reel/unreel

  Reel-Unreel by Francis Al ÿs was an interesting film to watch. It begins with a kid playing with a circle and rolling it around while hitting it with a stick and after a minute you start to see more kids playing the same game. Another kid playing the same games comes up from behind a hill and instead of just a plain circle, he is unraveling a film reel as he hits the red circle along. We then follow this kid who is unraveling the film down the mountain and through the busy city streets and eventually leading back up to the mountain. While this kid is unraveling the red reel, another kid about the same age is behind him rolling the film back up onto a blue circle reel. The kid with the blue circle follows the other kid the whole way down the mountain and through the busy city and all the way back up the mountain again to re roll the film. This director uses the illusion of continuity by showing this as one seemingly continuous shot from down the mountain, through the city, and back up right back where we started. While we travel with these boys we see the different parts of Kabul, Afghanistan. There are lots of people and the cars are so close to one another and there is a lot of trash in the streets. 

    The use of color in this film was kind of satisfying in a way. The contrast between the two kids the one with the red reel was wearing all tan and the kid with the blue reel was wearing a dark color maybe dark brown or black. This made it easy to distinguish the two kids and the reels being different colors made it stand out from the relatively tan background. The sound was also pretty cool because it sounded like you were there with them and running after the reel with all the kids. You could hear the reel rolling the whole time and although nothing was really said, you could tell the mood from the surroundings. You feel like you are there the whole time and the only time you can't hear your surroundings is when the helicopters come and it feels kind of stressful in a way before returning to the carefree children chasing the reel. The way the film is shot also makes you feel apart of the action the way it follows the kids pushing the reel making you feel like you're right there with them.