Scenes From the Suburbs is a short film about the summer of a group of teens living in the suburbs during a war. This short film is based on the album "The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire and Directed by Spike Jonze. Being a big fan of Spike Jonze and Arcade Fire, I was quite excited to see this film; the setting is of course, the suburbs. It is voice-over narrated by the main character who is reminiscing on the suburban war that happened in his teen years. He doesn't remember all the details of the summer, and good or bad, he only remembers what he what he does, and describes it to us the best he can. The film explores things that we can all relate to in some way, especially if you grew up in the suburbs. The kids stay out late, have house parties, and fall in love. But there are other small things we can all relate to as well, such as calling on your best friend every day to hang out and do nothing. As a teenager, hanging out and doing nothing are really all the memories you make, as it can produce some of your best memories. However, I was unsure about what war this was that kept these families in their suburban town. I don't know if this was based on actual history or if it was just Jonze’s interpretation of the lyrics in Arcade Fire's album. In which there are references to a war for example in “The Suburbs" the lyrics "You always seemed so sure that one day we'd be fighting in a suburban war. Your part of town against mine", "But by the time the first bombs fell" and "I want a daughter while I'm still young. I wanna hold her hand and show her some beauty before this damage is done". These lyrics clearly state that there is a war going on but do not specify whether it is symbolic or not. Regardless, I was really intrigued by the way Jonze portrayed it.
I really enjoyed the way Arcade Fire's album "The Suburbs" was playing during the entire film. I thought it was really interesting to fit each song into a different part of the film. It shows that a lot of work was put into deriving the scenes from the songs and playing said song during the scene that was derived from it.
Another thing definitely worth mentioning is voice over-narration. This is always a tricky thing to do in films because it has to be used right. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It this film, it definitely worked. It made the film better and it would not have been as good as it was without it.
I definitely recommend watching this short. It's roughly 30 minutes, not too long. If you enjoy Arcade Fire, it's a must. It's great to see a visual interpretation to this music and Spike Jonze is really a skilled filmmaker.
I really enjoyed the way Arcade Fire's album "The Suburbs" was playing during the entire film. I thought it was really interesting to fit each song into a different part of the film. It shows that a lot of work was put into deriving the scenes from the songs and playing said song during the scene that was derived from it.
Another thing definitely worth mentioning is voice over-narration. This is always a tricky thing to do in films because it has to be used right. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It this film, it definitely worked. It made the film better and it would not have been as good as it was without it.
I definitely recommend watching this short. It's roughly 30 minutes, not too long. If you enjoy Arcade Fire, it's a must. It's great to see a visual interpretation to this music and Spike Jonze is really a skilled filmmaker.