The Perfect Picture

The house was very quiet. A clock ticked. As I watched, the grandfather slowly leaned forward, curved his arms like parentheses around the head and feet of the little form, then pressed his face to the shroud and remained motionless.

In that hushed moment I recognized the makings of a prize-winning news photograph. I appraised the light, adjusted the lens setting and distance, licked a bulb in the flashgun, raised the camera and composed the scene in the viewfinder.

Every element of the picture was perfect: the grandfather in this plain work clothes, his white hair backlighted by sunshine, the child's form wrapped in the sheet, the atmosphere of the simple home suggested by black iron trivets and Wrold'sFair souvenir plates on the walls flanking the window. Outside, the police could be seen inspecting the fatal rear wheel of the pickup while the child's mother and father leaned in each other's arms.

-- James Alexander Thom

Closer

This movie was the last one I saw before the midterm came. And I have to say that it is the perfect period for the series movies I watched last few weeks. The plot was really brilliant--spare the time of protraying details to more crucial part of the plot. Last second their relationship may entangle with the affairs; next minute they were back together again. Scenes go smoothly with changing soft the camera from one part to another.




Julia Roberts, oh my gosh. She really can act! She totally touched my heart and blew my mind! She deserved the Academy Award. In the film she was really bewildered for her emotional dilemma--the decision to choose Dan or Larry. Oh gee. I could really feel the way she felt.

Alice was the key role of the whole plot. She was a person who knew what she wanted and did not allow the desire or emotions like love to deviate her. Anything she determined to get would not be given up until she succeeded. And, of course, at the end of the movie, she took the whole movie to the climax by showing her passport to the Customs.

There is still one thing worth mentioning. Music. The song "The Blower's Daughter" which interluded from the beginning to the end was really a brilliant song. It fitted the movie perfectly. Especially in the end of the film. With the climax of the revelation of the truth and the scene Alice walked on the New York street, the song punched a destructive impact on the audience's heart and left them with the melancholy shattering in the wind. What a masterpiece!