From the name, you can get an idea of what type of film this is, it's the whole idea of 'nothing is what it seems'. Kale comes from a happy stable family until the death of his father in a tragic car accident, which he feels responsible for. He become a disruptive rebellious teen, who cares only to play on his x box, girls, friends and to lounge around in his house all day. As appealing as this lifestyle would be to many teens, he has one problem, he can't leave his house.
After losing a parent Kale is put under house arrest for three months after punching his spanish teacher who brings up his father in conversation, it immediately provokes Kale who is labelled as having psychological aftereffects because of his dads death. The results of this leads to him spending his time in his house all day while his mum works to keep the family going, however being surrounded by the same walls day after day take their toll on him as he starts to become easily irritated.
Meanwhile the secrets of his neigh-bour-hood start to unfold in front of his eyes as he spies on his neigh-bours especially the new girl who moves in next door, however Kale's paranoia of a certain neigh-bour starts to play on his mind, along with the fact that Ashley catches Kale and his friend spying on her, she increasingly takes an interest in Kale's new project and proposes a stakeout that leave the three teenagers horrified at what they witness and indecisive about whether they should confront him.
We are introduced to the main character immediately, he comes across as a typical teenager who obviously has a close bond with his parents. Throughout the film we see him change from this enthusiastic teen to a rebellious one. This change gets him in trouble, and like any rebellious teenager, he's oblivious to everyday life which he chooses to close himself off from, however when irritated and easily provoked he becomes aggressive which ends him up isolated in his house where he is forced to find things to do, which involves spying on the neigh-bours.
We see his personality in many different dimensions; which range from smart to funny to quirky to ultimately heroic; which the audience start to love about him as we join him on his stakeouts to find out whether he's just paranoid or if he really has stumbled on something real. His character creates constant enigma as he's always questioning what is happening around him.
The most obvious enigma is finding out whether Kale's neigh-bour is really a killer or not. The whole film is based around finding out whether he is or isn't; the film creates enigma by making the viewer think that sometimes he isn't when really he is. The audience is persuaded to believe Kale, even when his neigh-bour keeps up his innocent facade; the audience knows that Kale could be right, however being a teen under house arrest will not make the police believe him, the audience can tell this by the way Kale's lifestyle is presented, and how he dresses, which presents him as a young teenager who cannot be taken seriously. It is exactly this representation that Kale ends up challenging, it is suggestive that he plays the hero role simply because he wants to prove his mum, friends, and patrol officers wrong.
The main theme that is shown to the audience is how Kale is presented as a hero by overcoming all the knock downs he takes, following the tragic news of his dad's death. Another theme shown is enigma, as the audience we are constantly questioning whether the neigh-bour is a killer. The film creates enigma by allowing the viewer to get slowly closer to the truth; however when we are certain that the neigh-bour is in fact a killer, the pace of the film is faster and the chase between victim and killer is heightened; especially when Kale plays hero when trying to save his mum, best friend and girlfriend.
There is a variety of close ups and extreme close ups with zoom to show Kale's expressions and who he is spying on, to give the audience the impression that Kale is spying. This juxtaposition of shots creates the atmosphere of the film, to keep the audience thinking, and wondering what will happen next. In the beginning of the film Kale is shown in a number of high angle shots when he is getting his GPS bracelet put on his leg, and the officer talks to him, this is used to make him look vulnerable to authority; by the end of the film we see Kale growing up and becoming the hero, this is demonstrated by the number of low angle shots to show him as confident and strong.
No comments:
Post a Comment