Saturday, January 01, 2005

ANOTHER FILM AT ODDS WITH ITSELF

Rented Nine 1/2 Weeks. I was shocked at how abusive Mickey Rourke's character is. Sure, it's an S&M relationship. But an S&M relationship can be consensual and loving. This is a good portrait of a fundamentally abusive relationship. What I find shocking is how the movie made a name for itself as a soft core classic. People remember Mickey Rourke dripping ice water on Kim Basinger's breasts. They don't remember his creepy stalkerish abuser behavior in the rest of the movie. Likewise, the audience somehow made Saturday Night Fever into a date movie about disco dancing. The movie itself is a sad social commentary on a loser who has nothing to live for except his dancing. It's a good social commentary -- very convincing and heartfelt. But definitely a downer of a story, no matter how the ending turns out. People remembered the dancing, though.

It's movies like these that make me wonder sometimes about the primacy of the story. As a story teller that's what I'm most concerned with. But sometimes what people remember are great sequences, not the story. Phantom Menace could not have succeeded because of its story, but it has some great action sequences. I'm not ready to say any ole story will do. But maybe I should add "some memorable sequences" to the list of what a movie needs to break out. If all you have is a tightly told story, you may not make any headway. But a few memorable sequences may rescue your loosely or murkily plotted flick.

9:51 AM

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