I saw Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola today. I don't know what I think about it yet, which is usually a good sign.
I also recommend The Last King of Scotland, Babel and Das Leben der Anderen.
I have grown to enjoy films in which there are narrative gaps that are left to be filled by the viewer's imagination. When I was younger I was annoyed when something was not shown or told, but now I find omissions stimulating. At the end of Babel a depressed girl gives a written note to the man who comforted her, and later you can just see him reading it. I liked how it made me study his face for a hint of what the note said. In Lost In Translation, you never get to know what Bob whispers to Charlotte when they say goodbye. To me this narrative strategy has two interesting effects: it brings depth to the diegetical world the film creates by giving the viewer limited perceptions. You don't feel like a privileged audience, but it feels all the more real, because that is what we experience everyday. Secondly there is no better way to attract someone's attention on something than by not showing that thing. Turning the written note or the whispered words into definite, unequivocal meaning would be more comfortable (although possibly disappointing), but less intense. I definitely choose intense.
I have grown to enjoy films in which there are narrative gaps that are left to be filled by the viewer's imagination. When I was younger I was annoyed when something was not shown or told, but now I find omissions stimulating. At the end of Babel a depressed girl gives a written note to the man who comforted her, and later you can just see him reading it. I liked how it made me study his face for a hint of what the note said. In Lost In Translation, you never get to know what Bob whispers to Charlotte when they say goodbye. To me this narrative strategy has two interesting effects: it brings depth to the diegetical world the film creates by giving the viewer limited perceptions. You don't feel like a privileged audience, but it feels all the more real, because that is what we experience everyday. Secondly there is no better way to attract someone's attention on something than by not showing that thing. Turning the written note or the whispered words into definite, unequivocal meaning would be more comfortable (although possibly disappointing), but less intense. I definitely choose intense.
Rinko Kikuchi in Babel
1 comment:
I'd tend to agree, if letting the viewer/reader in the dark is used as a way to create empathy with the characters, but it can only work if a)the story was told from a charcater point of view (Lost in Translation is a perfect example of this) and b)it's now used as a cop out by a lzy writer.
It's too easy to rely on those tricks to make the audience responsible for its inability to "get it" when as a writer you're just not capable of writing a coherent/credible plot (David Lynch, I'm talking to you here).
Sadly, 21 grams and Babel gave me the impression that Inaritu was just using of those kinds of tricks just for the sake of it.
Dwelled enough, got to get back to work.
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