paul chaderjian

by Paul Chaderjian What is the cost of America’s obsession with media content? This is the question that Eric Bogosian asks in his film “Talk Radio,” and this potent question to his question is death. Bogosian, the writer and star of the film, speaks to the viewers through intense monologues about the issues that plague society. From drug abuse to people’s fascination with the famous, Bogosian’s character, radio personality Barry Champlain, tackles these societal issues, allowing lonesome and anonymous voices to articulate a range of opinions. Public dialogue may be healthy for a democracy, but the value that listeners of Champlain’s radio show place on the subjects and opinions contained in the radio show is what Bogosian questions. Several of the callers Champlain talks with on the air continue to call to preach their politics or win empathy or love from nameless strangers listening to the radio. Champlain’s ability to create live drama on the air by negating and arguing with ...

Paul Chaderjian March 12, 2003 Shoot the Piano Player The existential question of whether man is a passive player in the drama of his life or is the active hero of its unfolding is at the heart of François Truffaut’s “Shoot the Piano Player.” In this film, Charles Aznavour plays a man who cannot escape his past or his family -- no matter how hard he tries to reinvent himself. Through the lead character in this film, Truffaut shows that a man trying to gain control of his life at the last minute may be a bit too late. The passivity of Aznavour’s character is best demonstrated by the technique Truffaut uses in alienating the character. When Aznavour’s character, Charlie Kohler, is heard thinking to himself, instead of Truffaut allowing us to hear Aznavour’s voice externalizing Kohler’s thoughts, we hear a voice other than Aznavour’s. This jarring technique clearly demonstrates that the character Aznavour plays is passive about his life -- so passive that he is a different ...

Paul Chaderjian March 5, 2003 Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight "Love Me Tonight," the 1929 motion picture musical, was a groundbreaking template of contemporary sound design in motion pictures. Today, it stands as testament of when and how the art of using sound in narrative motion pictures, music videos, concert films and television was created. In addition to its historic creation of sound design, "Love Me Tonight" was also the vehicle with which filmmaker Rouben Mamoulian changed the relationship between filmmaking cameras and the subjects they photographed. Through the use of ambient sounds, musical beats, orchestrated melodies, machine-gun-like dialogue and the pace created by the motion of the actors and the rhythm of the editing, "Love Me Tonight" set the standard for filmmakers and producers who would continue to marry audio to film or television media products. This ability to capture and sustain a pace, a tempo within a the...

Time magazine’s Richard Schikel and Christian Science Monitor’s David Sterritt are among those who have said that filmmaker Robert Altman captures in his films the essence of American life, its uncertainties and its confusion. This accurate interpretation and summary of Robert Altman’s talent as a filmmaker can be exemplified by the realities he has created in THE PLAYER, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, SHORT CUTS and NASHVILLE. The first of these films, THE PLAYER, is about a Hollywood movie industry executive, Griffen Mill, who murders a screenwriter, because Mill thinks the writer has been sending him anonymous postcards and threatening his life. Mill tracks down the unsuccessful and unproduced writer, buys the man a drink then ends up killing him and covering up the murder by making it look like a robbery.   The “Player,” Mill, escapes murder charges, because an eye-witness identifies the homicide detective, played by Lyle Lovitt, as the murderer. Mill escaped the accusations an...

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese's central theme of man's isolated and alienated existence can be best exemplified by a review of the plight of his three lead characters in TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD. In these films, the central characters are men who lack the social skills to function productively in civilization. Because these characters are unable to connect with others, they do not benefit from the support of family, loved ones or other social units. Alone in the world, alienated and isolated, they are overwhelmed by their environment and by the hyper-competitive and selfish, individualism-focused modern day society. The lack of productive socialization, the pace of a me-first modern race in life and a congested and overwhelming city leads all three characters to lose the concept of rational thought and react to others and to society in socially unacceptable, destructive, criminal and at times homicidal behaviors.   In TAXI DRIVER, Travis is a Vietnam ...

by Paul Chaderjian September 14 2002 San Francisco, California - Center stage at the 900-seat Herbst Theatre in the heart of the City by the Bay, Nune Yesayan, Armenia's pop diva, effortlessly romanced her audience with great passion and grand emotion on Sunday night.  "The concert was amazing," said 30-year-old Cory Shakarian, who stood in suit and tie in the lobby of the War Memorial Performing Arts Center after the concert, observing several hundred people waiting for autographs and photographs. "Nune's voice was captivating and mesmerizing. She captured the audience's attention with her soothing voice and brought them to their feet with joyful bursts of energy." Under the gleaming spotlight of the most elegant and intimate stage in San Francisco, Nune's presence permeated from center stage to the last row of the balconies, enveloping her diverse audience in the essence of Armenian culture and history. Enjoying Nune's renditions of Armenian f...

Book review by Paul Chaderjian (2002) Viken Berberian's “The Cyclist” takes readers to places they've never been in fiction and in literature, while entertaining and challenging their intellect and emotions. Berberian offers the reader insight into a geographically and intellectually foreign world, which is now part of our post-9-11 reality. Berberian does this while questioning and challenging us to philosophically examine what it is to be human, live in a divided community, and what we want of our collective global reality. Berberian's story begins with a simple question many have asked and wondered: what happens to those who live in a continuous state of trauma in embattled communities and war-torn countries? Berberian asks, how does one cope with life in a divided society, where neighbors are now enemies, where populations are victims of terrorism, where people live with the threat of terrorist attacks? His answer is a lyrical and creative glimpse i...