Little things noticed upon re-viewing

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seigezunt
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Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by seigezunt » Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:52 pm

Nothing earth-shattering here, but I continue to love this movie upon repeated viewing, and after having read the novel.

One thing that made me smile that I had not really noticed/thought about as it's just a little thing: in the basement scene, when Eli turns on the cassette tape, she jumps back a little bit when it comes on. Just a nice little direction/action that possibly speaks to the fact that this is not a person native to the 20th Century.

:)

I was just wondering if others had any such experiences of little details that jumped out upon later viewings….
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by dongregg » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:49 pm

Here's a delightful, easily-missed moment that Child_Of_The_Corn noticed:
Child_Of_The_Corn wrote:Only after many viewings did I notice this and it has become my favorite and always put a smile on my face. It's the second night that Eli and Oskar meet with the rubik's cube. We see Eli sitting on the jungle gym with a grey short sleeve turtle neck sweater and her psychedelic pants. She seems very lady like and proper with crossed legs with her hands on her lap looking straight ahead with a composed look. Then we hear Oskar running up to her off screen, she immediately brightens up and looks over to him smiling, uncrosses her legs and does this very subtle wiggle..I just think it so cute and endearing .. if you blink.. you can easily miss it.. only a fraction of a second.. but to me it conveys so much emotion in such a very small gesture. I can only imagine the great anticipation and joy she feels at being able to see and spend more time with Oskar.
:D
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by intrige » Tue Nov 25, 2014 3:12 am

Image
Or that before the sceond time Oskar and Eli meet, Oskar tells his mom that he is going out in tje courtyard, mom asks him if he doesn't want to watcj Tv and he replies that it is no good.
Then, Oskar checks himself in the mirror, fixing his hair a bit. Then we talkes off, comes back in again, taking the rubic's cube he almost forgot on the table. Then walkes out.
Pretty rad :D
Last edited by intrige on Tue Nov 25, 2014 5:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by dongregg » Tue Nov 25, 2014 4:46 am

intrige wrote:...Then, Oskar checks himself in the mirror, fixing his hair a bit. Then we takes off, comes back in again, taking the rubic's cube he almost forgot on the table. Then walks out.
Pretty rad :D
Yeah, I noticed he fluffed his hair. I didn't see the Rubik's cube on the table though. Good catch.

The first time Oskar goes into the courtyard (to stab the tree), he just glances to see if anyone will observe him acting out his fantasies. The second time, Rubik's cube in hand, he turns completely around, looking for Eli. If that isn't obvious enough, the camera frames Oskar and Eli's windows and holds the shot.

The Rubik's cube! Follow me here. In Soul Mates, Thomas Moore relates a story from the Cochiti people of New Mexico:

A lovely maiden took no notice of the young men of her village, although they wooed her ardently, offering her fine gifts, which she refused. Coyote said, "I will marry her." He fetched some black currants, returned to the village, and began dancing with the currants in his left hand. The maiden was charmed and asked Coyote to give her some of the currants. She took Coyote home and made love to him, and they went away together.

Oskar, you tricky devil you.
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by dongregg » Tue Nov 25, 2014 5:08 am

Eli's moods of despair, elation, despair again, and back to elation are reflected in her hygiene and are very noticeable in her fingernails. When she takes the Rubik's cube the first time, her nails are grubby, caked with dried blood. When she shows Oskar how she worked the Rubik's cube and when she takes the Morse code from him in the next scene, her nails are clean. When Oskar comes to her apartment (the first time she sees him after the basement FUBAR), we see in the play of hands on the glass door that her nails are grubby again. When she rings Oskar's doorbell, she's once more sparkly clean and -- at first -- in a sparkly mood.

Bless her moody little heart. :wub:
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by intrige » Tue Nov 25, 2014 5:52 am

Image
In the scene where the teacher reads from The Hobbit, there's a kid standing outside the classroom door. And disapears only when Conny is close to walking out of the classroom.

Image
In the frame where Oskar first hugs Eli, there's a man walking by on the side with plastic bags.
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by drakkar » Tue Nov 25, 2014 8:30 am

seigezunt wrote: One thing that made me smile that I had not really noticed/thought about as it's just a little thing: in the basement scene, when Eli turns on the cassette tape, she jumps back a little bit when it comes on. Just a nice little direction/action that possibly speaks to the fact that this is not a person native to the 20th Century..
I've always thought it was because it was too loud for his acute senses (IIRC he even turns down the volume). It might be a reference to the novel, where Eli breaks Oskar's Walkman, tearing off his head.
intrige wrote:In the frame where Oskar first hugs Eli, there's a man walking by on the side with plastic bags.
In this scene they also added CGI high rise buildings in the background; the location is the outskirts of downtown Luleå.
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by StrayAway » Tue Nov 25, 2014 8:55 am

seigezunt wrote: ...in the basement scene, when Eli turns on the cassette tape, she jumps back a little bit when it comes on. I was just wondering if others had any such experiences of little details that jumped out upon later viewings….
Yeah, I love that, too. And you got the lop-sided grin, which is only associated with a pleasant surprise or when she's happy for a moment or has reason to believe that she might be happy in a moment. The defining lop-sided grin was at Oskar's door. Watching it slowly disintegrate there just about killed me. I almost started to bleed from my own eyes. And when she comes into the room wrapped in the towel and tentatively tries to move to Oskar's music, there's the grin. Moments later when she gives the little twirl in her borrowed dress, there's the lop-sided, now almost goofy, grin. Those grins didn't fade in the moment. She had not a barrier standing. She was totally exposed -- a gift for Oskar. It was like she was ... intoxicated. Happily, in these moments, Oskar's head never even gets close to his own @ss. Hurrah, Oskar.

Ily

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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by dongregg » Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:04 am

intrigue wrote:In the frame where Oskar first hugs Eli, there's a man walking by on the side with plastic bags.
That's not all that TA and Hoyte have going on. We see the visual evidence of 10 people in the kiosk scene. In order of appearance:

1. The concessionaire
2. Oskar (white hair, brisk pace, out of focus, left to right)
3. Eli (slower pace, left to right)
4 & 5. A woman (?) and a kid (?) wearing caps walk briskly left to right between E & O and the kiosk.
6. An out of focus head passes briskly between O & E and the kiosk, right to left.
7, 8 & 9. Three separate people cast their shadows on the kiosk wall as they walk quickly by.
10. A man carrying a bag walks past the front of the kiosk, right to left.

This speaks to how well TA can put a scene together. Between what we see and hear, Tomas and Hoyte give an impression of activity around the kiosk but without creating a distraction that would take away from the central action. Until I studied the scene, I never thought to take my eyes off Oskar and Eli. (Although the cat was central for a few seconds at the start of the scene.)
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Re: Little things noticed upon re-viewing

Post by dongregg » Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:50 am

drakkar wrote:
seigezunt wrote: One thing that made me smile that I had not really noticed/thought about as it's just a little thing: in the basement scene, when Eli turns on the cassette tape, she jumps back a little bit when it comes on. Just a nice little direction/action that possibly speaks to the fact that this is not a person native to the 20th Century..
I've always thought it was because it was too loud for his acute senses (IIRC he even turns down the volume). It might be a reference to the novel, where Eli breaks Oskar's Walkman, tearing off his head.
First impression was like seigezunt, a sort of "primitive encounters technology" scene. At some point, I noticed that she knew how to put in a cassette and which button to push. I guess the loud sound could have triggered her startle reflex, but she seemed pleasantly surprised that music came out of the magic box. Still, I'll have to go with loud sound. I guess. If I have to.
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”

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