Curfew (Shawn Christensen, 2012)

Narrative Structure

The film is about an uncle who has to take care of his niece one evening as her mother is preoccupied with work. Richie receives a phone call from his estranged sister as a last resort, forcing him to take care of her daughter as they go out bowling and begin to form a close bond after he retrieves flip books that possibly inspired in the choosing of her name, resulting in him stopping an attempted suicide after he realizes what he would be leaving behind.

Genre

The genre fits comfortably into the drama category. There is a clear conflict between Richie and his sister and therefore a conflict between him and her daughter as well as she would have influenced her.

Contexts of Film

Suicide prevention has been a major talking point across several decades now and never seems to fully go away. This is with good reason, as despite a decline since the 1980s and 90s, suicide rates are still very high with just under 6000 suicides registered in the UK alone in 2012. Male suicide rates are typically almost 3x higher than female suicide rates.

Cinematography

There is a use of cinematography technique to create certain effects or feelings in the film. For example, when everyone begins to synchronized dance in the bowling alley, the camera arcs around Richie moving anti-clockwise, transitioning from a wide shot, to a medium shot, to a close up shot of him looking around. This suggests to the audience a sense of disorientation in his character as he feels unnatural to everybody elses movements.

Sound

The sound choice is relevant to the current events that occur in the film. The non diegetic song “We’ll meet again” by Vera Lynn is an appropriate choice for the setting of the film as it begins after he places the phone down on his estranged sister and goes to meet her for the first time in a long time. This also works for his niece as well, who he later states he was not allowed to see since she was a baby after he accidentally dropped her. The diegetic song “Ultralight” by Parallels begins to play in the bowling alley which has an upbeat melody to parallel the current feeling in the room, contrasting Richie’s attitude at that moment in time which has the effect of making him stand out as being different and almost abnormal in the crowd of people.

Meaning and Response

There appears to be a clear message in the film revolving around the theme of suicide. Should he have not picked up the phone, Richie would have died and learns after he resolves to not kill himself that giving up on his sister and his neice would hve been a terrible mistake. I think the message given to the audience is that giving up is not the answer and there is always a reason to live for. Christensen appears to imply that Richie understands this even in the opening shot, with the placement of the phone deliebrately next to him in the bath suggesting he is looking for someone to call and save him.