Connect (Samuel Abrahams, 2010)

Narrative Structure

The film is about a woman travelling on a bus at night, She is located at a bus shelter before moving on to the bus, forced to stand and is pushed out the way by the queue of passengers who want a seat. She spots someone taking out a gun and shoot an old lady to get a seat, only for the scene to return to him standing as she was imagining it. Spotting someone else standing, she is pushed slowly towards him and she attempts to attract his attention, resulting in them holding hands briefly before a group of passengers barge through them and he leaves along with them, leaving her on her own with several other strangers as they begin to dance.

The film progresses in a linear form, starting at a bus stop and ending on the bus so that the audience can only assume that shes going home without seeing it as the destination isn’t important but the journey is. Abrahams uses a flash forward to give the appearance that a man has killed someone but then flashes back to restore everything to normal which is a clever twist as it gives the audience the impression that the film is about to take a dramatic turn. Binary opposition of the film initially begins with herself and everyone else on the bus.

Genre

The film best fits into the genre of drama/romance as a woman connects with another person on a bus that leads to a romantic connection before it is cut short.

Meaning and response

The film expresses the idea of connectivity. When she felt alone, she envisioned a man take out a gun to kill someone to gain a seat, implying that passengers would do anything to look out for themselves, while everyone else ignored and carried on, and yet after she connects with the man, she begins to see the passengers dance, including the one she saw shoot the old lady, suggesting that appearances can be deceiving.

The film challenges current attitudes towards people we are unfamiliar with and is suggesting that people shouldn’t judge others without first knowing who they are with the emphasis being on that people are often different in personality than what is represented by their body language. The message of the film is to not be so quick to judge others without prior knowledge of them such as the man, whom she thought might have been cold and imposing to begin with but as they got closer, she found to be warm and friendly. Whilst this representation does present strangers in a positive light, it neglects to inform the audience the realistic nature that not everyone you meet will have a friendly persona, and might often appear cold because this is a realistic depiction of their character, attempting to paint the world in a perfect light.

Sound

There is an effective use of sound throughout the film. Diegetic sounds are present as she waits for the bus of the approaching engine and the sound of water hitting against the pavement. As she places her headphones over her ears, the diegetic sound of music playing begins and the camera focuses on the passengers present on the bus, using a small montage to show their boredom and their dull faces. The music shifts from a gentle and relaxing sound to a dark and suspenseful sound as a man pulls a gun out and shoots a woman, but returns to the gentle sound after its revealed she has only imagined this happening.

Cinematography

The cinematography often consists of mainly one shots when focusing on her in the beginning to further the idea that she feels distant from the other people on the bus, however after they connect, there is a lot more use of wide shots that place her and the other passengers together such as when they dance, rather than focusing on them individually.

The look of the film is created from sources from the film world. There is no source of sunlight for lighting as it takes place at night so the lights from the bus shelter, headlights and on the bus are the only lights used.

Aesthetics

The dancing sequence pushes the narrative forward as it changes her outlook on other people which the audience are made to assume will have an effect on how she looks at strangers in the future.

The choreography of the dancing is exploited by the movement of the dancers, expressively moving between the rows of seating to fill in the available space left by the passengers who just left.