bolted on

Film Louise has responded to my post about our Match Point conversation:
Oh, I didn't realise I was expected to reply and prolong the agony of this argument any longer! Incidentally, I know of three more people who went to see this and were stupified by its rubbish-ness.

It's not a question of logic, it's a question of ensuring the film has a supportive base before you can take these fantastical flights. The fact the script was so desperate and some of the acting so completely horrible that made the dream sequence look bolted on as a way to get to the end of the film/put it out of its misery more quickly. Which, for me, under the "vantage" point of my coat, was merciful to say the least. It is this, coupled with the other nonsense (a portrayl of the British upper class which was so laughable only an American could have come up with it, making the Met look as if they bin murder cases on a whim and can't be arsed to carry out post mortem examinations), adds up to the worst film I have ever sat through in a cinema.

I don't see it as a presentation of reality in a fantastic realm. How was it a fantastic realm? It wasn't fantastic it was a representation of reality with a fantastical sequence.

"It makes him a more impressive action character because the impossible is made possible through means we don't know." Really? Truly? I think this is just lazy. It assumes an ignorance (i.e. they won't notice this! It doesn't matter!) on behalf of the audience which is responsible for rendering a massive proportion of film, television, magazines and newspapers almost unwatchable/unreadable.

Woody Allen should just stick to his clarinet. His films won't make a single penny out of me again.

Louise.
I think we'd best agree to disagree on Match Point. I think it's just going to be one of those films which will take a few years before anyone can make their mind up. I mean took at this review. I can't tell if they're being positive or not. What I meant about fantasy, is really that all of Woody's films are fantasy -- not set in the real world. It's not really London. It's a fantastical version of it -- no more realistic than something that might turn up in The Arabian Nights or whatever. So he's allowed in my view to reformalise human interaction and how the cops deal with murder cases. In relation to the "the impossible is made possible through means we don't know" -- perhaps I should have mentioned Superman. Do we really know how he flies?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

we dont know how superman flys as it is impossible for us earthlings to have in depth knowledge of his alien powers/genetic make up. Therefore the film makers can get away with that the same way they can get away with alien spacecraft as no one would have any knowledge of how they work. So i think that may be a bad example to use.

Stuart Ian Burns said...

Yes, but do you have an in-depth knowledge of how to do the train thing that Jason Bourne does that's being complained about? I think we're talking about personal fields of reference aren't we? Surely some things can be skipped to keep the story skidding along. William Goldman talks about this quite a lot in his books.