Black Swan (2010)

I really liked how mirrors were used in the movie. Also all scratching/cutting scenes like the one where she pulls the skin from her fingertip *shudders* really created the tense psychological fear kinda vibe. 

The whole Nina = little girl in Spanish and her mental transformation into a woman etc was also remarkable! Almost remembered Dirty Dancing. Completely different genre, but the protagonist's nickname is baby and she basically tries to become independent from her life where she was pampered by her dad.. and 'lets herself go', understands sexuality and all that.. similar plot but such a different way to portray it through Dance: black swan and Dirty Dancing!

1408 (2007)

I knew the moment I started watching that this wasn't having a happy ending. I was almost going to fall for the 'he never went to the room and wakes up in the sea' part but my brain has lost any hopes of a happy ending either in movies or real life so I wasn't surprised when the ending turned out to be sad for John lol.

Also, Stephen King is so amazing, he never uses those cliched Catholic female ghosts like the Conjuring Cinematic universe, he uses Phobias! This movie must have been a fucking nightmare for claustrophobics! He literally used natural elements such as fire, water, ice to cause panic! The classic Stephen King's flooding rooms and creepy washroom scenes were just perfect. I just love it when movies try to create psychological trippy scenes. 

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Tarantino's Pulp Fiction has had a huge cultural impact on filmmakers all around the world and has greatly influenced various new filmmaking techniques. The movie stirred a controversy back in the '90s as the mixed response received from the audience was quite contrasting to the critics'.

Pulp fiction isn't anything like the cliched Hollywood films. The unconventional storytelling caught me off guard. Now had I not seen a Tarantino movie before this I would have felt uncomfortable watching pulp fiction. But since I had already seen a Tarantino movie before this I knew how Tarantino wrote his movies. 

The dialogues are so casual that we instantly feel a connection with the characters and they feel relatable. 

Notes:

1. Keep dialogues casual so that the characters become relatable

2. Don't be afraid to go against the tide. If you feel your script is too edgy, GO AHEAD WITH IT. Keep it as a personal project but don't be afraid to take risks.  

3. Make sure your characters feel human. Don't create unrelatable superficial characters. Make sure every character has a backstory that makes him/her human. 

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

'Best Adapted Screenplay' Oscar winner Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit is adapted from a novel Caging skies by Christine Leunens. 

Jojo Rabbit is a film about an 10-year-old who has an imaginary friend: Adolf Hitler. Jojo's eidolon of the Führer represents his nationalism which he believes is something of utmost importance as it was highly valued in the Nazi society. 

The innocent mind of the young boy gradually learns the real story as one day he finds out that a Jewish girl has been living in his apartment. His inner conflicts of trying to understand what is right and wrong are portrayed through humorous scenes where he talks to Hitler about what he must do to protect his mother from the 'evil Jew girl'. 

The entire film is shown from the perspective of young Jojo. The character development of Jojo has been shown through his conversations with Hitler and how he goes from admiring the Führer to finally kicking him out of a window. He realizes that all that he was taught in school about the jews was fake when he meets the Jewish girl in his apartment. Jojo never quite understood nazism yet admired it because he was brainwashed in school. With the Jewish girl, he gets to be a child again.  

Jojo's mother, Scarlett Johansson plays a prominent role in trying to shape his ideals. She knows that nazism is wrong but she doesn't tell that to her son because she wants to protect him wants him to understand this on his own when he grows up. More importantly, she just wants Jojo to have a carefree childhood as she felt that 10-year-olds shouldn't worry about politics. 

Cinematography wise the scenes are cleverly shot. For instance, there are multiple scenes where Scarlett's shoes have been shown dominantly in the frame. This was done to create emphasis through cinematography. The audience remembered how the shoes looked like and when they saw these shoes worn by a woman hanged by the Nazis in the town square, it wasn't required to show her face and it was clear who the woman was. 

Simple actions such as tying shoelaces and opening doors have created an emotional context as they helped in showing the character development of Jojo. The characters are Emotional human beings and as we see them endure through tragedies, the movie comes to an end with a scene where the characters don't speak but express emotions through a wholesome dance-off.