IELTS Cue Card 11: Story of A Film
IELTS Speaking Cue Card with Sample Answer. Story of A Film Cue Card. IELTS Speaking Part 2 With Model Answer.
Story of A Film
You should say:
- What is the name of the movie/ film?
- What is the theme of the movie/ film?
- Why do you like it?
- and describe the story of the movie in brief.
Follow-up Questions:
• Describe a war movie you like.
• What’s the difference between the movies or your country and Hollywood movies?
• What do you think of the violent films?
• Why movies need computer techniques? Any example of movies using computer techniques?
• Which parts of a movie are the most important and how to improve it?
Follow-up Questions:
• Is friendship important in your culture? How many close friends can you have?
• Are friends more important than family?
• What are the important things among good friends?
• Do you have any friends from a foreign country?
• What are the differences between real life friends and pen friends?
Tips for answering this cue card topic:
Notes
As part of your preparation for this cue card chose a movie that was based on real war and has historic value and was adopted from a book. Doing so you would be able to answer the following cue cards as well:
- 1. Describe a movie that was made based on a real event.
2. Describe a movie that created based on a historic event.
3. Describe a war movie you have watched.
4. Talk about a film which was adapted from a book.
5. Talk about a critically acclaimed film you that you watched.
6. Describe the best film you saw this year.Following are some of such Hollywood movies/ films that you can describe. To pick such movie names and their details those were made in your own country, Google it.Movies based on real events:
Empire State
Act of Valor
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Devil’s Double
The Social Network
Fair Game
Public Enemies
The Killing of John Lennon
A Beautiful MindMovies based on real event and War
Emperor
Everyman’s War
Valkyrie
Hurt Locker
The Pianist
Behind Enemy LinesMovies based on Books
The Motorcycle Diaries
Twilight
Stardust
Pride and prejudice
The Godfather
Schindler’s List
The bridge on the river Kwai
Scarface
Basic Tips and Tricks:
1. Talk about a movie that you have watched as this would help you describing the story of the movie.
2. You should know the names of the main actor, actress, genre, producer and director of the movie.
3. Describe the story in brief. Do not start describing the details of the story from the beginning as you will run out of time before finishing the whole story.
4. Mention some of the following reasons for the question ‘Why you liked it”
- This is a critically acclaimed movie.
- The story line is touchy and has good morality.
- The movie was based on a real story.
- The story depicts a historic events/ national events/ real life issue.
- I enjoyed the acting and story of the movie.
- The outstanding performance by an actor/ actress.
- The movie has lots of special effect/ actions that you enjoyed.
- It is one of the best movies based on some reliable ratings.
- It was recommended by a friend/ family member/ teacher
- The story reveals a fact that touched you.
Note that a movie and a film indicate the same thing. ‘Film‘ is used in British English whereas both words are used in American English. So do not get confused if the cue card asks you to talk about a film while you consider it as ‘Movie‘.
Model Answer 1:
STORY OF A FILM („Bend It like Beckam‟)
A film have enjoyed recently is „Bend It like Beckam‟.
What made me want to see it was the title first of all.
I was also interested to see what it‟s like for an Indian teenager growing up in
England.
It was directed by Gurinder Chadha and it stars two young British actresses
Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley.
The film is set in present-day London.
The main character is an Indian girl called Jess.
She comes from a very traditional Indian family, who all want her to learn to
cook and get married like her elder sister.
The problem is that Jess wants to play only football, which her parents won‟t
allow her to do because they say, it is unsuitable sport for a girl.
Encouraged by her friend Joules- played by Ceria Knightly- she starts playing
for a local girls‟ football beam, but tells her family that she got a part time job in
a Shop.
Eventually her parents find out, of course, and try to stop her.
Things get really complicated when it turns out that both she and Joules are in
love with Joe (the team‟s young male coach)
So jess is forced to choose between her family, her friend and the man she loves.
However it all ends happily and jess is allowed to continue with her foot balling
career.
Although, sometimes the film is a bit slow moving and the dialogue is quite
difficult to understand at times, there are a number of things I liked about this
film.
There is quite a lot of humour in the film and there are some amusing characters
especially Joules mom, who is always worrying about her daughter.
The scenes showing Jess‟s sisters‟ wedding are very warm and colourful.
The sound track is good too with a mixture of rock and Indian music.
Model Answer 2:
Story of A Film („Pinjar‟)
I have seen many films in my lifetime but here I am going to talk about Pinjar,
which is based on a novel written by Amrita Pritam
She was a famous Punjabi writer
The film is based on the plight on the plight of women during the partition of
India
Pinjar literally means skeleton
It is the story of a young hindu girl Puro who lives with her family happily
She is engaged to Ramchand
One day Puro is kidnapped by Rashid
Actually Rashid‟s aunt was once kidnapped by Puro‟s family and Rashid wants
to take revenge
After kidnapping Puro, Rashid falls in love with her
One day Puro somehow escapes from Rashid‟s captivity and comes back home
Her family does not accept her because they think she is not chaste any more
Unfortunately, her brother Trilok, who loves her a lot is not home at that time
She returns to Rashid and gets married to him
When trilok returns home he burns Rashids farm and crop.
Meanwhile, Puro is very unhappy with life and becomes a Pinjar, Skeleton
Then partition is announced
Lajjo, Puro‟s sister-in-law is kidnapped by muslims
Rashid helps Puro find her
Puro falls in love with Rashid because of his goodness
Rashid gives her the option to go to her family in India but she refuses
The film ends on a happy note
Model Answer 3:
‘A Beautiful Mind’, a film that was released in 2001 from Hollywood, was based on the story of a real person named John Nash. The movie was directed by Ron Howard and he was inspired to make the movie from a book of the same title.
The famous actor Russell Crowe acted as the main character of the movie and won the Oscar for the best actor. The story of the film depicts the life, work and thinking of a young prodigy called John Nash who developed a paranoid schizophrenia after he joins the secret cryptography work. The true genius, the talented and gifted person who had difficulties separating the hallucination and reality worked towards defining the mathematical relationship that changed the world. Nash lived two separate lives and one was in his mind while the other one was the real one. This film portrayed the life and work of a genius who had some mental illness and yet contributed for the betterment of the world.
The movie told us the story of John Nash who is an interesting person in terms of his genius and talent. The acting, the production and presentation of the movie was extraordinary. It was so nicely presented and acted that majority of the critics gave a positive review of this movie just after it was released.
Model Answer 4:
Today I’d like to talk about Armageddon, which is one of my favorite movies of all times.
This is an American disaster film released in 1998 and it starred famous Hollywood actors Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. Even though this movie had mixed reviews from critics, I really liked its story line and it became, in fact, the highest-grossing film of that year. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(1998_film))
Armageddon tells the story of a possible scenario in the future, which is the approach of a large asteroid to Earth and that could end all living organisms in the planet, including human beings. In the movie, NASA discovers such asteroid and sends a group of oil drillers to the asteroid with the intention of destroying it by setting a nuclear bomb in the heart of the asteroid. This was evidently a mission to save mankind, and they ended up having success after many struggles and sacrifices.
I first saw this film with my friends at the movie theater right after it was released. I really lost count of how many times I’ve watched it afterwards, but the truth is that I’ve memorized almost the entire script! I like this movie very much because it has a combination of reality, humor, romance, and suspense. Every time when I watch it, I feel that the world is so wonderful that we should all enjoy it as much as we can, or as long as we are allowed to.
All in all, although this is an old movie, it was a great success in the film industry and I would recommend it to all of my friends.
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Details Discussion
Q. Describe a war movie you like.
Answer: I’m going to tell you about ‘Braveheart’, a war movie directed by Mel Gibson, who was also the leading character. The movie was released in 1995 and it was written by Randall Wallace. In the 14th century, William Wallace, a Scottish warrior, leads his people in a rebellion against the tyranny of the English King, who has given English nobility the ‘Prima Nocta’ – a right to take all new brides for the first night. The Scots are none too pleased with the brutal English invaders, but they lack the leadership to fight back. Wallace creates a legend of himself, with his courageous defence of his people and attacks on the English. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards at the 68th Academy Awards and won five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Sound Editing.
Other war movies you can say about: The Pianist, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Apocalypse Now, Good Morning Vietnam, War Horse, Downfall, Lincoln, and Imitation Game.
Q. What’s the difference between the movies of your country and Hollywood movies?
Answer: I believe that the movies in my country aren’t that good as Hollywood movies are. First of all, the budget is really low for the local movies and that is why there are very limited opportunities. Not all scenes are impressive and there are no special effects, something that dominates in Hollywood. Furthermore, the actors in local movies aren’t so famous and talented, on the contrary in Hollywood they are of worldwide fame. There are a large variety on the topic and theme of Hollywood movies. However, our local movies do not deal with a wide range of themes. Finally, Hollywood movies are released and enjoyed worldwide while our local movies are mostly made for us except some very few movies that get international attention.
Q. What do you think of the violent films?
Answer: I would say that it depends on the type of violence. To be more precise, I like movies with violent scenes because they’re interesting and include more actions. In those movies, the good wins over bad. It’s a kind of vindication and the message that good prevails over bad. I don’t like movies that involve rapes. In particular, I hate these movies. I would not say that it’s something that isn’t happening, but I think that promoting women’s humiliation and debasement is not a good thing. So, I would come to the conclusion that I partly like violent movies and specifically, it depends on the story. However, the unnecessary violence is not liked by all and I am no exception.
Q. What do you think of the violent films?
Answer: Well, computer techniques should be used to add some characteristics to movies so that they can be more impressive and believable. Especially nowadays this opportunity is much more in use than the past. Many things that were unfeasible are attainable now with the computer technology in movie industries. A remarkable example could be ‘Avatar’, a movie that was critically acclaimed and had a million views worldwide. The groundbreaking visual effects used to make humans look like extraterrestrial beings were amazing and that was the primary reason that the film broke several box office records and became the highest-grossing film of all time in England, Canada and the USA.
Q. Which parts of a movie are the most important and how to improve it?
Answer: It is an undeniable fact that all the parts of a movie are extremely important, but it seems to me that more attention should be given to the finishing of a movie. There are many examples of movies that were very interesting but the end was extremely boring and disappointing. In this case, I totally believe that the end negates all the good things that happened in the rest of the movie and leaves a bad impression on the viewers. So, my opinion is that the last part/ finishing part of a film should be of paramount importance and it can be achieved by providing a distinct and not vague message to the viewers and making things clear in their mind.
Tip: You can say about other things such as the beginning, the plot, dialogues, directing, special effects or even the acting. It’s up to you and your personal opinion.
Similar IELTS Cue Card Topics
If you can talk about the cue card topic “Describe your favourite movie” you should be able to talk about the following IELTS cue card topics as well:
- Describe a movie you have recently watched.
- Describe your favourite movie.
- Describe a foreign movie you have enjoyed.
- Describe a movie you would like to watch again.
- Describe a movie you watched with your friends.
- Describe a movie that was made based on a real event.
- Describe a movie that created based on a historic event.
- Describe a war movie you have watched.
- Talk about a film which was adapted from a book.
- Talk about a critically acclaimed film you that you watched.
- Describe the best film you saw this year.