Santina's Film Blog

  How does "Portals" begin with an enigma? The short film "Portals" starts with the main character already being locked up. There is no explanation of why she is there or how she got there in the first place. The prison it self could be considered a character of the film that represents the invisible person (or antagonist) that wants to keep her locked up. The mystery is intensified with the fact that there is no dialogue at all and the moment where she believes she is free, she makes a little noise for the first time which catches the attention of the audience.  The room design where she is staying is very simple and everything is grey. It does not give any types of clues to the audience or the character about where she is and the only thing that asserts that someone is watching is the security camera installed in a corner of the room. Once again, there is no hint of who could be behind all of it and there is no proper enemy that the woman could fight to either win...

  Pitch Black Heist The heist genre has different characteristics that classifies the short film into this specific genre. Characteristics such as: the heist being somewhat explained, the introduction to the team, the recruitment of people with skills, a likeable criminal so the audience sympathises with the thieves and a difficulty that leads to a decision that seals the fate of the heist. Pitch Black Heist differs itself from the heist genre when it is discovered that it was all a plan of personal revenge, meaning that the genre somewhat evolves from the heist genre to a family drama. It is also striking the fact that the heist itself can not be seen. The only hint that the audience has to understand when the heist is taking place is when both characters only talk while everything else is black.  In spite of having these specific characteristics that outstands the short film from the genre, there are also very noticeable and common ones. The short film has the explanation of...

The Equalizer (2014) The Equalizer, directed by Antoine Fuqua, is well-known for belonging to the suspense and action genre and also for the performance of Denzel Washington as an ex government special agent. Robert McCall had promised his passing wife that he would leave that lifestyle in the past but he is bound to come back once again when Teri is found in danger.  Teri (whose real name is actually Alina) has not had an easy life either. She was handed to a Russian mob when she was five and is now being a victim of abuse by Slavi, a member of said mob. One night, after Teri has been badly beaten and finds herself in the hospital, Robert goes to a restaurant owned by the mob and tries to buy Teri's freedom but his offer gets denied. McCall ends up killing Slavi and the rest of the members present, officially breaking the oath done to his wife. The next day, McCall goes back to his mundane job at Home Mart but his actions are not ignored by the Russians. The leader, Vladimir Pushk...