EFL Interdisciplinary Projects/Speaking/Elementary/Movie analysis

Stranger than fiction

Grammar: Simple Present, how+adjectives . Vocabulary: adjectives
Starting scenes clip 2:38 long.
Use o LinguaLeo no navegador para ver a tradução das palavras.

First watch the clip from the begining of the movie and try to analyse what you see and hear, then read the text.

Stranger Than Fiction (movie 2006)

This is a story about a man named Harold Crick. And his wristwatch. Harold Crick was a man of infinite numbers, endless calculations and remarkably few words. And his wristwatch said even less.

Every weekday, for 12 years, Harold would brush each of his 32 teeth 76 times. Thirty-eight times back and forth. Thirty-eight times up and down. Every weekday, for 12 years, Harold would tie his tie in a single Windsor knot instead of the double, thereby saving up to 43 seconds. His wristwatch thought the single Windsor made his neck look fat, but said nothing. Every weekday, for 12 years, Harold would run at a rate of nearly 57 steps per block for six blocks barely catching the 8:17 Kronecker bus. His wristwatch would delight in the feeling of the crisp wind rushing over its face. And every weekday, for 12 years, Harold would review 7.134 tax files as a senior agent for the Internal Revenue Service. Only taking a 45.7-minute lunch break and a 4.3-minute coffee break, timed precisely by his wristwatch.

Beyond that, Harold lived a life of solitude. He would walk home alone. He would eat alone. And at precisely 11:13 every night, Harold would go to bed alone placing his wristwatch to rest on the nightstand beside him. That was, of course, before Wednesday. On Wednesday, Harold’s wristwatch changed everything.

Questions

• How many words does Harold speak?
• How long would he have the same routine?
• How often would he have the described routine?
• How much time would he save with the simple Windsor knot?
• How fast would he run to catch the bus?

based on the video:

• How early would Harold wake up?
• How many steps does he need to cross the street?
• How many utensiles does he put in the dishwasher?

What to analyse

• What kind of life does Harold have?Try to connect to especific details of the video like his home, his collegues attitudes towars him, his attachment to detail. Other things are interesting like the colors around him, the absence of personal touches in his environment.
• Make predictionsWhat will happen with the whatch that will cause the change? What could that change be? What do you expect from the movie?
• The narrator's languageAnalyse her accent, her tone and pace, the word choices, the style. How do you like it?

Extras

• Starnger than fiction on IMDB