Breakdown of Мне нравится высокий контраст этой плёнки.
я
I
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
высокий
tall / high (of a level or amount)
нравиться
to please / to appeal
Questions & Answers about Мне нравится высокий контраст этой плёнки.
Why use плёнки here for 'film' instead of фильма?
Фильм refers to a movie or motion picture. Плёнка refers to physical photographic film (like 35mm camera film), as well as cassette tape, membrane, or plastic wrap. Since the sentence is discussing the physical medium's visual characteristics, плёнка is the correct vocabulary word here.
Why is высокий контраст in the Nominative case? Shouldn't it be the direct object?
With the verb нравиться (to appeal to / to be pleasing), the thing you like is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence, which is why высокий контраст is in the Nominative case. The person doing the liking is in the Dative case (мне). It is a good B2 reminder that the literal structure is 'The high contrast of this film is pleasing to me.'
What case is этой плёнки in, and what is its role here?
It is in the Genitive case, directly modifying the noun before it. It acts like the English preposition 'of' to express attributes or possession: 'the high contrast of this film.' The feminine phrase эта плёнка changes to этой плёнки in the Genitive.
Could I use the perfective verb понравится in this sentence instead?
Not if you want to say 'I like' as a general, ongoing fact. Понравится is the perfective future tense, meaning 'I will like'. To say 'I liked' in the sense of a completed reaction (e.g., 'It made a good impression on me'), you would use the past perfective: Мне понравился высокий контраст.