Do different characters in Thordur Palsson's It's a Game use different kinds of language? Do certain characters speak through their silences?

1. Textual Analysis 2
It’s a Game
by Thordur Palsson
Do different characters use different kinds
of language? Do certain characters speak
through their silences?

2. Plot
● The film follows a man who’s kidnapped by a pair of unknown people and put into a life or death scenario.
● In order to live, he has to defeat another victim in an arm wrestle.
● Nothing is known about the man behind the mask. This creates a feeling of unease and uncertainty as neither
the man or the audience know why he has been kidnapped.
● The plot is linear, with the events of the film happening in order.
● The room ‘the game’ takes place in is gritty and realistic, with blood smeared on the white door behind the
protagonist.
● The only dialogue in the film is from teleprompter, spoken in Spanish. He gives them their orders in a direct
way.

3. ● Throughout the sequence there’s very little dialogue used. The main protagonist
doesn’t mutter a single line.
● However, his discomfort and fear is evident through his facial expressions and
consistent gasping and pleading whimpers, such as just before he has to do the arm
wrestle.
● The only instances of dialogue is diegetic, but is played through a teleprompter. The
words used are simplistic and commanding, raising the stakes of the situation.
● Dialogue is spoken entirely in Spanish.
● The lack of speaking in the film supports the animalistic and degrading challenge the
two men have to do in order to survive.

4. ● By giving the ‘participants’ in these ‘games’ no dialogue, it portrays how little control they have
over their own fate.
● Also, the silence between the two men at the very end of the film conveys that both men are
frightened and wouldn’t resort to killing each other in any other scenario.
● The long sequences of no dialogue makes the audience believe that this could happen in a real
life scenario because in reality, people involved in something such as this would not want to
connect to someone if they are going to have to kill them later on.
● The person on the left is viewing this next stage of the game with fear and passivity, compared
to the main protagonist who, after sealing another man’s fate is waiting in anticipation, ready for
what’s next. This is palpable due to his serious, unblinking eyes not taking their eyes away
from the other man.
● Therefore, Thordur Palsson uses his actors physical expressions as a means of conveying
emotion, rather than the traditional way of using dialogue. Feature Films such as Valhalla
Rising are using techniques like this more and more often in modern cinema

5. It’s a Game Credits
Cast
Bobby - Ciaran Kellgren.Phil - Sion Lloyd.
Masked man - Nathan - Ampofo.
David - Michael Morgan.
Fiona - Ani Laurie-Boulahri.
Speaker voice - Felipe Olid Guerrero.
Writer/director - Thordur Palsson.
Director of photography - Alistair Little.
Editor - Pawel Stec.
Sound designer - Rob Malone.
Composer - Terence James Dunn.
Colourist - Jonas Almeida.
Sound recordist - Tatiana el Dahdah.
1st assistant director - Ani Laurie-Boulahri.
1st assistant camera - Iona Tallia Firouazabadi.
Focus Puller - Jannicke Mikkelsen.
Gaffer - Ian Forbes.
https://vimeo.com/186245374