The Blood on the Tracks #

Context and Background

This is a film review of a road movie that adopts both a global or Olympian view of journeys and a close-up view of a film in contemporary Australia.  The review deals with both content and technique of an Australian indigenous film “Beneath the Clouds”.

Orientation: The first questions you should ask, as you skim the passage for a general overview are; Who, What, Where and Why?

Who is speaking, to whom (audience):  Renay Walker, a film reviewer for Online Metro magazine located at: www.metromagazine.com.au/

**Reviews **make assessments of works of art.  They attempt to inform others about the content, issues and values of the work. Reviews tend to be opinionated and subjective, expressing either favourable or critical views of the work.

what is happening:

General introduction to the road or journey metaphor, examples of road or travel films and then a specific discussion of Ivan Sen’s Beneath the Clouds.

where in time or area they located:

Contemporary, within past 5 years (2002) and in Australia.

Why: Purpose:

To demonstrate relevance of a movie, to Journeys.

The writer is analysing films for teachers and students of media.

Technique:

The preamble is full of broad sweeping statements exploring in general terms with the road metaphor.  The language is analytical, interpretive and evaluative.

The next paragraph takes a broad global and universal view of the road metaphor throughout literary history from Homer’s *Odyssey (*circa 700 B.C.) to the present. 

The final paragraph is the review proper. It deals succinctly with the content and concerns of the movie, Beneath Clouds (“referring to what lies beneath a further reaching sky…”).  The review is positive and demonstrates the connection between this movie and the genre of road metaphors.

Language Techniques

Attitude or Tone: Warm, ambient

Audience:  peer/ niche interest group – teachers and students of media.

Style:

Word Choice — diction

• Connotative or - clear

• Emotive, & Evaluative: significant, deceptively simple,  groundbreaking, singular,

• Jargon: Literary terms eg: metaphor, genres, connotes,

Register: elevated language, • Formal — with some• Colloquial — relaxed, conversational inclusive friendly

Sentence Types:

simple. Compound,  complex

**Rhetorical devices: **Not declamatory; flat, dispassionate, low key.

Person: third

Voice,  active

Punctuation: colons, semi-colons, dashes, ellipsis….

Structure: climactic…