Who Am I Talking To?

Split.  The latest from M. Night Shyamalan.  Let’s have a quick refresher – I’m not a Shyamalan fan boy.  I believe The 6^th Sense was one of the best movies made, even if you know the twist.  I thought The Village was a masterful thriller.  The rest?  Not so much.  I freely admit I didn’t get Lady In the Water and honestly, did anyone anywhere like Devil?  Truly one of the worst films ever.  I’m glad to know it wasn’t a career killer but still, I almost didn’t bother with Split because of it.

However, #2 told me it was very good.  And my wife wanted to see it.  So off we went.

When I first started writing scripts, I read voraciously on the subject.  One of the recurring themes was that I would never watch movies the same way again.  Split proved that warning to be true for me.  Within 5 minutes I was analyzing everything from the inspiration to the introduction of characters.  I kept stopping myself from trying to figure out what was going to happen because I wanted to enjoy my large popcorn.

Depending on your definition, spoilers follow.

Really.

I’ll give you a minute in case you read faster than you process.  The characterization was pretty good.  I didn’t confuse any of the main cast and the dialog was extremely well done in the sense that I always knew which personality was talking, even without costume cues.  However, the dialogue was not extremely well done if you’re looking for lines that will become part of pop culture.  In fact, there were a few lines I found a bit cheesey.  But they never drew me out of the story far enough I couldn’t get back in.

Split was creepy the way The Village was creepy, a few gotcha moments and a setting that created tension.  It was not a horror movie and the gore was minimal.  My wife suggested that might be because I’m color blind, there were a few scenes where I didn’t know what happened because I didn’t see the blood.  Still, in this movie the violence was mostly suggested rather than witnessed.

It took a few twists and turns which played with stereotypes for the genre and were logically supported, but nothing earth shaking – there was no big twist like in the better films.  I’m also not sure it was entertaining.  It was dark in the way Prisoners was dark, but lacked the resolution.  I was disappointed by the ending.  There was the general sense of unease, discomfort even, and depression like his so-so The Happening.

I thought of Prisoners several times while watching.  And I had the sense that had an unknown written the film, it would only have been produced by a bit of luck.  I don’t say that to take away from the quality of the story, but to make the point that Split wasn’t any better than many of the unproduced scripts I’ve read and worse than several.

Perhaps the take-away is aimed squarely at struggling story tellers – the world is dark and bleak, but somewhere, somebody has the money to make your movie, whether it’s amazing or just pretty good.

" Look at my face; I was not thinking anything bad about you."

I was listening to U2 this morning on the way to the train.  The Joshua Tree.  It’s been a long time.  Long enough that I was hearing the remarkable story telling freshly.  Track 9, “One Tree Hill”, struck me especially – although what struck me was actually a “mis-hear” of the lyrics – the line is “It runs like a river runs to the sea” which is pretty basic poetry.  What I heard instead was “It runs like a river under the sea” and that was a powerful image.  Very deep.

This Wednesday movie edition of R&A's "Tales from the Script", is a celebration of Netflix finally getting around to sending me “The Sixth Sense”.  I can’t say it out loud anymore, I keep tripping on “sixth” for some reason,

but I can write it.  What a great movie.  Way better than cats.  Minor spoilers follow.

 It was very, very close to the script I read - probably because the author was also the director of the movie.  In the script, this was a story about a man and a boy becoming friends and helping each other overcome very serious personal issues.  The movie stayed true to that soul but also brought us into the terrifying world that the boy lived in.  There was remarkable skill in being able to frighten so well without falling away from drama and into horror.

The descriptive prose of the script conveyed a somber, even sinister overshadowing mood that was constantly being broken by the personalities of the characters who struggled for normalcy and happiness.  In the film, creative use of Philadelphia’s gothic architecture and art, rain, and lighting were used with equal skill to convey the same mood as backdrop for the actors.

In my reading, the relationship between Dr. Crowe and his wife was more personal than what was portrayed on the film.  As good as Bruce Willis was, there was something in the writing that he just wasn’t able to convey.  In thinking about it though, I’m wondering if the problem was more in the coldness of his wife – she was as distant from the audience as to him so we never really cared about her.

We were most impressed by the mother (Toni Collette) however.  In the script she was important and was shown as trying very hard at life.  In the film she stole every scene she was in.  There was an unbelievable honesty in her performance and we truly felt that she was hanging on by her fingernails, doing everything in her power for the little boy she loved more than anything else in the world.  Her emotion; joy, sorrow, frustration, and playfulness, contrasted against the single-minded purposefulness of Dr. Crowe and the depressing backdrop.  There could not have been a happy ending without her final triumph.

The last observation I’ll make in comparing the written story with the filmed version has to do with the PG-13 rating.  When I read the story, in my mind’s eye (it had been well over a decade since I saw it) I visualized what was happening and was drawn line by line, page by page, to the end.  In the film, I was shown.  There was a lot of discretion for the director/producer about what content to include and, in certain scenes, what sort of language to use or body parts to show.  When reading, you imagine what you choose to imagine.  When watching, you see what others have decided to show you.  This could have been an ‘R’ film by using a few different angles and adding a couple of words.  But it also could have been PG by not showing certain things – a feat easily accomplished with the subtlety shown in other scenes.  The story wouldn’t have changed and that, I believe, is the take-away.

When writing for screen you write the story.  Other’s make the picture and will tell your story how they want to.

"There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it."

First - thank you all very much.  It's only been a month but I've had over a thousand hits on the blog.  I really appreciate the encouragement and comments, both public and private.  If you have a particular topic or film you'd like me to tackle, or a prompt for an Original Ficiton Friday, please send me an email.

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Did another kettle-bell class.  We can move today, but it was exhausting last night.  I think that an evening workout is better - you don't spend the day saying, "Oww."  Netflix is still not quite right on our queue so “The 6th Sense” hasn't shown up.  In fact, it's been an extra-long time between shipping

and delivery of anything.  Never fear, however, I have been reading scripts and spending lots of time trying to decide which one I want to talk about today.

I've settled on “Fargo”.  I will admit that when I saw it, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  William H. Macy was very funny though I usually find him annoying (“Jurassic Park 3” anyone?) but it was violent and geared toward a grown up audience on pretty much every level so after the initial viewing I never

revisited it.  It's been at least a decade but I can still hear the accents in the dialogue and remember a few key scenes.  Others I had forgotten until I read the script.

About that script - I can see why the Cohen brothers get their movies made.  The story is very easy to follow but jumps out at you from the page with honest dialogue, uniquely voiced characters, and the cold of North Dakota’s winter.

There were a few sections I skimmed - I was surprised at how much profanity there was but, fortunately, it was mostly confined to two characters so the ejection factor was somewhat mitigated and it was easy enough to get back to the narrative.  I will be pontificating on the use of profanity in scripts - as opposed to the films themselves - in the future.  I'm lining up my ducks.  It will be an opus.  My internet break-out piece that causes the sky to open and music to play followed by every agency in town saying, "If he can have such an enlightened opinion expressed so clearly, we want to sign him.  Yesterday."  [Moment of day dreaming.] Where was I?

The climax of the film was very short on the scrip though on the screen it was drawn out with great tension.  We were faced with drifting snow, a lone police woman, a bandit, and a shredder.  On the page it was described very matter-of-factly with just a little bit of humor.  There were a few other places where I noticed the same effect in the script - what was written came through clearly and carried the story, but the screen version of the scene possessed far more punch. I'm not sure if it's because I was standing on the train while reading it instead of freezing in North Dakota, or if it was just a well-made film.  I will need to keep my eyes open.  I suspect it's the latter – cinema is its own art.

I remember “Fargo” as being a somewhat complicated caper-style film with a lot going on.  In the script there was no sense of that complication.  We were introduced to the crime early and then it split into parallel lanes, both with unique and shared obstacles, eventually coming back together.  There was a hint of "film noir" in the late entry of the law enforcement hero - we had been set up to root for the bad guys but just couldn't and then it was very satisfying when the very pregnant Officer Marge Gunderson arrived and did her thing.  In essence, they applied the "delayed entry of villain" rule to the protagonist and it really worked.

I also recalled that there was a potential love problem.  The script reminded me of it and I was again impressed at how little of it was actually written.  The power of the scenes was in the acting.  It didn't need a lot of page to get the story across.  I am still over writing my scenes and this script, in particular, was a very good example for me to see how just a little goes a long way.

If you devour scripts then you've probably already read this one.  If you don't, as good as the story is, there are plenty of other scripts that aren't quite as unsettling or became ‘R’ in the filming rather than the writing, to whet your appetite with.  Of course, if you loved Fargo...

" 'But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.' I assume you dream, Preston. "

Wednesday Movie disclaimer: Spoiler alert for “Equilibrium”.

There was a bit of a mix-up with the Netflix queue this weekend so my original plan of watching The 6th Sense fell through.  Would you believe it isn't it streamable?  Where's Robert L. Ripley when you need him.

I did, however, watch a Christian Bale film upon the occasion of a recommendation from a friend.  Now, I've often had recommendations from friends that I pass on, but in this case the friend also provided a copy of the film and, as I mentioned, The 6th Sense wasn't streamable...  Our first impression (I've been married nearly two decades, most of this blog is plural) of the film was that it was a mash up of Gattaca and The Matrix.  Then, when it became clear that certain elements were more than just archetypal window dressing, the better parents were Fahrenheit 451 and The Matrix - with a bit of Gattaca/1984 thrown in just make things seem original.

Maybe that's a little harsh.  When your story is set in a dystopian future, it's hard to seem fresh.  This film very much suffered from the "same" part of the movie-making axiom "Give me the same but different."  I read the script for The Matrix two weeks ago and the stories weren't related at all, it was the visuals.  Black leather and kung fu.  It could have been a Tarantino film if there had been spaghetti western music... and a lot of gratuitous 'R' content.  The plot was ***Major Spoiler*** Guy Montag.  100%.  Right down to Sean Bean's book.  I'm surprised it wasn't billed as a remake.  They were called Clerics instead of Firemen, but the character arc of the protagonist and significant plot points were nearly identical.

That's not a bad thing, I thought 451 was a great story (movie was okay) and even wrote "the last chapter" as a project in school.  Equilibrium also benefited from remodeled sets/props for its view of the future so it looked fresh – okay, not old (and I was startled to learn it was released in 2002).  Taye Diggs was the biggest surprise for me.  He played his part very well, keeping us guessing to the very end which side he was going to end up on.  As I mentioned, Sean Bean made an appearance but he's gotten into what I can only describe as a "Shakespearean Melancholy Rut" and while he delivered poise in spades, he was completely underutilized if not actually wasted.

In fairness, it wasn't all 'same' - there was a bit of different too, but that seemed centered around the execution of the action sequences.  I suppose you could argue that getting an entire society to take Prozac all the time is a twist, but then we're back to Gattaca, the premise of Sean of the Dead, and, as I recall, that was sort of Max Von Sydow's plan in Strange Brew.  There was nothing surprising in “the big twist” if you’d seen it done well in Freejack.

Despite all of the familiarity, the writing was good enough to keep us engaged (and awake) wondering which of the familiar paths it would eventually head down.  Further, the story was compelling enough that, even knowing what those paths were; we were still interested in making the journey.  It wasn't the movie we were planning to watch, or the movie we were expecting when we started, but I wasn’t asking for my life back at the end.  It did not suffer from the typical sci-fi maladies of confusing plot, preachy exposition, or under/over budgeting.

Note: We did not watch the theatrical or rental release of the film, it was an airplane edit with the foul language, sexually explicit content, and graphic violence/gore removed.  I'll be talking about this type of content in a future post, but I can't help wondering if the lack of ejectors kept us more fully engaged in the story.