Observations...

Okay so I finally got to see my Jodie in her new movie Flight Plan. Sarah, Amanda, and I went out to dinner and a movie the other night and I got to pick. When I explained to Sarah that I wanted to see Flight Plan because it got excellent reviews and it looked pretty exciting, she just nodded and smirked at me. And then while still smirking she said....Hmmm, so it has nothing to do with you really, really liking Jodie Foster, huh?! So I said...Doh! I'm so transparent! And yes I wanna see it because Jodie's in it! There I said it...are you happy now?! And yes I must say she was very happy once I admitted my real reason for wanting to see it!

I think I'm a pretty observant person and movies are no exception for me. I really try to take it all in...and especially with movies I like to pay extra attention to see what the director has in store as far as subtle and not so subtle visual cues. Here's what I found fascinating and later asked Sarah if she consciously noticed in the movie.

The movie starts out very dark and sad...and with some tension. In the beginning scenes, Jodie's hair is pulled back tightly in a bun...and her hair color appears to be a muddy brown. In the beginning scenes before she boards the plane, she looks very severe and sad and her hair adds to that effect. Once the plane takes off and she is sitting and beginning to relax just a smidge with her daughter, it appears that her hair has loosened some from her tight bun. Then as the action begins on the plane and she first starts to panic...a good sized strand comes loose and then another which hang in her face. As Jodie's character progressively comes undone in the movie so does her hair until the climax scenes where it's hanging all loose and wild. The closing scene takes place no more than a few hours after the plane lands in movie time, but as Jodie is sitting in the airplane hangar waiting and holding her daughter, her hair now appears much lighter in color...it's golden...and while it's still loose....it's arranged in a pleasing way. And her hair looks to be backlit to give it a golden and almost angelic or heroic appearance. The muddy brown color is gone to be replaced by carefree golden locks.

Jodie's hair represented her psyche in the movie. She started out the movie tight and controlled. As her character came undone with fear and anger, so did her hair. And once she prevailed at the end of the movie, her hair appeared golden and angelic.

The director went to a lot of trouble to set a tone and guide the mood of the movie much like a writer sets the tone and mood in a novel. The writer has only her words to set the description, but a talented movie director has visuals to work with as well. And to me, Jodie's hair was a subtle but very effective visual to set the tone and mood. So when I asked Sarah about it, she said that she didn't consciously notice it until I pointed it out to her. The point is consciously. As Sarah and I discussed it, she agreed that it was an effective tool whether it was observed consciously or subconsciously.

So I suppose the real question here could be...would I have noticed all this hair stuff if it were another actor? Hmm, I'd like to think so, but we'll never know! In the meantime, I'm glad that I am so observant because now I feel pretty sure that those skills helped me maximize my enjoyment of Jodie! Now if I can only have those good sex dreams on demand, I'll be all set.