2010-01-09, 03:58 PM
The silent sequence of the 2009 Pixar film, Up. If you haven't seen this excellent work of film yet, then I'll leave you what you need to understand.
The film opens with a black and white film titled "Spotlight on Adventure". Here, we meet the young Carl Fredricksen, who is a shy and quiet boy who has long idolized renowned explorer Charles F. Muntz. To his dismay, he learns that Muntz has recently been accused of fraud upon his return from a trek in South America, vowing to return only upon catching an elusive creature he had discovered there. The film begins as Fredericksen pretends to be just like his hero, by running around with a blue balloon named "The Spirit of Adventure" after Muntz's hot air balloon; and pretending to explore across the world. He comes across an old seemingly abandoned house also labeled "The Spirit of Adventure" and can hear a girl's voice saying Muntz's catch phrase of "Adventure is out there!". Intrigued, Carl walks in and befriends an energetic and outgoing tomboy named Ellie, who is also a passionate Muntz fan. After breaking his arm and legs from falling in the house, Carl sees a blue balloon float into his room; and to his suprise, Ellie comes inside to cheer him up. Detailing her ambitions in her personal scrapbook titled "My Adventure Book", she tells Carl of her desire to move her clubhouse to Paradise Falls - a majestic waterfall cliff in South America where Muntz was looking for the creature, and makes him promise to help her.
What I show you here is years later when Carl weds Ellie and grow old together. Very saddening stuff.
[youtube]GroDErHIM_0[/youtube]
[spoiler=After You're Done]
Now that's quality storytelling for you: there's a lot to be said in those single seconds in the dialogue-less storytelling set to a continually changing recurring piano theme heard throughout the film to fit the mood. The sad wistful versions really made me sad with what's going on screen: Carl and Ellie find themselves hoping to have a child, and as they prepare the stuff for a baby with the sound of cheerful piano and violin playing in the background; the scene begins to slowly transition as it moves to the right showing later when they find themselves being told by a doctor that Ellie had a miscarriage or that they were infertile and couldn't have a child. It was also sad that when they try to save up for their dream to go to Paradise Falls, they have other financial obligations like flat tires or hospital fees and are forced to use the money meant to save up for their dreams. But for me, there's one part that will always get me: Ellie's death. When Carl finally shows her in their old age that he managed to get plane tickets to Venezuela to go to Paradise Falls in the very same hill where they lied down to stare at the clouds, she's noticeably weak; and soon, she's in the hospital. The blue balloon he sends in allusion to their childhood really struck me as heartwarming and also saddening at the same time. The sequence in which its Carl Fredericksen as an aged old man after living his life with his wife he's known since childhood sits alone at her funeral as he clutches the same colored balloon as the blue one he held when he first met her as he is surrounded by balloons at the altar just really gets to me. Many have interpreted the scene that he took an extra moment to mourn in sadness of the events and how it deeply affected him, however on the contrary, it can also be seen from another perspective that they were a lonely old couple with no one they knew anymore and know that his wife died, he became truly alone. Either way, pretty sad stuff. And after that, the gentle fade into him holding that very same balloon and walking into his house sadly is beautifully done and saddening.
[/spoiler]
The film opens with a black and white film titled "Spotlight on Adventure". Here, we meet the young Carl Fredricksen, who is a shy and quiet boy who has long idolized renowned explorer Charles F. Muntz. To his dismay, he learns that Muntz has recently been accused of fraud upon his return from a trek in South America, vowing to return only upon catching an elusive creature he had discovered there. The film begins as Fredericksen pretends to be just like his hero, by running around with a blue balloon named "The Spirit of Adventure" after Muntz's hot air balloon; and pretending to explore across the world. He comes across an old seemingly abandoned house also labeled "The Spirit of Adventure" and can hear a girl's voice saying Muntz's catch phrase of "Adventure is out there!". Intrigued, Carl walks in and befriends an energetic and outgoing tomboy named Ellie, who is also a passionate Muntz fan. After breaking his arm and legs from falling in the house, Carl sees a blue balloon float into his room; and to his suprise, Ellie comes inside to cheer him up. Detailing her ambitions in her personal scrapbook titled "My Adventure Book", she tells Carl of her desire to move her clubhouse to Paradise Falls - a majestic waterfall cliff in South America where Muntz was looking for the creature, and makes him promise to help her.
What I show you here is years later when Carl weds Ellie and grow old together. Very saddening stuff.
[youtube]GroDErHIM_0[/youtube]
[spoiler=After You're Done]
Now that's quality storytelling for you: there's a lot to be said in those single seconds in the dialogue-less storytelling set to a continually changing recurring piano theme heard throughout the film to fit the mood. The sad wistful versions really made me sad with what's going on screen: Carl and Ellie find themselves hoping to have a child, and as they prepare the stuff for a baby with the sound of cheerful piano and violin playing in the background; the scene begins to slowly transition as it moves to the right showing later when they find themselves being told by a doctor that Ellie had a miscarriage or that they were infertile and couldn't have a child. It was also sad that when they try to save up for their dream to go to Paradise Falls, they have other financial obligations like flat tires or hospital fees and are forced to use the money meant to save up for their dreams. But for me, there's one part that will always get me: Ellie's death. When Carl finally shows her in their old age that he managed to get plane tickets to Venezuela to go to Paradise Falls in the very same hill where they lied down to stare at the clouds, she's noticeably weak; and soon, she's in the hospital. The blue balloon he sends in allusion to their childhood really struck me as heartwarming and also saddening at the same time. The sequence in which its Carl Fredericksen as an aged old man after living his life with his wife he's known since childhood sits alone at her funeral as he clutches the same colored balloon as the blue one he held when he first met her as he is surrounded by balloons at the altar just really gets to me. Many have interpreted the scene that he took an extra moment to mourn in sadness of the events and how it deeply affected him, however on the contrary, it can also be seen from another perspective that they were a lonely old couple with no one they knew anymore and know that his wife died, he became truly alone. Either way, pretty sad stuff. And after that, the gentle fade into him holding that very same balloon and walking into his house sadly is beautifully done and saddening.
[/spoiler]