Mystery Team
Directed by Dan Eckman
Released 2009
Starring Donald Glover, A.K.A Childish Gambino who also contributed towards the writing; specifically the screenplay.
Genre: Comedy, crime, mystery.
Synopsis: A group of 3 childhood friends who used to play pretend-detective are having trouble growing up. As 18 year old's, they still act like they were when they were innocent 7 year old's playing pretend-detective. However since nobody seems to respect them anymore, they bite off more they can chew by trying to take on a real murder case.
Performance: The 3 main cast members were all perfectly awkward and innocent. It really did seem like these 7 year old's were placed in the bodies of these 18 year old high school student's. Without the groups childlike dynamic between each other and nearly everybody else around them, the film would have lost half it's comedic value. The interactions between the very serious and adult world and these 3 socially-awkward and still struggling to grow up teenagers is what half of the film's jokes stem from. For example we as the audience know that 18 year old's are meant to act relatively mature and have at least some grasp on what the world is like. But take 3 of them and replace these expectations with the reality of still thinking girls are gross and using walkie-talkies to communicate, it just makes for a joke that can be told in infinite different ways.
Mise-en-scene: The performance of the 3 main cast members isn't the only thing that made it very apparently obvious that they were still very childlike and sheltered from the world's issues. Their outfits, rooms and many other props used also seem very immature and like they were pulled straight from an actual child. For example the walkie-talkies I mentioned earlier. I don't think I've ever seen a walkie-talkie used by anybody other than a child. And also the bikes that they ride around rather than using the car that the protagonist knows how to drive as shown at the end that his father bought specifically for him. It's stupid, preposterous and makes for a good laugh at the thought of if somebody really acted like that in reality being that age.
Released 2009
Starring Donald Glover, A.K.A Childish Gambino who also contributed towards the writing; specifically the screenplay.
Genre: Comedy, crime, mystery.
Synopsis: A group of 3 childhood friends who used to play pretend-detective are having trouble growing up. As 18 year old's, they still act like they were when they were innocent 7 year old's playing pretend-detective. However since nobody seems to respect them anymore, they bite off more they can chew by trying to take on a real murder case.
Performance: The 3 main cast members were all perfectly awkward and innocent. It really did seem like these 7 year old's were placed in the bodies of these 18 year old high school student's. Without the groups childlike dynamic between each other and nearly everybody else around them, the film would have lost half it's comedic value. The interactions between the very serious and adult world and these 3 socially-awkward and still struggling to grow up teenagers is what half of the film's jokes stem from. For example we as the audience know that 18 year old's are meant to act relatively mature and have at least some grasp on what the world is like. But take 3 of them and replace these expectations with the reality of still thinking girls are gross and using walkie-talkies to communicate, it just makes for a joke that can be told in infinite different ways.
Mise-en-scene: The performance of the 3 main cast members isn't the only thing that made it very apparently obvious that they were still very childlike and sheltered from the world's issues. Their outfits, rooms and many other props used also seem very immature and like they were pulled straight from an actual child. For example the walkie-talkies I mentioned earlier. I don't think I've ever seen a walkie-talkie used by anybody other than a child. And also the bikes that they ride around rather than using the car that the protagonist knows how to drive as shown at the end that his father bought specifically for him. It's stupid, preposterous and makes for a good laugh at the thought of if somebody really acted like that in reality being that age.
good work! add some pictures to create imagery
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