Blog Assignment #2: Moments of Choice in Shark in the Head

“Shark in the Head” is by far the one movie that is the furthest away from Hollywood’s Classical Paradigm.  The stylistic depiction of the German Expressionism that was shown truly conveys the difference between two cultures and what they deem to be a good film.

One particular scene that stands out in the fabula that lets you understand that you are in the protagonist’s head and that his perspective in life is sometimes skewed is when its a very rainy day in his world. As usual he’s standing by his window of his apartment looking at strangers go about their day.  Like the rest of the scenes the protagonist is looking at the street, which is somewhat gray and plain colored. People are walking in only two directions in a very plain and similar manner. But this scene is particularly different than the other times you see strangers walk the protagonists window in the fact that you don’t see anyone’s faces, they are all dressed very similar with black clothing and black umbrellas moving at a fast pace. The scene stands out and its  bit depressing until you see a woman run along the mans window. She is wearing a bright red dress and has no umbrella. From that moment the audience can tell that in his world, she stands out and she’s different than the others. Whether or not that occurred in the diegesis or just in his mind its not clear, but from that moment on its apparent he holds her at high regards. This scene definitely contributes to the visual themes of the film. It stands out and brings you back to reality, forcing you to realize that not everything you are watching is actually accruing.

I believe that this film is all about  style and only a tiny bit about the manner. The narrative is about a schizophrenic man who is struggling with reality, a plot that can be easily be told, but the director chose to show the viewer ,with style, how this man’s mind worked and how he was perceiving life itself. The point-of-view shots in the film help one understand that you are seeing things through his eyes, and when the world strays from the norm, the close mouth shots and eye shots make one feel that we are cornered and somewhat confined like he is. To add to that, his world, or diegesis, is relatively small and confined, with three trash cans in front of his door, and very bland colors to show that his life is somewhat the same.

All in all this film has nothing but style, and leaving it up for interpretation, it couldn’t be about anything, from a love story, to a parallel about how humans are the same way with the Internet and social networks.