Film Criticism: Sample Analyses

1		What is the most common film structure?
			A)	Classical
			B)	Documentary
			C)	Social ideological
			D)	Alternative
2		What film is considered to be the fastest sound comedy ever made?
			A)	Do the Right Thing
			B)	His Girl Friday
			C)	Meet Me in St. Louis
			D)	The Thin Blue Line
3		Which of the following is a motif repeated in North by Northwest that leads to plot coherence?
			A)	That Eve and Roger are constantly battling between their romantic feelings and their suspicions of each other
			B)	Phone calls from the two henchmen to Roger
			C)	The chase scenes between Van Damm and Roger
			D)	That Roger is constantly in danger from heights
4		Do the Right Thing fits nicely into a familiar genre of American cinema. Which of the following genres could it be considered?
			A)	Romantic Comedy film
			B)	Social Problem film
			C)	Science Fiction film
			D)	Action Adventure film
5		Filming on location, especially in small apartments, would ordinarily make it difficult to obtain a variety of camera angles and movements. How did Breathless director Jean-Luc Godard and cinematographer Raoul Coutard film part of the film in a tight space?
			A)	By tearing out a wall to make room for the equipment
			B)	Through use of a portable wire lens that fed into a large camera outside the apartment
			C)	By using a hand-held camera
			D)	By building a replica of the apartment on a sound stage in a studio
6		Instead of the usual transitional devices used in film, such as dissolves and fades, what did Tokyo Story director Yasujiro Ozu choose to use between scenes?
			A)	Shots of spaces not directly connected with the action of the scene
			B)	A blank yellow screen
			C)	Words flashing on the screen in front of a black background
			D)	Shots of busy streets with foot and vehicle traffic
7		In Chungking Express, director Wong Kar-wai weaves together a two plotlines to make one coherent film. Even though the plotlines do not cross directly, what event links the two plotlines together for the audience?
			A)	The policemen have the same grandmother
			B)	Both men are vying for the affection of Faye
			C)	The men live on the same street
			D)	There is no event; the audience is supposed to find their own connection.
8		How does Man with a Movie Camera present filmmaking?
			A)	As an elite-oriented art
			B)	As a job or craft
			C)	As a hobby or interest
			D)	As a scientific experiment
9		Is The Thin Blue Line considered by critics to be a narrative or documentary?
			A)	Narrative
			B)	Documentary
			C)	Both
			D)	Neither
10		The Thin Blue Line presents social commentary on crime. Which of the following does the film suggest?
			A)	Any crime will consist of a tangle of threads
			B)	Any crime will seem buried in an avalanche of details
			C)	Any crime will give birth to alternative scenarios about what really happened
			D)	All of the above
11		What is the ideological intent of Meet Me in St. Louis?
			A)	To reinforce certain aspects of a dominant social opinion
			B)	To change people's way of thinking
			C)	To provoke people to action
			D)	To encourage people to take singing lessons
12		Meet Me in St. Louis teaches its audience that if the women and others left at home (during war) can be strong and hold their families together against the threat of disunity, what will happen?
			A)	They will wear themselves out emotionally
			B)	Harmony will eventually return
			C)	They will band together and will be able to sustain life without men
			D)	They will have to work out power struggle issues when their men return
13		How does the movie Raging Bull portray violence?
			A)	Very stylized and not very disturbing
			B)	Very bloody and exciting
			C)	As a means of solving all problems
			D)	Visceral and disturbing
14		In Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese best creates realism through which of the following?
			A)	The sets
			B)	The costumes
			C)	The acting
			D)	All of the above