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Jasmine Martinez Silver Linings Playbook 2012 Weinstein Company Silver Linings Playbook Plot and Structure Silver Linings Playbook has a complex plot that you may not understand at first but as you keep watching the film things start to get pieced together. The films begins with Pat Soltano Sr. (Bradley Cooper) being checked out of the mental hospital by his mother. Pat was originally in there because he assaulted his wife's lover. Nikki, his wife now has a restraining order against him and Pat was diagnosed as bipolar. As the film goes on you get insight to Pat’s everyday life. He likes to go for runs, watch the Philadelphia Eagles with his dad and go to therapy. Pat is reluctant to take his meds because he says they make him feel foggy so this is where all of his arguments with his mother arise. One day while at dinner with his friend Ronnie he meets Tiffany( Jennifer Lawrence), Ronnies wife’s sister. She is a widow and Pat and her get started on the wrong foot. By the end of the dinner they both loosened up and joked about all the drugs they had to take and are taking for their disorders. Tiffany tells Pat that he’s close to Nikki and that if he writes Nikki a letter, Tiffany will deliver it to her for him if Pat agrees to do a ballroom dance competition with him. Pat immediately gets excited and agrees because he is still fixated on the idea that him and Nikki belong together and he would do anything to get her back, despite Nikki’s restraining order against him. Tiffany and Pat start hanging out more and more to practice for the competition. They spend almost every single day together and start to become very fond of each other even though they weren’t the best dancers. One day while they were practicing Tiffany shows Pat the letter Nikki wrote back to him. Pat is uneasy about the letter but let’s it go. Then a week later was competition day. Pat Sr. makes a parlay with his gambling friend that if the Eagles win their game against Dallas, and if Pat and Tiffany score at least a 5 out of 10 in their dance competition, he will win back double the money he lost on the

first bet. Pat wasn’t sure he wanted to take that bet but he re-read Nikki’s letter and saw a phrase in it and realized that it was actually Tiffany who wrote the letter, not Nikki. Tiffany saw Nikki in the crowd at the competition and it made her jealous because she didn't want to lose Pat to Nikki because she had developed real feelings for him. Pat was excited to see Nikki but also nervous because he wanted to prove to her that he had changed and that he could be stable again. While Tiffany and Pat danced, the Eagles won and they had gotten a score of exactly 5 winning his father back double the money. After winning, Pat found Nikki and whispered something in her ear. Tiffany saw and stormed off angrily. Pat then ran after her and confessed that he had loved her from the start but it took him a long time to get in tune with those feelings. They share a passionate kiss and the film ends with Pat’s father opening up a restaurant with the money he won. Overall, the film was linear and started from point A to point B. There were times they had flashbacks which really give insight on the film. Figurative Techniques/Symbolism The whole film is based off of Pat and Tiffany finding their silver lining in life. They were both lost and at very different parts of their life and once they found each other they both found their silver lining in each other. Silver lining means to find the bright or good side of a bad or unfortunate situation. Pat being sent away for eight months because of his mental health problems really took a toll on him but once he was released he was ready to change himself and prove himself to Nikki. Pat thought Nikki was his silver lining at the beginning of the film and he tried to prove himself to her by doing different activities that he knew she would be impressed by. But by the end of the film Pat realized that it was Tiffany all along, Tiffany was the silver lining that he needed and it was hard for him to see it but by the end they both knew. For Tiffany, she had been a widow and lived in her own misery for years. She would meet up with random men and have sexual intercourse with them then regret what she just did and the cycle went on and on. She was known around town as being “easy” but once she started dancing with Pat she stopped engaging in that manner because she realized that he had feelings for him and

that he could be the one to get her out of her funk. She had always known Pat was her silver lining but once they kissed at the end of the film it was also apparent to everyone else. Dialogue In this film there a ton of amazing and soul crushing quotes about love. For example one of my favorites is one said by Pat at the end of the film when he realizes Tiffany has been the one for him all along. “The only way to beat my crazy was by doing something even crazier. Thank you. I love you. I knew it from the moment I saw you. I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up.” This one quote had the effect of making me cry because throughout the entire movie you're rooting for Pat and Tiffany (mainly Pat) to open their eyes and realize that they should be together and finally hearing Pat proclaim his love for her is a huge sigh of relief. This line was presented in a monologue style because it’s one of the final scenes where the film finally reaches it’s own silver lining. Cinematography The cinematography of the film truly enhanced and gave a deeper meaning to the film. A scene that comes to mind immediately for me was when Pat and Tiffany first met at dinner. Tiffany’s first conversation with Pat was talking about her dead husband which made everyone uncomfortable. At first when they meet it is dark you almost get an eerie feeling. Then as their conversation continues (which is very inappropriate and unpleasant), more lights start to pop but but there is still darkness in the corner of the screen. That style of cinematography really makes you focus on what is happening in front of you so you’re not distracted by what’s around. The lighting changed the scene because you feel uncertain as to what's going to happen next and it's the same as when you’re walking through your house in the dark, you never know what might pop out at you or if you're going to miss a step. I think that scene was a perfect example of cinematography. Directing and Editing

The director of the film is David O. Russell. I think all of the styles and figurative techniques that we learned he definitely used in the film multiple times such as using light and movement to convey a mood. At the end of the film while they were dancing in the competition the lights were dim and only on Pat and Tiffany and the camera movements only showed them and it would pan and then spin in a circle around them and it almost felt like magic because you’re finally watching their love come to life on screen fully. It wasn’t only the playful flirting it was full blown love and it was amazing that Russell could capture that by the way he moved his camera and the way he positioned some lights. I truly don’t think there is anything Russell could have done better because the film was phenomenally made and it won so many awards that it really shows that the film was made strategically from beginning to end. There weren’t any editing sequences that stood out to me, the film flowed very nicely from beginning to end. Genre and Historical Considerations The film is fiction and based off of a book written by Matthew Quick. The film won a total of 47 awards ranging from a Golden Globe for best actress (Jennifer Lawrence) to Satellite award for best director (David O. Russell). I think the film definitely represents today's culture and our generation. We often miss what is right in front of us and it’s been there all along but we never realize it or see it until it is too late. This film exceeded viewers expectations because it was raw and real. A lot of the stuff produced today is made by big shot actors who don’t deeply dive into their roles but Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence showed true emotion and it was easy to convey that they embodied their roles. The film isn’t necessarily about a specific genre more so it’s about everyday life. It takes us into the life of these two characters who are just trying to make it day by day without the people they love most and in their own loss they find love in each other. The film was not made in a specific era. The film was definitely a hit in the box office. They made $236.4 million (google.com). Personal Reaction Personally I enjoyed the emotion in the film. I’m not one to show a lot of emotion so

when I see others convey it and it seems real and genuine it keeps me intrigued. I chose this film because it’s one of my favorites and I could watch it over and over again and never get tired of it. This assignment showed me that I need to start opening my eyes to the world around me and to start notices film techniques in movies instead of just watching them without giving it a second thought. I think the way I viewed the film is linear to how the public viewed it. It was doomed but hopeful and also heart wrenching, it's amazing that a film can make you feel so many different ways. After analyzing films in this course I do feel that I am more analytical and more critical of the films that I do watch and I am grateful for that because I do want to work in the entertainment industry so these thingy building blocks are going to pay off in the future. I definitely have a new view for media and movies aren’t just entertainment, they are a compilation of so many different techniques and tricks and when you look at how far media has come it simply can’t be looked at as just entertainment, it’s art and hard work. Bibliography Il Lato Positivo = Silver Linings Playbook. Dir. David Owen Russel. Perf. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Eagle Pictures, 2013. Film....