Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez English 124

1. Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez English 124

2. Brian De Palma • Carrie • Blow Out • Dressed to Kill • Scarface • The Untouchables • Carlito’s Way • Mission: Impossible Psychological thrillers Likes to use slow motion to build suspense Constructs scenes thinking about the viewer. Often uses a canted angle shot and split screen techniques Uses unusual camera angles and compositions Uses dynamic, meaningful imagery

3. Examples http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToZQVsJcZDk

4. Puerto Rican/Hispanic Actors in the Film

5. The Setting: New York 1975 The street is watching. She is watching all the time.

6. Definition of Greek Tragedy In Greek tragedy, a character makes fatal mistake/s that lead to his downfall, which produces suffering and arouses pity from the audience

7. What is Carlito’s sin? Is it hubris? What decisions will he regret? How will he atone for his sins?

8. The Tragic Mistakes

9. Conventions of Greek Tragedy • Begins with a prologue in which the problem is introduced • Follows the Greek belief that everything happens for a reason and that there is no way to escape your destiny • At the end of the story, the character will experience a catharsis

10. A Modern Day Greek Tragedy: A Character Seeking Redemption • Carlito’s dream is to get out and escape • Love, loss, pride, abuse of power are the main themes • Carlito’s makes mistakes for which he will pay • When Carlito realizes his errors, his world crumbles around him

11. The Prologue How is this scene shot? What calls your attention? What is Carlito saying?

12. Carlito’s Voice Over • Recorded to provide a sensation of intimacy • Voice overs are usually by a voice in the future reminiscing about the past. In Carlito’s voice over, we are in the present, listening to Carlito as he is dying and reflecting upon his life. • “Carlito speaks, describing and setting-up dramatic events, as if he does not know what is about to happen – and that very particular (and strange, unreal, but cinematically and narratively very useful) effect is created by having him say everything in the present tense.”

13. The Beginning What opinion do you have of Carlito as the story begins? How does his attitude relate to the sin of hubris?

14. Searching for ParadiseWhat obstacles impede his entrance to paradise?

15. De Palma’s Use of Mirrors Reflections in mirrors indicate that Carlito is no longer part of the dangerous world he inhabits.

16. Mirrors

17. Mirrors

18. Mirrors

19. A Stand Up Guy For how long does Carlito believe that Kleinfeld is a stand up guy? Why does Carlito refuse the D.A’s offer?

20. Lalín How can you f….the only people who ever cared for you.

21. Pachanga

22. The doppelganger: Benny Blanco

23. The Con Man: Kleinfeld

24. The Love Story: Gail “No room in this city for big hearts like hers… Sorry baby, I tried the best I could, honest… Can’t come with me on this trip.”

25. Doomed Love:Reflections

26. Redemption

27. De Palma’s Visual Style

28. De Palma’s Visual Style

29. De Palma’s Visual Style

30. “Sorry boys, all the stitches in the world can’t sew me together again. Lay down…lay down.”

31. De Palma’s Use of Space In many shots, he divides the space into two roughly equal zones

32. The Novel

33. Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power "the darkest and seamiest sides of law." • New York State Supreme Court Judge • Criminal defense attorney • Films adapted from his work • Q & A • After Hours (Carlito’s Way) • Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power • presence of racism and prejudice in the criminal justice system "A society that loses its sense of outrage," he has said, "is doomed to extinction."

34. The Palladium Ballroom 1948-1966

35. Carlito is going to tell his story as a way of showing what happened to the dreams of PR immigrants. The Beginning Sooner or later, a thug will tell his tale. We all want to go on record. So let’s hear it for all the hoods. The Jews out of Brownsville. The blacks on Lennox Street. The Italians from Mulberry Street. Like that. Meanwhile, the Puerto Ricans been getting’ jammed since the forties and ain’t nobody said nothin’. We been laid, relayed, and waylaid and nobody wants to hear to hear about it. Well, I’m gonna lay it on you one time, for the record.

36. Carlito’s Childhood • New York Gangs in the late 1940’s • Each group had its territory • Membership was based on race • Establishes a friendship with Rocco Fabrizi and Earl Bassey • Thinks of himself as a stand up guy • Tries to become a boxer What do we learn about his childhood? the reasons he joined the gangs? Did he try to live another life? What impeded his following another life?

37. Carlito’s Choice “Age fourteen, I saw that. I said, uh-uh. Them’s the humped-I’m going with the humpers.” “How’d exist in the streets? Sometimes legit But mostly hustlin’, thievin’, break and entry shootin’ pool was my main stick.”

38. Carlito and Women • India • Honey • Leticia (Tuta) • Gail How does Carlito view his relationship with women?

39. Issues of Race What problems does Reggie cause? You and my brother Earl are two of a kind-social parasites with no awareness of the Revolutionary changes taking place around you. (Reggie)

40. Carlito and Cuba Who was Nacho Reyes?

41. What is Carlito’s view of the law?

42. Bibliography • John Kenneth Muir’s Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2009/08/cult-movie-review-carlitos-way-1993.html • Senses of Cinema, A Revelation:Carlito’s Way http://sensesofcinema.com/2000/6/carlito/

43. Bibliography • THE RESPONSIVE EYE OF DEPALMA PT. 3: Carlito’s Way • http://www.furiouscinema.com/2010/12/the-responsive-eye-of-depalma-pt-3-carlitos-way/ • Unsung Gems: Carlito’s Way http://www.soundonsight.org/unsung-gems-carlitos-way/

44. Bibliography • A Walk Through Carlito’s WayAdrian Martin http://www.lolajournal.com/4/carlito.html