Leon

Leon was released on 3rd February 1995. The film was directed and written by Luc Besson. The film was nominated for 2 awards and had another 8 nominations. The film stars Natalie Portman as a 12 year old girl, Gary Oldman and Jean Reno. The whole story is based around Leon who is and Italian Immigrant who had become a hit man. Mathilda the twelve year old girl live in the same apartment as him. Because of her dads drug dealings her whole family are murdered by Stansfield apart from Mathilda who was out shopping. She meets Leon and they develop a friendship as Mathilda has no family left.

The film begins with a birds eye view of New York City the camera continues to go over the city and then along the streets and finally moves closer and closer to a door at the end of the street. This shot creates a sense of tension and mystery which intrigues the audience and makes them want to watch more of the film. It also helps to establish the genre. The Camera then cuts to inside where two men are sitting down discussing a “job” one of the men is Leon and the other one is leons boss Tony although it is not obvious to the audience at this stage. The two men are sitting in a dark room either side of a table. The lighting in this scene helps to create a sense of mystery. The extreme close ups on Leon helps to establish him as the main character in the film also we do not see his whole face so it builds up tension and makes him more mysterious. Also when he drinks a glass of milk quickly it gives us an in sight into his characters personality although we do not realise this until later in the film. In this scene the camera cuts quite fast to each shot which builds up the tension in the film. Leon wears a pair of glasses as well which help to obscure his face even more. It could also be a quite scary feature as you can’t see his eyes. The shots in this scene are very quick and don’t last for more than a couple of seconds.
The camera then cuts to a man wearing sunglasses walking down a corridor. This is the man Leon has been ordered to kill. He proceeds through the building and enters a room. He speaks to the people who work for him. The light it quite bright in the scene which is a contrast from the previous scene. The man is talking to his men and then you see a close up of a man opening a briefcase. The camera then cuts and move to a shot of the man you saw earlier standing at the front of the building. You then see a shadow cover the man’s face. I think this is the moment in the film when you know that something wrong is going to happen. A shot follows with a man speaking to the guy that Leon is trying to kill and he has a gun to head. You can’t see who is pointing a gun so there is a still a sense of mystery in the scene. The camera cuts and you see blood splattered against the wall. I believe this is the point in the film where the equilibrium is broken. After speaking to his guards to go and get the Leon there is an elevator sequence where there are a series of close up shots of the numbers of the elevator this again builds tension and as an audience you expect maybe to see the Leon come out of the elevator but instead there appears a man bent over dead with blood dripping from him.

The opening of Leon is good because it uses close up shots to build tension and intrigue the audience. The use of lighting with shadows helps to create mystery and tension. This is something I will take into account when making my thriller film.