When we were talking in class a few days ago about how over the many years that American cinema has existed,  a certain “vocabulary” for watching film has slowly materialized, I began to wonder if there were any films I knew of that ever purposely attempted to deviate from using this traditional “American cinema vocabulary”. After thinking for a bit I started coming up with a few movies that, in my opinion, would fit this mold. Right off the bat I was able to think of three, intrinsically different, but equally wonderful movies. The first, which is perhaps one of my favorite movies, is Upstream Color ( Carruth, 2013), a movie that requires you to think and analyze each individual scene in order to truly understand what is going on in the film. The second is one of Terrence Mallick’s more recent releases from 2011, Tree of Life, which is a visually stunning masterpiece. While the third is an eerie science fiction film, Under The Skin (Glazer, 2013), in which Scarlett Johansson plays an alien disguised as a human that preys on men.

So when going through each aspect of these movies that I thought might set them apart from more traditional American cinema, I began to understand why many may be put off by these films. Unlike in the majority of American movies where dialogue is abundant and frequently used to keep the audience up to date on what is happening in the plot, these films rely greatly on subtle visual cues and scene sequencing to keep the viewer up to date. Now, it is not surprising that this proves distasteful and bland to the average moviegoer, why wouldn’t it? It’s always frustrating to learn a new language, even more so to try and effectively follow a story in one. In many ways, watching a new style of cinema is very similar to this.

When I first watched The Tree of Life, I had a very difficult time understanding the ideas each shot was attempting to convey. The first 50 minutes of the movie felt more like a chore than entertainment. However, about a little more than halfway through the movie I began picking up on more subtle suggestions that certain scenes would make, rather than trying to look to what the characters were saying for guidance. This is perhaps when I first started learning a “cinematic language” unlike the one I was used to, and just like learning a new language, it was very rewarding.

Sadly, like some of my friends, many people never give these movies enough of a chance, and thus miss out on a fantastic experience. This is usually due to them thinking the film is too boring, or has no point, when in reality it is frequently the opposite. That is why I personally think it is always necessary to be open-minded anytime you watch a movie and exceedingly hesitant to dismiss one just because its style is different than what you may be accustomed to.

I strongly implore you guys to check out these movies, especially Upstream Color and Tree of Life.

Just to note: Carruth was the director, writer, cinematographer, composer, lead actor, producer, and editor of Upstream Color, which means he’s a boss.