Rachel

I am reviewing fan fiction from Film-Noir and Noir inspired cinema.

Reservoir Dogs

Addendum I: Depression

 

 The piece starts off with a, "beep", "beep" ,"beep", representing a heart monitor, which appears throughout the piece. It takes the reader into the characters setting. The author also uses groups of short sentences to add to this effect, working with the beat of the monitor. The author uses very dramatic language, speaking of conscientiousness and awareness with such passion that and I really got the sense that this character is waking up from a near death experience. I like the way this piece ends. On the verge of the character opening his eyes. Its open ended and leaves the me wanting to know, what next?

Pulp Fiction

Son of a Preacher Man

The author captures the attention of the reader with the opening sentence, speaking of having a gun held to his head. A curse word thrown in there for the sake of authenticity. This colloquial voice is used throughout the piece. There is a reference to the Neo-Noir film Taxi driver. Not only does this stir imagery for the reader, adding to the mood of the piece, but pays homage to Tarantinos style, who is constantly referencing Noir films. The author goes between the action scene and then flashbacks about his father, a technique also used in Pulp Fiction as it is not presented in a linear structure. Although i do not find this plot particularly interesting I think the author does a very good job of creating interest through the way it is executed. Great use of analogy throughout. 

Batman Begins

 The Joker goes to McDonalds.

This find the format of this fan fiction a little bit odd. I don't really see why the author chose to insert line breaks and paragraph in the way they did. The writer does depict the way the joker speaks with the constant use or "err..." which i think works well. There are passages in this entry that are quite funny, they must of required a lot of creativity to to come up with. The author goes between humor and horror, the contrast of this is effective. I like the use of the 1st person point of view and the cynical, sarcastic tone of the narrator, it fuels interest into the piece. I found the ratio between dialogue and description worked well for me in that it was easy to read through without pulling away from the text.

Blade Runner 

Replica of Romance

This piece was really moving. I was pulled into it. The first sentence "blessed and cursed with the preternatural aura of a black-and-white movie star" has a Noir feel about it, the use of black and white, and the introduction of a femme fatale. The author then takes the reader through the "alleyways" of labyrinth, giving it a dark mysterious mood. I love how this piece doesn't tell too much, it leaves so much room for ambiguity, and a sense of nostalgia. The author uses adjectives that really conjure up a sad, gentle, and romantic feel. The line 'depth of his weary soul' i found very emotive. The reader doesn't explain much plot, more just sets a mood, and leaves the reader with an image of a two characters drawn together. The author did a good job of creating subtext.


Shutter Island

Boss

Wow the expansive use of metaphor for the first sentence takes the reader right back the movie Shutter Island. "records always spinning round and round-" uses a symbol from the movie and is a great analogy of Laeddis' mental health. The only criticism I would have on this piece, and perhaps this is more personal preference, is that i find it so rich with imagery and analogy that i feel like i need to pull away from the text to take a breath and reflect of what is actually going on as oppose to reading it straight through. This kiss between Lester and Andrew towards the end is a surprising twist. I like how the author explores what is going on from Lester's Point of View.  

American Psycho

Patrick Bateman Anticipates Harry Potter

Very disturbing piece of fan fiction, but that is to be expected given the original material of American Psycho. Patrick Bateman waits in line for the new Harry Potter book. A goth girl questions his place in the line, angered by this Patrick drags her off and to a warehouse and brutally murders her, then returns home to read his Harry Potter. The use of first person point of view to create an unreliable narrator works well for this piece, as it gives direct insight as to what the character is thinking, as "Psycho" does with the use of voice over.  This piece is rather graphic and disturbing, but also at time comical, making it interesting to read, but i found the content too disturbing and graphic for my taste.

Scarface

Scarface Forever

Tony Montana goes to hell, where he eventually takes over the throne from the devil. This fan fiction is short and easy to read. The writer uses dialogue, and captures Tony accent with 'fuck you mein', an effective technique to demonstrate authenticity. There seems to be something lacking in this piece, I think it could padded out with description. For example, being set in Hell the author could of used a a lot more imagery to create a scary or haunting setting. I found this fanfic to be very average, the plot is boring. The writing is sufficient to portray the plot but lacks originality and imagery.

Psycho

We Didn't Start the Horror...

This is a song written to the tune of "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel.

This song is an original and clever idea. The use of such an uplifting tune for the horror movie "Psycho", provides refreshingly dark humour. It explains much of the plot and shows an impressive use of rhythm and rhyme as well as symbology, which pays homage to a film so rich in symbols. Is is a creative idea.


Fight Club

Ben Taylor

In this piece of fan fiction the author directly address the reader, as the narrator does in the movie. He uses a dark and aggressive voice, encapsulating the mood of the movie narrators voice. He follows the idea the television invades our lives, forcing us to think about other peoples lives, and that we need to pull away from this to start living our own. He uses Ben Taylor as an example of this. The writer uses quite a few poetic techniques such as alliteration and anaphora. This gives the piece a rhythmic sense and build momentum.    I was also engaged by the use of 2nd person. I found the piece thought out and well written, there is a sense seems that the writer engaged themselves in writing this piece. 

Inception 

When Inception met Mean Girls

This fan fiction is really funny if you've seen Mean Girls, It seems more like Mean Girls meets Inception than the former. It uses a lot of dialogue and i think it would be beneficial if the piece had a little more description to establish who the characters are. The language used replicates Mean Girls, with words like 'whatever' and 'boo, you whore'. The dialogue is very similar to the movie, and could do with originality from the author.  The plot doesn't really resolve itself, so although is funny and enjoyable to read, it would be better if all tied in together. At times it is also confusing to know which character is speaking as it doesn't state who the conversations are between. This fan fiction is silly and for entertainment, maybe the author didn't think setting the scene and creating a variable plot is so important.