The characters are quite typical of a thriller in some regards, for example the main character (Mathilda) represents a femme fatale nature. Although she is only 13, she is portrayed as if she were grown women. This is shown in the way she looks and behaves. Her clothes combine elements of sex appeal (leggings and a chocker) and young innocence (cartoons on the leggings and a girly French style hair cut.) The innocence shows her vulnerable side (enhanced by the bruises on her face) while aspects such as her cigarette and chocker show a darker or perhaps more lethal side.
Along with the femme fatal character there is also the typical gangsters and the mysterious hit man characters.
Leon uses the conventional method of extremes to generate suspense. The opening scene shows the landscape of the whole city which demonstrates how small the characters seem in comparison and yet their actions have such huge consequences. Furthermore the film uses a multitude of close ups to keep an ambiguous atmosphere around the characters while giving us some basic information about them. this means that we focus on some of the more intriguing factors about the people involved, for example the tinted glasses and the drinking of milk, both of which build foundations for the characters personality.
The settings in Leon are archetypal of the thriller genre; an early example of this being the shady coffee shop where Leon is receiving his contract. Within twenty minutes of the film we have already seen two spiral staircases, a very commonly used element in thrillers as it creates disorientation in the audience’s minds. The use of spiral staircases also allows for opportunities to show vulnerability, for example when Leon is hiding on the stairs the drug dealers cannot gauge where he is and it is when one of them desperately looks down the stairwell that we see just how vulnerable the staircase makes him seem – because of the vast amount of hiding places amongst the different levels.
The use of drugs in Leon is perhaps the most clichéd element of the film. Drugs are very frequently used in thrillers as it has connections to real life as well as creating a huge amount of motives behind the actions seen in thrillers. The gangsters willingness to murder a whole family (including a four year old boy) for the sake of finding 10% of their stock shows just how sinister this mob is. The connotations of gangs and drugs are widely used as they provide reasons for unspeakable things to happen – like the murdering of a child.
The many conventions of the thriller genre seen in Leon make the film a relatively clichéd film, however the way it is portrayed seems to transform the clichéd elements of it into a relentlessly enthralling thriller.
You have identified in a general way some of the conventions of thriller. You have spent too much time 'reviewing' whether the film is cliched or not rather than closely analysing how the film uses thriller conventions. For example while you identify Matilda as a young Femme Fatale by her costume and the bruise, it is also important to describe the way inwhich she is first introduced to the audience: what size, angle and movement of the camera. How is her first conversation with Leon edited.
ReplyDeleteAgain it is important to describe precisely the shots used to introduce us to Leon. How does the audience use the predictability of the shots - the conventions of the genre - to construct a reading of Leon? How do the three scequences we are focusing on challenge the conventions of the genre? It is hard to answer these questions if you do not first precisely identify the conventions.