission that involves destroying an oil depot. Play Dirty manages to be engaging and sometimes even entertaining while also feeling bleak and effectively anti-war, hitting a unique tone that proves hard to shake once the film ends; it’s certainly one that’s likely to stick with you.

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43 'Mister Roberts' (1955)

Directed by john ford and mervyn leroy.

John Ford was perhaps the go-to American director when it came to the Western genre, but by no means were all his films Westerns; indeed, many of his great ones belonged to different genres. Take Mister Roberts , for example, which is a World War II movie focused on a group of people working in the Navy, telling a sometimes funny and sometimes serious story about how tedious such a way of life could surprisingly be.

As a dramedy, Mister Roberts succeeds in being about finding things to do – and moments of levity – within otherwise trying circumstances, which is something plenty of other war dramedies have done in this film’s wake. It feels influential to something like M*A*S*H or arguably even Jarhead , and has an absolutely dynamite cast of stars that includes Henry Fonda , James Cagney , Jack Lemmon , and William Powell .

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42 'Richard III' (1995)

Directed by richard loncraine.

Standing as both a unique take on Shakespeare and a rather surprising war movie all at once, Richard III is supremely underrated and has held up very well in the nearly 30 years since it came out. It stars Ian McKellen in the titular role, and he’s arguably never been better, making every second of his screen time count while playing a dangerous man who’ll stop at nothing – and perhaps even murder everyone – to achieve his goal of obtaining the British throne.

Richard III is a classic tragedy through and through, but feels fresh thanks to the presentation (McKellen getting his Fleabag on by doing many a monologue right into the camera, for example) and the setting, which takes things to England in the 1930s, rather than the play’s original 1400s setting. It uses this to comment on various aspects of World War II, particularly the lead-up to it, and manages to condemn Fascism and war in general while also being an entertaining and extremely well-acted reinterpretation of a Shakespeare classic.

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41 'Underground' (1995)

Directed by emir kusturica.

Where to even begin when describing Underground ? It’s a movie that runs for almost three hours and spans about half a century, in turn covering three different wars. The setting is the former country of Yugoslavia, with the plot mostly revolving around two friends and a woman who gets between them, following how the trio navigate first World War II, then the Cold War, and then, finally, the 1990s Yugoslavian Civil War.

Underground shows the trials and tribulations of living not just through one war, but several, and does so in a way that can feel surreal at times, being hilarious and silly at other points, and then suddenly become tragic and upsetting at the drop of a hat. It’s one of the best movies of the 1990s , and is spectacularly shot, very well-acted, and fantastically unpredictable , as well as being an eye-opening look at a former country and how it was forever rocked by the tumultuous 20th century.

Underground (1995)

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40 'Red Angel' (1966)

Directed by yasuzō masumura.

Though Red Angel does deal with romance quite heavily in parts, it’s hard to call it a full-blown romantic film , at least in the traditional sense, because of just how grim it is. It follows a Japanese nurse working in China during the Sino-Japanese war, finding connections with other troubled individuals – sometimes physically and/or romantically – all the while terrible carnage, bloodshed, and acts of brutality occur around her on a daily basis .

It's quite shocking just how Red Angel gets when it comes to violence for a film of its age, and given it’s rather soul-shattering to view nowadays, one can only imagine how audiences would’ve reacted in 1966. It’s a tough and brutal movie filled with constant troubling images and sequences of tragedy, but anti-war movies need that sometimes, to drive home the message. And no one could accuse Red Angel of not delivering its anti-war message effectively.

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39 'Paisan' (1946)

Directed by roberto rossellini.

Standing as one film within the Italian neorealism movement , Paisan is fascinating from a historical perspective , and as a very immediate World War II movie. After all, it was made just one year on from the conflict in question ending, and it depicts events that took place between 1943 and 1944, all concerning the Allied invasion of Italy as part of the European theater of the war.

Paisan is also structured in an interesting way, comprising half a dozen short stories that all add up to one movie just over two hours long. Like a good many films with this structure, certain segments leave more of an impact than others, but Paisan does shed light on what was then a relatively recent event and feels authentic in a way that not many war movies are able to achieve.

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38 'The Burmese Harp' (1956)

Directed by kon ichikawa.

A movie that’s sadly partially lost , what remains of The Burmese Harp is still remarkably compelling (and it helps that the intact version remains 116 minutes long, while the original cut was a little over 140). It largely takes place in the immediate aftermath of World War II, following a Japanese soldier getting separated from his squad, and deciding to disguise himself as a monk to avoid getting discovered and/or imprisoned.

Much of the film focuses on this solitary soldier, but other scenes are devoted to the other members of his squad and their desperate search to find him. The Burmese Harp unfolds at a slow but steady pace, and while those looking for numerous combat scenes might not find this style of war movie to their liking, those who want a more quiet and understated drama – focused on character – playing out against the backdrop of war might well find a lot to like here.

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37 '20 Days in Mariupol' (2023)

Directed by mstyslav chernov.

Winning an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards, 20 Days in Mariupol sheds light on a very recent conflict that, as of the time of the film’s release, was still ongoing. It centers on a journalist’s experience with covering the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine , an event that kicked off an entire war that’s still ongoing as of early 2024.

20 Days in Mariupol is uncompromising in what it’s willing to show, but the unrelenting approach works to drive home the senselessness of the conflict being covered, and the modern-day horrors such an invasion has caused the people of Mariupol. Knowing that it’s just centered on one part of Ukraine makes the film’s content all the more troubling, as there’s only so much that can be shown, and indeed, the death and destruction caused by this new war has spread far beyond just one city.

20 Days in Mariupol

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36 'Hamburger Hill' (1987)

Directed by john irvin.

While Hamburger Hill wasn’t the most well-known Vietnam War movie released during 1987, it is a great – and underrated – one, and did still receive a high level of critical acclaim. Its approach to depicting the war in question is blunt and brutal, following numerous soldiers fighting in one particularly harrowing battle , all in the service of claiming a small piece of land from the enemy.

Showing combat in a visceral and bloody way, Hamburger Hill ultimately emerges as a strongly anti-war film, as even though there is technically a good deal of “action,” it’s certainly not fun or cathartic to watch. It’s a movie that aims to be as gritty and realistic as non-documentary war films can possibly get, and to that effect, it functions exceptionally well.

Hamburger Hill

35 'devils on the doorstep' (2000), directed by jiang wen.

Devils on the Doorstep stands out from the crowd when it comes to war movies, owing to the fact that it has a unique approach to telling a story about prisoners of war, and because it’s both darkly funny and extremely heavy-going . There is a farcical element to the story of townspeople in China asked to hold onto – for unknown reasons – two Japanese soldiers who’ve been taken prisoner, but things take a much darker turn in the final act.

The tonal switch-ups never feel jarring in Devils on the Doorstep , and it’s quite miraculous that it all comes together from a writing perspective, all the while leaving the impact it does. It’s one of the most underrated war movies released in this century so far, and though it can be hard to find as a result, it’s well worth digging out for anyone after something different.

34 'Waltz with Bashir' (2008)

Directed by ari folman.

While Waltz with Bashir could be called a great war documentary , it also feels like a little more than that, thanks to its presentation and surreal use of animation. Director Ari Folman makes himself the subject, with the film set up as him trying to recollect his involvement in a particularly grim event that took place as part of the 1982 Lebanon war, at which time Folman was a young soldier.

Waltz with Bashir looks at a conflict that is still going to this day, feeling like an anti-war movie through and through, though troublingly looking at certain events from the perspective of someone who was on the side of the perpetrators. Some may be turned off the film for this reason, but others may argue Folman is speaking about what he knows, and what he can speak about. The film does also end in a particularly devastating way that drives home the cost of this particular war, and makes clear who its true victims were in a harrowing and hard-to-shake final sequence that incorporates real-life, non-animated archival footage to staggering effect.

Waltz with Bashir

33 'quo vadis, aida' (2020), directed by jasmila žbanić.

Standing as one of the best movies of the 2020s so far , Quo Vadis, Aida? is a dramatized retelling of a particularly troubling event that happened within the context of the Bosnian War, which occurred from 1992 to 1995. It centers on a crisis that involved thousands of people seeking shelter at a UN camp after their town was taken over, with the protagonist being a UN translator caught up in it all, both because of her profession and because of her family members being in danger.

It's a slow build of a movie, having constant tension and a sinking feeling that gets more despairing as Quo Vadis, Aida? builds to a powerful conclusion. It’s one of the bleakest and most harrowing war films in recent memory , proving all the more effective because of the way it highlights the lives of non-combatants, and how everyone can be placed in danger because of a conflict; not just soldiers.

32 'The Human Condition' (1959-1961)

Directed by masaki kobayashi.

Masaki Kobayashi was a Japanese filmmaker known for making dark, bold, and character-focused movies, with The Human Condition trilogy being his most ambitious and epic undertaking as a director. With three parts released between 1959 and 1961, The Human Condition , as a whole, emerges as a single story that plays out over the course of almost 10 hours, making it rank among the longest war movies of all time .

The story of The Human Condition focuses on a single man named Kaji, who goes from being a conscientious objector to someone who’s forced to become further involved in World War II , with his experiences changing his personality and outlook on life before the audience’s very eyes. It does a great job at presenting the scale of World War II in certain sequences, but it’s most effective in showing the personal toll of war on one young man, indeed exploring the titular human condition in great detail as a result.

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)

31 'the zone of interest' (2023), directed by jonathan glazer.

Though it wasn’t the first movie to explore the banality of evil within the context of war, few films have done such an exploration quite as effectively as The Zone of Interest (and, arguably, no non-documentaries about such a thing have been as powerful). It’s a film about the commandant of Auschwitz and his family living their lives right next to Nazi Germany’s largest concentration camp while trying to ignore the horrors of what was happening nearby.

The Zone of Interest aims to put its viewers in the shoes of some very callous people , nevertheless showing with stomach-churning intensity how human beings are capable of ignoring things that you’d think would bother or upset them. It explores evil in a non-traditional and – some might say – un-cinematic way, but the approach is sure to leave a mark, and results in a film that’s hard to forget, no matter how much some viewers may want to forget it once it’s over.

The Zone of Interest

30 'the best years of our lives' (1946), directed by william wyler.

Perhaps more of a drama film than a traditional war movie, The Best Years of Our Lives is nonetheless compelling and groundbreaking for its time. It was released the year after World War II concluded, and throughout its nearly three-hour runtime, it covers the lives of numerous U.S. veterans returning to life at home after fighting overseas, and the struggles that come with such a period of readjustment.

Its premise means it's a movie about war that doesn't feature any combat scenes, centering on the process of recovering from a traumatic event and an exploration of war's lingering physical and psychological effects for those who survive it. It was likely therapeutic for audiences back in the 1940s and the film still stands up today as a compelling historical document and character-focused post-war drama.

The Best Years of Our Lives

29 'grand illusion' (1937), directed by jean renoir.

A French film that takes place during World War I , Grand Illusion is a movie that's held up staggeringly well for something released well over 80 years ago. It follows a group of French soldiers who are held in a prison camp and then a more high-security facility, the latter of which they then formulate a plan to break free from.

Complications ensue because of the class differences between the men, which still hold relevance, despite them all technically fighting for the same side. It was released shortly before another World War broke out, and uses its premise to explore aspects of life that aren't just concerned with warfare on a global scale, being a surprisingly deep and thought-provoking movie with a ton to say about how society functions between large-scale wars , too.

The Grand Illusion

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28 'Oppenheimer' (2023)

Directed by christopher nolan.

Oppenheimer is largely set during World War II and covers periods prior to and following the conflict, yet ultimately stands as a biopic of sorts, centered on its titular character. That man is J. Robert Oppenheimer , and the film is, broadly speaking, about how he developed the world's first atomic bomb and grappled with the magnitude of his creation after it was used to conclude the Second World War.

The bombs he dedicated much of his life to creating were used to take countless lives in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, done by U.S. forces to make Japan surrender. The film's certainly a bleak one, with its central character - and thereby the audience - forced to consider how the creation of the atomic bomb has continued to impact lives long after World War II's conclusion, with the looming threat of another (now nuclear) war being something that could destroy the world.

Oppenheimer

27 'rome, open city' (1945).

Roberto Rossellini is one of the most famous Italian filmmakers of all time, and someone who's held in particularly high regard by the similarly legendary Martin Scorsese . His 1945 film Rome, Open City is arguably his greatest work, being set in 1944 and depicting the Nazi occupation of Rome, particularly regarding clashes between Nazi forces and resistance fighters.

Due to its 1945 release, the film was made almost right after Nazi forces had left Rome, and Rome, Open City manages to feel intensely realistic because of this recency, and the ability to film in parts of the city that still looked the way they had during the war. It's a gripping and historically significant film and is also notable for giving future director Federico Fellini one of his earliest credits, as he co-wrote the film's screenplay.

26 'Pan's Labyrinth' (2006)

Directed by guillermo del toro.

Few filmmakers have attempted to merge the fantasy and war genres within the same movie before, but the legendary Guillermo del Toro is no ordinary filmmaker. Pan's Labyrinth is his best film in a career filled with great ones, and serves to be an imaginative and dark fairytale and a gruelingly intense war movie at the same time.

Though it takes place in 1944, it's not a World War II movie, with a focus instead on the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, with the protagonist (a young girl who escapes the horrors of life by retreating into a fantasy world) having a stepfather who fights guerrillas that are against the country's Francoist dictatorship. It's equally effective as a war movie, even while primarily being an example of a dark fantasy movie , with the unique approach to genre-blending making it stand among the greatest movies of the 21st century so far.

Pan's Labyrinth

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The movies and drama Essay (532 words)

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“The arts deal in the particular, the individual, and the personal. While the sciences deal in the general, the universal and the collective. ” To what extent does this statement obscure the nature of both areas of knowledge? In examining the ways in which this statement obscures the nature of both areas of knowledge, it is essential to examine the differences and similarities between both areas and determine links between the two. “The arts” as referred to in the statement can be qualified into all subjects of a creative and imaginative nature.

Literature, poetry, fine arts, theatre arts, movies and drama can all be qualified as “the arts. ” This is because all these subjects deal with the creativity and imagination of the human mind. All these areas of knowledge are sensitive to humans’ emotions and their perceptions of their surroundings. The arts can be said to be the areas of knowledge within which Humans attempt to understand the world around them in a passionate and heartfelt manner, letting their thoughts flow to produce works and pieces of an “artistic” nature.

“The sciences” as referred to in the statement can be qualified into all subjects of a practical and logically rational nature. Biology, chemistry, physics, zoology, psychology, botany and all their sub divisions can be qualified as “the sciences. This is because all these subjects deal with practical, every day matters that bring about theories which help us better understand ourselves and our environment. All these areas of knowledge are based on reason, and satisfy the human quest to answering questions of their own existence by providing clear-cut, reliable and proven facts that are the basis for theories which serve as these answers.

The sciences can be said to be the areas of knowledge within which practicality, logic and rationality serve as the foundation to providing theories that enable humans to comprehend their existence and their environment in a coherent manner. In exploring both areas of knowledge with reference to the statement, it is necessary to first establish the history of differences between both areas of knowledge. In their fundamental explanations, as seen above, the arts and the sciences directly contrast one another.

This brings about the traditional opinion of how “sciences” and “arts” are two completely dissimilar areas of knowledge and any links between the two can only be found as differences. Over centuries of dismissing arts and sciences into two completely different corners of knowledge, opinions have been formed by humans about the divisions between both areas of knowledge, as is reflected in the statement. In exploring the impact these set “rules” of separation between both areas of knowledge have on obscuring them, it is essential to determine that they do certainly have basic differences in their fundamental explanations.

There are many exceptions however, which prove that the sciences and the arts are not two completely vast and different areas of knowledge. They are simply, as is explored in the crux of this essay, two different approaches, both of which need to be utilized to better understand and accept the different ways of knowing and different areas of knowledge, linking the two to provide a greater understanding into the theory of knowledge.

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Five International Movies to Stream Now

This month’s picks include a Mexican family drama, a Palestinian coming-of-age tale, a high-school movie from Ukraine and more.

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By Devika Girish

Stream it on Netflix.

There is a beautifully elastic quality to Rodrigo García’s “Familia,” which follows the myriad members of a Mexican family across a day spent together at their house in the countryside. The story is nothing new. The patriarch, Leo (Daniel Giménez Cacho), wants to sell the estate and retire from the job he has held for most of his life. The proposition unleashes currents of raw emotion at the dinner table, as his children (three daughters and one son) and grandchildren, not to mention their various partners and spouses, reckon with their family home and with each other.

Leo’s children embody familiar types: the successful, uptight doctor; the lost, black sheep writer whose marriage is falling apart; the lesbian wild child who loves to provoke. There are jokes and jabs, screaming matches and quiet tears. But everything moves so fluidly in the film — the camera weaves in and around characters like a dancer, and the actors turn in wonderfully unvarnished performances — that not for a second does it feel trite. The unpredictable shifts from rancor to resentment to tenderness feel natural, and in lieu of any pat resolutions, “Familia” leaves us with the bittersweet fact that love and loss go hand in hand.

‘Laapataa Ladies’

In Kiran Rao’s charming small-town comedy, a man disembarks a train with someone else’s bride by accident, prompting great chaos. The premise of “Laapataa Ladies” may sound ridiculous on paper, but each detail, as it unfolds, is entirely plausible and reveals a lot about the violence — and absurdity — of patriarchal customs in rural India. As it happens, Deepak (Sparsh Srivastav) and Phool (Nitanshi Goel) are married on a day considered auspicious for weddings, so when they board the train, there are three other newlywed couples in their coach. Plus, all three brides are wearing identical red wedding veils that completely cover their faces, per tradition.

So when Deepak drowsily grabs one of the women’s hands to leave in the middle of the night, it’s not until much later that he realizes that Phool is still asleep on the train, and he has brought home a stranger, Pushpa Rani (Pratibha Ranta). Then an elaborate game begins: Deepak enlists the local (and corrupt) police to find Phool and send back Pushpa Rani; his wife, having landed up in some other town, tries to find her way back to a man and a marital home she knows nothing about; and Pushpa Rani sets in motion a curious plot of her own, whose contours slowly emerge over the course of the movie. In the guise of a funny, suspenseful and crowd-pleasing caper, Rao delivers a scathing critique of misogynistic traditions.

Stream it on Film Movement Plus ; rent it on Amazon .

Timely and incredibly gutting, “Alam,” set in a Palestinian village under Israeli occupation, offers a beautifully etched portrait of what it’s like to grow up amid the debris of your ancestor’s dreams. In large part, Firas Khoury’s film plays out like any other high school drama. Tamer (Mahmood Bakri) and his gang of friends go around smoking joints, flirting with girls and trying to skip class. But their disaffection is not just born of your typical adolescent angst. Israeli flags fly over their school buildings, soldiers and settlers menacingly patrol their village, portraits of displaced and martyred family members cover walls and their textbooks offer versions of their lived history they know to be untrue.

The hopelessness and frustration roiling around them comes to a head as May 14, the anniversary of the Nakba, draws closer, and the boys hatch a plan to hoist the Palestinian flag over their school. It’s an act of teenage mischief but also one of resistance, and it becomes, for Tamer, a stark confrontation with the reality of his bereaved community; and for Khoury, an opportunity to explore the life-or-death stakes often underlying the everyday experiences of Palestinians.

‘Stop-Zemlia’

Stream it on Ovid.

Following a group of high-schoolers on the cusp of graduation in Ukraine, “Stop-Zemlia” is one those rare films that understands its teenage characters, neither infantilizing nor sensationalizing their lives and concerns. The film revolves around the quiet and thoughtful Masha (Maria Fedorchenko) and her two best friends, Senia (Arsenii Markov) and Yana (Yana Isaienko), as they go to class, attend parties and have sleepovers. There is no real conflict in the film per se: There are small skirmishes among classmates, discreet crushes and plenty of confused sexual exploration, but it’s all portrayed with an empathetic gentleness — emphasized by the film’s bright, pastel colors — that makes the darker undertones of depression feel more realistic.

Though the film was completed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is impossible not to watch it through the lens of recent events. Scenes showing the kids participating in military training feel foreboding, but the more quotidian parts of the film — including the staged interviews that the director Kateryna Gornostai weaves throughout the film, in which the characters talk about love and loneliness — hit even harder, given how drastically the lives of Ukrainian youngsters have since changed.

‘Self-Portrait’

Stream it on Mubi.

The title of the Canadian filmmaker Joële Walinga’s essay documentary is cheekily deceptive. Self-portraits, or selfies, the defining media fixture of our time, evoke intimacy, candor and performance. But this movie is about a different, though equally pervasive, contemporary media phenomenon: surveillance, which evokes estrangement, anonymity and a lack of agency.

Walinga’s mesmerizing film, comprising scenes from closed-circuit television footage from around the world, is poised somewhere between these two poles. There isn’t much to say about “Self-Portrait” in the way of description. Each shot is static and frames a space or landscape, be it the mountains, the ocean, a field, the inside of a church, a cage at a zoo; the lo-fi quality flattens each scene into a kind of pixelated beauty, where waves or snowflakes or even animal limbs become jagged flashes of black and white. The images are strange and distant, the figures within them barely discernible; yet as we watch them one after the other, their fixed frames and mechanical gaze generate an odd feeling of subjectivity, as if we’re privy to a collective self-portrait of the human condition. The camera stays put, but the wind, water, shadows and people move, gesturing at something eternal.

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