Taste of Fall

Summer's not over yet, but the taste of fall is in the air. And from where I'm sittin' the cool fall will be a welcome change from the muggy summer. I'm talkin' movie shows. It looks like this fall is shaping up very nicely so far with at least two must see film. James Ellroy's Black Dahlia directed by Brian DePalma (I know, I know, but the trailer is looking more like The Untouchables DePalma and not Raising Cain DePalma) and the remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, entitled The Departed. It's directed by Martin Scorcese with a huge cast. And because we're all hot about the writers on this blog it's interesting to note that Black Dahlia was written by Josh Friedman whose blog, though only updated sporatically is definitely worth checking out. The Departed is written by Kingdom of Heaven scribe, William Monahan.

Dave's Yes/No Movie Review: Monster House

Yes.

Great Transitions Part I

A recent comment by Hamish reminded me of a conversation we had had when he was visiting the Island a couple of weeks ago. I was mentioning something I heard Stephen Gaghan attribute to the russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.

I'm para-phrasing here, but Gaghan, while he was being interviewed for the Creative Screenwriting Podcast about his film Syriana, said Tolstoy listed the four most important elements for writing a novel: 1. Transitions 2. Context 3. Character and last (and, in the self-styled-anti-mckee-Gaghan's opinion, least) 4. Story.

There's a whole post and a half waiting about that list but I thought instead we could talk about Great Transitions. I'm not sure that this is what Gaghan (or Tolstoy) was talking about but for the purposes of this post I'll keep my comments to what I think are some Great Transitions in Film.

The two kinds of Transitions I was thinking of were: 1. Great edits. Where the cut of the film took us from one world into another. 2. Great Transitions of Story/Character, moments of a film where the characters world turns upside down... sometimes literally.

For today I just want to mention a couple of my favorite edits.

In the first category, my two suggestions might be a little Film School 101 but I remember being blown away by two cuts the first from Lean's Lawerence of Arabia.
Lawrence puts out a match with his fingers. Then shows another soldier how he does it. The soldier is burned:

William Potter: Ooh! It damn well 'urts!
T.E. Lawrence: Certainly it hurts.
Officer: What's the trick then?
T.E. Lawrence: The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.

And soon after comes the great moment where the flame of the struck match is blown out into the burning desert sun. It's a powerful cut that literally drags us through time and space, and introduces the central motif of the flame of a man's spirit and life tied to the burning desert sun, a man who will literally light the fuse of an entire culture.

The second Great Transition is from Stanley Kubrick. The jump of thousands of years with the toss of a bone in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The cut from bone to space station introduces the idea of how closely the evolution of our species is tied to the evolution of our technology and sets up the journey of where there evolution maybe leading us.

I'll post in a couple of days about some thoughts from the second category of Great Transitions.

If you'd like to email me some suggestions with or without links to an appropriate pic I'd be happy to post it. Contact info is just on the side thingy there.

Lady in the Water: Story must be attacked

I was having a great chat with my buddy Jason at work this morning. We were comparing notes on the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, Lady in the Water. He despised it with a passion that surprised me, while I who had his expectations systematically lowered by advanced word of mouth didn't.

I mean, there was great badness, but not much greater badness of story writing than I endured through Superman Returns, X-men III, and PoCII.

I think I can help though.

Seriously.

I think I see what Shyamalan's problem is: it's the central premise of his film. "Story must be protected!" But anyone who has done any writing at all knows: Story must be attacked.

Spoilers ahead.

Forget the missed opportunities of Lady in the Water, the film that could have been where characters discover that they are in a bedtime story and what that means to be a slave of narrative... and what kind of Pirendello adventure that might have been.

As is, the Lady, named Story, comes looking for a Writer. Story is a fragile thing... naked and vunerable, barely a whisp. If Story can find the Writer, the Writer can be Inspired, and through Story, share some Deep Knowledge that can Change the World.

As subtle as a brick to the nose but that's okay. It sets up the stakes, gives our characters some needs. All I'm saying is that there are worse places to start.

The trouble is M. Night does stay true to his metaphor. The film is all about our heroes trying to protect Story from the Wolves long enough that she can get her job done. But writing isn't about protecting fragile story. I mean, that could be an interesting beginning. Seeing Story under seige by all these apparently malevolent forces. And the first reaction is a defensive one. Protect the story... then it would have been interesting, and more truthful I think, to have the people realize the truth.

For Story to survive it must be attacked. Loved and nutured too, for sure, especially in its early stages, but to last? To live? The writer will have to turn on his Story.

The Writer isn't some Warrior Eunch assigned by fate to protect Story's virtue. The Writer must seduce the story, get to know it better than anyone else could. And then... please forgive the x-rated analogy but as far as Story goes, the Writer's gotta fill every hole. And please forgive me again as I say: the Writer services Story best when his love is hard.

The lesson of the Script-doctor--uhm... I mean, Healer-- isn't some atonement for letting down some old story in the past. The lesson for the Healer is that there is only one terrible thing you can do to protect Story. And that is to give her to the wolves and allow her to be torn apart.

To watch as her every fault and weakness, however beautiful, ethereal or pure is consumed and destroyed. Leaving only Story's heart untouched.


And when the Writer puts her back together again she may be changed, but she will be better, stronger, and more beautiful.

That's the Story that I'd tell anyway.

Speaking of context...

If you haven't caught the link to the Vader Sessions, check it out. It's an hilarious mashup of Darth Vader and the voice of James Earl Jones. The editors have used dialogue from movies throughout his career to... give a new spin to some old scenes, baby. It's worth it to stick around for the "dial spinning" near the end.