Question

Movie analysis - Una Noche

Plot:

What was the movie about? - Write a summary of the movie

Was it believable? Interesting? Thought-provoking? Explain

How did the setting affect the story?

Themes and Tone:

What was the central goal of the movie?

Was it made to entertain, educate, or bring awareness to an issue? Explain

Acting and Characters:

Did the acting support the characters, and help them come to life? Explain

Did the characters display complex personalities or were they stereotypes? Explain and give examples

Were there characters that embodied certain archetypes to enhance or diminish the film? Explain and give examples

Dialogue:

Were the conversations believable or necessary? Explain

Did the dialogue bring context to plot developments? Explain

Did the words match the tone of the movie and personality of the characters? Explain

Part 2:

Complete the following information and chart based on the movie you watched:

Name of the movie:

Country:

Timeline or year in which it is based:

Director:

Character analysis: Analyze at least 3 of the characters portrayed in the movie.
2.        Social issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
3.         Political issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
4.        Economic issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
5.        Other issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer

Part 3:

Complete the following information and chart based on the movies analyzed on the text this week:

Name of the movie:

Country:

Timeline or year in which it is based:

Director:

Character analysis: Analyze at least 3 of the characters portrayed in the movie.
2.        Social issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
3.         Political issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
4.        Economic issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
5.        Other issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer

Complete the following information and chart based on the movies analyzed on the text this week:

Name of the movie:

Country:

Timeline or year in which it is based:

Director:

Character analysis: Analyze at least 3 of the characters portrayed in the movie.
2.        Social issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
3.         Political issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
4.        Economic issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer
5.        Other issues criticized throughout the movie - Explain your answer

Answer 1

1. Summary:

Lila who is the Cuban teenager, is one of the lead characters in Una Noche. This movie is directed by Lucy Mulloy. Nervous desperation is the energy of "Una Noche," a sexually charged and tense film that takes place over the course of one very long day in Havana, as three teenagers scheme to put together a raft that will transport them the 90 dangerous miles across the ocean to Miami.

After that, their plan gets a little dim. One of the teens has a long-lost father who is in Miami, supposedly, so maybe they'll look him up. None of them speak English. Lila and Elio are twins. Their parents are not so much neglectful as totally preoccupied with their own marital drama. Father is cheating on mother, father comes home and berates mother for the messy house, and so life at home is a big drag. Lila spends her time at the gym taking Taekwondo classes, and being made fun of by the more glamorous girls for her unshaved eyebrows and hairy arms. But her primary relationship is with her brother. Elio works as a cook in a hotel restaurant. He rides his bike along the cracked streets overgrown with weeds, with Lila sitting behind him. He looks out for her, she looks out for him. But Elio has a secret. Well, a couple of secrets. One is that he is helping his friend Raul put together a plan to get Raul to Miami to find his father. The other secret is deeper and can certainly be guessed at through behavior through the film, although the "reveal" doesn't come until late.

Elio is resourceful. He knows he needs to procure inner tubes, lumber, a compass, and maybe even a GPS, for the journey. All of this can be found on the flourishing black market. There is one fascinating scene where Elio trades in his bike for an outboard motor (no gasoline included) from a guy who buys and sells things, anything you want, as long as you have something to trade.

Daniel Arrechaga is fantastic as the hot-headed and tormented Raul. He dresses flashily, and dreams of all of the gold chains he will get when he is in America. But the bravado hides a hurt child, abandoned by his father, and now the sole caretaker of his prostitute mother. When we first see his mother, she sits in a dark room, her face drawn and haggard, with a full-body cough. She tries to make her son drink warm milk, and he makes her drink it instead. Later, we see her under a highway overpass, standing with all of the other hookers, going off with a tourist who makes her an offer. It's harrowing. Later, Raul comes across his mother servicing a Western tourist, and accidentally injures the man. The cops are put on Raul's trail. Any sense of delaying his escape is lost. He must leave now, before the cops find him. Havana jumps off the screen in a visceral way. You can smell it, feel it, like a living presence.