Kris's Reel/Unreel review

 The film "Reel/Unreel" is definitely a very interesting one. It has a lot of surprising periods of suspense and an increasing feeling of breathlessness, exhaustion, and excitement as the film progresses. It starts off with a series of wide shots that slowly zoom into a largely populated area, and uses dull, muted tones of the dirt the buildings, and even the sky to emphasize a similar mood for the film. There is also some good quality car beeps and people chattering that put the viewer right into the setting of the film. As we continue to zoom in on the city, we also zoom in on the sounds of children playing and running around on the dirt roads. Their clothing is also a nice contrast with the surrounding dirt-colored environment, so even more emphasis is put towards them. 

For most of the rest of the film, we cycle through many different kinds of tracking shots, following the many children playing with wheels, in particular the two boys reeling and unreeling a film reel (well, that was a tongue twister).

The illusion of continuity is made between the tracking shots following each of the boys. We rarely see the two of them in the same shot, and it actually took me a while to figure out that the two wheels that they were pushing were connected (one boy is unreeling the red film wheel, while the boy behind him is reeling up the film back into a green film reel). They also seem much much farther away from each other in their own shots than in the few shots where we see them both at the same time, which confuses my brain a little.

As the film continues to track the two boys, the sound zooms in and out of the two film reels, along with the increasingly loud footsteps and heavy breathing of the children running throughout the crowded city. I also feel like there must be some sort of meaning behind the colors of the two reels 9the red one and the green one). they are very bright colors, unlike the rest of the scenery, so my eyes want to focus on them more than the boys themselves, who are sometimes cut completely out of the shot so all we see is the rolling wheel.

overall, I liked the film, it was fun to watch an I kept finding myself wanting to cheer on the kid running behind with the green wheel; especially when the boy in front caught a ride on a truck (which seemed like cheating to me). It made me sad when the film line snapped in between them and the red wheel went barreling down a hill soo the other boy couldn't follow it. I don't know what the rules of the game are exactly, but it made me happy when the boy with the green wheel eventually smiled a little (I'm assuming he won...?)