SYBIL

Sybil is a famous, Emmy award winning film starring Sally Field as Sybil, a real women possessed by 16 different personalities. This movie remains as a superbly acted, one-of-a-kind achievement that has yet to be surpassed as the definitive cinematic treatment on multiple personality disorder.

Sybil started life as a 1974 bestseller by Flora Rheta Schreiber, an absorbing account of the pseudonymous Sybil’s struggles with multiple personality disorder and the 11 years psychiatric treatment that helped to integrate her sixteen personalities into one. The book’s authenticity has been called into questions in recent years, but the real “Sybil”, the late Shirley Ardell Mason, insisted up to her death in 1998 that every word in the book was true.

In any event, I’d probably like the movie adaptation better if it were more faithful to Schreiber’s account. Primary among my whinge is the final integration of Sybil’s many selves, in the book a long setback filled process that the movie compress into a single afternoon in a park. This makes it difficult to elaborate the treatment considered in the movie as it was pretty brief and incomplete.

I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to call this as the finest movie I’ve seen, and probably the best possible interpretation of this material. In some ways it even improves on the book, most notably in the performances of Joanne Woodward as Sybil’s committed shrink and Brad Davis as her confused boyfriend; in contrast to their literary counterparts, who came off as little more than personality-free ciphers orbiting around Sybil, both actors create fully-rounded, compelling characters.  And, that leaves Sally Field as Sybil. This is certainly one of the best works she has ever done; her frequent changes in character, from the mousy Sybil to the more refined Vicky, the assertive Mary Lou, or little girl Sybil Ann, are totally convincing. 

PARENTHOOD

Ron Howard's bittersweet comedy genre movie "Parenthood", lays out an entire catalogue of psychological stresses that involves family life in America, and asks if being a parent is all worth the while. It definitely have to be! All children are not  the same and not all parents adapt the same feature of parenting style. It's all depends on the respective individuals personality and attitude. The movie "Parenthood" revolves around five types of parents, which involves Gil Buckman (Steve Martin), the lead character, who apparently portrays an authoritative parenting style who deals with his free-will children as a "non-strict" parent. Helen, a divorcee with two teen children, adapts an indulgent way of parenting, tries to deal with her children who seems to have their own way of teenage problems. Her daughter Julie,who is only 16 years old, sleeps with her drag-racer boyfriend under the family roof and her 13 years old son Gary, a skateboard fanatic who carries around pornographic videotapes in a crumpled paper bag. Having this problems, Helen tries to be supportive but at the same time doesnt have a base control towards her children.

Gil's other sister, Susan, is a school teacher with an obnoxious husband, Nathan (Rick Moranis), who is pretty much obsessed with raising his 3 year old daughter to perfection by using flash cards showing chemical symbols. His way of parenting code portrays more or less like an authoritarian parenting style. A further complication for the Buckman clan is the unexpected arrival of a family member, Gil's younger brother, Larry (Tom Hulce), with his illegitimate son, Cool. Larry as a compulsive gambler, forgets about his son Cool, and dumps his son under his parents supervision. His character of not being responsible in terms of lack of attention and care-taking portrays him as a uninvolved type of parent.

This movie had shown us different types of parenting styles in various family roof, and not all seems to portray it clearly but the basic aspects of the styles were present in the movie. Some manage to cope well with it and others learned a lesson through their activities. This movie has also shown recognition in no matter how grown-up and self aware we may be, we inevitably bring the emotional wound of childhood into the family dynamic. Even being the most sensitive parent, the film reminds us that limit will always be there. No matter how hard you try, you can't live your children's lives for them.

Women have choices, and men have responsibilities. ~ Gil Buckman

THE FISHER KING

Consistent with one of Terry Gilliam’s work, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Brazil, The Fisher King once again deals with grand themes against the backdrop of an alienating and dehumanizing social environment. The movie begins with Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges), the sardonic and biting radio DJ, berating his caller and listeners from a studio in New York. While speaking to one of his fan named Alan, Jack launches into a lengthy tirade in which he mock down the “yuppies”, declaring they deserve to die. However, on the same day the 11 o’clock news reports a violence scene where Alan (Jack’s caller) went on a shooting rampage earlier in the day, killing several people at a trendy New York nightspot frequented by “yuppies” types.

That awful scene had made Jack to feel extremely guilty for the deaths of those in the clubs. Three years later, Jack’s guilt is exacerbated further when Parry (Robin William), the husband of the murder victim, saves him from a suicidal plunge into the Hudson. Throughout the rest of the movie, the fateful relationship between both of them unfolds, providing the springboard for Gilliam’s brilliant exploration of such fundamental human problems as sin, repentance, and redemption as well as the search for personal fulfilment.

The focus on the search for personal fulfilment in an increasingly bureaucratized and alienating world is played through the more basic debate surrounding human motivation. The character Jack Lucas gives us a portrait of egoism incarnate, a covetous and self interested radio DJ who is perpetually anguished despite his material success. On the other hand, parry, the homeless mad man (the fool) who finds satisfaction through apparently selfless and noble acts. The Egoism-Altruism dichotomy is made even more explicit as Parry relates the story of “The Fisher King” to Jack. The story concerns a king with visions of glory and fortune who spends a lifetime searching for the sacred Holy Grail, only to find himself emotionally scarred and cynical as he nears the end of his life.

At this point, a fool comes along. Finding the king thirsty, the fool offers the king a drink of water. As the king drinks the water from the fool’s cup, he finds himself not only emotionally healed but also in possession of that which he had chased for so long, the Holy Grail. The point of “The Fisher King” story is clear, where the single minded pursuit of personal satisfaction, such as egoism, is doomed to failure. Only through other pursuits can true happiness be realized.

'Cause after all, women can have babies, which is kind of like creating. And which also accounts for the fact that women are so attracted to men... 'cause let's face it... the Devil is a hell of a lot more interesting! Believe me, I've slept with some saints in my day, I know what I'm talking about. So the whole point in life is for men and women to get married... so that God and the Devil can get together and work it out. Not that we have to get married. God forbid.' ~ Anne Napolitano

The Castle

Filmed in 11 days on a budget of a half-million, The Castle is one of the greatest example when it comes to good story line translated to film without big stars and special effects. the movie is basically about this family (the Kerrigans) who seem to be the worst off in the country and they own a house in a suburb of Melbourne, which apparently next to the airport runway. They are all uneducated, except for their daughter who went to TAFE and the oldest son is in the prison. The beauty of this family and the entire movie about them is that this may be the best family in the world. Despite their social standing and their limitations, the Kerrigans are absolutely content in their lives and are totally a solid loving family. 

The comedy is definitely one of the plus point of the movie as it was brilliantly written. and as the story moves along, the Kerrigans' showed their reaction to how wonderful life is and how to cherish every moment of it without concentrating on the negative side and just the positive side. In this movie Darryl (lead role) has shown us the true message of appreciating ones house as his own castle no matter where its located or how it looks like. When the city planners decided to buy the Kerrigans' place, Darryl fights for his house via the law, although he offered a great sum of compensation. That shows how one man appreciates his house and how he values his home as a priceless castle. 

The movie walks a fine line with its depiction of the Kerrigans' blissful life. In the film, we can feel the genuine sense of attraction for these characters on the part of the filmmakers; their decency and uncomplicated sense of family unity is celebrated rather than derided. They also succeed because they draw pitch-perfect performances from their cast, with the actors bringing a wonderful sense of enthusiasm to their roles. It surely a must watch film, true entertainment with plenty of good messages.

"It's not just a house, it's a home. A man's home is his castle." ~ Darryl Kerrigan

The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense is a psychological thriller movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan. In this chilling psychological thriller, eight year old Cole Sear, is haunted by a dark secret, where he constantly receive visitors from the supernatural world.  A helpless and reluctant channel, Cole is terrified by threatening visitations from those with unresolved problems who appear from the shadows. Confused by his paranormal powers, Cole is too young to understand his purpose and too terrified to tell anyone about his torment, except child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe. As Dr. Crowe tries to uncover the ominous truth about Cole’s supernatural abilities, the consequence for client and therapist is a jolt that awakens them both to something harrowing and unexplainable.

As quoted by the director regarding the movie, “Ultimately, it’s about learning how to communicate those fears, whether it’s communication between a doctor and a patient, a husband and a wife, a mother and a son or between ourselves and loved ones who have passed on. As well all have seen, not communicating with, or keeping secrets from people we love can destroy marriages, careers, families, and even lives. That itself is horrifying.” This movie could have the typical scary input as any other horror movie, but the director has creatively scripted the movie with good messages.

It is interesting in the psychology field when we examine on how emotional responses such as fear has been evoked when we watch horror movies. Good screenwriters know that fear generates a core emotional response that actually changes the body’s chemical response for a small period in time. This shift inside an audience, in turn, creates thrilling moments in which their participation actually engages them physically with the stories on the screen. This is because horror films are emotion-based experience (Williams, 2007). Virtually everyone knows what it feels likes to be really scared, for example, pounding heartbeat, faster breathing, nervous perspiration, and butterflies in the stomach.  But whether that fright is caused by watching a nail-biting horror movie, listening to a spine-chilling story or prowling through a dark-as-night haunted house, some people actually revel in feeling frightened.

There is an interesting study done on the effects of gender roles and what each gender is “supposed” to do when watching a horror film. “There’s a great set of studies done here at Indiana where they had a male and a female to watch horror films together, and when the female was part of the experiment the male would watch it if the female appeared uncomfortable, squeamish, unhappy with the content, then the male enjoyed the movie more and rated the female more attractive” (Weaver, 2009).  And, if the man appeared frightened, the woman would enjoy the movie less, and find her companion less attractive.  Well, looks like man has to build up his guts to be a fearless prince in order to capture his lady’s heart.

 " Some magic's real " ~ Cole Sear