HUM 150
Film Critic
This is about the film, Home Alone, a classic 1990s movie under the direction of Chris Columbus, and which starred Macaulay Culkin for the character of the 8-year old Kevin McCallister. The other members of the cast were: John Heard, playing the character of Peter McCallister, the father; Catherine O’Hara for the character of Mrs. McCallister; Daniel Stern for the character of the burglar named Marv; and Joe Pesci playing the character of the other burglar named Harry. The other characters were: Kevin’s brother, Buzz; Uncle Frank; and an old man named Marley. From the title alone, you can guess that the story revolves around someone who was home by himself or herself. The title does not suggest anything more than that and one needs to watch the movie to know what happens. Kevin belongs to a big family. The family decided to go to Paris for Christmas. On the night before they were to leave, there was a big storm and it caused power outage. The family overslept and woke up late because the alarm failed to go off. Waking up late, they were in a mad rush to the airport and didn’t notice that one boy was left behind. The boy was, of course, Kevin. That marked the start of an exciting family adventure. In this movie, the mise-en-scene proved to be very significant in creating the right feel and the various settings. The shifts in mise-en-scene from the McCallister’s house to the airport, the plane, and everywhere else, including the visit to Santa, were very realistic and remarkable.
The locations for the film were the McCallister’s home in Chicago, Illinois and Paris, France. You could tell how remarkable the mise-en-scenes because at the start of the movie, there were no characters, much less dialogues, but you could tell a lot from the background. Since the setting showed snowy neighborhood and the Christmas-y home of the McCallisters, you’d know that it was the Christmas season and most definitely winter. From the