This week I watched Marvin’s
Room, a 1996 film with what we would recognize today as star lineup. –
Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, and Diane Keaton (with Robert De Niro, as
well). Lee (Streep), an uninterested, unconnected mother who smokes too many
cigarettes, and her two sons, Charlie and troubled, misunderstood Hank (DiCaprio),
travel down to Florida after almost 20 years, to be tested as possible bone
marrow donors for her sister Bessie (Keaton) who is diagnosed with leukemia.
Bessie, who has spent her life taking care of her bedridden father, meets her
nephews for the first time, one of which she has a strong connection and
understanding for. This film is heavy, as there health and mental problems are
the core of the conflict. So, how does the camera and cinematography help this
narrative? Let’s find out…
First, we have to classify this film. It’s a coming of age
film, for sure, if we look at the character of Hank. He is in between
adulthood; he classifies himself as an adult, as adults still treat him like a
kid. When asked by his aunt Bessie what he wants to be when he grows up, he
gives a disgusted look and says “I am grown up.” With all the trouble he causes
(burning down his house, not listening to his mother, getting into fights), he
is sent to the ‘loony bin’ as his mother refers to it (to make light of the
situation). This is also a movie about family and damaged relationships. The
relationship between Bessie and Lee, Lee and Hank, and Hank and Bessie all turn
out stronger in the end than in the beginning. It’s a realistic film, though
not to be confused with art or slow cinema.
Timothy Shary, author of the article “Teen Films: The
Cinematic Image of Youth”, would think this is accurate as well, since this is
about a juvenile outcast with social restraints; “The output of juvenile delinquent
dramas has been the most voluminous of youth films, although their attention to
contemporary realism is much debated, since they offer a rich appreciation for
the aggressive expressions which teens most crave and parents most fear,”
(Shary). This is the exact description of the film, however, I wouldn’t
necessarily say that there is an appreciation for the aggression that Hank
holds. In fact, the character of Bessie of the film try and rid him of his poor
ways, as he is encouraged that he is smart and better than that.
During the opening credits, we get the sense of immortality
and darkness the movie expresses, as we are tracking an endless amount of pill
bottles and medications. This one take, endless tracking shot goes on for
almost two and a half minutes. This is our opening scene, our introduction,
which is very telling and foreshadows many of the issues the characters express
in the film (cancer, old age, mental instructions).
Fast forward to when Lee and her boys make it to Florida.
Hank mostly keeps to himself, but that’s not good enough for Lee; she picks out
everything the boy does or says wrong. Bessie, who has now started her
treatment, on many occasions tends to connect and give Hank the time of day to
really get to know him and let him express himself. In the scene below, while
giving light to the history of the family, this is the first real breakthrough
Bessie and Hank have. There is patience.
We see the two looking out at the ocean, then we see direct
ocean shots. Normal. We may even loosely call it a foreshadowing of the coming
moments. Then Hank gets off the hood into the driver’s seat, Bessie following
his movements moving to the passenger’s side. Hank recklessly, as his mother
would call it, drives forward towards the ocean and drives along the ocean’s
coastline with the windows down. As we get reverse shots from their faces to
the car splashing along the coast, we see that Hank isn’t harmful at all; both
need the freedom and rules broken, and with that they’re innocent. The
alternating shots of the freedom and pureness of the beach represents what they
both are, and the pureness of the aunt-nephew relationship they hold.
Hank finally decides to be tested to see whether he is
a match (he previously refused because he felt he was being used). The scenes
where Bessie and he are at the doctor’s office is a very vulnerable scene, and that
is partly due to the camerawork.
When they are outside and are facing each other, they are in half of the screen. The second half is a reflection of them both in the office glass. For a while I struggled to figure out what this means, and to be quite honest I still am in midst of questioning the reasoning behind this shot. But it's a very evident, telling shot nonetheless. Maybe it symbolizes a breakthrough in their relationship, that they are facing their issues head-on. This is a distant connection, however, it's the only one I can really justify. This is the point where Hank is told by his admiring aunt not to make up stories, so he realizes that people want to listen to him. His thoughts, his goals. This is also an instant where the boys are getting tested to potentially save Bessie's life; she's facing her fate. The blinds splicing through their mirrored reflections maybe in some form symbolize the flaws and holes in their lives, or the missing answers they are searching for.
As this one take scene unfolds (the outdoor scene mentioned above starting at 00:49), we slowly zoom in close to Hank's face, a close up shot, which tell his emotions after being yelled at by Bessie. This adds to the narrative, as we've talked about in terms of David Bordwell in the first blog (style as narrative).
In the scene right after this, where Hank meets Bessie back in the waiting room, as he tells his aunt of his accomplishment of coming in fourth in a pool tournament and his mother not caring, along with other endeavors and distant goals that make us sympathize with his character, we start off facing the two to the side. Slowly, as Hank's monologue goes on, the camera tracks the two, eventually as we face them almost head-on. Instead of a tight shot of just shoulders and head, it becomes loose and as Hank becomes more vulnerable we get to see more of his body and more of him in general; we see him in whole. At the end this scene when Bessie asks why he burned down the house, we get a tight close up of his face again to really see his struggle internally as he says nothing close to tears.
Throughout this film we see DiCaprio's character struggle to fit in and be happy. The only person he is 'normal' around is his aunt Bessie. We become attached to the pair and we as an audience want what is best for Hank. Mental health is a big issue in coming of age/young adult films because it is more relevant in today's society; "the problematic yet popular tradition of pushing their characters to the extreme limits of moral and social acceptability" in terms of this film is quite applicable (Shary). Lee wants her son to just get better, as if he doesn't have a real problem, but in reality the internal problems he has is becoming more accepted today, granted this is a 1996 flick.
There are in fact a lot of over the shoulder shots, like in our last film (Ride). There are many simple shots, which give the clear meaning that we aren't supposed to focus on beautiful frames, but the raw, deep emotion/feeling displayed. If there were to be a lot of movement and many scenes shot in obscure angles, it would take away from the blunt takeaway of the movie.
I know I have somewhat intentionally veered away from my central point of cinematic/camera movement as a contribution to narrative, but it's hard not to discuss Marvin's Room without bringing in the reality of illness. There's only so much a camera can say, as sometimes body language and words are better referenced and more clear.
Works Cited:
Shary, Timothy. "Teen Films: The Cinematic Image of Youth." Film Genre Reader IV. Ed. Barry Keith Grant. Austin: U of Texas, 2012. 576-601. Print.
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